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 Why
doesn't an actual teaspoon hold a teaspoon measure?
Jennifer
G., Columbus, Oh
It does. Though, judging by your question I would hazard a guess
that you reside in the United States, where a "teaspoon" can be
anything from half teaspoon to nearly two teaspoons in size. These
clunky articles seem to be trying to be all things to all men, but
as with most such efforts they end up being neither useful nor aesthetic.
In the UK, you will find three basic "spoon" measures: the teaspoon,
the dessert spoon and the tablespoon. Teaspoons hold 5ml; a dessert
spoon holds twice as much as a teaspoon; and a table spoon holds
three times as much. This has the convenience of providing you with
a system of accurate measures right in your cutlery drawer. Unfortunately,
at some point the dessert spoon vanished from American tables and
the tablespoon was flattened somewhat (few of them hold an actual
tablespoon these days) necessitating the purchase of annoying little
sets of spoon measures which are difficult to keep clean and invariably
end up getting tangled up with other modern "conveniences" in a
drawer which looks more like a rickety tool shed after an earthquake.
I would suggest haunting the second hand shops in your area where
you might be able to buy some actual teaspoon-sized teaspoons, as
well as functional dessert spoons and tablespoons, with which you
will not only be able to measure, but also stir, mix and fold.
In
the nursery rhyme, blackbirds are baked in a pie and then come flying
out. How is that possible if they were baked?
Sophie H. (aged 12), Portland, Wa.
I'm glad I'm dead. The obtuseness of modern children would almost
certainly reduce me to tears. They weren't baked in the pie, dear,
the pie was baked empty (or the case and lid were baked separately),
then the birds were inserted and the lid was popped on top and probably
sealed with another strip of pastry. It would then look like an
ordinary pie. Such items were common at feasts in the Middle Ages,
when they didn't have Jackass and The Osbournes and
had to make their own entertainment. Frogs were a particularly popular
ingredient — the pie would be opened and they'd all skitter
out hopping all over the guests. The desired result appears to have
been to create chaos and make all the women squeal and hoist their
skirts. It almost certainly worked.
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