Guess What? April 2013
By Bob Cahn – “The Primitive Man”
“VICTORIAN” rears its ugly head… with REFINED characteristics!
The infamous FORK CONUNDRUM … which would you choose?
Once in a BLUE MOON we go on an inane rhyming rampage — it’s BLUE MOON time!
The VICTORIANS had a way of defining
What we’d today label “gracious dining”
A utensil to fit
Every morsel and bit
Makes the ordinary meal more refining!
Eeny, meeny, miny, mo
Catch some food as you arrive from Stowe
Open buffet or salad bar
Steamed mussels or caviar
Pigs-in-blankets squeal well with Bordeaux
Emily Post set down rules etched in stone;
Utensils were basic, some plated – or tin
with handles of bone
Pressed, forged or heavily embossed –
Unlike plastic – often tossed.
A single loss could neer be condoned.
Whether separate, or near Sterling siblings –
It prevented more serious dribblings
The tines acted as spears
Making the morsel appear
Putting an end to choosing and quibbling.
Now that the question’s been posed –
With the answer covertly exposed …
It’s guessing time again
With the odds one to ten;
Here’s your chance to call the case closed!
Is it?
1) Fancy tropical fish tank snail gravel cleaner
2) Radish stabber/server
3) Pickle/small gherkin picker-upper
4) Dainty meat patty tenderizer
5) Sliced cheese buffet fork
6) Oyster/smoked mussel server
7) Olive pricker/lifter
8) Fig forker
9) Horizontal sliced cucumber nudger
10) Giant grape, fruit stabber
11) Frivolous mini tomato fork
12) Tangerine segment separators.
That’s the line-up; have at it.*
*Carefully researched and presented by Anne Slater, Pacific Palisades, CA.; exhibiting at Mike Grimes Del Mar Antique Fair Size: 6″L X 2″W
Answer to March’s Guess What
Last month’s submission, the creation of a master blacksmith of a trammel variation known as a “Lug Pole Trammel.” This was an elongated vertical treatment with spaced hooks for heat adjustment. BUT with this distinctive variation, it was designed for a tall walk-in fireplace, using a green willow bough installed horizontally across the chimney interior, allowing for frequent replacement, as the fireplace heat would continually dry and char the existing limb.
Green sappling replacement was a common household chore and an economical way to keep the log cabin budget under control.
Sponsored
Related posts: