I Wonder About Stuff
I wonder about...coffee. Cowboys used to drink coffee out on the range, didn't they? I saw it in Dances With Wolves so it has to be true. There's no percolator or Brewmaster or Mr. Coffee out there on the range. What did they do? Did they boil up a pot of water on the campfire and mix in some ground coffee and let it steep and then strain out the grounds? Mmm, that sounds good, doesn't it? Yikes.
And how did people start drinking coffee, anyway? Did someone find or grow some coffee beans and try to eat them raw and say, "Well, this tastes terrible, but I got a buzz. I know! Let's roast 'em, grind 'em up, and make a hot drink out of it."? How do you make that leap? It's hard enough to make a good cup of coffee with a drip coffee maker and some decent commercial ground coffee. How bad did it taste in the old days? And people still kept drinking it? And why do some people still say "expresso"?
I wonder about...gold. Is there something intrinsically valuable about gold that makes it the basis of our currency in the U.S.? Or is it just because it looks pretty? Imagine, an entire system of currency based on something whose value is simply looking pretty. Our currency used to be redeemable for an equal value in gold from the government. I think it was also once redeemable for an equal value in silver. But not any more. What makes a ten-dollar bill worth ten dollars' worth of goods or services? Certainly not the value of the paper and ink. You can't even redeem it for shiny pretty metal any more.
I wonder about...croutons. How did croutons come to be something you put on a salad? I worked in a commercial bakery one summer, and they used to put loaves of old, outdated bread out on the loading dock to dry out and get stale so they could make croutons. Why in the world do we put old, dried-out cubes of stale bread on our salads and call 'em croutons and say, "Boy, I really like these croutons on my nice fresh salad."?
I wonder about stuff...
And how did people start drinking coffee, anyway? Did someone find or grow some coffee beans and try to eat them raw and say, "Well, this tastes terrible, but I got a buzz. I know! Let's roast 'em, grind 'em up, and make a hot drink out of it."? How do you make that leap? It's hard enough to make a good cup of coffee with a drip coffee maker and some decent commercial ground coffee. How bad did it taste in the old days? And people still kept drinking it? And why do some people still say "expresso"?
I wonder about...gold. Is there something intrinsically valuable about gold that makes it the basis of our currency in the U.S.? Or is it just because it looks pretty? Imagine, an entire system of currency based on something whose value is simply looking pretty. Our currency used to be redeemable for an equal value in gold from the government. I think it was also once redeemable for an equal value in silver. But not any more. What makes a ten-dollar bill worth ten dollars' worth of goods or services? Certainly not the value of the paper and ink. You can't even redeem it for shiny pretty metal any more.
I wonder about...croutons. How did croutons come to be something you put on a salad? I worked in a commercial bakery one summer, and they used to put loaves of old, outdated bread out on the loading dock to dry out and get stale so they could make croutons. Why in the world do we put old, dried-out cubes of stale bread on our salads and call 'em croutons and say, "Boy, I really like these croutons on my nice fresh salad."?
I wonder about stuff...
posted by Shnookylangston at 8:38 PM
4 Comments:
As per the cowboys drinking coffee - the whole steep-grinds-in-hot-water thing is what people did before electricity and perculators, so, yes. In fact, it's quite a European way of doing it, having grinds steep in a Bodum or other brand steeper. It's essentially a coffee press. It's more environmentally friendly than a coffee machine and the coffee ends up better tasting.
And actually, I think coffee beans don't taste terrible, they're actually quite good. Many people enjoy eating them, which is why many coffee shops sell chocolate covered coffee beans.
oh, forgot to add this in my post... That is, in fact, the thinking behind croutons.
Old dried out bread isn't moldy or bad, just dry. The base of French Onion Soup is made with dried bread.
It comes from a time when people couldn't afford to throw away food, and you make do with what you have. Waste not, want not.
Well, there you go. Now I don't have to wonder about coffee or croutons any more. I'm no epicure (see my post about Lebanon bologna and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches).
Thanks for the info, knitphomaniac. Be sure to sign the guestbook before you leave.
Since knitphomaniac seems to have cleared up some of your ponderences (is that a word... if it is, I like it), I will attempt to clear up the question you "axed" about "expresso".
Clearly expresso was invented by someone from South Philly. Or possible a Puerto Rican immigrant living in the Bronx.
Anyone says otherwise and I'll cut you.
(I think I prefer ponderations to ponderences... closer to pontification).
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