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things your grandmother might say

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metablue
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things your grandmother might say

Postby metablue » October 19th, 2006 1:49 pm

How about a culture lesson on grandmother-sayings. For example, two of my grandmother's sayings are "An apple misused is an apple bruised" and "If there's an egg in the house there's a meal in the house."

Or you could do "strange habits from the old days". Rural NZ houses collect water from the roof and store it in a big tank, so you're always in danger of running out. My grandparents had a well put in about 15 years ago, so they have a neverending water supply, but they still have deeply ingrained water-using habits. No showers longer than 3 mins. When they wash the dishes they put a basin into the sink and fill it with 2 inches of water and no more. It looks like soup by the time the dishes are done.

My grandmother scrapes all the bacon fat or runoff from a roast, complete with little floating fragments of meat, into a can and saves it for cooking later. Sometimes it sits there on top of the stove for weeks or months. A friend's Jewish grandmother fled Poland as a young woman, and she always keeps the kettle full of water as a secret stash because you never know when you're going to lose your water supply.

seanolan
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Postby seanolan » October 20th, 2006 1:33 am

I am NEVER eating at your grandmother's house, dude...EVER. :D

Sean

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Bueller_007
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Postby Bueller_007 » October 20th, 2006 4:13 am

There was an interesting TV show on a couple of weeks ago about an island just off of Kyushu where the people eat オオスズメバチ (wasps that are so damn big that they can kill a grown man with a couple of stings).

This 90-year old woman goes out with her husband and catches them (and their larvae) and then fries them up and sells them for big bucks.

I'd be at a loss to decide which was worse: month-old bacon fat, or fried bee larvae.

seanolan
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Postby seanolan » October 20th, 2006 5:06 am

It depends on how she washes her dishes, I guess...

Sean

metablue
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Postby metablue » October 20th, 2006 5:11 am

It's actually my grandfather who is adamant about the tub in the sink. Nanna usually takes it out when he isn't there. Then again, she might just do that when I'm there because I'm going ick at the soupy water.

Perhaps the fat in the can gets recycled so often it never goes off. Or perhaps she does throw it away every so often. That can is always sitting there with fat in it though. =/
Last edited by metablue on October 20th, 2006 5:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

seanolan
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Postby seanolan » October 20th, 2006 5:14 am

Nope, nope, still not eating at Nanna's house.

Sean

metablue
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Postby metablue » October 20th, 2006 5:16 am

She makes really nice muffins though! No bacon fat, guaranteed.

seanolan
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Postby seanolan » October 20th, 2006 5:17 am

Can I bring my own plate?

Sean
:D

metablue
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Postby metablue » October 22nd, 2006 3:22 pm

Well, they're nearly 90 and still going strong, so perhaps it's good for you! =)

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