Potpourri

[sartorias]

If you need an under-two-minute stress reliever, watch Baby Goat vs. CatYesterday, a young friend of one of my kids asked what an antimacassar was. Her guess from context was an old-fashioned piece of furniture, which isn't far wrong. I explained about Macassar oil, worn regularly by men to get that shine in their hair, and how it greased up

Comments

[cmcmck]

Au contraire- those of us at the more geekish end of music reproduction (ie those of us who laugh insanely at the concept of an i pod, i player, docking base or other personal music system being thought of as high quality) still use the term 'hi fi' to describe our sound systems!

[sartorias]

Interesting! I haven't actually heard it spoken in my presence for many a decade. But I guess these things are not uniform in all places. (surprise!)

[asakiyume]

Oh, yes, I really agree with Madeleine Robins, and you. She's absolutely right that there's a difference between a deliberate lifestyle choice and being forced into something by circumstance, and furthermore, as you point out, back in the day, poor people did *not* necessarily eat better. People ate poorly in a different way. People really did suffer from things like rickets, or had stunted growth from lack of protein, etc. Or just didn't get enough.

...I remember what an acquaintance of mine, from China, and of peasant origins, said about food in the village her family was from. All they had, generally, too eat, was dumplings and cabbage. Sometimes a little pork. No other vegetables. No other starches. It was not an exciting, nuanced diet. That's all there was.

[cmcmck]

Yes! I remember my grandma's tricks to fill us up. She was a northeastener and a collier's wife and on Sundays (roast day of course) the Yorkshire pudding was served up first with the gravy as a stodgy filler, so you viewed the rest of the meal with complete detachment and didn't notice how little meat there actually was...........

[sartorias]

Yep. Stories from my Depression-era relatives made that really clear.

[maribou]

Erm. Not to be difficult, but she's whacking the same targets the Salon article is (eg Michael Pollan), not whacking the article. Which is quite good, if rather more rambly and unfocused.

Also, thank you for always posting such interesting links. I really enjoy them.

[sartorias]

Thanks--I better fix the wording!

[desperance]

I got out of bed at 6am last week, to set the bread to rise - and was heard later lamenting that I hadn't done it at 4am...

[sartorias]

Heh! Karen is one lucky lady to have a spouse who rises each day at four so she gets hot bread for her breakfast!

[whswhs]

For me the recurrent question is, "Did you remember to charge your phone?"

I don't know about you, but I eat vastly better now. When I was a kid I never encountered food cooked with olive oil, or coconut milk, and there were far fewer choices of fruits and vegetables-especially fresh. And my spice shelf now has anise, and chipotle chili, coriander, and cumin, and fenugreek, and turmeric, which at best I knew of from books (I suppose some of them might have been included in curry powder, but now I rarely use premixed curry powder); and now I know about Dijon mustard, which I prefer to yellow. I thank international food shipping for a number of these. . . .

[sartorias]

I loathed vegetables until I discovered what they tasted like fresh instead of canned or frozen. And I have never eaten beanie weenies, or Franco American Spaghetti, or spam, since I left home.

(There are some dishes my mom cooks splendidly, but turning out meals for six plus people every day when she hated being in the kitchen did inspire corner cutting. And in those days, canned and frozen foods were 'smart'.)

[cmcmck]

'Franco American Spaghetti.'

My Italian ancestral part is writhing within me!

Do tell?

[sartorias]

An abmoniably horrible concoction made with what was probably ketsup and corn starch and a whole lot of salt to impart whatever flavor it had. Yegads it was awful, but we kids had it often if Dad wasn't going to be home for dinner, or if the parents were going out.