What did Mom do ...

[Robo410]

Mom was a doctor. Safe food handling was important. Certain recipes could only be made when we had a hard freeze and some snow because we had no room in the fridge but could use a galvanized tub filled with snow to keep things cold on the back porch.

However, mom hated to ruin a nice relaxing dinner with cleaning up afterwards. So dishes etc sat int he sink over night. Ugh. Sorry, I can't do that. I can't treat my kitchen, my appliances, or my dishware/cookware that way. Things are cleaned and put away before I retire for the night.

 

[Claire]

My mom was a clean freak period. Then I married the only child of a clean freak, who was a clean freak himself. Maybe because of this, my siblings and I are rather relaxed about these things. Hubby said he was so anal because of allergies. Funny, after living with me for not very long, his standards came down and met mine! And half of his allergies just POOF! into the dust, so to speak (because house dust was one of them). I've always joked that his allergies were caused by being raised in a sterile environment! He went from carrying an inhaler everywhere he went and using it constantly, to only carrying it on long walks or when we visit some of our catty-er friends (mean that literally, many of our friends have two or more cats). Go figger. But the dishes thing. Don't have a dishwasher. Was raised to do dishes as soon as I got up from the table, and to wash as you go when cooking. Then one day I woke up and smelled the roses. Luckily before I met my husband. Why should the cook be punished? We came to an agreement that s/he who cooks doesn't have to clean. We make exceptions for big dinners (which we do every month or so) with company. On those days, the dishes might still be around in the morning, at least some of them. I'll put all the pots & pans in the bathtub (when I had one, the utility sink), full of hot soapy water. Then I'll wash most of the plates, side dishes. I usually have to re-fill the sink every load so that the water stays hot and clean and soapy. At that point I put the silver in the bottom of the sink and maybe or maybe not (depending on my exhaustion, wine soaked state) do the serving dishes. Or put them in to soak overnight. When I get up, I'll drain and refill the sink, do the serving dishes/bowls, drain, refill, and line up the crystal (silver still under water ... a great way to keep it from tarnishing). By the time hubby gets up, his ducks (silver and crystal) are in line and he finishes the job. (by the way, my husband sleeps a lot more than I do). Then we share the hard part ... all those pots and pans in the bathtub!

 

[Zhizara]

Now THAT'S Organized! Sounds comfortable and homey.

I married a neat freak's son who was in the Navy (more neat). I got beat up one time because I forgot to dust the baseboards. I have poor vision and never noticed it.

Nowadays, I'd just tell him, if it bothers him, HE should clean them.

 

[roadfix]

We also believe in doing dishes as we cook and doing them immediately after finishing supper. Using paper plates most nights helps too.
Oh, we do have a dishwasher but we'd rather do them by hand. In fact, since we bought our house 20 years ago we ran the dishwasher not even once, zero, nada. In fact the dishwasher is most likely no good now from lack of use. I should replace it with something useful like a nice wine cooler in its place.

 

[Rocklobster]

Speaking of dishes, I usually do them the next day. My wife has some serious back problems so she can't stand at the sink, I work everyday and by the time I have cooked dinner, walked the dog, and spent some time with my daughter, I don't feel like doing them. On weekends, I usually have to hit the road to a gig, right after supper. I kept some busbins from our resaurant and put the dishes in there out of the way util it is time to do them.

 

[Skittle68]

My bf and I have opposite schedules, and so if we are both home at the same time, the LAST thing I will be doing is dishes. I do them when he is at work, so that means they sit overnight, or sometimes even for a couple nights. I do rinse them tho- can't stand gross dried food on dishes, or icky rotting food at the bottom of the sink

 

[Zhizara]

Unused dishwashers are a great place to store large or awkward pots, pans and lids.

 

[jabbur]

Mom would let us lick the beaters when she was making cookies. That was always a good thing. Now however, can't do that. The raw eggs will give you salmonella! She would also thaw frozen meat in the sink and keep bacon grease under the sink. We were also big on tasting everything using the same spoon for everyone and using our fingers to scrape off the spatulas and then licking our fingers.

 

[joesfolk]

Oh snow tunnels and forts ... awesome memories! My dad would bring out real soda (the stuff with sugar, a real treat) and we would make snow cones with real snow. My brother was also known to spend a night or two out there.

You reminded me of when I was little. My folks would bring in a big bowl of snow and add sugar and vanilla. Ice cream! Well, almost. For poor folks like us it was a real treat. I would never consider doing that these days.

 

[Rocklobster]

You reminded me of when I was little. My folks would bring in a big bowl of snow and add sugar and vanilla. Ice cream! Well, almost. For poor folks like us it was a real treat. I would never consider doing that these days.

My mom used to make pull taffy and lay it in the snow to cool and harden. She did it as part of the Saint Jean Baptiste Day celebrations.

 

[Zereh]

My Gram'pa and I used to eat raw hamburger on saltine crackers with S&P. Granted it was meat from a cow he raised and that was butchered in town ... but it makes me want to just thinking about it now.

 

[chopper]

Oh snow tunnels and forts ... awesome memories! My dad would bring out real soda (the stuff with sugar, a real treat) and we would make snow cones with real snow. My brother was also known to spend a night or two out there.

Real SNOW cones! a great memory for me too. I think I need to do that again next time it snows, although maybe not with the right soda pop. I hear that you can get the pop with real sugar in it in Mexico (not that I would be going there soon).

 

[Zereh]

I hear that you can get the pop with real sugar in it in Mexico (not that I would be going there soon).

You can actually buy it here! At least in some places in WA state. I'm not a soda drinker but just remember the big yellow signs as I dashed down the soda aisle at the store a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure there was Pepsi, Coke and Mt Dew made with real sugar sitting next to the regular kind. There are probably more brands and flavors available that I've not seen.

 

[chopper]

You can actually buy it here! At least in some places in WA state. I'm not a soda drinker but just remember the big yellow signs as I dashed down the soda aisle at the store a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure there was Pepsi, Coke and Mt Dew made with real sugar sitting next to the regular kind. There are probably more brands and flavors available that I've not seen.

Thanks! I will be looking as soon as we get more snow. Maybe tonight.

 

[Cookee.]

You can actually buy it here! At least in some places in WA state. I'm not a soda drinker but just remember the big yellow signs as I dashed down the soda aisle at the store a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure there was Pepsi, Coke and Mt Dew made with real sugar sitting next to the regular kind. There are probably more brands and flavors available that I've not seen.

You're right, Fred Meyer has some natural sugar sodas. They're also giving coupons for a free liter of "Mist Natural" soda that's made with real sugar. We don't buy soda normally but the "free" got our attention while we were reaching for the seltzer water so we tried it. Mist seems to be lower carbonation than other sodas. Interesting to try but probably won't ever buy it.

 

[Cookee.]

Back to topic:
Way back when In Illinois everyone had an "extra freezer" from December to March. The rest of the year, it was just the back porch. Many times the hard freeze meant exploded bottles or cans but it didn't seem to make Mom re-think that plan. She also gave us "Eggnog" made with raw eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon in the blender. Yikes ! I wonder why being sick isn't part of the memory?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I believe that TV has made germ-a-phobes out of all of us. Mayo has been touted as a dangerous food if left on the counter to get warm. Commercially produce may, that's purchased in the store has plenty of vinegar and salt in it to stop most microbial action, at least for a couple hours on the counter.

I'm sure that one or two cases of mild food poisoning took place in my life time (running to the bathroom frequently), but within two hours, all symptoms were gone. And my immune system is probably stronger for it.

Besides, have you ever seen a tiger cook its meat before chowing down. or a lion, or even a house cat? I didn't think so. So why don't they get food poisoning from eating raw meat. And then there are the northern Eskimos, who never ate cooked meat. In fact, it was placed in the igloo, in an out of the way corner for several days, in the 45 to 50 degree range, and allowed to "tenderize" through natural biological action. And that's what they eat, every day of their lives. And with all the clothing they have to wear to keep warm, I would think a case of the runs would be seriously challenging.

Seeeeeey; Goodweed of the North

 

[joesfolk]

Back to topic:
She also gave us "Eggnog" made with raw eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon in the blender. Yikes ! I wonder why being sick isn't part of the memory?

I still do this at least a couple of times a year. (Well, actually, I use nutmeg instead of cinnamon.!)

 

[Skittle68]

I believe that TV has made germ-a-phobes out of all of us. Mayo has been touted as a dangerous food if left on the counter to get warm. Commercially produce may, that's purchased in the store has plenty of vinegar and salt in it to stop most microbial action, at least for a couple hours on the counter.

I'm sure that one or two cases of mild food poisoning took place in my life time (running to the bathroom frequently), but within two hours, all symptoms were gone. And my immune system is probably stronger for it.

Besides, have you ever seen a tiger cook its meat before chowing down. or a lion, or even a house cat? I didn't think so. So why don't they get food poisoning from eating raw meat. And then there are the northern Eskimos, who never ate cooked meat. In fact, it was placed in the igloo, in an out of the way corner for several days, in the 45 to 50 degree range, and allowed to "tenderize" through natural biological action. And that's what they eat, every day of their lives. And with all the clothing they have to wear to keep warm, I would think a case of the runs would be seriously challenging.

Seeeeeey; Goodweed of the North

My mom has a friend who leaves meat out on the counter for at least a day to age it because he likes the flavor better. His body is just accustomed to the amount of bacteria, and he doesn't get sick. In food safety classes they teach you rules like if something is left out for more that two hours throw it away because someone COULD get sick, not that the average person will. I try not to worry about it too much, because I do want my body to be exposed to a little bacteria now and then. I don't want a wimpy immune system!

 

[LPBeier]

Reading all about barns, etc. I have a non-food memory of my childhood were my Mom, and all the Mom's in the bock for that matter did something that in this day and age would be considered extremely unsafe.

They would open their doors in the mornings and all us kids would come running out and find each other. We would go to the house with the best swing set (mine actually), move on to the house with the best sandbox, and usually end up on the big mound at the end of the street that we called our mountain and would run and roll and bike down in the summer and toboggan down in the winter. No parents to watch us, no play dates set. Then around noon the Mom's would come out and yell "Lunch!!!" and we would all run home for something to eat, usually a bit of a rest before we went back out for the afternoon. There were no worries of kidnappings, no having to check out the parents of the kids we were with. Just pure unconditional fun.

I find it sad that it can't be like that today.

Okay, I will go tray my bacon that was thawing out all night....nah, it has been in the fridge since I bought it yesterday!