There used to be outdoor kitchens or kitchens in a separate building from the house. They would cook all the food needed early in morning when cooler. They also used pie safes for food storage. They could store cooked foods while keeping the flies, mice, etc. away from the foods.
I know years ago we only had a/c in the bedroom. When it was hot, we grilled or ate salads and other cool foods. Now days with a/c, I think nothing of cooking or baking.
Someone mentioned the whip poor will. Here we have the chuck wills widow which sounds the same. I love to have the windows open and listen to them at night.
Cicada invasion
Grandmas house was a shotgun . First room , bed and dresser on the right that Grandpa made . Two rocking chairs on the left , facing each other with window between and a thermometer in window and a radio on a small table between them .They would only listen to the news and same when some of the grand kids got them a T V . Anything else was sinful . Kitchen in next room on left with stove and fridg , a sink and counter on the outside wall with a window . On right was dining table with six chairs that Grandpa made, and a window . Last room had bed on right with closet , and on left a twin bed that I slept in when I lived with them in first grade . Later , a small bathroom was partitioned off with toilet , and sink . We still took bathes in big oval tub in the middle of the bedroom floor in winter . Chamber pots under beds .It was a long walk to the outhouse , but we were rich , it was a two holer with lots of Sears catalogs .They never used the toy section because I liked to look at the toys .Grandpa built a shower room off the concrete back porch that had a big water reservoir on the top that he would climb a ladder and fill in the summer and a shower head that was used with a rope for gravity flow water , warmed by the sun . Had a dug well on the back side of the porch , with the concrete surrounding it as part of the porch . He had a hugh mulberry tree in back just off the covered porch. I spent my time on a branch that curved just right for my seat. This has nothing to do with gardening , just started remembering Grandparents un airconditioning and got carried away .
We had no AC until I was ten. I grew up in Miami. Mom baked almost every Friday of the year. Brownies and pies for the weekend and challah for Friday nights. She used to open up the back kitchen door and have a box fan in the doorway going full blast while she worked. My folks had large gatherings of family, friends and business acquaintances. Mom liked formal dining and would even rent tables to accommodate the guest list. No buffet service or paper plates and plastic cups. It was linen, silver and crystal. I got to use the mangle (in the broiling hot garage), polish silver, make salad and dry the mountains of dishes. She, a few guests and I would spend the entire evening scurrying back and forth from the kitchen to the dining and living rooms. I still can't figure out how she pulled this off with no dishwasher in the earlier years and only one oven (not to mention no microwave). She didn't even rely on her large brood for labor. I was an only child until up there in my teens. Once we got AC I don't think she ever opened a window again. lol
Maypop - I grew up in Brooklyn but moved to Ft. Lauderdale in...late 60's maybe - early teens...anyway, we too had to have the windows open etc., before central air. Do you remember the scent of the night blooming jasmine on those balmy florida nights?
I mostly remember the smell of a big gardenia bush by the back kitchen door 'cause of the fan blowing the scent inside. Then there was the annual Melaleuca tree bloom. The air smelled like mashed potatoes. Did you go to Ft. Lauderdale High, Missingrosie? I grew up in North Miami Beach.
Digger, dog trots are the way to go. Was the stove on the trot or in the second building? Today they call them port cocheres and you park your Rolls Royce(s) under them. lol
No , no dog trot . The house was three rooms one after the other with the front door lined up with all the others through the house to the back door .
That's a shotgun, not a dog trot. I didn't read it correctly. Oldest son and his wife remodeled a shotgun in Cabbagetown, a historic cotton mill neighborhood in downtown Atlanta. http://www.google.com/search?q=cabbagetown+shotgun+home+photos&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Yes, Ft Lauderdale High....
A Flying L !!!!
Oh, gee you were right around the corner. Miami Norland Vikings here. Remember the cute sailors coming in at Port Everglades? Don't lie now. I have records that would still be on file at the Ft. Lauderdale Hall Of Fame. I swam there at the big AAU televised event in '65 and for several years at major regional national events thereafter. What a thrill! I had traveled to compete for years but had never been in a pool with underwater windows where viewers could observe and swimmers could be filmed. It was a great advancement for coaches to be able to show their swimmers technical points. Okay, this is way off topic.
I think we need some rain to make the wildlife talk to us.
Love all the remembering..... WHEW it is HOT!! here in Lizella with no rain...
I also grew up in central Florida with no air conditioning. We had an attic fan and it really cooled the house down,,especially at night. And the smell of orange blossoms,mmm. I don't remember having 100 degree temps, though. Think I will go check that out.
Laurel, that is really interesting about you swimming. I think I will do a search on that also...
Very enjoyable reading everyones' reminiscing. I hope Eufaula doesn't mind the direction the cicada memories have taken her thread. Thanks for sharing all the memories...
Very enjoyable reading everyones' reminiscing.
I hope Eufaula doesn't mind the direction the cicada memories have taken her thread.
Thanks for sharing all the memories...
Yeah, I like hearing about back then too. It reminds me of spending summers on my grandparent's farm. Those were fun times.
Ohhh Shoot this is why we come here!! All the anecdotes and "rememberings"! Cicadas will just have to take a side step! LOL!
I was born in a real dog trot log cabin in South georgia. My Grandparents home. the kitchen was a room way off to itself connected to the "House" by a walk through covered porch. I believe it was right after I was born that my Grandpa walled up the porch and it became the dining room.
I still remember the smell of the wood stove in the kichen and using fat lightered (pine root wood) to start the fire in the stove and fireplace. Nothing like waking up to that and a pot of Real coffee brewing! My grandma would cook before day light for her brood of 6 kids that were still home. During the Spring and summer she always had at least 20 other people to cook for because of planting and harvest . I was very small but I just do not remember the inside of that kitchen ever being unbearably hot. I believe though that the old Southern "High Ceilings" had a lot to do with that!
Its fun to realize that Im talking 50 to 60 years ago. that seems a long time to some but to others it was just yesterday. Even so the differences in homes in different areas was so extreme, some so very modern ,back then, and some were still as they had been for generations! The Heat was just dealt with as a part of life.
So now I guess Im just ruined..........gotta have air when it hits 90 degrees!
Ladypearl , One of my best memories was swimming at Sand beach , between Iowa Park and Wichita Fallls . They had this natural lake attached to the swimming pool with a high dive .I say natural , probably man made but not cemented in .We didn't worry about snakes in the water back then .
I saw the first fireflies of the season sipping water in the veggie garden this a.m.. Been too pooped at night to notice them. Going in to this second week of temperatures in the nineties and higher I'm in the garden before six a.m..
OMG!! One bank sign, here in Eatonton, registers at 102 degrees and the other bank sign one block away is saying 103...............Whooooosh! This is at 1:00, our hottest temps usually occur around 3:00...."HOT town, Summer in the city"!!
Yeah, Digger, I remember you saying you lived out here at one time. I went back to find those posts to refresh my memory but can't find them unfortunately. So forgive my ignorance....
The sign is still there for Sand Beach but it has been closed down for years from the looks of things. Too bad too. Besides tennis and swimming what else did they offer back then? Why did they close down?
I heard the first cicada yesterday, buzzing away in the neighbor's tree while I was out spraying the sticker weeds. It is officially summer here in north Texas. Haven't seen any fireflies yet though.
Eufaula, I always loved the way it smelled when my Grandmother cooked on the wood stove too - nothing else quite like it. She could make the best biscuits and then baked home grown sweet taters! Yum! Sounds like Georgia is almost as hot as Texas this year. If it would just rain now and then we would be okay.
Ah, I just got to smell the sausage and meat balls frying that went into the "Sunday
Gravy" in our sicilian home - no biscuits or southern cooking smells wafting in the air.
Missing , come cook for me .
Lady , I don't know when it shut down but I married at sixteen and after that , no swimsuits til 11 years later .Very old fashioned pure German husband . At least with his wife he was .I take that back , we did go swimming with his friends and spouses at lake Wichita one summer .After 11 years , I moved to Abilene , then Dallas and wore what I pleased .
Boy , have I changed . LOL
Yeah Dig...when the body looks good the clothing restricted by $ or the fellas....or the wee ones coming...
You know you are beyond repair when it all opens up to choice and affordability.
Missingrosie, "Sunday gravy" is so Sicilian (and old Bronx/Jersey). Sally, you would plotz from Sunday gravy. I'll make it for you. Misingrosie, why not come to our roundup? You're 'round the corner.
Eufaula, we are the same here give a degree or two. I'd love to entice you with words about cool, moist mountain air but it ain't happening. Have you been hoarding gas pennies to come visit us (we hope)?
Podster, if you've ever meet any of us from this group in person you'd know that food is always the main topic regardless of the topic. Yet despite a fixation on all things yummy we are all young, beautiful and svelte. We burn calories investigating insect life in our gardens. Hard work it is.
Why do you all think I am drawn to your delightful threads.
FOOD!
I find myself lurking on the 'what are we going to eat at the RU' threads and then peruse the recipes posted after the RUs.
FOOD!
svelte, young and beautiful here only thru the monitor.
First fireflies last night while out watering the green stuff.
I am going to make it to a roundup one of these days.. Missed one in Va at fairy rock mtn that I had planned and there is one at Jupiter Level which is an hour away! Always. A conflict. And I hear lotsa food! I make a mean eggplant rollatini and my sons old college buddies come from miles and states away for the white clam sauce.
Speaking of white clams..... Tried lots of brands if I don't use fresh......and for a can PACKED with very tender tender chopped clams....ain't no finer than SeaWatch.
I will certainly remember that . I used to make clam dip , and deep fried? to die for .
Sounds great that dip
There's a firefly that found it's way to my bedroom here at Maypop. It must be rescued and freed.
Did you see the TV news blurb about the cicada ice cream a few days ago? Seems it was a big hit (the store sold out in about thirty minutes) but they were forced to stop making it by the local health department. It supposedly tasted like nuts. I think they're on to something for folks with nut allergies.
I saw that article - but thought it would have limited marketability - there would only be enough cicadas to make a marketable amount of ice cream every 13 years!! ;)
Yuck, Laurel!!
Haha! There was a cicada hanging off of a ferny leaf in the asparagus bed yesterday. SO notice a shell hanging on a post a few feet away. Is this related to our recent rain? The shell is coated in mud.
Graceful, that would make it a designer product for sure.
It seems like if people want to eat cicada ice cream (even though I wouldn't want to) then they should be allowed to purchase and eat it. The article didn't say anything about anybody getting sick, so wonder why the makers of the ice cream were told to stop selling it?
Ingredients in food sold to the public have to be considered "food grade". Guess cicadas aren't on that list.
Yep, that's right. Hmmmm.. but some people eat raw oysters (yikky), so cicadas shouldn't have a problem passing the "food grade" test if there were enough people that fought for it (asked for it.) But since it was just a fad anyway......
I have eaten grasshoppers and big ants. The grasshoppers were roasted and salted and did taste like nuts so I guess cicadas are similar. They even came in a can that resembled a can of nuts. The ants were in chocolate and I couldn't detect any flavor. I'd definitely eat grasshoppers again.
People in other countries look to insects as an important source of protein. Our DD went to a very fancy restaurant in Mexico city that served insects and insect larvae for every course. They even paired wines to the bugs. She said it was a great experience. Her vegetarian boyfriend had no problem eating bugs either. Imagine a thread here at DG about keeping bug populations down in your garden by eating them. Would it go under organic gardening or recipes? :>)
BTW, lots of people love raw oysters. I'm one of them. :)
My apologies, it wasn't nice of me to say that. My family never ate oysters when I was growing up so it isn't a dish that sounds appetizing. Some people like'em though. Just like the insects in the fancy Mexican restaurant, doesn't sound all that good, but might actually be quite yummy once a person accepts insects as food. (And if a person was hungry enough, most anything could sound pretty good.)
Probably would go under "recipes" so people would have more of a reason to catch them rather than squish them out in the garden (Its easiest to squish the bad bugs right on the spot.)
I haven't checked to see if they have recipes for eating weeds but one of my favorite weed recipes is a chickweed sandwich (very yummy and nutritious.)
My dad raised snails and we had them regularly in sort of a garlicky tomato broth.... I remember thinking everyone ate them...common as peanut butter and jelly in our house!
He also ate "tongue" (eech) and brains. ( double eech)
LOL,,, Well, I am NOT eating chocolate covered Japanese beetles. I hate those things. And nothing else seems to eat them either.
Amen. Add stink bugs to my "just say no to bugs" list. However I love tongue. I grew up eating in in Miami's best kosher delis. My mom made delicious tongue too. It is pickled and roasted like corned beef and every bit as good. I'm neutral on brains. I don't hate them but after eating different versions all over Europe I'd not order them in a restaurant.
Never eaten tongue but might be fun to try it someday.
I totally agree about never eating stink bugs or Japanese beetles! Yik! I am still trying to find a good recipe for prickly pear cactus because it is one plant that is thriving in this hot dry weather we are having.