How would one make coffee out of burnt toast (See Dillard post below)?
On Little House on the Prairie Caroline often offers to make coffee for Charles. What do you imagine this is that Charles drinks every night after supper? What I'm really asking is how was coffee prepared in the years immediately following the Civil War.
While I'm asking questions, do you think it would traumatize Parker if his mother got a shorter haircut after 15 months of seeing it long?
Right now I'd rather be reading or catching up on Lost while the first three seasons are posted on the network's website. Not very conducive to writing projects, I'm afraid. Meanwhile I have another project that I'm working on, so don't be surprised if you don't hear anything out of me for several days.
2 comments:
I only have a partial answer to your coffee question. Several times I've talked to my grandfather (89) about coffee during the Great Depression. He said that coffee was a little like the way people treat hot tea today. One person might drink "real" tea (Orange Pekeo in the deep South), while another person might steep the leaves of a flower (ask Jamey Cihak) and call it "tea". Basically, any vegetation that gets steeped in water is treated as tea.
He said that during the depression, just about anything you roasted, cooked in water, then let it settle was considered coffee.
According to him, some of it was horrific, but still hot when you were cold. He said other forms weren't too bad. His favorite alternate source was toasted and crushed okra seeds--"not roasted too much, though," he says.
Sounds odd to me, too. It also sounds like a bad way to find new poisons.
In the end, he always says they did with what they had which wasn't much.
In his telling, it also gave you something to do and to think about and discuss with others. Some of it was believed to have nutrients or medicinal value. If bread is good for you, then maybe coffee made from toast crumbs is good for you. Waste not, want not. I suppose.
About your hair, as you already know, kids are amazingly resilient. If it bothers him at all, he'll get over it quickly, I bet. Unless you get a Mohawk like Allen.
Now I've got to get back to my 100% Columbian, freshly ground, medium roast coffee.
I've heard of coffee made from roasted chickory root--not sure what that is, but it sounds like something they'd have had access to (surely there was chickory out on the prarie?).
How funny for Wes to mention Allen and his hair. I told him that I like it, and I meant it. Somehow it really suits him.
I like your hair now, but I bet it'd look great short, too, for a change. If you and Michael are both up for it, I'd agree with Wes that Parker will be OK with it too, although it might be funny to him the first time he sees it (I don't recommend him seeing it cut off, which might be traumatic). I've always had a good time startling my babies when I come out of the bathroom with a big towel on my head after a shower. They have always been intrigued by that, but never in a bad way, although I did have to talk the them so they'd recognize my voice and know who it was! This was when they were younger than Parker, of course.
Did you see Jamie A's haircut at church the last 2 weeks? She looks gorgeous, and I told her so. She said Michelle Yaeger did it, Nita's daughter, who also does Nita's hair so nicely too. Shelly cut my hair the last 2 times, and it would probably look really good if I would spend some time on it, which I rarely do.
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