OT: General Off Topic Thread [No Politics, Race, Religion, etc.]

[jschligs]

Blue cheese is for the devil.

[ReasonablySober]

I hated blue cheese growing up. My gateway was my dad's typical salad dressing order at a restaurant ("french and blue cheese, please"), and a recipe I saw once for steaks stuffed with blue cheese crumbles.

Also I became an adult and realized ranch is for children.

[RiotPunch]

Nah, a good house made ranch is king. Blue Cheese is a moldy dip with an ego, forces its way to center stage of any dish.

Edit: I also stand by ketchup, despite the great Obama saying it should not be consumed by anyone over the age of 8.

[jute2003]

Nah, a good house made ranch is king. Blue Cheese is a moldy dip with an ego, forces its way to center stage of any dish.

Edit: I also stand by ketchup, despite the great Obama saying it should not be consumed by anyone over the age of 8.

Spend my whole life avoiding moldy cheese because it's moldy cheese just to have someone lie to me about the white cheese with the mold being delicious. Nasty stuff

Ketchup needs to be used in very small quantities.

[MickeyDavis]

Love ketchup

[MikeIsGood]

I don't like blue cheese on its own, but it's delightful in things - including dips. Cobb salad? Hell yeah, gimme that mold.

[Mags FTW]

I never actively seek out or add blue cheese to anything, but if it's in a salad or something like that I don't mind it. Same with feta.

[Dick Tate]

[Ryan5UW]

I don't like blue cheese on its own, but it's delightful in things - including dips. Cobb salad? Hell yeah, gimme that mold.

It's especially delightful in the trash, where it belongs.

[jschligs]

Don't even get me started on the ranch vs blue cheese on buffalo wings. It's ranch, and ranch only. Fight me.

[KidA24]

Don't even get me started on the ranch vs blue cheese on buffalo wings. It's ranch, and ranch only. Fight me.

[Mags FTW]

Anything from Mrs Dash is without salt, for quick and easy.

Yeah, I have some of that and some Magic Seasoning. The problem I am having is it seems the salt-free stuff is really coarse and just falls of the seeds once I bag them. The best concoction I've made to far is chili powder, black pepper, and a pinch of garlic salt.

Spice grinder.

Garam Masala might be a good jam.

Other thoughts: Chili and lime zest

Nutritional yeast with Italian seasoning and garlic powder


1 teaspoon of curry powder, ½ teaspoon of turmeric, ½ teaspoon of cumin, and ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper (adjust to taste)

Ended up going pretty basic with today's batch. 1/4 tsp of garlic salt, splash of garlic powder, splash of onion powder, bit of black pepper. Is pretty good, but will use more of the powders in the next batch.

[MissKhriddleton]

Anybody have a daycare they recommend or tips for finding a place? Looked at two yesterday and they kinda wigged me out with how cluttered and chaotic they seemed. You guys do in home? Nanny? And I knew costs were astronomical but I am still struggling to wrap my head around that part of it.

[jschligs]

Anybody have a daycare they recommend or tips for finding a place? Looked at two yesterday and they kinda wigged me out with how cluttered and chaotic they seemed. You guys do in home? Nanny? And I knew costs were astronomical but I am still struggling to wrap my head around that part of it.

My brother had a reallllly bad experience with in-home, so much so that I will never do it. I just don't want to risk it with my children. I like daycare with cameras watching to make sure no funny business happens.

When we moved to Milwaukee area we looked up 7 different ones online. I scheduled tours for all of them in one day. We went to 2 and hated them, the third one was amazing. We signed up on the spot. Looked at the other 4 but nothing came close. To me, I'll pay a little extra.

That said, daycares are always chaotic. Kids screaming, stuff all over. But finding the most cleanly, with a good lines of communication, with teachers that felt like they cared, and a new-ish building was important. I want to know when I say something to them, or ask for a change, it's made.

We ended up going to a place in Brookfield and we've loved it the last 9 months for our 2 year old and 4 year old. It's 3720 a month which is relatively high, but worth every single penny. What's funny is one of the Kindercare's in Brookfield was just as expensive but the building was 50 years older, the rooms were chaos even more, and it just felt dumpy.

If you're in the suburbs of MKE I'd be happy to send my list and notes in a PM.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Anybody have a daycare they recommend or tips for finding a place? Looked at two yesterday and they kinda wigged me out with how cluttered and chaotic they seemed. You guys do in home? Nanny? And I knew costs were astronomical but I am still struggling to wrap my head around that part of it.

Things to consider outside of "Will they actually take of my kid":
-How close is the DC to where you live/work (When your kid has a temperature, it makes a big difference running to pick them up and getting back for a meeting)
-How strict are they with sick kids Daycare during covid was pretty loose. They would give you heads up if the kid was technically had a fever but didnt put it in the app. New day care sends kid home immediately and expect you there in 30 min.
-What hours they have and how strict they are. I think technically they can't have a kid for only 9 hours but if you drop off at 745 and cant pick them up until 515, is the day care gonna... well... care. Also some open at 6:30, 7, 730, 8...... if you HAVE to be at your desk at 8 or sometimes have early morning meetings (Lots of meetings with european co-workers) it can be a PITA trying to time meetings and getting kids ready.
-What is there CC policy? If it is 3% or less, really look into credit cards. We get about 15 new CCs a year with the $35k of daycare plus other family expenses. The daycare payment stings a little less when it is paying for all your flights on the holidays.


We did renaissance downtown initially because we both worked downtown as of March 2020 but ended up never working downtown while he was there from August 2020-August 2024. We kept driving 1 RT 2x a day since we really liked the teachers and set-up. Moved to one in Glendale only because of 4k wrap around care and it is ok. They try hard but I dont like it as much TBH.


Side-note: Day care teachers are some of the most underpaid workers despite how insanely expensive it is. Doing the math, you can only have 4 kids at the youngest age per teacher. Even with each kid being $20k a year, the whole pie is only $80k. Considering they have to pay for rent, admin, food, insurance (which i bet is crazy high), activities, employee benefits, etc it just isnt really possible to pay them more then $35k, which seem really low for someone responsible for 4 tiny little babies.

Side-Note2: Due to the unfortunately low salaries, DC teachers actually are great babysitters. I heard the going rate in Northshore area is $20/hr for a HSer. We had my kids day care teacher ask for $12 (we bumped it up). Another charged $20 but she cleaned the whole house, as well...and again you are getting a professional child care worker and someone who knows the kid for pretty much the same price as your neighbors kid with zero experience.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Its insane to me how bad some people are at responding to group chats/making plans. In a FF league with ~10 guys and it is pulling teeth finding a draft time slot. Admittedly, i'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where i text a ton and wanted to block off a time 2 months ago. But we are 3 weeks away and only 4 of us have actually responded with anything on availability. I just don't know how people can be on a group chat, see 4 people messaging about what dates work/dont work and just ignore it.

[MickeyDavis]

Holy cow how prices have risen (I guess everything has though). We were paying $140 a week for a very nice place (that isn't there anymore). I remember that some of it was tax deductible. Some good advice above, it's an important decision.

[MikeIsGood]

Its insane to me how bad some people are at responding to group chats/making plans. In a FF league with ~10 guys and it is pulling teeth finding a draft time slot. Admittedly, i'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where i text a ton and wanted to block off a time 2 months ago. But we are 3 weeks away and only 4 of us have actually responded with anything on availability. I just don't know how people can be on a group chat, see 4 people messaging about what dates work/dont work and just ignore it.

Huge pet peeve of mine is the 'I don't want to commit to plans for [x time] because I don't know what I'll be doing then' approach some people take. Yes, you do know. We're literally making plans about it.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Its insane to me how bad some people are at responding to group chats/making plans. In a FF league with ~10 guys and it is pulling teeth finding a draft time slot. Admittedly, i'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where i text a ton and wanted to block off a time 2 months ago. But we are 3 weeks away and only 4 of us have actually responded with anything on availability. I just don't know how people can be on a group chat, see 4 people messaging about what dates work/dont work and just ignore it.

Huge pet peeve of mine is the 'I don't want to commit to plans for [x time] because I don't know what I'll be doing then' approach some people take. Yes, you do know. We're literally making plans about it.

I'm trying to be patient because there may be a reason (work schedule comes out 2 weeks in advance, kid might have something that weekend, etc). That's totally cool, but at least give us a sense of where you are at ("i will just draft remotely" ---- to me defeats the whole purpose of a FF if you dont get together or text each other, "I'll let you know in 2 weeks", "chance I will be traveling for work that day")....that I can at least work with.

[jschligs]

My last job had daycare onsite for $100 per kid a week. Boy was it a shock going from $10,000/year to $45,000/year.