"Goomba38" wrote in message
. ..
Doug Kanter wrote:

Like any societal change, this one requires 2-3 generations (or more) to
change. My teenage son has other things on his mind, like talking on the
phone all day while functioning as a heavy weight to keep the sofa from
flying out the window. During his occasional moments of partial
awareness, I rag on him about how he might want to spend some time with
me in the kitchen so he learns, and doesn't starve to death when he's
living on his own. What would sons have been told in the 1950s? Maybe
nothing? Would there have been the unspoken expection that as soon as
they were done with college, a woman would magically appear to cook for
them? I don't recall what I absorbed when I was 8 years old. What I *do*
know is that in college, there were plenty of guys whose entire
relationship with women involved having someone to do their laundry.

My son has discovered cooking... for girls! Besides that cooking is
another activity that he and a bunch of his frat brothers have been
doing..probably because it saves money for more drinking and debauchery?
sigh
LOL

Hey...whatever works. What little my son does, he does because he's found
that for maybe 95% of the food we eat, you can make it better at home.

wff_ng_7 wrote:

I guess I don't look at whats's IN other people's shopping carts, but I most
certainly do look at what's on the conveyor belt in front of and behind my
order. I'm not sure if it is self righteousness as much as it is just
curiosity. ..

I'm an observer of life, and I want to see what's going on around me.


You bring up an interesting point. If I see someone reading on a bus or
at a restaurant, I get curious about the book and will try to manouever
to a place where I can see the cover without making it obvious. I get
curious about artwork in public places, store displays, ad copy, changes
in manners, turns of phrase, all sorts of things but not strangers'
weight and groceries. I guess there is a bit of the busybody in me.


--Lia

wff_ng_7 wrote:

"Julia Altshuler" wrote:

wff_ng_7 wrote:


I guess I don't look at whats's IN other people's shopping carts, but I
most certainly do look at what's on the conveyor belt in front of and
behind my order. I'm not sure if it is self righteousness as much as it
is just curiosity. ..

I'm an observer of life, and I want to see what's going on around me.


You bring up an interesting point. If I see someone reading on a bus or
at a restaurant, I get curious about the book and will try to manouever to
a place where I can see the cover without making it obvious. I get
curious about artwork in public places, store displays, ad copy, changes
in manners, turns of phrase, all sorts of things but not strangers' weight
and groceries. I guess there is a bit of the busybody in me.


Being an observer can be in all kinds of things, and it doesn't have to
involve people. It can be observing the natural world around us. Right
behind my house there's a tree whose branches reach the balcony of a nearby
house. On that balcony, there is a "bottomless" bucket of peanuts. Of
course, this tree is "squirrel central". Though I can't garden because the
squirrels are forever tearing up my planting beds burying and digging up
their peanuts, I find them quite entertaining. Squirrels do pay attention to
people and what they are doing. Often I will just stare out my picture
window at them, and they will definitely notice me. Sometimes they don't
notice and I will wave my arms... they do notice the motion, stop what they
are doing, and stare back. I'm sure if anyone saw me, they'd think I was a
nut and wonder what I was doing.

Squirrels are funny! I toss out peanuts to the blue jays so one
Christmas I got the idea to put out the leftover Christmas nuts. DH was
not amused cleaning them out of the downspout We live on the water
now so have a problem feeding wildlife although I still toss our peanuts
to the blue jays each morning. I have one fat blue jay that follows me
around when I'm outside, bold as anything! DH said no bird feeders as
we've had a rodent problem and we do have a lot of other wildlife.

This past Sunday morning I heard this most interesting hammering noise. I'm
sure most people wouldn't give it a second thought. But I recognized it for
what it was: the distinctive sound of a woodpecker. I stopped to try and
find it, but was unsuccessful. On one prior occassion I did spot one. Quite
interesting to find in downtown Washington, DC. If you're not looking, you
miss an awful lot of stuff.

Woodpeckers are really neat as are nuthatchers. You want to encourage
woodpeckers because they eat harmful bugs. Nuthatchers are just cool
because of the way they walk head first down the trees. I like the gold
finches too. We have a pair of cardinals that are really pretty. I'm
not fond of mourning doves since they are a relative of pigeons and are
a really messy bird. We have a lot of hawks of which I kind of have a
love hate relationsip with. They are gorgeous birds but bring a whole
new meaning to natural selection!

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 06:16:33 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:

ensenadajim wrote:
On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 00:46:08 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:


I once bought a book for a friend called "How to Boil Water". There
is no such thing as a stupid cookbook if it actually helps people
learn how to cook.


I think a new addition will be out in 2010 or so. I wish I had seen
this before making a nearly identicle post.


jim

The first chapter explains how to boil hot dogs. And wait! there's more!
You *can* make grilled cheese sandwiches!

I should say the woman I gave this cookbook to wasn't illiterate and she was
a very good friend of mine. For her 20th birthday I gave her a copy of the
'Good Housekeeping' cookbook. She was a newlywed and I figured it would be
a slightly better choice now that she'd figured out how to boil water

Jill


I had an interesting conversation with my 84-year-old mother about
this "dummying down" of cookbooks. From her perspective, it has to do
with more than a full generation being brought up on fast food,
microwave and throw-in-the-oven dinners. Far too many young ones have
not been taught the rudiments of boiling water, let alone any cooking
that is pointed in the direction of serious cooking.


jim

On 20 Mar 2006 11:27:19 -0800, "Blair P. Houghton"
wrote:

No.

The great mass of people is not the font of art. It is the market for
art.

Whether a random person on the subway can explain "folding" is
irrelevant to the continued knowledge of the process, as there are more
schools every day capable of teaching anyone interested how to perform
it correctly (and probably better than the average biscuit-baking
granny ever could).

As long as it's written down, it's not being "lost".

--Blair

That is assumming that someone reads it - otherwise, it is lost.


jim

On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:05:15 -0500, ~patches~
wrote:

Curly Sue wrote:

Eating habits are learned at home. Kids who are not impressed with
the importance of health at home are not going to seek it outside the
home.

One thing about cooking per se, is that it has become a hobby that
some people will learn because they like to do it rather than because
it's their function in life. Most of the people lamenting the loss of
cooking skills are talking about loss of cooking skills of women.
Apparently women many women today would rather get an education and
have a career than agonize over "dredging." Good for us. In
addition, there still are parents who need to work long and hard to
keep up and cooking is the least of their worries.

You'd be surprised at how many women have educations, have careers, and
have kids yet still find the time to cook.

I'm very familiar with what educated women do. In the past women who
disliked cooking would have been stuck at home (or in a menial job)
with the expectation that their function in life was cooking (etc.)
and passing down that knowledge to their daughters. Now, such women
have other options. The well-off women you speak of who do cook, have
careers, buy exotic ingredients, etc. are doing it because they enjoy
cooking rather than because they have to. And they are probably doing
a better job of it than someone who dislikes cooking.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

"~patches~" wrote in message
...
wff_ng_7 wrote:

"Julia Altshuler" wrote:

wff_ng_7 wrote:


I guess I don't look at whats's IN other people's shopping carts, but I
most certainly do look at what's on the conveyor belt in front of and
behind my order. I'm not sure if it is self righteousness as much as it
is just curiosity. ..

I'm an observer of life, and I want to see what's going on around me.


You bring up an interesting point. If I see someone reading on a bus or
at a restaurant, I get curious about the book and will try to manouever
to a place where I can see the cover without making it obvious. I get
curious about artwork in public places, store displays, ad copy, changes
in manners, turns of phrase, all sorts of things but not strangers'
weight and groceries. I guess there is a bit of the busybody in me.


Being an observer can be in all kinds of things, and it doesn't have to
involve people. It can be observing the natural world around us. Right
behind my house there's a tree whose branches reach the balcony of a
nearby house. On that balcony, there is a "bottomless" bucket of peanuts.
Of course, this tree is "squirrel central". Though I can't garden because
the squirrels are forever tearing up my planting beds burying and digging
up their peanuts, I find them quite entertaining. Squirrels do pay
attention to people and what they are doing. Often I will just stare out
my picture window at them, and they will definitely notice me. Sometimes
they don't notice and I will wave my arms... they do notice the motion,
stop what they are doing, and stare back. I'm sure if anyone saw me,
they'd think I was a nut and wonder what I was doing.

Squirrels are funny! I toss out peanuts to the blue jays so one Christmas
I got the idea to put out the leftover Christmas nuts. DH was not amused
cleaning them out of the downspout We live on the water now so have a
problem feeding wildlife although I still toss our peanuts to the blue
jays each morning. I have one fat blue jay that follows me around when
I'm outside, bold as anything! DH said no bird feeders as we've had a
rodent problem and we do have a lot of other wildlife.

This past Sunday morning I heard this most interesting hammering noise.
I'm sure most people wouldn't give it a second thought. But I recognized
it for what it was: the distinctive sound of a woodpecker. I stopped to
try and find it, but was unsuccessful. On one prior occassion I did spot
one. Quite interesting to find in downtown Washington, DC. If you're not
looking, you miss an awful lot of stuff.

Woodpeckers are really neat as are nuthatchers. You want to encourage
woodpeckers because they eat harmful bugs. Nuthatchers are just cool
because of the way they walk head first down the trees. I like the gold
finches too. We have a pair of cardinals that are really pretty. I'm not
fond of mourning doves since they are a relative of pigeons and are a
really messy bird. We have a lot of hawks of which I kind of have a love
hate relationsip with. They are gorgeous birds but bring a whole new
meaning to natural selection!


We have ONE hawk I see occasionally at our home: a Red-shouldered hawk. We
don't see many at all except around the Blue Ridge mountains going to D.C.,
they sit along-side the road. Here are the birds we do have, love them all.
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com...Page/birds.htm
Dee Dee

"~patches~" wrote

wff_ng_7 wrote:

Squirrels are funny! I toss out peanuts to the blue jays so one Christmas
I got the idea to put out the leftover Christmas nuts. DH was not amused
cleaning them out of the downspout We live on the water now so have a
problem feeding wildlife although I still toss our peanuts to the blue
jays each morning. I have one fat blue jay that follows me around when
I'm outside, bold as anything!

They're too much! I never see them around then I put out
peanuts, the screaming meemies come out of nowhere.

The squirrels have their own feeder when I get around to filling
it. I remember like yesterday, the kid next door ... maybe he
was 10. He stood there with his little 10 year old chin dropped
as far as it could, eyes huge, staring at this squirrel sitting on this
seat in front of a box of nuts, lifting the lid taking a peanut at a time
and eating it.

First time he'd seen it in action. Hilarious.

This past Sunday morning I heard this most interesting hammering noise.
I'm sure most people wouldn't give it a second thought. But I recognized
it for what it was: the distinctive sound of a woodpecker.

I have to chase them from my window, they hammer a pretty good
hole. Never do see what the heck they're looking for.

a really messy bird. We have a lot of hawks of which I kind of have a
love hate relationsip with. They are gorgeous birds but bring a whole new
meaning to natural selection!

I chase them away if I catch them ... was easier when I had
Rascal ... I'd let her out and bark and she'd run around like a
nut barking and it would make the hawks go away ... yes, I know,
they have to eat, too ... but not my birds, and most especially not
my catbirds.

nancy

Sheldon wrote:

The Bubbo wrote:

I'm an observer, I watch people. I watch people's shopping habits, I watch
people at restaurants, I watch how people drie and how they negotiate the
skyways and how they bag my produce at the farmer's market. I pay attention
and I notice things. The guy behind me bought 2 half gallons of 2 percent
milk
and 1 half gallon of chocolate milk. He paid with cash.

You mean to say you moved through the check-out and then waited around
to watch the person *behind* you check out and even waited long enough
to see how they paid... sheesh, you don't have a life... or you simply
just made this up... for a self-proclaimed observer you're not nearly
so observant as those reading your post. Anyone reading your post can
clearly observe that you are lying. WTF do you need to constantly make
stuff up just so you have something to post... every one of your posts
I've read is a fabrication... you're very ill.

Sheldon


you're right, I should have left before my groceries were done being bagged
up. That's exactly what I should have done, left half a cart's worth of food
on the belt.

The lady bagging my groceries was slow at it, I was waiting. I suppose I could
have just dumped the rest back into the cart sans bags and hightailed it out
of there as fast as possible. Good idea. In fact, that's a great idea.

Also, if I was going to make stuff up it wouldn't be about a guy and his milk
purchase, it would be about moon people and meatloaf and hovering javelinas.
DUH!

--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Step off, beyotches, I'm the roflpimp!

~patches~ wrote:
The Bubbo wrote:

~patches~ wrote:


What I find odd is how anyone could stand in line, anaylze someone
else's purchases, then feel self righteous because their food choices
were somehow better. I figure it is none of my business what others
buy. I hate standing in line anyway so I have a lot of ebooks on my
PDA. Once in line, I pull out my PDA and amuse myself. The good thing
is because of my shopping habbits this doesn't happen often.


I finally got bored with my PDA a couple years ago so i don't really carry
it
with me anymore.

I'm an observer, I watch people. I watch people's shopping habits, I watch
people at restaurants, I watch how people drie and how they negotiate the
skyways and how they bag my produce at the farmer's market. I pay attention
and I notice things. The guy behind me bought 2 half gallons of 2 percent
milk
and 1 half gallon of chocolate milk. He paid with cash.

I'm not a people person outside my family and circle of friends. Quite
frankly I don't like people all that much when I'm shopping. They
either get too close to me or do obnoxious things so I tend to totally
tune them out. The person in line in front of me could be holding up
the cashier and I likely wouldn't see a thing!

The last neighborhood grocery store was in the burbs and the most annoying
thing was the very slow moving old people (I know, I'm sorry, but I sometimes
get impatient when I know what I want but they can't figure out the difference
between ketchup and cocktail onions). Now I shop at the semi-ghetto grocery
store and the people are WAY more fascinating, a better mix of people and not
just bland suburbia. I love people, I think they're fascinating, hell sheldon
is more fascinating than irritating because he's so weird.


The guy behind him was buying chips, soda and his girfriend talked on the
phone and grabbed impulse gum. I did nt see how they paid, I was gone by
then.

I always check out other carts, what could be more interesting than
watching
the eating habits of other people? it's like a lesson in anthropology. I
think
that honestly that may have been one of the reasons I stopped using the
PDA,
it ended up being an expensive gameboy for me, I mean how often do i need
to
whip out my grandmother's address when I'm at the hairdresser? It just
became
a green beeping distraction.

My PDA is always in my purse and I do use it daily from anything from
daily planning, contacts, shopping lists, gift details, appointments,
and entertainment. Just as my home computers games have almost no role
on my PDA. It's so much easier carrying around a lot of ebooks than an
actual book and no one can see what you're reading so you don't get
those nosey comments that interfer with your train of thought.

okay, I do miss the ebooks
I needed my PDA at my last job, but now I just don't need it so I just don't
really use it.


Though I do sometimes miss playing Drug Wars during my layovers.


--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Step off, beyotches, I'm the roflpimp!

Heather wrote:

if I was going to make stuff up it wouldn't be about a guy and his
milk purchase, it would be about moon people and meatloaf and hovering
javelinas.

Let's hear that meatloaf fiction.

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:
Heather wrote:

if I was going to make stuff up it wouldn't be about a guy and his
milk purchase, it would be about moon people and meatloaf and hovering
javelinas.

Let's hear that meatloaf fiction.

Bob



With amazing self control she put the fork down on the plate, "what do you
mean 'surprise'? what are you talking about?"
"That's not steak you're eating my most precious darling."
"don't you 'most precious darling' me you weiner patrol! What the hell have
you put on my plate. Don't play me, little man, I've had about all I can take
of your games."
The dog trotted in and they both shot him 'the look', he made fast tracks.
"Okay...okay..chill little princess, it's not a steak so much as a loaf...of
meat...made from ...."
She stood up, trembling, wondering if she's pull his heart out through his
throat or just feed him to the javelinas. "Spit it out! What is it made of??"
"Those...moon people...the ones that showed up the other night. They didn't
leave as unexpectedly as I led you to believe...they grind up so nice"


and later, she learned, so did he.

Sorry, it's lame but the best I could come up with on the fly.

--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Step off, beyotches, I'm the roflpimp!

In article azGTf.3369$hC.1665@trnddc08,
"wff_ng_7" wrote:

"Julia Altshuler" wrote:
wff_ng_7 wrote:

I guess I don't look at whats's IN other people's shopping carts, but I
most certainly do look at what's on the conveyor belt in front of and
behind my order. I'm not sure if it is self righteousness as much as it
is just curiosity. ..

I'm an observer of life, and I want to see what's going on around me.


You bring up an interesting point. If I see someone reading on a bus or
at a restaurant, I get curious about the book and will try to manouever to
a place where I can see the cover without making it obvious. I get
curious about artwork in public places, store displays, ad copy, changes
in manners, turns of phrase, all sorts of things but not strangers' weight
and groceries. I guess there is a bit of the busybody in me.

Being an observer can be in all kinds of things, and it doesn't have to
involve people. It can be observing the natural world around us. Right
behind my house there's a tree whose branches reach the balcony of a nearby
house. On that balcony, there is a "bottomless" bucket of peanuts. Of
course, this tree is "squirrel central". Though I can't garden because the
squirrels are forever tearing up my planting beds burying and digging up
their peanuts, I find them quite entertaining. Squirrels do pay attention to
people and what they are doing. Often I will just stare out my picture
window at them, and they will definitely notice me. Sometimes they don't
notice and I will wave my arms... they do notice the motion, stop what they
are doing, and stare back. I'm sure if anyone saw me, they'd think I was a
nut and wonder what I was doing.

This past Sunday morning I heard this most interesting hammering noise. I'm
sure most people wouldn't give it a second thought. But I recognized it for
what it was: the distinctive sound of a woodpecker. I stopped to try and
find it, but was unsuccessful. On one prior occassion I did spot one. Quite
interesting to find in downtown Washington, DC. If you're not looking, you
miss an awful lot of stuff.

A layer of 1" or 2" chicken wire laid over the soil will stop them
digging, and plants can grow up thru the holes in the wire...
--
Peace, Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

In article ,
The Bubbo wrote:

The last neighborhood grocery store was in the burbs and the most annoying
thing was the very slow moving old people (I know, I'm sorry, but I sometimes
get impatient when I know what I want but they can't figure out the difference
between ketchup and cocktail onions). Now I shop at the semi-ghetto grocery
store and the people are WAY more fascinating, a better mix of people and not
just bland suburbia. I love people, I think they're fascinating, hell sheldon
is more fascinating than irritating because he's so weird.

lol

One of the more fun places to people watch (besides bars) is the zoo...
--
Peace, Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:
"Doug Kanter" hitched up their panties and
posted :

"Joy of Cooking". Now, get ready for the insipid ****s to arrive with
comments. Two of them are regulars here.


I have the book and have used it many times. I bought it when I was in
college. I never learned how to cook at home. It's a great book but I have
not opened it for years. I'll have to dig it out and take a look. IIRC it
was wonderful for people wanting the basics and learning how to cook.

Michael


for some strange reason my mom always thought I couldn't cook. I never
understood that. Being a quiet kid I never said anything about it. When I got
hitched and moved out my MIL got me the Betty Crocker cookbook. 12 years later
that is one of my most used books. It's got all the very basic info I needed
to get started. I still refer to it for cooking times and basic info about
veggies or meat cuts or whatever. I have a million other cookbooks great and
small that I reference, but good old Betty has a place in my heart. One of
these days I should pick up JOC, but I'm really visual and I like pics and I
don't recall that my mom's well worn copy had any. Am I wrong?

--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Step off, beyotches, I'm the roflpimp!