La versión español está después de la versión inglés.
I’VE MENTIONED BEFORE, WE SHOP regularly at two large supermarkets nearby. San Geraldo does most of the grocery shopping (and I put everything away when he gets home).
The nearer supermarket, El Corte Inglés Supercor, is our favorite. It’s known for being a bit high-end and at times more expensive. The other, Mercadona, is also a good chain but neither of us find it as pleasant for shopping. The primary reason San Geraldo goes there is because, unlike El Corte Inglés, Mercadona sells cottage cheese (his breakfast staple) and a decent selection of frozen fruit.
At the start of the pandemic, people here, like people in so many places, were panic shopping. Fortunately, it didn’t last long locally and we can easily find whatever we need. However, the day before lockdown began, San Geraldo innocently went to Mercadona.
The supermarket was a disaster. People were running in every direction. There was no toilet paper. No bottled water. The meat department was nearly barren. At first, SG thought they were doing inventory. But when he asked a staff person, he was told, “Oh, crazy coronavirus panic.”
San Geraldo is not one to horde anything, let alone toilet paper, bottled water, or even baked beans. He shares whatever he has. However, the anxiety was contagious.
When he got home and I was about to unpack the groceries, he exclaimed, “You won’t believe what I bought.” He reached into the bag to show me, “Wieners!” he said. “Mob mentality! Everyone else was panicking and it rubbed off on me. So I bought wieners! We don’t even eat wieners!”
I have never called them “wieners.” They are either hot dogs or frankfurters. But where (and when) SG grew up, they were commonly called wieners. He told his sister Linda, who still lives in South Dakota, what he had done and she howled. She thought the word he used was funnier than what he had done. “Wieners?!?” she squawked, “I haven’t heard anyone call them wieners in years!” Even South Dakota had become more sophisticated (well, to a degree).
I stored the wieners in the freezer, expecting they wouldn’t be used anytime soon — if ever. However, San Geraldo made lentil soup Thursday and he added some wieners. And, no surprise: SG’s soup and wiener are delicious.
Here’s the recipe San Geraldo found at recipetineats.com.
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HE MENCIONADO ANTES DE QUE compramos regularmente en dos grandes supermercados en nuestro barrio. San Geraldo hace la mayor parte de las compras (y guardo todo cuando llega a casa).
El supermercado más cercano, El Corte Inglés Supercor, es nuestro favorito. Es conocido por ser un poco sofisticado y, a veces, más caro. El otro, Mercadona, también es bueno, pero ninguno de nosotros lo encuentra tan agradable para ir de compras. La razón principal por la que San Geraldo va allí es porque, a diferencia de El Corte Inglés, Mercadona vende “cottage cheese” (requesón?) y una buena selección de fruta congelada.
Al comienzo de la pandemia, la gente de aquí, como la gente de muchos lugares, estaba comprando el pánico. Afortunadamente, no duró mucho localmente. Sin embargo, el día antes de que comenzara el encierro, San Geraldo fue inocentemente a Mercadona.
El supermercado fue un desastre. La gente corría en todas las direcciones. No había papel higiénico. No había agua embotellada. El departamento de carne era casi vacío. Al principio, SG pensó que estaban haciendo inventario. Pero cuando le preguntó a un miembro del personal, le dijeron: “Oh, loco pánico por coronavirus”.
San Geraldo no es uno para hordear nada, ni hablar de papel higiénico, agua embotellada o incluso frijoles horneados. Él comparte lo que tiene. Sin embargo, la ansiedad era contagiosa.
Cuando llegó a casa y yo estaba a punto de desempacar los comestibles, exclamó: “No vas a creer lo que compré”. Metió la mano en la bolsa para mostrarme: “¡Wieners!” él dijo. “Mentalidad de masas. Todos los demás estaban en pánico y se me contagiaron. ¡Así que compré wieners! ¡Ni siquiera comemos wieners!”
“Wiener” en partes de los Estados Unidos es otra palabra para hot dog or frankfurter. La palabra también se usa para referirse a un pene, no tan vulgar como la polla, más como la salchicha. Nunca los he llamado “wieners”. Pero dónde (y cuando) creció SG, comúnmente se les llamaba wieners. Le contó a su hermana Linda, que todavía vive en Dakota del Sur, lo que había hecho y ella aulló. Ella pensó que la palabra que él usaba era más divertida que lo que había hecho.
“¿¡¿Wieners?!?” ella chilló: “¡No he oído a nadie llamarlos wieners en años!” Incluso Dakota del Sur se había vuelto más sofisticado (bueno, hasta cierto punto).
Guarde los wieners en el congelador, esperando que no se usen pronto, si es que alguna vez. Sin embargo, San Geraldo hizo sopa de lentejas el jueves y agregó algunas wieners. Y, no es de extrañar: la sopa de SG y su wiener son deliciosos.
Mouse provided by Dudo. / Ratón proporcionado por Dudo.
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I have a friend who makes the most delicious lentil soup and I think this is the recipe! She wouldn’t share the recipe but I remember the slight lemon accent.
Susan:
She wouldn’t share the recipe? We had a friend who made the best chocolate chip cookies in creation. She worked with SG and regularly baked them for the office. SHE wouldn’t share the recipe either. Said it was handed down from her grandmother. She told SG, however, that she bought the cookies at her local market. They were packaged! Maybe your friend’s lentil soup comes out of a can.
awwwwwwwwww, the toy mouse adds to the bread & butter setting. and they are HOT DOGS; my fave are sabrett’s noo yawk sidewalk cart doggies.
I have 3 grocery stores within a 2 mile radius of my home; one is dirty looking, one is too fucking big, and the third is just right.
anne marie “x”:
Thankfully, the toy mouse was on the floor below the glass table. They’re everywhere! I used to like Sabrett’s, too. We’ve got three very large supermarkets, plus a number of small grocery stores all within walking distance. And, though we have our preferences, they’re all pretty nice.
Wieners and lentils? Well, la di DAH. We always ate ours cut up into canned Heinz beans when I was a kid. I didn’t realize people (even South Dakotans) didn’t commonly call them wieners anymore. Guess I’m behind on the sophistication curve!
Debra:
Oh, canned Heinz beans. To my mind there’s nothing worse. SG left South Dakota such a long time ago that many of the words he uses are no longer or less commonly used there.
Sausages of all kinds are fun to cook with. Wieners is a very german way to describe a hot dog.
David:
And a lot of German settlers in South Dakota (including many of SG’s ancestors), so no surprise.
Oh dear, now I can’t get that song from the old Oscar Mayer wiener commercial out of my head.
“Oh, I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer wiener.
That is what I’d truly like to be.
‘Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener,
Everyone would be in love with me.
Oh, I’m glad I’m not an Oscar Mayer wiener.
That is what I’d never want to be.
Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener.
There would soon be nothing left of me!”
Now you can all start humming it, too.
I sang it along with you.
Mary:
I HAVE been humming it. And I was tempted to share the video. So thanks! Do you remember the Cowsills’ version (or are you too young)?
No, not to young to remember the Cowsills. Heading into my eighth decade this year…
Mary:
So you DO remember their “rock” version of the song? “Oh I WISH I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener… Ba ba baaaaaa.” By the way, “eighth decade” sounds so much more serious than “in my 70s.” Wow, I’m in my seventh decade! (well in)
Mary: I was sure it was the Cowsills but I just found it on YouTube. It was Gary and the Hornets (with Billy Mumy!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJopNROXOj4
Damn, another disappointingly misleading post title 🙁 I have never called them wieners in my life, even with the Oscar Mayer commercials. They were hot dogs when encased in some form of bread, and weenies all the other times, like our family staple growing up: pork’n’beans and weenies. I prefer eating them cold right out of the package. I loathe lentils.
Thanks to Mary, I’m going to be singing that Oscar Mayer wiener song all day. At least it wiped out that Please Warm My Wiener earworm! How do you find this stuff, Scoot?!
Deedles:
I never knew anyone who called them weenies! And blech… pork and BEANs and weenies. And cold! Blech! Do YOU remember the Cowsills’ Oscar Meyer commercial?
I remember the Cowsills but not the commercial. Nobody I knew called them wieners (the meat not the Cowsills). Even now that sounds so odd. Don’t be dissin’ my childhood treat, man! It had to be Van Camp’s pork’n’beans, with whole weenies cooked (well warmed up) in the same pot. A cold pork’n’bean and weenie sandwhich was also good. Balder doesn’t like any form of sweet canned beans, so the whole treat has dropped off of my “cooking” list 🙂
Deedles:
As I just told Mary, I was sure it was the Cowsills but I just found it on YouTube. It was Gary and the Hornets (with Billy Mumy!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJopNROXOj4
Oooh, that looks pretty darn good! (And, thank Dudo for the mouse, please.)
Judith:
Dudo loves to share his kills. So generous. The lentil soup was perfect. We had it again yesterday, and there’s more in the freezer.
From balls to wieners…
Frank:
Movin’ on up?
To the big time. They plump when you cook them.
Love love love lentils.
Hate hate hate wieners, well, hot dogs.
Bob:
I normally only like grilled hot dogs, but these were really good and perfect for the soup.
Love lentil soup and sausage, not the hot dog type but more of a Italian style sausage. I am happy that here panic buying has subsided after the first 15 days, people realized that the supply chain is secure and markets still offer discounts and 2 for 1 sales. Keep well.
larrymuffin:
Unfortunate it took two weeks for the panic buying to subside. But glad it’s back to normal in the shops. I also prefer sausage in lentil soup, but these hot dogs (turkey/chicken) were surprisingly good and went perfectly with the lentil and spices.
Those dynamic morsels of delight are referred to as “tube Steaks,” among the well informed folks down at trucker’s central. “Hey Biggen, don’t you burn my weenie.” (Line is from the movie, “Greater Tuna,” if you can find a copy I think you’d like it.)
Guys, you don’t know how much I enjoy your blog posts. Thanks for the hard work.
Tom Davis:
Thanks so much for your kind comment! I’ll look up Greater Tuna; have never heard of it. Thanks again!
Wienies (what we called them as kids) or hot dogs…it does look good. I think they are comfort food, and heck, everyone needs a little variety these days, even if it is something you don’t normally eat. Hmmmm. I made chili last night. Freezing half. Maybe when we thaw it out next month I will add some hot dogs – hubby would think that was gourmet after last month’s success of wienies and beans.
Cheapchick:
Oh, why does everyone have to ruin wieners with beans?!? Anyway, when my mother cooked them, we called them frankfurters. When we got them at Nathan’s or at a barbecue, we called them hot dogs. No reason, except that’s how the Dowager Duchess did it.
OK, I gotta say, that wiener soup looks really GOOD! I did the same thing when I went to the store right before the lockdown — I bought canned pineapple, which we never eat, but I thought, “We might need fruit!” Weeks later, still eating fresh fruit.
Steve:
Glad SG’s not the only one who got sucked into panic thinking. It’s amazing the power of the crowd. But pineapple sounds good.
The weiner soup looks hearty; I expect no less from SG. I trust it had been properly warmed when you partook of it. It’s hard to find lentils here and only 1 kind – Goya brand brown lentils. I buy a couple of bags each time I see them.
To me, the Oscar Meyer song permanently has been supplanted by Homer Simpson’s version:
My bologna has a first name
It’s H O M E R
My bologna has a second name
It’s (pause) H O M E R
Wilma:
I never watched the Simpsons much (not SG’s cup of tea), but I love Homer’s song! The lentil soup was beyond perfection. And we’ve got lots more in the freezer. Very easy to find all kinds of beans here. Baked beans, however, are only here for the expats!
I don’t panic buy either, but when shelves were absolutely barren in all the shops, I found myself buying more than I’d normally store in the Pantry! Plus, being a Medically Fragile Family, I knew I’d be limiting my outings considerably since a Death Run to get anything but a Laundry List of items just seemed too frivolously high risk! I remember them being called Weiners in some areas we lived but I haven’t heard the term in a very long time either.
Bohemian:
Thanks so much for visiting. We’ve been going to the supermarket much less than we anticipated. No coronavirus even diagnosed here since 4 cases late February but, like you, we know it’s not worth the risk. May you and your family stay well (and well fed).
Wieners are what we called ‘them’ when we were kids. Haven’t had them in a very long time.
Lentil soup!! Now I know what I will make for the weekend! Thank you both!
Jim:
This lentil soup recipe was exceptional.
I just stumbled upon your blog from a link on Larry Muffin’s blog. I like how you write and I read your last three posts. I look forward to more. Stay healthy.
mcpersonal:
Thanks for stopping by (and thanks to Larry Muffin). AND thanks for the kind words about my blog. Stay healthy as well!
I have everyone beat…
As a small child I lived in Chicago and the Oscar Meyers Winniemobil drove by my home quite a few times. They would give out small cooked hotdog and then a whistle I miss that.
parsnip
Parsnip:
I’ve seen pictures of the Winniemobile but never saw the real thing. Was it a whistle shaped like a hot dog? If so, I want one! (Wonder why they didn’t call it the Wienermobile.)
They did …. I can’t spell
Parsnip:
Ha! You should have just blamed it on auto-correct!
Panic like this is more contagious than the germs it provokes.
Urspo:
You’re so right (of course).