Author Archives: Sarah

Newsflash!

“Singular Accident. — A person named Duncan, who had just arrived at St. Louis from Louisville in the 16th inst., was walking up from the steamboat to the place where he was designed to lodge, when he was observed suddenly to fall, and when he was raised by the bystanders, it was found that one of his legs was broken a few inches above the ankle, and the flesh also severed half off as if done by the blow of an axe. If did not cause him much pain at first, and he stated that he could assign no reason for the accident except that he had borne more of his weight upon that leg to relieve a weakness he felt in the other, and he heard the bone crack as he fell.”

Milwaukee Daily Sentinel
April 14, 1845, page 2

The Woman's Exchange Cook Book

A New and Complete Culinary Encyclopedia containing Facts Worth Knowing, Health Suggestions, Care of the Sick, Table Etiquette, Dinner Giving, Menus, Household Toilet and Cooking Recipes by Minnie Palmer with the approval of Mrs. J. B. Lyon, President of the Woman’s Exchange, Chicago, Ill. (1901)

A wonderful cookbook, full of handy recipes for things not generally now eaten. I will probably have to post some tips on cooking songbirds next.

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The Catholic Food Manual: Menu Planning and Recipes for 6 to 600

by Brother Herman E Zaccarelli, C.S.C., 1960

Someday, perhaps, I will feature Brother Zaccarelli’s horrifyingly sexist advice on managing an (ideally!) all female (and so emotional!) cafeteria staff, but today, his recipe for Tuna Bunsteads! I made a (small) batch, and it’s good stuff.

Tuna Bunsteads

Ingredients                             100 portions     50 portions     12 portions
Cheese, American, cubed                 4 pounds        2 pounds         1/2 pound
Eggs, hard cooked,
chopped                                 48                    24                   6
Tuna, drained, flaked                   84 ounces        42 ounces        10.5 ounces
Peppers, green, chopped              2 cups             1 cup               1/4 cup
Onions, chopped                          2 cups             1 cup               1/4 cup
Olives, stuffed, chopped                2 cups             1 cup               1/4 cup
Pickles, sweet, chopped                 2 cups             1 cup               1/4 cup
Mayonnaise or salad
dressing                                   2 quarts           1 quart             1/2 pint
Buns, frankfurter, split                 100                  50                    12

Procedure: 1. Combine and blend thoroughly the first 8 ingredients.
2. Fill buns. Wrap in aluminum foil. Arrange on bakers sheet.
3. Bake in a very slow oven, 250 F., 30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove. Serve hot.

Ramen and the Future

In Japan, ramen is an art form you can dedicate your life to perfecting, in some tiny shop in the warrens of the city. And in my hometown, it’s a 10 cent lunch. But outside my fevered faux poetic brain it is also 10 cents in Japan and can be had at some fairly greasy spoons in the warrens of the city.

I like instant ramen because it is very pre-lingual: fill bowl to fill line with boiling water, wait 3 minutes, eat. There are more complex ones, but you can only go so far wrong. The most difficult are the bowl-less, where you have to find the number next to cc and thank your stars for the metric system.

I just had the swankiest instant ramen I’ve ever eaten: there was a photo of the shop and famous chef on the lid! Or perhaps he was a very cheflike sponsor? It was delicious and full of exotic ingredients that I’m sure I didn’t properly appreciate.

And after recent complaints about the dearth of flying cars, I must point out that ramen is your ideal food for space stations, plankton farming villages on the ocean floor, and cloud cities. Just add hot water!

Woooooooooooooooooo!

I didn’t celebrate in the street, but I’m happy to see the pictures of everyone who did (and hear about the celebrants in Seattle who picked up other people’s litter after, and were thanked by the friendly police people who had been indulgently watching the hoo-ha. That’s Seattle all over, I must say).

I am also happy to hear that this election had the highest national voter turnout since 1908 (!!!!!), when not everyone could vote, you know, so it should count as the highest turnout ever!

We get a new president and Sasha and Malia get a puppy. Huzzah!