Bruce's Smorsasborg

By Bruce Shawkey A recent article in the Watertown Daily Times about the Gobbler Supper Club triggered memories of eating there with my family during the '70s and '80s. My cousin Pamela, whose family lived in Watertown at the time, worked there as a waitress. Here is her recollection of the place: "I worked there for several years in high school.  Started as a bus girl, then waitress.  The decor was purple and pink. We wore pink and black polyester uniforms that reflected the times; short and form fitting, and fishnet stockings. If you didn't have short hair you had to wear a wig or a fall/hairpiece. Carrying drinks up to the other lounge area was sometimes a challenge with the purple shag carpeted stairs.  We had to pay close attention to details about our customers who sat at the rotating bar as they were in a different location by the time their food and/or drinks were ready to be served." One memorable visit in the 1970s was when our family took my Aunt Bea ...

 By Bruce Shawkey Great article on Dunkin' Donuts on the Internet. I used to love going to Dunkin Donuts when I lived in Janesville, Wis. I would get a couple donuts and a cup of coffee and maybe spend an hour in their store, munching away and reading the free newspaper that was often left there by another patron. I remember some of their early TV commercials, where the donut maker would rise at 4 a.m. and lament, "Time to make the donuts." That would become a catch phrase for me for any formidable task, from going to work on Monday mornings, to mowing the lawn. Making the donuts has become a secondary or even tertiary task for Dunkin employees, as most donuts arrive pre-made, and all the employees have to do is fry them, and add frostings and/or fillings. I would guess a good portion of their income comes from breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and fruity sugary cold drinks aimed at children and non-coffee drinkers. Still, when all is said and done, I get a hankering for donu...

 By Bruce Shawkey Interesting story in the New York Times about people who "churn" credit cards. The idea is to earn maximum rewards and perks. I did something like this myself back in the day. I even kicked it up a notch as a credit card merchant for my online business, brucesvintagewatches.com. I would take a cash advance on one credit card to buy a batch of watches for my business, masquerading it as if it were a purchase by one of my customers. If I timed it right, I had 60 days to repay the balance, all for a minor merchant charge of around 3 percent. OK, here is the article: They Each Own 50 Credit Cards. Should You? A number of Americans are making thousands by exploiting credit card reward offers. Every few months, Mr. Palm, a 57-year-old freelance television producer who lives in Illinois, goes online and applies for a new credit card. He opens only cards that come with a sign-up bonus: a reward of a few hundred dollars in points for new customers who reach a modest ...

 By Bruce Shawkey Who remembers the Whitman Sampler candy box? I do, and as I recall, they weren't especially good. Short on nougats, nuts, toffees, long on whipped fluffy creams. I found an ad for Whitmans in a 1941 Life magazine: Note the prices: As low as $1, and as high as $7.50 for the one on left. Now, the boxes are as high as $50 (from Russell Stover.)  The company's history began in 1923 when Russell and Clara Stover started a small candy business, Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies, from their Denver, Colorado, home, eventually becoming one of the largest boxed chocolate manufacturers in the United States. The company was sold to Louis Ward in 1960, who then sold it to the Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli in 2014. 

 By Bruce Shawkey Submarines have long fascinated me. My father-in-law was a coxswain aboard the Bonefish and had tales to tell. Subs played a major role during World War Two. Many movies have been made about subs, from the old diesel powered to the latest nuclear subs which can remained submerged indefinitely. The only reason they need to come up is to restock food for the crew. Here's a summary from Wikipedia: The history of the submarine goes back to antiquity. Humanity has employed a variety of methods to travel underwater for exploration, recreation, research and significantly, warfare. While early attempts, such as those by Alexander the Great, were rudimentary, the advent of new propulsion systems, fuels, and sonar, propelled an increase in submarine technology. The introduction of the diesel engine, then the nuclear submarine, saw great expansion in submarine use — and specifically military use — during World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. The Second World War use o...

 By Bruce Shawkey What could be more American than soups? I ran across a book on the Internet titled "The Master Book of Soups," with 1001 soup recipes, ranging from stocks and broths to chowders and something called a "Thick Goat Soup." Surprisingly, no recipes for Matzo ball soups, aka "Jewish penicillin," but then the book was published in Great Britain by a gentile (Henry Smith). Here is the recipe for goat soup: THICK GOAT SOUP  3 lbs. neck or forequarter of goat                   5 pints water  4 ozs. minced onion                                      2 sliced carrots  3 stalks celery                                             1 bay leaf 2 sprigs parsley              ...