Mabelline

Then too, once we evolved the ability to make and fire pottery, among the earliest things we made were storage containers of one sort or another. Perhaps putting a foodstuff away in one state, then finding that it had altered in storage was seen as great magic.

I was thinking about the innate memory thing; does anyone remember the drunken monkies in "The Gods Must Be Crazy"? The monkies knew that eating the overripe fruit would get them all drunk, and yet they did it. I don't find it too far of a stretch that humans observed this, and emulated it, and then brought it full circle by processing the fruits into wine.

I was simply pointing out that PREhistory, hence PREwriting, it is believed that we remembered things by a sort of brain system, much like the way baby animals 'know' to lie motionless while mom's out eating. Once we acquired the spoken means of communication, these same things were orally passed down...I read once that an oratorical student in early times might be required to recite 5 scrolls of information, verbatim. This makes the fact of the Homeric stories absolutely incredible to have been brought down in the original form for hundreds of years.

Don't shoot me, this is only MY THOUGHTS. But my thoughts are probably 180 degrees from your thoughts, because we have always seen the Earth as our mother, our comfort, and our provider. It can still be that way, without the greed that drives mankind to decimate species for a profit. Laws need to be obeyed, and species need to quit being hunted to extinction. This is not common sense, this is sacred law.

And Pemmican. The original energy bar.

I always have to object on the Virgin American side of the starvation theory. Our ancestors ate well with the seasons, but mainly, when aliens landed on American shores, this was such a plentiful land that 17th and 18th century descriptions sound like fairytales. There was no shortage here. The trees on the shore were 200' tall. Why do you think America built up a Navy?

Yep, for all it's crazy romanticized frou-frou, I kinda think that the Jean Auel novels sort of recreate that keyhole into how the non-speakers passed all their knowledge...through generations and passed knowledge...which only came to a halt after WWII, at least to my culture.

Adam, I'll bet you'd have received high honor, presenting something like that back thereabout. It just looks elegant, and I could go crazy on the sidedish, as well. I love my food history books. At times I go nuts in translating, but then I still only speak passable American.There is a book just recently in our library which I read, that I'll have to look up to name, but it was marvellous. It was a lot of the content of the Parisian merchant's "Goodwife's Instructions" of the Middle Ages.Bravo!!

Boy, I totally missed this, but I have to fall on the side of "improved accident", although all my elders claim it were the likes of Spider Woman and the Three Sisters who taught us how to eat. But just as an aside, an Ojib legend of creation concerns the "Great Shining Pearls" that floated across the water and laid down the "law" so to speak.

And here I thought you brought this up to comment on The Rocco appearing on VH1's 80's Strikes Back yesterday...

KatieM, we live through posts like that! If nothing else, you should've by now figured we are closet maniacs for stupid cook tricks done by real, original cookers.

Ah loves ma corn...typewriter fashion, as well. But green corn really makes me slaver for green corn tamales.

Chris, I am truly proud of you, and as I told you from the first, your website shows a definite talent, your photos are superb, and you do your regular job through all this. When you are airbound do you follow chases and that sort of thing? You have a definite talent in rooting out superb food, and congeniality to boot. Witness all your blogs.

Oh, forgot this one: if you give someone a set of knives, you must set them on the table for recipient, not hand them yourself. With a set of knives, you must always give the recipient a silver coin as well, so the knives never harm their owner. Before you make your first cut with a knife, you must rub it down with salt.

If there is lightning in the morning, your eggs will spoil. If there is lighting in the evening, milk will clabber. If you cut the head from a snapping turtle, it will rain before 3 days A piece of wedding cake you place under your pillow makes you dream of your husband-to-be (not to mention having grodie linens in the morning). Oysters are an aphrodisiac. Bread being made with a sin in your soul makes it refuse to rise. If you spill a pot of coffee, your marriage will unhappy (this sounds more than a superstition--probably a warning from men).

dumplin, it was indeed the start of an interesting day. A little while later, I was picking up some Long John Silver's for my crew, and the pickup in front of me in the drive-through had some kind of altercation where the girl at the window was pulling the hair of the woman in the driver's side of the pickup! That was about the time I figured I needed to NOT be in town that day!! The manager told me when I s-l-o-w-l-y went to the window that the driver of the pickup had bragged about some escapade with the other gal's husband.

That bacon wrapped shrimp with lime/tomato jam looks positively luscious! Welcome, and your photos are very stunning.

:laugh:Bet they'd refill the bags, then!

That reminds me of an occurance at a Winn-Dixie. I asked for doublebagged paper for a whole pile of glass jarred stuff and apparently the bagger thought I did not need that. She bagged about half a dozen different glass jars in plastic, at which the bag broke, the monkey got choked, and they all went to heaven in a little row boat. Sorry. The bag slid open and in slow motion, nearly, and 4 jars burst, while 2 just rolled toward the door. My Checker, a Menopause type of don't mess with me sort, landed a very decent bitchslap to this girl, sighed at me, and got on the intercom for cleanup and the manager.It was an interesting morning.

But alfalfa does miracles for the hair! I'm not even allowed much but I scarf 'em; my favorites are the adzuki, mung, and radish, though.

:laugh:Naughty Girl!!

andie, I think maybe you and I were attached at the hip in a former life!!You named the exact container, AND the same paper towel!! Eeks! By the way, does everything still smell like BBQ? Edit: I certainly hope your wonderful neighbors are okay, as well. Health and best regards!

Our fasts aren't meant to do anymore than ready your mind and body for a clarification of visions...I guess in a modern context it would seem to associate extreme hunger with prophetic 'visions' or delusions; but, as a Native American, it seems to have worked for a lot of leaders--there is a long history of warrior cults disagreeing with the spiritual headmen and precipatating disaster, as a result. I am aware that the many different religions view a fast as a vastly different thing, but I've always kind of suspected they evolve from prehistory. My only point about the 4500 calorie fasting diet was as a funny. I am sure I would have a hard time fasting while toting up that score--maybe I'd need to drop a couple loaves, and a 1/2 pound of fat, no?

Okay, this is almost sinful, but I love Jordan Almonds, fresh, at Easter (or Passover) time. I just crumble inside because that hard sugar coat and the nut crunch just blend so well!

Yep, that's me, not the proverb popping out.