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Day’?s Verse:
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Isaiah 40:29
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I just thought of this: Why do we eat bread with pasta but not bread with potatoes? Aren’t they both starchy main dish with a starchy side dish? (Not that I’m against bread and pasta together, not at all! I just suddenly wondered at our inconsistency.)
Also, is it just me, or do other people flush public toilets with their feet? I hate the idea of touching that disgusting handle; who knows where it’s been! Downstairs they have a polite sign in the stall asking us to please depress the flusher with our hands, but I always read it the moment after I’ve just used my foot to flush. I sure hope I’m not the only weirdo who does that.
Maybe the bread/no bread thing relates back to the cuisine of origin. Potato growing and wheat growing don’t often happen in the same landscape (i.e. Ireland and S. Amer., where it originated). But pasta is made from wheat flour and they grow wheat in Italy where pasta is a staple food. I just read that potatoes were originally thought to be a food for the lower classes who might have been lucky to have one or other other but maybe not both.
i only know one other person who does the foot thing, and he is the biggest germ phobe i ever met. but theres a bowling alley in arlington where they don’t even have flush handles, they have foot pedals! i guess they figure nobody wants to touch anything in a bowling alley bathroom.
What? Don’t you folks all eat mashed potato sandwiches?
As for the flushing… for me, it depends on the type of fixture. Those cylindrical ones that are just about at seat level – always a foot flush! Regular home-like handles at the level of the tank lid I flush by hand, but with a piece of tp in hand. If I am quick, I can then drop the tp in to the swirling whirlpool and no one is the wiser.
It amuses me to imagine someone wearing a skirt and nice shoes and then cortorting herself to reach a handle that is 3 feet above the floor.
So, Katie, how do you flush the toilet at home?
I figure since I’m washing my hands right after I flush, I don’t really need to worry about the germs :0) But you could always use toilet paper, like your mom does.
And who says you can’t eat bread with potatoes? Think of the KFC meals, with their mashed potato and biscuit sides!
And just how many times have you seen a breakfast served with potatoes and bread? Almost all sandwiches in America are served on bread with a side of fries (potatoes). French fries, potatoes au gratin, mashed potatoes, hash browns, twice baked, are all served with meals that include bread.
How could we live without potatoes? And bread? Your Irish Nana
I always flush public toilets with my foot too.
Mom: Did you notice my strategic use of “public” in that paragraph? I never foot-flush in homes. That would be weird.
Nana: You’re so totally right! How did I not think of that? Although I would add that when I make twice baked potatoes, for instance, I don’t serve it with bread because it feels redundant.
I occasionally have flushed with my foot but usually just flush with my hand ’cause I figure I’ll be washing my hands right away. The problem then becomes, if the soap and water dispensers are not ‘automatic’ what to do after you’ve washed and want to turn the water off. You have to touch the gross handle you touched before you washed….unless it’s one of those ones you push down, but it seems like you have to push them 10 times to get enough water to wash/rinse…. public bathrooms are awkward/frightening in so many ways haha.
Weird thing I do in public restrooms: if there’s no music/ambient noise, I have a very hard time going to the bathroom if someone else is in there. I’ll wait for a flush or a hand dryer and then go as fast as I can!
Sometimes I eat bread with a meal that has potatoes. I’m a firm believer that bread can accompany just about everything because good bread is amazing….mmmm.