Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 01-13-19 06:33 <=-

This vegetable exchange reminded me that I wanted to ask you a question about artichokes.... :) Recently, I've seen at Wegmans long-stemmed artichokes that were $2 apiece more than the regular fresh artichokes... What is going to be done with the stem that makes it worth $2 just for
the stem.....? We looked at them, and just boggled.... ;)

The stem adds to the price mostly because
it's harder to transport the vegetable with
them. Some people like the splashy
presentations that these can provide.

That seemed to be one possibility to us... but wouldn't fly for us... :)

Others actually like to eat them, which up
to doubles the food value depending on the
length that is left on (the taste is sort of
like the heart but a tad bitterer; the
texture is a little more fibrous).

We wondered about that... these stems were a good foot or more, maybe 15 inches... at that price, we hoped they were edible... (G)

They were a buck less, weren't they. With my
eyesight in its current state, I might not be able
to tell Kevin Spacey from Sissy Spacek by sight
alone.

I'm thinking they may have been half price, even.... There was also (it

Half price was probably a buck off back in
those days [g,d,r].

Funny, ha ha... ;) I'm not THAT much older than you... (G) Probably 2
or 3 bucks apiece....

Still too much. [grump]

And there were two, sometimes three (when we took the kid), of us,
too... :)

I got out of the habit of going to the movies
when I outgrew trying to impress girls with my
art-eest-eek-ness, so in the 1970s or so.

Most of our movie-going was to movies we wanted to see for one reason or another, sometimes an actor/actress, sometimes the story itself... :)

Another story at the expense of Mme. would-be
sophisticate. So after being shot down in
Turkey, she moved to Budapest, where her
forebear designed the chain bridge or
something, and you all do know about the
chain bridge, don't you (the first structure
to connect the Buda side with the Pest side),
and how it was the longest bridge of its
kind in the world and yadda, yadda, and it
turned out that Helen had seen that bridge
periodically since the '80s and in fact had
written an article about that bridge twenty
years ago, in the context that it figured large
in the movie Gloomy Sunday, a fictionalized
description about the writing of the song by
that name (she wrote the article during the
making of the film, before its release).

She really did pick the wrong set to try to impress... ;)

My next-door neighbor was really into movies, and even worked for a
while running a theatre house in the neighborhood, and then for another

Others among us have had something to do with
running movie houses ...

theatre downtown (the Little)... She took me to a number of movies that
she was interested in and wanted company... :) When they were running
the neighborhood one, she had me come work the ticket sales for the

but not that kind of movies.

She liked Fellini films and such....

midnight shows, and occasionally when she knew there would likely be a

Someday I'll have to see the Rocky Horror
Picture Show.

By the time she'd retired and all, the participation part had become
very raunchy.... before, it was pretty good-natured, and I rather
enjoyed it when it was at the Coronet...

good turnout for the evening ones... She knew the take would be
accurate, and I got to see movies for free.... oh, and help with the
cleanup after, too... (G)

Someday I'll have to clean up after the
Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Now, THAT IS an experience... ;)

And you are also more discriminating than MJ was... :)

And less desperate, perhaps.

Probably. :)

I'm still mobile enough to buy full-fat
things on my own when I have to.

Indeed. :)

Made up for the cajeta being made with
half-fat milk by whipping some heavy cream
with Courvoisier to go with it.

That sounds tasty enough... (G)

I've slept past noon but usually have failed
to hate myself.

Oh, that bit.... yeah, that doesn't usually happen here either... even before noon.... ;)

Most of the time I don't hate myself unless
I've done major dirt by someone, but that
hasn't happened in a bunch of years.

We tend to avoid that sort of thing....

A friend of mine was budget director at the T
and discovered that the cost of labor to collect
fares exceeded the revenues! so looked into making
Boston public transit free, She found that in
systems that have done this, ridership goes down
and vandalism goes up. Free stuff and those who
take advantage of it are stigmatized, it turns out.

I'd guess that some things are more advantageous (or valued) free than others... I suppose that the transit system might have other issues as well... I could see ridership declining because of increased vandalism,
for instance... and the vandalism happening because of decreased supervision, without having the money takers there on the spot... Here,
the bus company offers free rides for certain occasions....

Thing is that one could have a visible presence
while taking away the gates and the accounting
systems and probably still save money.

Ok, I can see that...

Easy Cajeta (Mexican Caramel)
4 c goat's milk

I see that would take a quarter of that unused gallon at Bonnie's... ;)

Yeah, it was cow milk, but as Rick Bayless
said, that is okay (there really is nothing
magic about goat milk). I made a triple
recipe of it - making cajeta crepes for
dinner last night.

And were they well received...? :)

ttyl neb

... Accuracy is our watchword -- we NEVER make misteaks!

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