Bruce's Smorsasborg

 By Bruce Shawkey There is almost no fruit or vegetable that you can't buy in a can. They're all mostly terrible in my opinion, with the possible exception of peas and corn. The worst looking is the canned asparagus, seen in the lower left hand corner of the above image. This bears no likeness to any asparagus I've ever seen. The height of canned produce probably occurred in the 1950s. Many weird recipes using canned produce and they continue today. Some of the latest ones include:  * Broccoli Parmesan Fritters; * Jello Fruit Cake (made in a bundt pan with fresh fruit and unflavored gelatin); and * something called Melting Potatoes, which sounds a lot like scalloped potatoes: 6 Tbsp. melted salted butter,  2 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped, plus more for serving  1 tsp. kosher salt  1/2 tsp. black pepper  2 lb. Yukon gold potatoes  1 cup chicken broth  1/4 cup fresh lemon juice  5 garlic cloves, smashed  Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a medi...

 By Bruce Shawkey Everyone remembers Thomas Edison for his invention of the light bulb. But in fact, Edison held patents for some 1,093 inventions. One of those was for a type of cement. Here is the story. Edison invested in and developed a type of Portland cement, which he manufactured through his Edison Portland Cement Company. He improved the manufacturing process and explored many unusual applications for concrete made from his product, including entire houses and furniture.  The origins of Edison's cement business Edison entered the cement business after his attempt to mine low-grade iron ore proved unprofitable. His ore-crushing process produced large amounts of fine waste sand, which he discovered was an excellent aggregate for cement. He adapted his ore-milling machinery and, in 1899, founded the Edison Portland Cement Company in New Village, New Jersey.  Innovations in manufacturing Edison made several key improvements to cement manufacturing, most notably invent...

 Here's another interesting cookbook: sample pages:

 Interesting article on being a digital nomad: When I first packed up my life and bought that one-way ticket, I thought I was making the dream decision. Work from anywhere? Travel the world while paying my bills? It sounded like freedom in its purest form. And in some ways, it was. I worked from beach cafés in Thailand, bustling coworking hubs in Portugal, and quiet mountain towns in Eastern Europe. Each place had its own charm. But here’s what nobody really tells you about living that way for an extended period of time: It’s not always the shiny, carefree lifestyle you see online. In fact, there were days when I felt more isolated, more scattered, and more tired than I’d ever been sitting at a desk in a corporate office. Eventually, I chose to settle down again—and I want to share why. Loneliness hits harder when you’re always moving At first, being constantly surrounded by new people felt exciting. Every day seemed like an opportunity to meet someone interesting. But over time, I...

 By Bruce Shawkey Fascinating book on the Internet Archive about cats, copyright 1903. Snippets follow. On the origin of the cat: When Noah made a couple of each kind of animal enter the Ark, his companions, as well as the members of his family, said to him, What security can there be for us and for the animals so long as the lion shall dwell with us in the same vessel ? ' The patriarch betook himself to prayer and entreated the Lord God. Immediately fever came down from Heaven and seized upon the king of beasts, so that tranquility of mind was restored to the inhabitants of the Ark. But there was in the vessel an enemy no less harmful—his was the mouse. The companions of Noah called his attention to the fact that it would be impossible for them to preserve their provisions and their clothes intact. After the patriarch had addressed renewed supplications to the Most High, the lion sneezed, and a cat ran out of his nostrils. From that time forth the mouse became so timid that it con...

  By Bruce Shawkey Cigarettes: Bad, or good? I ran across the start of this interesting dichotomy in a June 1956 issue of Life magazine. In it was an article titled "New Cigarette Cancer Link," and later two cigarette ads, one for Marlboro, the other for Lucky Strike. Here is part of the article: In the long-standing controversy over whether cigarette smoking causes cancer, a new report makes the case against cigarettes more convincing than ever. Dr. Oscar Auerbach of the veterans hospital in East Orange, N.J. has pored over 28,000 microscopic slides of lung tissue from 150 cadavers, analyzing them for cancer and the tissue changes leading to it. Next he compared his findings with his subjects' smoking habits. The results show that the degree of lung damage corresponds with the number of cigarettes smoked daily. Then, later, we see these two ads: It wouldn't be until 1971, 15 years later, until tobacco ads were banned from broadcast advertising, and restrictions place...