TRIVIA + TABLE MANNERS + EASY CRUNCHY ASIAN SLAW + EDELWEISS + SKORTS

Hump day greetings this last Wednesday of May 2024 –

Shoot!  May rolled in, kissed us with all its beauty, and is about to roll out for the year and June will be joining us super soon.  Time marches on for sure.

Cool line-up of interestings and laughs today:

Beginning with –

LESLIE ELMAN’S TRIVIA
I actually guessed the correct answer to question #3 of Pop Quiz.  Edelweiss!
BOOM! — I LOVE the movie “Sound of Music” and the soundtrack and I remember in the movie the dad (actor Christopher Plummer) sang the song Edelweiss.  I had to do the YouTube look up thing and listen to it for memory lane purposes and here’s the link so you, too, can revisit the beautiful song from the incredible “Sound of Music” movie here it is * Edelweiss – Sound of Music *

QUICK QUESTION
What always cheers me up when I think about it –  hmmm – many things – I can’t put my favorite on just one!  You?

GENERAL TABLE MANNERS
My mom and grandparents totally taught these lessons to us as kids – and – it was great to read and be reminded of all.  Refresher course sort of thing!
And I passed them along to my son, Hunter,  – little stinker – didn’t act like he was listening all the way when he was young.  But he was because he knows proper etiquette table manners + kindness ways to move in life as an adult.  Success!

EASY CRUNCHY ASIAN SLAW
Is a must, must, must make.  So good and so versatile and I’d be surprised if it doesn’t become one of your favorite recipes you make on repeat — and know it by heart!  (As in how we used to know many peoples’ phone numbers by heart – back in the day – before our little phones replaced our memorization skills. ha)

TRACY BECKERMAN’S COLUMN REGARDING SKORTS
Made me laugh out loud.
Indeed, the slang put-togethers of the 2 become one sort of thing is hilarious.
Fun little backstory about skorts for me is when I worked in the film industry for years –  outside in the sweltering heat for a minimum of 12 hours a day…  Well, jeans and shorts just weren’t cutting it.  I mean the sweating stuff bottom line – blew – and so I sought out other options and I found SKORTS!  They were classy and athletic looking.  I could wear them with my work belt and not worry about the sweating thing on display and perform my daily tasks like a Ninja.  Ha!
AND!  Low and behold other women on the set started wearing them, too.  From teamsters to medics!  Yep, I was the skort trailblazer as far as I know.  I still love wearing my skorts in the summer when I walk or work out in the yard.  I found my favorite skorts from *this cool online shop*

FASCINATING STUFF
Love that Morris the cat(s) were rescues and Beluga whales are very family oriented!

THANKS ALL
For sliding by + supporting us by reading + commenting + sharing.

Have a great week!
Catch ya Friday
Same time
Same place

POP Quiz

POP QUIZ

  1. WHAT’S THE TITLE OF GRIZABELLA’S SHOWSTOPPING SONG IN THE MUSICAL “CATS”?
    a)  “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”
    b)  “Defying Gravity”
    c)  “If My Friends Could See Me Now”
    d)  “Memory”
  2. MOST OF THE WORLD’S CORK COMES FROM WHAT COUNTRY?
    a) Ireland
    b) Portugal
    c) Sweden
    d) Thailand
  3. WHAT’S THE NATIONAL FLOWER OF AUSTRIA?
    a) Cyclamen
    b) Edelweiss
    c) Lilac
    d) Saxifrage

Wednesday Reader May 29

QUICK QUESTION

WHAT ALWAYS CHEERS
YOU UP WHEN YOU THINK
ABOUT IT?

Wednesday Reader May 29

POP QUIZ ANSWERS

  1. “Memory” is Grizabella’s show-stopping song in the musical “Cats.”
  2. Most of the world’s cork comes from Portugal.
  3. Edelweiss is the national flower of Austria.

~ COPYRIGHT 2024 LESLIE ELMAN, TRIVIA BITS
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

GENERAL TABLE MANNERS/ETIQUETTE
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
AND REMINDER FOR US ALL

  1. Wash your hands before eating,
  2. No toys, phones or pets at the table.
  3. Take your cap/hat off at the table.
  4. Place napkin on your lap when seated.
  5. Wait for everyone to be seated before beginning to eat.
  6. Don’t stretch across the table, ask someone to pass what you need.
  7. Say Please and Thank You.
  8. Don’t talk when you have food in your mouth and don’t stuff your mouth too full.
  9. Cut your food to mouth size pieces (don’t just stab a piece of meat and take bites from the fork).
  10. Chew with your mouth closed – always – and don’t smack  your lips noisily.  Same goes for slurping a cup of coffee or cold drink.  Keep it quiet.
  11. If the food is too hot – don’t blow on it.  Wait for it to cool or eat from the edges where it’s cooler.
  12. If your hair is long, don’t flick it around at the table.  Also don’t comb your hair at the table (duh!).
  13. Don’t wave your cutlery around, it’s messy, not classy and could be dangerous.
  14. Take butter from the dish and place it on your plate and then butter your bread from there.
  15. Don’t lick your knife.
  16. Rude comments about the food is not only bad manners, but hurtful to the person who cooked the meal.
  17. Don’t monopolize the conversation at the table or speak over others.
  18. Don’t take food from other people’s plates.
  19. Ask for seconds if you’re still hungry, don’t just help yourself.
  20. Sit up straight.  No slouching and no elbows on the table.
  21. Ask to be excused from the table.
  22. Take your plates + cutlery to the kitchen.
  23. Don’t blow your nose at the table – ask to be excused and go to the restroom.
  24. Be gracious.  At the end of the meal – ask if you can help with clean-up and compliment the person who prepared the food.

~ modestly adapted from an old newspaper article

TOMORROW HOPES WE
HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING
FROM YESTERDAY
~ JOHN WAYNE ~

INSTANT KARMA

. SET DEADLINES .

RIDDLE ME THIS

WHAT’S LIGHTER THAN
A FEATHER BUT IMPOSSIBLE
TO HOLD FOR MORE
THAN A MINUTE?

Wednesday Reader May 29

EASY CRUNCHY ASIAN SLAW

This delicious Crunchy Asian Slaw is terrific as a sidekick with fish, grilled chicken, sliced brisket, stuffed in tacos, on top of a burger or a fried chicken sandwich or on its own topped with shredded poached chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken.  So many great options – all stellar!  The combo of the veggies + dressing is a WOW-POW!

HERE’S HOW WE MAKE IT
SALAD:
MIX ALL THESE INGREDIENTS IN A LARGE BOWL

  • 2 cups shredded green cabbage
  • 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
  • 1 cup shredded fresh carrots
  • 4-5 green onions, sliced thin
  • 1 cup fresh bean sprouts, or canned (drained)
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

SLAW DRESSING:
WHISK ALL THESE INGREDIENTS IN A SMALL TO MEDIUM SIZE BOWL AND REFRIGERATE FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES

  • 3 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 TBSP toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1 TBSP fresh lime juice
  • 3 TBSP honey or agave
  • 1 TBSP soy sauce
  • 1 garlic glove, super-duper minced
  • 1 TBSP fresh ginger, peeled and super-duper minced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp chili flakes

ONCE DRESSING HAS DONE ITS THING IN THE FRIDGE

Remove and add + toss with cabbage, carrots, green onions, sprouts, cilantro in large bowl.
I use tongs or clean hands to thoroughly mix well.

SERVE!

DELISH GARNISHES
for consideration:

  • Crushed peanuts
  • Crushed cashews
  • Small diced fresh orange slices

~ Hippie Cowboy recipe box

RIDDLE ANSWER

YOUR BREATH

Morris the Cat

LOST IN SUBURBIA

A SKORT IS A SKORT, OF COURSE, OF COURSE
BY TRACY BECKERMAN

For many years, I was really bothered by the notion of a skort.  It wasn’t so much the actual combination of a skirt and shorts, because in concept, it was a pretty good idea, especially for tennis or when you might happen to be in a place with big wind gusts and such.

No, the problem I had was the name, “skort.”

It was right up there with spork (a spoon with fork tongs at the end).  Here as another practical invention with a serious name problem … certainly better than foon, though.  Somehow skort and spork seemed like a crime against humanity.  Or at least a crime against the dictionary.

Personally, I thought whoever came up with skort and spork should be tarred and feathered, or rather tarthered, for brevity’s sake.

Anyway, I had just sort of, kind of gotten used to skorts when along came jorts — jean shorts, particularly for men.  I suppose the fashion industry thought more men would buy jean shorts if they had a cool name, but this was a major fail because:

1.  Jorts isn’t a cool name.
2.  There isn’t a guy on earth who would refer to his jean shorts as jorts.
Skirting the idea of skorts and jorts, I went to the department store to get a pair of jeans but could only find lots of pairs of jeggings.  Jeggins, I was told by an obviously impatient young salesgirl in the jeans department, are combination of jeans and leggings.  Again, I didn’t have a problem with the concept, just the name.

“They look like jeans, but they feel like leggings,” she had insisted.

“Well, I look like 50, but I feel like 70,” I’d said to her.  “What does that make me?”

“Old,” she’d replied.

Not wanting to make too much of a big deal about this, I tried on a pair without saying the name and discovered that a legging by any other name is still a legging and still did not look good around my canckles.

Curious as to how this all became a thing, I wondered if it actually began with brunch.  Someone came up with the idea of combining breakfast and lunch, and it took, both in name and concept.  I’m actually OK with the word brunch, and think it is infinitely better than the alternative (lunchfast?)

But then the dog people jumped on the bandwagon; instead of simply calling their mixed breed dogs “mutts,” they went all fancy.  Now we have oodles and oodles of schnockers and poogles.

Meanwhile, someone decided to take it all one step further this spring and came up with yet another fashion combination.

“I’m looking for a lightweight, button-down jacket,” I said to another salesgirl at the same store where I didn’t get the jeggings.

“Oh, we have some great shackets,” she said.  I gave her a blank stare.

“It’s a combination of a shirt and a jacket.  It’s heavier than a shirt but lighter than a jacket.”  She whipped an item off the rack and held it up for me to inspect.

“Shacket!”  she exclaimed triumphantly.  “Isn’t it great?”

“Yes,” I replied dully.  “Fab-tastic.”

~ Tracy Beckerman is the author of the Amazon Bestseller,
“Barking at the Moon:  A Story of Life, Love, and Kibble
COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM

Fascinating Stuff

  • The first cat to play the role of Morris in commercials 9 lives cat food was an orange shelter rescue named Lucky.  A tough-guy tomcat, Lucky lived to a ripe old age.  When he died in 1978, another orange shelter cat stepped into the role of Morris, the finicky feline.  Today’s Morris, also a shelter cat is the third, is just as finicky (on camera at least) as his predecessors.
  • Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” premiered on May 28, 1958.  Though it’s indelibly linked to San Francisco, where Hitchcock set it, the film is based on the French novel “D’entre les morts” (“Among the Dead”), by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, which was set in Paris.
  • The first patent for a corkscrew was given to the Reverend Samuel Henshall, rector of London’s Bow Church, in 1795.  His design had a button-shaped cap that prevented the helix, or “worm,” from being twisted too deep into the cork.  In 1883, German engineer Carl Wienke patented a folding lever corkscrew.  Sturdy and reliable, it’s nicknamed “waiter’s friend.”  If you order wine in a restaurant your server probably will use Wienke’s invention to uncork the bottle.
  • Beluga whales migrate to the same Arctic and sub-Arctic locations every summer.  Where they go depends on their family connections.  Generation after generation — grandparents, parents, offspring and their offspring — spend summers in the same place, where they give birth to new generations.  Many birds do this as well, returning to the place of their birth to hatch their young.  The phenomenon is called philopatry, from the Greek for “beloved fatherland.”
  • Jeanne Baret circumnavigated the globe in the late 1700s as an assistant botanist on a French expedition to explore the Southern Hemisphere.  Because French naval regulations prohibited female crew members, she spent most of the voyage disguised as a young man.  Baret extensively collected and categorized plants during her travels.  It’s likely she was the first European scientist to document the flowering vine bougainvillea, named for Admiral Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, leader of the expedition.

~ COPYRIGHT 2024 LESLIE ELMAN, TRIVIA BITS
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

Day Maker Readable Art

6 replies
    • Cheryl Clarson says:

      Glad you loved the artwork in today’s post, Stacy.

      My favorite piece of cat artwork is the first one as well. Looks like a cool band poster or something like that. Very creative, for sure.

      Thanks for reading and sharing!

      Catch ya Friday.

  2. Carol says:

    Table Manners should be required reading for EVERYONE!

    Always love Tracy’s humorous look at everyday life. And I have to agree with her assessments of those various fashion items’ names. Who comes up with them and what are they thinking??? Enough!

    Until Friday. . .

    PS – Fantastic cat art!!!

    • Cheryl Clarson says:

      Indeed, Carol, Table Manners should be required reading for EVERYONE – agree!

      Tracy Beckerman’s funny, funny column on the fashion terms names was a hoot! Some people (in the fashion industry) obviously thought their terms were “clever and brilliant.”
      ha! Goofy!

      We sure appreciate ya and sharing.

      MEANINGFUL.

      Catch ya Friday, Daymaker!

  3. Marty says:

    1) WHAT ALWAYS CHEERS YOU UP WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT? Sweet memories of friends and family.

    2) Daymaker’s column on TABLE MANNERS/ETIQUETTE Mercy me, first you need a table in the house to have manners! I’m finding it very common to hear friends say they eat on the sofa or recliner. Yes, it’s true! Here’s a good one. Our dearest friend’s son’s family of adults DON’T EVEN OWN A TABLE in their family home. When grandma and grandpa are invited for special occasion dinners, their 50 year old son pulls out the TV trays.

    Yes, Daymaker, I’m pleased you ran the Good Manners column. Maybe some will have a special night with table cloth, candles and work on a fun way to introduce Table Etiquette while enjoying laughter and good food. Skorts accepted.

    • Cheryl Clarson says:

      Memories and family is a great one!

      And, for certain, those memories find me and many, many of mine do come from sitting around the table with family and friends. And we totally used our manners taught to us.

      TV trays? I wasn’t aware those babies were still around! They certainly are/were convenient back in the day! But for special occasion dinners — that’s a twist for sure. Bet Grandma and Grandpa at least have a laugh or 12 thinking about such! HA!

      Thanks so much for sharing your fun thoughts and story!

      HAPPY LAUGHS

      P.S. Good to know Skorts are aceepted! HA!

Comments are closed.