SC - Re: Food Guide (Silly)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

knotwork at juno.com wrote:
> 
> I don't know where you're from, but we might be related.  The
> agricultural economy would be devastated if I didn't buy at least one
> head of lettuce, some celery, and a couple of pieces of fruit to go bad
> every week.  Ditto the eggs, but I hope to learn pysanky soon, so they
> won't be a total waste.  With all the hunger in the world, letting food
> waste is at least a minor sin, but by the time I am hungry for that
> orange, it has turned into penicillin.  (What do you mean I haven't been
> to the store since May?  The frozen dinners haven't gone bad yet.)

You forgot to mention the presence of the ghosts of the chickens we've
allowed to get green and funky in the fridge, and then thrown away...I
think this is all too frequent in the world we're making for ourselves:
we have all kinds of plans to live semi-normal lives, but just too
bloody-awful busy, so the food we buy and store in the fridge in
expectation of cooking a decent meal once in a while is too often
sacrificed in the hollow round altar of the trash-god (undoubtedly Barry
Manilow, BTW).
>
> My other bad habit is teas.  I like exotic flavors of tea and herb teas,
> but not real often.  I have teas in my cabinet that are 20 years old, no
> kidding.  Does anyone know if they might still be good?  How long does
> tea last in captivity?  I am tempted to try them, but am afraid it is
> stale or some intresting microbes may have taken up residence.  Shouli I
> just toss it and start over?  Looking at my tea collection brings back
> fond memories of college, and I am 44!  Any suggestions?

Uh, try making a cup of one. Taste it. Chances are it will be bitter or
tasteless if it has become useless. Depending on how it has been stored,
it _may_ still be good. I still have some black and some green tea that
my late father-in-law brought over from China over fifty years ago,
which is still in excellent shape. It is in the form of compressed
ingots, pressed into little baskets like a small cheese, and dried into
cakes. To use it I have to break off a hunk, or I can process an entire
cake (about a pound, which is a lot of tea) by steaming it in a basket
over boiling water until the cake is soft enough to break up, crumbling
it, and allowing it to cool (it becomes somewhat flexible but still
essentially dry, and dries completely, quickly, when cool). A final rub
between the palms of the hands to break up any lumps completes the
process...

Now, if you've got a paper box of old tea bags, you're almost certainly
S.O.L. 

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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