The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[CakeBeret]

I've never been able to get it straight: is it "pour over" or "pore over"? As in "pore over the photos".

I made a recipe from Pioneer Woman's cookbook last weekend, her Burgundy Mushrooms recipe.  It is supposed to be simmered gently for NINE HOURS.  yes, that's right, 9 hours.
I tried it at the 6 hour mark, and it was good.  After 9 hours, it was truly spectacular.   Definitely worth the wait. 

Oh dear sweet saints in heaven above. I am making that. As soon as possible. And again for Thanksgiving. That looks divine.

[Louie_LI]

If you live outside of the US but are a registered US voter which state does your vote count in?

The state you last lived in, but only for offices that are voted on statewide.

My mother lives in England, and her last U.S. address was in New York. She votes for president, vice president, senator, and the state governor and comptroller. She doesn't get to vote for Congress, state legislature, or anything else that is divided up by districts or counties.

Disclaimer: I don't know, if the person last lived in a state with only one member of Congress, whether their vote would count for that.

This year, New Yorkers displaced by Sandy can vote at any polling place in the state, with a similar restriction: the vote counts for president and senate, and for anything else, it only counts if the person lives in the district they are handed a ballot for. (Someone's vote might thus count for congress but not the state legislature, or vice versa, or for neither.) It's not perfect, but probably the best they can manage under the circumstances.

New York allows overseas "Federal" voters to vote for Federal elections only: President/Vice-President, Senator and the house representative from your last district of residence. NY does not allow overseas voters to vote for state-level elections.

This is in great contrast to Washington State, where overseas voters can vote the whole ballot for their last district of residence -- Federal, state, local, referendums, etc.

[EmmaJ.]

I've never been able to get it straight: is it "pour over" or "pore over"? As in "pore over the photos".

If you are looking over something - it is "pore".

If you are serving a liquid - you would pour it.

[Carotte]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

[KenveeB]

If you live outside of the US but are a registered US voter which state does your vote count in?

The state you last lived in, but only for offices that are voted on statewide.

My mother lives in England, and her last U.S. address was in New York. She votes for president, vice president, senator, and the state governor and comptroller. She doesn't get to vote for Congress, state legislature, or anything else that is divided up by districts or counties.

Disclaimer: I don't know, if the person last lived in a state with only one member of Congress, whether their vote would count for that.

This year, New Yorkers displaced by Sandy can vote at any polling place in the state, with a similar restriction: the vote counts for president and senate, and for anything else, it only counts if the person lives in the district they are handed a ballot for. (Someone's vote might thus count for congress but not the state legislature, or vice versa, or for neither.) It's not perfect, but probably the best they can manage under the circumstances.

New York allows overseas "Federal" voters to vote for Federal elections only: President/Vice-President, Senator and the house representative from your last district of residence. NY does not allow overseas voters to vote for state-level elections.

This is in great contrast to Washington State, where overseas voters can vote the whole ballot for their last district of residence -- Federal, state, local, referendums, etc.

My very first time to vote was absentee. I turned 18 while I was living in the UK. My "permanent address" was my grandmother's house in Texas, so that's where I was registered to vote. I got an absentee ballot that included all the same races as the regular ballots and mailed it back in.

[Slartibartfast]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

www.Allrecipes.com is your friend    Hit "ingredient" under the search box at the top, then put in what you want to cook with on the left and what you want to avoid on the right.  It's really useful for when you know you have ground beef and you're thinking something tomato-based but don't have any cheese, or you want something with curry and fruit in it but don't really care what.  I like looking at whatever's on sale at the grocery store each week and planning based on that - I never have to scramble at dinner time, and it's cheaper this way!

[ladyknight1]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

Yay for the chili turning out well!

I just look at my local grocery's circular and plan around what proteins are on sale.

[CakeBeret]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

Start reading food blogs regularly, and it becomes very easy. My favorites are budgetbytes.blogspot.com and skinnytaste.com. I always have more recipes in mind than groceries to buy.

[KenveeB]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

www.Allrecipes.com is your friend    Hit "ingredient" under the search box at the top, then put in what you want to cook with on the left and what you want to avoid on the right.  It's really useful for when you know you have ground beef and you're thinking something tomato-based but don't have any cheese, or you want something with curry and fruit in it but don't really care what.  I like looking at whatever's on sale at the grocery store each week and planning based on that - I never have to scramble at dinner time, and it's cheaper this way!

Thanks for sharing! WeightWatchers has something similar, where you can punch in 1-3 ingredients and get their recipes using those, but I like the addition of what ingredients you want to avoid! I always use it after I get my co-op basket. I invariably get a couple of fruits or veggies that I have no idea how to cook with.

[wx4caster]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

www.Allrecipes.com is your friend    Hit "ingredient" under the search box at the top, then put in what you want to cook with on the left and what you want to avoid on the right.  It's really useful for when you know you have ground beef and you're thinking something tomato-based but don't have any cheese, or you want something with curry and fruit in it but don't really care what.  I like looking at whatever's on sale at the grocery store each week and planning based on that - I never have to scramble at dinner time, and it's cheaper this way!

It's rather extreme but I created an Excel database of all my recipes with key ingredients and use the filter function to get a list of recipes that use "ingredient". 

It started simply enough: I couldn't find a certain recipe one day and started using sticky notes in my cookbooks to help keep track of the favourites. The sticky notes started falling out, so I switched to a paper list.  The paper list became annoying after I started keeping track of the recipes I wanted to try as well as the favourites and was moved to Word (or Wordperfect).  Then I decided to add a short list of ingredients to remind me why the recipe was marked as a favourite or one to try. At some point, DH pointed out that Excel's filter function would make it much easier to run searches (I was using Find) and the database was born.

The database was a lot of work but makes it so much easier planning a menu for the week and making the grocery list. And there are fewer quick trips to the store to get that one last thing.

[Louie_LI]

My very first time to vote was absentee. I turned 18 while I was living in the UK. My "permanent address" was my grandmother's house in Texas, so that's where I was registered to vote. I got an absentee ballot that included all the same races as the regular ballots and mailed it back in.

I should have been more precise. There's a difference between absentee voting for residents who just happen not to be there, and the Federal Voter system. Absentee voters can vote as they would normally. Special Federal voters are those who are no longer residents in the US and the program allows them to vote via their last state of residence, even if they no longer have an address there. It's up to each state to decide what level of state-level participation is allowed.

[sourwolf]

I'm happy to report that the chili turned pretty good
it cooked/simmered for about 2 hours and some in the end, and I made do with the spices I had taken with me (didn't cook it in my home) so I'm not actually sure what I put in it or how much, good thing it's a good "wing-it" recipe!

Now my question, why is it so hard to come up with meal ideas? I don't even have to plan it for 4 peoples and a week, it's just two/three meals for two!

www.Allrecipes.com is your friend    Hit "ingredient" under the search box at the top, then put in what you want to cook with on the left and what you want to avoid on the right.  It's really useful for when you know you have ground beef and you're thinking something tomato-based but don't have any cheese, or you want something with curry and fruit in it but don't really care what.  I like looking at whatever's on sale at the grocery store each week and planning based on that - I never have to scramble at dinner time, and it's cheaper this way!

It's rather extreme but I created an Excel database of all my recipes with key ingredients and use the filter function to get a list of recipes that use "ingredient". 

It started simply enough: I couldn't find a certain recipe one day and started using sticky notes in my cookbooks to help keep track of the favourites. The sticky notes started falling out, so I switched to a paper list.  The paper list became annoying after I started keeping track of the recipes I wanted to try as well as the favourites and was moved to Word (or Wordperfect).  Then I decided to add a short list of ingredients to remind me why the recipe was marked as a favourite or one to try. At some point, DH pointed out that Excel's filter function would make it much easier to run searches (I was using Find) and the database was born.

The database was a lot of work but makes it so much easier planning a menu for the week and making the grocery list. And there are fewer quick trips to the store to get that one last thing.

That's not extreme - it sounds wonderful!  If I ever get around to organizing my recipes this is definitely what I'll do!

[Slartibartfast]

This is a religious question, which followed a brain-hurty conversation with a religious friend: when did animal sacrifices fall out of fashion?  Was it a gradual thing, or all at once?  (I'm specifically asking about Judeo-Christian tradition, here, but it can apply to pretty much any religion since sacrifices seem to have been pretty prevalent way back when.)  My friend's stance is that Christians consider Jesus to have been the ultimate sacrifice and thus we no longer have to buy doves at the temple to sacrifice them - but if that were the only change, wouldn't modern Jews still have to sacrifice things?

(I really don't want to start a religious flame war or anything, but I really am curious!)

[mmswm]

I'm by no means an expert, but I think the propriety of the ritual of animal sacrifice was being questioned in the decades before Christ. Now I'm curious, and off to go research.

[squeakers]

This is a religious question, which followed a brain-hurty conversation with a religious friend: when did animal sacrifices fall out of fashion?  Was it a gradual thing, or all at once?  (I'm specifically asking about Judeo-Christian tradition, here, but it can apply to pretty much any religion since sacrifices seem to have been pretty prevalent way back when.)  My friend's stance is that Christians consider Jesus to have been the ultimate sacrifice and thus we no longer have to buy doves at the temple to sacrifice them - but if that were the only change, wouldn't modern Jews still have to sacrifice things?

(I really don't want to start a religious flame war or anything, but I really am curious!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sacrifice is a start.. and then just google "when did animal sacrifice" and read the bajillion pages that pop up.