338

Curry
Posted on October 22, 2017 by David M Willis

338 thoughts on “Curry”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes… The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, noodles and meat touching each other… mass hysteria!

    1. King Daniel

      Cats and dogs, living together!

      1. Pablo360

        Inertia hysteria!

        1. Reltzik

          IMPULSE HYSTERIA!

        2. Pablo360

          Hysteria times the speed of blasphemy squared.

        3. AustSakuraKyzor

          Total hysteria reversal

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world!

      1. Reltzik

        Everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned (with sauce)!

    3. Ethereal

      A month of Mondays, all the same day.

      The number six being taken down during the world patch to fix this.

    4. Ari

      To be fair, meat on buttered noodles doesn’t sound great. You’d end up with buttered meat.

      1. Arawn

        In some steak houses they charge extra to put butter on your steaks.

      2. David M Willis

        Butter is a…pretty common steak marinator.

    5. AbbeFaria

      *snickers cause he’s ten at heart* you said noodles and meat touching…

  2. BBCC

    Dun dun dun!

    1. Pablo360

      Joyce always has the best faces, and that’s saying quite a lot.

      1. BigDogLittleCat

        She does.
        Her humorous leaning into her neurotic behaviors is a big part of her charm. She knows her kooky hangups are kooky, and because she can laugh at herself, she’s funny, not annoying. She also plays them up to soothe her anxieties. Her running commentary on jail life when they’re breaking into Becky’s house is hilarious.

  3. Pablo360

    Whoa is tagged.

    1. MM

      And so far, this is the only entry. Impressive.

    2. Stephen Bierce

      Pleased to meet you, Whoa. Any relation to Nelly?

      1. Doctor_Who

        Nelly is his last name.

        1. Pablo360

          “Please, Mr. Nelly was my father. Call me Whoa.”

    3. Cephalo the Pod

      No strips show up on it.

    4. Cephalo the Pod

      Oh, and now it’s gone.

      1. 4,000 spiders

        a beautiful but temporary moment which i was lucky enough to witness… i’ll treasure this memory forever.

      2. Tacos

        And now I’m sad.

      3. Reltzik

        Woe, on the other hand, is tagged on most strips and never really goes away.

        1. Pablo360

          You can’t see the woe tag because your subconscious erases it. It’s too painful.

        2. Nelly Dreadful

          Fnord fnord woe fnord.

        3. thejeff

          Hmm. A blank post. How strange.

        4. Pablo360

          It must dab a glitch in the dab section. Try redabbing the dab dab dab dab dab dab

        5. adjudicus

          Soggies may rule

    5. Pablo360

      This comment thread stands as the lone testament to the forgotten Whoa tag. Rest in obscurity. #neverforgetti

  4. Yumi

    They don’t fucking HAVE the Bangkok Curry anymore. I HAVE BEEN ANGRY ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS.

    1. Yumi

      I hope as time passes this strip once again becomes possible and they bring the dish back. Is was my go-to order there for years. Maybe some locations still do it? But it’s not on the menu and nowhere I’ve been too still does it.

      1. Shiro

        Hey, be careful what you ask for, don’t forget what happened with the Szechuan sauce

        1. Yumi

          I tried really hard to reply to this, but for some reason it seems the comment system won’t let me?

        2. Emperor Norton II

          Maybe the comment system wants to protect you from all things related to the R&M fandom?

        3. Yumi

          I just want to be hyper-opinionated about noodles, man.

        4. Emperor Norton II

          Fair enough. More important and relevant than some of the things I’m hyper-opinionated about, to be sure.

        5. Reltzik

          Maybe the comment software has some feature that filters out copypasta?

          *flees for dear punning life*

        6. Pablo360

          It is too late. You have already been targeted by Bites the Dust. Your death is written into fate.

          This is the true power of Barilla Queen’s third bomb!

        7. Reltzik

          … well, if I’m already doomed, I might as well stop restraining my punning. Unless I could get out of it with some sort of pennence?

        8. Pablo360

          There is no pastable way you could make up for that bolognese. Spaghetti real.

        9. interesting...

          The millions of followers rising from the earth all uttering the same thing, “BAAAANGGGGKOOOOKKKK CURRRRRYYYYY, BAAAANNNNGGGKOOOKKK CUUUURRRRYYYY!” Swarming the building keeping the regulars out, getting more AND MORE DEMANDING! The cops are called but they cannot stem the tide of humanity, demanding delicious unattainable things but unable to move on…The Horror, THE HORROR!

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        I was trying to work out some kind of “O tempura! O mores!” kind of pun, but, having perused the Noodles & Company menu, tempura doesn’t seem to be on their menu, and no particular reason it should be.

        Here in the SF Bay Area, “Asian fusion” is all over the place and it’s generally pretty good, but JEEZ is it overdone.

        1. CJ

          I’ve never heard of noodles & company before, they haven’t migrated into Germany yet and had to look them up.
          Did you notice their Kid’s menus come separated?

        2. drs

          O tempura! O morays!

      3. Noodles

        I work for the company. No locations have the Bangkok Curry any more. They did get rid of the Pad Thai in a test market area but brought it back after a few months due to all the complaints. As of now thought the Bangkok has been gone for about a year and there are no plans to bring it back.

    2. Kaunisenkeli

      My goto whenever I’m there (not very often) is the Penne Rosa.

      1. Mr D

        Hehehee you said pene

    3. Tim

      I was also mad about the Indonesian Peanut Saute being removed from the menu, but the Spicy Korean Beef Noodles is pretty dang good.

      1. Yumi

        Oh, yeah, I didn’t have that one much, but I miss that one too. Do you think the Korean noodles would be good even without the beef? I’ve never tried them because it seems they do such a push now with certain meat pairings for their dishes, and I don’t eat meat, but I’d be curious to try them.

    4. missilentmurmur

      Hey, what restaurant is it? I’ve still never been to America

      1. Stella

        Noodles & Company! It’s like the Chipotle of pasta.

        http://www.noodles.com/

        1. David M Willis

          The Chipotle of pasta is Piada!

          N&C isn’t like Chipotle at all. There’s no sneeze guards or norovirus.

        2. merbrat

          We got them in Austin (2008) then recently all 5 locations CLOSED!!

        3. Egg

          Huh, they have a truffle mac and cheese now? Fast dining takes a turn!

        4. Egg

          Also, Subway should collaborate to make a Penne Rosa style sandwich. They could call it the Sub Rosa.

        5. Roborat

          That does it, I have my eye on you.

        6. autogatos

          Oh man I got excited looking at their menu only to discover there are only TWO in CA and not anywhere remotely close to me. Sad times.
          It is a sad fate to live in California and be in an area with little variety when it comes to yummy veg-friendly places.

      2. Stella

        Notably, if you get kids menu items, they’re on serving trays that prevent the ingredients from touching. So, probably one of Joyce’s favorite lunch spots.

  5. Zeussical

    Today I will have noodles AND company.

    1. Deanatay

      Careul, Joyce! You might end up…

      LIKING IT

    2. JetstreamGW

      I’m pretty sure Noodles & Co. have gone out of business here.

    3. Micki

      You win the comments section!!

  6. MM

    Bloomington has Noodles and Company, but I have to drive an hour to the nearest one? That’s not fair.

    1. Gojira

      The Noodles and Company at the nearest mall by me closed after 9 months.

      1. merbrat

        Austin got them in 2008, and recently… all 5 locations closed!

    2. Dara

      I have never heard of this place and only figured it out because of the tweet.

      My favourite noodle chain here is Kizuki, which used to be Kukai and I don’t know why they renamed themselves, but there y’go. There’s a nice specialty Northern Chinese-cuisine place not far from me that I also like (Tai Ho), those are very different but variety is good. I’ve heard Hokkaido Ramen and Silkroad are both good but I haven’t tried them.

      I have no idea whatever where I’d go to buy “buttered noodles.”

    3. Needfuldoer

      I’d have to drive two hours to get to the closest one, because New England is always the last coastal region to get these fancy-pants “fast food with standards” restaurants.

      1. Roborat

        Well, apparently they are dropping like flies, so I suspect you aren’t missing much.

      2. autogatos

        This is how Californians who DON’T live near LA or SF feel. :[ So many amazing restaurants juuuuust a few hours out of reach.

  7. Keulen

    Holy shit, Joyce putting food on other food? This is madness.

    1. Roborat

      Which explains the Gravatar image immediately below yours (not mine).

  8. kingmabel

    Character development!!

    1. Doctor_Who

      Your Gravatar is showing the correct reaction.

  9. Pigeon Pollyx

    Proud of Joyce. Hope this isn’t gonna do a thing where someone like, confuses them for a couple or something.

    Anyway, potential discourse: mushrooms are the worst.

    1. Yumi

      I feel like there are probably worse things, but I don’t like mushrooms generally either.

    2. Kernanator

      I hate them even more than I hate onions.

      1. Doctor_Who

        I like onions when they are cooked.

        Raw onions are the devil.

        1. Inahc

          raw purple onions are nice in moderation. raw white (yellow?) onions means someone’s a cheap bastard.

          I hated all cooked onions for a long time, though. I was very disappointed to find out how important they are for flavour.

        2. vlademir1

          White onions and yellow onions are different. Yellow onions have a high sulfur content compared to other varieties and thereby are very astringent when eaten raw though they are quite nice lightly pickled. White onions are generally less astringent, having a lower sulfur content, but also generally have a lower sugar content than either yellow onions or red onions making them more suited to raw applications and more forgiving in applications where you want to cook them but not put too much color on them.

        3. thejeff

          Part of the basis of most cuisines – the French mirepoix, the Trinity in Cajun food, etc.
          I often joke I’ll start cooking by frying up some garlic and onions and then go figure out what I’m making.

        4. JessWitt

          Raw onions are nasty.

        5. foamy

          I have never understood why people ruin perfectly good vegetables by cooking them. Onions, broccoli, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, etc, they’re all best raw, when they’ve got their full crunch, juice, or both.

        6. Egg

          I have never understood why Americans refuse to explore the bold flavors revealed by quickly cooking leafy vegetables. It’s always salads, salads, salads, or else boiled to death or buried under a metric ton of other ingredients. I bet even the infamous kale would win some converts if it were cooked properly.

        7. foamy

          I ain’t a fan of cooked leafy vegetables, either. But, fortunately there’s far fewer people out there dropping lettuce into frypans.

          Cabbage is an abomination unto Nuggan in any form though.

        8. Egg

          Their loss! 炒 lettuce is far sweeter and more flavorful than raw lettuce 😛

        9. foamy

          Man, next you’ll be telling me you cook celery, Eggs.

        10. thejeff

          I eat celery raw and crunchy and certainly wouldn’t cook it as a dish of its own, but celery is also wonderful cooked down as part of the Cajun trinity or of a mirepoix. Mind you it’s probably not recognizable as celery in the dish, but I’m not turning down a good gumbo or jambalaya.

        11. thejeff

          Spinach is usually cooked – maybe less so these days?
          I tend to prefer lettuce raw, but kale generally gets cooked as do things like mustard greens and chard and whatever else leafy and green I’ve got lying around.

        12. Yumi

          Cooked spinach is terrible. I grew up thinking I didn’t like spinach because it was only offered to me cooked. Raw spinach meanwhile, is perfectly enjoyable and now my preferred base for salads.

        13. foamy

          Ditto. People have a bad habit of turning cooked spinach into a slimy disgusting bitter mess, whereas raw spinach is quite nice. I still prefer lettuce, mostly because you can get sturdier pieces, though.

        14. thejeff

          On its own, I mostly agree, but Saag is wonderful.

        15. Marsh Maryrose

          For me, raw onions are not only unpleasant in themselves, but they pretty much ruin the next half hour after I’ve had even a trace. The one good thing about them is, in most dishes, they’re large enough to pick out so I don’t have to eat them.

          Sauteed, I generally find them delicious. Truly caramelized? Magnificent.

        16. StClair

          Love mushrooms, hate raw onions, prefer my cooked onions to blend invisibly into the dish – I’ll pick them (and bell peppers) off a pizza, for instance.

        17. Tim

          My preference for onions decreases the more they taste like onion. Breaded and fried (Onion Rings, straws, bloomin’, whatever) are the best. Caramelized is alright, sauteed…we are starting to get into the territory that I won’t eat them. And I can taste them. In whatever. The only things worse are peppers.

        18. Dara

          None of you know about sweet onions, do you? This is a “we don’t have sweet unions” thread.

          If you ever see “Walla Walla sweet onion” for sale, try it. (You can eat ’em like apples, tho’ I don’t. You want to make good onion salad tho’? This is what you use.)

          There’s also a sweet onion grown in California I think but I forget what it’s called.

        19. Yumi

          Is that the type that’s depicted in the movie Holes?

        20. Dara

          I haven’t seen that movie? So I don’t know. ^_^

        21. Yumi

          Well, sit down and watch it.
          But I think they reference them as sweet onions. I personally like onions of all kinds, so your comment doesn’t apply to me as much, but I’ll keep an eye out for the kind you mentioned.

        22. Dara

          I also like many kinds of onions – no one onion performs all culinary tasks. But if you want onion salad and you don’t want to soak white onion slices in cold water for three days? Walla Wallas absolutely.

        23. Stella

          @Yumi — The onion depicted in ‘Holes’ is the Texas Sweet Onion, one of the most naturally glucosine vegetables in the world. It’s the state vegetable of Texas (the setting of the book). https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/texas/state-food-agriculture-symbol/sweet-onion

          I’m not from Texas, and unfortunately it seems like in the Midwest the most popular onions have low glucose and high pryuvate, so they really make my eyes water.

        24. Stella

          Also, the thing Stanley’s dad makes at the end, the fermented peaches and onions that cures foot odor, is probably my favorite kind of Tex-Mex salsa. Most salsas in the midwest don’t use fermented fruit ingredients, so I have to order this online. It’s my fave. https://redkitchenfoods.com/product/texas-sweet-onion-and-peach-salsa/

          (probably wouldn’t be great to put in your shoes, though)

        25. Inahc

          I bought sweet onions by mistake, once, when I wanted the regular cooking kind (yellow, I think?). They are not for cooking.

        26. Dara

          Na, na, you can still cook with ’em, you just have to treat ’em differently. They make great onion rings, just for example.

          Basically a lot of yellow and white onion cooking is about reduction, and you need to consider that already done and adjust accordingly.

        27. Tacos

          Isn’t the Vidalia onion also a sweet onion?

        28. Dara

          I think so! (checks) Yes, the internet agrees with you. I think I’ve bought those when Walla Wallas aren’t in season. I don’t like them as much but they’re still good and the Walla Walla window is kind of short.

        29. Dellaran

          Yes, it is. *shudder* I can’t eat onions in any form. Even cooked to mush they still make me a little ill.

        30. Inahc

          ha, I only found out that was an onion, like, a week ago when they showed up here 🙂 in retrospect, of *course* it’s another onion name.

          (waaaah when is “winter” coming!? whyyyy don’t we get a more specific release date?!)

      2. Yumi

        I love onions. Raw I don’t want too many, but can enjoy them– any type really–and find they’re a good addition. Cooked I really like them. In fact this conversation is making me crave sauteed onions.

    3. Tacos

      Took me ages to even try them. It was barely a few months ago that I finally tried them. They were good. Though maybe the preparation is what helped.

    4. pjeseb

      How DARE you slander mushrooms so callously! For this insult, I DEMAND satisfaction!

      1. pjeseb

        Also, while we’re on the subject of food: I’ve never had curry before, is it any good?

        1. Yumi

          I mean, curry can be a broad range of flavors and such, but on the whole my opinion is that it’s SO GOOD.
          Go eat some.

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          “Curry” is such a broad class of food that this is almost an unanswerable question. Something like a quarter of the world prepares curry-like dishes of one sort or another.

          Is falafel good? I’ve have wonderful falafel, and I’ve had awful falafel (say that three times fast). I’ve great piroshki, and I’ve had terrible piroshki. I’ve had wonderful hamburgers, and I’ve had gross hamburgers. I’ve had fantastic paella, and I’ve…actually, I’ve never had a disappointing paella, but I’m sure that it’s possible to screw up paella.

          The next time you have an opportunity, try it and you might like it? And if not, at least you’re not wondering what you’re missing.

        3. Yumi

          What types of flavors do you tend to like? Maybe we could give recommendations for types of curry for you to try, since like it’s been said, it’s such a wide range.

        4. Stella

          Mm, Marsh has a point. However, there are a few things where, I would say, if you absolutely dislike them, you won’t like any curries.

          If you hate tomato-based soups and sauces, you’ll hate most curry. If you hate the smell of saffron, cinnamon or turmeric, you’ll hate most curry.

          Basically, curry is a lot of spices in a light sauce. In fact, the Tamil word ‘kari’ (where we get the English word “curry”) literally means “spiced sauce”. Most of which are native to the Indus valley or the Indian rainforest. Of course, many contemporary chefs are influences by global culture, so I’ve had curries that included, say, cilantro, which is native to southern Europe, or spices that originated in South America. Every chef has their own personal blend and balance. Some curries only have three spices, some have over forty.

          Saffron and cinnamon play heavily in the curries in my favorite restaurant, and tumeric, clove, and fennel are featured in popular yellow curry brands.

          Most curries taste how they smell, if that makes sense. If a curry smells appealing to you, you’ll probably enjoy the taste. If it smells bad to you, you generally won’t like the taste. Texture-wise, curries are usually on the thinner side (more light-cream tomato soup than pizza sauce, and many vegan curries don’t have a cream element at all).

          Hope that helps!

        5. Egg

          The sinicized “curry” that I’ve had in the past doesn’t have any tomato in it at all, ever. I dunno what actually goes into it, but not tomato.

      2. JessWitt

        Here, here! Mushrooms are excellent.

        Curry is great. Usually spicy, ranges in intensity, but so flavorful. Can eat with vegetables and/or meat, usually beef, pork, chicken, or shrimp. Curry prepped with coconut milk is heavenly.

        1. Geneseepaws

          I’ll have the curried Lamb please! Curry makes lamb go eleven. (IMAO)

        2. thejeff

          Lamb curry is good.

          OTOH, there’s Jamaican curry goat.

    5. Shiro

      Agreed. Their texture is weird and I don’t trust any food that digests its food externally.

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        Yeah, like your digestive process isn’t pretty freaky. 🙂

        Seriously, your stomach is full of hydrochloric acid. How cool/scary is that?

    6. Kathleen

      try cream of mushroom soup. that was my gateway in the mushroom world.

      1. Yumi

        Nope, still gross for me. But used as an ingredient, it’s a more tolerable way to have mushrooms in something.

      2. Inahc

        I do not understand how I can enjoy canned cream of mushroom soup, but loathe canned mushrooms. what are they doing to those poor mushrooms normally that’s avoided in the soup? o.0

        then again, maybe the soup didn’t have enough actual mushroom to notice the texture change? it’s been a long time since I’ve had it.

        1. vlademir1

          The mushrooms you find in cans and jars are typically cooked in a salt water brine which they then sit in inside the sealed container, like most canned veg. Osmosis due to the salt water pulls flavor components from the mushrooms leaving them lower in flavor. Osmotic pressure and heat from the cooking also damages cells breaking down celulose leaving them softer than normal. It’s much like how canning changes the flavor and texture of veg like peas, greenbeans and asperagus.

    7. Inahc

      tree-ear mushrooms (not sure what their real english name is) are the worst mushrooms.

      but my husband would probably say they’re the best.

      it tends to work out well when ordering chinese; I’ll pick out those ones and give them to him, and take his .. uh.. what’s the name for the standard plain white mushrooms? 🙂

      actually, no, I just remembered, *canned* mushrooms are the worst worst. *shudder* occasionally I come across a restaurant that uses them, and it is absolutely disgusting. so bad I’ve abandoned entire meals.

      1. StClair

        “Button” mushrooms, I believe.
        (also white, white button, etc etc)

      2. raaabr

        Oh, are you referring to Mu er (I assume you’re referring to that anyways; otherwise the mandarin translation would be oddly perfect)? I find that they taste terrible, but have a great texture if prepared well. I love both them and Enoki mushrooms in my hotpot or in soups.

        1. Inahc

          yup! I hate the texture so much I don’t really remember the flavour. I don’t like anything rubbery… except jackfruit for some reason.

          and yes, enoki are always in my mushroom soup 🙂 and oyster mushrooms… and really almost every kind of fresh mushroom I can find around here. 🙂

          hmm, maybe I should make some of that… it’s been quite a while. it doesn’t freeze well, so I’m not sure what I’d do with the leftovers :/

        2. Geneseepaws

          And pfefferlinge mushrooms, too, also go well with curried lamb.

      3. Marsh Maryrose

        My sense is that people who enjoy wood-ear mushrooms enjoy them for the same reason that people who enjoy beef tongue enjoy it: it’s not for the taste, per se, but for the texture and the tactile feel.

        I don’t share that enjoyment, in either case, but chacun son gout.

        1. Tacos

          Beef tongue can taste pretty good but it needs to be prepared a certain way.

    8. Opus the Poet

      Naww, mushrooms are fun, guy.

      I’ll let myself out.

    9. Marsh Maryrose

      Chacun son gout. I will be happy to take the mushrooms off your plate. If you would like the eggplant off my plate, it’s yours.

    10. Pablo360

      This is where I would say something cartoonish like “die you heretic” but honestly that’s just more shrooms for me

    11. Woobie

      My gut equates mushrooms with athlete’s foot and other fungi. TO me they are just gross, the 2nd most disgusting food.

    12. Fart Captor

      Their texture is weird and I don’t approve of how they reproduce, tbh

      1. Pablo360

        Don’t kinkshame the mushrooms

    13. Reltzik

      What about green onions?

      On a baked potato… with sour cream…

    14. Yumi

      I want everyone here who has issues with onions to do a Google search for “Tony Abbott onion”. Heck, even if you don’t have issues with onions, search it up.

    15. dethtoll

      I didn’t like mushrooms before I played The Last of Us and I sure as shit don’t like ’em now.

    16. Pigeon Pollyx

      this is my legacy

    17. Sunny

      You are, I take it, aware that yeast is a fungus, and without that we’d have no bread, no cookies, no cakes, no beer or wine, plus a number of non-alcoholic beverages.
      Then there are the moulds which are widely used for producing some of the most delicious cheeses, soy sauce and soybean paste. And let’s not forget about penicillin. One of the greatest advancements in medical history is due to a fungus.
      Further, mushrooms have been widely used for medicinal, religious, and recreational purposes. The ones commonly used in cooking contain many important vitamins and minerals.

      And don’t even get me started on onions, pretty much every food you buy that’s not fresh produce is flavoured with onions. Buy some sauce in the supermarket: Onions! Order a burger at a restaurant: Onion powder in the patties! Garlic, leek and chives are so closely related to onions that it’s practically incest.
      People who say they don’t like onions most likely EAT ONIONS EVERY DAY AND ENJOY IT!

      So yeah, show some respect for the noble fungus, you have no idea how much it has given us.
      And people who say they don’t like onions don’t know what they’re talking about.

  10. 4,000 spiders

    wHOa., ToO FAR jOYcE,,;, WHO A WILD

    in all honestly as someone who basically refused to eat food if it was at all mixed for years (albeit to a lesser extent than joyce) i am very proud rn

  11. miina

    I don’t ship them, but they sure are cute as friends!

  12. Tacos

    Noodles with meatballs NOT on the side? Sheer madness.

  13. Stephen Bierce

    *plays Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s “Badlands” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. JessWitt

      Alternate song: “On Top Of Spaghetti”

      1. Deanatay

        Joyce would never put CHEESE on top of spaghetti!

        Or WOULD she…

  14. Amber

    We don’t have the Bangkok Curry anymore, David, we replaced it with the Thai Green Curry.

    (also wow surreal to see this right as I got off work from Noodles & Co)

    1. Yumi

      Thank you for confirming this and joining me in this part of Bangkok Curry discourse.
      Also, the Thai Green Curry tastes like disappointment.

      1. Amber

        Personally, I enjoy both, but I’m partial to the Green Curry because it has pineapple and it’s so good in that sauce. But also, I’m incredibly sick of noodles because I’ve eaten my own weight in it this past year.

        1. Yumi

          I like pineapple, but I just don’t like the sauce/flavor combination of the Thai Green Curry. But yeah, I imagine you would be pretty sick of it either way.

        2. Amber

          Look the important thing is that we all unite against the truffle mac because jesus shit that dish is gross

        3. Yumi

          As a vegetarian, I hate when “special” dishes come out and they’re like, “Oh, you don’t eat meat? Here’s some fungus!”

        4. Reltzik

          Everyone who’s sick of portobello being treated like beef, raise your hand.

        5. Inahc

          urgh. I like most mushrooms, but yeah, they do not contain protein. in fact they don’t contain much of anything besides fibre, iirc.

        6. vlademir1

          There’s roughly 1g of protein, 1g of complex carbohydrates and 0.5g fiber in a typical restaurant serving of mushrooms when raw. A whole portabella cap is about 4x those numbers. The main bulk of a mushroom’s mass is water. They’re also very rich in glutamic acid which provides and enhances that savory meat-like flavor.

        7. Inahc

          🙂 the flavour is called umami

          and now I’m wondering where the heck I got the idea that mushrooms had no nutritional value… I’ve thought that for years…

        8. Inahc

          wait, a typical restaurant serving is a quarter the size of a portabello? :/ that sounds tiny. a portabello here is usually about the size of a burger patty. and those numbers correspond to a third of google’s 100g. hmm.

          if you wanted the 17g of protein that seems to be common for burgers, then, you’d need 17 servings of mushroom, or 4.25 portabellos. I could handle two, but four sounds like a stretch.

        9. Dara

          That umami is why I’ll use mushroom broth in stuff even though I don’t like mushrooms generally. yuuuuuuuuuuuum

        10. Stella

          Huh! Interesting.

          I struggle with being underweight due to a medical condition, and I went vegetarian for ethical reasons about eight years ago. When I transitioned from a meat-based to a vegetable-based diet (under the supervision of my doctor), I had to keep a food diary to make sure I was getting enough protein and vitamins and calories and what not so I could continue to try gain weight and muscle mass.

          The book I used as a reference showed that mushrooms weren’t a good source of protein, and suggested that if I wanted a veggie burger, I should make a black bean burger or a soy burger rather than a mushroom burger. But now I can’t remember what that book was. Could be outdated.

        11. EvilMidnightLurker

          I know English hunts down and mugs other languages for interesting words, but for some reason it really bothers me to see umami coming into widespread use on the grounds that we didn’t already have a word for that. We do. It’s “savory.”

        12. BigDogLittleCat

          @EvilMidnightLurker: savory is not the same as umami. I’m still not sure what the hell umami is, but savory is basically “other than sweet”, and includes salty and sour.

        13. vlademir1

          @Inahc Yep. Most restaurants don’t use more than one or two ounces of cooked mushroom in a typical serving unless mushroom is the main flavor at which point it’s four or five ounces, but the latter is uncommon to rare in US restaurants outside the fine dining segment so the one to two ounce serving as an accent flavor is typical.

          @EvilMidnightLurker While “savory” is the common use English native alternative to “umami”, largely as a result of it’s use in translations of The Physiology of Taste and similar older works of Gastro-Philosophy, but it’s an inept term because it has several meanings. I personally choose to not use either because “savory” is, as I said above, inept at expressing the meaning clearly and “umami” has nuances in it’s native Japanese use that don’t quite carry across into it’s use as a loan word in English

          @BigDogLittleCat That is only one of it’s meanings. Another is the name of a couple herbs. The last is as an alternative to “umami” for which “meaty” is another reasonably common alternative.

        14. vlademir1

          To be fair, fungi are generally one of the better non-legume sources of vegetarian/vegan protein that have traditional cross-cultural culinary uses and they’re just about the cheapest, which is a big deal in the world of chain restaurants….

          Ok, so truffle is an exception but it’s recent “fad gourmet” use is mainly an excuse to raise profits. You add $8 worth of shaved black truffle to a sidedish of mac and cheese which you can typically get $3 to $4 for and suddenly you can charge $15 to $20, or for the even more avaricious put $0.25 worth of truffle oil in there and still charge $15 to $20 for the result. Similarly with truffle fries, toss a $1.50 side of fresh cut fries with $1 of minced truffle or a few cents of truffle oil and you can get away with charging $10 for it.

        15. Inahc

          huh. according to google’s nutrition info, the common mushroom has more protein per calorie than tofu. but on the other hand, it has a lot less everything per gram, so you’d have to eat ~2.6 times as much mushroom, which might be a bit hard on the stomach. 🙂 I wonder if there’s a mushroom-based protein powder yet? …of course there is. hell, there’s *cricket* protein powder. the internet is weird 🙂

        16. Inahc

          wait, no, the first search result for mushroom protein powder turns out to actually be rice protein with mushroom added. 😛

        17. Yumi

          Yeah, I was confused by your comment at first because I always thought mushrooms were fairly decent for protein.

          I kind of want to like them, so I continue to try them, but on the whole they’re just not for me. It’s just annoying when places offer them as the only meat alternative/want to add them to things to make them “fancy” or something.

        18. vlademir1

          @Inahc Generally the best manner of getting the macronutrients from mushrooms by weight is to cook out as much of the water as possible, which is one of the major regards in which dried and reconstituted mushrooms are superior (the other is controlling the glutamic acid content). You don’t get the same texture from dried, however, which is either the best or worst feature of dried depending who you ask.

          @Yumi That’s very similar to my mom when she was alive and to one of my close friends. Both want(ed) to like them but just can’t/couldn’t stand them.

        19. Inahc

          even a cooked portobello is going to be thick enough I wouldn’t want four of them on a burger, though. but now I wanna check how much I cook down regular mushrooms… and yeah, I’m not a fan of the texture change in dried mushrooms. which is a real shame, since it’s such a great way of preserving them.

          mmmm, mushrooms 🙂 I’m craving them more and more. And I think I’ll be well enough to go to the grocery store tomorrow, yay 🙂 (…provided I get to sleep a bit earlier than last night… miiiight not happen…)

        20. Pl0x

          Pineapple?! International variations of a food are so interesting. Pineapple is not put in green curry at all in Thailand. (I live here.) There is a certain curry dish, with pineapple, that my mom likes. It’s yellow and has pineapple and mussels. Strange combination, right? i’m ambivalent towards it because I like mussels but not pineapple.

          Once, a friend was visiting Thailand and said the Pad thai was too dry. But that’s just how the real thing is made, here. Apparently in Australia where she lives, pad thai is wet. She sent me a photo of it too. It looked wet.

        21. vlademir1

          Funny enough I had a “wait? what?” reaction to the mention of pineapple in green curry myself. I’ve had a few curries at Thai places here in the US that have pineapple in them, but they all use red curry as the base.

          Also… I’d be put off if I ordered either Pad Thai or Pad Se Ew and it was wet.

    2. the final pam

      This is a timeline where the Bangkok Curry never went away

      1. Yumi

        Yet another reason to want to live in the DoA universe.

        1. Pablo360

          Have fun watching technology, pop culture, and the President of the United States of America advance at roughly *furiously WolframAlphas* 40 times the speed of the real world

          No seriously have fun, that sounds awesome

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          The DoA cast are living in Brigadoon. Every night, Read Hall and its residents disappear, only to reappear two months later.

  15. Opus the Poet

    Joyce is being rebellious, letting food touch other food.

    1. Frost Magi

      That she is and it’s just as adorable as not letting the food touch other food… no?

  16. Shiro

    Noodles & Company? I suddenly need to know Joyce’s thoughts on the Freestyle machine.

    (I get half raspberry Coke, half vanilla Coke)

    1. JessWitt

      There’s raspberry coke now? I’m jealous.

      1. A Nonymous

        It’s freestyle, you can get raspberry coke, peach coke, strawberry coke, lemon coke, etc.

    2. Amber

      1/3 orange sprite, 2/3 vanilla sprite is pretty dope.

      1. Woobie

        Creamsicle Sprite?
        Which is called Coke, anyway.

      2. FinalOwen

        My go to when I’m in the US is roughly half strawberry and vanilla sprite, but with just a splash of peach sprite as well. Turns out really nice with none of the flavours being too overwhelming.

        1. Inahc

          the US? this is a common thing now? is it in Canada too? (I basically never order pop unless it happens to be in an alcoholic drink I’m ordering)

        2. Pablo360

          They’re popping up everywhere and why doesn’t Pepsi have this

        3. MM

          Patented tech, probably.

        4. Pablo360

          The concept really isn’t all that arcane. If Pepsi can’t build a similar machine without infringing on the patent, then something is wrong with our patent system.

          Also, did you know something is wrong with our patent system?

        5. David M Willis

          They do. It’s called Pepsi Spire.

        6. Pablo360

          Where are they and how do I steal one

        7. Needfuldoer

          Every Wendy’s I’ve been to in the last several years has had one.

    3. Passchendaele

      all of these are so cool and much better than my standard choice of vanilla root beer.

      1. StClair

        All Freestyles are beautiful.

        1. Wolfbeckett

          “All Freestyles are beautiful.”

          Or, alternately, all freestyles are horrible, stop drinking soda, it’s terrible for you. But to each their own.

        2. vlademir1

          Meh, soda is barely worse for you than fruit juice, which everyone should also cut way back on. It’s the huge over-consumption of sugar-water in general that’s bad for one.

        3. Wolfbeckett

          Totally, people should avoid drinking calories in general, very bad idea.

        4. StClair

          Living is 100% fatal.

    4. Reltzik

      “And all of the different flavors come out of the same nozzle?”

      “Yes.”

      “AAAAAAAAAAH! THEY’VE ALL BEEN TOUCHING! SYRUP COOTIES!”

    5. Delicious Taffy

      Hit me with that Lemon Coke, every time. Bad on my gut? Maybe, but I eat stuff that’s basically trash anyway, so it’s not like I’m respecting my organs to begin with.

  17. Passchendaele

    This is a pure moment dampened only by their formal clothes + they’re going to be eating noodles (fine I’m probably the only messy eater here).

    1. Yumi

      Jacob’s going to be eating nothing. Or maybe just the pork and mushrooms.

      1. Passchendaele

        Fffft he’ll just share with Joyce in a totally non-romantic way.

        1. Tacos

          There will be no Lady and The Tramp reenactments here.

        2. Yumi

          Well, what I meant was that they no longer have the noodle dish that he ordered.

        3. Passchendaele

          yeah, I saw in the above comments, I just worded my respond weirdly, so apologies for that

    2. Inahc

      nope 🙂 my high school did taco salad once a week, and I’d set out napkins all around the plate because the mess was inevitable. I’ve gotten better over time, I suppose, but it’s *fun* to be messy! 🙂

  18. Kathleen

    meatballs without sauce is weird.

    1. JessWitt

      Break em up, you make meat sauce.

  19. Dean

    Joyce is going to pick the meatballs off when she gets her food, but that doesn’t detract from the drama.

  20. Rukdug

    Very perceptive of you Jacob.
    Also, I’m back. I’ve been a bit consumed by my job of late, so today was catch up day.

    1. Pablo360

      He just noticed the extradiegetic chiaroscuro in panel 3 is all.

  21. JessWitt

    I, uh, didn’t know buttered noodles was an Asian dish.

    1. Yumi

      This is Noodles and Company, not an Asian restaurant.

      1. JessWitt

        Never been there. But I gotcha, it’s like Panda Express.

        1. Yumi

          Nope, not like Panda Express. It has noodle dishes of a decent variety based on flavor profiles around the world. So you can order something Asian-inspired, or Italian-like, or mac and cheese.

        2. A Nonymous

          Or beef stroganoff

        3. Yumi

          Yeah. Or different kinds of salad, or whatever. I was just listing a few of the kinds of options available.

        4. JessWitt

          Wow, now that does sound really tantalizing. An all-noodle restaurant. It’s like heaven came down to Earth for me.

        5. JetstreamGW

          http://www.noodles.com/

          Menu’s on the website.

        6. StClair

          Want.

        7. Lexi

          I was wondering about that. Seemed like a proper Asian restaurant, even one with Americanized dishes, would be the last place you want to take Joyce.

  22. Yumi

    So, here’s a question:
    I keep trying to post a comment, but it’s not going through. There are no links in it. It’s honestly just about the availability of the Bangkok Curry dish at Noodles and Company, so it’s not that serious. But for some reason it’s not not showing up? And now if I try to post it again, I’ll get a message saying that I’ve already posted that comment. Has anyone else had this happen? Does Willis just need to approve the comment for some reason?

    1. Yumi

      I’m really sorry to Willis if my comment just keeps appearing for moderation a million times. I keep trying different things tha don’t work.

    2. Godfather

      You’ve displeased the curry goddess? Maybe?

      Maybe she’s partial to the….Thai green curry you were referring to?

  23. Chris Phoenix

    The ads are scrolling the page to focus on them. I’ve reloaded the page 3 times and it’s happened each time; that’s new. If the comment section is light today, that’s why. Willis, can you complain on our behalf? Thanks!

    1. Yumi

      That was so bad for me last night. Tonight I’ve just been on my phone, so it hasn’t affected me, but it can be really annoying.

    2. BBCC

      Tell him what the ad is. Just saying ‘the ads’ doesn’t let Kickstarter pinpoint the problem ad. Those ads are a pain in the ass though, my sympathy.

      1. Yumi

        For me last night it was a video ad box that would play the ad, but what ad it actually was kept changing and there would still be the same problem

      2. Pl0x

        Do you mean Hiveworks? That’s the company that manages his website. Kickstarter is a project-funding website.

        1. BBCC

          Shit, yes, sorry!

  24. Frost Magi

    Once again, Joyce’s cuteness is reiterated… I love her <3

  25. Pablo360

    I’m still getting those video ads. What’s more, I think they’re responsible for repeatedly teleporting the browser scroll to a spot near the top of the page but below the comic. It makes browsing the comments fun to say the least. I think there’s one about a tropical vacation, and one about some sort of snack. Next time one pops up I’ll try to get some more details.

    1. Pablo360

      Okay, so one of them is NatureMade vitamins. And the scrolling warps right before/after the video starts playing (as I had expected).

      1. Pablo360

        As best I can tell, the video calls javascrip from http://pixel.adsafeprotected.com/fwjsvid/st/84061/14868208/skeleton.js?videoId=b86f8b60b6555b5bf6ea7a3f2ee9ab23, and when clicked it links to http://www.naturemade.com/?utm_source=Xaxis&utm_medium=Video&utm_content=204977214_404946690_92846866&utm_campaign=NMF_BRA_254_Masterbrand_Q3-Q4_2017#eBtMXYj5dfYKcZoA.97

  26. Reltzik

    Wow, that took courage! Joyce just got a heaping order of balls.

    ….

    …. I’ll, um, show myself out.

  27. Emperor Norton II

    I’m sure that compared to some people, that conversation did not even register on the radar for the cashier.

  28. darkoneko

    *dramatic lightning on the background*

    1. Pablo360

      I’m like 70% sure that chiaroscuro is extradiegetic, but maybe half the lights just started flickering at the exact right moment.

      1. Pablo360

        I’m also like 70% sure I’m misusing the word “chiaroscuro”.

  29. Pablo360

    Apropos of nothing, I recently figured out that if you have a custom gravatar, you can see which gravatar you would have if you didn’t by analyzing the page’s html (cmd+alt+U on Chrome w/ Mac). Apparently I would have Eric.

    Also, as of this writing, there is nobody on this page who has, or would have had, the default Carla avatar.

    1. C.

      Testing this.

      1. C.

        I’m Billie.

        1. Pablo360

          Billie would have been an interesting PowerPuff Girl to say the least.

    2. Pablo360

      So apparently that rigamarole isn’t necessary and you can just right-click on the image, Open in New Tab, and look at the end of the url. Whatever, I still like my way better because I like staring at incomprehensible walls of text.

      1. Pablo360

        Although it is weird that this image is classified as http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9c8bc8cad4e81ea8903a097213d74475?s=128&d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dumbingofage.com%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fcomicpress-dumbingofage%2Fimages%2Favatars%2Fdumbingofage2017%2Faveric.png&r=g when it’s very clearly not eric

      2. C.

        It’s View Image in Firefox.

    3. ValdVin

      Mine would be Dina.

      Tempting, especially in the tricera-top, but no sale.

    4. Jhon

      Cerberus.
      Cerberus has Carla.
      Destiny.

  30. Reltzik

    OT, but really? The poll is showing Billie more likely to be in RAVENCLAW than Hufflpuff?

    The woman who DEFINES herself as a problem-solver and loves it when she can fix problems other people are having, but who needs to be reminded by Ruth not to skip class, who’s never been seen studying, and whose only reaction to a course she’s in that we’ve seen has been extremely negative?

    1. Yumi

      I could see the desire to solve problems to be Ravenclaw-esque. Ravenclaw doesn’t have to mean studious, you know

      1. Reltzik

        Yeah, but the problems BILLIE solves are problems people are having, not theoretical arithmancy problems.

        1. BBCC

          Neither are all problems Ravenclaws solve. Intelligence isn’t the only attribute Ravenclaws. They also value creativity, wisdom, and individuality.

        2. Yumi

          Yeah, I identify with Ravenclaw in large part because of the creativity aspect, so I don’t like how that always seems to get lost. Along with a desire for knowledge (and a diversity of what that looks like) and struggling to mind my own fucking business.

        3. BBCC

          I feel like people put the houses into one categorical aspect and then ignore the rest to make them easier to understand but it over simplifies them.

          Like the houses all have more than one defining quality.

        4. the final pam

          In fairness, the source material tends to default to that one defining quality unless you happen to be in Gryffindor. :I

        5. Yumi

          Well, yes, I know, and stand by my comment. I don’t think she’s particularly Ravenclaw, but I definitely have a different view of Ravenclawd than you do. I mean, “theoretical arithmancy problems”? How about whatever interests them? Which for Billie seems to be people. Now, she doesn’t seem as interested in furthering her existing understanding of people to better assess problems as I might expect from someone considered a Ravenclaw, but just because a problem isn’t “academic” doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be intensely important to a Ravenclaw.

        6. Reltzik

          Yeah, okay, but my point is that for Billie, the point isn’t finding new problems to solve, but solving problems as a way to help PEOPLE. That’s way more Hufflepuff than Ravenclaw.

        7. Yumi

          I don’t know about that. It seemed pretty important to her self image that she was able to solve problems moreso than help people. Also, I think people who see some of what you’re seeing as Hufflepuff other people see as Slytherin, as Slytherins are also loyal but in a different way, in a “these people are important to me and that’s why” kind of way. Basically, it’s not like the poll is saying “Rank the extent to which she belongs in each house.” It’s pretty all one or another, so that affects the results you’re looking at.

        8. Reltzik

          Also, she’d light that hat on fire if it put her in the nerd house.

        9. MM

          Ravenclaw is also the love interest house. Cho Chang, Percy’s girlfriend, that guy Ginny dated for about a minute…if Billie wants to be with the hotties, that’s where she’s going.

        10. Delicious Taffy

          Love interest, throwaway character, however you wanna spin it.

    2. Wolfbeckett

      I haven’t voted in the poll yet because I don’t see an option for “It doesn’t matter because she would have been expelled before the end of her first year.”

      So, Hufflepuff?

      1. Yumi

        Yeeeaah, I don’t actually see that happening. To reference a Tumblr post, Malfoy was a Death Eater trying to kill the headmaster, and Dumbledore was just like, “Yeah, but he won’t really. Let’s just try to guide him away from this.”

        Plus, they’re eleven to twelve in their first year, and I just feel like Billie was probably a bit older by the time she was getting into possible expel-worthy trouble.

        1. Yumi

          Post referenced:
          http://hogwartskidsproblems.tumblr.com/post/147244564828/drarrysinful-october31st1981-i-always-laugh

  31. Pl0x

    ‘Bangkok curry’ reminds me of ‘American fried rice’. Dishes that aren’t real in the countries they refer to. It’s kind of funny.

    Also apparently noodles with butter from SU is a real thing! And I want to eat it. But I eat most things. Ironically though, I don’t eat a lot of Thai curry, even though I live in Thailand.

    1. Yumi

      Yeah, Noodles and Company’s Thai dishes are inauthentic as fuck…but still good. I just tend to think of them as Thai-inspired.
      Not that I really know much about authentic Thai food, mind you, but based on the difference between Noodles and Company and the still at least somewhat Americanized Thai places I go to (varies depending on the place)…it’s pretty evident.

      Another example of what you mentioned is Singapore noodles. I ask a friend of mine in Singapore about it after trying them, and he was like, “Um?”

      1. thejeff

        I haven’t been to a Noodles and Company, but that’s my impression of most places that try to do dishes from a broad variety of cuisines. They wind up with kind of generic, Americanized versions of all of them.
        I can kind of see the practical appeal of such places, especially if you’re going with people who don’t share the same tastes, but if I wanted Thai, I’d much rather go to a Thai restaurant.

    2. Inahc

      eh, I live in Canada and I didn’t even know poutine *existed* until I’d been here at least a decade, probably more like 15 years. since then I’ve had it maybe once a year at most. (one of those times, it was yam fries poutine, which was delicious and really ought to be more common)

      1. Pl0x

        But not only do I live in Thailand, I am a Thai person. Curry is just an occasional thing for me. I eat it mostly when I’m at my parents’ house. My favorite curry is something called kee lek curry. My grandma makes it and it’s great. It looks kind of gross, but it tastes really good.

        Yam fries sounds interesting and I want to eat it.

        1. Yumi

          Does gaeng ki lek sound right? I think that’s how it’s usually written on menus here. It’s not my kind of dish, but it is…interesting.

        2. Pl0x

          Yeah that’s it.

        3. Stella

          Yam fries are the best! Some people call them “sweet potato fries”, but they’re the same thing and they’re excellent.

      2. No I Haven't Had My Coffee Yet

        Poutine is a Quebec dish that somehow became a “traditional Canadian dish” despite most of Canada finding out about it only recently. Weird.

    3. Vulcanodon

      I shall enjoy an English muffin while pondering this

      1. thejeff

        I’ll have some French fries.

  32. Nenja

    She was brave enough to try a new church, she’s brave enough to not have separate ingredients.

  33. Gojira

    Wow, is she really going to let the butter touch the noodles?

    1. Pl0x

      I laughed at this. I’m sorry, Joyce. No i’m not.

  34. Pablo360

    I voted Slytherin but I would have said Hufflepuff as a second guess. I understand why so many chose Gryffindor, but Billie shoves Ravenclaws into lockers.

    Also I just want to point out that Dina was the only character to pull above 10% in the previous poll, winning with something like 50% more votes than the runner-up

    1. Pablo360

      This was supposed to be a reply to Reltzik but that FUCKING VIDEO AD made me click on my own profile, and when I came back to post the comment I was in the default comment field

    2. Yumi

      Of course, there are nerds who aren’t Ravenclaws and Ravenclaws who aren’t nerds. As someone who’s both a Ravenclaw and a nerd, I’m not sure why I care so strongly about this point, but I do.

      1. Deathjavu

        What’s more Ravenclaw than pointing out distinctions like that?

        1. Yumi

          Reading Wikipedia for hours, probably. Reading at least one volume of an encyclopedia. Having to remind yourself about other people’s privacy because dammit you just want to know more and how can you continue to gather information. But yeah, that kind of comment is also up there.

        2. Reltzik

          Quibbling over distinctions like that.

        3. StClair

          Fact.

    3. StClair

      James Potter and his little coterie, Gryffindors (almost) all, were terrible to Snape, and – as golden kids – believed they were entirely justified. And the administration let them get away with it.

      Any house can have its bad eggs. You’ve got the jocks and frat bros, the brains who sneer at anyone who can’t do six-figure math in their heads or memorize a hundred years of trivia, the “u wot m8s” eager to deliver a thumpin’ to anyone they think is looking down on ’em (mess with one, you get ’em all), and oh yeah, the snakes.

      1. BBCC

        And you want an evil Gryffindor? Peter Pettigrew.

  35. Bagge

    I LOVE Joyce in the final panel. She completely owns her pickiness and character development. This IS a big step for her, and she does not downplay that.

    Jacbo remains the perfect gentleman. Anyone else would have teased her silly, but he just acknowledges it with a bemused smile.

    1. Pablo360

      Jackbo is my favorite character

  36. Carms

    SO. CUTE. SHIPPING INTENSIFIES.

    1. Reltzik

      There’s so much shipping, it’s freightening.

      1. Pope William T Wodium

        Can’t believe I’ve never seen this one before.

  37. Godfather

    Goddamn it. It’s 2:30 AM and now I want noodles.

    1. Yumi

      2:30AM is the perfect time for noodles.

      1. Dara

        LATE NITE NOODLE JOINT RUN ROLL CALL

        oh wait i have the flu, n/m ;_;

        1. CJ

          I have at least three belly rooles because of late night noodles ?

  38. BenRG

    More Sweet Joyce! I love her expression in panel three: This is her ‘determination’ face! “I am not neurotic about foodstuffs and I am going to prove it!“

  39. Blender

    Buttered noodles? Sounds like a certain Community College student that we all know and love!

  40. CianM1301

    Good on you, Joyce. Progress is still progress, no matter how small it is.

  41. Dracke

    so today spaghetti with meatballs, tomorrow a meatball sub.

  42. cousac

    I feel like Sarah’s plan is going to backfire. Because Jacob and Joyce seems to have a enough in common to establish a rapport. I foresee DRAMA(TM)!!!

  43. Ryek Hvek

    What, no “Joyce is trying to curry favor” comments? Let me fix that.

  44. Deanatay

    *meanwhile, at Galazzo’s*

    Becky: Excellent, excellent! OHOHOHOHO!
    Customer: Um… miss? Are you…?
    Becky: *grinning* Oh nothing! Here’s your large combo!
    *turns back towards kitchen, singing*
    “Oh, Jesus, make me a server…”

  45. SlothfulCobra

    Man, Jacob is wide.

  46. Shariku

    So is this pairing ultimately doomed? They are painfully good together and i could legitimately believe that they would make each other happy. Saying that, it looks like they’re set up for a lot of problems if anything happened.

  47. Apostate

    Noodles & Company! 😀

  48. ValdVin

    Panel.four: I sorta want the server to stretch that word out a bit…

    (Thinking: A little more dramatic than most noodle orders, but): “Oooookayyyy…”

    1. Needfuldoer

      I pictured a beat then a deadpan “okay”, like Bobby Hill.

      1. ValdVin

        Heehee.

  49. Amber

    I’ll go ahead and confess that when people order buttered noodles my mind immediately goes to, “Ah, so trying to actually die of boredom.”

    1. Ryek Hvek

      a common setting for kielbasa is buttered egg noodles

  50. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    On one hand, I love that Jacob picks up on the social cues and figures out and acknowledges in a supportive fashion the fact that Joyce’s order was a big moment for her. It shows how much he cares for others and centers what they find important.

    And especially shows that he’s not a dick about small victories. So often, folks with stuff, whether it be disability related, neurosis related, or whatever get mocked for big steps as it often looks small to someone without that stuff going on. (I’m thinking about the one blog post someone with crippling agoraphobia wrote about the street harasser who harassed them about taking a selfie in front of the grocery store, because they didn’t understand how many days it had taken them to accomplish this).

    And so for Jacob to center and celebrate it in a non-judging manner is beautiful and definitely one of the traits that is making it so easy for Joyce to fall in love with him.

    But here’s the other hand. Jacob is really attune to other people’s stuff. Like he’s picking up on a lot surrounding Joyce, from the origin of some of her neuroses as well as the emotional weight of things like the noodles.

    So it starts to become disingenuous to hope that he’s just oblivious to the many signs that Joyce is crushing on him hard. Like, it’s possible. Everyone has their blind spots, but it seems rather unlikely that he’s not noticing how differently she’s acting around him and the floating chemistry that is going on.

    And yet, he is not really doing anything to separate himself from the situation and he did the same with Sarah. Like, it’s not on him to be responsible for other people’s feelings, but it becomes somewhat off when he actively pushes for closer more intimate connections with folks who have crushes on him and tries to integrate them more into his life.

    Like, let someone back off and sort out their feelings and shit. Like it’s not required, but it’s a nice thing to do.

    And it makes me somewhat suspicious of him here, especially after that guilty look-away when he found himself speaking defensively about Joyce. That perhaps he’s finding himself drawn to these borderline situations and letting his ideas that he wants to fix things overshadow doing what is best for the person with the crush.

    1. kilgaen

      It’s Jacob, though. Everybody’s crushing on him. The only person probably not crushing on him is Joe. Probably. And, you know, a man’s gotta live. He shouldn’t be denied close connections with the people in his life just because he’s the incredible hotness. So long as he’s not taking advantage (and he’s not) it’s not on him to deal with other people’s hormones.

    2. CJ

      I don’t quite understand what you are getting at here. When you notice someone has a crush on you, you should step back? I mean, it’s not like he’s going on a date with her.
      It might make someone crushing on a lot of people rather lonely if everyone started avoiding them. Why should a crush be a hindrance to friendship?

    3. Reltzik

      I’m going to be irritating and disagree with you, Cerb.

      This is the guy who just described his “perfect relationship” as an “item-for-item match for exactly what I’m looking for”, and who still hasn’t clued in to Sarah having the hots for him despite lotsa clues. He didn’t register Ethan’s… um, discomfort around him. I’m thinking that he might not be that clued in to subtle crushes. (Especially side-by-side with Roz not-subtle attempt to bed him.)

      Also, he’s seen Joyce disassemble tacos and asked her about it and was outright told that she doesn’t like food touching, so knowing that it’s a big step for her is not really a huge insight.

      If anything, I think Jacob’s own growing crush on Joyce is blinding him to her crush on him. He’s too busy trying to analyze and/or avoid his own feelings and try to keep her in the friend zone to pay close attention to what SHE might be feeling.

      1. Sunny

        Yes, I was also going to point out that Jacob was at the same table as Joyce when she disassembled her tacos. I think it was shortly before Joe offered her 20$ if she’d say a curseword. So he was already well aware of her hangups regarding food.

    4. Stella

      Hmm. I kind-of disagree, in two ways.

      One, I think “this person is crushing on me” is actually a pretty common blind spot for a lot of otherwise socially savvy people. In high school, for example, I would say I was about average at picking up social cues, and above-average for my particular group of friends. But, I was completely oblivious to the fact that three guys and one girl had a crush on me.

      Some of the signs Joyce has a crush on him that Jacob can see (her facial expression when he’s close to her, her wanting to spend time with him) could easily be interpreted different ways (“she blushed because she is embarrassed by this whole church setting” ; “she wants to spend time with me because she wants a non-romantic friend and enjoys my company.”).

      I think it’s a lot more obvious to us readers that Joyce has a crush on Jacob because of what she’s said to Sarah, Joe, and Danny. But Jacob hasn’t seen any of those things. And I also think it’s nice that Jacob doesn’t default to “this woman’s interest in me is probably sexual or romantic,” because he really sees women as people.

      The other way I kind-of disagree is, assume if he does realize Joyce has a crush on him. And he clearly likes her as a friend, and he possibly has romantic feelings for her (although those budding feelings then make him feel guilty because he’s with Raidah). I think it’d be pretty hurtful and presumptive for him to pull away from Joyce. She wouldn’t understand why. And what would his explanation be? “Oh, I don’t want to hang out with you one-on-one anymore because you clearly have a crush on me. Which I know, even though you’re not even admitting it to yourself, because I know your mind better than you. And I also know that what’s best for you is to deny you my non-romantic friendship because of feelings you can’t control, because I assume you lack the self-control not to act on those feelings.”

      Obviously, he wouldn’t use those exact words, but that’d basically be the rationale. And…that’s pretty obnoxious, if not sexist.

      The girl who had a crush on me in high school and I were friends, and we’re still friends today. I never reciprocated her feelings. But when she needed to pull back from our friendship to cool down, *she* made that decision; I didn’t presume to make it for her. Turned out all it took was a summer apart for her to fall for someone else who was into her, and poof, crush on me went away.

      People have to be allowed to manage their own feelings and their own relationships. It’s part of respecting people as whole people.

    5. Cerberus

      Everyone made really good points and yeah, I think I was off-base on this one. It shouldn’t be on Jacob to manage other people’s feelings towards him and it’s really easy to have blind-spots around attraction or believe that attraction shouldn’t interfere with a platonic friendship.

      It’s definitely a bit of a train-wreck waiting to happen, but that’s not really anyone’s fault so far except emotions (the bastards).

  51. kilgaen

    I’m so sorry, Joyce. You will rue the day.

  52. Doopyboop

    I know your pain, Joyce.

  53. Dev

    Stop being adorable you two I’m not supposed to ship it. 🙁

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Since when has “not supposed to ship this” stopped a fan?

  54. Capes

    I was a huge Sarah/Jacob shipper, but this arc has really gotten me into Joyce/Jacob.

  55. thejeff

    Aren’t meatballs already made out of different kinds of food all mushed together?

    Probably shouldn’t point that out to Joyce.

  56. Bicycle Bill

    What sort of fast-food place serves curry?

    1. Yumi

      Well, Noodles and Company, for one. Other establishments that aren’t as major, also. How common it is may depend on the region.

    2. Reltzik

      Obviously, it’s curry-out.

    3. vlademir1

      Noodles and Company is in the “fast-casual” segment (fast-food style service, casual dining types and quality of food, prices somewhere between the two). It’s been a growth sector in the food service industry for around two decades now with the likes of Chipotle, Fazoli’s, and Boston Market being big players.

  57. Scar Man!!!

    Out of curiousity due to this chapter’s subject, do Episcopalians do anything special on Sundays outside of going to church?

    Asking this as a Jew who has tons of rules on what you can’t do on the Sabbath and still has a moment of “wait, what” when they see observant Christians using money on Sundays or observant Muslims doing the same on Fridays.

  58. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

    Full disclosure*: I am almost as picky as Joyce. As a kid, I was way worse. Actually, I still actively try to avoid looking at people while they eat food that I’m averse to, so maybe in that sense I’m worse than Joyce is…

    My pickiness is more texture-based. Noodles are basically just slimy worms, no thanks. And rice? Pretty sure they’re maggots. (I honestly don’t know what eating rice is like, but it seems incredibly bizarre to have food composed of individual parts.) But I love bread. Bread is not weird. Bread is the only good grain (besides processed snacks like cereal, chips, etc.). But somehow people think that spaghetti is the food that everyone will eat even though you’re willingly intubating yourself.

    I also think soup is weird because liquids are supposed to be drink, not food. There must be at least some solidity to food. Non-Newtonian foods like ice cream and yogurt are totally fine, but I’m not a slurper. I keep my cereal dry. Why would you want your cereal soggy? Soggy things are gross. It’s like it’s already been half-digested or something**.

    *This is something I’m kind of self-conscious about, so please keep your comments non-judgmental… even though my irrational justifications probably seem judgmental. That may be slightly hypocritical, but I’m on lower ground here, so maybe that justifies it somewhat?

    **To be honest, I also have acid reflux and that happens to me a lot, but that’s another can of spaghetti-creatures

    1. Sunny

      Have you ever tried soup that has been puréed? It doesn’t work for all soups, but there are some which end up being completely homogenous, slightly thick liquids. Pumpkin soups and some mushroom soups are examples, but there should be others as well.
      You can serve them in a small bowl and drink directly from it. Also dip bread in it. No spoons required.

  59. ǝ snow ʍousɐ

    tl;dr: Joyce’s pickiness, where things should not be mixed, is completely different than mine, where some food (including wet noodles) just seems inherently gross. I’m probably weird this way. I am a weirdly oversensitive person in general. Sorry.

    1. Liliet

      Actually my pickiness is much closer to yours than Joyce’s. What jumped out at me is weirdness about soup: I’m fine with /eating it with a spoon/ but my family thinks that if it’s just broth it’s okay to drink it from a mug and no??? it’s not a drink??? it’s food??? as food it’s fine but as drink it’s GROSS AF??? Like, this is not exactly your issue, but it feels eerily similar @_@

  60. CK

    Yay, Jacob and I have the same Noodles order! Or at least we did, until they took it off the menu 🙁

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.