I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

riley702

Sorry, after I posted, I went back to page 460 to catch up. I don't think Hadley will be in the hospital more than a few days. I'll ask her tomorrow for sure, though.

Hate to buck the flow here, but I'm an anti-beet person. Also anti-brussel sprouts, although I have a friend who buys them frozen and doles them out as doggy treats. They love them, especially in this weather.

bluedahlia

We're having hamburgers, broccoli and baked sweet potato.  BTW, why do they call them HAMburgers?

YramAL

My grandmother was from the deep south. Everything was either fried in bacon grease, or cooked with bacon grease in it. She made the best fried chicken you ever tasted, and you haven't lived until you've had corn bread made with bacon grease. 

She lived to be 91 and did not die of heart disease. Her cholesterol was always good and so was her blood pressure.

Mary 

riley702

Because they were first made in Hamburg, Germany? Not sure, but that's what popped into my head.

ETA: My mom is/was a fan of squeezing every last drop of moisture out of the hamburgers she cooked. Yuck, it was like eating hockey pucks. I'm a fan of beef cooked medium rare.

IronJawedBCAngel

My husband likes his green beans cooked into oblivion with bacon grease, or a ham hock thrown in.  I prefer them crisp with butter.  It is a war that the north and south will never win.

I wondered about the German connection on Hamburg, but really don't know.  Maybe the gnomes are to blame.

rosemary-b

 IJBCA

I guess my English teacher all went to the same school. Why did we study that poem more than once?

My favorite line:

His apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under the pines.

We all build walls to keep out things we need not be afraid of.

 And that is the end of my analysis.

On the roast beef front. My grandmother liked her roast beef well done and her kids did not. When we would all gather at her house I remember her asking who had turned down the oven, every time.

As for beets. I am straddling the fence. (It is a good fence) I love roasted beets, boiled not so much but I loooove beet greens. I have only roasted beets for the last couple of years so when someone says beets, I think of boiled ones and my prejudice comes back.

River_Rat

Kira and HL I don't remember seeing you when I was growing up but it sure sounds like the same cooking.

kira1234

I detested beets as a kid. Mom bought canned pickled beets which I still dislike. Well one day we went to White Fence Farm near Chicago which is a working farm but also a restaurant. They have the best pickled beets. I now make my own which remind me of those. They also had the best fried chicken.

CherrylH

Mary,

I grew up in North Carolina so I know all about the bacon grease. And lard.

riley702

Well, I googled 'hamburger' and the consensus seems to be that they were first made in Hamburg, Germany, where they were called 'Hamburg steaks'. Americans shortened that to 'hamburger'.

lassie11

Supper tonight is a good news/bad news story.

Good news - I don't have to cook because it is at the home of one of my son's friends. Bad news - the dinner is to honour her mother who died of breast cancer a year ago today.

Good news - we are going to have spaghetti and sauce and, using her mother's tradition, eat it with kitchen utensils such as a potato masher. Bad news - we are going to get messy.

Good news - I get to have dinner with my son who lives half way across the country. Bad news - it is the one year anniversary of Jenn's mother's death.  She was an excellent person and would be very proud of her daughter.

3monstmama

YramAL your grandmother and my grandmother!  classic breakfast at grandma's house---2 eggs fried in bacon fat, bacon, fried in bacon fat, pancakes. . . need I say?, cantelop or honeydew melon.  Grandma lived to 93 and died in her own home taking a nap.  What a perfect way to go!!!

seriously looking at how my grandmother ate made me think the people who say there is no real link between what you eat and your cholesterol may have a point.  If anyone would have had lots of cholesterol, it would have been Nana.  I worked with a woman once who had become a vegetarian because she wanted to avoid the drugs for high cholesterol and her's was already going up.  Even after years as a vegetarian ( pretty healthy one at that) she was still having issues.

We know less about how the body works than we think we do. 

ps:  i save my bacon fat and yes I cook with it.  I also save the goose fat and cook with it all year long....mmmmmmmm if nana didn't die from it, neither will I!  and if I go a year or two earlier, well fine then.  for potatoes fried in goose fat, I can make a bit of a sacrifice!!

pip57

Oh, I have to chime in about the beets.  How could one not LOVE them?  Put my vote in the pro beets column. 

YramAL

3monstmama-cantaloupe with salt sprinkled on it, right?

Mary 

apple

so my mom would open a can of those green peas and boil them for 30 minutes... with a timer!

Wabbit

Not to start another food fight or anything but asparagus is a veggie that recently surprised me.  It was always served in my childhood boiled ... and sometimes in a milk/butter sauce.  I considered it slimy and icky.  We did not however have to eat that  because some grew on our property but not very much so the parental units who loved it were not about to share the meager amount available with a bunch of kids who would just groan and make faces.  Anyway, it's just been about a year ago that I first tasted it roasted and somewhat crispy.   Pretty good ... who knew  

Growing up we had some of all kinds on the beef issue in my family.  But my ex-inlaws used to get these wonderful steaks and then put them under the broiler until they turned into leather.  I was always afraid to say anything because I didn't want to hurt their feelings.  So now I can pretty much eat beef anywhere from medium rare on up.  Restraurants probably love me ... I just order medium and settle for however it comes back.  

LOL apple ... that sounds like pea soup.

CherrylH

And on watermelon also.

YramAL

CherrylH-My grandma loved watermelon so much that we would serve her a whole one for her birthday. We'd just drill holes in the top for the candles.

This thread is really making me miss my grandma.

Mary 

Alpal

Cantaloupe with salt and pepper. Yum!

kira1234

We had asparagus in our yard too. Mom hated the stuff, and worked for years to get rid of it. Well she finally succeeded. Before she got rid of it I had enjoyed it, but as everything it was cooked to death.

I buy it now, and love it cooked on the grill.

PattyS

Blue....as always loved the jokes! Also, I'm with the no beets team.  Can not even remember the last time I ate beets.

3monstmama

cantaloupe with salt, yup...it made it sweeter....no I haven't a clue how that worked. . . .

WhiteRabbit, based on your new found appreciation of asparagus, I am willing to maybe reconsider speaking to you again despite how confused you are about beets.  I fully appreciate your parents position on asparagus.  To feed all the monsters asparagus and have some for me, I buy two pounds at a time and I cook all of it. . . SmallestMonster goes through and counts the stalks so he can make sure no one takes more than their share. two superskinny ones equal one fatty you know.  There are never leftovers.  DH and I have to move fast to get our share. . . .

We roast ours.  We also roast kale. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

PattyS

Apal....I remember when I was growing up my dad would cut a cantaloupe in half and put vanilla ice cream in it. Have never seen anyone else do this.

riley702

Yum! Eggs fried in bacon grease - I definitely have a problem with bacon addiction! And lard makes the best pie crust! I think it trumps pie crust made with butter, which? Yum!

Wabbit

Yeah ... we beetless have a new recruit!  So ... me, Cherryl, Bren, Riley and Patty and revkat  ... did I forget anybody? 

Edited to add revkat ... our numbers are growing! 

bluedahlia

I'm not even touching the "Great Beet Debate".

Hey there Cherryl. so glad you drop in from time to time.  Your presence comforts me.

River_Rat

PattyS, add blueberries to that and I've done it....yum

CherrylH

Blue,

I have to keep an eye on  you and Bren to make sure you keep your dominating tendencies under control. Even if I don't always post, I read often. Sometimes I just can't let a discussion continue without comment.

PattyS

River_Rat...Lol! Then you are the second person I have heard that eats cantaloupe with ice-cream. I never did try it, I don't know why. I love cantaloupe and ice cream.

Anonymous

You mean the "hole" in the cantalope was for a reason OTHER than as a place to put ice cream.  Who wudda thunk it?