Cooking

 I have a small whole chicken that I'm going to roast.  I looked on the internet to get roasting temperatures and times for chicken.

I got all sorts of hits but every one I went to turned out to be a long post about essentially nothing and when I finally got to the "recipes" they were vague beyond usefulness.

There was a time when the internet was a great, simple, and quick way to look up how to cook something.  Now cooking posts seem to be full of blather and useless "information."

In the end I dug out my mother's old paperback cookbook from the 1930s or 40s - the pages are browning and getting brittle so you have to treat the book carefully - there's no publication information or date anywhere.  

In there in about 30 seconds I found a beautiful little chart of cooking times and temperatures.

Music and Me

 

I realized just recently that I hardly ever, or rather never, sit down and listen to music anymore.  Yes, I will have music playing in the room via the internet but more often than not I will have ocean or wind sounds on, just background in the condo so that I am less likely to be startled by outside noises breaking the silence. But I'm not really listening to it.

I grew up in a household where classical music was the rule and popular music was something I would hear on the radio in the morning when my parents were listening for the news and weather forecast.

In high school I was introduced by friends to Barbra Streisand and Petula Clark.  I really liked Streisand in the "New York years" but am not as fond of her later recordings.  In university I discovered Judy Collins.  In my 30's I came to really enjoy cabaret style singers such as Andrea Marcovicci.  But I mainly listened to classical music.

I don't know quite what the change has been.  Recently I have sat myself down and listened to some CD's but I find myself getting restless.  It's not that I don't like what I'm hearing.  

It seems rather a shame since with the internet music is so available, and on demand.

I wonder if this is an age thing?  Do other people lose interest/patience which things they have enjoyed as they age?