Good Morning Michigan! Money Saving Monday, April 6, 2009

by: Christine

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 05:00:00 AM EDT

Specifically, let's talk about Clara, a 93 year old cook and great grandmother, from upstate New York.  Clara has a popular online cooking show, Great Depression Cooking.  In her show, Clara teaches you how to prepare depression-era meals, and she shares stories about her childhood.  Here's a video in which she shares 5 Depression Cooking Survival Tips:

1.  Family
2.  Have a garden
3.  Use & re-use
4.  Make your own meals
5.  Eat healthy

Clara has been doing this for a couple of years.  Here's her first episode, in which she makes pasta and peas.  

"It's not expensive and it's nourishing ... we ate a lot of pasta during the depression.  ... What are we doing to eat tonight?  Pasta with garlic.  What are we going to eat tonight?  Pasta with peas.  What are we going to eat tonight?  Pasta with beans."

Dice some potatoes, dice an onion, put some olive oil in and fry 'em up until the potatoes are rosy.  When the potatoes are rosy, put in the peas.  Add enough water to cook the pasta in.  Boil and season the water, add pasta.  Cover the pan and turn off the stove, and use the heat to cook the pasta.  "In the depression we would turn off the gas and let it cook in its own heat, so we would save gas.  Anything to save anything."

And she also tells the story of the whiskey bootleggers next door.  Very entertaining.  

Clara's youtube channel is here, and her blog is here.  She also has a forthcoming DVD.

Today's Kudos:

Mike Illitch makes a really nice gesture:

When the Tigers open their season this week, fans will look to centerfield at Comerica Park and see the greenery, the flagpoles and the giant fountain. And, as usual, every time there's a Detroit home run, those fountains will erupt.

That spot, in the stadium business, is what they call prime real estate. Companies pay big money to have their logo smack dab in the middle, so that every time fans gaze out there, the brand is what they see.

For the last few years, General Motors has sponsored that fountain, and paid a substantial fee to do so. This season, with all that has happened in the auto business, GM's folks called the Tigers and said, regretfully, they could no longer afford it. Given the layoffs, the bailouts, the threat of bankruptcy, well, owning centerfield was too great a luxury.

GM had to step aside.

Which is when Mike Ilitch, the Tigers' owner, stepped in.

...

So starting with the home opener this Friday afternoon, the Chrysler, General Motors and Ford logos will be on an equal plane above the fountain. And beneath those logos will be a few new words:

"The Detroit Tigers support our automakers."

There's more ...

1896 - The first modern Olympic Games began in Athens, Greece.

1909 - Commodore Robert Peary became the first man to reach the North Pole.

1916 - Charlie Chaplin signed a movie contract with the Mutual Film Corporation, for  $675,000 a year.  This made him the highest-paid film star in the world.

1958 - Arnold Palmer won his first major pro golf tournament by winning the Masters in Augusta, GA.

Born On This Day:

1882 - Rose Schneiderman (U.S. women's rights activist)

1924 - Dorothy Donegan (jazz pianist)

1937 - Merle Haggard (singer)

1937 - Billy Dee (December) Williams actor)

1944 - Michelle Phillips (Holly Michelle Gilliam)(singer)

1952 - Marilu Henner (Mary Lucy Denise Pudlowski)(actress)

Blogging For Michigan 2.0:

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Answer to Friday's Michigan trivia:

Yep!  Lakes Michigan and Huron are hydrologically a single lake, because they are connected by the Straits of Mackinaw, rather than by a river.

Today's Michigan trivia:

This man was a preacher, successful recording artist, and a dedicated civil rights leader.  He died in a nursing home in July, 1984.  Reverend Jesse Jackson called him "the high priest of soul preaching," and Mayor Coleman Young referred to him as, "a giant in the black freedom struggle in the city of Detroit."

Today in Michigan history:

1971 - Detroit Tigers have their largest opening-day attendance.  The Tigers beat Cleveland 8-2 before the largest opening-day crowd, 54,089, in the team's history.  Via Michigan History Magazine

Signe Wilkinson:

That's it.  Enjoy Monday!