Text 4951, 118 rader
Skriven 2008-04-03 16:35:08 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 4751 av JOAN MACDIARMID (1:123/140)
Ärende: Fishin'
===============
Hi Joan,

 RH> At least your family was spending time together
 RH> in the great outdoors.

 JM>  Yeah, my folks were good that way. They took the time
 JM>  to do a lot of stuff with us kids, all as a family. We
 JM>  took those fishing trips (usually midmorning, picnic

 JM>  I do appreciate that, especially now, even if I have
 JM>  "issues" with my Mom's tendency to dominate. Now
 JM>  that I have read stories about other people's
 JM>  childhood experiences (not so much here, but in
 JM>  the newspapers and general), I realize my childhood
 JM>  was comparatively idyllic. My parents worked things
 JM>  out when they disagreed, but didn't fight physically
 JM>  or even loudly in my presence, and didn't think of
 JM>  divorce. They disciplined us kids when we needed it,

Typical 50s to mid 60s childhood. I think it was something about the
times-----brought to a shattering halt in November of 63.


 JM>  but not physically for the most part. I think I was
 JM>  spanked maybe twice.

I got it a lot more than you did.

 JM> No fancy picnic stuff, just cold
 JM> sandwiches like egg salad or tuna salad, potato chips,

 RH> Most of our "picnics" were if we were going to visit dad's relatives
 RH> or take/fetch my mom from summer school.  Dad's family was all out
 RH> around North Tonawanda & mom went to summer school in Geneseo.  All too
 RH> far to get to without stopping for a meal so my mom would pack
 RH> sandwiches and a jug of kool ade.  Depending on when we'd get away,
 RH> we'd try to stop at the parking area near the Elmira airport for lunch.

 JM>  Yeah, we did picnics like that, too. My family
 JM>  originated in Michigan, but we migrated to Alabama
 JM>  when I was 6YO, following Dad's career. So every
 JM>  vacation was spent travelling to Michigan to touch
 JM>  base with the rest of the extended family. Being
 JM>  thrifty, we often packed a picnic lunch for the
 JM>  first leg of the trip. That was OK, and it got us

We did the same thing when our girls were small.  But, when we lived in
NC, we'd usually set out at night after supper, hoping they would sleep
some.  I'd have munchies packed for the morning plus stuff to keep Steve
awake.


 JM>  out of the car. But the deliberate picnics in the
 JM>  park were more fun, because they were just for fun!

I can see why you remember them so well.


 RH> No, looking at all the fat on the pieces in the store and the list of
 RH> curing chemicals.

 JM>  I look for the leanest one I can find that's not
 JM>  too big for me, but accept they will always be
 JM>  fatty and that's part of the essence of them. And
 JM>  the curing chemicals on the package of corned beef
 JM>  I am finally cooking tonight don't scare me. I see
 JM>  "Water, salt, brown sugar, sodium citrate, natural
 JM>  flavor, sodium nitrite, citric acid, sodium
 JM>  erythorbate, polysorbate 80, sodium diacetate."
 JM>  in natural vinegar, dilute acetic acid. Actually,
 JM>  the only part of the ingredients listing that bugs
 JM>  me is "natural flavor"! That says "Trust Me" too
 JM>  much to trust, because I cannot look it up.

It still looks like stuff I'd best not eat too much of, especially with
the unknowns.  We're going easy on the nitrites and similar; I do have a
bit of bacon from time to time, maybe every couple of months or so at
most. My mom wrote that she has been attending classeson diabetes
management and the one on nutrition had her all confused. I need to
e-mail her some basics of what's good/bad.

 RH> Do you have room in your apartment for a small freezer?  Sounds like

 JM>  No, and I would just fill it up and get into the
 JM>  same quandaries. That's why I don't encourage Mom
 JM>  to get a freezer, either.

I can see why. My folks keep theirs pretty full but they don't have the
local grocery stores to get stuff fresh all the time.


 RH> Sounds good.  We've cut way back on the amount of meat we are buying.
 RH> I thought I wasn't going to get any on the last commissary run but they
 RH> had turkey pieces on sale. I got turkey Italian sausage, turkey wings
 RH> and turkey breast cutlets. The last ones will be made into schnitzel.

 JM>  Ha, ha, ha! The "sales" demons get to you too!
 JM>  That's what got me into trouble, bargains I
 JM>  couldn't get later and wanted! I managed a
 JM>  second week of grocery shopping without any
 JM>  meat purchases, just apples, green peppers and
 JM>  celery from the Farmers Market and milk, sandwich
 JM>  buns and lightbulbs from Wegmans.

Yes, well, better turkey than red meat. We shop for a month at a time so
that's decent in the meat spending.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly@earthlink.net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... gnorw og...  gnorw og...  gnorw og nac gnihton

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