Good Grief! If my partner discovers that the opiate in lettuce thing is true, she'll be eating it by the head! Better stock up on Imodium.

My Mom won some contest for her brisket recipe which used instant coffee. Good stuff... it deserved to win.

When I was working at a (to remain un-named) pastry shop we would add instant coffee to the pastry cream.

back to salad... My claim to fame is that I once won the Baltimore Magazine award for Best Chef Salad. It was a thing of beauty but due to the era (mid 70's) was also principally of trucked in herbage.

coffee makes a decent marinade because of its acidity.

Since EL brought it up and I got a question about it on Facebook, yes I made reference to Johnny Cash looking like Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows. I see that EL is on a first name basis with him. Very interesting.

Here's the line that got cut and the link for those who don't know what BC looks like:

See Johnny Cash rocking a plutonium pompadour and duded out in a Barnabas Collins down-home fancy-lad vampire suit.
http://showcase.codelphia.net/images/Old_Fashioned_Barnabas_By_Sunny_1.jpg

Did people actually watch Dark Shadows?

Ah...Barnabas Collins. I thought, "St. Barnabas? Johnny Cash?"

I watched a little of Dark Shawdows because where I lived, Where The Action Is was the lead in to it. So a few times, I kept watching, after WTAI was over. But I never really got into it.

Subdued? Maybe, but still entertaining and funny.

My sister loved watching Dark Shadows. I didn't like it though.

I never watched it, but somehow Barnabas Collins is seared into my memory. I've been meaning to work him into something for awhile for some reason and then poof, Johnny cash has that weird outfit on.

What oh what is Where the Action Is?

Where The Action Is was a dance show on tv in the late 60's maybe early 70's.

Paul Revere and the Raiders had a song called "Where the Action Is".

I watched Dark Shadows (clad in my smart bell bottom pantsuits - a mom thing, don't ask) every day right after school.

WTAI was sort of, American Bandstand at the Beach. The "house band" was Paul Revere & The Raiders. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar and become a Raider, mostly because I thought chicks dig a uniform, so rock chicks must really dig Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Freddie Cannon had a hit with the WTAI theme song.

So Dark Shadows was like a vampire soap opera?

So Dark Shadows was like a vampire soap opera?

Yes, and a pretty bad one at that. I never watched it much, but Barnabas is seared into my brain too. Especially the character's real name: Jonathan Frid.

When I was little there was something called "salad oil". What was that? Definitely not olive oil. I remember bottles just called vegetable oil. No idea what they were. My mother used to make this salad dressing from a packet of herbs and stuff. She had a little glass cruet (that's probably the first I've typed that word). She put salad oil (Mazola?) and vinegar in with the dry ingredients. Shake shake shake – voila, vinaigrette, sort of. I wonder if they still make that stuff?

I still have a secret shameful love of French dressing.

Dark Shadows was broadcast at 4:00 p.m. weekdays, as noted in Wikipedia. That, along with David Selby as Quentin the werewolf, explained its popularity with the after-high-school set, including my older sisters. I thought it was pretty boring at the time.

Buffy would have whupped Barnabas before the first commercial.

In those days I recall re-runs of the Wild Wild West had my attention (not much of a fan of horror or soap operas).

MrRational, Buffy was a twinkle in the eye of some producer back then. It's comparing apples to oranges!

I used to anticipate Dark Shadows as much as I now anticipate Weeds!

WWW reruns are still good, btw.

V-Pork, I have a secret shameful love of Thousand Island dressing. (Though I'm not sure why since it's kind of gross.)

Shocking confession #2 ...

I sometimes use French dressing as a condiment on a hot dog. Secretly, alone in the dark with the curtains drawn.

They are making a Dark Shadows movie with Johnny Depp.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/03/19/johnny-depps-dark-shadows-adaptation-very-activewith-tim-burton-directing/

"Freddie Cannon had a hit with the WTAI theme song"

Bucky
and that would be Freddie"Boom Boom" Cannon correct!!!!

Owl Meat GardenSalad,

Far be it from me to steer a thread back on topic, but let me tell you how they do it in India: Arrange on a large platter whatever greens and tender vegetables were gathered from the earth that morning. These would usually include radishes, red onions, tomatoes, juicy red carrots, and some sort of leafy green I don't know the name of. Sprinkle the whole affair with lemon juice, salt, coarse black pepper, and chopped cilantro. No tossing. No oil (plenty of oil in the curries). Very refreshing with any spicy Indian food.

Red carrots? It sounds like they really know how to eat in India.

I had a salad epiphany in Uruguay. A waiter made a salad like I describe above. That's when I realized that lettuce was delicious and not just background for the other vegetables.

Another epiphany came when I saw a man in Italy eating a plate of tomato slices like they were steak.

Two salad epiphanies.

Fun with stats time. I haven't seen a head of iceberg lettuce in forever. Much to my surprise iceberg is still number one.

Per capita U.S. lettuce consumption in 2005 (lbs)
Total 34.5
Iceberg 21.2
Romaine 8.2
Leaf 3.4

So who is going to admit that they buy iceberg? Come on, I shared my secret French dressing shame.

Don't the old LIttle Italy restaurants still use iceberg?

What's with you and Hugh Jackman? Don't pick on Wolverine, you'll be sorry

Amanda C., the stuff with the cruet and packet of seasonings was Good Seasons. It was fairly popular when I was a young pup.

They still sell Good Seasonings

Good Seasons Salad Dressing Mix Italian Makes 8 oz
Price: $1.69
Size: .7 OZ PKT

INGREDIENTS: Sugar, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Garlic, Onion, Spice, Red Bell Peppers, Carrots, Xanthan Gum, Maltodextrin (from Corn), Parsley Flakes, Natural Flavors, Guar Gum, Citric Acid.

I remember Dark Shadows but I didn't watch it. I must have been old enough to have a life when it was on. Or, I was watching Bandstand.

I refer to everything that's not olive oil as salad oil. I think the Wesson bottles read Salad Oil, but who knows?

When I was growing up, we didn't have salad. Neither of my parents - children of the Depression - had salad when they were growing up. They were from the "...and look how well I turned out" school. (Note: There really is no smart response to that one that won't result in a smack in the mouth.)

More on lettuce opium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactucarium

I remember oils being more about brand name and not the actual types of oil when I was young. Mazola, Wesson, Crisco. Whatever happened to safflower oil. Wasn't that big once?

Here's a Crisco salad oil commercial from the 70s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzd97ID6WhM
It'selling point here is that it mixes better with vinegar. How does that work? Terrifying

Anonymous - I believe that Freddie Cannon's nickname was "Boom-Boom" but I had forgotten that until you mentioned it.

Eve, it probalby took me a solid 5 fat lips to figure that out! Slow learner I suppose...

A salad hewn. I bow in the presence of a master.

Oh my, I think I'm blushing, Professor McIntyre. I'm not worthy.

I come from a long line of smacks on whatever part of the body could be the quickest reached by the "offended" adult. My mother could get you on the butt with a serving spoon from across the entire kitchen.

On the iceberg lettuce thing, I have to say I always thought I hated iceberg, until I got one of those salads a couple of years ago that were so popular for about a month, consisting of iceberg, bacon and (here we go again) ranch dressing. And, it was Good! Much to my dismay it was very good! Count on bacon to fix anytlhing!

... discovering that wrought is a past tense form or work ... priceless.

I think iceberg definitely has a place. It's refreshng. It goes well wth spicy Thai food.

wrought is a past tense form or work

Hmmm...that's why it's called wrought iron, apparently.

OMG - Thank you for reminding me of one of my favorite Simpsons episodes.

Good idea, Bucky. Wrought, hewn ... I feel like a flagon of mead now.

That's from the episode called "Lisa the Vegetarian".

Lisa: Dad! Can't you have some other type of party, one where you
don't serve meat?
Homer: All normal people love meat. If I went to a barbeque and there
was no meat, I would say 'Yo Goober! Where's the meat!?'. I'm
trying to impress people here Lisa. You don't win friends with
salad.

The salad song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S92dHxgZ5Ag

I've got Wessonality

Love the pics, Owl, esp of the veggies

My younger sisters were Dark Shadows devotees. My mother's salad (& there was only one) was chopped iceberg, wedged tomato (a square pale pink one - they came in a quartet in a green plastic basket) and Kraft French dressing. Gack! (OTOH, not that my mother ever served it, but I secretly miss Green Goddess)

The "house" dressing at my house for much of my childhood was called "Russian dressing", but was actually just mayonnaise mixed with ketchup. On iceberg lettuce, of course.

I remember Dark Shadows. Or rather I remember others around me being into it and me not paying attention.

Judging by the timeframe (apparently I was 13 when the show started and 18 when it finished), it must have been younger siblings of mine that were watching it. Probably my brother Ray.

Hal!

That was my growing up experience as well. Salad, when we had it, was some iceberg lettuce(and maybe chunks of garden-grown tomatoes) and the dressing. The dressing was mayo and ketchup mixed together.

I think that is the dressing that got me originally hooked on 1000 Island. Kinda the same thing if you mix some sweet relish in.

And Mr. Pork,
I still buy heads of iceberg, I use the leaves in sandwich wraps. But that is when there is no Boston or Bibb lettuce there.

VDP, I like iceberg in sandwiches because it's crunchy, and it's mandatory in my Chaparelli Salad recipe. Mostly I use leaf or romaine.

Wish I'd had a lettuce and tomato salad when I was a kid. My mom's salad consisted of a couple of leaves of iceberg topped with a (canned) peach or pear half, a spoonful of cottage cheese or a cube of cream cheese in the pit, topped with a maraschino cherry. "Dressing" was Miracle Whip mixed with maraschino cherry juice. One-word summary: EWWW!

My first experience with real salad and how good it could be was my first time at the much-lamented LaShish in Detroit. I was offered a choice of soup or salad, and my friend said, "Try the salad, it isn't iceburg." So I did. After all, this was the man who used sharp and pointy objects around my head.

A plate of romaine with a homemade vinaigrette, some grape tomatoes, onion and minimal other veggie goodness came. It was good.

I fell in love with Lebanese food right there, and it hasn't betrayed me. I might stray, but I always go back to fattoush, raw kibbee, hummus and my other loves.

Anyone else remember the gelatin "salad" my grandmother used to serve? It was a square of gelatin with shredded carrots and maybe fruit cocktail, served on a leaf of iceberg lettuce and topped with a blop of mayo. Yecch!

I love jello and carrot salad.

Dahlink - I used to love that jello salad your grandmother used to make. She would invite us all over to finish off what you guys would not eat ; - > !!

My Uncle (by marriage) was Sicillian and every summer would make the best salad of sliced tomatoes, blanched green beans, shaved red onion, aged balsamic and extra virgin olive oil. It isn't summer for me until I make that salad.

Carrot Jell-O salad: Boo.

I still buy iceberg lettuce. Not all the time, but when I have a craving for blue cheese dressing. The crispness and water content of the lettuce contrasts nicely with the flavor and heaviness of the dressing. Blue cheese on romaine just doesn't do it for me. And mesclun seems to light for the dressing.

Does anybody really like Romaine lettuce? I like the fluffy round green things. Uh oh, lost my words.

I like romaine lettuce, but the outer leaves. I like the crispy inner leaves.

The inside leaves are better. The outer ones are bitter.

I'll eat it if the iceberg is gone and that's all that romaines.:-)

I've had a grilled romaine salad at a few restaurants and thought it wonderful! The grilling adds a smokey, complex flavor to usually boring romaine. Think Jordan's Steakhouse in Ellicott City has it on the menu.

Dahlink, my mom made the orange jello/shredded carrot salad also; no canned fruit cocktail in it but she did add chopped celery before plopping the blob of Miracle Whip on top.

At grandma's house we got the "upscale" salad which consisted of bitter endive topped with her homemade dressing that contained oil, vinegar, white sugar, chopped up crispy bacon, celery seed, salt & pepper all heated and dumped over the endive. This was not my favorite of grandma's usually good ideas in the kitchen. But then again, if I was lucky enough to have a cold while staying at her house (at the age of 5) I was given a "make-you-feel-better-sleep-all night" dose of whiskey, water, lemon juice and sugar mixed in a shot glass right before bedtime!

Hal & Fl Rob - our salad was iceberg with mayo & ketchup too. A house specialty for when we were having something "fancy" that a salad would go with - like steak (overcooked, unseasoned and broiled to a char, but that's yet another growing up nightmare!)

La Scala in Little Italy has a grilled Caesar salad.

Since everybody's joints seem to aching, maybe Jell-O should be back on the menu. People take all these joint supplements like glucosamine/chondroiten. Wouldn't Jell-O cover the same territory?

I've never had a Jello pudding pop, I wonder what they are like? Does anybody make puddng anymore?

Lone Lady, you lucked out! The only cold remedy I got from my grandmother was Vick's Vap-O-Rub on my chest.

Trixie, there was nothing left--I was forced to eat the stuff (although I finally did succeed in getting the blop of mayo left off mine).

Dahlink,
I had the Vicks Vap-o-rub treatment too, and some dabbed under my nose to clear the sinuses.

Joyce,
The only steaks I can remember growing up where of the Salisbury kind. But hey, the parents did the best they could. And I really liked that salad dressing too, until I ventured out on my own.

Speaking of the parents, they are coming down here for a visit, they fly in tomorrow. So I might be a little scarce on the blog. But if I can, I'll do a guest post for EL for Beach Week.

PCB Rob, and somehow we survived. I have read warnings about keeping the Vicks away from the nostrils--all sorts of bad things can happen, evidently.

Enjoy your visitors, and we will look forward to your report.

Dahlink, we also rode around in cars without seat belts and rode bicycles without helmets. It's amazing any of us are alive. :-)

Hal, I think it's because the cars were made of a few tons of galvanized steel. They were like riding around in tanks.

If you don't believe me, look at the Cuban cars now - not a dent on any of them - all American cars from the 60s!

Yep, we did manage to ride bikes without helmets though. No explanation for that one!

Not only did those cars lack seat belts, the had hard steel dashboards...padded dashes didn't come in until...the 70's?

Bucky, the steel dashboards allowed Plastic Jesus and Magnetic Mary to stick.

Yes, Hal--and I have the emotional scars to prove it!

And American cars had seat belts latches that were perfect for opening beer bottles.

And we rode in the backs of station wagons with the back window down. Cough cough.

In those big American cars they had the huge bench seats and when you went around the corner all the kids would slide to one side.

Sigh - I remember riding in a friends station wagon that was like my living room on wheels, Amanda! And all 8-10 kids that were stuffed in there would cough up whatever change we had to "fill" the tank! Those were good days!

I have a very fond memory of the first Ford Mustang to hit Baltimore. We had a family friend who had connections and got the first Mustang in Baltimore, a red convertible.
He showed up at our house, and my twin sister and I, 10 years old at the time, rode all around the neighborhood, on the top of the back seat, top down, like we were movie stars. The Mustang was very, very unique, and did we get attention.
Very cool at the time, but would I ever have let my own kids do that?
H-ll no!

No big cars in my family. We had a VW bug, the worst make-out vehicle ever. But of course, where there's a will, there's a way. That stick shift and emergency brake were no fun to navigate. Ouch.

It's amazing to me in retrospect how exotic the VW bug seemed at the time. We hadn't seen anything like it before.

I remember one night when my friend Tim borrowed his uncle's VW beetle and we all went driving around in it like silly teenagers do. We drove around with the bright lights on all night 'cause we couldn't figure out how to dim them. The American cars we were all used to had foot buttons on the left side for turning the high beams on and off, but the VW had (unknown to us at the time) a switch on the turn signal stalk for that purpose.

Yes that's how you dimmed the lights. Pull back the signal lever. The heat was another bear. It only worked when you were moving. It was basically the hot air coming off the engine block into vents that scorched your feet. Very basic.

My first car of my own had a manual choke which I thought was very cool.

I think this particular Beetle was old enough that it didn't have a fuel gauge. When you ran out of fuel, you switched a lever to activate the reserve fuel, which gave you another gallon (or maybe less, I don't remember clearly).

It was a bad thing to forget to put the lever back from "reserve" to "normal" when you refilled the tank.

The heat in the early Beetles was pretty bad, but not as bad as the Corvair (another friend of mine had one of them). When we drove around in the Corvair in the winter we had the choice of freezing to death or asphyxiating from the fumes from the heater.

The "gold old days" weren't really that good, they just have a good PR guy.

My mother always had bugs, until they stopped importing them (then she switched to BMWs).

Not nearly as much fun for making out as my dad's '72 Buick LeSabre, but you are right, VoodooPork, one manages.

Hal, the "good old days" were good because that's when we were young and before we got the wind knocked out of our sails.

These are the good old days for today's youngsters who, in a few years, will be saying things like "remember how much fun we had on blogs?"

Five of us drove to Lauderdale for Spring Break 1967 in a VW Bug. Only 2 of us could read a map, so, even though we were mostly on interstates we got a longer time out of that back seat.

Well it seems we're back to our salad days (daze). I'm surprised OM didn't reference the text from Cleopatra on her salad days. I don't think they mean something so wonderful, more like reckless and inexperienced. I don't really know that play well.

I believe you're talking about Antony and Cleopatra the Shakespeare play.

Oooh--now Rev'Ed has a cartouche! Very appropriate. You'll make Loose Canon wish he'd thought of that.

Amanda C, I'm old enough to remember cars before set belts were standard equipment. When it was just my mother driving me in the car, I sat next to her on the big front seat (no bucket seats then either) and whenever she braked, her right arm automatically flew out to keep me from flying into the dash. Unfortunately, we were once rear ended when I was 4, and I did make hard contact, which is probably why I didn't learn to drive until I was 30!

Not really my cartouche.

I remember when seat belts were a controversial issue. People argued that they would trap you in a burning car and a sinking one (not a problem for VW bugs.. they float!) And those were just the lap belts. Same argument for shouder ones and automatic ones. Then air bags, same deal.

Don't forget stopping short. When people didn't wear seat belts, that outstretched arm move was the go-to move on a date. If you know what I mean.

I still automatically throw my right arm out if I have to break hard, if I have a passenger.

This used to really confuse my younger friends in college. They didn't know what a davenport was, either.

" My mother always had bugs ..."
???????

My mother always called our VW "that Nazi car of yours". She also hated Budweiser beer because it is made from rice and that made it Japanese. Everything had to be checked to be sure it was made in Japan. Anything plastic or mechanical was suspect.

We were driving in the interstate in Indiana a couple of weeks ago and passed a restored 67 Chevelle convertable. Very distinctive; even more so was the woman sitting real close to the guy there being few bucket seats back then.

RayRay, VW Beetle.

Lissa,
I know. I just thought that line was funny. No harm intended.

She called 'em bugs. Probably why I grew up to be a geek.

This may be a dumb question but maybe someone coulod help me out. My friend is always talking about the salad where he works and calls it mecscalin. What is it and isn't that a drug? Thanks

Mescaline

Mesclun

Mesclun is usually just mixed greens. Mescaline is a drug.

Totally different, different number of syllables, even.

So it's like weeds? What's difference between it and wild greens or european greens or field greens? So confusing

Joyce, why am I not surprised that it is you and me who knows the difference between greens and drugs off the top of their heads?

He pronounces it like the drug. I thought maybe there was a mescaline plant. Thanks Joyce and Lissa. Anonymous is lame.

randy, servers who say "mescaline" when they mean "mesclun" are one of my very biggest pet peeves. I also get testy when people pronounce "athlete" with three syllables. There is no "uh" in athlete.

randy, any time we can help - ignore Anonymous (who could be any of a legion of Anons).

Lissa - how funny is that?
Even funnier that I used the pictures and you used the definitions!

We're a team, Joyce. Unless you want any of my, erm...greens. You'd have to wrassle me for those .

Okay here is what is truthy about reloading. A hard reload CTRL-R or its variants always does a proper reload on the actual blog page you are one but not always on the Most Recent Comments box. That is a blog problem, not a user cache problem. This blog page is a mess of files, a true cluster problem. It is bloated and inefficient and takes upwards of one minute to post a comment on a very fast connection

That took 1:58 to post.

VDP, Lately, it has been taking "a while" to post from the facilities here at work. At home, on my hand-me-down Mac with Verizon DSL, it takes bloody forever to post and I wind up trying to goose things along and up posting 2 or 3 times.

When I saw the changes to the Sun "Front Pages" this morning - and how long it took them to download - I knew that I would never be accessing The Sun from home.

I used to look at the Sun home page occasionally for general news and O's coverage, but now it takes ten pages on my laptop to look at the home page.

The Sun's web site was always poorly programmed (very slow) and designed (bluh). Now it looks like it's designed for people with serious mental disabilities, the sort of pre-literate trogolodyte easily distracted by shiny objects. What a disaster.

It's ridicuously large and complicated and yet seems to have less information. Now you have to search through layers of garbage to get to the meat.

The blogs have a much much smaller presence. I'll bet that despite being some sort of theme week for the Sun Super Awesome Cool Living section this week's Top Ten will be one of the least viewed ever.. Maybe I'm wrong.

You're wonrg. Ha, just a reflex.

It's dreadful. Someone needs to show me this feeds thing.

From all the comments I must be one of the few that really likes the new design, dunno. And, between work and home I probably look at the home page 30 or more times a day, and for a number of years, and it doesn't seem to be loading any slower. The blog comments have always been really slow posting though, so we'll see how long this one takes.

Never trust a rubber horse named Pokey.

"Every design has a purpose."

I believe that's from the lost book of Genesis or the second Epistle of Peter the Gabriel.

I don't think they designed it as a place to find news, but rather as a shiny geegaw to visually entertain you for 30 seonds in between watching porn.

It looks horrible and a little frightening on my laptop PC. On my ginormous montor at work it is more appealing.

I think it's a half measure though. Why not have a dancing bear throw pies with headlines at the screen. Now THAT is infotaining.

What is going on? I just looked at the new Sun home page and my eyes are bleeding. I thought, why are you guys talking about this under the salad post, then I realized that the Sun site now resembles my mother's salad – an incongruous visual hullabaloo of unnecessary ingredients

blerg

Man there's a lot of pho places in Tucson. That could be the only nice thing I've ever said about this hell hole.

Rev Ed, I suspect they were not listening to Peter Gabriel when they redesigned the page. I'm torn between the Sesame St. disco album and something Disney.

I'm sensing Fantasia while on X and crack.

■|:o) !

SOme of my best friends are pre-literate troglydites!

Oh, look! Bird found internet access in the Copper State.

I'm thinkin' the Sun webfolks were listening to Barney. Mindless and purple.

Two bits of evidence that Owl Meat Gringo is getting too powerful and needs to be taken down. (I have a secret plan)

1) The Sun is now promoiting its "Suntastic" specials. Where have I heard that before? Perhaps on FUNtastic Thursdays?

2) Lettuce has opiates? Even the Congress has taken notice. See this Congressman rail against smoking lettuce. Really. No, really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhsYiQWLAxE

I would think that smoking lettuce would change the delicate texture too much.

Smoke salmon, pork, trout, all great. But lettuce is way too fragile to stand up to smoke.

Maybe I'll smoke me up a bowl of Caesar salad tonight. This is your brain on lettuce.

I wouldn't harsh on the local web people, if there are any. This design no doubt came from HQ with no latitude for the local people.

Exactly when are they going to get a decent graphic for the D@L blog? The current one is decrepit. The letters are all blurry. Example:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/

Here comes a dust devil, gotta split.

for this visit, I used my favorited link, and didn't navigate through the front page.
Even so, the front used to be just links to blogs, other sections, and ads. No real content.

It's a mess. It's all pointless flash. It's clearly meant for a demo that has no interest in newspapers. It's pandering to an ADD crowd. In the end it's rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Sorry kids

MTV comes to the Balty Sun. But just like MTV is has little content but lots of noise and distraction. I want my MTV

MTV used to be enjoyable once too. sigh. geezing over the memories.

What fresh hell is this?