Convenience über alles!...

[rbowman]

On 06/12/2022 09:00 PM, Don Y wrote:

Tacos were some sort of Califoria in-joke like Knotts Berry Farm that
I didn\'t get as a kid.

I never heard the term growing up -- the \"communities\" were all composed
of european descendants so lots of \"ethnic\" foodstuffs in THAT sense.
I probably knew 30 different pasta shapes (and the advantages of each)
and at least that many different pasta *dishes*, sauce styles, etc.
Galobki, pierogi, potato pancakes, etc

The tacos and KBF were from California TV programs. \'And the prize is a
pass for two to KBF\' was usually said that led me to believe it wasn\'t
rated too highly.

My favorite pasta shapes being cavatelli and fusilli col buco. The
former I make, from time to time. The latter are a technological
wonder, to me!

I recall spaghetti, lasangna, maybe shells, egg noodles, and the
ubiquitous elbow macaroni. \'Pasta\' wasn\'t used as a descriptor with the
exception of pasta fagioli, but that was said as one word \'pastafazoo\'.
When pasta became more widely used I thought it was sort of an upper
crust word for spaghetti.

For that matter pizza was something you got from shady looking taverns
run by gangsters.

Pizza was either NY style (purchased) or \"italian bakery style\"
(the latter being far superior and considerably less greasy).

It was NYS so I guess it was NY style by definition. A far as I knew it
was just pizza. My uncle lived in the city and I liked going to his
place. He\'d phone the bar at the of the block and later I would go pick
it up at the ladies\' entrance. We never had pizza at home s it was a treat.

That was much better than when the half in the bag adults would try to
make a pizza from a Chef Boyardee pizza kit.

One thing I noticed, later in life, was that many dishes that we made with
ricotta were, instead, made with meat, in The West. This was a delightful
revelation as ricotta falls in the \"I don\'t like cheese\" category!

For me, ricotta falls into the \'gimme a spoon\' category.

My first homemade raviolis were meat made and I had three helpings.
(By contrast, my folks had to buy meat ones \"special\" for me
growing up as I wouldn\'t eat the cheese ones that they all ate)

As far as I can remember any ravioli I\'ve ever had came out of a
Franco-American can.

Likewise, my first \"western lasagna\" was made grinding up a *roast*
to get the ground meat for the filling -- with just a nominal
amount of ricotta as window dressing.

I haven\'t dine lasagna in a long time. I think the last effort was
spinach and a variety of cheeses.

\"Gee, that\'s garlic!\" \"Wow, is that how artichokes grow?\" (if you\'ve ever
seen one in bloom, you\'d lament the fact that it was harvested before that
time)

Shades of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. It\'s often foggy on that stretch
but you know when you\'re getting close. I\'ve planted garlic when the
cloves were sprouting just to see what I\'d get. I\'ve never seen an
artichoke in bloom. I\'ve eaten pickled artichoke hearts but never did
the field strip the thing and dip the ends in hollandaise sauce thing.
Life is too short.

Pineapple is a surprise when you see it \"native\". As are cashews.
Pomegranates are interesting to watch mature as you can see the vestigial
flower in it\'s \"ass\".

Ah, cashews, a relative of poison ivy. Forget the first person to eat a
lobster; who was the first person to figure out there was something
edible in there.

That;s about the timeframe I visited KBF. \"Oh, a DisneyLand wannabe!\"
I\'d been to DisneyWorld some decades earlier. And, of course,
Riverside Park, Lake Compounce, Catskill Game Farm, etc.

I liked the Catskill Game Farm. No Disneyland, Sherman\'s Amusement Park
at Caroga Lake was the local hot spot. Averill Park was down to a
carousel and miniature train ride when I was a kid but it was only a few
miles away. It\'s claim to fame is Jerry Lewis once worked as a soda jerk
at the drug store. Later he was just a jerk.

A couple of summers we went to Old Orchard. It was seedy the last time I
was there but I think it\'s made a comeback.

The trucking company I worked for had a terminal near State College and
Ball Rd, a mile from Disneyland. I was in town for the Rodney King
riots, sitting in my truck reading, when Dizzyland had their evening
fireworks extravaganza. Needless to say I was out of the truck locked
and loaded before I figured out what it was.

Never went there although I did make it to Disneyworld in the \'80s.

 

[Don Y]

On 6/12/2022 10:50 PM, rbowman wrote:

On 06/12/2022 09:00 PM, Don Y wrote:
Tacos were some sort of Califoria in-joke like Knotts Berry Farm that
I didn\'t get as a kid.

I never heard the term growing up -- the \"communities\" were all composed
of european descendants so lots of \"ethnic\" foodstuffs in THAT sense.
I probably knew 30 different pasta shapes (and the advantages of each)
and at least that many different pasta *dishes*, sauce styles, etc.
Galobki, pierogi, potato pancakes, etc

The tacos and KBF were from California TV programs. \'And the prize is a pass
for two to KBF\' was usually said that led me to believe it wasn\'t rated too
highly.

Ah. So you had to live there to understand the reference.

My favorite pasta shapes being cavatelli and fusilli col buco. The
former I make, from time to time. The latter are a technological
wonder, to me!

I recall spaghetti, lasangna, maybe shells, egg noodles, and the ubiquitous
elbow macaroni. \'Pasta\' wasn\'t used as a descriptor with the exception of pasta
fagioli, but that was said as one word \'pastafazoo\'. When pasta became more
widely used I thought it was sort of an upper crust word for spaghetti.

/Pasta e fagioli/ -- pasta and beans. A terrible thing to do to pasta!

Fettuccine, Linguine, Spaghetti, Spaghettini/Vermicelli, Capellini -- different
thicknesses of long, straight noodles. Bucatini is spaghetti with a *hole*
through the entire length (dunno how it is done!) Fusilli col buco is
bucatini wrapped around a ~1/8\" dia form before drying (like a really long
screw-shape!)

Conchiglie (shells) tiny, small, medium, large -- too easily stuffed (with
ricotta!) :<

Penne, Ziti, Mostaccioli, Rigatoni, Tortiglioni -- tubes with or without
\"decorated\" exterior surfaces (e.g., ribs)

Farfalle (bow ties), Rotini/fusilli (cork screws), Rotelle (like Conestoga
wagon wheels)

Manicotti, cannelloni -- the pasta equivalent of a cannoli -- more ricotta.
Ick!

Pastina (diced spaghetti?), orzo (rice-shaped).

Fresh made capellini is delightful! I don\'t think you even need to
CHEW it! Cavatelli are nice and heavy -- but not as heavy as gnocchi.
Fusilli col buco is just plain *fun*!

The problem with most pastas (when it comes to hand-made) is that
it\'s too hard to make extra. So, you end up eating the entire batch.

For that matter pizza was something you got from shady looking taverns
run by gangsters.

Pizza was either NY style (purchased) or \"italian bakery style\"
(the latter being far superior and considerably less greasy).

It was NYS so I guess it was NY style by definition. A far as I knew it was
just pizza. My uncle lived in the city and I liked going to his place. He\'d
phone the bar at the of the block and later I would go pick it up at the
ladies\' entrance. We never had pizza at home s it was a treat.

We\'d drive into the city for shopping trips. Meals at Grotta Azzurra
on Mulberry. Sweets at Ferrara\'s on Grand. Not the sort of neighborhoods
you\'d want to get lost in... <frown> (and ignore the nice gentlemen with
the black suits!)

That was much better than when the half in the bag adults would try to make a
pizza from a Chef Boyardee pizza kit.

Any pasta in a can has to be pretty gross. I recall eating C-rations of
spaghetti... I never knew pasta could be *fatty*! :-/

One thing I noticed, later in life, was that many dishes that we made with
ricotta were, instead, made with meat, in The West. This was a delightful
revelation as ricotta falls in the \"I don\'t like cheese\" category!

For me, ricotta falls into the \'gimme a spoon\' category.

You can make fresh ricotta with heavy cream and milk \"despoiled\" with lemon
juice or vinegar. I\'d rather see the heavy cream get used to make
ice cream!

My first homemade raviolis were meat made and I had three helpings.
(By contrast, my folks had to buy meat ones \"special\" for me
growing up as I wouldn\'t eat the cheese ones that they all ate)

As far as I can remember any ravioli I\'ve ever had came out of a
Franco-American can.

We\'d purchase them from The Ravioli Kitchen (name sure is apropos, eh?).
You could freeze them if not eaten \"fresh\".

Likewise, my first \"western lasagna\" was made grinding up a *roast*
to get the ground meat for the filling -- with just a nominal
amount of ricotta as window dressing.

I haven\'t dine lasagna in a long time. I think the last effort was spinach and
a variety of cheeses.

I now make a veggie lasagna as SWMBO isn\'t keen on meat and I\'m not keen on
cheese. It\'s surprisingly good -- mainly because of the flavorings of the
sauce. But, it\'s a PITA to make as you have to prep the noodles, all of the
veggies, etc. For that much effort, I\'d rather something tastier!

\"Gee, that\'s garlic!\" \"Wow, is that how artichokes grow?\" (if you\'ve ever
seen one in bloom, you\'d lament the fact that it was harvested before that
time)

Shades of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. It\'s often foggy on that stretch but you
know when you\'re getting close. I\'ve planted garlic when the cloves were
sprouting just to see what I\'d get.

The plant produces seed at the top as well as cloves at the bottom.
The seed at top takes two years (crops) to yield good garlic.

> I\'ve never seen an artichoke in bloom.

<https://i.redd.it/aeft36vzsw4z.jpg>

The plants are pretty tall -- they\'re a type of thistle. Of course, once
it blooms, there\'s no value to eating it!

I\'ve
eaten pickled artichoke hearts but never did the field strip the thing and dip
the ends in hollandaise sauce thing. Life is too short.

I prepare them by stuffing each leaf with a seasoned breadcrumb mixture
(cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, bread crumbs) drizzled with olive oil. Then,
steaming for a long time (I have special stands that support each artichoke
over a water bath in a covered sauce pot). Then, baked.

Peel leaves (from bottom up), slip in mouth, close jaw, scrape bread crumb
mixture and \"meat\" of the leaf into your mouth. It\'s akin to eating pistachios
with about the same level of satisfaction. Though I can\'t eat more than two
as they are kinda rich.

I always avoided the hearts. Then, late in life, realized how foolish I\'d
been!

That;s about the timeframe I visited KBF. \"Oh, a DisneyLand wannabe!\"
I\'d been to DisneyWorld some decades earlier. And, of course,
Riverside Park, Lake Compounce, Catskill Game Farm, etc.

I liked the Catskill Game Farm. No Disneyland, Sherman\'s Amusement Park at
Caroga Lake was the local hot spot. Averill Park was down to a carousel and
miniature train ride when I was a kid but it was only a few miles away. It\'s
claim to fame is Jerry Lewis once worked as a soda jerk at the drug store.
Later he was just a jerk.

Lake Compounce (poor man\'s disneyland) had a small train that circled the
lake. Train was originally on the grounds of the Gillette \"castle\".

A couple of summers we went to Old Orchard. It was seedy the last time I was
there but I think it\'s made a comeback.

The trucking company I worked for had a terminal near State College and Ball
Rd, a mile from Disneyland. I was in town for the Rodney King riots, sitting in
my truck reading, when Dizzyland had their evening fireworks extravaganza.
Needless to say I was out of the truck locked and loaded before I figured out
what it was.

Visited a colleague in SoCal and was treated to a *day* at DisneyLand.
After dark, everyone gathered at the water\'s edge (\"What the hell are
we doing, here?\"). Delightful show on the island, fireworks and
\"Tinker Bell\" rides a wire down from the top of the Castle (midnight?).

My visits to DisneyWorld never extended past evening so this was
quite a surprise.

> Never went there although I did make it to Disneyworld in the \'80s.

I heard COuntry Bear Jamboree had been shipped off (Japan) at one
point. But, I\'ve also heard it is back (in Orlando). Dunno.

Of course, the animatronics look hokey, now. But, as a youngster,
they were interesting.

 

[RichD]

On May 29, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

Lifespans, nutrition, crop yields, access to education and medical
care, human rights, practically anything you can name keeps getting
better. Oil and gas are major contributors to human well-being.

Our standard of living can be measured by the number of BTU
consumed per capita, annually.

The reason we all live like kings, today, is due to the magnificent job
done by the energy industry, coal --> petroleum --> gas

--
Rich

 

[RichD]

On May 29, Ricky wrote:

What is amazing in the debates over BEV adoption, is the sense of entitlement.
Convenience über alles!

\'convenience\' is a synonym for freedom.

Try incarceration sometime, to experience inconvenience -

--
Rich

 

[Anthony William Sloman]

On Monday, June 13, 2022 at 10:42:22 PM UTC+2, RichD wrote:

On May 29, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
Lifespans, nutrition, crop yields, access to education and medical
care, human rights, practically anything you can name keeps getting
better. Oil and gas are major contributors to human well-being.

Our standard of living can be measured by the number of BTU
consumed per capita, annually.

It used to be. Kilowatt hours of energy consumed is now a more accurate metric.

The reason we all live like kings, today, is due to the magnificent job
done by the energy industry, coal --> petroleum --> gas

But burning coal oil and gas is no longer the cheapest way of getting a kilowatt hour of energy.

Some people have noticed. Others still think that burning fossil carbon is the only way to get energy, and haven\'t noticed that climate change is an inevitable side effect.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Ricky]

On Monday, June 13, 2022 at 4:42:22 PM UTC-4, RichD wrote:

On May 29, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
Lifespans, nutrition, crop yields, access to education and medical
care, human rights, practically anything you can name keeps getting
better. Oil and gas are major contributors to human well-being.

Our standard of living can be measured by the number of BTU
consumed per capita, annually.

The reason we all live like kings, today, is due to the magnificent job
done by the energy industry, coal --> petroleum --> gas

That is very true. It is very addictive as well. That was my point. So addictive, in fact, that even in the face of altering our plant\'s climate, possibly permanently, some of us live in denial and choose to continue on the same path of excessive consumption that has pointed us in this direction. Slow down? How absurd!!! Turn back? Of course not!

That\'s called, \"entitlement\".

Good thing technology will deal with the issue, hopefully, in time.

--

Rick C.

+++ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
+++ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209