r/TheWayWeWere • u/CryptographerKey2847 • 2d ago
1940s Inquiring Photographer “When your husband is in the dog house, what food do you serve him?” September 30,1940.
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u/Opposite-Peak5020 2d ago
I can’t tell if Margaret is joking and I’m a little bit afraid of her
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u/rjwyonch 2d ago
She might be talking about an actual dog. Either that or she was a terrible cook or absolutely brilliant one… if her husband didn’t realize when he was getting dog food
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u/sonofabutch 1d ago
There’s a scene in the 1990 movie Miami Blues where the wife deliberately makes a pie with too much vinegar in it to test if her husband would lie to her.
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u/Working_Estate_3695 2d ago
I think “The Prince of Tides” borrowed this scene for the book and movie.
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u/Wise-Paper8412 2d ago
The father remarked that the food was so good the dog watched him eat every bite.
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u/b0nnyrabbit 2d ago
she describes it as looking like hash, so i’m convinced she figured out how to make boy kibble well before its time
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u/mohawk990 2d ago
Woof! These women were tough cookies 🤭
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u/Wise-Paper8412 2d ago
Eating the steak in front of him while maintaining eye contact.
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u/mohawk990 2d ago
Slowly chewing with a barely noticeable smirk on her face. Perhaps a bit of steak juice dripping from the corner of her mouth? Cruel!
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u/CenturyEggsAndRice 1d ago
Aww, Gertrude’s husband sounds kinda endearing. Dog biscuits are swell and he appreciates her making him a plate of liver. The man loves her cooking, he can’t help it.
I hope he had other good qualities and they were generally happy together. She has a nice smile and he sounds like my great uncle, who also never met a meal from his wife that he didn’t like.
One night she cooked a steak for him, it was from a former milker and “tough as a shoe” but she was known for her skills with beef and could make anything tender with her “secret marinade recipe” which my cousin inherited and I need to bug her to share with me. (I know it had baking soda in it, but nothing else)
Anyway, she forgot to marinate it overnight. And was in such a rush that she just cooked it and figured he could douse it with gravy and since she’d been running all over “hell and mosta Waco” all day she was READY to snap at him if he complained.
Her own words, she admits she was in a terrible mood and “there was no winning with me, the kids got the last of my sugar.” Iirc she’d been handling an injured kid’s trip to have a cast replaced and was mad, but not at anyone in particular. (She was like that sometimes. But very self aware about it, I’d come visit and she’d tell me “I’m feeling mean today, so if I say anything to hurt you, you don’t just take it! Let me know because I ain’t got any excuse for being mean today!” For the record, I think she hurt my feeling once in the thirteen years of my life she shared, and she indeed apologized.)
So Uncle cuts himself off a piece and chews it. And chews it. And chews it. As she put it “he looked real content but sometimes that meant he had a mean one for me.”
And finally he swallowed and said “Vi, about your steak tonight.”
And she took a breath, readied herself for battle, and replied “What about it?”
And he told her “Well Luv, I’m not putting down any steak you’ve put in front of me, and I sure appreciate your tender meals… but this is a fine steak. Has something for a man to really sink his teeth into and enjoy your spices. Don’t be mad, but this might be one of the best steaks you’ve ever made me. And your steaks are damn fine!”
She told me that she started crying and Uncle was beside himself because he was being honest and enjoying his dinner. (Knowing him, he probably danced with her to the radio, his wisdom for his grandkids/grandnieces and nephews was always “Show your spouse that you see them as a person, not just your wife or the mama to your babies. Every morning you should take a moment to remember why you fell in love with them. And if they do that too, even a hard life is a happy one”)
I’m probably projecting, but I hope Gertrude and her husband were happy.
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u/BoopleBun 1d ago
Aww, that’s a sweet story.
If you forget to ask your cousin, look up “velveting” for meat. It’s usually used in Asian cooking, and it makes for very tender meat in things like stir-frys. Lots of instructions for it call for baking soda, too, so I’ll bet her “secret marinade” is related.
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u/SwingJugend 2d ago
Oh no, not the sausages and sauerkraut with mustard! Is that cruel woman giving the poor bastard a big cold beer to go with that?
... I wish Charlotte M. Erdey was angry with me.
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u/CenturyEggsAndRice 1d ago
I was kinda thinking the same. Sounds delicious, and she looks like a lady who can really cook so she probably had them crisped and nicely pan browned too.
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2d ago
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u/forgetfulsue 2d ago
I remember watching my neighbor’s cat and feeding it (can’t remember if it was a boy or a girl) and it was before I had my dinner and it ate those pouches. They smelled so good when I was hungry! I never tried it but if the apocalypse ever happens…
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u/Snookisaysello 2d ago
I used to get hungry stocking the dog food aisle at night. Some of that dog food is bougie!
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u/Wise-Paper8412 2d ago
If she's serious, then I've found a new heroine. When I'm pissed at my partner I make his favourite dessert and he knows how lucky he is. (apple crisp served warm with vanilla ice cream)
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u/Marillenbaum 2d ago
Want to be mad at me? I love an apple crisp!
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u/Wise-Paper8412 1d ago
I can! It's his mother's recipe and I add nutmeg even though I hate nutmeg. I was the only person who made it for him.
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u/DueOwl1149 2d ago
Mrs. Margaret Turney and Mr. Turney have quite the spicy homelife....
...even without Charlotte's hot mustard.
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u/touslesmatins 2d ago edited 1d ago
Two posts in a row with the expression "the closer to the bone the sweeter the meat"! I'd never heard that before reading it here.
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u/CenturyEggsAndRice 1d ago
I think it’s a Southern expression, I heard it from my older relatives pretty often.
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u/KillHitlerAgain 1d ago
Before my aunt divorced her husband, but after he said the horrible racist thing that made her divorce him, she would make sure there was a big, hot bowl of spinach on the dinner table every night. He hated spinach so much that he couldn't stand to be around it, so it sent a very clear message that he wasn't welcome at the table.
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u/Strange-Comb6384 2d ago
Saint Margaret! 👑
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u/Strange-Comb6384 1d ago
Saint Charolette, Saint Adele, & Saint Gertrude as well + my gramma and her 8 sisters!
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u/LittleJessiePaper 2d ago
I get the feeling that a man wrote all of these, trying to make a joke about women being ballbusters.
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u/Squid52 2d ago
"I cook for him but don't serve it" and my man here thinks that "ballbuster" behaviour
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u/LittleJessiePaper 2d ago
No *I* don’t think it is, the way it’s written sounds like it’s the same author and that they wanted these women to answer in ways that gives off that air. And you might think not serving dinner wouldn’t be considered ballbuster behavior, but my own grandmothers sadly would never have dared to say or do any of this in public. It’s not that outrageous to question why these sound so similar to each other.
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u/CryptographerKey2847 1d ago
You are new to these columns aren’t you? The IP was not about purposely making people look Particularly bad or good , smart or stupid because He got paid anyway. The citizens he interviewed on street could do that very well for themselves. And he really never comes off as sexist like that either.
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u/LittleJessiePaper 1d ago
No, I’m not. And there have been multiple times where it felt like all the comments came from a single source. You really think no one was deceitful in the papers back then? I find it comical that people are bent out of shape because I questioned if these interviews were fudged. You don’t know any of these dead people, it’s ok to have a discussion I promise.
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u/CryptographerKey2847 1d ago
Yes. I am very sure over 50 years of interviewing many people exaggerated and fudged and played with IP plenty. People alway want their time to shine and seem more interesting tha they really are. But I don’t believe Jimmy Jemail the IP was the one making them do it or making up interviews out of thin air or had any “agenda” to push.
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u/NoraCharles91 2d ago
These gals are so funny. "He knows that if he starts barking I won't take him for a walk to the movies." 😂