BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

Let me tell you something, Buzz Lightyear ain’t got nothin’ on my childhood.

The year was 1967… The date, December 25th…

I was right at two months shy of being 6 years old and just as important – especially to a wide-eyed child who had a fascination with the space program – the United States was less than two years away from safely landing two men on the Moon then returning them safely to Earth.

Of course, prior to Science Fact establishing a foothold, Science Fiction is what will capture our attentions…

Lost in Space was keeping kids entertained, me included. I even had a puppy love crush on Angela Cartwright who played the part of Penny on the series. Much to my chagrin I suspect my Kindergarten teacher, (Miss Flynn was her name at the time), probably still has an audio recording (on reel-to-reel tape, originally) of me saying, “Penny on Lost in Space is my girlfriend.”

Yeah… for real… Of course, Ms. Cartwright was several years older than me, and had absolutely no clue that I even existed, but hey, that was a minor obstacle to a 5-going-on-6 year old. So there… I preemptively embarrassed myself. Therefore, if I ever run for public office and the tape surfaces, nobody can claim I was suppressing it.

Star Trek, in its original incarnation complete with an overacting William Shatner and stoic Leonard Nimoy, was keeping adult minds occupied with thoughts of space travel and life beyond our solar system. And, some of us kids followed it as well. Although, I will readily admit that I didn’t have a proper appreciation for the women’s Starfleet uniforms until I hit puberty, but we won’t go there…

Instead, let’s get back around to December 1967… Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in particular… You see, even back then the toy industry was on board with current events marketing and media tie-ins. While I often tell my daughter that when I was her age I received a stick, a rock, and a cardboard box for Christmas if I was lucky, the truth is there were a few plastic items under the tree – although, they didn’t begin to harbor the electronics and technology of today. Back then, if “Santa” left you something that ran on batteries, it was considered the high-ticket item of the holiday.

So, 1967… There I was, an almost 6 year old with a crush on a gorgeous older woman “space babe” who happened to be a TV star coupled with an intense fascination with the U. S. Space Program. “Santa” had it pretty easy that year…

The toy of choice for boys (yes, I realize that is sexist, but we are talking about 1967 here so please just suck it up and deal with the fact that our society hadn’t pulled its collective head out of its collective ass just yet… I was only 5. I had no influence on attitudes just yet, not that I do now either)… Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah… The toy of choice for boys that year was an astronaut action figure known as Major Matt Mason. (He was originally introduced in 1966 and gained steam by the following Christmas)… Yeah. WAYYY before Buzz Lightyear came onto the scene…

Click Here For 1966 Major Matt Mason TV Commercial

Major Matt Mason was cool. He was a military astronaut, he was bendable, had a removable helmet to go along with his molded on pressure suit, and he came with bitchin’ accessories like a Jet Pack and Space Sled. The Sled involved flying it around by hand while making your own whooshing noises, however the Jet Pack was another story. You hooked a string to a point above you such as a doorframe, then pulled the string on the bottom of the pack – a whirr of the flywheel gear would ensue, the spiraly decorated spindle in the back would turn, and Matt Mason would zoom upward. Of course, when you released the tension on the string he would plummet back to the ground, but that was just a minor technicality, because on the Moon there would be far less gravity to deal with. Besides, Major Matt Mason was a Major… And an Astronaut.  The perils of space were many, but he was tough and he could take it…

And, those were just the accessories that came with him on the blister card packaging – (therefore, you tended to collect extra Jet Packs and Sleds each time you bought a figure to replace the damaged Major. You see, the wires in his arms and legs didn’t hold up to the friction of bending and unbending for very long… The perils of space he could handle. The perils of being bent into a pretzel by little kids were a different story…) – But, back to other accessories. He even had himself an oddly barrel-shaped suit for excursions on the Moon’s surface, sold separately or even with a figure in the package (after all, those appendage wires would soon be breaking). The corrugated arms of the suit moved by the use of an ultra-high tech mechanism, that being an air bellows. Squeeze – the arms splayed open. Release – the arms folded back toward the shell. See, I told you we didn’t need no stinkin’ batteries…

Well, almost… The Major did have a few powered accessories – the most notable of these being the Space Crawler. A bizarre contraption with offset spoked legs that thumped and wobbled across the floor with him in the driver’s seat. Let me tell you, on hardwood you could definitely hear him coming… The round humps that have little, molded turbine-looking tops were where you put the two D-Cell batteries required to power the motor. One of the really cool things about the Space Crawler is that it was designed so that you could turn it on its side, attach it to the top of the multi-level moon station (something I received from the red-suited elf the following Christmas) and it would spin around like a big radar antenna.

In addition to receiving the Moon Base/Station, I also picked up a few of the Major’s crew, an alien or two, as well as the FireBolt Laser Cannon. After all, if you are the Earth’s first line of defense against alien invasions, you definitely need a Laser Cannon.

Alas, as with most childrens toys, the Major, his crew, and all of their accessories disappeared from my toy box as they broke, fell from favor, or just plain ended up lost. Unfortunate, because they were discontinued in the early 70’s and are now a toy collector’s dream, garnering some serious cash.

And so, what has made me relive this here for you now? Well, obviously Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I’m Forty-Odd years older than that kid who played with a bendy astronaut doll and had a crush on Angela Cartwright, but even after all this time I remember Major Matt Mason, and the fact that it was one of my favorite toys of all time.

I understand that Tom Hanks is currently developing a film based on the toy. Given how close he and I are in age, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a Major Matt Mason too.

You know, of course, it will be a moral imperative that I go see this movie if it ever comes to fruition…

And, lest you think I only dreamed this childhood memory…

Christmas Eve… After the fat elf visited. I was down the hall in my room, of course, fast asleep…

A little closer look at what the dude in the red suit left under the tree…

Yes, that’s me on Christmas Morning…

No, I’m not pulling his head off. Just his helmet…

And what of my crush? What of Angela Cartwright / Penny Robinson and Lost in Space? Well, as you can see in the first Black & White picture, 1966 was a good year Space Toys. I was able to defend our home against alien invasion with an official Lost in Space laser rifle (that broke down into three laser pistols)… And, those spinning things it shot off the end? Hurt like hell. True story…

More to come…

Murv

(Color images of Major Matt Mason toys and accessories borrowed from various nostalgia and antique toy sites around the web. Black and white photos from the Sellars family photo archive.)

Actually, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t know Aunt Ida at all. Never met the woman, and were she still around I wouldn’t recognize her if we bounced off of one another at the Galleria… Not that such would be likely, what with the fact that I absolutely despise shopping in malls – most especially the crowds – but, you get my drift.

However, the mysterious (to me) Aunt Ida was apparently ubiquitous in the lives of Evil Kat and all her siblings, and furthermore she left a lasting impression upon them… Well, upon E K, at least.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, my father-in-law is a minister, and therefore E K and her brothers grew up in and around Baptist churches throughout Saint Louis. I’m a bit sketchy on some of the details since I wasn’t there, but if I remember the story correctly, Aunt Ida, who was in no way, shape, or form of any blood relation to E K and her family, was a kindly older lady who often watched after the kids around one of the churches. And, in taking care of them she often saw to their meals.

Sounds like a perfectly wonderful Aunt Ida to me…

Anyway, fast forward several years. E K loses her halo, sprouts horns, and grows up to be an evil redhead. Somewhere along the line she meets up with me and becomes enamored of my Timex-like qualities (punctual, but moreover, can take a licking and keep on ticking.) So, being in need of a domestic servant/doormat/punching bag, E K takes out a contract and before you know it has signed on the dotted line of the State issued paperwork which guaranteed I would be indentured unto her for the rest of my natural life.

Still with me so far? Yeah, we’re coming back around to the whole Aunt Ida thing…

So there we were, about a year or so into my life sentence, when The Evil One began to wax nostalgic. I was in the midst of wrapping and bagging a ham bone from what else, a ham. It was sometime around the holidays as I recall. At any rate, I was wrapping up the ham bone in order to save it for use in a big ol’ pot of navy beans. Alas,  I was soon to discover that legumes of the “seafaring” variety were not to be in my future, because overcome with this attack of nostalgia the redhead proceeded to announce, “I really miss Aunt Ida’s green bean and ham stew.”

To begin with I asked, “Who’s Aunt Ida? Was she at the wedding?”

This was when I was given the thumbnail sketch of the mysterious Aunt Ida that I relayed to you in an above paragraph.

Accepting this explanation, and still being like a new puppy and all, I was eager to please my “Mistress”, so I asked, “Was that all that was in it, just green beans and ham?”

“No,” her evilness explained. “It was green beans, ham, and potatoes.”

Now it made a little more sense to me. However, it wasn’t making the same sense to me that it was making to E K. To understand what I mean, scroll back up and make note of her initial statement – green bean and ham stew.

Stew is quite obviously the operative word here. At this stage in our marriage I had not yet figured out that not only was E K a non-cook, she wasn’t well versed in the nomenclature of the kitchen either. As brilliant as the woman is, kitchen talk simply wasn’t her thing.

Now, just in case some of you fall into the same category – brilliant but not kitchen savvy – allow me to define stew:

A stew is food, generally meat and vegetables, though it can be all veggie, that has been cooked long and slow in a liquid and then is served in a resultant thickened gravy-like stock. The gravy consistency of a stew stock can be obtained by reduction, by adding a starch, or some combination thereof…

Remember that. It’s going to be extremely important later… In fact, the crux of this entire missive hinges upon it.

And so, being eager to please, I promptly… well, within the next day or two… took myself off to the grocery, obtained some fresh green beans, a sack of taters, and then dug out my giant, stainless steel stock pot. I prepped a simple stock, then added the ham bone. After cooking it to death and extracting the inedible portions (gristle, excess fat, and the bone itself), I tossed in the green beans and diced potatoes, proceeding to cook them to death as well, bringing the stew to a healthy boil so that the potatoes would disintegrate and the stock would reduce. See where I’m heading here? I turned it into a nice, thick, stew with bits of potato, ham, and green beans. Then, wagging my tail because I just knew I had done something that would make the redhead ecstatic, I served it up.

She ate it, but never cracked a smile. I began to worry. Finally, I asked what she thought.

She replied, “It was okay, but it’s not right.”

I was devastated, but resolved to fix the problem. “What isn’t right about it?” I asked. “I can change the recipe…”

“I don’t know,” said the redhead. “It just isn’t the same as Aunt Ida’s…”

Of course, I knew all too well that I would never in a million years be able to duplicate Aunt Ida’s stew exactly. After all, I wasn’t Aunt Ida. But, I was certain I could come close enough to bring a smile to The Evil One’s face. So, a few months later I returned to the drawing board. I had a fresh ham bone, so I gathered together the green beans and potatoes. I adjusted my seasonings, added extra ham, cooked it to death, and even did it up as a split batch so I could immersion blender the hell out of a batch of potatoes, heavy cream, and butter before folding the silky mixture into the pot full of ham and green beans. I was not going to allow Aunt Ida to best me, nor my evil bride to pine for something I should be able to easily duplicate. After all, in the kitchen I definitely “gots skillz” if I do say so myself…

With much trepidation I served up the creamy, piping hot stew to my wife. She ate it. Never smiled. Then, at the end of dinner slipped into a leather outfit and ordered me into the basement where I was then severely punished for preparing green bean and ham stew that just wasn’t the same as Aunt Ida’s…

This trend continued for a few years and each time the tortures became worse, with power garden implements, battery chargers connected to jumper cables, and sometimes even blowtorches, all while the Evil One screamed, “It’s Not The Same As Aunt Ida’s!”

I have to tell you, I was really beginning to despise Aunt Ida, and I’d never even met the woman…

So, ham bone time rolled around again and I was dreading a day spent in the kitchen concocting a new take on the stew that would only result in me making yet another trip to E Kay’s Basement Of Horrors. I was already seriously considering fixing up a batch of navy beans instead. That way, if I ended up being tortured anyway, at least I would have a meal that I wanted for a change.

Fortuitously however, the redhead had been ruminating over this whole Aunt Ida’s stew debacle, and was apparently feeling magnanimous.

“Lackey,” she called to me. “Come here!”

I skulked in from the kitchen, wondering if I was about to recieve a pre-stew beating just for good measure. “Yes, Oh Grand High Exalted One?”

“I’ve been thinking. The way I remember Aunt Ida’s Stew it wasn’t thick like you keep screwing up and making. It was brothier.”

Whistles tweeted, horns blared, bells rang, and a 250 Watt halogen bulb ignited above my head as I smiled. “Oh… So it’s not stew, it’s soup?”

She frowned, kicked me in the shin really hard with her pointy toed pump, then grabbed me by the hair and slapped me a few times just to be sure she had my attention as she instructed, “Don’t you dare question me, lackey. It’s stew.”

“Yes, ma’am…” I mumbled while hopping on one foot and holding my cheek (On my face, people. My face… Sheesh…).

“Now get in the kitchen and make me some stew. I’ll be in the basement sharpening a few things for later…”

And so I scurried off, however, being armed with this new and important information I took a quick detour to the store for a different kind of potato.  Something less mealy and with a firmer, waxier texture. Then, I came home, prepped a stock, cooked a ham bone to death, then added green beans. During the last 45 minutes or so, I cranked it and tossed in the diced potatoes and then served up the wonderfully “brothy” green bean,  ham and potato soup, complete with a pan of fresh cornbread.

E K ate the soup. E K smiled. E K purred. E K looked and acted like a little kid again. And, I didn’t have to go to the basement… (Well, not that night, anyway…)

To this day, her supreme evilness still refers to this dish as Aunt Ida’s Stew, even though it is in point of fact a soup, not a stew. Well, I am not about to correct her, because we know what will happen if I do. All I can say is that it is far less work than I had been putting myself through before the serendipitous revelation, and when you consider the fact that Aunt Ida was watching after a whole raft of kids – the young version of her supreme evilness included – it’s no wonder she employed the KISS principle. I should have recognized that from the outset, but back then I wasn’t a parent, and well, we all know that hindsight is 20-20.

The long and short of it is this – Aunt Ida’s Stew is probably as close as it gets to number 1 on E Kay’s hit parade when it comes to comfort food from my kitchen.

Aunt Ida’s Green Bean-Potato-Ham “Stew”

(Serves 8 – 12 Adults or 1 Evil Redhead)

You will need: Tongs, a 20 quart stock pot, large colander (preferably stainless steel), large mixing bowl to accommodate colander, patience

Ingredients:

1 Large Ham Shank and Bone (The shank and bone from a good sized spiral cut ham works famously)

4 Cups Ham, Diced (Reserved from the cut ham at the outset, or purchased separately – I’ve done both)

2 -3 Lbs Fresh Green Beans, cleaned, stemmed, and snapped into 2 inch pieces

3 Lbs Waxy Red Potatoes, Peeled and cut into 1 1/2″ to 2 ” Cubes

1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

6 Cloves Garlic

2 Medium Yellow Onions

6 Ribs Celery

3-4 Large Carrots

2 Tbsp Olive or Vegetable Oil

Cooking Directions:

Begin by chopping carrots, onions, and celery into 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces. Those of you who have taken a turn or two around the kitchen will recognize this as Mirepoix – the holy trinity of aromatic veggies that is the basis for many dishes, especially stocks and broths.

Crush the garlic cloves.

Heat your stock pot and add the cooking oil (olive or vegetable). Coat bottom of stock pot, then add Mirepoix and garlic. Sweat the vegetables over medium heat until they begin to become translucent – 5-7 minutes. Raise heat for a few minutes and stir until they begin to caramelize. Add Ham Shank and Bone to pot, then pour in cold water until bone is completely covered. Raise heat and bring to a rolling boil. After 10 – 15 minutes, lower heat to a simmer and partially cover, making sure to leave a gap for steam so that it doesn’t boil over. Salt and pepper to taste, add apple cider vinegar. Allow to simmer for 3 to 4 hours, checking occasionally, and adding water to return to near original volume when necessary.

After 3 – 4 hours, remove from heat. Remove bone and shank, set aside to cool. Once broth has cooled somewhat, strain out cooked Mirepoix and return broth to stock pot. Once bone and shank have cooled sufficiently (you can place them in the refrigerator to hasten the process) use a fork, or your hands (my preference) to pick off the edible meat and return it to the pot with the broth. Discard cartilage, excess fat, and bone.

Return broth to heat, add green beans – these should have already been cleaned, stemmed, and snapped into 2 inch pieces. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes. Then, carefully add cubed potatoes and diced ham. Allow broth to return to a boil for 10 minutes, then lower heat to a simmer. Cook for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Re-season with salt and pepper.

Serve with a pan of cornbread or fresh yeast rolls.

Notes:

Sometimes when it is necessary for me to prepare this – i.e. the redhead needs a fix – and I don’t have a ham bone handy, nor do I wish to purchase a large ham in order to obtain one, I will fix up a smaller batch using a small ham shank and 2 or 3 smoked hocks, which are readily available in most supermarket meat departments and are fairly inexpensive. It’s not exactly the same, but the resultant beating is far less severe than it would be otherwise.

More to come…

Murv

PS. I feel compelled to throw a random disclaimer in from time to time, so here it is: If you are new to this blog and are unfamiliar with the satirical bent with which I portray my gorgeous, redheaded bride of 22+ years, don’t take things so seriously. Simply click on any highlighted E K link and read about her. She’s an absolute doll who deserves a halo just for playing along, and furthermore, for putting up with me.