You Know You Are Old When

[ultrarunner]

I still have an orange Fiesta saucer that is radioactive. I used for Geiger counter training when I taught hazmat classes.

Fiestaware (ca. 1930s)

For centuries lead was used in the glaze... maybe explains a lot about nobility because peasants were not eating off of fine China?

Plus the lead tankards for beer...

At the cabin in Austria I went traditional... the everyday is Corelle I brought over in a suitcase plus some glass from the casinos in Tahoe for those with a Tahoe history.

The good table ware comes from a local company that has continuously been in business since 1492 and it makes sense because the local brewery also dates from 1492.

 

[WinterDeere]

For centuries lead was used in the glaze... maybe explains a lot about nobility because peasants were not eating off of fine China?

You piqued my curiosity enough to dig for a minute on this, as I know not all forms of lead and exposure thereof are really dangerous. I uncovered this little gem: "labelling a glaze toxic because it 'contains lead' is misleading".

It has to do with how the lead is bound to an oxide or silicate, and while I'm not interested enough to spend the amount of time for this non-chemist to truly understand all of it, it appears that most modern glazes containing lead are safe for the end user. However, there are many older lead-containing glazes (esp. pre-1970) that can too-easily be leached of lead, contaminating the food of the user. There are home test kits, if you want to test your old tableware, which usually involves soaking a piece in vinegar (acid) to attempt to leach some lead out of the glaze, and then testing that solution.

Lead in Ceramic Glazes

Lead is a melter in ceramic glazes and performs exceptionally well and must be misused to be toxic. It is also now environmentally pervasive. It is toxic and cumulative at any level of exposure.

digitalfire.com

 

[ultrarunner]

1614

FIRST PRODUCTS
The first products designed by Gmundner were quite basic. These early designs are known as Hafner ware, a style of lead-glazed earthenware that was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Hafner ware had a porous body that had to be glazed to be made impermeable.

 

[Jstpssng]

Well - it’s a light that illuminates the street.

Maybe this will help:

It must be a regional custom. We had the moon and stars. I still have to be careful when I go out at night. If it's a new moon and I'm not carrying a flashlight, I've been known to walk into my truck.

 

[JethroB]

You are old when you no longer can finish a regular sized meal.

Yep. A meat and two is plenty for me now. Unfortunately few of those types of restaurants left. My eyes are too big for my stomach at buffets.

 

[masseyrider]

You know you're old when you talk about it all the time.
When you're young it doesn't matter other than once in a while saying "look at that old geezer over there" or "the old folks don't understand me."
Talking about it only interests those that are already old.

 

[scootr]

When you start telling a good story and the listener says " you already told me that, twice"

 

[Jstpssng]

When you start telling a good story and the listener says " you already told me that, twice"

You're really, REALLY old when that all happened in the same hour.

 

[Oaktree]

Mother would cook she and my dad would sit down and eat

Curiously, how many here's mother did the vast majority of the cooking in the house? About the only times my father cooked was either if it was outside on the grill or if my mother was away for the evening, in which case you could be almost certain we were having grill cheese sandwiches. He went from living with his parents to being married (with a stint in the service in between) so he never really learned those skills. In his defense, it was fairly typical for men of his generation.

I do probably 75% of our cooking.

 

[Oaktree]

It must be a regional custom. We had the moon and stars. I still have to be careful when I go out at night. If it's a new moon and I'm not carrying a flashlight, I've been known to walk into my truck.

I've got pretty good night vision, so even if it's just starlight I can usually find my way around. Usually.

Yep. A meat and two is plenty for me now. Unfortunately few of those types of restaurants left. My eyes are too big for my stomach at buffets.

Yeah, I tend to overdo it a bit at buffets too. Wish they were more common here, mostly just Chinese.
Never heard the term "meat and two" before, I presume the "2" refers to side dishes? Don't recall ever seeing that before, must be a regional thing.

 

[Eagle1]

Curiously, how many here's mother did the vast majority of the cooking in the house? About the only times my father cooked was either if it was outside on the grill or if my mother was away for the evening, in which case you could be almost certain we were having grill cheese sandwiches. He went from living with his parents to being married (with a stint in the service in between) so he never really learned those skills. In his defense, it was fairly typical for men of his generation.

I do probably 75% of our cooking.

I taught my wife the basics of cooking when we got married, but have not cooked anything in over 20 years (maybe longer). On the flip side wife has not cut grass or repaired anything in that same time frame. We gravitated to the chores we prefer and the division of labor works for us, YMMV
36 years this June and neither is looking for a way out.

 

[goeduck]

Curiously, how many here's mother did the vast majority of the cooking in the house? About the only times my father cooked was either if it was outside on the grill or if my mother was away for the evening, in which case you could be almost certain we were having grill cheese sandwiches. He went from living with his parents to being married (with a stint in the service in between) so he never really learned those skills. In his defense, it was fairly typical for men of his generation.

I do probably 75% of our cooking.

My mother did all of the cooking with one or two of us kids helping. My father only knew how to make one dish, bread and eggs. Of course he used bread my mother made, and eggs we kids gathered from chickens we kids raised and fed. 7 boys, 2 girls and all of us are the primary cooks in our own families. I do 100% of our cooking. It was back the 80s when my wife last cooked a meal. We had guests and dinner was 3 hours late and her cooking kind of ended there. She does know how to boil an egg and make coffee, so in a pinch she feeds herself. Neither one of us is looking for an exit either, it is just the way it is. After surviving her cancers, cooking and kitchen cleanup is the least that I can do.

 

[milkman636]

My dad was not the one that any of us wanted to do the cooking. He was born into the depression and WW2 highlighted his early teens. Then Uncle Sam sent him overseas for a couple years of culinary desensitization during the Korean War. He could eat anything at room temperature out of a can or jar and be perfectly contented, and then take a nap in any awkward position he found himself in afterwards.

My mom did all the cooking while I was growing up. We were called on to help with whatever she wanted us to do, so we all learned a fair amount of kitchen skills. I even cooked in restaurants during high school and college, and I pitch in on cooking for the family about once a week. Plus I take a major role when cooking for any big gatherings that require volume . But, my wife does 95% of our normal cooking. She spoils me.

 

[goeduck]

I never did work cooking in a restaurant. To this day, I wish I had done so in a nice restaurant, not a burger or pancake joint.

 

[Jstpssng]

I never did work cooking in a restaurant. To this day, I wish I had done so in a nice restaurant, not a burger or pancake joint.

It's never too late!

I once ate in a restaurant on the coast, which was run by a woman who had put her life savings into her dream. She had some type of physical handicap which made it hard for her to walk, and the day I was there the waitress didn't show. She was doing double duty and ut was hard watching her struggle to get around but there was nothing I could do.

Oh yeah, she also couldn't cook. How do you mess up fried eggs?

 

[masseyrider]

Never heard the term "meat and two" before, I presume the "2" refers to side dishes? Don't recall ever seeing that before, must be a regional thing.

I found it with the British.
And everything some shade of brown.

 

[Hay Dude]

You know you are old when:

You can’t put 2 sentences together or you mangle & bungle words all the time.

Luckily, hasn’t happened to me yet.

“not hyperbole”

 

[masseyrider]

You know you are old when:

You can’t put 2 sentences together or you mangle & bungle words all the time.

Luckily, hasn’t happened to me yet.

What did you say?
Can you repeat it to make some sense?

 

[John0829]

Can I cook? Yes, do I, no I do not. She does all the cooking and I do the cleaning up after. A fair division that works for us.

 

[BravoXray]

I never did work cooking in a restaurant. To this day, I wish I had done so in a nice restaurant, not a burger or pancake joint.

I started working in the local restaurant as a bus boy in 1964, on Mother's Day. After the rush was over, I got to wash all the pots and pans. Made $.80/hr. I did a lot of food prep for the weekend crowds, flowering chicken and fish, making cole slaw and wrapping baking potatoes in foil. After high school, and I was going to Purdue, I came home and worked there on weekends. After college, I kept working weekends as a cook, even after I got married and was working at the family construction company. In 1975, the owners disappeared after they took out a $75K loan for redecoration the restaurant and a deli they operated at a local mall, so it closed down. Unlike most places today, we had very little employee turnover, and we all worked together well, and had a lot of fun.
To this day, I can't stand cole slaw, must have made a thousand gallons of the stuff while I worked there.