Pant Thread (because we need more panting)

[RoadieRich]

Bah. Reading misses out on city status again.

Originally, to become a city, you needed a Cathedral. I think that rule still applies.

It's not commonly known, but a cathedral isn't defined as a building: it's the throne within the building that's important. So all you need to do is find a friendly bishop, and assign a chair in a church to them. That church then becomes a cathedral, and bam, city status.

Incidentally, the principle is related to the chairs you hear about in Universities (e.g. Stephen Hawkins formerly held the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge.)

Spoiler:

[Diadem]

Bah. Reading misses out on city status again.

Originally, to become a city, you needed a Cathedral. I think that rule still applies.

What country is that? Because that would imply very few cities.

Here in The Netherlands originally a city was any town that had gotten city rights from the local ruler. City rights were a set of rights having to do with commerce and defence. The most important one was the right to build a city wall. So historically a city is any town that has a city wall.

The smallest cities in The Netherlands are only a few hundred inhabitants. Meanwhile our seat of government, and 2nd largest town in the country, is officially a village. Not that that anyone still cares about that historical divide. These days a city is pretty much anything that is big enough to be called a city.

[RoadieRich]

Bah. Reading misses out on city status again.

Originally, to become a city, you needed a Cathedral. I think that rule still applies.

What country is that? Because that would imply very few cities.

UK, I think that was kind of the point. And still applies as in, "if you have a cathederal, you are automatically a city", not that that's the only way.

[Whelan]

Bah. Reading misses out on city status again.

Originally, to become a city, you needed a Cathedral. I think that rule still applies.

What country is that? Because that would imply very few cities.

UK, I think that was kind of the point. And still applies as in, "if you have a cathederal, you are automatically a city", not that that's the only way.

The smallest city in the UK has a population less than 2000 people.
The City of London is the third smallest City, with just over 7000 residents.

[emceng]

This day just keeps getting better. I cut my thumb so badly I think I went into shock.

[Jumble]

Bah. Reading misses out on city status again.

Originally, to become a city, you needed a Cathedral. I think that rule still applies.

What country is that? Because that would imply very few cities.

UK, I think that was kind of the point. And still applies as in, "if you have a cathederal, you are automatically a city", not that that's the only way.

The smallest city in the UK has a population less than 2000 people.
The City of London is the third smallest City, with just over 7000 residents.

Yeah, I grew up near Truro, capital city of Cornwall, with 20,000 people and a cathedral! However, when i workd there Reading (population 232,000) did count Elvis amongst its residents (is he still there?) and the lone piper on the roof of the yellow pages building at lunch time. not to mention Sweeney Todd's pie shop. Happy days.....

By the way, thanks to everyone for the good wishes. My mum is out of ICU and is on a general CCU ward. She's off the transfusion, off the morphine and is demanding food and the opportunity to sit in a proper chair to read. All of which I count as a good sign. They make these Cornish biddies proper tough!

[SurgicalSteel]

Some Fridays, most Fridays event, I hate lving next to a highscool with a foot ball team.

[Jave D]

The members and supporters of Fox Nation should secede from the United States and stew in their own little theocratic regressive dictatorship instead of polluting my country with their slack-jawed, mind-numbing stupidity. They're a fucking cancer on the world.

[Giant Speck]

Well, with that kind of attitude, you aren't much better.

[The Scyphozoa]

It's a rant thread, Speck.

[pseudoidiot]

*pant

[Jave D]

Well, with that kind of attitude, you aren't much better.

The phenomenon I'm describing - well, ranting about - is a lot worse than a mere bad attitude.

[Giant Speck]

It's a rant thread, Speck.

I was ranting, too. Duh.

[Dark Avorian]

I fucking hate it when people meta rant about corrective rants on doubly ranty mcranty pants, and now I"m fucking doing it and typing this fucking thing because WAAAAAAARGH!

[The Scyphozoa]

Having fun, are we?

[Giant Speck]

In other news, nothing ruins a good mood faster than a couple depressing e-mails from my mother.

[It Should Be Real]

*hug!* And nothing brings a good mood back like an e-hug from a stranger, right? ...Right?

[roband]

So apparently you're meant to cook lasagna sheets before putting them in the sauce...

I feel really fuckin' stupid.

[bigglesworth]

Depends on the sheet. Most supermarket brand ones are pre-cooked and cook in the lasagne.

[felltir]

roband, you're the fucking KING of lasagne.

[Samik]

So apparently you're meant to cook lasagna sheets before putting them in the sauce...

I feel really fuckin' stupid.

Once, when moving, I had an ancient whole chicken in the freezer, and decided that it would be better to cook it and eat it, over the few days prior to the move, than just move it from one freezer in one house to another freezer in another house, where it would continue getting older.


I had never cooked a whole chicken before. I realized you probably were supposed to thaw them first, but decided to wing it / be lazy, and just start cooking it on a really low temperature, to effect a quicker thaw, and then crank up the temp later.


This choice in and of itself almost certainly would have come back to haunt me. Add in, however, being unaware that chickens often come stuffed with a sack of giblets that you are supposed to remove before cooking, and you wind up with a chicken that is carbonized on the outside and solid ice on the inside.




I still managed to eat most of it.

[roband]

roband, you're the fucking KING of lasagne.

Why, thanks. A young king, perhaps. Still making mistakes, learning. But one day I will be great and mighty.

And Samik, that's hilarious

[The Scyphozoa]

I almost wish I had more significant problems in my life, so that I could blame someone, because the only major problems in my life right now are all my fault. Namely, inconceivable procrastination and the stressed caused by that.

[folkhero]

It's the first day of Spring and I get to celebrate with 2 fucking feet of snow. That asshole groundhog lied to me. At least my neighbor had the good sense to move to a warmer climate and sold his snow thrower for cheap.

[emceng]

So apparently you're meant to cook lasagna sheets before putting them in the sauce...

I feel really fuckin' stupid.

Yeah, it depends on the noodles. Some in the store are 'pre-cooked' or something like that. Most require cooking before being used.

[Steax]

I had the inverse issue when I first started cooking: I thought the "instant" lasagna sheet boxes somehow contained lasagna and all the sauces, and was severely saddened when I realized it just meant "instant lasagna sheets".

[meridian]

Damn. Now I may have to make lasagna. I was going to make something spring-like today in celebration, but PEOPLE CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT Las..

Oh, hey. Eggplant instead of noodles might work out lovely and satisfy both needs.

[emceng]

Oh, and to clarify - all lasagna(finished product) will require cooking. Just some noodles will require pre-cooking in boiling water first. They become limp and rubbery, and then are used to create a masterpiece of culinary art. Which then goes in the oven.

[Steax]

My first attempt with lasagna was horrid, but the cool thing about lasagna is you can mess it up and get stuff all over the place, and it'll still more or less be edible and taste like lasagna.

And when in doubt, more cheese.

[DaBigCheez]

My first attempt at "cooking" lasagna was rather interesting. You see, I was in school at the time (middle or high school), and my parents both had to work that day, but had prepared a lasagna and given me instructions to place it in the oven upon my arrival at home.

So, I get home from school, search around for the lasagna tray - ah, there it is! Grab the pan and lid, put it in the oven, crank the temperature to the appropriate level, and go off to do my own thing.

About an hour later, my parents call. "Did you put the lasagna in the oven?" "Yeah, about an hour ago." "Did you take the plastic wrap off first?" "What plastic wrap? Was there some under the lid I should have removed?" "...What lid? There was no lid on the...oh dear."

Apparently what I'd *actually* done is put the recently-baked cake into the oven, for an hour, at 425F. Surprisingly, it wasn't half-bad; the frosting all melted and soaked down into the cake, making it very heavy and rather moist for having been cooked so long. I'm not sure I'd deliberately make it again, but hey, it was at least edible!

(I did then put the actual lasagna in )

[roband]

And when in doubt, more cheese.

Fuck lasagna, this is LIFE ADVICE

[Shivahn]

I had a recipe once that told me to grate the mozzarella. About a minute of that was enough for me to say "fuck it, I'm cubing you instead."

Of course, it ended up melting anyway, making me pretty annoyed with the initial instructions.

[roband]

Ahh, that made me chuckle. Mozzarella is a strange cheese. Tasty, but weird.

[Роберт]

I had a recipe once that told me to grate the mozzarella. About a minute of that was enough for me to say "fuck it, I'm cubing you instead."

Of course, it ended up melting anyway, making me pretty annoyed with the initial instructions.

Grating mozzarella shouldn't be that hard, depending on what you have.

[wam]

And when in doubt, more cheese.

Fuck lasagna, this is LIFE ADVICE

I would like to second this!

[Shivahn]

I had a recipe once that told me to grate the mozzarella. About a minute of that was enough for me to say "fuck it, I'm cubing you instead."

Of course, it ended up melting anyway, making me pretty annoyed with the initial instructions.

Grating mozzarella shouldn't be that hard, depending on what you have.

The cheese was soft so it caught in the grater, so basically all that would happen was the grater would embed itself and cut through a centimeter of cheese, then it was deep enough that the entire piece of cheese would just warp itself to absorb the stress. It was just not good.

[dubsola]

Yeah, when it's like that you can just cut it up with a knife much more quickly. It doesn't really matter, as long as the cheese is reasonably distributed throughout the lasagne.

I made lasagne when drunk once, which was silly. I was dipping the sheets in very hot water to soften them, which was time consuming. I got tired of doing them one by one, and started doing 3 or 4 at at time, which made them stick together. Because they were so hot I couldn't separate them, and ended up putting some of them into the lasagne stuck together. It still tasted good.

[roband]

So I checked, and they WERE no-cook sheets. So why the hell did it go so badly?

Ah well. I have reasons to post in the 'Awesome' thread, so it all balances out

[emceng]

Grah, frustration. Was riding this high of anticipation the past few days. Then it all comes crashing back to reality. Fuck reality. Reality sucks.

[Yakk]

So I checked, and they WERE no-cook sheets. So why the hell did it go so badly?

Did you soak them?