For schnipping and schnapping and schnooping and schneeping

[sovay]

So today I got up on less than two hours' sleep to accompany rushthatspeaks and Lucien to the latter's vet appointment in Woburn (with a stop in Teele Square for muffins along the way) and then in the late afternoon I accompanied Rush to their PT appointment in Assembly Square (with a stop in Davis Square for gyros on the way back) and despite two hours' downtime for work and grilled cheese in the midafternoon it has been a rather medical day.

There were two packages on the porch when we got home. I opened them to find that a mysterious benefactor off the internet had sent me a copy of Suzanne Gargiulo's Hans Conried: A Biography (2002) and a box of protein bars made with cricket flour. I am absolutely amazed. Thank you, internet benefactor ladymondegreen! The cricket bars come in four flavors and the frontispiece of the biography shows Conried arching an ineffably world-weary eyebrow. These are things that really make my day.

I am in Lexington now, helping my mother get the house ready for Pesach. I have just discovered that my great-grandmother's chopper and bowl are properly a hakmeser and shisl as seen in the photo at the head of the article, although hers has some very old cloth-backed tape wound round the handle to soften it.

The important things.

Comments

[choco_frosh]

I opened them to find that a mysterious benefactor off the internet had sent me a copy of Suzanne Gargiulo's Hans Conried: A Biography (2002) and a box of protein bars made with cricket flour.

\o/

[sovay]

\o/

I left the cricket bars in Somerville, but I can show you the book this evening!

[kore]

SONYA SONYA LOOK OMG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPs5ahpVqbg

[sovay]

SONYA SONYA LOOK OMG

I SHALL SET ASIDE THE NEXT SEVERAL MINUTES OF MY LIFE.

[kore]

IT'S GOING TO BE SO TOTALLY WORTH IT

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I remember waking up to the sound of my grandmother making gefilte fish with just those items.

Also, oops. I meant to sign the card.

A freilech Pesach!

[sovay]

I remember waking up to the sound of my grandmother making gefilte fish with just those items.

These came down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother to my mother to me. If I don't have children, if they last so long, they will go to Charlotte. They are tangible family past and matter to me. (And if the bowl breaks, I will buy another wooden bowl, because sometimes telling the story is sufficient.)

Also, oops. I meant to sign the card.

To be fair, I figured it was either you or Yoon, and the wording sounded more like you. Thank you! The biography looks terrific.

A freilech Pesach!

Likewise to you!

[batdina.livejournal.com]

I definitely remember shisl from my grandmother/mother; but the hakmeser isn't ringing any bells. (though I can see the wooden bowl and chopping thing in my mind's eye like it was yesterday.)

chag sameach in any event.

[sovay]

I definitely remember shisl from my grandmother/mother; but the hakmeser isn't ringing any bells. (though I can see the wooden bowl and chopping thing in my mind's eye like it was yesterday.)

In my family, they were just always the bowl and chopper: I had no idea that they were widespread, traditional tools. I liked finding out. I think it is neat that they existed in your family as well.

chag sameach in any event.

Thank you! Chag sameach to you, too.

[gwynnega]

A Hans Conried biography! That sounds excellent.

[sovay]

A Hans Conried biography! That sounds excellent.

I have read the foreword, introduction, and I'm in the first chapter, and so far it's wonderful! The pictures alone are worth it. I have now seen what nineteen-year-old Hans Conried looked like, gangling half a foot taller than his father (and squinting with the sun in his eyes). He reminds me of tall nerdy kids I knew at Brandeis. My mother looked at the frontispiece and exclaimed, "He's beautiful!"

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

One of my friends brought around the cricket bars for some of us to try. They weren't bad (even after we found out they were made with crickets), though some flavors were better than others. I'm not really into protein bars, though my friend said she's eaten them since and they're decent.

[sovay]

I'm not really into protein bars, though my friend said she's eaten them since and they're decent.

I ate protein bars on a regular basis when I was in high school and doing archery, so I am capable of metabolizing if not actually enjoying them as a foodstuff, but my real interest in these is the crickets.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

So my natural question is: are the cricket bars kosher, or will you have to wait until after Pesach?

[sovay]

So my natural question is: are the cricket bars kosher, or will you have to wait until after Pesach?

I left the bars in Somerville, so without being able to check them for a hechsher, I feel this question will depend most strongly on the kashrut status of crickets. I've been under the impression for years that the only kosher insect is the locust, which means at least the grasshopper I ate last Saturday was free and clear. Asking the internet yields this article from two years ago. Maybe the status has changed by now?

[rosefox]

My mother inherited my grandmother's chopper and bowl, which may well have been my great-grandmother's. Eventually she had to give up the bowl because we were getting a certain amount of wood fiber mixed in with the charoset, but I know she still has the chopper.

We make charoset in the food processor now, though, because my tendonitis-prone arm and my mother's arthritic hands just aren't up to the manual chopping. :/

[sovay]

We make charoset in the food processor now, though, because my tendonitis-prone arm and my mother's arthritic hands just aren't up to the manual chopping.

I am making the charoses this year with the chopper and bowl and one elbow in an Ace bandage. Sometimes food processors happen.