TheSnackHound

Thanksgiving is coming very soon, and it brings to mind countless happy family gatherings. My grandparents, immediate family, aunts, uncles, and cousins all get together. In the past eight years, a few children of my cousins have been added to the mix.

The tradition also involves two other things.  The first is cramming ourselves all in to a house that we would be over the capacity for. The second is Grandpa’s report. If you are far away and live out of town, you can call in for it. Grandpa always gives a blow by blow report about what was served, but he focuses on the desserts primarily. You will find out if the staples of apple pie and chiffon cake with whipped topping were trotted out.  Pretzel Jello is also something else that shows up in the mix quite frequently.  Grandpa and I always joke about him sending me a piece in the mail, and he always said it would be an envelope of smashed up yuck by the time it got there.

For the record, Grandma sent me a cake once in the mail. She sliced the pieces up and wrapped them individually and sent it by priority. When I opened it up, it was still fresh. I don’t think I shared it with anyone.

We almost lost Grandpa about seventeen years ago. He had stomach cancer, and he lost part of it. He recovered fine, but now, he has to eat as if he had lap-band. He cannot eat lare meals, and eats just a little at a time. Of course, he still finds a way to sample the desserts by taken a very small amount of each, or saving one piece for another day.

I always wondered if people had to go on a liquid diet after having an elective Bariatric surgery rather than what Grandpa had, but it dawned on me that Grandpa basically has the same diet.  He never had a weight problem, so his smaller stomach causes him to be more slight than he used to be, but we are very happy to have him around.  Grandma just makes sure to make servings small and to also include fruit if Grandpa had his fill with dinner and wants dessert but can’t stomach one of his old favorites.  In fact, he has more fun having a little bit of everything versus the rest of us who approach gluttony on our favorite and have no room for anything else.

This Thanksgiving will probably be similar to last, except I will be there for the first time in a few years.  I won’t have to call in for the report.  I will be court side!  Actually, more properly, I will be tableside.

(Above: Too much for anyone to handle, Miss Alice in Dairyland and Miss Honey meet!  It is almost like when the cast of the LoveBoat ends up on Fantasy Island.  It is just way too much excitement overload.)

When I was a kid, more specifically a fifth grader, we had the usual Math class, English Class, History Class, but instead of any sort of Sociology class, we had Wisconsin class.  Wisconsin class?  Yes, you heard me right.  Come walk with me while I take you on a journey…or in Wisconsin-ese, it would be “I’m gonna go on a trip, wanna come with?”

In this class, we learned how fur trappers portaged across rivers.  That is when you go so far that the river gets really shallow and ends and you have to carry your canoe and put it in the next river.  Literally, you ran out of water.  We learned to identify the various breeds of cattle.  I can still go to a fair and id them with the best of them.  Oh, and of course we learned about cheese.  At one point in the year we had a feast of Wisconsin Foods.  You can bet it involved heavy cream, and about fifty kinds of cheese.  The crackers were Ritz, and not made in Wisconsin but the rules were bent.  Ritz Crackers are honorary or naturalized citizens of Wisconsin.  I think we wore costumes.  Either way, if any kids were lactose intolerant, which nobody seemed to be back in my day, which was not too long ago, they would be in trouble.

If we were really lucky, the winner of the Miss Alice in Dairyland Pageant would have been an alum of our school.  That was held at the state fair and all contestants had to make their own bathing suit, be talented, and milk a cow.  The young lady got to wear a crown and sash and be Miss Alice in Dairyland until the next state fair.  It was far more prestigious than being Miss Wisconsin or anything obscure like that.

Ah, memories.

You prob’ly liked this entry, hey?

The Sproutwells are featured in a series of cartoons on YouTube.  It is a fish out of water story about a mild mannered family of vegetables doing their best to live in a human neighborhood.  They are ambassadors for FreshFunds.com, a site that rewards you for buying specially marked healthy products.

The neighbors are a little suspicious of all the packages they are getting.  It makes me wonder, though.  The Baby obviously has a shopping addiction that needs to be contended with.  However, how do the Sproutwells get to participate in the program? I mean, do they get points from being themselves?  Or do the vegetables actually buy vegetables to eat?  That doesn’t seem right, does it?

I have signed up for the freshfunds site and it is really easy. You just look for point emblems on specially marked Fresh Express salads, as well as a Chiquita product or two. You can use the points to win prizes or bid auctio-style on some pretty cool stuff. What’s more, is you can use your points to donate to charity! Staying healthy is everyone’s goal, and getting more vegetables in your diet is definitely one of the ways to do it. Just don’t leave your computer running while the fridge is open. Your radishes and cucumbers might start ordering things.

What exactly is Faygo Rock and Rye? I know it is a soft drink, but what gives it the flavor? The typical ingredients list is similar to any other soda, and the true flavor combination that causes the distinct taste is a true mystery, perhaps only known by one person at the bottling company.

Until the 1950s, Faygo pop was only available in Michigan because it would spoil. That is when they discovered there was something in the water causing that, and from there on out used a water filtration system. Through strategic marketing during Tigers games in the 1960s, and with the longer shelf life, the brand expanded to be a regional one.

I remember the commercials from the 80s

Remember when you were a kid?
Well part of you still is
That’s why we make Faygo…
Faygo Remembers…

Now, Faygo Red Pop, Cola and others have popped up around the country. Still, I have not been able to find Rock and Rye Faygo anywhere but in Michigan. There was actually an alcoholic drink called Rock and Rye. That R and R was liquer made from rye whisky with citrus flavors added, plus a piece of rock candy. I have never tried this so do not know if it was what the flavor of the Faygo version was based on, but it sure is not like any other flavor of soda that other companies carry, as far as I have tried.

Is there any other regional beverage or food you have been craving but cannot get anywhere else?

It has been a little while since I dove into the tumultuous sea of Ebay as a buyer or a seller.  Back in the day, I found that the key was, unless you had something rare (of course it couldn’t be SO rare that no one knew it existed so no one could be looking for it), you really had to market yourself and specialize. I did respectable, if not gangbuster business.

However, I always envied the person with a feedback of “5″ who sold a plastic container of hurricane wind or a haunted walking stick for gobs of money.  Why did I spend so much time retouching photos of condiment receptacles with the meticulousness of a graduation photo photographer erasing zits? My hours seemed like a waste.

Now, the big controversy is that Ebay has done away with allowing checks and money orders as a payment method.  Much rending of garments has happened.  I will say, as a seller, my best customers were those that sent checks and money order, but on the other hand, sometimes they took forever to get.  It was easy for someone to say “the check is in the mail” and then it never comes.  Meanwhile, you could have sold the item 10 times over.   The change in policy may actually speed up the process for a seller, but there is still a kink.  There is a rating system for speed of delivery, and if a seller cautiously waits a few extra days for a check to clear, they could risk getting a low rating.  These days, it seems that unless the buyer is reasonable, if you don’t practically teleport the item, you could risk getting knocked down a peg.   As it always seems with changes, people stomp their feet and threaten to leave and come right back, or a whole new crop of people give it a whirl, so it doesn’t seem to cause Ebay to pause and reflect.

Overall, if you are thinking about Selling on eBay, I recommend a few things

- Market yourself, spread the word about your own auctions
- If you plan on doing it for a length of time, specialize so that you can market to past customers for repeat business
- Don’t waste your time with $5 items on ebay.
- Or come up with something really bizarre.  Get out the toaster, or toss that $1 garage sale plate against the wall and see whose profile the broken edge looks like!
- Oh, and you better like to gamble.

A little while back, I mentioned that Ivory was a new color in Fiesta Ware this year.  I also hinted in the post on the new Fiesta Christmas dishes that chocolate would also be making a debut.  The new chocolate color starts to ship this month.  Look for it available in retail outlets and websites in the coming days.  When I first mentioned it, I did not have a photo, which wasn’t fair to mention it and not show it, but now that more information is readily available, I have one.

In the past few years in home decor, a chocolate brown and turquoise color scheme has popped up here and there, so I can’t help but think that this is meant to not only mix with neutral ivory but to be used with the stalwart of the Homer Laughlin Fiesta family, turquoise.   Maybe it is not shown as a “serving suggestion” so to speak, but I am sure some will do it.   Maybe the cutting edge designers are moving on to another color palette, but there is a trickle down for accessories.  Typically, someone keeps a sofa or an area rug for a number of years and so the colors usually stick around in accessories and low to midrange furniture over the next few years of a color palette being introduced.

For more information on past postings about fiestaware, click HERE.