FHS Reminiscing

FHS Reminiscing
[ FHS Reminiscing ]

Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Kaye ‘63 on May 11, 2020, 3:45 pm

I’m curious about your eating habits. I really want to know if you have a favorite stand by food that you have depended on during this unfortunate incarceration. Please tell me what it is. I find that I can no longer depend upon my tried and true recipes because I will have missing ingredients.

Pear Salad Saga. If you grew up in Forest, you know what I’m talking about. I have eaten it all my life..lolol..but...for some reason, I have rarely added that dish to any meal I personally prepared. I don’t know why not; it’s easy; it’s delicious; ingredients easy to keep on hand. Recently, I saw an article somewhere featuring old fashioned pear salad, and I started craving it. I went to my pantry. Found a can of pear halves. I had cheese and mayo. Wow. That was the best pear salad ever. Maybe it was so good because it brought back feelings of tradition and security that gathered around those tables where pear salad was served so many years ago. So I wanted more of that.
But not to be! That was my last can of pear halves. When I sent daughter Kim to Kroger to get a few more cans...the shelves for pear halves were bare. I halfway understand the toilet paper....but PEAR HALVES?! I started my search online. Amazon had 3 cans left. “Order soon limited supply” it said. At a cost of 9.00 each. What? I don’t think so. I’ll just order from Costco. “Limited supply.!” Guess most people want that feeling of comfort that old fashioned pear salad brings. Honestly, I didn’t know that many people even knew about pear salad...like boiled peanuts and Nabs. It’s a Southern thing.

So that makes me so curious to know if you have developed strange cravings or perhaps created unique substitutions while we are cooking and eating more at home.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Robert '62 on May 21, 2020, 12:09 pm, in reply to "Now I’m just being nosey...."

You're curious about my eating habits? Well, I try to do it about three times a day, first of all. In VietNam, I missed a few, twice going three days without food. Been trying to make it up ever since. (The funny part was listening to the officers grouse about having money taken from their pay to pay for it when the Marine Corps wouldn't supply us!) Anyway, regarding pear salad. Maybe the reason you can't find canned pears is that there is no longer any demand for them because the rest of the world has joined me in declaring them inedible. They feel like they have been rolled around in the sandbox before somebody plopped a load of mayonaise on them. The only pears I ever thought were good were some taken off a tree in the vacant lot behind the house in Forest, and I am sure that was only because they were stolen.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....-Robert Hays

Posted by Dana '66 on May 21, 2020, 12:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

"rolled around in sand" is a perfect description of canned pears that I never put into words! The Noblin's had a pear tree with pears that I legally consumed.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Sue’62 on May 17, 2020, 10:09 am, in reply to "Now I’m just being nosey...."

We have pear salad ever so often. Also make pineapple salad pretty often. We both love it.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Eugenia Carleton Baucum '55 on May 12, 2020, 10:30 am, in reply to "Now I’m just being nosey...."

Now that is funny, because like you I have forgotten about Pear Salad. But right before Thanksgiving last year, I saw something that reminded me. So we had Pear Salad for Thanksgiving and it was delicious. Always loved it so why do we forget things like that. I don't cook very much anymore but I still love Egg and Olive sandwiches that we grew up with.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Kaye ‘63 on May 18, 2020, 9:33 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

Eugenia....egg and olive salad...yes! I remember we discussed that years ago on this site. To this day, I add a dollop of cream cheese to mine and I think that was YOUR suggestion.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by LAR on May 11, 2020, 8:12 pm, in reply to "Now I’m just being nosey...."

I have eaten anything and everything in sight. Substitute peaches or pineapple for the pears. They're just as good. AND... do not forget to put a cherry on top!

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Carleen’66 on May 11, 2020, 11:00 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

I haven’t been to a grocery store since the middle of February. I order food on line from Walmart drive to the store and let the workers put them in my car. I should be growing feathers. I have made chicken salad, chicken casserole, chicken and dumplings and barbecued chicken. Chicken is my go to meat. Spaghetti and homemade meat sauce and vegetables/ with cornbread. It seems that I am coping with being on “house arrest” by cooking. I share with my daughter and her family. She also likes to cook and share with me.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Kaye ‘63 on May 18, 2020, 9:35 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

Sounds like a good plan to me, Carleen.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Joyce on May 18, 2020, 1:14 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

I miss that too, Pansy. Hal really believed in his tomato growing “formula” and delighted in sharing it. Grew no tomatoes the past two season. Last year we received a delivery from UPS: a dozen individually bubble wrapped creole tomatoes- not refrigerated, but amazingly all except one survived! Our daughter’s friend who knew of our fondness for tomatoes shipped them from his Louisiana home. Daughter Lynne came last weekend bearing Louisiana strawberries and creole tomatoes. Good food and good memories.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Panzey '62 on May 18, 2020, 9:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

Joyce, we need to hear those stories about sweet people doing good deeds.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Kaye 63 on May 18, 2020, 9:26 pm, in reply to "Re: Now I’m just being nosey...."

Pansy and Joyce, I couldn’t agree more. I ache to hear the stories that made us smile. If ever we needed, as friends, to find common ground and make happy memories, it is now. If the Covid doesn’t get us....then the division will.

Re: Now I’m just being nosey....

Posted by Panzey '62 on May 11, 2020, 8:10 pm, in reply to "Now I’m just being nosey...."

Let me just say that I'm scratching my head about those pears, Kaye. Never would have thought they would be a hot ticket item. In thinking back to those early days of quarantine, however, when I made a couple of trips to the grocery store, I do remember being puzzled at the sparse shelves of canned fruit. Maybe people just considered any canned goods as being staples and therefore desirable. Good psychology question. I haven't changed the foods that I cook (I'm a one-person household), but I sure seem to be consuming more than I used to.

When the weather is cool, soups and stews are popular in my kitchen. And cornbread and southern vegetables NEVER get old. Just wish I had some good summer tomatoes to go with them. I sure miss Mr. P. talking about his tomatoes.

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