Friday 5 for February 23: Noms

 

Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 blog.

1. What’s the strangest food you’ve eaten out of a can?

The usual canned foods I eat are tuna and sardines. Once in a blue moon spam or corned beef. I can't think of anything strange. When it comes to food I tend to go with what is familiar. I am not adventureous.

2. What food most recently made you ill?

I can't think of anything recent. As for something years ago, the only thing I remember are the runs as if my stomach was being pumped. Mamacita's pasta... lovely... gross.

It was most likely spaghetti years ago from Mamacita (I think that is the name) of the Ala Moana Center Food Court complex, which recently closed... for good... After getting sick from their awful food, I never went there again.

3. What movie makes you really want to eat?

Here at home anything that is longer than a half hour on streaming will get me to go back and forth to the fridge or pantry. Most recently it was the movie Tetris on Apple TV before my free subscription ran out. It's a good movie about the development and marketing of the popular computer game Tetris. Developed in the old Soviet Union, sold and pirated on PCs and how it got to the Nintendo Game Boy during the transition of the old Soviet Union into the "new" Russia. Good movie.

4. What haven’t you eaten in a really, really long time?

My Mom's Thanksgiving stuffing and macaroni potato salad. It is something I will never ever eat again considering Mom passed away in 2015 and stopped cooking about two years before that. I miss Mom.

5. What did you most recently eat in a moving vehicle?

My commute to anywhere is generally short, so I can't remember what I recently ate. In the past I've eaten burgers and fries after ordering them through the drive-thru.

Friday 5 for December 24: Brainstorming

Merry Christmas! And now to answer the weekly Friday 5 questions.

1. If you owned a new professional sports team (pick any sport!), what would you name it, and what be its team colors?

Out here in Hawaii, owning a professional sports team is totally unfeasible for maybe the exception of one type... Minor League Baseball. In order for that to be successful, there has to be 1. fans willing to come to a small ball field to watch games all the time 2. connection to a MLB team preferably on the West Coast 3. A good radio and streaming TV contract rights 4. Ability to probably have to pay for competing teams to fly over and stay in Hawaii for each game 5. and last but not least a good small stadium that has plenty of parking and near the metropolitan area where some people could walk to the games for a day/night of viewing.

Cue up the old Honolulu Stadium. This was a reality back in the day and that team was called the Hawaii Islanders. It was for more part very successful in urban Honolulu at the small rickety wooden facility. 

The team pretty much went back north after the forced move to Aloha Stadium and probably the increased costs, distance, etc. from their fan base. 

So yes, in an ideal, and somewhat nostalgic way, a revival of the Hawaii Islanders baseball franchise could be doable. Heck they could even elect to play at 4 or 5 home "stadiums".... Honolulu U.H. stadium (with a good rental agreement as to not interfere with the UH team in scheduling) , Maui, Hilo, Kona and maybe Kauai, though the population there may be too small.

It could be something worth looking into as long as they do not have to play at a large overpriced, costly and as of yet unbuilt Aloha Stadium replacement.

All in all this would be a super expensive venture that has a huge share of risk.

Answer: Minor League Baseball team, Hawaii Islanders (revival) depending on who owns the right to that name.

2. If you owned a new restaurant, what would you name it, and what kind of cuisine would it serve?

Restaurants are the most mortal business anyone can take a risk at starting and running. Most restaurants go out of business in a very short time unless they have some kind of unique selling point. I for one would never go into this business. I am not passionate about cooking or even eating out, given COVID-19 and all the regulatory crap that goes along with it. Plus restaurants are so highly regulated I have to ask myself is it worth the time and money?

That said, the cheapest thing I could think of coming up with is a shaved ice stand with just a minimum offering, a tiny space or a mobile set-up. Mel's Shaved Ice and Cheap Snacks

3. If you owned a little independent retail shop, what would you name it, and what would it sell?

A record and CD music store that sold used music including vinyl, CDs, tapes and maybe some videos. It is a big risky kind of business to go into since it requires a lot of inventory, with most not selling very quickly. Plus the competition from digital and online streaming is huge... so a store such as this would be a very niche operation. 

We have two record stores that I know of in this city and maybe that is enough. The market for physical music media is not that huge.

Name? Desert Island Discs? I dunno.

4. If you launched a charity, what would be its cause?

There needs to be a charity for those people with serious long-term body injuries or conditions, who live below the poverty line, and cannot afford to pay for needed surgery to correct their condition. Is there such a charity where people in need can be funded for major surgery that Medicare nor Medicaid are willing to fund? 

Tell me about it or someone or group with deep pockets, please start one. Thank you.

5. What kind of recreation is sorely lacking in your town?

Over the years Hawaii has seen the decline or elimination of the following:

• Ice Skating Ring
• Bowling Alleys
• Slot Car Racing
• Drag Racing Park
• Sanctioned Motocross area
• Dumpster Diving (a joke!)

Friday 5 for September 1: Sandwich or Nah?

"Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!"

Before we get started let's put in the definition of what a sandwich is. From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the definition of sandwich is:

a :  two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between
b :  one slice of bread covered with food

Furthermore Wikipedia gets a more elaborate on the word with photos and everything else.



1. Why is or isn’t a hot dog a sandwich?

A hot dog is a sandwich. You got your wiener / sausage sandwiched between two buns which is usually made out of the same stuff as bread.

2. Why is or isn’t a hamburger a sandwich?



Again a hamburger is a sandwich because it consists of a patty or patties sandwiched between two (or more) slices of bread and/or buns, plus all the other stuff in-between. Shown above is a home made burger that I cooked up for lunch with a macaroni salad and juice some years back. Mmmm... yummy!

3. Why is or isn’t a wrap a sandwich?

In a most casual way I consider it a sandwich though we are stretching it since it is a single wrap rolled with the meat and other goodies sandwiched in-between.

4. Why are or aren’t Oreos and ice cream sandwiches sandwiches?




Getting further from the definition above, Oreos and ice cream sandwiches are technically not sandwiches. However marketers have done a great job as defining them as sandwiches... mostly the ice cream people... When I go to a place and see "ice cream sandwich" I know exactly what they are talking about. Frozen treat dessert between two slices of crispy (supposed to be) cookie/cracker layers.

Ditto for Oreos, because the white cream (or whatever other color they are selling) is sandwiched between the 2 chocolate cookies.

So while not strictly sandwiches, I will go with the marketing hype that describe these foods as sandwiches in their own right.

When you think about it, using the term sandwich seems to be "anything placed between two items front and back, top and bottom"....

You got sandwich boards... you know those advertising signs that stand up as an A-shaped tent or worn by people passing out flyers on the street.

A car wreck can be "sandwiched" as one vehicle between two other vehicles or between one vehicle and a solid object such as a wall.

5. Why does or doesn’t listening to an audio book count as reading the book?

To me an audio book is the same as reading a regular book or ebook. The content for the most part are the same for the printed book as it is for an audio book. The only thing you miss in an audio book are photos and graphics since those cannot be presented within an audio format.

Whether you read the text yourself or listen to it and get the message or story being conveyed in the book, then it counts as "reading the book."

I have a friend who has poor eye sight. She is a prolific reader. In recent years she has read hundreds of books that she either borrowed from the State Library for the Deaf and Blind or through her subscription from Audible. Traditional print books are marketed as such... the audio edition of the book.


Ba Le Sandwich is one of my favorites.