[MacNNFamous]

4.98 here in Wisco. $97 to fill up the van. Woof. Gotta pull myself up by my bootstraps a bit harder.

[reader50]

I'm seeing small declines over the past week. Like 10¢ drops at one station, then another.

[ghporter]

On Tuesday, I filled up at $4.23 with regular. Today the price is $4.17. I like this trend.

(Darn! I can’t find a way to do superscripts on my iPad…)

[subego]

Originally, I Googled “9 superscript”, clicked a result, and then selected and copied it. Since then, I’ve copied it from the thread.

[andi*pandi]

I like this solution but intuitively thought ^2 should do it without creating a shortcut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16mo...nnel=DanWilson

[ghporter]

The “Walmart Neighborhood Market” a couple of blocks from my house is selling regular for $4.05⁹ today, and my regular source, an H-E-B grocery about 3 miles away is selling for $4.11⁹. I’m kinda ambivalent about Walmart gas, so I’ll spend a few cents more and buy from a retailer whose products I have plenty of positive experience with.

Gas Buddy says the local price ranges from $4.03⁹ to $4.69⁹, and they have “this part of town” pretty well defined, too.

[Laminar]

Paid $3.42 this morning.

[subego]

I did that.

[ghporter]

H-E-B, my local grocery chain, has regular for $3.38⁹. Good thing too, since this week and next we’ve had to do a lot of driving.

[subego]

$4.52⁹ at my usual burb stop

[Laminar]

Planning to fill up for $3.12 today, we're dangerously close to getting under $3/gallon.

[ghporter]

Regular is $3.31⁹ at my favorite grocery/gas station. Gas Buddy says it’s as low as $3.24⁹ in the local area, but that’s at a non-chain convenience store. I’ll stick with a known-good store and their gas.

[reader50]

Still in the mid- to upper-$5 range here. It's clearly been in slow decline, but has yet to approach $5.

[Thorzdad]

$3.67 last night out on the interstate, and in every town around us. At home, though, it’s still something like $4.14, which is making a lot of people scratch their heads and ask “why?” I suppose the answer is “Because they can”, but it’s really weird how our little area (which is definitely not off the beaten path) seems to be the last place to lower prices.

[subego]

Back in the city the spread I saw was $4.79⁹ to a rather astounding $5.59⁹

[andi*pandi]

Sighted at the MA/NH border: $4.09

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Planning to fill up for $3.12 today, we're dangerously close to getting under $3/gallon.

JK I found E85 for 2.34 so I did that. Only managed 10.6mpg towing the car, but still less $$/mile.

[andi*pandi]

whoa.
And that still won't make some people happy.

[subego]

I forget the exact price, but 10 disposable coffee cups with lids was over $9 at the Walgreens.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

JK I found E85 for 2.34 so I did that. Only managed 10.6mpg towing the car, but still less $$/mile.

The place with the cheap E85 has stopped advertising its price on the sign. It has three sections labelled regular, diesel, and E85, and the E85 section they just leave blank. The cheapest E15 around here is still 3.01. Towed the boat on E85 yesterday and averaged about 10.2.

[reader50]

$4.99⁹ at the off-brand station
$5.19⁹ at ARCO
$5.49⁹ at the Stickup

This is the first sub-$5 gas I've seen since March.

[ghporter]

The price spread here (my local area) is $3.11⁹ to $3.49⁹ according to Gas Buddy. It's been sort of settling around here, with a slow drift downward but not a lot of change. What surprised me is that premium is as low as $3.53⁹ - but as high as $5.30⁹ - in that same area.

[subego]

Originally Posted by subego 

I forget the exact price, but 10 disposable coffee cups with lids was over $9 at the Walgreens.

Price check on the shelf is a somewhat more reasonable $5.49.

[subego]

Strike that.

I actually ended up accidentally scamming Walgreens out of a few dollars.

10 regular coffee cups with lids is $5.49. The eco variety is $8.49.

[reader50]

I was going to say something about how "eco coffee cups" sounded weird. What was next, eco cigarettes?

Then I realized bio-degradable cigarette butts would be a gift. They turn up everywhere (i don't smoke) and someone needs to sweep them up. Only more keep appearing.

So bring on the eco-smokes, and I'll lay off the eco coffee.

[subego]

I haven’t seen the regular up close, this particular Walgreens has been out of them. That’s what caused me to scam the money, the eco version was sitting over the wrong price on the shelf.

However, I would guess both types are equally eco in the cup department, being made out of paper. It’s the lids making the distinction. The eco lids are biodegradable and compostable.

[Laminar]

Wife filled up at Costco for $3.049 yesterday and dealt with the ridiculous lines and all of that, I kindly let her know that the two stations near us had it for 3.009...and no lines. Costco used to be $0.30 cheaper than anything else, but apparently not anymore. My last fillup was $2.23 for E85.

[ghporter]

My local grocery/gas station has regular for 2.95⁹ today.

[subego]

$3.94⁹ at my burb Speedway.

Spread in the city was $4.84⁹ to $5.14⁹. We had a nearby refinery go dead.

[Laminar]

BP Whiting?? I was there a long time ago, like 2012ish maybe? Not my fault.

[subego]

That’s the one! Tell it to the judge.

[Laminar]

I remember while I was in the waiting room someone from the FBI came to investigate reports of a man taking pictures in the area. I think he was a wildlife photographer but due to potential terrorism threats they had to investigate any possibility of someone gathering intel on the refinery.

[andi*pandi]

$3.75 spotted in MA and its northern separatist self.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I think he was a wildlife photographer

Birds do love them some crude oil.

[Laminar]

Filled up for 2.14⁹ E85 this morning. E15 is sitting right at 3.00⁹, no one is willing to dip below 3 yet.

So far it's looking like E85 gets me ~$0.19/mile where E15 would be ~$0.22/mile. That's about a $15 savings per 500 miles driven.

Note that I could be paying $2.60+/gal of E85 if I went to most other stations, I just found one that has it cheaper than everywhere else. Luckily it's on my daily route so I'm not going out of my way to get it cheaper. I'm filling up about 60 miles sooner, though, so I'm doing one extra fillup every other month.

[ghporter]

Yesterday I filled up with regular at $2.95⁹ at my local H-E-B’s (grocery chain) gas station. I went past a Valero (local oil company) station to get there, but their price was $3.10⁹. To me, a 15¢ spread is worth a little farther drive. I saved over $1 in the process.

GasBuddy says the local area price spread is from $2.93 - $3.49. And yes, there are “major roads and highways” in that area, so the higher prices are almost all along those routes.

[andi*pandi]

I don't think gas stations near here even sell 85 any more.

[Laminar]

Iowa invested huge into ethanol plants ~10-15 years ago. We have to keep pretending that it was a good idea. On the plus side, E85 is essentially race fuel, so car dudes love having easy access to it. The car I'm building now will primarily run on E85.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Iowa invested huge into ethanol plants ~10-15 years ago. We have to keep pretending that it was a good idea. On the plus side, E85 is essentially race fuel, so car dudes love having easy access to it. The car I'm building now will primarily run on E85.

I wonder how the corn mafia feel about Indycar going to a not-made-from-corn fuel next year? NASCAR racing fuel is a paltry 15% ethanol. Indycar is/was the E85 racing series.

[ghporter]

I really wish the “ethanol for fuel” industry used only the non-food part of the corn, like stalks and husks, which are bulkier and have less sugar content, but don’t drive up the price of a food-grade grain.

Seriously, getting the sugar out of corn waste would free up millions of bushels of food a year, while allowing the waste to produce alcohol - and the waste from this process can be processed into feed or other useful materials.

OK, I’m off my soapbox. Carry on…

[Laminar]

What are the main products of corn - ethanol (inefficient use of food resources), HFCS (obesity epidemic), feed corn (we should eat less meat). Seems we could do with a lot fewer corn products.

Don't say that in Iowa, though.

[subego]

Popcorn is tasty.

[Thorzdad]

Cornmeal = tasty cornbread, muffins, etc.
Corn flour (masa harina) = tasty corn tortillas
Corn mash = tasty bourbon

[subego]

Polenta, too!

I want to like cornbread, but I don’t. Festival’s not bad.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Cornmeal = tasty cornbread, muffins, etc.
Corn flour (masa harina) = tasty corn tortillas
Corn mash = tasty bourbon

Corn tortillas are garbage. Flour all the way. Sorry to by GF friends but you're missing out.

Originally Posted by subego 

Polenta, too!

I want to like cornbread, but I don’t. Festival’s not bad.

We got the Famous Dave's cornbread mix to make muffins. It was unbelievably tasty so I checked the nutrition facts...almost as much sugar as a legit cupcake (14g vs 18g).

[reader50]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Corn tortillas are garbage. Flour all the way.

It's not every day, but now and then, I need some Doritos.

[subego]

Tostitos ‘hint of lime’ > Doritos

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Corn tortillas are garbage.

Bless your heart.

[subego]

Flour tortillas suck. They taste like ghost bread and have the mouth-feel of undercooked pizza dough.

Corn tortillas suck too. It’s not like animal feed, it is animal feed.

However, a fresh, thin tortilla chip made by someone who knows what they’re doing is a heavenly thing.

[ghporter]

Properly prepared corn tortillas are great. Properly prepared flour tortillas are great. The key: do it right.

With corn, the masa has to be mixed fresh just before the tortillas are formed, and the griddle has to be at the right temperature to cook the corn just enough. Too much, and they’re too crunchy, too little and they’re doughy.

With flour, it’s similar, but you need to make sure the proportions are right, especially of the “fat” ingredient. Traditionally it’s lard, but there are a lot of substitutes that work very well, as long as you use the right proportions, which are NOT the same as for lard. Proper temperature for cooking them is still important, but it’s not quite as critical. We did some flour tortillas a couple of days ago, and just used (blasphemy!) a non-stick pan to cook them. They still tasted great.

Also, a “tortilla” can be different depending on where you are, or where the cook is from. Shortly after being assigned to Panama, I ordered a meal that included “2 corn tortillas.” They were tasty, but instead of thin, rollable things, they were like smallish corn pancakes.

So if your cook is from “region A”, and their tradition is corn tortillas that are thicker but still soft, that’s fine. And if your cook is from “region L”, their flour tortillas may be on the small side, and kinda thin, but they’ll still taste great. It’s all about doing the mixing and cooking right.

Spend a few hours with a lady whose English isn’t super, but who everybody raves about her cooking, and “help” her make tortillas. You’ll get really tired, your back and hands will ache, but you’ll understand about tortillas.

Edit to add: My wife just connected some dots for me. Tortillas are like pie crusts; it’s ALL about proportions and process.