Roasted Pumpkin Guts - Repeated as Public Service

CLICK ME!

My favorite holiday is coming. Gorgeous pumpkins of all sizes in the market. So I am doing this again. Note: you can roast the seeds of any hard winter squash.

When I was a child, you could buy a box of roasted salty Indian Brand Pumpkin Seeds at the corner candy store. The box the seeds were packed in had a beautiful illustration of an American Indian in full Chief's headdress. The brand is still around but the illustration is gone from the packaging.

When you get done carving that pumpkin for Halloween or just to make a pie, you can roast your own pumpkin seeds. Roasted pumpkin seeds are so good.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 and 1/2 cups raw whole Pumpkin Seeds
2 teaspoons Butter, melted
Pinch Salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com - for my money the best recipe site on the net. Cooks share their variations on the recipe and their opinions of the recipe's quality. Think Chili Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. Or Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Cooks also share practical tips for recipe execution like this tip below. There are a lot of creative cooks in the world. This tip is from Valerie's Kitchen.

"If you've never roasted pumpkin seeds before here are my tips. When you carve your pumpkins scoop the seeds into a colander and the guts onto newspaper. Inevitably some of the guts will be mixed in with the seeds but when you run water over them it's separated out pretty easily. After you drain the rinsed seeds, pour them onto a large, dry cookie sheet and let them sit for 24 hours or so to dry out. Now you can pick out the remaining pieces of pumpkin stuff that didn't get pulled out earlier and they will roast better if they are not wet when they go in the oven. My family prefers them seasoned with garlic salt in place of regular salt but you can use whatever suits your taste. So good!"

Resurrection and Redemption

This year Easter falls on April Fool's Day. The Roman Catholic Church is asking disaffected American Catholics to come home. 

Come home to what? Sexual shame? Mutilation and possible death in childbirth as a social good? Get in line and vote for Traitor Trump like all your hypnotized Sheep? American Catholics put the Stooge of Darkness in the Oval Office. 

I will not count the ways the RCC has abandoned and tormented me. Sufficient to say I did not give my children to the RCC for spiritual education.

I know I will come home when they make a plate for me at the table. And smile when I sit down. And apologize for treating a poor young unwed Catholic Mother as though she was beyond the pale, not worth speaking to, or worthy of assistance - me. And I rejected the illegal abortion my Catholic Mother offered me.

I reject the Atonement. I am responsible for my own sins. I am responsible for my own redemption. I would never seek to profit from the torture death of any being - god, human, or animal. Got room for me now?

The long-awaited second Southern Gospel Revival EP has finally been released.
The project, which is a follow-up to the first one that was released in 2012, reunites Courtney Patton, Drew Kennedy, Jamie Lin Wilson and Ben and Micah Hester. Each recording was completed in one take, with no overdubs. Songs include 'When They Ring Those Golden Bells,' 'Take Your Shoes Off Moses,' 'By the Riverside' and 'I Can't Even Walk.'

Kielbasa Appetizers. So good.

I am not a sports fan. I am often surrounded by sports fans who are ravenous - watching football etc. is calorie intensive activity evidently - and requires snacks and copious amounts of beer. Folks hang near the kitchen looking handsome, hairy and hungry like this handsome Wolf.

These Kielbasa Bites are delicious. Just delicious. Good for holiday guests of all sorts as well. 

KIELBASA APPETIZERS

1 – pound kielbasa
1 cup dry white wine
1 heaping tablespoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of brandy
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut kielbasa into one-inch slices. Cut each slice into quarters. Put kielbasa in heavy skillet large enough to hold all the pieces in a single layer. Cover with wine.
Bring the wine to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until wine almost has evaporated and looks syrupy, about 12 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, mustard and brandy. Cook one minute more.

Toss kielbasa with parsley and pepper to taste. Serve with toothpicks for spearing and thin rounds of crusty bread for dipping in the juices. So good. 

Cranberry Walnut Thanksgiving Pie - Happy Holidays!

Every year this recipe saves this cook's life. So I republish it every year at Holiday time so someone new can find it. Enjoy.

When I first encountered this recipe, I scoffed. Nothing this easy could be all that good, I thought. The easy in this pie is no pastry to make. I was so wrong. Make this once and it will become a holiday favorite.

This recipe meets my standards (simple to make, no exotic ingredients, dynamite result). The sweet tart taste is divine. The pie has a texture like a soft shortbread cookie with fruit.

For cooks who have to turn out good food for their family on short notice in a regular kind of way, this recipe is a godsend. I found this recipe in a regional cookbook. It came from Mary Yeaple of York Friends Meeting. Mary Yeaple says of this recipe "I always make two pies at a time because they don't last long."

Cranberry Walnut Pie 

1 1/4 cups Cranberries

1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup chopped Walnuts
1 Egg
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup all purpose Flour
1/3 cup Butter, melted *

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9 inch pie plate and layer cranberries on the bottom. Sprinkle with brown sugar and nuts. In a bowl, beat egg until thick; gradually add sugar, beating until thoroughly blended. Stir in flour and melted butter; blend well. Pour or spoon over the cranberries. Do not stir. Do not worry if the batter does not cover each berry and nut. The high butter content and lack of leavening make the batter relax and become more liquid when heated. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve with ice cream or whipped topping. English custard sauce would be good too.

* Note: 5 1/3 tablespoons to be exact - I eyeball it with the help of the little tablespoon marks on the butter label. Be sure to use a 9 inch pie pan. Do not take the pie out too soon or it will be too soft. Let it cool completely before slicing. A pie server is useful.

Party Punches for Holiday Celebrations

Punches are elegant and perfect for celebrations of all kinds. Never forget that Punch stock should be poured over a block of ice and served cold cold cold. The only exception is the Coffee Punch below. 

These Party Punches come from Charleston Receipts.  I recommend this cookbook. It is the encyclopedia of Southern comfort. Proceeds from the sale of Charleston Receipts cookbook go to many worthy community projects of the Junior League of Charleston. I receive no payment. 

Coffee Punch

1 gallon strong Coffee

1 quart Cream

2 quarts Vanilla Ice Cream

5 teaspoons Vanilla

5 tablespoons Sugar

Chill Coffee. Whip Cream, add Sugar and Vanilla. Place Ice Cream and whipped Cream in punch bowl and pour Coffee over it. Mix well before serving. ( If block Ice Cream is used, slice it into thin slices before placing in the punch bowl. ) 50-60 servings. 
– Mrs. S. Edward Izard Jr. (Anne Kirk)

Otranto Club Punch

1 pound loaf Sugar
1 quart strong Green Tea
Juice of 12 Lemons, strained
1-2 quarts carbonated Water
1 pint Peach Brandy
1 quart heavy or light Rum
2 quarts Brandy or Rye Whiskey

Dissolve the Sugar in the Tea; add Lemon Juice, Peach Brandy, Rum and the Brandy or Rye Whiskey. Use an abundance of ice, adding a liberal quantity of carbonated Water. 50-70 Servings.
- Louis Y. Davison Jr. 

Cotillion Club Punch

1/4 pound Gunpowder (Green) Tea (makes 5 quarts)
1 quart Cherries
2 dozen Lemons, juice
1/2 pint Fruit Syrup
12 quarts carbonated Water
6-8 quarts Rye Whiskey
1/2 pint Rum
1 pound Sugar made into thick syrup

Pour 5 quarts boiling Water onto the Tea, bring this to a boil; remove from fire at once and let stand until strong enough. Strain and, when cool, add juice of Lemons, Syrup from the Cherries and also the Rye and Rum. Sweeten to taste with any Fruit Syrup; add Sugary syrup and Cherries. Bottle this stock and keep on ice until ready to serve. Pour over block of ice, add one quart Carbonated Water to one quart of stock. This stock can be kept indefinitely if bottled and sealed. Yield 275-300 servings.
- A Charleston Gentleman 

Halloween Decorations

Halloween is my favorite holiday. How could it not be so? The air is crisp, the harvest is home and dressing up your hearth or porch.. Here are some pictures and websites to help you plan your decorations and help you celebrate. 

The Zombie Brain Pumpkin comes from skulladay.com. 

Pumpkins can be carved and they can be painted, etc.

Oil base glossy house paint works the best, especially if you want to put your pumpkins outside on the porch. Oil based paint is durable, glossy and adheres well to pumpkin rind. A decorated pumpkin will last without rotting from Halloween through Thanksgiving. I have even had a painted one last until Christmas without rotting.

Glossy acrylic paint is a good choice if you are working with children. It washes off.  Do not buy small containers of hobbyist paints unless you are only going to paint one or two pumpkins. Go to an art supply store for premixed acrylic paints in a wide variety of exotic colors in a generous size.
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Labor Day Tribute to My Mother - Polka Queen and Member of the IBEW with Folkways Music

Wow, Putin does NOT like Labor protesters, does he? Oh wait, that's McDonald's in Illinois. Then Mickey D's in NYC.

My Mother is Rosie the Riveter. Helen Cebulski De Angelis worked in an aircraft factory during WWII. She was the boss cook of the Sun Ray Pharmacy lunch counter in 1940's Trenton NJ for a time. Without graduating High School, she became an officer for the IBEW and sat on the Labor Board in Washington DC. Rest in peace, Polka Queen. You were a force of Nature.

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." - Abraham Lincoln

"Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and fallen and bruised itself, and risen again; been seized by the throat and choked and clubbed into insensibility; enjoined by courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, shot down by regulars, traduced by the press, frowned upon by public opinion, deceived by politicians, threatened by priests, repudiated by renegades, preyed upon by grafters, infested by spies, deserted by cowards, betrayed by traitors, bled by leeches, and sold out by leaders, but notwithstanding all this, and all these, it is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission of emancipating the workers of the world from the thraldom of the ages is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun." - Eugene Victor Debs, Socialist Party Candidate for POTUS, "An Ideal Labor Press," The Metal Worker (May 1904)

FOLKWAYS

 

The Easter Suite by Oscar Peterson

Happy Easter!

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land;
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, but simply "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards, and received numerous other awards and honours. He is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists, and played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years. Read more about his life...

"Though the Easter Suite is regarded by some as one of this jazz legend’s great works, it remains unknown to many still today. Commissioned by The South Bank Show and first broadcast live on Good Friday 1984, this instrumental work depicts events from the gospel story. The Peterson Trio is on top form, with Peterson in particular displaying wonderful musicianship in the last movement, He Has Risen." - Graham Ross 

More Easter music here...

Irish Potatoes and Colbert Catechism

Irish Potato Candy is a Philadelphia Spring tradition. Delicious! Indeed, Philadelphians created the candy.

You can buy O'Ryan's made Irish Potato Candy at the market or online. 

Or you can make this simple candy at home. The recipe is fun to do with children. No hot stove. No special equipment. For a recipe that actually contains potatoes for Vegans and others go HERE,

Ingredients

1⁄4 cup softened Butter
4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1(16 ounce) package Confectioners' Sugar
7 ounces sweetened flaked Coconut (2 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoon ground Cinnamon

2 tablespoon Cocoa

NOTE: Be sure to use regular cream cheese, not whipped or reduced fat type. You may need more Cinnamon and Cocoa for dipping. 

In a large bowl, cream together the Butter and Cream Cheese. Add Vanilla and Confectioners' Sugar. Beat until mixture forms a ball. Stir in Coconut with a spoon. Roll the mixture between your hands to form small potato-shaped candies or roll into small balls. Place Cinnamon and Cocoa in a shallow dish and roll the balls in it. Place the balls on a cookie sheet and chill for about 1 hour or until firm. If you prefer "dirtier potatoes" roll the candy a second time after they have chilled. You can also add a few chopped Nuts to look like 'eyes' if you want to get really artistic.

This is the month in which we celebrate Saint Patrick. Where else can you get a catechism and a candy recipe on the same page?

Frankly, speaking as a Roman Catholic, I much prefer representation by Stephen Colbert than porky nasty Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. Yes, I even think politics on holidays.

,

February - The Love Month #2

I love poetry. Shameless hot love. I found the Poetry Foundation. 

I went there hunting poems about Love. This poem was listed under Funny Love Poems. The poem comes from the book Bar Napkin Sonnets. 

I have lived this and I ain't laughing. Poem so good it hurts. I am remembering, lusting after and loving all and everyone who was there. I love them now. Even those who do not talk to me anymore.

Bar Napkin Sonnet #11

Things happen when you drink too much mescal.
One night, with not enough food in my belly,
he kept on buying. I'm a girl who'll fall
damn near in love with gratitude and, well, he
was hot and generous and so the least
that I could do was let him kiss me, hard
and soft and any way you want it, beast
and beauty, lime and salt—sweet Bacchus' pards—
and when his friend showed up I felt so warm
and generous I let him kiss me too.
His buddy asked me if it was the worm
inside that makes me do the things I do.
I wasn't sure which worm he meant, the one
I ate? The one that eats at me alone?

by Moira Egan

February - the Love Month #1

since you’ve been gone

since you’ve been gone, I’ve been alone.
like an arm without a bone.
dangling limply like a phone that’s out of charge.
like homer without marge.
like an egg without a spoon.
like a dugong on the moon.
like a clownfish without nemo.
like twilight without emo.
like hardy without laurel.
like high ground without the moral.
like disney without walt.
like battery without assault.
like a pet shop without gerbils.
like hitler without goebbels.
like a dilemma without the di,
just a lemma and a sigh.
like déjà without vu,
I am nothing without you.
till the day that you come back,
I’m like whitney without crack.

- Bill Bailey (via acupofpoetry)

The Dream

"Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism." - Martin Luther King

Countee Cullen is a giant of an American poet. I dream America free of bigotry of the killing kind - so exquisitely expressed in Cullen's poem.

Countee Cullen

INCIDENT

Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.'

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.

Rest in Peace Martin Luther King Jr. The struggle continues.

Lyrics to Lift Every Voice and Sing written by another poet of the Harlem Renaissance James Weldon Johnson. Composer is J. Rosamond Johnson. History of the Harlem Renaissance and its Poets HERE. 

Lyrics:

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
'Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
'Til now we stand at last
Where the gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.

I finally got this poem right. Merry Christmas to me and thee.

A Bitty Ditty for Marilyn

Fornicate! Fornicate!

Who gave us this SEX so great?

It's God.

As I do the in and out,

I have oft been known to shout:

Oh God!
Amen.

And here is a Christmas poem for your enjoyment
by Anonymous .

Twelve Days of Christmas

On the 12th day of Christmas, my Rupert gave to Me:

12 dullards droning
11 ranters ranting
10 bores-a-boring
9 baggers bragging
8 hawks-a-hawking
7 spinners spinning
6 geezers greying
5 Ben-gha-zis
4 Blondes with Thongs
3 Freedom Fowl
2 Phony Facts
and a pervert named Bill O' Reilly.

Flying on Thanksgiving? Shave your legs. - with Updates below the Flower Colophon

UPDATES BELOW: There is a new change in procedure at TSA since I wrote this seven years ago. Groping has gotten more sincere. Time to try my solution? Illustration from Second Story Window.

                                       

Flying on Thanksgiving? Do not even think about it. Stay home, make some hot chocolate and get out the popcorn. There is going to be a big strike at airport security. The Transportation Security Administration folks are groping the genitals of adults and children.

I am for a major civil rights action. But I say: Do not opt out of the scanner and make them grope you to protest, even though it surely will mess things up bigtime.

Too tame for me. Too much chance you will make your fellow humans mad. Make them mad and they will not support your cause. I say, give the people you are going to inconvenience some bang for their buck.

Take off all your clothes when you get to the first scanner. Every stitch. Then bend over and spread your cheeks so everyone in the airport can see your Stuff. Revolve slowly while bent over so there is a 360 degree view for everyone. Be careful, it is easy to fall down while doing this. Go slowly. Give them the Full Monty.

If you have not been tazed and/or arrested at the end of your revolution (yes, this is a pun and I intentionally committed it), calmly stand in line and put your clothes back on. Make everybody wait. Let everyone take pictures.

I think we could pay people to do this, if we have to. I did it in high heels on New York City bars for money, so I know you will not have a problem finding personnel. Be sure to have the protesters revolve (revolt?...revolutionize?) in more than one airport.  Ask patriotic porn stars to do it pro bono. Everybody wants to make a contribution.

Problem solved. Probably take about three weeks for The Suits to construct a backdown narrative and get it out there to The Media. Be the best political caucus race and general circus you ever saw. Think of the jokes on late night TV. Problem solved. Maybe I will run for President.

I wrote the initial essay above about the Transportation Safety Authority in November 2010 when folks were considering a huge protest. It is seven years later. Maybe they have gotten worse? Maybe it is time to do it my way? More information at the links.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/10/dying-woman-tsa-wanted-to-check-under-my-bandages/

A woman who’s dying of leukemia says that agents with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle forced her to lift up her shirt in front of a crowd so they could check underneath her bandages.

Disabled cancer patient slammed to the ground by TSA guards, lawsuit claims

Hannah Cohen, 18, was on her way home from St Jude’s Hospital when a scanner went off and led to incident that left her ‘physically and emotionally’ injured

Hands On with the TSA's New 'Enhanced' Pat-Down Procedure
The government goes for second-base. By JOHN MCCORMACK

I'm not a crazy ACLU-type. I've had no problem with body-scanners or previous TSA pat-downs. In 2009, a terrorist famously smuggled a bomb in his underwear aboard a U.S. flight. But an agent of the state should probably only touch a citizen's genitals seven or eight times if the agent has reasonable suspicion, and not because a machine is malfunctioning or calibrated, intentionally or unintentionally, to detect explosives on everyone who is tested.

I am a 'crazy ACLU type' and a rape survivor. I would announce before pat down 'Touch my genitals and I break your face.' Then do my best to break the face. I do not fly. 

Potluck Panic? Make Xmas Eve Salad.

This is the time of year when Folks throw ( office, church, garage, AA, bowling team, study group, etc.) POTLUCK parties. That can be a problem if you cannot cook, or if you are too lazy to cook much, and some other fortunate Soul snags the Chips & Dip or Beer & Soda contributions.

This Salad can be your saving grace. You do not have to cook but only prepare the fruit with care and combine carefully. Everyone will think you are a whizbang gourmand. And if you are Vegan, you will have something you can eat. Use the videos on you tube on how to cut up fruit or not. There is more than one way to skin a Potluck. Happy Holidays!

Ensalada de Noche Buena

4 small Apples, cored and sliced
4 medium Oranges, peeled and separated in sections
3 cups of canned Pineapple, drained
4 small Bananas, sliced
3 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Romaine Lettuce leaves
2 cups canned Beets, drained
1/4 cup Peanuts

Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until they are cold. At the moment of serving cover a salad bowl with the Lettuce leaves, mix carefully the Fruits and the Beets, and place the mixture over the Lettuce. Sprinkle Peanuts on top and serve immediately. Serves 12.

NOTE: Always wash your hands before you prepare food. Be sure to drain the canned ingredients thoroughly.
Some folks, my friends remind me, may be allergic to peanuts. So I would offer them on the side, roasted and salted, as a garnish. 

Organic Rum and Jasmine Liqueur

I am gifting myself with a bottle of organic Jasmine Liqueur this Christmas. And one of dark Rum. Corporate distillers use additives that ordinary folks would not use, if we made our own spirits.

Making liqueurs and wine at home used to be common in American life as this scene from Arsenic and Old Lace attests. An excellent cookbook which has a chapter on home liqueur making is Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine.

Greenbar Organic Distillery makes their own Vodka, Gin, Tequila, Liqueurs and Bitters without additives, using classic distillery techniques and all organic ingredients.

A bottle of anything Greenbar makes would be a welcome hostess gift. I have nothing to gain from any transaction you make with Greenbar beyond the success of the company. Quality counts.

TRU Jasmine Martini

Ingredients:

1 1/4 oz TRU vodka
1 oz FRUITLAB jasmine liqueur
1/4 oz simple syrup

Glass Types: (Martini/Coupe)

Instructions:

Shake + strain into a martini glass
Garnish with an edible flower

October Cat with Music

Click Me to Learn Halloween Animal MakeUp

 

St. Patrick's Day Bread.

Treacle Bread is a slightly sweet Irish Soda Bread. It seemed an appropriate recipe for March because it is the month in which we celebrate St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and most Americans pretend we are Irish for a day every year.

A thin slice of this bread well buttered or with a bit of jam and a cup of black tea in the afternoon is one of the finer pleasures in life. This bread toasts nicely too when it is a bit hard.

Miss Peggy Daum's Treacle Bread

3 cups sifted all purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon granulated Sugar
1 scant teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Molasses
1 cup Buttermilk, divided

Sift all purpose flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and baking power into a large bowl. Thoroughly mix in whole wheat flour. Warm the molasses a bit and combine it with 1/2 the buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and stir in the buttermilk mixture. You want a soft dough. So add the other bit of buttermilk as needed.

Turn out on a floured board. Knead only enough to shape into a ball. You do not want to develop gluten. Flatten the ball of dough into a circle 11/2 inches thick. Place into a greased and floured 8-9 inch baking pan. Dough does not have to fill the pan. Cut a cross 3/8 inch thick across the top and down the sides of the loaf.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake bread 40 to 45 minutes or until bread is browned and loaf sounds hollow when you knock on it. Best sliced thin and lightly buttered, toasted or untoasted.

I am NOT shopping.

"Bah, humbug." - Ebenezer Scrooge

I remember when I loved shopping. My Nonna would get her shopping bag. She and I would go to Mazilli-Baptisti to buy Italian staples. There would be dried beans, chestnuts, and lentils in barrels. The smell of cheese and cured olives was overwhelming. Then we visit the Butcher. Then dish towels from the Lady-Who-Speaks-Italian-so-Fast I cannot understand her. Then the Baker where the scent of anise would make me faint with cookie anticipation. Shopping was a dignified sensual tour of the neighborhood. We got all the Chambersburg news and tangerines at Nelly's Fruit. It was the most exciting part of my week. I was about four when she started to take me shopping.

I am not shopping anymore. Shopping has lost its charm. Why? People are shooting each other in the stores. Every fricking thing for sale is made of or wrapped in plastic. You know, that stuff that is never going to biodegrade and is forming islands?  Most of the things that compose the seatrash were not even manufactured in the 50s. Somehow we lived without plastic bags. And lived well. The streets were clean even in poor neighborhoods. The beaches and the surf were pristine.

You know what happened to Mazilli-Baptisti? The last time I went there the place was dark, the door was ajar and there was almost no stock. It was dark and dank and smelled bad. Then the owners, the Grandsons, got busted for dealing cocaine in the 80s. "Mannagia America!" the old folks would say around the table.

I am not shopping. Mostly because I cannot afford to buy anything. Who is buying all this stuff? You got me. I only know one thing. As the Corpos who make everything we buy got larger and richer, the trash piles also got larger. And the jobs got smaller and meaner.

The Corpos privatize the profits and socialize the trash. You see them picking up any of this "convenient and disposable" crap? Or paying taxes for the city to do it? Plum Street is full of trash I pick up myself. Trash seems to flow down Plum Street from the Avenue like tampon applicators on the high tide.

I have had enough. I own enough. I am tired of dusting the stuff. I am not shopping. I wonder if I am alone.

http://grist.org/living/ask-umbra-what-do-i-do-with-my-worn-out-sponges/

G. Star Swain Blesses America