6 THURSDAY, SEPT. 19, 1946
JL Dissertation
On Food
RONA MORRIS NORKMAN
HOCKING W RANCH
There is something so satisfy­
ing about watching a hungry man
eating when you have enough to
feed him. The other day I leaned
bode in my chair and watched
the Big Boss really “going to
town” on the meal I haa set
before him. When I cook, I am
very like the old lady who said, "I
can’t abide these pickish eaters. I
like to see folks relish their vit-
tles,” and this day the combina­
tion of his morning’s hard work
and his conception of the perfect
meal produced a most gratifying
response to my efforts. Every­
one has his or her own idea about
food and just what combination
constitutes the most delightful
meal. This day had given him
that which he really considers the
acme of perfection: ham and rich
cream gravy, • baked potatoes,
sauerkraut, hot biscuits with but­
ter and boysenberry jelly, and to
finish it all off, there was an
early apple pie with the rich juice
bubbling through a flaky brown
crust. When he finished with the
food and leaned back to light a
cigarette to go with his third
cup of coffee, he looked at me
with the warmth of affection that
most husbands seem to show only
when they are stuffed to the
gills.
I don’t think it is really neces­
sary to be a good cook to get a
man, but I certainly do hold that
sf you want to keep him for a
lifo-time, the ability to cook, and
cook what he likes, is far better
than a ball and chain, a bear­
cage or the latest thing in clothes
and nail-polish. Sometimes I am
Maybe He Shines
Today—
Maybe He Doesn’t
Sunshine or not, a dish of Ar­
den ice cream is a delicious
confection you’re sure to enjoy
IT'S REFRESHING
IT’S HEALTHFUL
The Cozy
Phone 582
THE EAGLE, VERNONIA, ORE.
inclined to believe that a man
falls in love with a gal through
his eyes and his emotions, but he
stays in love with her through his
stomach. But then maybe I am
old-fashioned.
Nevertheless, it is my belief
that the best way of taming any
animal, human or otherwise, is by
food. Have you ever come into
a kitchen on a cold rainy day
feeling at outs with the whole
darn world and practically hating
your fellowman, to be met by
the rich warm odor of freshly
baked bread and spicy tang of
cookies and the subtle mouth­
watering aroma of meat roasting
in its own rich juices? If you
have never had thia experience,
then you have really missed know­
ing just what the fragrance of
food can do in the way of eradi­
cating the kinks from life. And
if you can persuade the cook to
let you cut the brown crusty heel
from a fresh hot loaf, spread it
with butter and apple jelly and
to sneak a glass of creamy milk
from the refrigerator—well, broth­
er, that really “sends” you.
Sometimes, in the present day,
one who can remember bygone
years suffers from food-nostalgia.
When I am foolish enough to let
my mind slip back to my mother’s
day and recall the lovely frag­
rance of a fat hen simmering in
the big kettle surrounded with
the luscious dumplings that only
mother could make (and I have
never been able to reach her peak
of perfection in dumplings), or
see in my minds eye the ten-pound
roast of fat tender beef being
basted with its rich brown juice
in the oven, when I remember the
rows of bubbling crusty hot pies
set to cool on the pantry shelf—
excuse me, please, while I take
a few moments out to weep bit­
ter tears of longing. And can
you remember the hams, baked
whole and wearing a thick crust
of brown sugar dotted all over
with fat cloves, to be used merely
for “snacks” during the Christmas
season, since there was the tur­
key, etc., for the piece d,e resist­
ance?
And the huge platters
of crusty fried chicken? On Sat­
urdays my mother used to say to
my dad, “I think you had better
kill me three fryers today so I
can get them ready for tomor­
row.” Then she would stop and
think a moment. “No,” she would
finish, “you had better make it
five or six. I am expecting some
folks to come home from church
with us and I always like to have
plenty left for the children’s ta­
ble.”
Nowadays you set the
children down with their elders
and let them take their chance of
getting the neck, or a drumstick
(if they are lucky), from the one
chicken on the small platter, and
you save up for a month to buy
a two-pound roast and give the
deadly eye to anyone who dares
ask for a second piece, and when
it cornea to steak—phooey, you
have to be a bloody bloomin’ plu­
tocrat to ever come to steak, so
why talk about steak.
Furthermore, unexpected com­
pany just before dinner in that
long-ago time didn’t put a wild,
harried light into the cook’s eye
as it does in the present. Mother
would simply push the plates
closer together, shove up some
extra chairs, trot about in the
pantry getting out some special
pickles, jams and relishes, bring
out another pie or two, and call
them in to the table. Now, you
put on a stiff smile of welcome
and hope you don’t look as wor­
ried as you feel, excuse yourself
and tear into the kitchen, yank
your dollar’s worth of meat out of
the safe-deposit box in the re­
frigerator, look at its meager
proportions, cut it into even more
minute sections, beat them flat,
dip ’em in egg and and bread­
crumbs to make the pieces look
a bit larger, then hunt out your
smallest platter to serve them on
in order to give an impression
of quantity. And how the heck
can you bring any special jellies,
etc., out of the pantry when there
are none, special or otherwise, in
it?
Yep, the food situation in these
days is certainly making it diffi­
cult for wives to keep what they
captured, for though conditions
change, men don’t' And how can
any woman keep the love-light
burning (in his stomach) when
she has to slap his hands when
he reaches for the last tiny frag­
ment of meat left on the platter
because she-has to keep that piece
for making stew for the next
meal. And as for those pies that
really keep the flame glowing,
alas, pies take shortening and
sugar—and where, oh where, is
the shortening and sugar? There
seems litUe left for us to use as
an anchor in the matrimonial seas
but nail-polish and a cheerful
smile. Maybe these can hold ’em,
but I “hae me doots.”
RHEUMATISM
and A R T H R I T IS
I suffered for years and am so
thankful that I am free from pain
and able to do my work that I
will gladly answer anyope writing
me for information. Mrs. Anna
Pautz, P. 0. Box 826, Vancouver,
Wash.
Pd. Adv. — NUE-OVO
laboratories.
B. R. Stanfill
Plastering & Stucco
Contractor
Send your
ALL WORK GUARANTEED
Star Route
Buxton, Oregon
Laundry &
Dry Cleaning
Oregon-American
LUMBER
CORPORATION
to Portland’s most mo­
dem plant. Two pick­
ups and deliveries
weekly at Vernonia at
your home or our local
agent—
BEN BRICKEL’S
BARBER SHOP
Vernonia, Oregon
OREGON Laundry
4
and
Dry Cleaners
....
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v
IX
ìYy'Ti LX
INSTITUTION
^J^ROM the days when the Pilgrims set sail for America
(with the Mayflower well stocked with beer) down to the
present day, beer and the tavern have played a large part in
the friendly life of the American people. Many of the eminent
men of Colonial and Revolutionary days were brewers and
tavern keepers — among them Samuel Adams, Israel Putnam,
Generals Weedon and Sumner and Thomas Chittendon, the
I
HEALTH
BEGINS
Young Or
Old
, . . makes no difference at King’s, because
the food shopper will find every necessary item
for the diet, whether it be for the infant or the
; grown-up.
first Governor of Vermont. On the long and illustrious roll
of tavem keepers is found the name of the beloved Abraham
Lincoln who was issued a tavem license in 1848. Now, as then,
!»
the tavern continues as a place of friendly gathering and good
fellowship. Openly operated and carefully supervised, the
tavem is a bulwark of moderation and its proprietors make up
a solid group of citizens who contribute substantially to our
economy as employers of labor and payers of taxes.
I
I
A Sicks'
Quality Product
Sicxs? S eattle B rewing
Since
1878
♦
8i
M alting C o .
E. G. Sick, President
WASHINGTON $ OLOBST INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION
KING’S Grocery - Market
“Where Your Money Buys More’’
At the Mile Bridge
Phone 91
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Riverview
A