Yesterday, Steve from Royal Oak immediately picked up on the same thoughts I was having as I dug up this old series, specifically how difficult it was, in my youth, to get to know a girl over the phone. Or at least how difficult it seemed! I think I launch far too many old-fogey threads as it is, but I think it’s a worthwhile subject: what is it like for kids today, who are connected, individually and collectively, to one another on a constant basis? You want to talk about a societal ground-shift. Or maybe it’s just as difficult today to cold text that cute young thing in third period algebra.
181 responses to “The Christmas Caller II”
We sometimes put the bologna into the microwave just long enough to form the cups, then put them into a muffin tin and add eggs and bake it till the eggs are done.
Jean dear, that would be fine, except for the green peas, which would probably be OK had not the elementary school cafeteria version of green peas not ruined them for me forever. I would substitute turnip greens, as my sister and I both loved mixing our greens with mashed potatoes and adding a splash of white vinegar. With, of course, cornbread in the side. (Try it; it’s much better than it sounds.)
I believe I’d still have to go with the Bacon Bowl Maker (As Seen on TV!) I mentioned the other day.
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mr6_VJO9UdIfMUC6F2xZQhw.jpg
Ghost Sweetie, I heartily agree about elementary school green peas! The only kind I eat now, other than fresh when I can get them, are the frozen petite peas. I really don’t understand the British thing for canned mushy peas. As for greens and potatoes, I prefer kale, sauteed in a bit of bacon fat, and then mixed with the mashed potatoes. For turnip or collard greens, I usually go with rice, black eyed peas, and cornbread.
Jean dear, I can tell that you have “Southern cook” stamped all over you. Well, all of you I can see, anyway. 😉
I have heard that fresh green peas are a horse (well, a pea) of a different color, and perhaps someday I will be able to overcome the memory of those overly green and loathsome lunchroom legumes and try them.
Ghost, if you get your hands on any English peas fresh, steam them in a Chinese bamboo steamer with a layer of lettuce on bottom. If not, use any steamer with same layer of lettuce.
Whole other vegetable.
Canned peas are useful to make creamed pea soup but drain off the liquid before you blend them.
Canned petit pois are edible with new potatoes and a few other improvements. Frozen petit pois are pretty decent if not overcooked.
I come from a long line of women who began lunch/dinner right after they washed the breakfast dishes. I do not, I am into fast cooking and steaming, light sauté, that sort of cooking. My poor mother chews the green beans and spits the main part out, same on sauté of greens.
Did notice some greens out in garden, so I should cook her some.
It is ironic to me that Southern cooking is now so stylish. I am actually good on “Soul Food” because that is how I learned to cook and Cajun/Creole I learned in Lafayette and New Orleans.
On bologna subject, I do believe it is part of Oklahoma’s official
meal. One thing they do up here is smoke it and barbque it as well. One of my favorite restaurants serves a huge sandwich which I believe has bologna, hot links and brisket and some other stuff crammed in.
Personally I love their “Bruben” which has brisket substituted for the pastrami.
Love, Jackie
Jackie, there were chickens and bees on our old homestead (it was in central Florida, just east of Orlando). You shouldn’t have any trouble with the bees, but consider checking with your county Ag agent first. They could give you good advice for your area.
Wonder if Arlo and Janis are going to head over to the kids’… to both help out and share Christmas?
Jackie, here’s a link to info on beekeeping in OK.
http://www.oda.state.ok.us/cps-bees.htm
Jackie, why would you think I might not have a Chinese bamboo steamer? 🙂
Even though I have an aversion to most green pea-ish dishes, I find split pea soup to be quite palatable.
I can believe that bologna could be an ingredient in Oklahoma cuisine. After all, in Hawaii, Spam sushi is a thing.
Actually I figured you had a bamboo steamer which is why I mentioned using one! Now me, I have no idea where mine is nor if it has been donated, lost or stored!
Having graduated from a bonifide agriculture school, I ALWAYS go bug (pun) county agents for information, so I will on the bees as well as read all I can first. Turns out my part time gardener whom I rehired knows all about chickens but not bees.
Now I am thinking about free range chickens if I can get my yard fenced. The front yard is coming along slowly but coming. Mike says it is Kyle’s retirement project, meaning he will work on it until he is ready to retire!
Watching birds outside on feeders makes me think I need to put some more in my line of sight from office. I have moved into metal feeders, the kind that squirrels can’t get to and chew up.
Am not sure if the river through my front yard or the trellised raised garden in back yard cause more comments. When I add a chicken house and a fancy fence that will probably get more traffic! Actually fence isn’t fancy but stainless steel cattle panels framed in cedar panels. Not common around here though.
Love, Jackie
WTH? A GREEN label on a Coke? That is just so wrong.
http://d1lwft0f0qzya1.cloudfront.net/dims4/COKE/4696277/2147483647/thumbnail/596×334/quality/75/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.coca-colacompany.com%2F95%2Feb%2F17a621f547d8a702f82630fe316f%2Fcoca-cola-life-bottles-604.jpg
Debbe 😉 What a coincidence! 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6xNuUEnh2g
[The Black Hole of Moderation Strikes Twice. I’ll try with a different link.]
Again, words fail me…
http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/327080/couple-close-death-after-night-stuck-keyless-car
And I always thought this was just a joke…
“A pickup truck carrying four male students from (insert name of the college/university you most enjoy denigrating) left the road and submerged after running into a lake. The two students in the cab escaped and swam to shore, but tragically, the two riding in the bed of the truck drowned when they were unable to lower the tailgate.”
As I recall, the next step in the Gene/Mary Lou saga was Gene going looking for Mary Lou the next time the family hit the coast. Had she not called him here, I wonder if he would have gone looking for her…
And I recall correctly, Janis held the opinion that any girls calling boys had to have the decency to refer to themselves as “hussies.”
JJ, we need an indexed strip locator on the new site. 😉
…”And IF I recall correctly.” Well, not so great at typing, either…
It may have even been “brazen hussies…”
What a day. I shall leave it at that. Well, my day was okay, but some of my co-workers … not so much. Spent three hours trying to untangle three days worth of confusion st another store to help out a newbie manager. I really ought to work on those Christmas cards….
Back in very early 90’s I sold Lincolns to mainly fairly elderly customers (and Mercury Grand Marquis after they fainted at the Lincoln’s price) Our dealership was owned by a lovely lady, ex-Vegas showgirl, who believed in real customer service. She had in fact written and ramrodded the Ford-Mercury-Lincoln customer satisfaction program.
So, not only did we demonstrate how to operate everything in the cars, we set keyless doors, cell phones, radios, voice activation features, heaters, CD players, the adjustable seats, etc. but we drove with them and taught them how to drive the bloody cars if needed. How about teaching a woman who has never driven a stick shift to drive one in Houston traffic?
Anyway, we had plans A-B-C-D for crisis, like a duplicate key we kept in the dealerships safe/files on all sold cars, those who sold the car had to go find the little old lady and her purse inside car and get her inside, or open trunk and get the hidden numbers that would let us override her codes, or push the button that released the feature that stopped the car by turning off the gas when hit from behind gently/bumped.
My mama who at 93 has bought about 8 cars in same period I have driven the same pickup truck (maybe 9-10 actually) has not once had a salesman even show her how to do anything on a car.
Nor would she accept my help in buying one nor Mike’s help and we are excellent car salesmen. Mama once bought a van with a built in CD player front and back and a babyseat that added a ton to the cost and never knew she had them!
Yes, I WILL believe anything I hear on cars/car salesmen/buyers!
Loved the Aggie joke, Ghost!
Jackie
Scuze me, I meant to say two DVD players, front and back, headphones for them, multi-play CD players, a built in baby seat, a moon roof, built in cell phones, all when these kinds of things cost lots of extra $$$$. She wouldn’t trust me to help her pick one out of course so she got ripped off constantly. She loved to show off to salesmen how much money she had, always a bad thing to do!
Should have gotten around to this earlier. That animated video of ‘We 3 Kings’ was a hoot, including the three camels, of obviously a different ethnicity. But you need to know something about camelids [O.W. camels + their S.A. relatives]*. True ruminants [4 stomachs] have NO upper incisors. Camelids [3 stomachs] have one much reduced incisor, and its not in the front of the upper jaw. Those big buckteeth were funny but most misleading. Here’s a skull of one of the S.A. camelids, a guanaco [wild ancestor of the llama]:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lama_guanicoe_skulls#mediaviewer/File:Lama_guanicoe_03_MWNH_820.jpg
*Why the disjunct distribution? The earliest camels originated and diversified here, in N.A., moved into Asia via Beringia and more recently into S.A. via Panama, then went extinct here, possibly assisted in that by humans that migrated here via Beringia.
Peace, emb
Jackie, I drive a 2011 Crown Vic, not because I’m an old fart, but because “it’s got a cop motor, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks”…well, you know the rest of that. Oh, and a big trunk for carrying, ah, stuff. Being basically a 1992 automobile, it’s pretty easy to figure out all its features. I think that resetting the digital clock twice a year is about the most complicated thing about it.
Whoops: ‘. . .. and it’s not in the front . . ..’
That news story about the couple getting locked in their car all night was certainly … “interesting”. And has resulted in some good stories from Jackie and Ghost. I’m careful always to keep the owner’s manual right in the car, and what’s more, I have read it from cover to cover and try to follow its advice. I’m driving a year 2000 Dodge mini-van, which we bought used in … 2004 or 5 and have had very little trouble with. Everything is very simple to operate, and to fix! I will bet that you can guess what color this car is!!
I would be totally remiss if I did not laud the fourth panel of this retro strip. The cartooning skill evidenced in depicting Gene’s face is worthy of Schulz (the acknowledged old master.)
It is sort of like admiring acting in a way… when the emotion is conveyed and the audience relates to it. And brother, do I ever relate to Gene there!
Ghost, I never meant to infer that you were an old anything! And yes, I knew you drove a Crown Vic. I didn’t know it was a 92 but in that case I could sell it to you.
I had a couple of trite car jokes, “What is the difference between a Lincoln Towncar and a Gran Marquis?” “$24,000”
“How big is a Lincoln’s trunk?” “Mam, it will hold at least ten traveling salesmen in my experience.” Silly stuff like that.
The Crown Vics and Grand Marquis were well made and were like riding in a big sofa, they rode so well. And the motors were awesome.
I have to go move some laundry around. I have decided I am so tired because I haven’t had 5 uninterrupted minutes for some time now, at least not conscious.
Actually I enjoyed selling cars but even that has changed a lot. I suspect I would fit in more with today’s style of selling where honesty seems to count.
Love, Jackie
I could relate to Gene in the today’s real time strip.
Jackie, my CV is a 2011, the last of the breed. I mean that the model is basically unchanged since 1992.