Experiment

[stoutfellow]

If you've lived in the US, you've probably seen this kind of cookbook. You'll find them in the magazine racks at supermarkets. Charities and other organizations hand them out as thank-you's. They have titles like "Casseroles, Soups and Stews" or "Desserts", and they give advice about how to prepare a meal with nothing but a bag of Fritos, a jar of tomato paste, and a can of tunafish.

While cataloging my books, I looked over all the cookbooks in my kitchen. Several of them are of this type, having come into my hands by a variety of means. This week, feeling completely unadventurous, I decided to try one of their recipes, for an "enchilada casserole". It featured canned chicken, cream of mushroom soup, dried onion, and, yes, Fritos.

I just tried the first helping. I have to say I got what I deserved. It's not too bad - maybe a notch below Taco Bell in quality. (Stop snickering, you!) The biggest flaw was predictable: it's far too salty.

Oh, well. I had to try it.

Comments

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

I do not understand you!

:)

Love, C.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the club.

[coalboy.livejournal.com]

Try 'em all & toss the blahs! I predict many tosses.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Blech.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Eh, every cat gets one stovelid.

[filkferengi]

Not at mmegaera's house. ;)

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

Long time ago.

DW was in Home Ec as undergrad, studying nutrition (the same school is called "Human Ecology" now).

At one point she mentioned that a class had passed along the info that one could live on $0.50/day (~1958 dollars), obtaining then recommended nutrients, provided one chose wisely.

A couple years later we were both in grad school, unintentionally she at Berkeley, I at Stanford. I tried commuting daily, didn't work. (We had a Beetle, to which Bay Area crosswinds were not kind). So I got a room near Palo Alto and commuted once a week.

To help control costs, I brought up this $0.50/da diet. So she sat down and designed an implementation. Most of it went into a muffin recipe. Vit. C was supposed to be obtained from cabbage - we cheated there and used OJ. But each week, she made up a mix for me to take, and each day I'd bake a dozen muffins, and these, and a glass of OJ and some milk and probably some other items that I now forget was what I'd live on. I cheated a few times, but mostly I stuck to the diet.

They were reasonable muffins. And, of course, $0.50 in 1958 money is a lot more today.