Thursday, March 29, 2012

Hamburgers 15¢

I may have been dreaming (or watching too much Mad Men) but today on a walk I'm pretty sure I stumbled upon Pleasantville, ca. 1962. There, JFK is still alive and well (aside from his problems with those pesky Soviets), women get dressed to go to the store (and not in their 12-year-old's pajama pants), and you mow the lawn because your father said so.

Dad's not giving the peace sign.
That's how many seconds you have to shut the damn door.
We're not cooling the outdoors here!


EXERCISE
On this walk near the mosque where I take my weekly class, I saw many beautiful houses and I got all nostalgic for a time when I wasn't even alive. Aside from the odd Prius parked in a driveway or a couple of rogue homes with solar panels mounted on the roof, it really was as if I was time-traveling. I actually heard the clink of forks against plates through one family's open windows as they ate dinner. As it was dinnertime in the sub-suburb of Pleasantville, I did not see one person outside. This is not an exaggeration. I walked for 34 minutes and saw no one but these lovely ladies:



Yes, those ARE two reindeer made of sticks leaning against that automobile
and no, the neighbors are NOT happy about that tree.



You gotta zoom in on her. She's a beaut.


There isn't much else to say. It was the weirdest yet most idyllic walk I think I have ever taken. The surrealism was amplified by the fact that the lawns are all green and perfectly manicured yet it's still March. In Minnesota.

Health Tip of the Day: Get better shoes if you are going to start walking all the time. Keep them in the car if you're like me and rarely go home. Your footsies will thank you.

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ISLAM
Since we're talking about hamburgers (see post title), I thought I would direct my dear readers to an excellent resource for the position I follow regarding permissible foods in Islam.

Want to know if you can eat that alligator your uncle strangled in Louisiana? Well, you can't. Curious about the difference between slaughtering the correct way and basically torturing an animal to death?

This series of lectures on food by Sh. Hatem al-Haj was recorded in 2010 during the weekly class held near Pleasantville. It is just one scholar's view (with many authentic sources from the Quran and Sunnah) and everyone is entitled to make their own decisions regarding what their family should eat.

Whether you already have an opinion you follow confidently or you are SO CONFUSED by the whole gelatin thing, I guarantee you will learn something. Listen while cooking up some delicious halal treats and let me know what you think!

This burger and fries is not only dessert in disguise but a link to the lectures!




6 comments:

  1. Is this the town I used to live in? My husband was creeped out by how quiet and peaceful it was so he moved us Southward to that duplex I'm sure you can't forget. Sirens, hollering, and that lady knocking on the door asking me if I did tattoos replaced the ideal suburbian bliss that I once called home. But why is it that I, too, consider falling asleep to the sounds of sirens, hollering, and unmufflered cars so much less creepy than Pleasantville?

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  2. This is even further south than where you are now, near the twin boroughs of Mallopolis and IKEAtown.

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  3. where do you get all your ideas you crack me up

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  4. I volunteered for the second time makes me feel good but your dad acts lost

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  5. It's funny what you see when you start roaming the neighborhood

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  6. Mom: Most of my ideas come from you and dad—you both contributed a lot to my sense of humor. I was definitely thinking of you when I named one post using "One, ringy-dingy". I'm glad you're having fun with my blog!

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