(no subject)

[the_rck]

I have a bunch of things I want to pre-order from Amazon, but I hesitate because I always do the free shipping thing, and that means waiting until the last item comes out before getting any of them. I don't want to wait on the one coming out in April (the novel Diana Wynne Jones left partially completed that has been finished by her sister) for the one coming out in October (Rick Riordan's next book), and three of the items I want don't have set release dates according to Amazon (two Avatar: the Last Airbender graphic novels and season 2 of Legend of Korra). If I could drive, I'd probably just pre-order all of these at Barnes & Noble and go pick them up as they come in. As it stands, that's just not feasible.

I've set up a spreadsheet to do a point by point, side by side comparison between the middle school and the (still very vague) program at Cordelia's current school. Right now, the middle school wins on all counts but accessibility. There are still too many question marks about the new program, and I have no idea who to talk to to get answers. I'm not even sure the school district has answers yet. What I have seen from the district leads me to believe that, if we apply, Cordelia's sure to get in-- Kids from her school are being grandfathered in to the new program so that nobody will absolutely have to go elsewhere. I think they don't expect demand to be really high the first year or so.

I had a pollster call last night. He mumbled, so it was hard to understand him sometimes. The issue he was focused on is a proposed millage for special education. Voters approved a millage some time ago, but state law rolled it back so that only part of the millage took effect. The school district is putting it to the voters to restore the money the state took away. The funds for special education have to come from somewhere. If the millage doesn't pass, the funds will come from the district's general operating fund which will mean more cuts for other programs.

I think the poll was intended to get people to oppose the millage. There was a lot of focus on whether or not certain arguments against the millage were convincing. Parent and liberal that I am, I stood firm in favor of the millage. We have to fund our schools somehow, and the state isn't doing it. (One of the arguments against the millage was that the state and the federal government should be paying for special education programs since they mandate them. That would be great if they did, but they're not going to. I remained unconvinced.)

On his way home last night, Scott picked up a kit for covering our chicken in bread crumbs. (Shake 'n' Bake was nowhere to be seen on the shelves at the grocery store. Do they even still make that?) It worked to keep the chicken moist, and Cordelia ate hers without complaining. It was, however, bacon flavored which didn't really work for me or Scott. I found a recipe for homemade shake and bake stuff on AllRecipes, but it requires bread crumbs and doesn't say much about how best to make those. The bread we make doesn't tend to crumble easily. We might have to buy bread to make crumbs.

Comments

[wyldbutterflies]

FWIW, They do still make Shake 'n' Bake. I got the one in our cupboard at our local spartan store (VGs). And I am pretty sure they sell it at Meijer.

[the_rck]

Scott couldn't find it at the local Kroger. He says he looked all over for it. He came home with something similar made by Kraft, and I'd have thought that that would be next to the Shake 'n' Bake. Apparently not.

We're probably going to look into buying bread crumbs and making our own mix.

[kyrielle]

You can also buy bread crumbs, although that's a bit of silliness.

When I've ordered from Amazon with free shipping, pre-orders have shipped separately - but I think I've only done it with one pre-order per order, and it's been a long time since I've done it with the $25 free shipping, so it may have changed.

BTW - Amazon has Shake'n'Bake, although a lot of the packages are very large supplies for not-cheap. There are some smaller ones.

[the_rck]

Amazon used to ship whatever was on hand and then ship the pre-order separately when it came out, but that changed some time last year. Now, with the free shipping, they hold the entire order until the pre-ordered item comes out. I've managed to shake things loose by later placing an order with no pre-orders. When you do that, they ship the stuff from the other order in the same shipment.

Oh, and the threshold for free shipping is now $35 rather than $25. They're trying to get more people to use Prime.

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I find shake and bake on the baking aisle near the cooking oil.

[the_rck]

I don't know where Scott looked. He came home with something similar made by Kraft, and I'd have expected that to be in the same place as Shake and Bake. I'll mention the baking aisle to Scott and see if he looked there.

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I'm distrustful of our grocery story set up right now. They changed everything and now Bisquick is in the baking aisle by the flour while all the other pancake mixes are by the syrup. So frustrating!

[the_rck]

I suppose, technically, Bisquick isn't just for pancakes. My mother used it exclusively for biscuits when I was growing up. She didn't use a mix for pancakes, ever. That may be their rationale. Where is the Jiffy Mix?

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I know there was jiffy pancake mix near the syrup. Maybe it was on the baking aisle too, but I don't know.

[lady_songsmith]

Also bread crumbs, seasoned and not, can usually be purchased at the grocery store.

[the_rck]

We'll look for those, unseasoned most likely. We're very picky about our seasoning. We rely heavily on rosemary, sage and thyme with a little bit of dill from time to time. Oregano and basil make me sick, so we avoid them, and there are a bunch of spicy seasonings that I also have to avoid (and Cordelia dislikes them). Garlic and onion are generally safe. Ginger is something Scott and I like but that Cordelia dislikes.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Have Scott look for japanese breac crumbs, also known as panko bread crumbs (that's not a brand name but a type of bread crumb usually in the baking aisle near the flour and such) they are very fine don't get soggy and usually come unseasoned and make a delicious breading/coating. I usually put about 2/3 bread crumbs 1/3 instant potato flakes in the mix I put on chicken or fish or whatever I'm making, the potato flakes give a nice taste and texture and tend to hold flavor a bit better. I have found them both at Walmart and Kroger.

http://www.chow.com/food-news/54616/how-is-panko-different-from-breadcrumbs/

[jss]

I'll second the recommendation for panko. I use the unseasoned stuff on my lemon-artichoke chicken dish and have found the Kikoman brand of 'em at both Busch's and Meijer's.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I think the pollster was legit, and from this:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/02/talks_emerging_to_put_headlee.html

[the_rck]

I didn't doubt that he was legit-- I just wondered which side of the issue he was pushing. There seemed to be a lot more examples of arguments against than arguments for.