March 27, 2011

 

Subject: That Green Thing

 In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags
weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained,
“We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
 
That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then,
they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to
the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and
refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

 But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an
escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the
grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every
time they had to go two blocks.

But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have
the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy
gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really
did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always
brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the
green thing back in her day.

 Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in
every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish,
not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they
blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric
machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item
to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not
Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
 
Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to
cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by
working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on
treadmills that operate on electricity.
 
But she’s right, they didn’t
have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a
cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They
refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they
replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the
whole razor just because the blade got dull.
 But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to
school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a
24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not
an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they
didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from
satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest
pizza joint.

But they didn't have the green thing back then!

 
Lou and Mary,

Happy 34th Anniversary!
Seems like just yesterday.

Love this story below.

What a way to celebrate!

 

Hi Pete
 
  For a few months now ( since they are all out in their own apartments) the boys have been arguing as to who is the best cook. So we decided to settle it once and for all with a cook off.
 
Mary, Sherry and I were to supply each one with the same four "secret" ingredients. they could not know the ingredients until  the cook off.

 
We chose  a half of a fryer chicken, seafood sausages, a bulb of fennel ( anise) and a dish of chex party mix.
they had to cook up a dinner using those ingredients as the prime ingredients of the dish.
We supplied them with a full pantry  ( every seasoning you could imagine, flour eggs some pasta  oils sugar fruits vegetables etc. But the four ingredients had to play an integral part of the dishes.
 
The competition started at 12:35 and ended at 2:35

 
 
It was crazy!, the kitchen looked like a bomb went off in it! They each had a station ( area) and one burner on the stove. The oven was preheat to 375 and available. they had food processors, electric skillets, blenders, microwave, pretty much anything they needed. It was hilarious
 
They did an incredible job, believe it or not.
 
Chris went Asian . he made his own dough and made spring rolls filled with shredded fennel and the seafood from the sausages. They were deep fried and tasted great. he then made homemade noodles in a sesame sauce with chunks of sesame chicken and coated with a crushed chex mix topping. It was delicious!
 
Tom went with homemade seafood stuffed raviolis in a white cheese/fennel sauce. The fennel was also chopped into the filling. Then he crushed his chex mix and breaded his chicken pieces and baked them and spread the cheese sauce over the chicken. . it was really good!
 
Danny went completely out if the box and mixed his seafood chunks with Jiffy cornbread mix! and made seafood corn bread muffins! They were good ..  He cut up his chicken and fennel and made homemade soup using everything in the kitchen! and at the last few minutes added the last of the orricchiette pasta from Uncle Jimmy. So now Dan still had not used his chex mix so he sliced red potatoes with a mandolin and breaded them with the chex mix and a cheese sauce and made a crunchy potato-au-gratin that was the best! he baked that up and they all were done in just under two hours!.
 
So we had to taste them all and Judge. By then Joanne and Dad were on hand to help with the judging.
 
Danny's soup was a bit bland and could have used more seasonings but his au-gratin was great....Tommy's raviolis were just a bit undercooked ( but we ate them all anyway..) but his chicken was delicious with the sauce.    and there was some discussion that Chris could have used his Chex mix a bit more.. but in the end we named Chris the winner for his seafood spring rolls and sesame chicken over noodles! 

 
Then we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up! and then we ordered a couple of pizzas!  ( no lie)  

 
it was great day...
 
Lou

PS

Pete, here is a photo I meant to send a few months ago. It was Tommy's thirtieth birthday and we baked him a cake that was a replica of a cake we had baked for him when he was a little kid. Look at the picture standing next to the cake........ its a log cabin cake with  trees and a flag pole. 


 

 

Alex's opening day of Little League. Alex got a hit both times at bat and got two RBI's (run batted in). He had a blast.


 

A few pics from Emma's first birthday party!

 

 

 

Trying to be a thorough geo thermal guy, I had to stop by Howe Caverns on the way to teach in Albany this week.

That limestone has a thermal conductivity of 1.75 I would estimate!

Great story how Lester Howe in 1842 watched the cows gather around these rocks that were blasting cool air on them, and discovered the opening to the caverns 165' below.

When they turn out the lights, it is really creepy dark!

 
Pete,
Hope you made it home safely. Before I put my phone on the charger, I wanted to thank you for putting on a great workshop.  You kept it real and held our attention throughout the class. The material covered was excellent, and you real life experiences served as great examples of the material being covered... Pat

Thanks Pat!. Note that I did not use the word "Robust" more than ten times as promised.

 


I'm not that photogenic above, so let's see how I am on the big screen when the Alexander Hamilton PBS documentary featuring Aaron Burr fans is shown in two weeks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-pack/post_1865_b_840631.html

Pete

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