#Kelly Tapager

[tasteculturepower]

Tiberius, my small plastic tomato, is small and round, very red and uniform. His leaves are bright green and shiny, and his shape remains impervious to dents. Unfortunately, Tiberius represents an idealized standard that cannot be met by the average tomato. There roughly 7,500 varieties of domestic tomato, each one different in size, shape, colour, and flavour. By my best estimate, Tiberius is either a Campari tomato or a globe tomato.

Tomatoes are used in more ways than I ever thought possible. In the past few months I learned that tomato paste is a staple ingredient in many of my favourite Indian dishes, like pav baji. It was only a year or two ago that I discovered that BBQ sauce is tomato based. This I found particularly surprising as BBQ sauce is one of my favourite condiments, but I absolutely loathe ketchup, but apparently both share many of the same ingredients, including tomatoes. Tomatoes today are also used for salads, sandwiches, condiments, fried green tomatoes, soups, roasted for Full English breakfasts, pizza sauce, pasta sauce, and Bloody Marys.

The tomato originated in Central and South America, and was being successfully cultivated by 500 B.C.E. The Spanish brought the fruit back to Europe, where is spread throughout the sixteenth century. The Spanish also distributed tomatoes to their colonies in the Caribbean. Today, of course, they are grown everywhere, with the majority of production based in China, India, and the United States. Fun fact: Reynoldsburg, Ohio claims to be "The Birthplace of the Tomato", saying they bred the first commercial variety, according to the town’s website (ci.reynoldsburg.oh.us).

Tiberius was most likely made in a factory in China, as one of many food items in a plastic food set. Why was the tomato included in group of staple foods for children to play with and learn from? Very few people would snack on raw tomatoes in their unaltered form. Growing up my mom grew cherry tomatoes in the garden, and I would eat them like candy. But nowadays I don’t browse the tomato section of Star Market. But tomatoes are still remarkably popular. Almost every restaurant has ketchup permanently set on the table. Pizza; everyone loves pizza. There’s also the trope of throwing rotten tomatoes at bad performers, which led to the movie-critic website rottentomatoes.com.

Despite their omnipresence, many were confused by Tiberius’ presence in my classes. I was asked the same question in every class and lab: ‘Why is there a tomato?’ This is ethnographically interesting for a few reasons. First, everyone knows that Tiberius is in fact a tomato. This speaks to the importance of the tomato as a food item in modern western society. Secondly, and less relevant, is the lack of agency implied. It wasn’t ‘Kelly, why do you have a tomato,’ but rather why is the tomato there of its own accord. I can’t identify the reasoning behind this, but it is interesting. At a restaurant, however, Tiberius was much more of a novelty. You tell a student you’re carrying around a plastic tomato for history class, and they’re like yeah whatever. But the waitress at Friendly Toast was much more amused, referencing the ‘sack of flour baby’ and threatening to send her co-workers over to ask me about tomatoes.

[fcinetv]

Nos pires voisins 2 (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising)

Nos pires voisins 2 (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) Actors: Seth Rogen,Zac Efron,Rose Byrne Director: Nicholas Stoller Country: américain Genres: Comédie Duration: 93

<p>Mac et Kelly Radner, pour l’arrivée de leur deuxième enfant, sont enfin prêts à franchir l’étape ultime vers la vie adulte et déménager en banlieue. Mais alors qu’ils mettent tout en œuvre pour vendre leur maison, une sororité d’étudiantes décomplexées succède à l’ancienne fraternité de Teddy, les surpassant largement en termes de débauche et tapage nocturne. Les jeunes fill... source https://fcine.tv/nos-pires-voisins-2-6080-streaming

[regarderlesmeilleurs]

NOS PIRES VOISINS 2 streaming

Date de sortie: 6 juillet 2016 Genre: Comédie Nationalité: Américain Avec: Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne Réalisateur: Nicholas Stoller

Mac et Kelly Radner, pour l’arrivée Delaware leur deuxième enfant, sont nutfin prêts à franchir l’étape ultime vers lacontend adulte et déménager en banlieue. Mais alors qu’ils mettent tout nut œuvre pour vendre leur maison, une sororité d’étudiantes décomplexées succède à l’ancienne fraternité Delaware Teddy, les surpassant largement nutgenus Termes Delaware débauche et tapage opus. Les jeunes filles Delaware Kapa letter of the alphabet, Shelby flanquée Delaware ses comparses, letter et Nora, lassées du sexisme et Delaware la rigidité du système universitaire, ont décidé Delaware faire Delaware leur QG l’antreDelaware la dispute et Delaware la liberté néo féministe. Et autoimmune disorder fait que atomic number 58 soit au cœur d’un quartier calme et résidentiel ne les nut empêchera pas. raincoat et Kelly avec l’aide Delaware leurs amis Jimmy et Paula, vont electrical device leur ancien ennemi juré Teddy, avec son charme et ses coups fourrés, nut arme secrète. Sa mission : infiltrer la sororité, la conquérir pour mieux la diviser, la détruire, pour la forcer à déménager. Mais c’est mal connaître les ressources aussi créatives qu’implacables Delaware cette bande déchainée d’amazones du XXIe siècle. Incidemment vous offrir un bouquet des films 2016 streaming vf gratuit

from Film en Streaming VF http://filmistreaming.net/nos-pires-voisins-2-streaming/

[tasteculturepower]

Tiberius joined us for date night! Our waitress was very intrigued by his presence...

[tasteculturepower]

Tiberius joint me in medieval literature!!

[tasteculturepower]

Bring your tomato to work day!!

[tasteculturepower]

I decided to venture to Allston Market, which is where my roommate Swati goes for Indian ingredients or dishes that either she can’t find at Star Market or that only an Indian brand can do justice. Allston Market is an Indian and Hispanic food market on Harvard Avenue, which seems strange geographically, but the two cultures share a very similar spice palette. It’s narrow and crowded, and has a lot of ‘cooking from scratch’ ingredients, like dried beans instead of canned. I peruse the ready-made food section, as it contains the least familiar items, as well as those that won’t require I buy an array of ingredients. The dal Bukhara draws my eye because I remember some of our class talking about their family recipes for dal, and this looks different from what I imagined. There are a variety of pre-packaged soups and stews, a bit overwhelming, but my trusty roommate tells me that Kitchens of India is a good brand, so that’s the one I grab.

The image on the front of the package highlights the lentil soup, but it is accompanied by what appears to be chapattis or parathas and an assortment of vegetables. These sides remind me of food my roommate has made, and so I figure she could help me understand the dal’s place in a meal. Also, it’s 100% vegetarian, as is my roommate. Ingredients: water, Urad dal, tomato paste, milk cream, white butter, garlic, iodised salt, ginger, chili powder.

When you google the word ‘Bukhara,’ the result is a bistro downtown, or a city in Uzbekistan. Further sleuthing mentions that Bukhara also refers to a former country in Southeast Asia. The package says that “the ancient Bukhara art of open-air cooking gradually evolved with the caravans moving along the Great Silk Route.” So in this instance, ‘Bukhara’ refers more to a style and spirit of cooking than to a specific region or ingredient.

Swati told me that it was a lentil soup (‘dal’ meaning lentil), so I assumed based on the packaging that I would just add water and stir. However, when I opened the packet the soup was already hydrated, roughly the consistency of cat food. I literally just had to heat it in a pan for 3 minutes then serve. It already smelled delicious, I could definitely smell the tomato paste, which is a common staple in Indian soups.

I asked Swati about how she would eat it back home, and she told me that it’s usually a lunch or dinner. This particular soup would more likely be lunch, as it’s pre-made and ready to go, but more traditionally it’s cooked overnight in a Dun, more likely to be found in a restaurant than cooked at home. What I could eat the dal Bukhara with to make it a meal? Either rice or naan. She conveniently had some naan from Star Market in the freezer, which I just heated in the oven for 5 minutes. I love naan. If it were a larger meal than me at home eating lunch, I could include vegetable or meat dishes, chutneys or raita, and the dal Bukhara would become a smaller part of a larger meal. 

Swati taught a while ago that in India one usually eats with one hand; ripping the naan or paratha or what have you and using it to scoop the main dish. I’m really bad at this, so I rip with two hands.

I find that dal Bukhara is fracking delicious. I don’t really eat a lot of lentil-based foods, so the only thing that comes to mind to compare it to is some sort of bean dip or chili. You can feel small pieces of lentil skin, but the overall consistency is akin to re-fried beans (another Hispanic-Indian comparison). I can definitely taste the tomato and the chili powder. It’s spicier I think than a more Western lentil soup would be, but not overwhelmingly so. Eating it with the bread balances out the spice really well.

[tasteculturepower]

Aspartame is in my blood.

This is due to an un-exaggerated addiction to Coca Cola Zero that I’ve suffered through for many years. It is my personal opinion that Coke Zero is, in fact, the nectar of the gods. It would honestly be more efficient and cost-effective if I just got an IV drip. We’re talking multiple twelve-packs a week.

It’s a hereditary curse, of course. These things usually are. When I was young, my dad drank a ton of Coke Classic. I drank a lot, too, but I also enjoyed a variety of other beverages, like root beer, lemonade, black cherry cola, etc. Then one day my mom brought home the new coke Zero in a thinly veiled attempt to get my dad to lose weight. My dad and I tried it and were so impressed with the flavour that it quickly became a staple in our refrigerator. I can’t say exactly how old I was, but by the time I reached high school I was known for always having a Coke, especially in the morning, ‘cuz apparently it’s weird to have pop for breakfast. #footnote

Having read my footnote, you now know that I hail from rural Ohio. I actually grew up on a farm. At first we just had a random assortment of farm animals and a vegetable garden, but when I was eleven we officially became an alpaca farm (Tapacres Alpacas, if you’re interested). But I digress. My point here is that I live deep in Amish country. In fact, I’m the only Yankee house on my street. Five minutes away there’s an Amish restaurant called Mary Yoder’s. It is run and staffed by local Amish people, and the overall theme is meant to evoke the quaint, cozy, country atmosphere of Middlefield, Ohio. If you’re super into it there’s even a gift shop, which includes handmade quilts for upwards of $800.

Now I was never particularly entranced by the food at Mary Yoder’s, but it was good quality. It’s mostly just standard comfort food; think Cracker Barrel without the flair. The foods I associate with my childhood Mary Yoder’s experience are mashed potatoes, chicken breast, cottage cheese, apple butter, and pickled eggs. I know that last one is weird, but there’s a salad bar and the pickled eggs are pink and when I was little my dad would cut them up for me and in theory they sound gross but they’re actually really delicious. And apple butter! Mary Yoder’s makes their apple butter almost daily from scratch and it’s sort of the highlight of going there. When you get the complimentary rolls you get complimentary apple butter, and it’s so sweet and smooth and better than other apple butter. Like, people have tried to feed me store-bought apple butter but it’s just not as good. I’m sure it’s somehow related to the childhood experience of going out to dinner with my family and getting fresh rolls, but no matter the reason Mary Yoder’s apply butter is the best apple butter.

The third component of my food autobiography is also a place, but quite a different one, and definitely not a restaurant. For several years, from age thirteen to twenty, I worked as a street performer at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. This experience was vital in shaping who I am as a person, and looking back there was major emphasis placed on food and eating practices. As a faire, there were scores of vendors scattered across the fairground, and at least half of them were food stalls. There were two massive “food courts” owned and operated by the faire, and then dozens of independent businesses or people who had their own private stands. Every day we would get a food voucher, which was good for one meal from one of the faire-owned stands, or from this place called Friar Pluck’s that I will dwell on in a moment. The food from the food courts was standard fair food: chicken tenders, fries, corn dogs, pop and lemonade, but also “Turkey Legges,” which were a novelty for the patrons, but were not so favoured by the employees. We would spend our meal vouchers at the food court on our mediocre lunch, and we would have the vendors put it in a wooden bowl, and we would eat on the ground with our hands (though the nobility had eating daggers, and sometimes even metal plates!). Patrons were always fascinated by a group of people dressed in medieval peasant attire, sitting right in the dirt and gravel, drinking out of metal mugs and eating with our dirty hands out of wooden bowls, talking with our mouths full and wiping our faces ineffectively on our clothes. Though eating lunch is a standard daily occurrence in our society, as actors we made our meals larger than life, made them an event or a show to be observed and laughed at.

The other part of the medieval faire meal regime is the good food, the food that we go out of our way to spend actual cash on. My personal favourite was the fresh fruit, cheese, and bread from Black Ox Cottage. Many days my breakfast would be half a loaf of homemade bread and a block of cheese, both eaten with hands and a dagger, of course. The other popular haunt is Friar Pluck’s, which would give you half a chicken and a heap of mashed potatoes and any other side dish you could want. The roast beef was particularly good. The man who owned the place also had a special breakfast situation set up for the actors and staff who had to be on site at 7am. He would make egg and cheese and sausage or bacon sandwiches on bagels or English muffins, and it was only for the people who worked there, he stopped breakfast once the faire opened. It was almost a routine to walk all the way across the fairgrounds to Friar Pluck’s for an egg sandwich between fight rehearsal and morning meeting.

The last part of faire food that really sticks out in my memory is from the year I played one of the Gypsies. Our camp was set up kinda out of the way, but that year a new stall opened up: O’Malley’s. They made Irish food. They weren’t one of the food-voucher-approved locations, but Gypsy camp being twenty feet away brought business. We would hang out by their stand and play it up. By the second week O’Malley’s started giving us free food, and by the end of the season they’d feed us more than we could eat! I was a big fan of their deep-fried haggis. But it was so cool because a group of actors made friends with a group of Irish cooks, and we naturally developed a sort of symbiotic relationship, bringing each other business and free food. It was great.