Category: questions

QUESTIONS about Comfort Food


About.com listed the top 25 comfort foods, each linked to an appropriate recipe either traditional or updated.

Here’s my take on each:
• Apple Pie – I like; maybe with vanilla ice cream, it’s comfort food,
• Baked Beans – not a huge fan. Hated as a kid, will eat now. No.
• Banana Pudding – more likely vanilla pudding with sliced bananas in it
• Beef Stew – maybe
• Brisket Pot Roast – probably
• Chicken & Dumplings -possibly, though haven’t had in years
• Chicken Pot Pie – eh, it’s OK, but not comfort food.
• Chicken Soup – no. Mushroom soup, yes.
• Chili – I like chili, but never thought of as comfort food.
• Chocolate Chip Cookies – there was this local brand called Freihoffer’s which made the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Either they’ve changed the formula or my taste buds have changed, but they just don’t do it for me anymore.
• Corn on the Cob – like it, not comfort food
• Fried Chicken – comfort food
• Gelatin – I only eat when I’m sick, so comfort food
• Green Bean Casserole – not a big fan
• Hot Dogs – not really. Saturday lunch or the ballpark.
• Ice Cream – sometimes
• Macaroni & Cheese – almost always, especially baked, the way my wife makes it. My daughter won’t even touch the stuff with the dayglo cheese powder.
• Mashed Potatoes – can be, depending on the mood
• Meatloaf – mash potatoes with meatloaf – now THAT’S comfort food
• Potato Salad – no. I eat it, but does not meet the level of pleasure necessary.
• Pumpkin Pie – no. I like it fine, but doesn’t quite get there
• Shepherd’s Pie – I didn’t even know what this was until about 15 years ago when, with the help of my girlfriend (now wife), I made it for 40 people I can see how it could be comfort food, but I always associate it with stressing over g=feeding a large number of folks.
• Spaghetti – no, and I do like spaghetti.
• Tomato Soup – not fond of tomato soup. Actively HATED Campbell’s tomato soup as a child, haven’t tried it since.
• Tuna Casserole – probably.

I suppose it’s definitional – it’s the stuff I like to eat when I’m sick or melancholy.

1. How would you rate the foods on this list as comfort foods?
2. What else wouuld you consider comfort food. Can’t think of anything else except Oreos with milk.

ROG

ROG

The Spanking QUESTION


My father believed in spanking; I don’t, and my sisters don’t, and there is a correlation.

I was reading the syndicated column by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, Family Matters. The title of one of his “Family Matters” columns in early December 2008 was “Spanking is not necessary, can be harmful”. He had expressed that opinion before and that didn’t surprise me.

What I DID find jaw-dropping, though, was this paragraph:
“Many parents who were spanked as children tell us that they do not remember why they were spanked, or what they learned, but that they sure do remember being spanked, how it felt and how angry they were. Many remember feeling less trusting of their
parents’ authority and wisdom when physical force was used against them.”

Not a month before that, I had asked both of my sisters if they remembered WHY we were spanked, and except for one particular incident – my worst spanking, and I wasn’t even guilty of an infraction – none of us had ANY idea. Even the baby sister, who seems to remember everything fromk our past, can’t remember WHY.

HOW we remember. the length of the strap, and its location in the kitchen. Often we were expected to get the strap, and failure to do so would have meant additional lashes.

So, the questions:
1) Were you spanked as a child? How often? If so, do you think it was justified? If you weren’t spanked, what types of punishments did you receive instead?
2) If you’re a parent (or surrogate parent), what is your philosophy on spanking?
ROG

ROG

QUESTIONS designed to ensure domestic tranquility

Something happened recently, and my wife, who I must note rarely even reads my blogs, said, “Why don’t you ask your readers” about a particular topic. I couldn’t just ask you one simple question, though. I figure I’ll ask you a series of question, all initiated by nearly 10 years of marriage. I’m going to try not to color the responses by what position I take versus what position she takes.

1. Where does your garbage cans reside on the days the garbage isn’t going out: in the front of the house (including the front porch), on the side of the house, or the back of the house?

2. Do you wash your brand-new clothes before you wear them for the first time? Is the answer different if we’re talking outerwear versus underwear?

3. Does it make sense to take dirty clothes from the first floor to the second floor so that they can be sorted, then taken to the basement to be washed?

4. Eating cottage cheese with eggs, the way you’d eat toast with eggs: normal or weird?

5. When your partner comes through the door, how long, if at all, do you wait before asking for a task to be done? (If you’re not currently in a a live-in relationship, think back to when you did. If you’ve never been in such a situation, think about what you would think is appropriate.)

6. Not actually a question. Explain, if you can, the current scoring methodology for figure skating, how to calculate earned run average in baseball and why anyone watches soccer on television.

ROG

ROG

Roger Answers Your Question, Arthur

Arthur @ AmeriNZ, that blogger and podcaster from New Zealand via Illinois asked:

Oddly enough, recently I bought “This is the Moody Blues” on iTunes (to replace the vinyl copy I had), and this was one of the songs. I still love it.

A question? Well, by way of preface, there’s an Australian talk show host called Rove McManus (the show is called “Rove Live”) who ends every celebrity interview with the same question: “Who would you turn gay for?” The current Prime Minster of New Zealand answered Brad Pitt, though he as asked by some one not quite the stature of Rove.

So, in my best imitation Australian accent, I ask, who would Roger turn gay for?

When I was in high school, I had this conversation among some of my male friends. I suggested one of the guys from our high school swim team. Interestingly, at least three of that group of friends turned out to be gay, though they were in the closet at the time, at least to me.

I suppose if you had asked me 25 years ago, I might have said Tom Selleck. This in spite of the fact that I almost never actually watched Magnum, P.I. In fact, the only time I specifically remember watching the show is when it had a crossover with Murder, She Wrote, a show I’ll admit to watching fairly religiously. Cabot Cove, Maine: highest per capita murder rate in the WORLD. But Selleck’s politics, I’ve discovered are rather right-wing, so not him.

I suppose George Clooney. He’s rich, handsome, talented, and his politics don’t suck. Incidentally, it was never Brad Pitt for me, even in his Thelma and Louise days.
***
No one asked me, but I do have rooting interests on this last weekend of the regular season of the NFL:

The New York (New Jersey) Jets: I’d like them to beat Miami, which COULD go from being the #3 seed to out of the playoffs. So, I’m also rooting for Buffalo to get to 8-8 and beat New England. For good measure I think I want Jacksonville to beat Baltimore, but it ain’t gonna happen.

The Philadelphia Eagles: this for Greg. Not only must the Eagles beat the Cowboys (I ALWAYS root against the Cowboys), but Oakland should beat Tampa Bay AND Houston must beat Chicago. Yeesh.

The Carolina Panthers: my mom, one sister, one niece live in Charlotte. They’ll probably still be in the playoffs, but it’d do them well to beat the Saints.

The San Diego Chargers: the other sister and one niece live in the San Diego area. So if the Chargers beat the Broncos, they’ll be in the playoffs! At 8-8. Yuck.

ROG

ROG

Knocking at the door

Why do we never get an answer
When we’re knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
– The Moody Blues (written by Justin Hayward)
LINK.

So the old winter or summer solstice has arrived, depending on where you live. It’s once again time to Ask Roger Anything. Anything at all, and I’m honor-bound to answer it honestly. It has to be the truth. It does not have to be the WHOLE truth; to the surprise of some, I do have my limits.

One person I do not know asked:
“Surfing around looking for old copies of ‘keynotes’, the Capitol Record Club catalog, I came upon your references.
Any chance you have old issues with which you’d part?”
Why, no, I don’t. I was a member of the Capitol Record Club in 1965 for a couple years, which is where I originally got all my pre-Sgt. Pepper albums, save for Yesterday…and Today, which I bought from the Rexall for $2.99. I also got Daydream-Lovin’ Spoonful; the Best of Herman’s Hermits; and most notably, Pet Sounds-Beach Boys. Most of the albums I still have, except for the LPs that were stolen in the Great LP Theft of 1972. But anything like Capitol catalogs? Long gone.
(Hey, anyone out there have ‘keynotes’ you’re willing to part with, e-mail me and I’ll hook you up with the collector.)

I’ve had people ask about the Barack Obama/Rick Warren thing. Well, I wouldn’t have done it. A gay friend of mine felt “hurt” by it.
Still, this little piece from Steve Bissette’s blog gave me some perspective.
…while liberals are howling over President-Elect Obama’s decision to include homophobic pastor Richard D. “Rick” Warren (founder and senior pastor of the evangelical Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California) in his upcoming inauguration ceremony [and conservatives are howling that Warren accepted],, the far more damning news that “alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality” is being ignored..

So, questions, please.
***
“Inspired by Christ is an apparel company formed to convey the Good News of Jesus Christ while providing the world with an alternative in today’s popular fashions. Inspired by Christ’s goal is to propagate the Word of God via style and stimulated discussions brought about through our Christ inspired designs.” WWJW?
***
Artificial Virginity Hymen. WTF?

In the old days, it was not called the ‘Holiday Season’; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall.’ – Dave Barry

ROG

ROG
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