Hodgepodge

Linking up with Joyce for the Hodgepodge

1. Next Sunday is Grandparent's Day. Share a favorite memory, photo, recipe, or something you learned from a grandparent. 

I only knew one grandparent, my dad's mom, and she was old by my oldest memories of her (my dad was 42 when I was born and he was the youngest child in his family- not sure how old his mom was when she had him but I'm thinking late 20's). So while I grew up not far from my grandma- about ten miles- she wasn't the type of grandma who babysat my siblings and me or did other quintessential grandmotherly type things like baking with me or sharing skill, hobbies, etc.

No one specific memory comes to mind. My parents were good about visiting her once a week when we went into town (grandma lived in town) for groceries and so we saw her generally once a week. We'd pilfer little pieces of candy (we did not have candy laying around in glass dishes at home!) and when we got a bit older, during our visits with our parents at her place, grandma would often give us kids a few dollars to walk to a little store that was near her place and buy something sweet like cookies and candy. I think she did this as much to get us out of the place as to do something generous for us- not that she did it because she didn't want to be around us- I suspect as got older we gave being bored to be there vibes so giving us some money and a place to walk to for a treat was a good way to keep us occupied and uncomplaining...

My grandma was born in 1901 and I remember my mom talking to us about all the technological changes that grandma had witnessed in her life. As just an example, she grew up in a house without electricity as most rural homes did not have it in that time period. I remember thinking it was unfathomable to not have electricity and how fortunate we were to live in a time where we could flip a switch and have light.

As a child, I remember thinking that it was hard to imagine something that would seem odd that we didn't have if/when I made it to old age. It seemed like we had everything- cars, planes, electricity, etc. Of course then a little thing called the internet and cell phones became ubiquitous and now I know what will be  my "I can't believe grandma didn't have X" moment should I live a long life (longevity is not a common trait in my family but it's theoretically possible...).

My dad preceded my grandma in death and I know that was hard on grandma. She suffered a debilitating stroke shortly after my dad died and never recovered from it. 

My grandma is second from right in this picture. My dad is second from the left. The little girl in front is my cousin- she's at least 25 years older than I am... Her kids are older than my siblings and me.

My mom's parents whom I never met- They emigrated from Germany and opened a grocery store in a small town in Michigan.  They did this after my grandpa was fired by the grocery store where he worked due to his German heritage in an era of anti-German sentiment in the country in between the world wars.

2. What's a quote from a book (besides The Bible) that has stayed with you? 

I couldn't think of one so I looked up famous quotes from books but then I realized that if nothing came to my mind, then nothing has stayed with me. Right? 

So taking a different tack but hopefully close enough, I'm going to share a theme from a book that's stayed with me. It's from the book, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. The book has numerous themes and plots and subplots. One of them is that the titular character, Owen Meany and the narrator are friends who practice a particular move in basketball that involves one of them picking up the other (Owen is undersized; possibly a dwarf). The narrator doesn't understand why they practice this- it's just something they do. At the end of the book, the two invoke the move as a means to save others' lives. 

The theme has to do with fate and the role we play in it when we believe we are destined for a certain future or outcome.

I think of things that seem inconsequential whether they are habits, a random conversation, unusual interests- things like that and wonder whether they'll somehow lead to something that is ultimately important in my life or someone else's.

3. What's your number one food pet peeve? 

The arguments about why we shouldn't eat meat- from environmental to moral issues- some people pontificate about how bad it is to eat meat. 

I think it's morally wrong to ask people to consider eating bugs so moral issues can go a number of ways... (Not long ago, mainstream media published many pro bug eating articles and op-eds.)

As for the environment, well, the loudest voices are often the most hypocritical- think of the private jet crowd whose wealthy members own multiple large homes and travel extensively, lecturing others about their (the others') carbon footprint.  I doubt the WEFer's plan to be eating insects anytime soon... or ever. 

If someone personally has decided to not consume meat, that is the person's choice and it doesn't bother me. 

4. What's one thing about you that is still the same as it was when you were young? 

I've always liked to read books.

5. September is National Preparedness Month...does your family have an emergency plan? Do you have some sort of preparedness kit you keep on hand? If so, tell us one thing that's kept there. 

We don't have an emergency plan. I guess we should consider obtaining one...

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

This pop! It's so good! I saw it at Wal-mart when I was getting items for Alyssa and knew it was going in my cart.

Mountain Dew seems the epitome of unhealthy to me (as all pop is, I realize) and to think of an unhealthy product combined with another unhealthy item- Trolli candy (remember recently I bought about ten bags of Trolli that were on clearance at Kroger 😆) seems like a double dose of unhealthy. Normally I don't buy or drink Mountain Dew. But this flavor- cherry lemon Trolli- I am all in. And the cute can-  argh- those colors and the little smiling Trolli worms on it. I could scarcely resist!!

The pop itself is a pretty pink color. I checked the ingredient list to see if the dye used is one that's going to be banned. Its pretty little color is from Red-40 and per the AI, the FDA called for its ban back in 2023 and so we can't blame/credit MAHA for this... Also per the AI, companies have until 2027 to phase it out. So who knows what color Mountain Dew Cherry-Lemon Trolli will be in a few years?? (I just hope it's around!!)

Onto a healthier food topic, I made a roast for dinner last night that turned out really good. The girls aren't big roast eaters so I waited until they were gone before I made this- we didn't have roast all summer when they were home :). I added two chopped up jalapeno peppers to the carrots, onions and potatoes that I cooked the roast in/with. The peppers added a lot to the flavor of the roast. It didn't make the dish hot spicy wise- it just added a flavorful kick to the somewhat bland flavors of potatoes and carrots (I don't add much onion when I make roasts so onion is never really a predominant flavor).