Of anthropology of religion, bras, ring-around-the-collar, & apples
You certainly don’t need to be Jewish to read this blog, but you might anyhow appreciate an anthropological view into the religion. Right now observant Jews are celebrating Sukkot, which is both a harvest festival & a commemoration of the wandering in the desert for 40 years. Today, Jews eat (on the first night at least) in three-sided booths covered with a natural material & decorated with a harvest theme. The special foods for the week are stuffed vegetables & streusels. An unusal citrus fruit, the citron, is an important part of the special prayer services for this week.
It’s a lot of fun to read old cookbooks, & you can often find thrifty recipes in them. The one that I have has a special story. It’s the NEW SETTLEMENT COOKBOOK (1954 edition of a book that started its history in 1901). A number of society ladies, mostly German Reform Jews & all living in or near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were startled by what they saw as being the bad manners of immigrants, including Russian and Polish Jews, & wanted to educate them. So this cookbook includes such details as how to wash dishes in a sanitary manner! Its theme is that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, old-fashioned but still true in my experience.
To save tomato paste or any other liquid leftovers – or herbs that you can cover with ice -- in the freezer, it’s helpful to apportion the substance into small amounts. A tablespoon is ideal. Well, did you know that if you get the kind of ice-cube trays that have 16 cubes (2 rows of 8 cubes), each one, when filled about ¾ full, will contain exactly a tablespoon! (If filled to the brim, each one will contain 4 teaspoons.)
If you’ve had a mastectomy or know someone who did, you probably realize that special bras are both quite limited in styles & cost about twice as much as regular bras. I’d like to direct your attention to great instructions for altering regular bras to accommodate prosthetic pads. They are on pages 107-109 of Karen Morris’s SEWING LINGERIE THAT FITS: STYLISH UNDERWEAR, SLEEPWEAR, AND LOUNGEWEAR FOR EVERYDAY LIVING. If you can’t find it in your local library, just Inter-Library Loan the book.
Speaking of clothing, we’ve all wondered how to get that darned ring-around-the-collar out. It turns out that, for washable clothing, chalk is the answer. Yes, good old white chalk. Just apply it heavily to the ring, wait a few hours, & then launder as usual. Presto, the ring will have disappeared… & the chalk will have dissolved & floated away.
It’s apple season again, & I’d like to share with you some apple tips. First of all, you can soften brown sugar by placing it in a canister with half an apple (it will take a few days to soften.). Secondly, to make apple tea, dry the peel of one apple & pour a cup of boiling water over the pieces that you’ve placed in a mug. Thirdly, you can scoop out the flesh from an apple that has had its top quarter cut off, & use it as the container for a salad (perhaps for the Waldorf salad below). In that case, be sure not to waste what you’ve cut away – use it for applesauce. Finally, if you like to peel & core your apples when you make applesauce, make a juice from everything you’ve cut away (except the stem!). Cover these leavings with water in a saucepan & bring the mixture to boiling. Reduce the heat & cook until soft. Then strain the mixture through a strainer that you’ve lined with cheesecloth or a clean old nylon.
Here’s a recipe using apples:
Deb’s Chicken-Waldorf Salad:
(Traditional Waldorf salads are made with the expensive ingredients of raisins and walnuts. Here is an inexpensive version, suitable for an entrée due to the addition of chicken.)
1 c shredded chicken
1 chopped large apple (I like Pink Lady best; you can also use Fuji – or whatever kind of “eating apple” as opposed to “baking apple” – or your choice of what you have on hand)
2 stalks of celery, cut lengthwise into thirds at the bottom & then sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, cut lengthwise into thirds & then sliced very thinly
¼ c mayonnaise
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground allspice OR ¼ tsp ground cardamom
(1) Mix veggies and spices together.
(2) Mix in the chicken.
(3) Add the mayonnaise.
(4) Mix thoroughly.
It’s a lot of fun to read old cookbooks, & you can often find thrifty recipes in them. The one that I have has a special story. It’s the NEW SETTLEMENT COOKBOOK (1954 edition of a book that started its history in 1901). A number of society ladies, mostly German Reform Jews & all living in or near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were startled by what they saw as being the bad manners of immigrants, including Russian and Polish Jews, & wanted to educate them. So this cookbook includes such details as how to wash dishes in a sanitary manner! Its theme is that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, old-fashioned but still true in my experience.
To save tomato paste or any other liquid leftovers – or herbs that you can cover with ice -- in the freezer, it’s helpful to apportion the substance into small amounts. A tablespoon is ideal. Well, did you know that if you get the kind of ice-cube trays that have 16 cubes (2 rows of 8 cubes), each one, when filled about ¾ full, will contain exactly a tablespoon! (If filled to the brim, each one will contain 4 teaspoons.)
If you’ve had a mastectomy or know someone who did, you probably realize that special bras are both quite limited in styles & cost about twice as much as regular bras. I’d like to direct your attention to great instructions for altering regular bras to accommodate prosthetic pads. They are on pages 107-109 of Karen Morris’s SEWING LINGERIE THAT FITS: STYLISH UNDERWEAR, SLEEPWEAR, AND LOUNGEWEAR FOR EVERYDAY LIVING. If you can’t find it in your local library, just Inter-Library Loan the book.
Speaking of clothing, we’ve all wondered how to get that darned ring-around-the-collar out. It turns out that, for washable clothing, chalk is the answer. Yes, good old white chalk. Just apply it heavily to the ring, wait a few hours, & then launder as usual. Presto, the ring will have disappeared… & the chalk will have dissolved & floated away.
It’s apple season again, & I’d like to share with you some apple tips. First of all, you can soften brown sugar by placing it in a canister with half an apple (it will take a few days to soften.). Secondly, to make apple tea, dry the peel of one apple & pour a cup of boiling water over the pieces that you’ve placed in a mug. Thirdly, you can scoop out the flesh from an apple that has had its top quarter cut off, & use it as the container for a salad (perhaps for the Waldorf salad below). In that case, be sure not to waste what you’ve cut away – use it for applesauce. Finally, if you like to peel & core your apples when you make applesauce, make a juice from everything you’ve cut away (except the stem!). Cover these leavings with water in a saucepan & bring the mixture to boiling. Reduce the heat & cook until soft. Then strain the mixture through a strainer that you’ve lined with cheesecloth or a clean old nylon.
Here’s a recipe using apples:
Deb’s Chicken-Waldorf Salad:
(Traditional Waldorf salads are made with the expensive ingredients of raisins and walnuts. Here is an inexpensive version, suitable for an entrée due to the addition of chicken.)
1 c shredded chicken
1 chopped large apple (I like Pink Lady best; you can also use Fuji – or whatever kind of “eating apple” as opposed to “baking apple” – or your choice of what you have on hand)
2 stalks of celery, cut lengthwise into thirds at the bottom & then sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, cut lengthwise into thirds & then sliced very thinly
¼ c mayonnaise
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground allspice OR ¼ tsp ground cardamom
(1) Mix veggies and spices together.
(2) Mix in the chicken.
(3) Add the mayonnaise.
(4) Mix thoroughly.
posted by THE PENNY ORCHID -- "Thrift with Flair" at 4:39 PM
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