Answers to Go with Susan Smith
Q. I am replacing the AC compressor in my truck. I’ve taken out the bolts and removed the belt, but the compressor doesn’t come out. Do you have automotive repair manuals?
A. We do have car and truck repair manuals, but our manual did not include the necessary information on AC compressors.
This patron had excellent automotive skills, but he didn’t have a computer. I suggested that we work together to see if we could find an online YouTube video on removing AC compressors in his specific model truck.
Our search provided several related instructional videos. He watched one and said he’d seen what he needed to know to finish removing the compressor.
Q. What did the Pilgrims actually eat on the first Thanksgiving?
A. “Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History” by Diana Karter Appelbaum offers the following information.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in December 1620. Only 55 of the 102 immigrants survived that first winter. Thirteen women died which left four women and two teenage girls to cook a dinner for 50 settlers and 90 Indians.
Pilgrim Edward Winslow wrote that they hunted "fowle" and that the Indians brought five "deere." Appelbaum notes that partridges, ducks, geese and turkeys could be shot along Cape Cod Bay in the fall.
Applebaum continues, “Although there is no proof that turkey was eaten at Plymouth that day, it is certain that some items were missing. There was no apple cider, no milk, butter or cheese (no cows had been aboard the Mayflower) and no bread – stores of flour from the ship had long since been exhausted.
“What they did have were pumpkins and corn; these grew abundantly, and colonists ate them until they were cordially tired of both. With no flour and no molasses, there was no pumpkin pie, but there was plain, boiled pumpkin to eat.
“Corn was more versatile. It was boiled as ‘hasty pudding,’ kneaded into ersatz bread and fried in cakes. Cranberries may have been boiled for a sauce to accompany the meat. Perhaps there was even a little wild honey to sweeten the sour, red berries.
“Nine little girls and 15 boys were in the company, and they, or some of the hunters, may have gathered other wild fruits or nuts. Oysters, clams and fish rounded out the abundant, but far from epicurean, feast that the celebrators would have been more likely to call a ‘harvest home’ than a ‘thanksgiving’ celebration.
“Thanksgivings were holy days of solemn prayer in the Puritan lexicon, days akin to Sabbaths and fast days. This feast was more harvest celebration than prayerful day of thanksgiving.”
If you’d like to try some new recipes, we have a great collection of cookbooks for you to check out. You can also take home back issues of November magazines that range from “Bon Appétit” and “Gourmet” to “Tastes of Home” and “Cooking Light.”
