WHAT’S FOR DINNER….

WHAT’S FOR DINNER….

 

Depending on your age …  and I am strictly guessing…..  of what is considered dinner.. compared to our generation..  (the silent generation is what they call us.. which I never got, as we were  and are hardly silent)

I AM GUESSING..  if you are around 10.. you are raised by a 30 yr old parent..  which means fast food and can food is the main meal of the evening..  What ever Mom or Dad pick up thru the drive thru…  Or that parent opens a can of chili,  spaghetti O’s and etc..   And depending on the size and age of the family..  how many are there at the table..  if there are teens there, it is a less chance of all being there. 

Now when I was that parent.. there were can goods involved, but it was tomato sauce, paste and etc..   and for soups, it was a good chance they were canned.   The meal went from meat, potatoes and a veggie..  to soups,  or a pasta dish.  None of them were straight out of a can..   The can goods were part of a mix.   Gravy was made from scratch.  Mash potatoes were real potatoes,  and summer time it was real veggies…   winter was frozen or canned.

I was raised, as just about every household of my generation.. with home cooked meals..  a lot of them cooked for the whole day.. My mother made her own spaghetti sauce, with onions, peppers, tomatoes  all the raw kind.. not canned. With spices to make it Italian..  and of course meat, this was cooked all day long…   and we did not mix it with the pasta..  it went on top of the pasta..    The stews were another all day cooking.  

Also same generation had Sunday dinners..   it was a two to 3 generation around the tables..…  mostly Italian, Portuguese, Greek and even Jewish…  and even some old time Yankee… and I think it was true of Southern families.

Now we have one of the generation.. heading back to the days of Victory gardens..  for those who don’t know.. during WWII we had victory gardens..    even if you had a small yard, you still had a garden..   and people canned those veggies..   some even canned meat..  definitely fruits were canned as it was hard find in the winter time.. Some of those houses that had basements..  or even the hole in the ground ….. called.root cellars..  .  had shelf after shelf of can goods..  some of them were in there for years..    When I helped Ken clean out the family house before they left…  there were can good in there 15 years or more.. (not recommended) ..  and they are coming back.. the big gardens, the canning and even some root cellars.

SO WHAT IS FOR YOUR DINNER….???  Has your family changed from your grandparents?    I think women going to work really changed it..  having only about an hour to cook up something for dinner after work.  There is slow cookers that some use to cook while they are at work.    One of the things that is lost, is the cooking for rather the eating, of old fashion dinners.. is the younger generation..   if it isn’t fast food…   hamburger, hot dogs, fries, taco bell, and etc..  they won’t even try it..  I tell my great grandson.. they have to take a taste before they can turn it down..  Sometimes they are surprised at how good some things taste.

You know where you were….. when the lights went out…

Because I am old enough to live thru what I would say,  is two disasters..   so therefore I remember where I was and what I was doing…   During the Kennedy assassination and the 9-11…  in New York..  

Here we are … 25 years later…  and have we learn anything?  Not really…  As Ken and I were watching on CBS SUNDAY MORNING… show..   the picture of President Bush as he is being told in the middle of a class room in Florida… about the buildings being crashed into… the world that was upset with us.. Those countries… who  sent people to help as well as things.. And Canada in the very mist of it all..  allowed planes to land… and kept the people safe and fed and as comfortable as they could when you have that many people….. for 3 days at least.. We were all together..  We were AMERICANS…   There calmness, in the cleaning up, the usual American way..  WE CAN DO…  

As we watch the video, on what happen..  the planes crashing, the people standing up on the flight to not take it sitting  You know where you were…..  when the lights went out…down…  the people who ran to the sites.. to help…  one thing that he said to me was… you know…  I think it was after that.. our country seem to start to fall apart.   Slowly but surely…   One of the first things I thought was odd …  was our flag.  We were told..  that someone…  said we should not have our flag on the firetrucks…  the reason they gave was because… those from other countries would get offended by us … being proud to be an American… WHAT THE HELL…. And I remember thinking that too, at the time.  We are proud to be AMERICANS…  if it upsets others from other countries… then maybe they should be here.  We welcome them here, they come here as they tell us that their country is going to hell…   So why … why should they be offended…  like I said.. maybe they should go back..  We surely would never ask another country to change the ways, their pride in their countries…    What was the saying..    when in Rome, do as Roman’s do?

So yes, I remember ..  I was working in a nursing home..  I was just getting off work.. I had gotten  about 3 women up and dress for the day.. Some of them I put in front of their tv’s as they waited for breakfast to be served…(later I thought oh, my gosh..they were watching the buildings fall… hopefully they thought it was a movie)   I was driving my car towards home and was listening to the radio… then suddenly the people who I listened to every morning..  were upset.. they just heard a plane had hit the building in New York City..    a few months or maybe a year., before….. there was a small plane that had ran into the side of one of the buildings..  did more damage to the plane than the building..    so that is what I thought..  what, not again..  But then they seem to be more upset..  and said something about an airliner.. and passengers.. By this time, I was pulling in my driveway..  I went in and turn on the tv..  to see the news on and a huge hole in the tower.. and smoke..    The phone rang, it was my daughter at work..  she asked me if I saw what was on tv..  And I said yes.. OH MY GOD…ANOTHER ONE JUST HIT THE OTHER TOWER..   As we talked she said all of the computer at work were on a news station…   and how horrible it was…  and then she said.. oh, no.. they just hit the Penagon as well..    then she said.. I have to go Mom, talk to you on my lunch…  we hung up..  I stood there with my mouth open looking at all the disasters as they jumped from one to the other.

And then there was the plane that the passengers started to take over and it crashed into a field…  the stories that came out of that two days later..  the families who talked to their love ones just before it crashed..  knowing full well  they were going to die..

There were a lot of heroes that day.. that got people down the stairs before they fell apart.. the ones that keep the people calm as they went..  The heart wrench of watching people jump out of windows knowing their buildings were folding..

 

Yes, we know where we were and what we saw…  WE WILL NEVER FORGET