to bisquick or not to bisquick?

Lovely phone conversation with Natalie, Grandpa, and Uncle Phil this morning. It brought to mind another important Case family subject - boxed food. Natalie and I have been discussing the grossness of boxed mashed potatoes - the nasty FLAKES. I'll never forget the first time my dad brought home a box of potato flakes. I thought I was going to pass out (the only excuse I can come up with for it is that Dad's not an authentic Case, he just married into the family. However, he IS a Giess and Giesses are notoriously cheap. He was raised on potato flakes because 1. they are cheaper and 2. his aunt couldn't cook to save her life and hey, mashed potatoes from a box? right on! even though they ARE Irish and you'd think they'd have a little more respect for the potato...well maybe not, the potato basically abandoned the Irish during that famine thing.) because NO ONE BUYS POTATO FLAKES!!! COME ON!!!! This is something that has been crucial in my upbringing. I stand by it. Potato flakes are nasty.

However! I had never stopped to consider the possible error in using Bisquick. True, it's imitation in the end, but is it really worse? Natalie gave me a hard time this morning when I said we were using Bisquick in the waffles. Now, I think it's kinda great we were making waffles at all, but then oh! she had to go pop my little bubble of joy. Grandpa asked me if I even KNOW how to make waffles from scratch, of course I claimed I did (I mean...the Joy of Cooking knows, and if the Joy of Cooking knows, then I know).

Here comes my claim: it is completely fine to use Bisquick as a cooking tool. Now, mashed potatoes in a box is unaccepable because it is trying to imitate a food. They are in no way actually potatoes or resemble potatoes. However, Bisquick actually IS the flour, sugar, etc. that it claims to be. If it saves me time and is, in fact, what it claims to be, is this really a problem? I say no.

Ok...let the heckling begin.

Sunset, Friday night

Sunset, Friday night
Originally uploaded by Mary Ellen.

Picture from the beach this past weekend. It was amazing!

further comments on fowl

It's actually somewhat shocking how often poultry comes up in conversation regarding our family. Just this morning, Natalie shared another lovely story with me -- apparently Uncle Steve had a pet chicken, and when he went to summer camp Grandpa ATE it. Now, Grandpa contends that this chicken was Aunt Natalie's, but the facts of the case remain the same: 1. there was a pet chicken 2. Grandpa ate it.

I want to know what the violent tendency is towards poultry in this family. Considering Mom's story about the baseball game and the duck (ball hits duck, duck dies), the kicking of the turkey/rooster by Uncle Phil, my own untimely duck deaths (including several disappearances and a carcass at the end of the driveway), and now this new story, things are just bad! In fact, when the roosters would chase Paul and I around the yard when we were little, people advised us just to "turn around and kick them." Doesn't seem like such good advice. It seems to ME that kicking and potentially killing a rooster would be MUCH more scarring than being chased and having a few nightmares!

Where does the anger come from? I mean, I LOVE my ducks! What's wrong with the rest of the family? Why does these birds suffer from such untimely deaths? I suspect fowl play.