New and Old #152
Friday roundup and commentary
By the time Wall Street crashed in 1929 the U.S.’s Second Empire homes (along with other Victorians) were at or nearing their 50th birthdays and America was broke. These are precious, intricate, wooden buildings that require tremendous upkeep and as the 1930s and the Great Depression wore on, and then as the U.S. entered, fought, and won World War II, the old houses fell into terrible disrepair. After the war we wanted new stuff.
That’s interesting—in other words, these houses helped create the idea of the “haunted house” at a particular moment in their life cycle. They weren’t always “haunted” because they weren’t always creaky and in disrepair.
There’s also an interesting history of suburbia, and why the demolition of old downtowns, including many of these houses which originated in America in urban settings, helped cement the idea of the exposed, lonely, decrepit old house.
The Italian mystery of the missing toilet seats, The Florentine, Sam Hilt, July 16, 2015
To entertain ourselves inexpensively, my wife and I sometimes rate the bathrooms when we travel around Italy using a very simple star-award system. The facilities get one star for each of the following: a door that latches shut; a toilet seat; toilet paper; soap and water to wash your hands; a towel or blower to dry your hands. It’s sad to say but five-star toilets are still rarer than hen’s teeth in much of Italy, and one-star toilets abound. In the States these days you’d have to frequent an off-brand gas station in a desolate area to find a two or three-star toilet. In Italy, you’ll find them in elegant cafes, restaurants, museums and theaters.
When my wife and I were in Sicily last year, we saw this everywhere: toilets in public places and businesses frequently missing the covers. That was one of a few inconveniences we found there, though the rest of Italy seems to have this issue too. What gives?
We asked Italian friends about the frequent absence of toilet seats, and they helped to fill in the blanks. Apparently, the toilet seats are there originally but, then, they break.
The seats break because people stand on them. People stand on them because they are not kept clean enough to sit on. Eventually, after being broken repeatedly, they are no longer replaced for one of two reasons. Either the proprietors decide there’s no point in continuing the cycle, so they consign their toilet to the ranks of the seatless. Or, they try without luck to find a replacement seat and eventually abandon the quest.
It’s a fun piece, although I probably should have read it before we traveled.
Rice is to sushi, as bread is to sandwiches, Torodex, Wil Chung, November 6, 2017
Sushi is a simple concept — simple enough that people spend years going deep into each of its simple parts. A sushi apprentice for restaurants in Japan can spend his first year just making rice, before they can be allowed to touch the fish. At first, I thought this was just a part of the hazing newbies get in a craft with a long tradition. But given rice is considered to be so important in good sushi, it’s a way for novice chefs to get their footing with a solid base and basics before moving on to the flourishes of toppings.
Rice is sometimes called the heart or soul of sushi—the rice enhances the fish in subtle ways you may not even notice or imagine until you have really top-notch sushi. This example of a sandwich is a little more relatable, but it’s the same idea:
But I distinctly remember the first time I had a sandwich that made me pay attention to it, because it tasted phenomenal. The bread had give, but it wasn’t too soft. It was toasted, and the edge was chewy and dusty. And more importantly, it smelled like a bakery where it was warm and toasty. Every bite I took, the bread added an extra note and contrast to the meat, lettuce, and tomatoes.
My sushi rice is nothing special, but while we’re on the subject, I made sushi at home recently. Fish from this store.
1920s recipe for “Strawberry Sauce,” Reddit
This is really neat. A slightly unusual recipe from another time in America. Old cookbooks double as history books—really, any old books do. There are a lot of videos on YouTube about making old recipes, which are cool, but sometimes a quick read like this is a better use of time.
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