To Be Or Not To Be Home?

Dost Mittar,

Ah....so injudicious use of makkan is part of Punjabi cookery ;) as well....

saminasha:
``Well okay....you needed homemade stuffing and makkaned your turkey until it could have slid to China on its own grease....but that, my brother, is called ``Thanksgiving cheating`` or known as English cooking-slap some butter on it and everything works out in the end! ``

We have a saying in Panjabi, ``Jo kare ghyo, na maa kare na piyo``. Loosely translated, it means that Mom cooks or Pop, butter does it!

Hamid,

Very cute....MY gravy recipe insists that I add the cornstarch to 2 cups of chicken broth and turkey dripping...

Jang,

Do you have a linoleum floor? Tiled? Does it need to be cleaned with special cleanser and then buffed? See how easy it is? :)

hamidm2

What is your opinion of Clorox™ ReadyMop™ ? Also, I am really upset with those synthetic sponge mops.. they dont seem to work as well as the natural sponges. Can you please recommend us domestic-use mop brand which is more balanced for us men with (slightly) higher upper-body strength?

jang #59 excellent point. labor saving devices of the 20th century were indeed the result of the fact that those who were stuck with hard labor now had the money to buy such labor saving gadgets. and this provided the incentive to inventors. take one thing alone: washing clothes. before the washing machine, it would take up a few hours of hard work by the housewife in the US. in a class ridden society like pakistan the begum sahib would never have felt the need for a washing machine, because she already had a live machine (the dhobi). in the US, the begum sahibas had no dhobi.

on a larger scale, this is exactly the reason why class ridden societies have never been particularly inventive, even as the elite has spent its idle time developing philosophies. this is true for ancient greece (where they had slaves), latin america (where argentina and brazil were at par with the US, but got left behind due to an idle elite with large land estates), and pakistan today.

this forum sounds more of an episode of cooking with this oriental chef that they broadcast on PBS. Sir hamidm2, you have managed to impress us (or maybe i should speak for myself, me) by your knowledge of housewifery so please spare us any further details. Thanks

Why well educated people should do menial work?

I had a mechanical engg. visitor from back-home helping one day shovelling snow (he had seen too many yash chopra movies and thought snow is romantic). Ten minutes into the pain of shovelling, he started thinking up of various ways the job could be done easier...being a machincal engg, his ideas were more on the lines of inventing tools (i on the other hand a simpler idea of calling joe the snow-plough guy).

the point is, the white man having forced to do menial labor, invented screws, potato peelers and ballpoint pens, thus helping the mankind while we are very happy to sit on the khatiayan and let grass be cut by a 8 inch sickle by a ghasiyaran even now.

saminasha,

...... .......... and what`s with the corn starch - don`t you know that you are not supposed to put it directly into the gravy?.........unless you want lumpy gravy!........... stir it into a cup of water and let it settle; then scoop up a few tablespoons from the top and add it in to get gravy like .... butter!............and i still maintain housewifery is makebelieve work........

Hamid,

Well okay....you needed homemade stuffing and makkaned your turkey until it could have slid to China on its own grease....but that, my brother, is called ``Thanksgiving cheating`` or known as English cooking-slap some butter on it and everything works out in the end! Turkeys take time and patience and you`ve got to make sure that the damned legs dont burn before the stuffing inside is completely cooked-tenting works for the first FIVE hours and then your fussing over the bechara oversized bird like an ayah...and may we talk about sides? Mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds and butter, rolls, gravy, etc must be cooked in the half hour the bird settles after it is cooked. Plus, who is doing the laundry, looking after the khandan, cleaning the dishes, setting up the table, watching the kids, etc while you are making sure that the gravy is not bogged down by corn starch? And this, my friend is for one evening only....

Adaab, salaam, hello, hi everyone!
Excuse me for coming in too late...............was away since Eid and thus missed interacting with all of you.................my loss entirely.
Thankyou all for your response and appreciation................you all made my Eid real special!
The posts are getting livelier by the day..........................I shall leave now for you to enjoy them!
Regards,
Saman.

hamidm2 #51 very good. your credentials as the advanced man-who-can-cook are established. But do you do windows?

hamidm:

:)

hamidm

I always thought that you were a mirasee but now evidence is emerging that you are basically a nai. It is a strange world - we and our presumptions.

sir hamidm2

can i please come to your place on thanksgiving next year??

saminshah,

........... no, it wasn`t just the ten pounds of potatoes, it was also the six loaves of italian bread ............ the night before i cut em up into little pieces and let them dry out on the counter and all mrs hamidm could do was yell at me for making a big mess ............ ``why can`t we just have stove top instant stuffing like normal people``..........i am not a professional housewife, i have my honor and dignity to protect - no stove top stuffing and no instant potatoes! ......... that is what these ... these ... housewives do and then make a big fuss about slaving in the kitchen all day !

............ so that is how you make crumbs - they don`t come in a box!......... real italian bread cut up and left to dry overnight ........... then you chop (not dice or grind) six stalks of celery and two large onions and slightly saute (not fry or brown) in a stick of butter (not margarine or any of that oil crap - real butter) ........... throw in a little thyme, sage, pepper and salt ............ add to the crumbs .............. now whip up two eggs in a can of swanson chicken broth and mix it in with a can of water - throw in some salt, pepper and oregano ............... chop up a fistful of fresh parsley and mix it in ............ now you have ``real`` stuffing ............. stuff the bird at both ends using the flaps and metal scewers to seal ............ soak the cheese cloth in four sticks of melted butter and wrap the bird in it like king tut`s mummy .............. oh yes, none of this plastic bag stuff - that is what your fat and lazy housewives do ............. remember, it is all about honor and dignity!............. stick the darn thing in the oven and baste every 15-20 minutes .......... bake at 350 allowing 15 minutes per pound and remove the cheese cloth half an hour before taking it out .........

............so there!...........like i said before, there is nothing to this housewifery business - any idiot can do it (poets are another story)

Hamid,

Oof bhai jan, ithna ghussa over ten pounds of potatoes! :) But you are correct in stating that NO ONE likes to clean the tub....