And the New Toilet Paper is...

[Arcadian]

@missy, roughly about the time covid ramped up, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I have no idea why (most people want it, I was like ew, nope!) I got 6 bottles of my favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (White Haven) sitting here and I just have no interest. However I keep looking at bottles of hot sauce...Obvs there's something wrong with me...lol

 

[Matata]

Pizza stones, at least the highly rated ones. Can't find a large rectangular one in stock anywhere and I've a hankering to make some artisan bread.

 

[canuk-gal]

@missy, roughly about the time covid ramped up, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I have no idea why (most people want it, I was like ew, nope!) I got 6 bottles of my favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (White Haven) sitting here and I just have no interest. However I keep looking at bottles of hot sauce...Obvs there's something wrong with me...lol

Arcadian you've truly lost your mind.

 

[Matata]

However I keep looking at bottles of hot sauce...Obvs there's something wrong with me...lol

Whatever you've got I've also got. I've been putting heaps of chipotle in nearly everything I'm eating and drinking. My craving for hot 'n spicy is through the roof.

 

[missy]

@missy, roughly about the time covid ramped up, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I have no idea why (most people want it, I was like ew, nope!) I got 6 bottles of my favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (White Haven) sitting here and I just have no interest. However I keep looking at bottles of hot sauce...Obvs there's something wrong with me...lol

Nothing is wrong with you at all. It's survival instinct I think because drinking alcoholic beverages since Covid 19 entered the picture is riskier than during usual times since alcohol can suppress one's immune system.

Enjoy those bottles of hot sauce because they can *boost* one's immune system!

 

[Slickk]

@missy, roughly about the time covid ramped up, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I have no idea why (most people want it, I was like ew, nope!)

Maybe because alcohol is a depressant and this crap is depressing without any assistance?
I can’t find pasta either. The local grocery store had TP and paper towels but limited to one package.
I also paid $14 for a bottle of sanitizer!! I bought two. Talk about price gouging.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I use free hand sanitizer at the shops!

Every shop has free hand sanitizer that they encourage you to use so I just use some before shipping and when I'm done shopping!

At home I use soap or handwash to wash my hands which is still available.

 

[Arcadian]

Maybe because alcohol is a depressant and this crap is depressing without any assistance?
I can’t find pasta either. The local grocery store had TP and paper towels but limited to one package.
I also paid $14 for a bottle of sanitizer!! I bought two. Talk about price gouging.

14 dollars? lawd.....

 

[Slickk]

14 dollars? lawd.....

Yup and it was some no-name brand that smells awful. Nice size bottle but still...

 

[TooPatient]

Not quite TP level yet, but a rescue just posted about Amazon limiting the number of cases of dog food each customer can buy per month. She said she was limited to 20 in a month. Hearing other people confirm this. (I use 14-18 cases per month for my cats so coming close!)

 

[AGBF]

My daughter's fiancé made a trip to the grocery store after work yesterday and came home with a huge quantity of food. I was absolutely bowled over by one of his finds, however: a box of Bisquick! I couldn't believe he found it! I have been looking for one in stores and on-line ever since the virus hit and on-line the boxes sell for about $30.00 and up plus shipping! Some sell for prices like $60.00. He got this big box for the regular price of $5.99! I was simply in shock!

 

[missy]

My daughter's fiancé made a trip to the grocery store after work yesterday and came home with a huge quantity of food. I was absolutely bowled over by one of his finds, however: a box of Bisquick! I couldn't believe he found it! I have been looking for one in stores and on-line ever since the virus hit and on-line the boxes sell for about $30.00 and up plus shipping! Some sell for prices like $60.00. He got this big box for the regular price of $5.99! I was simply in shock!

YAY!!!! Finally some good news! Enjoy @AGBF, you deserve it!

 

[AGBF]

YAY!!!! Finally some good news! Enjoy @AGBF, you deserve it!

Thanks, missy!

 

[AGBF]

There is another thread in Hangout on bicycles and how people are unable to find them. I posted a link in that thread from today's issue of "The New York Times " about the scarcity of bicycles. Here it is.

Thinking of Buying a Bike? Get Ready for a Very Long Wait (Published 2020)

The United States is facing a shortage of bicycles as anxiety over public transportation and a desire to exercise has sent the demand surging.

www.nytimes.com

Also: I have now found whole wheat flour in one of my local grocery stores, in five pound bags, although they may sell out soon. There were only two bags on the shelf.

 

[lyra]

I actually always ask my daughter or husband "what it's like out there". I can't leave the house at all. I have no idea what pandemic grocery shopping really looks like. I wouldn't even know the protocols. When we make up lists I ask if it's even possible to get some things. I will for instance, never accept seeded grapes as a substitution ever again, lol!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

@missy, roughly about the time covid ramped up, I lost the desire to drink alcohol. I have no idea why (most people want it, I was like ew, nope!) I got 6 bottles of my favorite New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (White Haven) sitting here and I just have no interest. However I keep looking at bottles of hot sauce...Obvs there's something wrong with me...lol

you must be related to my other half !
we go through so much hot sauce here
a bottle of saracha a week plus others

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

baking powder
still can't find it
but thankfully i brought that box of cream of tatar when i saw it as we have a big bottle of baking soda

 

[AGBF]

I got a five pound bag of bread flour at the local grocery store yesterday! It was the real thing at the real price! Only one bag, but I got it. The two bags of whole wheat floue I had seen a day or so before were still on the shelves, too. But there was still scarcity for weird things. No big boxes of kleenex. Restrictions on how much meat one could buy. Drastically reduced supplies of pasta. It's all just hit or miss.

Still. Bread flour!

 

[AGBF]

By the way, I love non-alcoholic Bloody Marys. Whenever I cheat on my Atkins regime, I have one. "The New York Times" had a recipe for one posted a few days ago. Maybe I should post it in this thread since it seems a lot of other women are craving spicy things!

 

[AGBF]

By the way, I love non-alcoholic Bloody Marys.Whenever I cheat on my Atkins regime, I have one. "The New York Times" had a recipe for one posted a few days ago. Maybe I should post it in this thread since it seems a lot of other women are craving spicy things!

 

[AGBF]

Here is the Bloody Mary recipe that can be made with or without vodka.

Bloody Mary Mix Recipe

We’ve made hundreds of thousands of bloody Marys over the decades at Prune, with 11 variations, and this classic base mix has been the stalwart, gleaming engine of them all The lemon juice is what makes it so bright and zingy, and the Sacramento brand tomato juice is clean, with perfect body...

cooking.nytimes.com

Ingredients
For the bloody Mary mix:

• 1 (46-ounce) can Sacramento brand tomato juice (5 3/4 cups)
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Gold’s Prepared Horseradish
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 3 or 4 juicy lemons)
• 1/2 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons Tabasco hot sauce

For serving:

• Ice
• Tito’s Handmade Vodka, for spiking (optional)
• Celery ribs, pimento-stuffed olives and lemon wedges, for garnish

Preparation

1. Whisk together all the bloody Mary mix ingredients, transfer to a bottle and shake well just before using.
2. Fill tall glasses with ice; pour the bloody Mary mix on top.
3. If using the vodka, mix 1/4 cup vodka with 1/2 cup bloody Mary mix in a shaker over ice; shake for 10 hard strokes, strain and pour into each ice-filled glass.
4. Garnish with a leafy interior rib of celery, a wooden skewer of olives and a lemon wedge.

 

[AGBF]

Should bread and flour have their own thread? I am astonished at how much press the topic of flour has engendered. This article in "The New York Times" is about the enormous demand for flour in the UK. It mentions things we have discussed in this thread: the shortage of small bags for retail amounts of flour; the shortage of yeast; people turning to artisanal mills (well, I did that), and so forth. It's a really good and comprehensive article.

Pandemic-Baking Britain Has an ‘Obscene’ Need for Flour (Published 2020)

The Wessex Mill in Oxfordshire, a family business started 125 years ago, is among the British mills striving to meet a surge in demand.

www.nytimes.com

 

[alittlelight]

Actually seeing TP on the regular shelves again at Target. Makes me feel better, haha

 

[pearlsngems]

I grew up making bread by hand, as my mother did, and her mother before her. Then 20+ years ago we bought a bread machine for its convenience. I always bought my various flours in bags, instant yeast in bulk at BJ's, and vital wheat gluten from various sources.

A few years ago when I first tried the NYT No-Knead bread recipe, I wanted to experiment more. I bought 2 large buckets of hard red wheat berries and began grinding them with my old Vitamix 3600, which is a real workhorse. However, the grind in each batch was inconsistent-- some coarse, some fine-- so I switched to using my husband's rejected Caprezzo coffee grinder (it ground too fine for his French press), but that wasn't ideal either. I could only grind a little flour at a time before it overheated, and the grind was just a tad too coarse at best. I looked at flour mills online but was discouraged at the price tag. So I've had these wheat berries just sitting around.

Someone here mentioned a Mockmill. I thought I'd check it out. I found a discount coupon code, and last week my Mockmill 200 arrived. I'm really happy with it. So far I've only ground wheat berries but I plan to try grinding other grains, and legumes, too.

 

[AGBF]

I, also, am a bread baker, but I never ground my own flour. I did notice that kenny does and that he recently started a thread about finding the hard red wheat berries he wanted. I have not, yet, read it. I may do that next. I had not planned to get as deeply into bread as making my own flour (even though I did make my own yeast-sourdough-as a teenager). Maybe we do need a bread thread!

Your post is very interesting!

I grew up making bread by hand, as my mother did, and her mother before her. Then 20+ years ago we bought a bread machine for its convenience. I always bought my various flours in bags, instant yeast in bulk at BJ's, and vital wheat gluten from various sources.

A few years ago when I first tried the NYT No-Knead bread recipe, I wanted to experiment more. I bought 2 large buckets of hard red wheat berries and began grinding them with my old Vitamix 3600, which is a real workhorse. However, the grind in each batch was inconsistent-- some coarse, some fine-- so I switched to using my husband's rejected Caprezzo coffee grinder (it ground too fine for his French press), but that wasn't ideal either. I could only grind a little flour at a time before it overheated, and the grind was just a tad too coarse at best. I looked at flour mills online but was discouraged at the price tag. So I've had these wheat berries just sitting around.

Someone here mentioned a Mockmill. I thought I'd check it out. I found a discount coupon code, and last week my Mockmill 200 arrived. I'm really happy with it. So far I've only ground wheat berries but I plan to try grinding other grains, and legumes, too.

 

[Arcadian]

Yesterday I ventured into BJ's in Royal Palm. They def. changed things around but very little was missing (they did have paper towels just not really good ones...which I needed,... but did not have toilet paper) food wise things looked amazingly good! they even had plenty of meat on hand (but there were limits)

I also saw the big giant jugs of lysol which was...surprising!!

Slowly but surely sanity is returning I think. I nearly went to the Jensen Beach BJ's but its a bit further drive 35 minutes versus 20minutes. I might go next week if I have the downtime... (most people are at the beach these days anyway).

 

[AGBF]

Slowly but surely sanity is returning I think.

Maybe in terms of supplies, but not American behavior. As deaths from covid19 continue to mount (we are now close to 100,000), Trump wants to shift the economy into high gear. My best friend, who grew up with me in the town I still live in, asked me if things were opening up and what I did that was new. (She is in Maine.)

I am taking scientific advice and employing social distancing. I believe the scientists that there will be more deaths. I am sorry that I cannot control what is going on in the rest of my state. The more people who have it, the more chance that someone in my house will bring it home to me.

I also do not wish to see other Americans die in droves, but some of them are making their own choices about how to live. The ones who are truly helpless victims not engaging in rash behavior, have my sympathy, as do all the early victims who caught covid19 through no fault of their own.

 

[Arcadian]

Maybe in terms of supplies, but not American behavior. As deaths from covid19 continue to mount (we are now close to 100,000), Trump wants to shift the economy into high gear. My best friend, who grew up with me in the town I still live in, asked me if things were opening up and what I did that was new. (She is in Maine.)

I am taking scientific advice and employing social distancing. I believe the scientists that there will be more deaths. I am sorry that I cannot control what is going on in the rest of my state. The more people who have it, the more chance that someone in my house will bring it home to me.

I also do not wish to see other Americans die in droves, but some of them are making their own choices about how to live. The ones who are truly helpless victims not engaging in rash behavior, have my sympathy, as do all the early victims who caught covid19 through no fault of their own.

Well I can only tell you about whats happening here. People aren't being douchbags or *******s about wearing masks, and I see more people wearing them than not. I know people think of FL being full of yahoos and its not. Did they open my county too soon? yes I think they did. I can understand why they did, I just didn't happen to agree. In fact, they're still going to shut down much of the boating and beaches in the hardest hit counties for memorial weekend/Day because people can't behave. It will piss people off but will keep them alive to be pissed off.

But in general, people in my area are being very kind to each other and many do take social distancing seriously. plus there's plenty of stores here you can't even go into without a mask. I love seeing that versus the crap I usually see. Is Florida gonna have its weirdos and shitbags and so on? Sure just like any state except ours gets advertised....lol

This is what I mean by some santity is returning. I don't think we have much choice here considering Hurricane season is upon us and we have no choice but to prepare for that.

 

[Tonks]

Barbells.

Adjustable dumbbells.

Home gym fitness supplies in general. All this stuff is sold out everywhere. Rogue hasn’t had barbells or racks in stock for weeks (maybe months). Some of the fitness groups I’m in have people posting alerts whenever any come in, and they’re gone in minutes. Folks are anticipating a long absence from their gyms and many are building home gyms.

 

[AGBF]

Well I can only tell you about whats happening here. People aren't being douchbags or *******s about wearing masks, and I see more people wearing them than not. I know people think of FL being full of yahoos and its not. Did they open my county too soon? yes I think they did. I can understand why they did, I just didn't happen to agree. In fact, they're still going to shut down much of the boating and beaches in the hardest hit counties for memorial weekend/Day because people can't behave. It will piss people off but will keep them alive to be pissed off.

But in general, people in my area are being very kind to each other and many do take social distancing seriously. plus there's plenty of stores here you can't even go into without a mask. I love seeing that versus the crap I usually see. Is Florida gonna have its weirdos and shitbags and so on? Sure just like any state except ours gets advertised....lol

This is what I mean by some santity is returning. I don't think we have much choice here considering Hurricane season is upon us and we have no choice but to prepare for that.

This virus was forced on all or us, Arcadian. We are also all subject to the orders of our various governors/mayors and the way the president played this. I was being too harsh. In a natural disaster almost everyone is a victim. I am not sure I will give Trump the status of victimhood.