Friday Five

• Last Week's:

1. If you have a phobia (or something close to one), what is it?

Just one? :-) My worst phobia is that I'm claustrophobic. As a kid I couldn't even play hide'n'seek by hiding in a closet and closing the door. Even though "the doughnut" is open and rationally I know I can breathe, even CAT scans give me panic attacks. This is getting worse as I get older.

I'm also afraid of snakes and worms. When I used to read the encyclopedia I would skip those entries. Irrational, I know, but there it is.

2. How long have you had the phobia (or something close to it)?

As I said, since I was a kid for all of them. I still remember the day when I was seven or eight and my mom took me to someone's house. The person who lived there had a little boy and he found out I was afraid of worms. He deliberately dug one up and chased me with it. 40+ years later I can still remember this horrible kid.

3. If you know anyone with a phobia (or something close to it), how does s/he act when s/he is experiencing it?

Well, I know James has to lie down when they take blood. Needles make him slightly woozy.

4. What is one phobia you would wish not to have?

Agoraphobia. How would I ever go anywhere?

5. What is one phobia you wouldn't mind having, if you were to face one?

I don't know...is there a fear of hot places? :-) :-) :-)

• Thanksgiving Week:

1) As a child, where did you go for Thanksgiving and who was there?

I understand we're ahead of today's trend: we went out to eat! My dad's paisan owned a beautiful place called Venetian Gardens, which was on West Shore Road on the way to Oakland Beach. At one time it was a supper club and still had the stage for the orchestra. When we first started going there they had a live pianist, but as the years wore on it was just Muzak. They had a hat check girl and a cigarette girl and the waiters all wore suits. It was pretty spiffy.

Afterwards we would do rounds at the relatives and have desserts. My Aunty Lisa made a mean high-crust apple pie! (Of course I'd leave the apples for my mom and eat all the crust!)

2) What food(s) do you remember best/were tradition then?

Oh, the turkey, because it was the only time of the year we ate it. My mom, as good a cook as she was on other foods, couldn't cook a turkey to save her life. Also butternut squash, but the restaurant always sweetened it too much. There also used to be squash pies. These were like pumpkin, but with a milder flavor. When we went on vacation we tried desperately to find a squash pie in one of the markets. Not even Ruggeri's (the Italian market) had one! I guess it's like crullers and no one makes them any more. I wonder if they are still making rice pies for Easter?

3) Where do you celebrate now, and with whom?

For the past years we have been celebrating with friends. We had a couple of Thanksgivings at Pat and Alex Lucyshyn's house and some at Ron and Lin Butler's. One year we had James' mom, sister, and niece up, but it was as long a ride for them as it was for us. On a couple of our favorite Thanksgivings we went out to eat and then went to a movie.

4) Has your menu changed (if so, whats new?) ?

More sugarless food! I always thought desserts were too sugary anyway.

5) What are you thankful for this year?

Mom being with us another year, not being hurt badly in the car accident (and the car being finally fixed), Pigwidgeon.

Friday Five had an alternative set of questions for those who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, which I thought interesting as well:

1) Was there a holiday meal, a special event meal, or even a weekly/monthly meal that you recall from childhood?

Oh, all those Christmases and sometimes Easter's at Papa's house! We would gather in the cellar around the big old table covered in oilcloth (Aunty Margaret still finds oilcloth somewhere; I didn't know they sold it any more) and eat macaroni and lasagna and roast chicken all cooked on the big black woodstove that had been converted to gas. There would be plates of torrone and Hershey kisses scattered among the homemade Italian cookies--wine biscuits and pepper biscuits and butterballs and almond bars and molasses cookies (and wandi's if someone had the fortitude to make them!)--on the big dresser that served as a sideboard. After dinner we would play Pokeno and the men would play poker or sneak upstairs to watch football with their eyes closed. :-)

2) Who would gather with you for this meal?

My dad's family. We'd see my mom's folks on Christmas Eve (actually, since her older brother and his eldest daughter lived not five minutes from us, we saw them frequently).

3) How about these days?

There are special Thanksgiving and Christmas meals with friends now. We also go out and eat Saturday nights and play trivia with friends.

4) Who dines with you this time?

See above.

5) If you could create a gathering, why would people gather, who would you invite, and what would you eat?

This question attracted me because I've always had this secret wish to have one of those swell gatherings like they used to have on Petticoat Junction. I dream of a big get-together with lots of simple homemade foods (nothing fancy dessert-wise, either), and later everyone gets together and sings Christmas carols around the piano.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:20:00 AM

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