Thursday, August 21, 2008

Notable & Unexpected: "Pressure Cooker" As a Kitchen Appliance Not a Metaphor

"I'm walking towards the kitchen and realize just how much I miss that old house. How much I miss coming home from school or work and taking in all of the aromas from my Mother's kitchen. Opening the front door to that familiar hisssssss of the pressure cooker competing with Telemundo full blast on the tv. Sitting there with Dad, watching the news, waiting in anticipation for that "ping" from the Hitachi, the Cuban Dinner Alarm." — Val Prieto, "Ropa Vieja and Steak Sandwiches," Babalú, August 21, 2008


"Pressure cooker" is mentioned by Val without reference to Cubans on the island.

Is it too optimistic to hope that the "rivers of blood" will dry up too?

Progress, anyway.

30 comments:

  1. What is a pressure cooker?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Pressure cooker" is a metaphor for cutting off humanitarian assistance to Cubans because Castro doesn't put enough pressure on them. Supposedly this additional pressure will cause the "ball-less" Cubans to rise in arms without arms and drown their enemies in rivers of their (own) blood.

    This mindset is based on the belief that Cubans on the island are Castro's collaborators and Cubans in Miami are his victims.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just purchased a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker.

    This Swiss made wonder cooks black beans in a 1/2 hour with no soaking!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unless you cook them on the stove for at least 3 hours, they are not real Cuban black beans.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So Val recognizes that a pressure cooker is for cooking..WOW!! will wonders ever cease!! thank God he didn't apply it this time to our brethen.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anon 10:50

    My momther has been cooking black beans in a pressure cooker since the 1950's in Cuba, Cuban women who practically lived in the kitchen back there realized how much a pressure cooker could cut their time in the kitchen.

    ReplyDelete
  7. fantomas:

    This is your most enlightening comment to date.

    The brevity is exquisite and the thought has not been sacrificed to it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. fantomas:

    Now you are going too far. How dare you thus abuse my good-will! I may have to put you in The Madhouse for that last comment. Shame on you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. He is vacationing in one of them

    ReplyDelete
  10. My text message is almost ready

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Manuel A.Tellechea said...
    fantomas:

    This is your most enlightening comment to date.

    The brevity is exquisite and the thought has not been sacrificed to it."

    MaT,
    I'm sitting in a Panera and started laughing out loud at this comment of yours ... hard to explain to all the total strangers giving me looks at the moment!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What is Rich?

    5 million

    How many houses do you own?

    7 and need one more

    Poor Manuel , You only have One House

    You Did not achieve the American Dream according to your boy John Mac

    Consider yourself a loser

    I'm Fantomas and I approve this message

    ReplyDelete
  13. Calabaza cuantas casas usted es dueña de?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Es Manuel un loser?

    ReplyDelete
  15. How many houses does Val own?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I just got my text message

    It is Bayh from Indiana

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fantomas,

    I was brought up to look up to people who work hard, take risks and are able to do with THEIR money as they wish. I was taught not to be envious but to strive for more and then; when I have my share I can do as I wish. I can be as philantropic as I want to be or as superficial or materialistic as I choose to be because I EARNED it. You know what, I honestly don't know how many I own because between my husband and I we own various rental properties ... and he is the businessman in the family. How 'bout them apples, my friend...?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Of course when millions of people are homeless or losing their primary home it is not a good thing to disclose how many houses you can have. This is one of the reasons why Americans are so hated around the world. That perception will not change with Cain in his eight house. We need someone more closely to the people. What does Mc Cain know about a bad economy. He doesnot have have that kind of a problem with 8 houses, millions in income and a rich wife. Poor people, homeless people WILL CONTINUE TO BUY BOOZE AND BEER from his wife

    More power to john and cindy they work so hard , yeah right

    ReplyDelete
  19. Manuel take this

    "##$$%$&/)=??&&&]**$%#%##$#"

    ReplyDelete
  20. ... sorry, I meant "philanthropic" ... class envy p^sses me off so!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Calabaza muchos dicen que en america la riqueza esta mal repartida.

    Claro yo no soy quien para decir quien coge cuanto

    Realmente pienso que el que mas trabaje debe ser recompensado

    Pero tambien debe existir la compasion por los menos afortunados

    Too many people losing their primary homes these days

    Time to end the Iraq War, enough is enough, that money should remain here not in iraq, sorry I went overboard with this subject

    I'm fantomas and I approve this message

    lol

    ReplyDelete
  22. Class warfare is a crime

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm looking for an olla de presion

    Where can I get one

    I pay top dollars

    ReplyDelete
  24. fantomas:

    There once was a guy who said that you could own only one house though he himself came to "own" (actually, occupy) hundreds of them. In fact, it is rumored that he never slept in the same house twice.

    Both Barack Obama and John McCain make under $200,000 a year as U.S. senators. It is their respective wives who account for the bulk of their income.

    Perhaps you should consider an advantageous marriage yourself and I don't mean the dowager with 13 kids who gets $1600 a month in food stamps.

    ReplyDelete
  25. There once was a guy who said that you could own only one house though he himself came to "own" (actually, occupy) hundreds of them

    Te equivocas fidel es el dueño de TODAS LAS CASAS DE CUBA , TODAS

    ReplyDelete
  26. Mansuelo you're a dope.

    Obama made his money by selling books.

    ReplyDelete
  27. fantomas:

    The houses that Fidel claims for himself are the mansions. The hovels he is more than pleased to let the people inhabit.

    ReplyDelete