Du pain beurré avec potage? Quelle horreur!

There are times when I reflect on the cultural differences between the urban American 1970s life(stylle) in which I was raised and the cultures that speak languages other than my brand of English. in the high school French book, there was a dialogue among family members at the table (lunch time? dinner? who knows?). The girl had asked her brother what Americans eat. He told her that they eat buttered bread with their creamy soups.
Her response was, "Du pain beurré avec potage ? Quelle horreur !" (Buttered bread with creamy soup? How awful !).

We actually had discussion about the names of different types of soups in French cuisine.

You've got thick soups : cream, purée, chowder, bisque, and velouté

Thin soups : consommé, broth, bouillon

Cold soups : consommé madrilène, Vichyssoise, Andalouse gazpacho

And National Soups : Minestrone Italy, Green Turtle Soup England, French Onion Soup France,
Petite Marmite France, Scotch Broth Scotland, Mulligatawny India, Gazpacho Spain, Manhattan Clam Chowder America, Camaro Brazil, Laberkroedel Germany, Paprika Hungary, Bortsch Polonais Poland, Hotch Pot Flamanda Belgium, Cock-a-Leekie Scotland, Creole New Orleans, Mock Turtule Soup U.S.A., Boillabaisse à La Provençale France, Chicken Broth England, Busecca Italy, Olla Podrida Spain, Oxtail Soup England, Zuppa Pa Vese Italy.

I remember once being invited to my mother's friend's home for lunch and she served Campbell's chicken noodle soup with a tuna fish one white sandwich. She put the soup down by itself and I asked if that was all she was offering. She told me that in her house the meal is served in courses and that soup is always first. (I felt like telling her that in our house, grapefruit or melon is first, but I was the guest). When she saw me take the crackers and crumble them into the soup, she was horrified.

"What, you throw them in whole and mash them with the spoon?" I had asked.

"No. You're supposed to eat them after a spoonful or two of soup. One cracker should be consumed in four to five bites."

Mind you, this woman was as big as a house, but she had obviously paid close attention to what was going on in the home economics class. Here is a paragraph from my Mother's household cookbook from the 1950s.

"Soups should be an important part of any low-cost menus, not only because they are highly nutritious, but because to delicious soups may be added food ingredients which the average housewife may normally discard. The water in which meats, fish, and vegetables are simmered, as well as the liquids from canned vegetables*, contain much of the precious vitamins and minerals and should be used as a liquid in the preparation of soups. They can be saved and stored in the refrigerator for future use. Scraps of raw or cooked vegetables, fish, meats, and bones should be used in soups together with the addition of the lower-priced cuts of meats. Inexpensive meat cuts have essentially the same nutritive values as the higher priced cuts. To obtain the full flavor from such soups, always simmer or boil these soups in closely covered kettles. A helpful hint to keep in mind is that soups made from these leftover ingredients may very often be improved with the addition of a can of prepared soup."
* I am assuming (but don't hold me to it) that canned vegetables are the ones that the housewife makes and cans herself. I definitely would not recommend reusing the liquid that's in a can of green beans or carrots and peas!

I am quite familiar with the concept of mixing soups. Sadly, the book does not feature beans. The only recipes that I had gotten for such dishes from it are lentil soup and mushroom barley soup. The cookbooks of the time are very meat-centric; the author even made comments about fish claiming, "Fish dishes, very often, are time savers for the busy homemaker, inasmuch as the cooking time for most fish is short. Fish, then, should always be kept in mind as an alternate, bot a substitute, for meat in the daily menu."

As I have gotten older, I have developed a greater appreciation for having less meat in my diet. Trust and believe, one is quite capable of racking up calories without the assistance of meat products of any sort.

I keep tabs on what goes into the mouth and this evening I decided to make a sandwich for tomorrow's lunch:

Multigrain Bread, 2 slices 90
Walnuts, Chopped, 14 g 93
Peanut Butter Creamy, 2 tbsps 180
Apricot preserve, 1 tbsp 60
TOTAL 423

This is the calorie count for a basic PBJ sandwich. I added chopped walnuts for a little texture. This may not seem like much, but bear in mind that I am only eating 1200 calories a day. This is a little over 35% of my total caloric intake.

This is probably the most difficult time of the year to work at weight loss/maintenance. People are throwing holiday parties and there is a seemingly never-ending offering of fried foods and vegetables.

Oh well... I never seem to tire with my discussion of food.