Posts Tagged ‘FOOD:’
HAIKI 5*7*5* Frozen pineapple juice
July 18, 2020
1 comment
Thinking of my Mom
The frozen pineapple juice
Still the July bomb
Categories: 12 YEARS OLD, 1969, 5-7-5, 70's, AGING, Analog, BEAUTY, BLESSINGS, BLOG, BOB MURPHY, BOYHOOD, Brain candy, CANDY BRAIN, CHILDHOOD, COMING OF AGE, CONCEPTS, CULTURE, Dad, DIARY, Doria Gallanter, DORIS GALLANTER, EDWARD GALLANTER, FAMILY, FOOD, FOOD FOR THOUGHT, FREEZER, FRIEND, Haiku, HAIKU 5*7*5*, HISTORY, https://stevegallanter.wordpress.com, HUMOR, INSPIRATION, JOAN PAYSON, JOE GENIUS, JULY, LESTER DUNDEE, LIFE IS DOING, LINDSAY NELSON, LOVE, LTTLE LEAGUE, MERRICK, MIDDLE AGE, Mom, MRS. MENDENHALL, NORTH BAYLES AVE. PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., OLD, OLD AGE, PARADOX, Parents, Poem, Poetry, QUARANTINE, RALPH KINER, RECIPE, REFRIGERATION, ROMANCE, SENIOR CITIZEN, sentimental, Shelly Gallanter, STEVE GALLANTER'S BLOG, Steven Gallanter, STEVEN GALLANTER, SUGAR, TEENAGE YEARS, THOUGHT FOR FOOD, Uncategorized, WISTFUL
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CORONAVIRUS: Times have been tougher, the Great Depression, WWII and respect your elders
March 22, 2020
1 comment
“Coronavirus” is the word of the week. It was only 2 weeks ago that bar side humor was about Coronavirus
Q: What do you get with a Corona?
A: A quarantine!
You’ve been a wonderful audience!
14 days away chronologically and a millennium away in awareness.
Since then I have been laid off from my primary job and rendered useless by my hospitality temp firm.
I have no real complaints as 1/2 of the city is in the same boat.
I am fortunate enough to have a favorable residential situation and good health as far as I know.
I am not a parent or a caregiver.
To be sure, my problems are mine and mine alone. For all too many others their problems are multiplied exponentially by having dependents.
________________________________________________________________________
My mother, Doris Jack was born in 1925.
My father, Shelly Gallanter was born in 1927.
My “aunt” Thelma Allera, actually my Mom’s 1st. cousin, was born in 1925. Mrs. Allera is the last survivor of my older relatives.
As a Boomer born in 1958 my parents had the formative generational experiences of their time: the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II.
My parents came to their thriftiness naturally. And while my Mom enjoyed costume jewelry and had an unfulfilled ambition of riding in a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow her needs were modest.
My Dad was…well…’cost effective’ would be a kind way of putting it. Although he regularly wore a Brooks Brothers suit to work and splurged $500 on a Harmon Kardon Slimline Turntable/AM-FM Receiver/Cassette Recorder, he was also a man who saved broken shoelaces to tie up bundles of newspapers.
I recall all too well being in the parking lot of West End 2 at Jones Beach and having my father urge me to pick up left behind soda cans and bottles to supplement my allowance.
“Oh Kay, Dad.”
I offer these anecdotes as a commentary about our time. Media platforms scream about shortages of toilet paper,
…seriously, if you are over 21 and don’t have a 2nd. roll of toilet paper then Coronavirus isn’t the only thing you are suffering from…
sanitary wipes, fresh vegetables and milk.
To be sure, my local Whole Foods Market is looking very picked over and is closing at 8 P.M. rather than the normal 10:30 P.M. Folks with physical challenges are now even more challenged as diminished stock and panicky shoppers push those so challenged into ever more marginal actual and metaphorical space.
However…
the Greatest Generation never would have complained about any of the ‘hardships’ we are enduring.
…Puh-leaze…
My Mom regularly offered tales about her father, a partner in a New Kensington, P.A. Ford dealership, giving her money to deposit after the ending of the school day and her inspection of the passbook in those analog days and comparing it to back records of prior years as no new consumer cars were made from 1942-1945.
With few cars to sell, dealers found ways to stay in business …
https://www.autonews.com › article › NADA100 › with-few-cars-to-sell-de…
Jan 22, 2017 – … society mobilized to support the military effort during World War II. … For those four years, U.S. auto dealerships had virtually no new vehicles …
The Auto Industry Goes to War – Teachinghistory.org
…and her father, Wiley O. Jack, had gas pumps and 2 service bays that provided a steady revenue flow as drivers did everything possible to prolong the lives of their automobiles.
Nevertheless, Mom saved jars, made real cranberry sauce from scratch, sewed our clothing, darned socks, bought discount Ray-O-Vac batteries at B & D in Merrick which were kept in the refrigerator until needed in order to prolong their life span, used t-shirts with holes in them as dust rags, emptied out vacuum cleaner bags for re-use, sifted out the poop in the kitty litter, turned Thanksgiving turkey into sandwiches and then Turkey la King and grew vegetables.
Mom often mentioned the rationing of WW II.
“Why, I can remember trading ration coupons for eggs and then trading the eggs for sugar to bake a cake. We were fortunate enough to have a Dad who owned a business so we were O.K. but there wasn’t anything to waste.”
My Dad fought active duty in World War II serving as a sighter for a mortar company in Trieste, on the cusp of Italy and what became Yugoslavia, in the waning days of World War II.
Dad was wounded in action, treated with penicillin, fell into a coma and came close to death as the procedures of that time did not include screening for allergies.
It wasn’t until I was 11 that I found this out, the wounded part that is, from Mom, who whispered, “Don’t tell Dad I told you.”
Of course, I went back to Dad who grudgingly conceded the story.
“Does Peter know this,” I asked?
Dad slapped me in the face and warned me that I could get it again if I asked again.
“It’s bad enough that you know. I am so mad at your mother.”
Nevertheless, Dad polished his shoes on a daily basis so that moisture would not weaken the leather and then carefully inserted wooden shoe trees inside to maintain the shape of the instep, drove a Ford Fairlane, and later several Torino station wagons when he easily could have afforded better, refused to buy a color TV, bought pipe tobacco 3 cans at a time at Floyd’s rather than singly at Port Chemists and a laundry list of frugality that the General Accountability Office(G.A.O.) would be well advised to emulate.
My paternal grandfather, Edward Gallanter, who passed in 1963 and I have no memory of, emigrated with my “uncle” Lester Dundee, actually my Dad’s 1st. cousin, and Bertha Gallanter in 1895 from Dublin, Ireland and settled in Brooklyn.
Edward Gallanter did relatively well during the Depression and WWII, a fact that Dad often reminded me of when I squawked about my .75 allowance.
Edward Gallanter worked as a cutter in Manhattan’s Garment District, using chalk and a band saw to carve ‘X’ number of suit lapels from a bolt,’the whole 9 X 9 yards’, of cloth. He supplemented his income by working as a waiter on weekends and was also a union delegate.
My Dad regaled me with tales of how his Dad would walk home from the Fulton Fish market in Brooklyn in order to save the street car fare.
My Dad used t-shirts with holes in them as weekend leisure wear, often paired with pin wale corduroys that sported torn belt loops.
Clint Eastwood in GRAN TORINO had nothing on Dad.
As a chubby kid I had an almost insatiable appetite. Even after a cooked-from-scratch meal featuring salad, meat/chicken/fish, vegetable, starch and dessert I wanted more.
“More? I’ll boil you 2 eggs. That’s what my Dad would have done,”
Dad proclaimed with a degree of vehemence that cured all of my hunger post-haste.
What I am getting at here is that the WW II generation made due with less and partially transmitted those values to your Boomer blogger.
I have no memory of Wiley O. Jack or Edward Gallanter. Indeed only a blurry single photo of myself at age 2 with Mr. Jack in New Kensington, PA and a color pic of my 3rd. birthday being held by a beaming Edward Gallanter.
Today’s Millennials have Boomers as parents so the lessons of thrift have had little meaning until …
…the Coronavirus shortages. Yes, I am aware that hydroponic lettuce is in short supply at the Symphony branch of Whole Foods Market…bummer.
More seriously, lots of less-than-working-class kids will be severely challenged.
Boomers’ folks and their folks faced the Great Depression and WW II with a fortitude that would do all of us well.
Just saying…
CORONAVIRUS CONDIMENT CONSERVATION
If you’re like me, or want to be like me, here is a helpful household hint:
CORONAVIRUS VINEGARETTE
Take the dregs of a bottle, jar or squeezie thingy of mustard and add 2 parts apple vinegar, 1 part olive oil, a pinch of oregano, a twist of ground black pepper and a dash of salt. Shake vigorously and pour over lettuce, spinach or kale for an egg-free vinaigrette.
Think of your grandparents and enjoy.
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HAIKU 5*7*5* Tofu
September 21, 2016
1 comment
Perhaps not for you
A glistening cube of soy
Love me some tofu
Categories: 21st CENTURY, 5-7-5, CONTRARIAN, CULTURE, FOOD, Haiku, HUMOR, MICHIO KUSHI, Soy, Uncategorized, VEGETERIAN
5-7-5, CULTURE, FOOD:, Haiku, HUMOR, Soy, Steven Gallanter, Tofu, vegetarian