Good evening Darrell, I can relate to your description of the oyster stew...although, I can't remember the frequency really, it was much more than annually...I loved the smell and taste of them...but had to nearly close my eyes to eat them. I didn't like the looks of them! I haven't had them in years!! Thank you for the memory! Crackers and all!!! Speaking of crackers..."crackers and milk" were a common "meal"...using saltines generally and COLD milk...my kids and grands can't imagine liking this! It was what I craved after the long labor/birth of my first child...! And tasted just as I remembered it...so good! BATV On 3/6/2011 9:09 PM, Neysa wrote: > I am amazed at all the references to oysters in these old papers. I am kind of surprised at this. Were oysters easy to obtain? Inexpensive? Any ideas on this? > Neysa Neysa: Oysters do seem to have been plentiful, once the railroads made it possible to ship them away from the ocean. However, there is another factor to consider. It appears that, for whatever length of time it was true, it was "in vogue" to feature oysters at social events. These are exactly the kind of events that are most likely to be reported by local newspapers. So what you get is an extremely imbalanced view of how often oysters were actually consumed. Growing up in Springfield, our family had oyster stew exactly once a year, every Christmas Eve. Other than tradition, and the "oyster crackers" that we seldom got at other times, I don't know what the attraction was. The "stew" was just a warm milk broth, salty with a light seafood-ish taste to it. We all seemed to like the stuff (although nobody but Dad wanted anything to do with the actual cooked oysters). Maybe it was the excitement of knowing tomorrow was The Big Day, or maybe it was because we were allowed to dump so many crackers in that they just barely got wet -- we *did* like those crackers. Regardless, it is a fond memory. Darrell ____________________________________________________________ Mortgage Rates Hit 2.99% If you owe under $729k you probably qualify for Gov't Refi Programs http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4d754e7d7bdc4db529st02vuc

I love oyster stew! My oldest son used to call it dinosaur soup when he was about 3-5 years old. He loved it also. I had to put in a lot of oysters as he would eat a dozen or more at a meal ! He would ask for dinosaur soup at least once a week. I will have to ask him if he still likes oysters. I also love crackers and milk, I eat them about once a month or so! Lorraine Leslie Besmer

On 3/7/2011 3:29 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Good evening Darrell, > > I can relate to your description of the oyster stew...although, I can't > remember the frequency really, it was much more than annually...I loved > the smell and taste of them...but had to nearly close my eyes to eat > them. I didn't like the looks of them! I haven't had them in years!! > Thank you for the memory! > Crackers and all!!! > > Speaking of crackers..."crackers and milk" were a common "meal"...using > saltines generally and COLD milk...my kids and grands can't imagine > liking this! It was what I craved after the long labor/birth of my first > child...! And tasted just as I remembered it...so good! > > BATV Hi: I remember crackers and milk too, although as is so often the case, with variations. "Ours" was unsalted soda crackers in milk with sugar, eaten like a breakfast cereal. Best as you said with really cold milk; in our case, Jersey milk, which was about 1/3 cream. Darrell

My grandfather loved crackers and milk, but he also liked popcorn in milk. Neysa ----- Original Message ----- From: Darrell A. Martin To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 6:46 PM Subject: Re: [VERMONT] Oysters... or, crackers and milk On 3/7/2011 3:29 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Good evening Darrell, > > I can relate to your description of the oyster stew...although, I can't > remember the frequency really, it was much more than annually...I loved > the smell and taste of them...but had to nearly close my eyes to eat > them. I didn't like the looks of them! I haven't had them in years!! > Thank you for the memory! > Crackers and all!!! > > Speaking of crackers..."crackers and milk" were a common "meal"...using > saltines generally and COLD milk...my kids and grands can't imagine > liking this! It was what I craved after the long labor/birth of my first > child...! And tasted just as I remembered it...so good! > > BATV Hi: I remember crackers and milk too, although as is so often the case, with variations. "Ours" was unsalted soda crackers in milk with sugar, eaten like a breakfast cereal. Best as you said with really cold milk; in our case, Jersey milk, which was about 1/3 cream. Darrell *************************************** List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Oh, my, popcorn in milk! Sunday night supper with cocoa on the side! Joann On 3/7/2011 7:17 PM, Neysa wrote: > My grandfather loved crackers and milk, but he also liked popcorn in milk. > Neysa > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Darrell A. Martin > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 6:46 PM > Subject: Re: [VERMONT] Oysters... or, crackers and milk > > > On 3/7/2011 3:29 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > Good evening Darrell, > > > > I can relate to your description of the oyster stew...although, I can't > > remember the frequency really, it was much more than annually...I loved > > the smell and taste of them...but had to nearly close my eyes to eat > > them. I didn't like the looks of them! I haven't had them in years!! > > Thank you for the memory! > > Crackers and all!!! > > > > Speaking of crackers..."crackers and milk" were a common "meal"...using > > saltines generally and COLD milk...my kids and grands can't imagine > > liking this! It was what I craved after the long labor/birth of my first > > child...! And tasted just as I remembered it...so good! > > > > BATV > > Hi: > > I remember crackers and milk too, although as is so often the case, with > variations. "Ours" was unsalted soda crackers in milk with sugar, eaten > like a breakfast cereal. Best as you said with really cold milk; in our > case, Jersey milk, which was about 1/3 cream. > > Darrell > > > *************************************** > List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm > Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > *************************************** > List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm > Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >