First up is this undated, ink-blotched brochure from the California Artichoke Advisory Board, which was tucked away inside a recipe booklet that Joan gave to me as a Christmas gift.
The advisory board's modern-day website leads with the slogan: "Life is short. Stop and eat the artichokes."
Full disclosure: I do not like artichokes, though if pieces are mixed into a salad I'm not going to avoid them. I have a very short list of good-for-me veggies that I don't like: brussel sprouts, artichokes and beets top that list. Beyond that, I'll eat and enjoy just about any vegetable.
The brochure explains that artichokes are a finger food. Pick off the outer leaves, one by one, and pull the loose, fleshy end through your teeth, discarding the upper end of the leaf.
Castroville, California, is the Artichoke Capital of the World, we are told, with peak season being April and May. Recipes in the brochure include beef stroganoff stuffed artichokes, french fried artichokes and artichokes with whipped bacon butter.
Here are a couple of the other recipes:
Up next is this old matchbox from Japan, measuring 1⅞ inches by 2¼ inches. It was one of dozens that my great-grandmother, Greta, collected during her
world travels. I don't know what the writing on the matchbox says, but that's clearly
Mount Fuji in the background of one of the illustrations.
We had small table in the living room at Oak Crest Lane (I think it was a coffin table!) that held all of Greta's matchboxes in its single drawer. My recollection is that most of them went off to auction as a group lot. I have only this one and perhaps one other, somewhere.
Finally, here's my ticket stub for the
Genesis concert that I attended on June 1, 1992, at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium. I went along with my sister Adriane and my college roommate Lee. It was the second of two nights at Veterans Stadium in that summer's
We Can't Dance Tour. At total of 97,774 tickets were sold for May 31 and June 1, so the three of us were likely among a crowd of about 49,000 on June 1. We were down on the Veterans Stadium field, perhaps somewhere near where Mickey Morandini used to be stationed at second base.
The ticket price was $25, which is equivalent to about $58 today, which seems low given today's prices. Concert ticket prices have generally gone up faster than inflation over the past 30 years.
I remember the concert very well. The website
Setlist reports this set list:
- Land of Confusion
- No Son of Mine
- Driving the Last Spike
- Old Medley (Dance on a Volcano, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, The Musical Box, Firth of Fifth, I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), That's All, Illegal Alien, Follow You Follow Me)
- Dreaming While You Sleep
- Fading Lights
- Jesus He Knows Me
- Home by the Sea
- Second Home by the sea
- Hold on My Heart
- Domino
- Drum Duet (Phil Collins & Chester Thompson)
- I Can't Dance
- ENCORE: Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
- ENCORE: Invisible Touch
- ENCORE: Turn It on Again
While I've never been much of a concert-goer, I was back at Veterans Stadium just a few months later in 1992 to see U2's
Zoo TV Tour. Not sure if I have that ticket stub, though.
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