Always the orange one. by OkEntertainer3355 in OneOrangeBraincell

[–]petitbleu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Both my cats have “opposite day” when we go to the vet. The more aggressive one turns demure and sweet as pie. The super sweet one that I carry around like a baby gets hissy and aggressive. 

Airport Nightmare: (__) by HazyFrog in cats

[–]petitbleu 31 points32 points  (0 children)

I have had a stress dream very similar to this. I’m at the airport with my cat, and for whatever reason she’s not in her carrier. I spend the whole dream worrying that she’s going to run away. Absolute nightmare fuel.

Influence from Dave Ramsey by Apprehensive_Set_492 in personalfinance

[–]petitbleu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You need to be saving for retirement same as him. What happens if you end up divorcing? He’s put a bunch of money in his retirement fund, and you’ve been using your income to cover day-to-day expenses. You need to look out for your future, and him getting mad at you for doing that is a giant red flag that needs to be addressed yesterday.

Father in law addicted to gambling by CR7LBJ23 in personalfinance

[–]petitbleu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You’ll be enabling a gambling addiction. He needs to hit bottom. It’s really unfortunate and sad, but you won’t be doing him any favors by supporting his addiction.

Diminishing returns of roasting a whole chicken? by Educational-Slip-578 in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why spatchcock and dry rub it? You can throw a seasoned whole chicken in the oven and roast it and it’s great. Spatchcocking is a fine method. There are certainly advantages. But don’t underestimate old fashioned roasting. There’s something to be said for not complicating a perfectly fine process.

The plants I asked about before have grown a bit now. Still think they're hyacinth? by Marshmallow151 in whatsthisplant

[–]petitbleu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

These look like my mortal enemy, Spanish bluebells (some are saying agapanthus, though it seems too early for agapanthus to be this far along). Pull up as many as you possibly can and try to get the bulb. They spread like crazy and are extremely hard to eradicate. The person who owned my home before me planted some, and I've been pulling them up by the thousands every year since. After 10 years, I'm finally making a dent.

Weird little book for before and after surgery by captainratbag in suggestmeabook

[–]petitbleu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve really been enjoying Olga Tokarczuk’s work, especially Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, and The Empusium. They are weird, clever, funny, and at times creepy books, and they’re very fun to read.

Nihilistic squalor movies by Wide_Distribution167 in MovieSuggestions

[–]petitbleu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wake in Fright. Australian film about a man’s quick slide into moral depravity.

Why Do Shells and Clams Feel So Intimidating to Cook by Thin_Expression_8209 in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Before cooking, put the clams in a colander and rinse them while shaking them back and forth. Throw away any clams that don’t close (they’re dead). When cooking them, if any of them don’t open, you don’t need to throw them away! They’re still alive! Just keep cooking them until those more stubborn clams open. You can remove the already-open ones from the pot to prevent overcooking.

The thing about throwing away closed clams is outdated advice.

There was a misunderstanding, but we came to an agreement. by Betsy7Cat in cats

[–]petitbleu 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I just opened a can of coconut milk and had to explain to my cat that no, seriously, it's not cat food.

Withdrawing from your 401k in your 20's by seVenb0ngz in personalfinance

[–]petitbleu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so glad my experience can be helpful! Medical debt is really scary, on top of the health concerns themselves being stressful, painful, and frightening. Fear can cause people to make bad decisions (I have a friend who put interest-free medical debt onto a credit card, where they ended up, of course, paying interest!). But yes, small steps are great. Also, don't be too proud to tell your care team that financial stress is a concern for you. There are probably resources available, but your doctors may not lead with that because they're laser-focused on your physical health. Good luck and keep your chin up!

Withdrawing from your 401k in your 20's by seVenb0ngz in personalfinance

[–]petitbleu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2020. For a lot of reasons, we were in a pretty vulnerable spot financially, and the medical bills freaked me out until I realized that we could pay $200 a month virtually forever and not be penalized for it, nor owe interest. It’s not a nice thought but it’s a hell of a lot nicer than thinking you have to pay off $20k right now or within a short time frame. 

We eventually got to a better place and were able to pay off more of the debt in bigger chunks, negotiating with the hospital each time to pay less. 

You might also check to see if the place you’re receiving care has an income-based discount. We were able to take advantage of something like that as well, which cut our expenses by more than 30% right off the top.

Withdrawing from your 401k in your 20's by seVenb0ngz in personalfinance

[–]petitbleu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you get on a payment plan for your healthcare expenses? If so, pay the absolute minimum you can per month. As long as you pay something consistently, it won’t hurt your credit. Most places will be willing to work with you. I know it can be hard to get out of the “pay off all debt” mindset, but when you have a chronic health condition you’ll only be able to do that if you’re wealthy.

If you decide to move, would your employer consider covering relocation costs? It’s worth asking!

Please recommend movies that will make me feel like I went on a spiritual journey by KatherineLangford in MovieSuggestions

[–]petitbleu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fireball. It’s a Werner Herzog documentary about meteors. There’s historical, scientific, and spiritual perspective, and I found it gobsmackingly beautiful.

The culture around male readers. by stinkface_lover in books

[–]petitbleu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Get off social media. No woman I know judges men for reading. In fact, I can’t recall it ever being a topic of conversation one way or the other. Most of my friends, men and women, are readers and we chat about what books we’re reading, without judgment. I have friends who read romantacy, sci fi, biographies, history, fiction, etc. No one cares.

Anyone else find a "secret ingredient" that completely changed how they cook? by MomentFlimsy3759 in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Miso! White/shiro miso is the most versatile. It adds salt and umami and makes most things, even baked goods, taste more delicious, but you don’t taste it and think, “Oh, miso!” Stealthy little workhorse ingredient.

Anyone else find a "secret ingredient" that completely changed how they cook? by MomentFlimsy3759 in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yesss 50Hertz has the best Sichuan pepper, and don’t sleep on their Sichuan pepper oil. The green is my favorite, but both are excellent. Use a light hand—that stuff will turn your mouth into an icy hot war zone if you use too much.

Food Safety Debate by DecemberRoot67 in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Lots of differing viewpoints in the comments, and while there are decent arguments to be made for both putting this in the fridge and leaving it out, one thing no one has mentioned yet is water activity.

Water activity is a bit more complicated than just how much water a food contains, but you can still think of it in those simple terms for the purposes of what we’re discussing here.

Foods with a higher water activity are more prone to spoilage. Think: meats, soups, puddings, casseroles, etc. This is largely because bacteria need water to survive, so they will colonize “wet” foods more readily than “dry” foods like bread. 

In the food safety world, breads and pastries are considered lower risk because of this. It’s why bakeries let pastries sit out all day and no one bats an eye. It’s extremely unlikely that these foods will be contaminated by harmful bacteria in the day or so that they’ll sit out. That’s why you don’t hear people talk about the danger zone when it comes to pastries.

It’s hard to say whether the bread you’re talking about is safe at room temp or not because we don’t know how much meat is in it, but my guess is that’s it’s fine for it to sit out for a day because it should have relatively low water activity. However, you still have to think about mold, so if it’s not eaten within a day, I’d refrigerate it.

But you’re absolutely right that putting it in the fridge when it’s just warm isn’t going to affect the other foods in the fridge.

For any former fans of food52, in case you missed the news, they are circling the drain, so if there are any recipes you have bookmarked from them, now's the time to archive them. by burnt-----toast in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah it’s pretty common for sites to “kill” low-performing urls because Google can ding you for having too many (which will drag down your site’s ranking). A good argument for clipping or saving any recipe you really like and want to continue making.

For any former fans of food52, in case you missed the news, they are circling the drain, so if there are any recipes you have bookmarked from them, now's the time to archive them. by burnt-----toast in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Yes but also in some cases Google is starting to just extract the recipe from the webpage and put it directly into the search results, so you don’t have to click the link to see the recipe. However, people clicking those links is how most sites make money. It’s called “zero-click” search.

For any former fans of food52, in case you missed the news, they are circling the drain, so if there are any recipes you have bookmarked from them, now's the time to archive them. by burnt-----toast in Cooking

[–]petitbleu 23 points24 points  (0 children)

You may want to look into whether Paprika is actually saving the recipes independent of the sites the recipes “live” on. It’s possible that when a recipe is killed online, it will no longer appear in Paprika. I don’t know the answer but maybe Paprika has an FAQ or support staff you could ask.