Comments by "Serai3" (@Serai3) on "Townsends" channel.

  1. The whole "bathe every day" thing is relatively recent. It's also very bad for the environment, wasting an enormous amount of water.
    132
  2. +Joseph Kim Yes, the wine was mixed with myrrh, which was widely used as an anaesthetic.
    97
  3. Some reason why you're screaming, dude?
    85
  4. +BlueHen123 I see you've never been to the Southwest.
    46
  5. Looks like we've got a true believer here. No point in trying to present facts - he'll just double down.
    40
  6. It would be to us, but remember that they were accustomed to each other's odors and wouldn't have thought it that big a thing.
    22
  7. Oh, I see we've got a climate denier idiot here. Nice try, Sparky. Most of us actually know something about science, though, so you can take your meme theories and go back to the playground.
    14
  8. Are these recipes available in written form anywhere? I looked on your website but couldn't find any recipes there.
    12
  9. Especially given how much black coffee and beans they scarfed down!
    11
  10. Read the novel "Perfume" by Patrick Suskind. It's about exactly that. After reading that, I would never ever want to go back in time to that. Horrifying beyond belief.
    9
  11. A grilled cheese made of hard, stale bread and moldy cheese? Um, you go ahead, thanks. I'll pass.
    9
  12. +KatJaguar1122 Who's Aaron? And why is he hiding in my molasses?
    8
  13. It sounds like they ate anything for breakfast back then.
    7
  14. He had a lot of questions, and as he said, you could write a whole book on the subject. Why don't you try doing your own research if it interests you so much? There's this place called a "public library" that can help you with that.
    7
  15. +Lady Grey Oh, Christ, another idiot. People, listen up: whenever anyone throws the word "toxin" around without any backup or explanation of just WHAT they're talking about, you can dismiss them completely. They're ignorant asshats.
    7
  16. I know what you mean, Jon. It's frustrating. There are people who will take things badly no matter what is said. Or take things as being comments on whatever they're focused on whether it has anything to do with it or not. The times are tense and people are freaked out, and in times like this, there's a tendency to view everything via the lens of the tension of the times. But you know what? What you're seeing is people involved in history - the history that's being made _now_. Look at it that way and it might not be so frustrating when it appears. Nah, it'll probably still be frustrating. But history isn't just in the past, after all. It's here in the present, and off in the future, always being made. And almost never peacefully or happily! (History only looks wonderful and attractive from the outside. From the inside, it's just like the time anyone lives in.) Regardless, I know your pain. I ran a forum for years and the only way I was able to keep it peaceful and fun and a haven was to have the rules posted clearly and use the banhammer mercilessly. Someone has to be the gatekeeper, and if your party is turning into a brawl, you have to start throwing the rioters out, more's the pity. I love the work you do here. I don't comment often, mainly because your explanations are so good that I don't usually have anything to ask! But your videos are one of the things that make my day, and being basically housebound, you really help me deal with my life. Thank you so much, and I'll keep watching for sure. (I've recommended your channel a number of times, just sayin'.) Fuerza! P.S. I said this in a comment below, but I'll say it to you here - I think the problem happened because most people don't know what a fool is anymore, other than the epithet. So "orange fool" is a phrase that has no meaning to most people other than an insult. I had no idea that title was controversial because I did know what a fool was before I saw the video, so I got the title right away. (Especially because of those quote marks!) That's what happens when history and literature are not given their due in schools - people have no context in situations like this, so misunderstandings abound.
    6
  17. I didn't realize what he was talking about until just now when I went back and looked. FFS, this is silly. People really got mad over that? I suppose I didn't see it because I already knew what a fool was, so it didn't seem an unlikely combination of words. I think that's what made some people leap like that - the fact that the dessert meaning of "fool" isn't widely known anymore, so there was no other way to take "orange fool" other than as an insult to _somebody_. Who else could it be? (Of course, it didn't occur to them to actually watch the video to see if they were right - or wrong. Yeesh.) See, that's what happens when history and literature are not given their due in schools - all sorts of ridiculous nonsense like this. * EYEROLL *
    6
  18. +Liam Hackett Don't waste your breath. Clearly that's an idiot there.
    6
  19. +psilvakimo You could just as easily say that our olfactory nerves have been oversensitized, to the point where our delicacy about odors is a hindrance more than an advantage. We've become shrinky about even the most common odors - even healthful ones can make some of us freak out. That's bending way too far in the other direction.
    6
  20. We do skewers of peppers and garlic at our barbacoas along with the green onions.
    6
  21. +Scott Preston The Japanese bathe every day because they CAN. They have extremely high sources of fresh water, so much so that they can have gravity faucets that you never have to shut off. Telling people in America, which has an extremely diverse number of ecosystems, including arid and desert climates, that we should bathe the way the Japanese do? Just proves how utterly ignorant you are about water issues.
    5
  22. He is talking about America, after all. They're not nearly as well-known here anymore.
    5
  23. You've been one of the bright spots in this crazy year.
    5
  24. If you're curious, get hold of "Perfume" by Patrick Suskind. Great book, really riveting story, about a guy who can't smell who becomes a perfumer. Strange notion, eh? But it's amazing, and in great part because Suskind writes so well about smell, a sense that is incredibly difficult to write about convincingly. But he really builds the world of 18th century France in terms of smell as well as everything else. Really immerses you in it, and man, you would NOT EVER want to be there. Just the description of the hellish swamp of stench that was the food market of Les Innocents - yeah, a FOOD MARKET run in a CEMETERY - can give you nightmares.
    4
  25. Hey, we may be peasants but we know how to eat right!
    4
  26. Don't knock hunger. It brought down the French aristocracy.
    3
  27. Yes, but what's it called? You never told us!
    3
  28. When I was a kid, my mother would make something very similar - honey and vinegar in hot water - for us to gargle with when we had sore throats. I really liked it and would swallow it afterward - unlike my brother, who would always spit it out!
    3
  29. Guys - I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm.
    3
  30. I'm from California, and I've never seen bacon that fatty before.
    3
  31. The Japanese were also utterly horrified by the Europeans when they first showed up.
    3
  32. You're deth-picable.
    3
  33. +KELLI2L2 Cleaner than WHO? What are you even talking about?
    3
  34. AHAHAHA. Yeah, like YOU didn't dig up that factoid on Wikipedia. See, that's the problem with throwing factoids around - it's so easy to expose yourself as a fraud that way when everything ELSE you say is moronic.
    3
  35. Jeez, the incredible germophobia and societal brainwashing on display in these comments is unbelievable. None of you would have survived without going insane even FIFTY YEARS AGO. You've drunk the corporate Flavr-Aid and now you think it's actually impossible to live without scrubbing yourselves raw every day and dousing yourselves with chemicals. :D:D:D
    3
  36. Once you know how to make bread, there's no reason to spend money buying loaves anymore.
    3
  37. +Olive Oil Don't let assholes like that make you ashamed of your religion. It's a troll. It doesn't deserve attention.
    3
  38. No. If you don't bathe, you stink, no matter what you eat. Bacteria don't care what you ate, they only care about the yummy sweat you produce, and that's where body odor comes from - the bacteria that feed on your secretions and emit gas.
    3
  39. If you mixed a little cocoa powder in the crust, you'd get a coffin of dark wood!
    3
  40. Every time I hear anyone talk about how great or nice or happy Bob Ross was, I practically burst a blood vessel. He was not what you think he was.
    3
  41. Funny, I consider kumquat skin to be the best part of the fruit. It's got all the concentrated flavor, and I don't find them hardly bitter at all.
    3
  42. Sean and Gus would approve!
    3
  43. Sorry to see the old credit sequence with the sign gone.
    2
  44. Not everyone loves things sweet, John. Some of us appreciate a lightly sweet dessert, where you can actually taste something other than sugar. :) By the way, what's happening with the blog? I checked Savoring the Past for a recipe and found it's been a while since it's been updated. I hope you haven't decided to abandon it, as it's a beautiful work.
    2
  45. On the subject of cleaning the pudding cloths (which you've spoken of before): I don't know how correct this is for the period you're exploring, but a good way to wash these cloths would be with vinegar. Scrape the cloth as free of the batter as possible, then wash with hot water and vinegar. This will both clean and disinfect the cloth, and vinegar leaves neither smell nor taste if the item is hung out to dry in the sun. I would give the cloths a vinegar wash before using them the first time, too. Great series, I love the detail and the accessible tone. I want to try all the recipes! :)
    2
  46. He didn't ask for the ADDRESS, for gods' sakes.
    2
  47. Salted pork? /gimli
    2
  48. Yay! I was hoping you'd tackle mac 'n' cheese. Entertaining and informative as always! :)
    2
  49. RABBIT SEASON!
    2
  50. "Libtards". Ah, the cry of the tiny-brained wingnut.
    2
  51. +Judy Ives Please stop conflating the word "religion" with American fundamentalist Christianity. That is a VERY specific and limited form of religion, and it has almost nothing to do with any other faith. It's so annoying when atheists claim "reason" and yet indulge in sloppy thinking and linguistic laziness. Grow up.
    2
  52. Funny, I thought there wasn't enough onion. :D
    2
  53. Amazing book, isn't it? Smell is such a difficult thing to convey, but Suskind really sinks you in that miasma. Just the first chapter made me want to curl up in a ball and never come out, LOL!
    1
  54. I'm really puzzled here. Which video is he talking about? I've looked at the titles and I can't see anything controversial in them. ETA: Oh, wait.......... Oh, FFS!!!! NOW I see it. I didn't realize it before. Jeez, people can be ridiculous.
    1
  55. Dspeir -----------------------------------------> THE POINT your head Next time think first.
    1
  56. This is just what I was going to ask about. Thanks!
    1
  57. Taper candles of this sort were not made with molds. They were dipped. Long lengths of wick are dipped into a deep pot of melted wax, lifted, allowed a moment to harden, then dipped again, over and over, until the candle is formed. Look for "taper candle dipping" here and on internet search to get pics and info. :)
    1
  58. +One MercilessMing This is the reason why it used to be a social convention never to talk about religion or politics in mixed company - way too much potential for friction and misunderstandings.
    1
  59. There's irony in a channel about old traditions shedding its original name, don't you think? It fit the subject much better before.
    1
  60. My mom had an incredibly cool little pan she would half fill with water to boil. It had a metal frame that held little cups for the eggs. Water in pan, frame on, eggs in cups, lid on, boil - poached eggs! We would eat the eggs right out of the cooking cups. I'd give a lot to have that pan, but she got rid of it many years ago.
    1
  61. How much cream? It looks like maybe a cup, but I can't be sure because the container is big and opaque. (Luckily there are Seville oranges here in SoCal, though I'll have to travel a bit to get them.)
    1
  62. Beeswax possibly. It can be molded by hand. I wouldn't use paraffin as it's brittle and would have to be melted to make a seal, and then when you want to get eggs out it would break in pieces, making a mess. Then you'd have to melt more, etc. The beeswax doesn't need that, as it will soften with kneading.
    1
  63. Me, too! I almost never used it before, but now I find myself sprinkling on a little just to see if it'll work, LOL.
    1
  64. Yep. There are oils formulated especially for candle making.
    1
  65. Link to the original video would be nice!
    1
  66. Have you abandoned the recipe blog, or has it been continued elsewhere? The last entry was in February of 2017. Is that the end of it?
    1
  67. Even easier than Paula Deen's peas.
    1
  68. +Presence Get a brain!
    1
  69. +Gimpy old Listerine Jesus, it's amazing how many ignorant asshats there are on this thread. Please go learn something about climate science.
    1
  70. When I was a kid, my family would go down to Marineland and harvest the mussels, clams, and cockles from the cliffs at the beach. I remember how the gringos who saw us doing it would ask us what we were doing, and express amazement that some of that stuff could even be eaten. (Especially the cockles - those really freaked them out!) We would just smile and then take our haul home and have a backyard feast!
    1
  71. So it's basically an American masala.
    1
  72. Where is that custard video? You have hundreds of videos. Can we have a link?
    1
  73.  @lisaf6764  Thank you!! I am happy now * goes off to bake *
    1
  74. The ancient Romans drank a mixture of vinegar and water called posca. If you were rich, you would add honey to it. It's actually very refreshing - I use seltzer to make mine, and on a hot day, it can really cool you off.
    1
  75. Thank you for this wonderful reading. Just the thing I needed. :)
    1
  76. Much like garam masala.
    1
  77. So did you ever try making this with nutmeg?
    1
  78. It's the English Peas of the 18th century!
    1
  79. Rarebit, not rabbit. It's a cheese sauce.
    1
  80. Wait, I thought you hated the coffee eggs?
    1