Hard truths about Mitch McConnell | Fun facts about Gerald Ford| Charcuterie news!
michaelestrin.substack.com
Hello situation normies! It’s good to be back after the holiday hiatus. Christina and I went to Florida to see her family and celebrate Christmas. We were home for New Years, then we spent the first week of 2023 in Las Vegas to visit my mom and attend a convention (more on that Sunday).
Hey Michael great post as usual. Especially given you talk about politics which for a political science student's bread and butter lol. Definitely in terms of weather you guys got it good with spending Christmas in Florida. Compared to hear n Canada where Christmas is usually celebrated during freezing cold temperatures (-25 was the temperature for Christmas 2022). Definitley shocked that you're father in law thought Mitch McConnell was a Democrat, although I guess if he's from the election denial or culture war issue wing of the Republican party, they probably think anyone who has a divergent opinion on those issues are "left-wing to them".
Anyways never knew you were a hockey fan, you don't see much of them in the States compared to here in Canada. I'm just hoping the Edmonton Oilers can reproduce that awesome playoff run like hey did last year. The city was electric when it was happening. Also too many good players on the Oilers side.
Nothing special for the holidays. Dinners at home. Watching the fireworks on New Years Eve.
The Toilet Bowl has been suggested, but in line with the post, The Kraft Mac and Cheese Bowl.
No plans for a Mac and Cheese Charcuterie, but at my wife's suggestion, we used some left over take out spaghetti and made it into a strange but tasty Mac and Cheese dish the other night.
My heart started beating faster when I read the headline “Charcuterie News.” But now I am wondering. While I do want that mac n cheese board right here right now, is it really a charcuterie board just because the lady says so? What qualifies as charcuterie these days? Almost anything it seems. I feel perhaps we need to TIGHTEN THINGS UP.
Also, I do wish there were a Cobb Salad Bowl. That would be some good tv.
Happy new year, Rebecca! Haven’t seen the Crown, but loved your comment and I could almost hear the accent. Just curious, what’s horrific about the Mac & cheese board?
Interestingly enough, Grover Cleveland continued to wear a mustache in part to conceal he’d had a top secret surgery -on a yacht just off the coast! The surgery was top secret because he needed to remove a cancerous tumor in his jaw and back then that would have ended his presidency. Politics!
Back in the day, we had a family tradition called “The Toilet Bowl” wherein we played a game of “Calvinball” (football maybe, but actually any game, wherein the rules could be randomly changed so that a particular side/team would always have the advantage and win) in our backyard which was a very small, very bowl shaped, ankle twisting plot of fescue. Everyone (neighbors , friends, grandparents, toddlers) was/were? encouraged to join in and as long as your team could manage to get a ball (sometimes a football other times a croquet ball or even a badminton birdie… we didn’t care) past the swing set and into a trash can… you had a chance of winning! (A roll of toilet paper!)
Happy new year, Michael, and wow, another fabulous read - thank you! But a mac and cheese charcuterie board? The HORROR!
It's reminded me of an episode from series 2 or 3 of 'The Crown' that I was watching over Christmas, and the Queen Mother had the following line spoken in the actress's most cut-glass and Englishest English accent:
'This macaroni and cheese is delicious!'
It might well have been delicious, but that dish has been called 'macaroni cheese' (sans the 'and') in UK since time immemorial, with the 'cheese' part of the name being rather more adjective than noun.
Every Michigan alum knows the Gerald Ford trivia. It's part of the Michigan football indoctrination process: one of our former players became PRESIDENT!!!
2. I think a small tweak to this could make it more palatable: "Why my MAGA-loving FIL is actually a Radical Leftist."
6. I kinda dig the mac & cheese charcuterie board. Seems kid friendly, so I might try it out.
1. Pretty good - best linguine and clam sauce ever (Italian Christmas eve).
2. Warning: if Prince Harry is teaching us anything, it's tread lightly with weird relatives. I suggest referring to your FIL as "an unnamed MAGA crazy who's related to my wife." Or not.
3. No. He would have been a better President without the "WIN" buttons.
4. He might, but a false beard would be better, to cover that nonexistent chin.
Sure, I’d be interested in reading a weird MAGA belief every so often. I think it’s fine to agree with the occasional non-destructive position of an extreme right winger. A broken clock is right twice a day. For example, while I think Josh Hawley is an insurrectionist piece of crap, I agree with him that copyright should be returned to 56 years (though his actual proposal to do it was garbage).
My husband and I were just recently reminiscing/cringing about the days of "Freedom Fries". I love that your culture references don't go over my head, leaving me feeling simultaneously young and hip and incredibly old. 😋 I definitely would like to see more mustaches in the White House. But not before I see a half dozen or more uteruses in there.
I’d be curious to read some of the weird things your father-in-law believes, though maybe that would get too political? I don’t know. However, if anything can reduce the poisonous sting of noxious beliefs, it’s probably your sense of humor 😊
The only thing I know about Gerald Ford is this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1tX6jdoruH8
All time great sketch
Hey Michael great post as usual. Especially given you talk about politics which for a political science student's bread and butter lol. Definitely in terms of weather you guys got it good with spending Christmas in Florida. Compared to hear n Canada where Christmas is usually celebrated during freezing cold temperatures (-25 was the temperature for Christmas 2022). Definitley shocked that you're father in law thought Mitch McConnell was a Democrat, although I guess if he's from the election denial or culture war issue wing of the Republican party, they probably think anyone who has a divergent opinion on those issues are "left-wing to them".
Anyways never knew you were a hockey fan, you don't see much of them in the States compared to here in Canada. I'm just hoping the Edmonton Oilers can reproduce that awesome playoff run like hey did last year. The city was electric when it was happening. Also too many good players on the Oilers side.
Nothing special for the holidays. Dinners at home. Watching the fireworks on New Years Eve.
The Toilet Bowl has been suggested, but in line with the post, The Kraft Mac and Cheese Bowl.
No plans for a Mac and Cheese Charcuterie, but at my wife's suggestion, we used some left over take out spaghetti and made it into a strange but tasty Mac and Cheese dish the other night.
My heart started beating faster when I read the headline “Charcuterie News.” But now I am wondering. While I do want that mac n cheese board right here right now, is it really a charcuterie board just because the lady says so? What qualifies as charcuterie these days? Almost anything it seems. I feel perhaps we need to TIGHTEN THINGS UP.
Also, I do wish there were a Cobb Salad Bowl. That would be some good tv.
Mitch McConnell as the unity boogeyman is the lateral thinking we need to save the nation. I knew you were ready for think tank duty.
Happy new year, Rebecca! Haven’t seen the Crown, but loved your comment and I could almost hear the accent. Just curious, what’s horrific about the Mac & cheese board?
Interestingly enough, Grover Cleveland continued to wear a mustache in part to conceal he’d had a top secret surgery -on a yacht just off the coast! The surgery was top secret because he needed to remove a cancerous tumor in his jaw and back then that would have ended his presidency. Politics!
Back in the day, we had a family tradition called “The Toilet Bowl” wherein we played a game of “Calvinball” (football maybe, but actually any game, wherein the rules could be randomly changed so that a particular side/team would always have the advantage and win) in our backyard which was a very small, very bowl shaped, ankle twisting plot of fescue. Everyone (neighbors , friends, grandparents, toddlers) was/were? encouraged to join in and as long as your team could manage to get a ball (sometimes a football other times a croquet ball or even a badminton birdie… we didn’t care) past the swing set and into a trash can… you had a chance of winning! (A roll of toilet paper!)
Happy new year, Michael, and wow, another fabulous read - thank you! But a mac and cheese charcuterie board? The HORROR!
It's reminded me of an episode from series 2 or 3 of 'The Crown' that I was watching over Christmas, and the Queen Mother had the following line spoken in the actress's most cut-glass and Englishest English accent:
'This macaroni and cheese is delicious!'
It might well have been delicious, but that dish has been called 'macaroni cheese' (sans the 'and') in UK since time immemorial, with the 'cheese' part of the name being rather more adjective than noun.
Every Michigan alum knows the Gerald Ford trivia. It's part of the Michigan football indoctrination process: one of our former players became PRESIDENT!!!
2. I think a small tweak to this could make it more palatable: "Why my MAGA-loving FIL is actually a Radical Leftist."
6. I kinda dig the mac & cheese charcuterie board. Seems kid friendly, so I might try it out.
Hi Michael; Happy New Year!
1. Pretty good - best linguine and clam sauce ever (Italian Christmas eve).
2. Warning: if Prince Harry is teaching us anything, it's tread lightly with weird relatives. I suggest referring to your FIL as "an unnamed MAGA crazy who's related to my wife." Or not.
3. No. He would have been a better President without the "WIN" buttons.
4. He might, but a false beard would be better, to cover that nonexistent chin.
5. How about the "Moe Howard Haircut Bowl"?
6. Nope.
Welcome back, Michael!
Sure, I’d be interested in reading a weird MAGA belief every so often. I think it’s fine to agree with the occasional non-destructive position of an extreme right winger. A broken clock is right twice a day. For example, while I think Josh Hawley is an insurrectionist piece of crap, I agree with him that copyright should be returned to 56 years (though his actual proposal to do it was garbage).
My husband and I were just recently reminiscing/cringing about the days of "Freedom Fries". I love that your culture references don't go over my head, leaving me feeling simultaneously young and hip and incredibly old. 😋 I definitely would like to see more mustaches in the White House. But not before I see a half dozen or more uteruses in there.
I’d be curious to read some of the weird things your father-in-law believes, though maybe that would get too political? I don’t know. However, if anything can reduce the poisonous sting of noxious beliefs, it’s probably your sense of humor 😊