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fuggled

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Everything posted by fuggled

  1. You should take it to the place you trust, regardless of what insurance recommends. If you're taking it to a reputable place, they should be used to negotiating with insurance on prices and additional damage they may uncover, so you shouldn't ever get pulled into the middle of that. If you're unsure, check with the repair shop beforehand that they're going to handle all that for you. You could also go get your own estimate for the repair work before you do anything. That would give you a sense of whether you're about to step into an argument with insurance. The problem is, at least last summer, most places are so busy they may not give you a quote unless you're ready to hand over insurance up front.
  2. Out of curiosity, have you ever looked at what the actual aggregate tax rates are? Everyone is paying more than 20% towards taxes of some kind. We clearly have a progressive tax policy, but the range really isn't that dramatic. And I doubt the guy making $16K per year but paying $3200 in taxes feels like he's freeloading.
  3. Can you find yourself in this picture? Reach out for help if you're stuck.
  4. Hahahaha, those are B's for "boiled". I give her credit for at least taking that reasonable step.
  5. Lots of questions here...I appreciate the curiosity. Per your request, I reexamined the eggshells. There are shells for 3 eggs, or 6 half shells. The shells are all nested so it just looks like 3 in the picture. I hope we can put that controversy to rest. Regarding the bacon, I can't recall what I was making a week or so back but it was some dish that needed chopped or crumbled bacon. Because I didn't need slices, I had grabbed a big pack of bacon odds and ends at the store. If you haven't looked, they sell all the bits that don't make nice slices in separate packages. Since most of our bacon is consumed chopped up in tacos, this works well and is cheaper.
  6. Did you not read the text? Explains everything.
  7. The wife took the kids out of town this morning. I was looking forward to a quiet morning by myself. Made a pot of coffee and figured I'd fry up some bacon scraps with eggs. I get the bacon going in the pan and pull out the eggs to scramble... every egg had been hard boiled. Damnit. This may not seem egregious, but hard boiled eggs are not an every day occurrence in our house. When we do have them, they get labeled and put in the deli drawer. Not to mention that the wife wasn't going to be here this weekend and she's the boiled egg eater. And not to mention the nasty egg shells she had just left in the carton and put back in the fridge. I sent her this text this morning:
  8. Got a little lucky Wordle 201 3/6 [emoji834][emoji834]🟨[emoji834][emoji834] 🟨[emoji834]🟨[emoji834]🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
  9. My wife and I were just discussing the same thing. I think you could easily reduce the sugar on Alton Brown's recipe and it will still be delicious.
  10. White, straight blonde hair. Fire dancer is doing tarot card readings this morning. I suppose she's a multi purpose gypsy witch.
  11. My whole family has convened on the BIL's patio for a relative I've never met to perform a fire dancing routine.
  12. Also, only thing I have to add from my wife's family is fuck Peppermint Parkway at COTA. What a bullshit scam that place is.
  13. Just curious, but how did she buy the tickets? Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
  14. A few days ago we drove down to spend the week with my wife's family in Austin. Yesterday I'm doing some cooking when my phone rings and I see it's my dad (back in Dallas) calling. We have the following conversation: Dad: Have you been following our text thread with Mrs. Fuggled? Me: Nope, what's up? Dad: We're at your house, but can't find any kind of delivery notice for the package. Me: What package? Hang on. Hey, wife, what is my dad taking about? Wife: Well, I wanted Santa to leave a special tree for our daughter that she can put her own ornaments on, so I asked your parents to go over to our house to set it up. But I got a message that Amazon couldn't deliver the tree. Me: Is it a USPS delivery? Wife: Yes, why? Me: Because I put on a hold on our mail when we left like I told you 3 days ago. That thing isn't getting delivered. Wife: Well, maybe your dad can go to the post office and ask nicely if they'll give him our mail. Me (back on the phone): Dad, go home. Thanks for trying. Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
  15. Sorry, it took me a while to eat and review this new fruitcake. Fortunately, you're not missing too much if you don't get a chance to order one of these this year. Thanks to a gift from work, I was able to order a new variety of fruitcake from Goldbelly this year. This one is a 3 pound cake from Eilenberger's Bakery in Palestine, TX. I expected this East Texas offering to be about 20% more racist than other fruitcakes, but otherwise I had high hopes. Packaging & Storage The Eilenberger fruitcake came in a round, green tin with a turn of the century scene on the lid. The design is nice, but the tin itself was thin and flimsy. You can sort of see next to my beer can where the tin was dented in shipping. So unfortunately, I'm not expecting to get much reuse out of the tin. This fruitcake didn't come with much direction on storing it, but we learned as we ate it that it actually dried out fairly quickly once it was opened. Finding a better way to store/seal it might have been helpful. Appearance The top of this fruitcake is absolutely covered with nuts and fruit. That's not surprising since the first 3 ingredients in the fruitcake are pineapple, pecans and cherries. It definitely looks delicious inside the tin. Taste Test As you'd expect based on the ingredient list, this cake is extremely heavy on the fruit. So much fruit! And lots of good sized chunks of nuts. There's actually so much fruit that the cake can collapse a bit when slicing it, so chilling it might have been a good idea. This cake has a really good flavor, definitely centered on the fruit. It's not as dark and complex as Assumption Abbey, but it's not as super sweet as Collin Street. It's somewhere in between those two. There's definitely a cake texture to this one, which I prefer. Because there is so much fruit, the cake tended to crumble a lot and the cake started drying out fairly quickly for some reason. I was often left with a pile of cake-coated fruit that I was trying to scoop up with my fork (see the second photo below). It didn't have the moisture to stick back together. So, overall, the flavor was good but not very complex and there was more crumble than I'd prefer. My wife really liked the flavor of this one. This was a decent cake, but not my favorite so far. This one was also quite a bit pricier at $72 (including $15 for shipping), as opposed to ~$37 for Assumption (including shipping). Collin Street was about $37 last year. As far as I can tell, Eilenberger only ships through Goldbelly, so there's probably a considerable markup in there. It's definitely not good enough to justify being twice as expensive as these other fruitcakes.
  16. My son made this "cross between a cobra and a rattlesnake." Watch out for it in the wild. Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
  17. It wasn't the parking job that caught my attention on this one. Someone must be in a really weird place to decide this is something worth a) constructing and b) mounting in the bed of your truck.
  18. When we went a few years ago, we drove from Seattle to Vancouver then took a ferry to Galiano Island for a few days and another ferry from there to Victoria. I think the ferry actually got into Swartz Bay and then we drove down to Victoria. We had 2 kids (5 and 2) when we went, so factor that into any recommendations. On the drive down to Victoria, we stopped at Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse. We really enjoyed that stop. A little rough with the kids in tow, but great cider. I think they hard a dozen varieties in a flight for us. This might have been the only alcohol we brought home from the trip. I echo what everyone said about Butchart Gardens, it really was amazing. There was also plenty to hold the kids attention. We stayed near the inner harbor, just across the street from the Empress hotel. That whole area is easily walkable and there's lots to see. The water taxis in the harbor put on a choreographed "ballet" with music that is worth watching. The area around Thunderbird Park and the Royal BC Museum was nice. There was a fish & chips stand a bit north of there on the water called Red Fish Blue Fish that was great. We just liked exploring the area and somewhat accidentally strolled about a mile to a farmers market nearby called Moss Street Market. We were pleasantly surprised that farmers markets in Canada can sell beer. There was also a park and playground adjacent to the market for the kids. Funny story, we were walking through Victoria Chinatown and randomly stumbled upon the Mexican heritage festival. There were a dozen Mexicans in Victoria. My Mexican wife whose family is mostly in Laredo and San Antonio thought this was hilarious. We did score some tamales though. A bit out of the way is Fort Rodd Hill and the Fisgard Lighthouse. I can't remember how we ended up here. Must have just been out for a drive and killing some time (maybe trying to get the 2 year old to sleep). Anyway, it's a nice park with a lot of exhibits of the fort and artillery that was active through WWII.
  19. Well, hello there, beautiful. Come here often? Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
  20. Would any of you be willing to share your recipes? I've never tried making my own, but think I might want to give it a show someday.
  21. TLDR: I like fruitcake and took pictures. Growing up, my grandparents and great-grandparents would always have fruitcake in the house for Christmas. It would live on the kitchen table and was up for grabs to pair with your breakfast or a cup of coffee or just as a snack. It generally wasn't for dessert, which was the exclusive domain of pie. Fruitcake always came in a tin, and the tin was always saved for storing and sharing Christmas cookies. As a kid, I didn't have much of an appreciation for fruitcake. I craved straight up sugar, and that's not what fruitcake offered. But, I relished those candied cherries on top and over the years the fruitcake tin on the table became an enduring symbol of Christmas with my family. As I grew up, I eventually learned to appreciate the deliciousness that is fruitcake. It was a quintessential tradition that I could observe passed down from one generation to the next.Over the years, life got complicated and it was difficult to get back home for Christmas. We had fewer opportunities to gather together and that shared fruitcake on the table became a less common sight for me. The family elders passed over the years. My last living great-grandmother passed nearly 20 years ago and my final surviving grandparent (my mom's mother) passed away earlier this year. Last year she buried her last living sibling. This year she buried the first of her daughters. I think that was enough for her. A void's been created that leaves me missing those traditions of Christmases past.Thus, I felt compelled to bring the fruitcake tradition to my nuclear family and create that experience for my own children (now 10 and 6). But, does the fruitcake of my youth deserve to occupy the prominent space on my table as the fruitcake of the future? I wasn't so sure. And so, my search began to discover whether a fruitcake exists that can supplant my grandparents' favorite.Last year I ordered two different fruitcakes and enlisted the family to help me evaluate which is best. The offerings for consideration: #1 Assumption Abbey Fruitcake from Ava, MO - This is the fruitcake my family would always order. Probably because my dad's family was Catholic and they valued the connection to the monks. These are Trappist monks and hence they make Trappist fruitcake. They make good beer and good fruitcake. Apparently there are other Trappists in the US making fruitcake, but this is the only one I've tried. As the traditional fruitcake of my family, it was the first I brought to my own table.#2 Collin Street Bakery Fruitcake from Corsicana, TX - I've lived in Texas more than 30 years and this seems to be the most widely publicized fruitcake in the state. Despite living here so long, I've never tried it myself. After years of driving past their stores, it seems like it's finally time to give the fruitcake a shot.Our experience and observations are shared here with you to help make the world a better place this holiday season. My search for life-changing fruitcake will continue, so please share any recommendations you have!Packaging & StorageAssumption Abbey (AA) showed up in a round, white tin with gold trim. The lid features a simple name and logo for the abbey in black. I'm delighted by the fact that this fruitcake is shelf stable for 2 years, no doubt a result of the booze infusing it. Getting 2 years of utility out of a 2 lb doorstop, followed by a tasty treat is just good value for your dollar.Collin Street Bakery (CSB) came in a round, red tin that felt a bit thinner than the one from AA. The name of the bakery is printed in a stylized white font on the side of the tin. The lid features a festive (some would say busy) collage of Texas related holiday scenes. This fruitcake came with a brochure from the bakery offering an overview of all their products and handling instructions. Sadly, the fruitcake only seemed capable of lasting a few months even if stored in the fridge.Personally, I like the simple, clean packaging from the abbey. This, coupled with the extended shelf life, gives AA the edge in this category. AppearanceInside the tins is a different matter. The AA cake is wrapped around the sides in red wax paper. The cake is dark brown with 4 pecan halves and 4 cherry halves evenly spaced on the top.The CSB cake is wrapped in gold foil. The cake is a bit lighter shade of brown, but it's hard to tell because the top is completely covered in pecans. Several chunks of candied fruit are mixed in among the pecans.The AA cake looks very clean, but the field of pecans was more appetizing on the CSB cake. So CSB takes this category. Taste TestAA is a dark, moist cake with a deep, complex flavor. Chunks of fruit and nuts are evenly spread throughout the cake. The cake itself has just a bit of crumble to it, but holds together nicely. The cake is definitely sweet, but this is balanced with some tart, bitter and roasty flavors from the wine, currants, citrus peel and rum. There's a bit of cinnamon in the cake, but it's not heavily spiced. CSB is a whole different animal. CSB Fruitcake : cake :: circus peanuts : peanutsFrom the moment I sliced this, it obviously had a completely different texture. This was apparent in the tasting as well, where my wife and I felt this ate more like a fudge than a cake. It's a smooth, creamy and sticky texture that doesn't have any sense of crumbs in it. The flavor matched this. It really came across more like candy than the semi-sweet cake that I'm used to. There was no ingredient list provided, but the website brags that pecans are the biggest ingredient along with fruit and honey. That's how it tastes. I would even say it was cloyingly sweet. My kids loved it. And served in small portions like fudge, it worked well. But, I didn't get any of the bite that comes from wine, currants and rum. I wouldn't eat it with my coffee in the morning. The winner is a matter of preference here. If you're going for a no-chocolate, nut fudge, CSB is solid. But I'm looking for something much different and the complexity of the AA was more to my liking. My wife agreed on this one.ConclusionFor my money (BTW, both cakes were ~$38 with shipping), AA is the better cake. Yes, I'm clearly biased because this is what I grew up with and there's a strong nostalgia factor. Don't care. I'm still open to trying something new and different, but I'm hanging on to this one as my favorite for the time being.
  22. Just tried calling Walgreens to schedule my kids but they're still waiting on CDC approval (at least according to the one pharmacist I spoke with). 😒
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