Wow! That is so awesome and I’m super jealous! I discovered a park semi-close to me last spring that has a bit of a Mallard population, and apparently seasonal Gadwalls. As you might imagine, they’re not super interested in most humans, but still super fun to watch.

What got you into that? How long have you been doing it? What kind of ducks?

Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind! I’ve used store bought vegetable broth and/or olive brine in the past.

tamalada

I’ve never heard that word before! Looking it up, I see that my family has essentially been having an annual tamalada for probably close to 10 years now. Grandma used to make them all on her own, and since she doesn’t have anything written down, it’s been a joint effort to make sure the recipe lives on. The family recipe is central American, so they’re a bit different than Mexican tamales, but I do enjoy both!

I also did a side project last year to make vegan masa for the few vegan/kosher guests we have, and then I usually do a second traditional batch when I’m back home so I can practice, make notes, and have some to share with my local friends. It’s definitely a lot of work, usually a 2-3 day project, but it does get easier with practice, and 1-3 assistants.

My main reasoning is that I just wanted to try making it from scratch at least once, just for the experience. A secondary reason is that I guess I’m technically looking for “manteca de puerco”, which has more pork flavor than the shelf stable lard available at the closest grocery stores, so I have to make a special trip to get the right stuff anyway, and I’m just exploring my options as to how to get a hold of the necessary ingredients.

Where I grew up, there’s multiple huge Mexican grocery stores, so it’s easy to get exactly what I need in one stop, but where I live now, I have to go to multiple stores to get everything, and still have to make do with some minor substitutions (eg. frozen banana leaves instead of fresh).

I did eventually find a store that said they’d have some for me tomorrow, and said they’d put aside about 10lb! I think I only need about 5lb, but depending on what they’re charging, I might just take it all.

I’m not familiar with Detroiters. I’ll try to check it out.

Thanks! I did finally find a store that will be setting aside way more than I probably need tomorrow. One of the interesting findings as I called around was that Location A and Location B of the same chain would give me different answers, so I think a lot of it may just be employee knowledge/interest.

I’m making tamales, and while I will be buying a big hunk of pork for them, it won’t have enough fat to make enough lard, plus I also wanted to make the lard ahead of time, since it doesn’t need to be super duper fresh. Looking at my notes from last year, I used about 7lb pork shoulder and 2lb lard. The thing is, I asked around about it last year and had multiple butchers say it would be no problem, so I was caught off guard when the staff at those same stotes all said no now. Anyway, I did finally find a butcher that will be saving the fat trimmings for me tomorrow.

Wow! I don’t know where you live, but where I live, meats generally have a “sell by” date, not a “use by” date, and I very often see meats that have almost reached their “sell by” date in the discount bin. Also, I was recently visiting a town where crabbing is a popular activity, and some of the grocery stores sell meat that’s past it’s expiration date as crab bait at a significant mark down.

The needless waste is so frustrating. One explanation that I’ve heard is that allowing employees take “waste” merchandise may incentivize employees to create more “waste”, but I’m not sure why donating the “waste” would be a problem.

As another commenter mentioned, it may not be truly sent to the landfill, but sent to some sort of scrap processing facility.

https://lemmy.zip/comment/15409560

After calling around more, at least one other store told me that they use the fat trimmings for other things, such as sausages.

That’s awesome!

I did get a small bit of pork lard from another store today, but they basically told me it was a one time thing. I was definitely hoping it would be free since it’s otherwise garbage, but I also wasn’t surprised that they charged a small fee for it. But then again, it’s a national chain, not some small, local shop. The “no code = trash” store is also a national chain, so I’m a little surprised by the differences.

Wow, that’s crazy! I actually worked at a Subway for a while, and we definitely had an “extra meat” button, but as long as the manager wasn’t around, we could get away with lots of freebies. I think the only things that were actually inventoried, and therefore had to be paid for, were bread and drink cups.

This meant that we could go crazy with our shift sandwiches. As long as we rang in the “sandwich” part, the add ons didnt matter. We could have all the fountain soda we wanted in our own cups, but if we wanted a paper cup, we had to pay full price for the cup.

I also recall a story where someone’s friend came in with a loaf of bread (French loaf or something from the grocery store next door, basically a mini party sub) in the evening, and the employee made them a free (giant) sandwich.

Yeah, I might try again by going in person if I don’t have luck elsewhere. I have a few leads, but found no code = trash to be mildly infuriating.

One of the other markets around here said they can offer lots of beef tallow, and suggested I try some of the Asian markets, but the challenge is that most of those are a hassle to get to via public transit. I did find at least one other that says they can provide pork fat on Saturday, and I still have a few other places to call too. Worst case, I make a special trip to the Mexican market to buy rendered lard. Just wanted to try rendering it myself this time, and found it super frustrating that no code = trash.

I hope you’re right, but I’m in the US, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s only true elsewhere.

I’ve been asking around for a while in order to plan for my holiday cookiing, and got a small amount from another store this morning, but when I asked about getting more another day, they basically said they were doing me a favor and wouldn’t be able to provide more. The reasoning they gave me was that most of the pork they receive now is pretrimmed, but they did say that they could provide lots of beef fat trimmings, if that’s what I wanted. I’m sure that would be close enough (for central American tamales), but I’m already modifying the family recipe a decent amount to work with what I can get locally, so I’m hesitant to make more modifications when I do still have some less convenient options available to acquire the proper ingredients.

I specifically asked for the meat department, so it was whoever picked up the phone in the meat department, but they did put me on hold to ask someone else.

Those are getting harder and harder to find. I’ve had a number of occasions now where I went directly to a brand’s website or even their physical store in an attempt to avoid Amazon, only to receive the product in an Amazon box delivered by an Amazon courier anyway.

The most recent physical store was shoes: I found a size/style that fit well, but wanted a different color. I ordered the preferred color through the in store salesperson, but it was still fulfilled by Amazon.

Drives me nuts too! Signal at least has a toggle for it, so the user can decide. I wish more apps would do the same, maybe with a pop up warning explaining the risks.

I wouldn’t say this is my favorite TV episode ever, but my favorite episode from a specific show that I don’t see mentioned elsewhere: Corporate “Natural Beauty” (Season 2, Episode 3). It pokes fun at the different expectations, etc., that men and women face, particularly in the workplace.

The opening scene shows the female character going through her long morning routine, with occasional cuts to the male character repeatedly hitting the snooze button before rolling out of bed and spending 30 seconds getting dressed. When they each arrive at the office, he’s complimented on his appearance, and she’s told that she looks tired.