straw poll?

[susandennis]

I grew up in the 50's in the Southeastern part of the United States. I don't know if it was everyone or just my family but we did not use drinking straws. If we were eating out (rare) and we got milk shakes or malted milks, then maybe. Otherwise, nope.

And I never picked up the habit. Last Summer Seattle outlawed plastic drinking straws. It was nothing to me, except every time I ordered a drink anywhere, I had to hear how they were not allowed to give me a plastic drinking straw with that drink. Fine. The fancy restaurant at the baseball stadium used paper straws with long, involved apologies to go with them.

For a short while until Mom threatened bodily harm (which was still very legal back then), we would, in a restaurant, tear off the end of the paper rapping and shoot that sucker across the room. But, that's the extent of my drinking straw use.

Until lately. (OMG is she still talking about drinking straws?????) I keep a tall covered container of ice water with me always around the house. (Covered in case it tips over - on it's own or via cat.) I sip on ice water all day long. I hate drinking vessels that 1. sweat and 2. have any metal of any kind near the drinking lip and 3. have a top/cover that is difficult to remove.

I found one that meets all requirements nicely but the cover is not a sipper, it's a straw holder. I bought it anyway and thought I'd just learn to suck on a straw. I finally gave up. I'm not a straw person. Hopefully there's a straw person who shops at the Goodwill cause that's where this vessel is going.

END of straw talk.

I had planned a discussion of wait staff in restaurants who feel compelled to tell you their names. But, I'll save it.

I took the pattern of my favorite top and made a whole new version of the pattern. If I had any education on how to architect clothing, it would have been a simple job. But I'm really clueless about how you are supposed to do it so I did it the Susandennis Way (tm) and it seems to have worked fine. Tomorrow I'll finish the shirt and then polish off the pattern and plan the next one.

Zoey's been madly batting around something while I typed this entry. She ended up with her little cat butt sticking out from under the credenza, so after I stopped to Instagram her, I got down there with my phone flashlight and pulled out the stuff I could reach. Let's not even discuss the stuff I could not.



I finished watching Season 2 of Victoria last night. It's so well done. Finally now that the Olympics is over, we've got some TV back.

And speaking of TV, last fall? there was a mini series on the USA Network on that I recorded and never watched called The Sinner. I see now that it's on Netflix, too. Meanwhile my brother found the audio book about that same time and read it instead. It's been sitting in my library unread since then and finally the other night, I gave it a go. Well, now I'm 3 hours in and captivated. This woman can flat out tell a story. I've got 10 hours to go which is a treat. I haven't decided if I'm going to watch the TV version when I finish the book.

Comments

[hopefulspirit.livejournal.com]

It's so funny you're talking about straws because I just had a discussion with a waiter about this one of the last times I went out to eat. When he brought my drink he started to hand me a straw, then stopped and asked if I wanted it. I said yes, and he told me about a big debate he'd just had with another customer because she got mad at him for automatically handing her one. She gave him a lecture about how they damage the environment, how he was contributing to the demise of the earth, etc. He said he didn't know if he should be handing them out or not anymore. I didn't realize places have actually banned them.

[susandennis]

haha!! They only banned the plastic straws. Paper ones are fine and handed out willy nilly. Around here, mostly all drinks except water are served with a straw in the drink already.

imagine jumping on a waite about environmental issues. geesh.

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that incompetent waiter should be fired on the spot and frog-marched out the front door!
How dare he not instantly sense every single customer's personal straw preference, environmental stance and any other important values that might affect the various choices of ordering a meal?

You know, of course, if he does try to get on board, the first customer not offered a straw upfront will be furious, insulted and lecture him on why some of us need them.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I dispared at the end of Victoria. I hate it when seasons END for a break.

[susandennis]

BUT! There is so much more material. I'm actually glad to have something to look forward to.

[maju01.livejournal.com]

I saw something a few days ago about a movement to refuse a straw when a restaurant tries to give you one, for environmental reasons of course.

When I was a kid, for a while we were given a free carton of milk at school. (Wasted on my family because we had a dairy farm and had unlimited milk and cream at home but we still got it.) Anyway, you could provide your own straw to drink the milk through so there was a type of straw available with a flavoured block of something inside which turned your plain milk into flavoured milk as it passed through the straw.

[susandennis]

Milk Pixie Sticks!!! Chocolate and Strawberry and, I think Vanilla. We loved em

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I support the city of Seattle with regard to straws. I think I drove my kids a bit batty with my refusal to use them, even at a fast food place, because they were bad for the seagulls at the dump. For years, my daughter would only drink through a straw, so my moral objects seemed even more comical to the kids.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I use straws because my teeth are so sensitive to cold. I bought a set of stainless steel straws and use those.

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

I need bendy straws because my neck is fused with titanium from C-4 to C-6, among other unpleasant issues.

I hadn't read about the ban; do I need to start packing a couple, or do the paper ones have a bendy version?

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

My set had six. Three straight and long enough for big go-cups, and 3 bendy! Got them on Amazon.

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Are they dishwasher-safe?

(I'm not lazy; just prefer that nice blasting hot, soapy autoclave for germ safety)

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Stainless steel, so you could autoclave them!

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

Thanks! If you were here I'd give you the straight ones out of the two sets I intend to order after payday.

[sweetmeow]

When I was growing up, we never had straws, either. My mom was the original environmentalist, and felt that straws contributed to the landfills, and, were not needed. She used to hand back straws if they were given to her in a restaurant. She felt the same way about paper plates / cups / flatware, although on occasion we did use them. But - even Mom's picnic basket had plastic dishes that were meant to be washed.

I now use plastic straws that are meant to be washed and reused. No landfill issues, and I like that idea.

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

Whoops, sorry; replied to wrong comment.

[becomingkate.livejournal.com]

What about metal straws? I've met some totally pretentious people who used them, like they were going to save the world by not using disposable straws.

[kayre]

After my mother died, my 3 siblings and I spent several weekends emptying out her house and dividing things up. The last day, we all went out for a late lunch before dispersing to our separate homes; we were all feeling pretty sad. One of the younger generations shot a straw wrapper at someone else, and that got some weak smiles... and then our waitress showed us that if you tear the wrapper in the middle, and crumple one end, you get a projectile that fires much more effectively. THAT got us all trying it, and 'shooting' each other, and laughing... and I still do it automatically.

[susandennis]

What a wonderful straw story and what a great memory and what a fantastic waitress!

Thank you!

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

From the hilarious straw story, I would guess your mom would enjoy the idea of you all laughing together as you send her off.

Thanks also for the great aerodynamics lesson; I can't wait to impress my young neices next visit to a fast food place. :^D

[kayre]

Yes, my mom would have loved it. When my father died, before her, folks gathered at the house afterwards. At the height of the wake, the upstairs bathroom toilet clogged and overflowed. In that house, at the front door there was a flight up stairs in front of you, with the bathroom right at the top. We kids were trying desperately to deal with the problem, and then to get an emergency plumber through, and then a carpet cleaner (it was that bad) without upsetting mom. Of course she eventually noticed the fuss and came out to the foyer... took a long look at all the activity, started laughing uproariously, and walked back out, still laughing. And she commented how much Dad would have loved it all!

(Susan, sorry for highjacking your journal!)

[susandennis]

Hijack away. It's wonderful to hear of such delight at such sad times. Really wonderful. Thank you!

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

She sounds wonderful, and obviously you picked up her example. I really hope my friends are laughing their asses off as they clear out after me.

It's a truly special person and beautiful soul who is still bringing laughter and joy long after she's gone. Especially those unexpected, random reminders that come when you most miss her and really need the laugh.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

We certainly didn't use straws at home, but I'll use one at sandwich-type places if it seems convenient. I'll let jwg explain, when he gets around to reading this, why I laughed out loud at a certain point in your straw narrative.

I had planned a discussion of wait staff in restaurants who feel compelled to tell you their names. But, I'll save it.


There was a piece in today's Boston Globe (which always has a "Food" section on Wednesday) listing some Sensible Rules for diners and restaurants. it pointed out that, while having the server tell you their name arouses fear in some diners that the server is planning to be chatty, it's actually convenient to know the server's name if you need to summon them (or ask someone else to find them).

[jwg.livejournal.com]

I have this ritual with straws at restaurants: I tear off the end of the paper wrapping, roll it back, and blow it at Robert. These days lots of straw wrappings aren't very good so they don't work; alas!

[susandennis]

ha! That's a sweet ritual.

[susandennis]

No one I know can remember the name the waiter announced. So now we have a chatty person who assumes you know his name and can summon him at will which, of course, is not true.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, there is that.

[foodiefoodnerd.livejournal.com]

I like when they wear nametags because I always make it a point to fill out the comment cards when they do great, to hopefully offset any abusive, obnoxious jerks they may have endured.

But it's a bit awkward, as it feels polite to return the introduction to someone you'll be interacting with; yet I wouldn't want them to feel obligated to remember mine.

I also can't stand people repeatedly using my name when I don't know theirs, so I don't like putting others in that spot.
(yes, 30-plus years past the retail/food service days, and still scarred. :^D)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

They are debating straws here. I like them in summer but if they weren't around I'd probably not miss them

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

I re-use my plastic straws forever and ever. Am I still hurting the environment?

[fauxklore]

I think we only used straws when we had ice cream floats, which were usually vanilla ice cream with orange soda.

We also used plastic straws to make a sort of weaving loom. I think I may have actually learned that in art class in elementary school. You suck long pieces of yarn through the straws to make the warp and then weave between the straws (which are taped together) to make the weft.