The Functions of Home: Dining & Hospitality

People of gentry in the 18th century began recognizing one another through many different social and cultural aspects. Households having segregated spaces separating persons and activities replaced houses that promoted communal living. In the dinning room more specifically, everyone has their own space and the seats would be arranged according to status in the family.When my family comes together for dinner occasions we each have our own particular seating arrangement at the table, which is similar to the old traditions of the 18th century. My grandfather sits at the head of the table on one end and my father sits on the other end and the rest of the family sits in their own special spots on both sides of the table. Lately however my family has not been able to carry out these traditional dining experiences due to my busy baseball schedule. Instead for the past couple of years my family has all been so busy that sometimes we even come home and cook our individual meals. We eat while doing homework and talking to one another about our days. The Hospitality of different families ensures their guests that they are welcome in the visiting home. People such as Martha Stewart try to provide knowledge of how the simple act of hospitality is possible. Polite things such as offering different appetizers, cooking a fine meal and the quality of good conversation are all ways good hospitality is possible.

Cooking Trends

New technologies and changes in technology have Better kitchen appliances and the availability of more processed foods have cut the amount of time necessary to prepare food and helped make it possible for men and women to do more things outside the home such as extended work hours and more family time. Food preparation in 1900 was very time-consuming and didn’t apply much time for other activities. The coal and wood stoves commonly used were a big improvement over the open hearth cooking practiced by earlier Americans, but were labor intensive. Wood had to be cut and a fire had to be made until the entire stove became hot. Soot from the stoves is intensively annoying and complicated to clean. There were many factors that were time consuming in the 1900s that are no longer a worry today. Things such as indoor plumbing were not available to the public because that technology had not been discovered yet, therefore water for cooking and all other purposes had to be pumped and carried in from outside. Most food was still prepared from scratch so preparing a meal could take hours upon hours. The amount of time that it took to make a meal in the 1950s has been cut down due to the overwhelming amount of new technology and appliances that has made all of this possible. And because of this new technology, clean up time has also been cut down.
With the introduction of electric stoves and ovens, preparing meals was easier than ever and the inventions that once helped our family members are now being improved and redesigned for the better. There have been a number of new utensils that have been introduced such as specialized pots and pans, measuring cups and spoons, and a variety of useful gadgets, such as apple corers and mechanical beaters.
I believe that the quality of life has most definitely improved because of new inventions that have cut down the time it takes to do simple tasks. The new technology we continue to discover in the near future will constantly impact and improve our ways of doing things in the kitchen and in our homes. We have gained a variety of different appliances and processed foods that are “instant meals” or “instant desert”. On the other hand when we look at the negative side of the addition to these new technologies in the American kitchen, we can regretfully say that we have also lost a “good home cooked meal”.

A Christmas Memory

Capote describes a humble abode on a frigid November evening that makes me think of my own home and the similarities it has with Capotes home. The frost on all the windows in my house builds during the day until I arrive home dragging my feet through my heavy dark brown front door with the gold handle and lock, once saunter in the rich smell of mahogany and leather bound books fills my nostrils and I immediately think of all the homework that I need to finish as I look to my right and see my school supplies on my kitchen table. The windows are a misty white color around the edges of the clear glass, that give off an orange yellow glowing tint as the fire in my heavy black wood burning stove slowly burns. With the cracking of the wood and being able to see the mist of my breath as I breathe I think of the holidays and how my Christmas was this year. It was composed of not much time spent with my family because of my parents’ divorce that is in progress and our family’s fighting situation. Capotes feelings of home seem to be similar to mine in the sense that he has little money to spend during the holidays. Home is wherever my friends are for me because of my parent’s situation. The sense of home in Capote’s writing can easily be explained by the good relationships he feels with his family members during a winter holiday. Relationships that I can somewhat relate too but to an extent. Capote's family makes him feel "at home", but for me this is not possible because the close family situation in Capote's case does not apply for me.

House Hunting

Hido’s photographs make me think about the loan house in the middle of nowhere that you would typically see in most horror movies. The glowing light in all the houses gives of an eerie feeling that makes me feel a little uncomfortable and spooked. Hido’s photos are taken of more run down areas rather that Owens’ photographs of the upper-class homes in the suburbs. Hido’s photos, being night time exposures, give each house a creepy and dark feeling that Owens may not appreciate. Owens’ work seems to be more lively and spirituous than Hido’s photographs. A sense of community is involved in the main subject in Owens’ photos whereas the subjects in Hido’s photos seem to be just involving the private lives of those in the rooms with the single light on. I do not like this feeling I get when looking at Hido’s photographs because they all seem mundane and boring. The loneliness of Hido’s night time exposure photos of creepy houses give me a sense of loneliness when I look at them, therefore I have little interest for these photos. The majority of Hido's photographs give this lonely feeling when they are observed and i cannot come to find even the smallest amount of desire to continue looking at them because of the mundane subject matter.

Slowly Calling the Burbs Home/Suburbia

In Lahrmer’s essay she explains how life in general, living in the suburbs being surrounded by many different people and animals is appeasing. Living in a small community has its ups and downs but one thing remains constant throughout the year and that is the amiability of everyone in the community. Lahrmer's positive outlook on her community opposes Gates' beliefs of suburbs greatly. The two writers' opinions are completely opposite however Lahrmer's essay is more appeasing when she explains the typical suburb community simply because of the positive attitude and outlook she maintains in her writing. Lahrmer’s description of the suburbs seems more positive and lively, therefore it is easier to follow and understand rather than the jumbled assortment of paragraphs of Gates' writing.
The photo of the cul-de-sac community b.b.q., taken by Bill Owens, in the middle of the street displays happiness and joy of all in this small community. This is my favorite picture because of this simple reason as well as what it reminds me of the spring. In my small town after the cold dark winter weather has cleared and the sun is shining vibrantly on my back porch is when all of this occurs in my neighborhood, more specifically at the different baseball fields I play at. Lahrmer would love these photographs because they would support her positive reasoning for liking suburbs in her essay. Just as Bill Owens would appreciate the generous explanations of the common suburb that Lahrmer gives in her short essay. I admire both of these peoples' work because of their positive outlook on life and the way they both try to express the importance of a small community and the comradery amongst its inhabitants.

Criteria for Reading the Landscape

There is a place nestled in the hills of Sonoma where the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond are visible. Many people are unaware of this place because to get to it one must diverge off the normal hiking trails in the mountains of North West Sonoma. We call this place "The Plat". The view from this mountain top is breath taking to anyone who ventures up the hill. Many of our friends have gathered here for social gatherings on the weekends and others in the small town have similar ideas so it is a way of socializing with different types of people that you would not normally talk to. I enjoyed these gatherings at the Plat before the trail was blocked off by a barbed wire fence because of the different people i was able to interact with once we hiked up. My friends in particular loved this place because it was a great way to workout for athletics at our high school. We would start at the very bottom of the hill and run all the way up to the Plat. It would take a good 20 minutes with resting a few times but once the long uphill run through the alluvial hills was completed I would feel replenished and ready to compete. Almost every athlete that I am close friends with has made the run up to the Plat at some point in their high school career. What makes The Plat so special is the rich history it has held through decades. I was talking to one of my fathers close friends and he said he would hike to the Plat with his friends when he was in high school as well. Proving my point that the Plat is well known amongst nearly all people living in Sonoma, which makes it so notoriously historic.
When Paul Groth speaks of a healthy landscape that connects its participants to continuity and when the landscape connects its participants to important social groups is what I think best explains the qualities of both The Plat and K-Mart. K-Mart has to accept all types of people socially because they are a business, that seems almost like a given. However when different groups gather at the Plat there is not always a sense of friendliness unless an outgoing friend in one group tries to produce conversation. This simple friendly conversation connects the two groups and a healthy relationship is built so the next time two groups similar to these meet, there is no sense of hostility. In the case of K-Mart, the corporation had been in existence for decades because of its ability to put the consumer first in the line of business giving the customer a sense of superiority when shopping here. This is partly what makes some businesses so successful today. As long as companies in the future provide good continuous customer service and maintain this good reputation, as K-Mart did in the past, they shall be successful.

24 Hours at the Golden Apple

This old restaurant in Chicago, The Golden Apple, that is open 24 hours seems to have so much history in this windy city because of the array of people that go in. The different people that have been going to this restaurant for a while explain the rich history of this place and the neighborhood around it. This place seems to have become a historic restaurant in Chicago where people share their opinions and experiences with one another. For some people this restaurant is a meeting place for them and their children if they happen to ever be separated and are lost. One couple in fact in the radio broadcast on ThisAmericanLife.org said that they told their child that if he were ever lost to find a police officer and have the officer take him to The Golden Apple. This Golden Apple restaurant in Chicago reminds me a lot of two places in Sonoma, Pearls and The Sunflower Cafe. Both are old restaurants in Sonoma with history that extends back decades ago. My father would tell me stories of when he was in high school and him and his friends would go to Pearls every day for lunch to hang out and get something to eat. The other restaurant, The Sunflower Cafe, is a cafe that my mom and I try to go to every Sunday. We talk about whats going on with my baseball team and school and also listen in on other conversations around us and watch people pass by outside while sitting on the patio. The Golden Apple to these people speaking admiringly about the place is relatively how i feel about the two places that i just mentioned. If i were to recommend to anyone who was visiting Sonoma a nice place to eat with down to earth people I would say The Sunflower Cafe is the perfect place.