OwlStorm's Day

8:08AM

I am tired. Groggy. Energy-less. Sleep last night was near impossible on the torture device otherwise known as "the computer room couch" at Mom & Dad's. Too short & too narrow. Next time, I'm napping on the floor..or possibly the couch in the living room. "Valley 101" (a column in the local rag) answered a question about tripe. Perfect reading during breakfast.....not. Now, I have some stuff in the dryer. Once that's out, I go home, get the rent paid & go (back?) to sleep. Back to work tonight at 8:00pm. Golly Jeepers, I just can't wait.......

Meanwhile, here's today's question from the "Valley 101" column....

My boyfriend claims he ate tripe while living in France. He describes it as long and tubular like intestines and very greasy. I say tripe is the stomach of an animal, but just how greasy it is I don't know. We need your help to solve this problem.

He ate tripe that wasn't in menudo? He ate it straight? Well, to each his own.
Tripe is the lining of a cow's stomach, but it is sometimes made with sheep or pig stomachs.
There are four kinds of tripe: blanket or smooth tripe, honeycomb tripe, pocket tripe and book or leaf tripe. The different varieties come from the different parts of the cow's various stomachs.
I've found it described as "gelatinous," which isn't quite the same as greasy, but it still doesn't make it sound very good.
They do use tripe to make menudo, so I guess it can't be all that bad. Menudo is good for you.
People who like tripe really like tripe. And they've been eating it for centuries. Homer tells us that tripe was served at a feast honoring Achilles, a hero of the Trojan War.
If you happen to have all four types of tripe around, you can whip up a batch of tripes a la mode de Caen.
This is what you do: You put all four kinds in a deep earthenware casserole with a split calf's foot, onions, suet and some apple brandy. Seal the casserole and cook it for 12 hours.
That's right, 12 hours.

What you do with it after that is up to you.


Where did the word "jaywalking" come from?
It's an American word that came into use around 1917.
"Jay" used to be slang for a stupid or unsophisticated person. So someone who ignored the rules and just wandered out into traffic was said to be jaywalking.

5:47PM