The Crusty Baker

Editors of syndicated comic strips see a lot of comic strips. It is almost impossible for a cartoonist to make them laugh or take particular note at all beyond spelling, rudimentary punctuation and “Does it contain anything dirty,” intentional or otherwise. Therefore, it was a rare occasion indeed when my long-suffering editor Reed Jackson dropped me an email in 2009 about this holiday Arlo & Janis, saying, “This is exactly what’s going to be happening at my house over the coming days,” or something to that effect. I still remember!

Today's "Arlo & Janis!"

52 thoughts on “The Crusty Baker”

  1. I still remember my first Thanksgiving on the road. I stopped for lunch at a Flying J in Kansas City, MO, where they had the full turkey with the traditional side dishes for half price. I spent more on the long distance call home than what I saved on the meal.

  4. I recall Thanksgiving 1976 when I was in the Navy. We were at sea, but of course they served a full traditional dinner. Unfortunately, they called us by divisions to avoid crowding and my dinner time coincided with a mandatory meeting called by our (censored) officer. Miss dinner or miss mandatory meeting? You got it, no Thanksgiving dinner that year. Next year I was out and had dinner at home, with family.

  6. What is Janis cussing about? Did she nick her finger with the edge-trimming knife? I wouldn’t think an injury should gladden Arlo.

    I am still off Hotmail, as mentioned in previous cartoon page. Are any of you having problems? If not, I am amazed.

  9. I still remember the look on a friend’s face many years ago when he related what he got when accidentally typed “hotmale.com” instead of “hotmail.com”. At least that was his story, and he was sticking to it.

  11. I doubt she’s nicked her finger with that knife; I’d expect that she was using a normal table knife. I know from experience that bakers often use a plastic scraper to trim pie crusts. Maybe she brushed against the inside of the oven door and burned herself?

  14. Like the time Jackie talks about when she managed to free a fancy dessert from a pan only to slide it off the counter into the cat litter pan?

  15. WIting for butter to soften so I can whip up chocolate chip cookies . It is all ready to start. BIg counter blender. Pecans chopped and dark chocolate chips.

    The other big disaster was my blue merle collie who ate entire side off a triple layer iced German chocolate sheet cake.

  16. I don’t blame the dog. German chocolate is my favorite cake, with caramel a very close second. Mom made the German chocolate cakes, the other I had to get in bakeries.

  17. Even funnier was the time Janis got loaded making rum cakes.

    By the way, rum cakes, made during the fall and winter holidays for friends, are about the only form of baking I do. Except for beer bread. And bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Humm. I’m seeing a pattern there.

  23. Jackie, I hope that dog only ate the frosting, not the cake itself; chocolate is very toxic to dogs, even though they love the flavor. And, be careful with onions too, as they can make both dogs and cats sick.

  24. She licked the pecan coconut caramel frosting off the entire side! She did not touch the cake.

    I refrosted cake and served it to the Sigma Nu fraternity in college.

  30. So Janis isn’t a fan of fried turkey? It tastes very good if prepared and cooked properly. A friend in Tennessee would do two for Thanksgiving, one with traditional spices and one Cajun. I miss his Thanksgiving dinner and the company he had there.

  32. Hey! I agree. Deep-fried turkey is really good eatin’.

    I also agree, though, that it’s better if any fire fighters on the scene are there only because they were invited to join you for dinner.

  34. Jackie, did you know about this?

    TULSA, Oklahoma – You probably are familiar with Blue Dog paintings made famous by artist George Rodrigue.

    We have the wonderful opportunity to see some of his works when the Shiny Happy Blue Dog exhibit opens at the Sand Springs Cultural & Historical Museum at 9 East 3rd Street on Saturday, November 17th

  35. The secret to safely frying a turkey is to “test” fit it to the fryer with cold water, away from the house (or in the sink). Push the turkey to the bottom of the pot, then cover with water with about 1 inch over the turkey. If there isn’t at least six inches of pot left, get a bigger pot or a smaller turkey. Once you remove the turkey, note the water level and mark the pot (outside) for filling with oil later. The crispy outside and super-moist inside of a fried turkey is hard to match with other cooking methods. Properly prepared, it won’t even absorb much oil at all!

  41. David f A

    The turkey must be completely thawed and there must be NO
    moisture present. Any surface moisture instantly turns to steam
    and blows the oil out of the pot.

  42. Guilty pleasures: last night about 10.00 p.m. I went in an baked a sheet of chocolate chip cookies and brought rack of hot cookies to bed. Shared them with Ghost.

    I think that was a first for him.

  43. A former boss, who was a nationally competitive Karate Super Black Belt With Lace Around It (or something like that), was, needless to say, rather particular about his weight and level of fitness. His technique for handling the “eatin’ holidays” was to up his activity level and lower his caloric intake leading up to the holiday, so as to lose five pounds. Then he could eat pretty much what he wished during the holiday and break even.

    I doubt he ate chocolate chip cookies in bed to accomplish that, however. 🙂

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