“Food is an eloquent way to communicate when you don’t speak each other’s language.”
Today will be hot again with a high of 80°. Right now it is cloudy, dark, and breezy, even windy. I can feel the humidity rising though rain is not predicted.
This morning I am a question mark. My back is quite painful. I know why. The laundry is done. All three loads were washed, dried and hauled up two flights of stairs. I’m thinking the sore back is a warning that I should use the example of the Mad Hatter and just leave the laundry, move on and buy more. I even have a top hat I can wear.
I have a concert tonight in Hyannis. I hope my back will be okay by then.
My sister and I were talking about doing laundry, a scintillating topic. Our mother always did the laundry. I didn’t even know how to use the washing machine. When I was a freshman in college, I did my wash by myself for the first time. Yes, I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that. Anyway, moving on, I was in the middle of that agonizing process when the machine stopped and buzzed. I had no idea what was wrong. The clothes were soaking wet. I wrung them out by hand then threw them in the dryer. Later, I learned the wash was uneven in the tub and should have been rearranged. I don’t know why it didn’t come with directions.
When I was a kid, I had favorite foods. Hot dogs in a toasted roll topped the list. Hamburgers were right up there and if I added cheese, they became sublime. Peas and mashed potatoes were my favorite veggies. I didn’t have a favorite fruit. I ate them all.
It wasn’t until I went to Ghana that my palate expanded. Buying foreign foods was out of my budget so I ate what could be found in the market. Most days my meals were the same. Breakfast was eggs, toast and coffee. Lunch was cut up fruit: oranges, bananas, mango and pawpaw. I had never seen the last two before Ghana. I loved pawpaw (papaya) right away, but the mango took a little more time. Dinner was usually sliced beef in a sauce with tomatoes and with yams on the side, usually mashed. The sauce tenderized the beef as it boiled. Sometimes I had chicken, even my own chickens. I had no attachment to them. They were eggs for breakfast and meat for dinner. Sometimes I had plantain and garden eggs as part of dinner. I love plantain.
I need dry dog food, batteries, something sweet and something salty. I’m thinking delivery.
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August 1, 2022 at 6:37 pm
Hi Kat,
Right now we are at 99° and I’m expecting 100° or 101°. Saturday I posted too early and we haven’t broken the triple digit number days streak yet. I personally lost count of the number of days and don’t care. It’s dry and very hot.
Tonight we are heading to the, “Cotton Patch Cafe”, nearby for their Monday evening $9.95 Chicken Fried Steak dinner special. I don’t know how long it will be going on so we’re taking advantage and enjoying ourselves. I was fortunate because my NYC born parents took my sister and I to many ethnic restaurants as kids, such as there were in 1950s Dallas Texas. We ate at Chinese, or Italian, or seafood restaurants. The cuisine in Dallas back then consisted of chicken fried anything, barbecue beef or ribs, and Mexican food. There were very few ethnic choices. Today with seven and a half million people in the area the choices of ethnic foods is endless.
When I moved out and went to college I used the bundle service and dry cleaners because I had no idea what to do with a washing machine. 🙂 I hope your back feels better soon. You might consider hiring some help with your laundry and save your back some. aggravation.
August 1, 2022 at 9:56 pm
Hi Bob,
The day didn’t stay hot. We had spitting rain for a while then the temperature dropped. It is only 69* now. I have the windows and doors opened. It will be back to hot tomorrow (hot for here not for there).
My town had a Chinese restaurant. My father got takeout rather than our going there. The next town over had an Italian restaurant. This was New England in the 50’s and 60’s, not a hotbed of ethnic restaurants. There were plenty of seafood restaurant which we never considered ethnic but rather local. I loved fried clams, shrimp, scallops, lobster and a variety of fish. The clams had bellies, but the tourists could order clam strips, an abomination to us. That town now even has a Thai and an Indian restaurant. It has come a long way.
My back is a bit better tonight thanks to Aleve. I don’t know where down here is a service for individual laundry. My sister suggested I do only small washes which might be the best idea. In Ghana I never did my laundry. I found people who did even during training.