194 replies to this topic

[meanderer]

Well, the evening at the pub was very good. The pints (Smithwick's) were great, just as the shots (Jameson 12, of course) were. A wonderful time was had by all. I will leave out the amusing little disaster that happened on my way to the pub.

Puti - I didn't say that nobody knew what bangers and mash were...I just figured that everybody knew already! How does the place compare to Ireland? Well...it is a bit more "reserved" than you'd expect from a pub in Ireland (besides, it was a Monday night, so...). The food is typical "pub grub", although you could order anything on the menu, any time of day. It has a little bit more flavor than the Irish pub grub (most Americans want a little bit of spices or seasoning in their food). Unfortunately, there was no drunken sing-a-longs.

jimmary - no. I'm not from Ireland...physically, though generations of my ancestors came from there. Being raised as Irish Catholic, I've always felt a "bond" or an attraction to Ireland. Ever since I was a little boy, I'd always wondered about Ireland, and always dreamed about going there. The history and legends of that little island fascinates me, the people are wonderful and, honestly...the weather there is (on average) much more to my liking than the weather in Connecticut. The Irish language is a bit difficult to grasp (since it's not derived from Latin), and at my age, I think I'll never "get it".

Chicken-fried steak? That's good stuff, right there. Actually, probably the best over-all "cooking" in the world is Southern cooking. Well, except for the chitlins and parts of the pig that still resemble parts of the pig.

Best wishes jimmary, for your wife's continued recovery. Enjoy the Renaissance Fair (I've never been to one, but thought about it). Hopefully, you'll run into Puti there!

[jimmary]

meanderer, I understand the attraction to Ireland; I'm like that about gay bars.
Anyway, as far as my blood is concerned, it's English (my last name, and is very rare and so far found in only one county in old England), German, and Spanish/Mexican. I have no desire for or attraction to Mexico. That's just my preference. My Mexican grandfather, along with my mother, was always specific to say we were Spaniard and not Mexican. My mother looks as Mexican as can be and is 1st generation, but the heritage just doesn't pull me. Now my head is in the English and German part of my heritage, especially German. And as you stated about grasping the Irish language, I'm the same way about German, but I still try, especially since I collect WW2-era documents, books, and such.
We don't have the heritage, but someday my wife and I hope to make it to Ireland. I have seen and heard so much about it that it is on the "to do" list before I become a spirit.
BAD_WORD right, Chicken-fried steak (CFS) is good stuff; a food for the masses. It is not necessarily an art form, but it's easy to make bland. Many places don't concentrate on seasonoing and just go for size, which is okay, but it doesn't make up for good flavor. I've grown up on Southern cooking, along with Mexican cooking, all of my life. Fried isn't necessarily good for you, but I don't care. And the pig parts of which you speak, well guess what...yep, me like. Not everyone is into it...for instance, my wife and youngest son. Menudo uses both tripe and pigs feet, so that's a double wammy. I love it. And I cook just about all of that, along with Itialian, Chinese, and whatever else tickles my fancy. No, the other fancy. Yeah, that one.
Thank you for the well-wishes, meanderer; We will enjoy RenFair (as it is called by many) and you should try to make one someday. Maybe both Puti and I can give you a report later.

[meanderer]

I look forward to a full report after the Fair!

German is uh...fairly easy to understand, if you listen carefully. I can watch old German movies, and catch (about) every third word; from that, I can get a good idea what's being said. If it's spoken slowly, I'd understand more words. Heck - I'm like that with English, too! haha

Most of my genetic heritage is from the British Isles (I think I might have mentioned that before), but I've got no desire at all to go to England. It's always been about Ireland. The second largest ethnicity in me is from Eastern Europe, and I've thought about going to places like Czechoslovakia and places like that. I've also always wanted to go to Munich (München) and Paris, because I also have German and French blood in me. I'm a mutt! I'd love to visit those places (and go back to Tokyo - I was stationed just outside of the city when I was in the USAF), but the place I'd love to visit again - and wish I could live there - is Galway. (sigh!)

I always tell people that southern cooking is the best. Even the ribs are beyond words! I haven't even eaten ribs since 1980, when I had BBQ ribs in Arkansas. Maybe I'm biased, but I just feel that there's no way anybody up north could do as well. Although, I do know a woman up here who made southern fried chicken one time...and it tasted just as good as down south. I don't know how she was able to pull that off! But it was good....so good!

[jimmary]

Yes, I understand that about German; I tell people that there are so many words in German that are roughly the same spelling and pronunciation. I can kind of follow along, as you said you do, but I just have a harder time with it than I would like.

I guess we are all mostly mutts, but some are muttier than others(cartoon Muttly laugh inserted here).

The thing about Southern cooking is that anyone can do it. The bbq part is that one just has to pay attention to what they are doing (meat too dry, not cooked long enough, etc.). It doesn't have to be done exactly the same as in the South, just cook it and enjoy. There are many regional Southern styles and preferences of bbq (Texas is primarily beef, but we touch on everything). I see shows where people brag about which region is best. Heck, IT'S ALL GOOD! It just depends on which meat mood hits you. Oh, and fried chicken; it needs attention, but some probably have an easier time cooking it. I absolutely loved my mother's, whereas I still have problems with batter not sticking to the chicken from time to time. And I love fried gizzards; either one likes it or doesn't.
DAM, I'M HUNGRY NOW! THANKS, MEANDERER. LOL!

[White Witch]

Scotch and German here!

[jimmary]

Not bad, WW; me likes both cultures.

[meanderer]

I've even got a touch of Mohawk indian in me, too. I have an uncle who'd always said that we did - although he also said we didn't have any Irish ancestors (but my mother contradicted that - loudly). My mother's sister had told me that my great-great grandmother was full-blooded Mohawk from Canada.

Doing this family tree bit in Ancestry.com, and asking relatives for any old photos they'd have (so I could scan them and repair them if needed), I received a photo from one aunt of a man and a woman, posing for a photographer - the woman seems to have a great amount of (for lack of a better phrase) "Indian" traits in her face. My cousin (in Arkansas) took a photo (of a photo) with her cellphone and emailed it to me of a woman with some "Indian" facial traits, but not as strong as the other woman. But my cousin said there was no name on the back of the photo. So, I called another aunt (my mother's sister), and she also had the same picture (of the unnamed woman), and there was a name on the photo. It is my great grandmother. So, deducing that the other woman, with her very strong facial traits was her mother. The man she posed with was my great-great grandfather. While looking at his lifeline (documents I'd already found, before finding the photo) shows that he was baptized in a small church...just a few miles from a Mohawk Indian reservation on the south side of the St Lawrence River. I'd finally found my Mohawk indian ancestor. Unfortunately, I only know her "European" name. Her tribal name is probably lost to history.

[jimmary]

That's fascinating, meanderer. When I used to work for the county, I would perfom historical research that would sometimes sidetrack into genealogy or genealogy outright. It always makes me tingle when we would find connections. Your story would not be all that different, but possessing those important photos brings the people to life along with acknowledging the cross-culture history, and especially being park Mohawk. You're a lucky man to be able to make those connections.
Supposedly we have Apache blood, and my great-grandfather looked rather Indian, along with Geromino being a family name in a branch of my mother's family, but I don't have any documented confirmation of the heritage.

[meanderer]

Yeah...you get a special "a-ha!" moment when you can actually find evidence of an ancestor you might have only heard a few bits and pieces about.
The same thing happened with my grandfather's brother (that I'd never heard of before). My aunt had mentioned that he did have a brother, but he died young. Searching thru census records was difficult (since the whole last name of the family was logged with a different spelling). Once I made a break through, I was able to piece together most of my grandfather's brother's story - when he was born, where he lived, who he married and when he died. Rumor has it, it was a "mob hit", but that's going to be impossible to prove.
I can't help it - I love history! Family history is obviously more closer to home, so it's interesting in a whole new area.
As for you, jimmary...if you have that little piece of info, if I were you, I'd just dig! Keep looking around. There's got to be something out there that will help you make connections.

[jimmary]

Man, that's some neat stuff you have learned. I love those extra facts about family history that put it past the mundane, and you seem to have those "extras" pretty much. And I know the "ah-ha" feeling of which you speak, both for customers and myself.
Regarding the spelling mistake, I would run into that all the time doing real estate research, from the 1830s all the way to today. That can really mess up things for researchers, whether in hand-written ledgers or in computer indexes. Of course if it was in one of the index books in the archive where I worked, I would always correct it, being overly cautious when correcting.
Yes, I'm a history buff as well, and trying to learn both sides of my family should be easy, but life always butts in and eats up my time. We have done a lot, but I really need to hit my mother's side as she has the Indian blood, whereas my father had the hillbilly blood from Georgia. The last names are not common, so it should be easier than most to search. I have seen the Zamora last name from time to time in my regular research (my mother), but Yarbray (my father) is even rarer and most are directly out of Georgia. And it doesn't help that my wife's family history is interesting as well, also involving Indian blood (that's documented), but not sure of the tribe, potentially Caddo out of north Texas/southern Oklahoma. Need to set aside time to research again.

[meanderer]

I'm tellin' ya, jimmary...look into it. Do some digging. Make yourself a nuisance to all your family (if you haven't already ). Get what ever info you can get from them (don't be skittish about waterboarding your grandmother if you have to, she's not protected by the Geneva Convention). Do whatever it takes. This whole 'genealogy' thing began taking seed years ago, with a simple little comment one of my aunts had made...it festered in my head for years, and I finally decided to get going on this whole thing.

You never know what you'll find.

[jimmary]

LOL! You have now put the interrogation bug in me..."Grandam, come here! I want to ask you something! Now just lay down and put this towel over your face...". (That comment of yours really made me LOL.)
I have become a nisance to my family, but that's just because I'm gassy. Still, I need to get more info out of them before they become part of this paranormal hobby that has a hold on me. I have heard some interesting stories on my mother's side (the paternal side of my heritage has a complicated aspect to it, but I have heard stories from my mother), so I need to get those recorded. Sometimes I'm so into the story that I forget that I should be writing it down or recording it.
Okay, time to eat my bacon sandwich, continue listening to George Harrison music, and then get back to work. Have a good day, meanderer.

[meanderer]

jimmary, that's the second reference of listening to George Harrison's music that you've mentioned here...I take it, you're a fan?

Edited by meanderer, 17 November 2012 - 11:16 PM.

[cathylj73]

hey I did not feel the earthquake. A few people I work with that live farther away more into the hills said they felt a bit. Thanks for asking. sorry I have not been on in a bit been so busy here. Hope all of you are doing well

[cathylj73]

its funny your all talking about herritage.. I was adopted when I was a little over 2. Raised Hungarian/ Slovac. but just in the past few months I have been talking to a biological aunt ( I found my bio mom when I was 28) and been learning about my biological heritage. Im amazed and a lot of things have fallen into place of all my "dreams" and ways I felt... I was born Irish, French and Choctaw Indian, Penoboscot Indian! All my relitives were married/ laid to rest in the native american way.
My aunt is gathering all the information for me as far as birth/ death certificates, photos and so on. Come to find out it was either a uncle or grandfather (have to clear that up) that was a tribal shaman / medicine healer. They all see spirits and have anstersors that visit them in dreams and all. its exciting to learn all this. So many years I always felt very close to nature , the energy of the land and didnt know where this came from. My aunt said she is the same way!
Well if I dont get a chance to come back on here this week I want to wish all of you a very happy thanksgiving..