Just Black and White

Cool weather meals at Cook'n by the Creek.

Getting a request to post black and white photos for 7 days and nominate a different person each day got me to thinking.  It doesn't take much for this mind to wander around to the "good old days" as we all call them so often.  After all, no matter the age everyone has a good old days memory or two or kazillions to look back on, good or bad it all goes right along with us through life.  Well, here goes on what posting the B&W pictures brought to mind.

The first TV we owned was of course B&W.  I was not very old but can remember the excitement as dad put the antenna up, hooked the cable and wires to the back of the set, turned it on and.............nothing, just speckles of B&W with a scratchy noise coming from it.  Out he went, turned the antenna and a picture for just a second and  it went away.  When he came in his "Gross" temper was at its finest.  So from that point on when the wind blew the antenna and reception was lost, the window was opened and it was a hollering match to tell when the antenna was aimed just right.  Ya had to turn it slow or you would go right past the perfect alignment to get channel 4.  And that my friends is the only channel we had on the Horse Run farm.  It was great, we didn't know what we were missing, it was the beginning of a long  relationship with televisions.  Almost a long relationship....we gave up tv about 4 years ago and never looked back.  It is youtube, fb, reading the news and just finding enough to keep us occupied.  In the end of our tv era it seemed as though the channels were getting flicked continually because there was nothing we wanted to watch.  I will admit waiting to see if our Dodger Blues won a game and one more step to the championship is a little tough.  This is the only time I have thought I would like to watch tv.  I often wonder what my dad and mom would think now.  It probably would scare the heck out of them to see little thin TV's, phones, tablets etc.  Of course that channel 4 was free and look what we pay now!

Back to the B&W days.  I didn't watch B&W in my mind.  Lucy's hair was red, Roy Roger's Palomino was a beautiful golden color with long flowing white mane and tail.  The trees and grass were green and the sky was blue.  Meet the Millers, my favorite show that came on at 12:30 pm every day after the noon news.  Remember that?  The Millers were a married couple that would do cooking and baking demos for 30 minutes.  One commercial half way through the show. I think this show was where I learned to describe the feel and texture of dough for homemade bread.  I remember them saying when you knead it long enough it will then quit feeling sticky but will feel smooth and have a damp feel to it.  If it doesn't then you kneaded in too much flour.  Not too many times in my lifetime of making bread have I not thought of the Millers.  I'm sure not surprised that this was my favorite show.  Another one was just before Christmas the station had a half hour show of Santa Claus at his North Pole Shop.  I would get off the bus and run down the lane to get in the house before it started.  The innocence of a child.  Then it was my teenage years and As the World Turns...........again, get off the bus and get in front of the tv before it started.  I watched that show well into my adult years.  American Bandstand was another program but we didn't get the channel.  The only time I was able to watch it was going to a friend's house (Pam Miller) after school.  The difference from living in the country to town.....American Bandstand.  Then  Red Skeleton and Ed Sullivan shows along with Gun Smoke and Rawhide.  The Ed Sullivan Show, the first time I saw the Beatles!   Brenda Maxson came to my house that Sunday night and I can still remember setting on the floor in amazement at how handsome and talented they were.  Man, it was a memory!  Beatle Mania, the 60s music and clothing and hair styles were in full swing....can ya tell it was one hell of a great time! 

No matter what year a memory is, B&W or colored it fits the bill for that day.

A little article I found about the Millers.

Bill & Milldred Miller seemingly came out of nowhere but a Colden turkey farm when they waltzed into the WBEN-TV (Channel 4) studios in the old Hotel Statler to begin their daily “Meet the Millers” program right after New Year’s Day in 1950. Bill & Mildred were seasoned showbiz pros, having worked vaudeville from coast to coast through the 1930s and ’40s as dancers and sketch performers. Thus, when Channel 4 executive George Torge invited the Millers to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for viewers of the fledgling station in 1949, he had a notion that this Mutt & Jeff team might have a long-term TV future. Two months later, “Meet the Millers” went on the air. For a half-hour every weekday for nearly 21 years, Bill & Mildred offered cooking tips, petty and serious bickering, and cozy interviews with the world’s biggest stars-from Perry Como to Tony Bennett; from Debbie Reynolds to Elizabeth Taylor. The Millers were intelligent, classy, warm-hearted to newcomers in Buffalo broadcasting and, most of all, fabulous ambassadors for the City of Good Neighbors. Virtually every celebrity who guested on their show left town with generous thoughts about the Millers and the city Bill & Mildred called home. After “Meet the Millers” left the air in 1970, Bill Miller became Colden town supervisor. In the 1980s, the Millers closed up the turkey farm and retired to Florida, where they both passed away in the early 1990s.

The hard frost we had this morning brought out the "time to change up the meals" routine.  I bought a ham for boiled dinner this weekend.  It is a big one so I decided to cut off a good sized chunk and make some cheesy ham and potato soup.  We had bacon for breakfast and of course what is better to brown onions in for the soup?  Yes, bacon grease.  Once a large onion was lightly browned I threw in the cut up ham, sliced and diced potatoes, a bay leaf, salt and pepper, water just to cover.  Simmered without a lid because I wanted some of the water to evaporate.  Once the potatoes were just tender I shut the fire off, stirred in 2 cups of Mexican blend grated cheese until it was well melted and then milk to thin it to the consistency we like.  Thick!  Just before serving I will warm it up and sprinkle some parsley and fresh chopped chives in.  Since my oven is still out of commission I am going to make some Naan bread to go with the soup.  The recipe is in Della's Daughter and is easy and good, soft and tender to dip in the soup.  This meal will serve double duty.  Tomorrow is the first day of Turkey Season and  there will be some hungry hunters looking for a quick lunch.  Plus, I will hopefully get to hear a few good stories, fact and exaggerated I'm sure. 

Warm Naan bread and what doesn't disappear today
will be warmed up tomorrow for lunch.  No oven
needed it's all done in a cast iron skillet.

*about sliced and diced potatoes.  I slice some thin and dice thick chunks.  My reason, the thin ones cook away and make the soup thick without adding flour to thicken the soup.  Now ya know.