Interviewer: {X} It's uh- There's nothing- I'm sure they're not going to do anything. I trust them. {NW: Laugh} I wouldn't be working for them. {X} 289: When about 1980, when this comes out, I'll forget what I've said. {NW: Laugh} Interviewer: Well I think the first time, you know, when they uh get it finish they'll probably come out in uh, micro card the first one because that's the quickest way to get it out. And uh- Then maybe later they'll publish it in a b- in a book, you micro- you know- because there's so much of it. 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Well you know, they got- they got a whole wall full of- transcriptions now. Almost in- a library. But um- narrow that all down in a micro card, it'll be out. {NW: Breathing} Okay, uh- okay now, where was I, let's see. Yeah utensils. What do you eat with? 289: Fork, knife, spoon. Interviewer: Okay. And um- The uh- What uh- did uh- Did you ever know- the water supply here, was there ever a well out? 289: Well we had a, cistern. And it went dry so the county, said you know anybody wanted their old cisterns knocked in you know, they'd do it, and fill it up for you free. So uh- Ours was knocked in. Now we did, when my sister was little we had a guy come and he, dug a hole about- I don't know about, six inches across or something like that? And he put a metal pipe down. He went down about twenty feet and we got water that way. That's because we went and bought a pool that'd hold twenty-two gallons- twenty-two hundred gallons of water, you know when she was little. And all- and uh- We've got a- well now that's been covered over. Since I was a little girl with cement. And then soon as we can afford it, we're going to take and get a man to come up, open it up, clean all the veins out, and fix the pump, for the water that way. Because that water- most that water around here it's good, you could at least- you could connect it up to your um- your washing machine, your washer. You could connect it up to your bathroom, into the kitchen so that really, the only water you could use from the- you only have to use from the city is uh- for your drinking if you want to and lot of the well water is in a bad condition than what the city water is. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: You know. {X} {X} cuz they come- they come around and test it for you, you know. But I tell you too because the only water that we drink now in our house at home, is we have an ice maker and that thing makes the ice. So we're all- we're forever either drinking soda or juice or, tea. Something like that. Interviewer: The um- well I was just wondering um- did you have a well when you were a little girl? 289: We had it- but I don't remember us using it. Interviewer: You know how they used to get water out of it? How they used to- 289: A pump. Interviewer: Oh they had a pump? A hand pump? 289: Yeah, because when our cemetery lot, we have a uh- old fashioned pump. That all we had to do, right now- Our plot in the cemetery has water in it, what we have to do is go and get someone to re-drill the hole, you know, and put a pump on that works and we would have a water flow there- the cemetery. But that cemetery, very few areas of that grows anything. Have to be satisfied with the sand. Interviewer: Mm, yeah. 289: And weeds will grow up, that's about it. Interviewer: Well did- well now is there- Is anybody out in Key West ever try to have a uh- um- to grow anything like, you know, to eat? You know- 289: We did my mother- uh- did uh um- Now in the olden days they did it, they grew things, because um- {NS: Pages turning} Oh I don't know what they grew, but I mean they grew things. Like this guy on this next block, this guy has corn growing. Interviewer: oh yeah 289: And he's got papayas, growing. And a lot of people in the olden days had banana trees. we have a ri- you know, we call them um- What do they call them? "Cuban bananas." And uh, there's another name for them too but I can't think of- They're shorter than the banana that you know- Chaquita banana, they're shorter than that. And half the time excuse me they're a little bit- maybe a little bit fatter. But I can't think of the other name for them, we call them "Cuban bananas." {NS: Pages turning} Interviewer: The uh- you said he's growing corn, do you know what kind of corn he's growing? 289: I have no idea I just know that corn stalks out in the back. Interviewer: Okay, and uh- um- Do you um- Now, did you say you used to- what do you call a place where you grow- something like that? 289: Farm. Interviewer: Okay, what about if it's just behind your house? 289: A patch? Uh. Interviewer: Okay How about now {X}, like um. On a large- You said like um- on a patch, is- now a patch is- 289: It's a small little thing maybe just one- To us, we've grow- we have a um- {X} My mother made a lot of that- she dug a big deep hole and made a lot of mulch, you know? Threw in leaves from our Sapadillo tree. And um. Grass cuttings, and she threw in- peat moss and fertilizer. And she left that there for about a month and we plant- When we do plant something, we plant uh- um- tomatoes in it. She got some big tomatoes out of that one little area. Interviewer: Did you uh- now that those- those the big rounds ones? 289: Well some- Some of them are small then some of them get- you know, a nice size. Interviewer: You ever try to grow those real itty-bitty ones? 289: No. Interviewer: Do you know what they call those? 289: Pink- Pink- Pink tomatoes? {NS: Radio} Interviewer: #1 You know what I'm talking about, those {X}. # 289: #2 Yeah the little- # Thingy things that they put in salads sometimes for you. Ch- Cherry- Don't they call them "Cherry tomatoes?" Interviewer: Yeah, something like that. Um. What other kind of um- um- Well I- now- when you have- when you have a little patch in the back yard do you ever call it anything else? 289: No, some people call it a "back yard garden." Interviewer: Okay. The uh. {NS: Papers turning} Um. {NS: Papers turning} How about uh- well was there- what else did you need- yeah you have potatoes {C: I think he meant tomatoes}, did you grow anything else? 289: Uh, we've had an avocado tree. We've had a sugar apple tree. We've had banan- banana trees. And we've had sapodilla tree. My grandmother used to have a soursop- tree. That's a tropical fruit tree. Interviewer: Well did you- what kind of fruit was that? 289: Soursop? It's um. Most people here always just use it to make it into ice cream, Soursop ice cream. It looks- It's like a big avocado maybe with two big extra lumps on the side half the time. It's green. And it has- it looks like it has thorns on it, but it really- you know they're not sharp or anything. And- it can- it's a sour taste. If you just, you know, peel it- the skin off and it eat it that way and it has seeds in it If you know what a sugar apple tree is, the sections of the soursop, inside, is almost like a um- {NS: Radio} Sugar apple. Interviewer: Okay. How about uh um. Any kind of nuts grow down here? That you know of? 289: No. Not as I know of, that we've grown, that I know. Interviewer: Okay, what kind of nuts can you name? 289: Walnuts. We call acorns- nuts? Interviewer: Yeah, what else? 289: Pecans. {NS: Radio} #1 That's about the only things we ever eat. Walnuts and pecans # Interviewer: #2 What about those ones that come in candy bars? # 289: Peanuts Interviewer: Okay, and uh- How about um, the big ones. Uh the ones they put in candy bars too the bigger ones um- 289: Almonds? Interviewer: Okay. Um. The uh- now how about uh. Now these are some items here. What about a um- Along with meat you might have a baked what? 289: Potato. Interviewer: Okay, and uh have you ever heard those called anything else down here? That people down here call them? {NS} 289: Cubans have something they- I think they- I don't know what they call it though. Something- Yucca? That looks like a potato I think. {NS: Radio} I see them in Cuban- the Cuban restaurants they been white, I mean they're white. And they're shaped like a potato and they eat them but I've never tried them. But to me a potato is a potato. Interviewer: What about the potato that has the yellow meat? 289: Sweet potato? Interviewer: Okay, you ever call those anything else? 289: Some people call them "Yams," but we call them sweet potatoes. Interviewer: Okay. How about uh- um- the things that when you peel them it makes you cry? 289: Onions. Interviewer: Okay. How about- Did you ever try growing those around here? 289: No. Interviewer: {X} 289: At the rate th- they're going up, I think last week we bought a three-pound- bag of onions, a dollar- nineteen cents? I think we better start trying to grow them. Interviewer: Do you know now the- Usually you buy them in a bag the bulbs- in the big ones, you know, or do you buy the bunches? 289: You mean the onions? Interviewer: Yeah. 289: We just buy them, you know the individual, the tops cut off of them, the green sections off of them. Interviewer: Yeah. Do- now- do you have a different name for them, like when they're not uh- when they're not- when they don't get the- the big bulbs- when they're just, you know, the- 289: Green onions. Interviewer: Okay the- 289: Oh and don't the other people call them "Scallions?" {D: You know?} Interviewer: Well whatever you call {D: them/onions}. 289: Well I call them "green onions," and I don't even eat them so I don't buy them. Interviewer: Uh- Um. What uh- what are some vegetables that you might use. {X} They ever have any kind of soups or stews that uh- or what do you call a- now what do you call a- 289: Steam meat? Stew meat? It's all kind of like- Okay, if we take- beef r- barbecue ribs, you know, and we'll cook it down with the potatoes and- uh, cabbage, and we make dough, sometimes we put plantains, we call it "Stewed Ribs." But sometimes if we just take the meat, or chicken, then we say "steamed meat" or "steamed chicken." {NS: Radio} So it's all according to what it is that we're cooking. At least what I'm cooking anyway. Interviewer: Alright, um. Now- okay, now you said cabbage, um. Um. You might say uh- filling out this blank, I might give you a blank {X} talking about cabbage, now I like these. 289: Cabbages? Interviewer: Okay. How about uh- uh- Do they ever have any type of gumbo around here? From up {D: North}? 289: Ah. {D: They call it/carve a chicken?} I know people make them but you know, see them in the grocery store the chicken gumbo. Uh. What is it um. {NS: Radio} New Orleans has a lot of that gumbo. Interviewer: Do you know what kind of vegetable they use in that? 289: Okra, I think. That round, has like- little bead things in it- okra. Interviewer: And uh. How about uh- you know like, when you buy beans uh, and you want to get them out of the pot. What do you have to do to them? 289: Up people up north they shell them, but we don't do them here. Interviewer: Oh you don't? 289: No. Interviewer: Okay. How about uh, um. What do you call the large, flat, yellowish beans, uh. 289: Lima beans? Interviewer: Yeah, do you ever call them anything else? 289: No, a lima bean's a lima bean. Interviewer: Okay, how about uh um. Are ye- are these yellow beans ever called "butter beans?" 289: Yes, when they- when we buy them in the jars already prepared. Interviewer: {X} {X} 289: You can buy them already fixed up you know, just to eat. See like we'll have a bean soup which is lima beans. Sometimes they call it "bean soup," sometimes they call it "lima bean soup." And you get the lima beans, you cook it down with some tomato sauce and pieces of ham and uh, onions in it. Like- some people call it "bean soup," other people call it "lima bean." Interviewer: And then the other type is uh. When you get them already made? 289: Butter bean. Interviewer: Yeah, the ones already made. 289: Butter beans. Interviewer: Hmm. Okay, how about the- the kind that- what would you call the kind of beans that you would eat, with the pod and everything, you just eat- 289: String beans, the little uh, Pole beans. In Key West we call- I call them- my family calls them "string beans." Interviewer: And um. You- say you take uh- I don't know if anyone does this here, you might say you take the tops of turnips, uh. You know the green parts of turnips and you have what? You have a mess of what? 289: Collard greens. We don't eat them. I mean I- I just- I know some of it from reading books, because we've got a- bunch of Time Life series books here on food. And I go through it, you know. Different countries. And then I've seen the ones from the United States, you know. North East cooking and- was it smelt- "smelt pot cooking?" "Smelting pot cooking?" But I mean, turnips we don't eat. Interviewer: The- the top parts you don't eat either? 289: We don't even eat the other part. Interviewer: #1 Oh the bottom {NW: Laugh} # 289: #2 {NW: Laugh} # I- we'll eat- we'll eat pickled beats. But the others we don't. Not in my family anyway. Interviewer: Okay. Alright, how about the green stuff you might put in salads? 289: Lettuce? Interviewer: Yeah. Do you use that? #1 did I get that? # 289: #2 yeah # Lettuce is lettuce. Interviewer: And how does it come? 289: We buy uh, iceberg lettuce in the- packages from- Grocery. Interviewer: And you'd see- 289: Sometimes it comes from Arizona. New Mexico- Interviewer: #1 But the- the thing that, you know you call it- if you got two of- # 289: #2 A head of lettuce. # Interviewer: Alright you had two, yeah. You might say you had two- 289: Heads. Interviewer: {NS}{C: Reel makes weird noise here} And- {X} would people around here like, if you had uh uh- two boys and three girls, would they ever refer to them as uh- Five- uh. {X} 289: Five- may call them five "hellions" Five- five kids, that's it. Interviewer: Okay, you ever heard of it like "five head of children" or something like- "five heads" 289: No. Sometimes, they would say um, "five heads a kid," "five heads." We might feeding, you know we got- we got- we got about food for seven heads. In our house, you know? But we don't. Interviewer: Okay, how about uh um. If a person has say, oh, twelve kids, and- you'd say they got a whole- 289: Flock. Interviewer: Flock? Okay, any other words they might use for that around here? {NS: Door} 289: Flock of kids. Interviewer: Would you ever say something like "pack?" {X} 289: Pack, yeah. Sometimes that if they got nine- what is it a baseball team, football team, basketball team? "We got enough for a basketball team," something like that? Interviewer: Okay, um, uh, have you ever- have you ever used the word "passel" here? Like "a whole passel of kids?" 289: I've heard it but I don't- think I ever used it. Interviewer: I mean, around the people that you know, that lived here. 289: No, not that I've heard. Interviewer: Okay, uh. How would you use that word, "passel?" 289: I tell you the truth I don't think I even use it. Interviewer: Okay. {NS} Alright. Uh, now we're talking about this guy that was growing corn now. The uh, um- street? Make sure I check off the ones I got so I don't go back over them. The uh- what do you call the uh- um- um- like on the top of cornstalks, you know the- 289: Heads of cor- heads of corn? The stalks, no the- Interviewer: No the {X}- yeah you ever seen a- {X} has he had corn grow- you've seen corn grow here before, haven't you? 289: Not in key West I don't think. #1 I saw- # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 289: in California, my girlfriend, {D: she works for Shell} Biological Research Center. And they plant out experimental crops. Interviewer: Oh. 289: And we went out there one time, slushing through stuff, picking corn. And I've seen up around Pensacola Area where they had that red disease or whatever it is they had a few years back. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: When it destroyed all the corn. I've seen that. {NS} #1 I know what you mean though the blossoms or the blooms it might have. # Interviewer: #2 Thing on the top that- that uh. # You know. Alright when you graduate from high school you wear this thing on your head. 289: The tassel. Interviewer: Okay. 289: {D: But they don't call it that.} Interviewer: And uh. How about uh- when you uh. Take the green part off of uh- 289: The stalk? Oh no. Interviewer: No when you- that you say you go out and- 289: Shuck corn? Interviewer: Okay. And so you call those the- the what? 289: Just, "the heads of corn," you "shuck the corn." Interviewer: Okay. How about um. The stringy stuff that's right next to the uh- kernels 289: What's it a husk? Interviewer: No, you know the stuff that you gotta pull, it's real- it's white, and it's inside- it's inside the shucks. 289: I mean we call it a {X}- I just- get the corn on the cob and peel off the stuff I don't need and- put it in a pot. Interviewer: #1 Okay, but you know what I'm talking about that stringy white stuff. # 289: #2 Yeah that stringy white- stuff. # Interviewer: And you never call that anything? 289: Never. Interviewer: "Silk" or anything? 289: Yes, I've heard people use "Silk." -Call it silk. Interviewer: {NS: Pages turning} Um. Alright how about a large round fruit that uh, that you make out a round- pie of out of around, Thanksgiving. {X} 289: Pumpkin. Interviewer: And, and uh, uh. How about uh, what kind of melons? 289: Watermelons, cantaloupes, rock melons, honey dews. {NS} Those are the only ones I can think of. Interviewer: Okay now do you know of any different varieties of water melons that uh people prefer down here that you can try to get? 289: Some- there's one they call- I think it's "Alligator skin." {NS: Radio} I just know that, some of them's long, you know, and light green. Then you get the kind that's brown. Then you got this kind that's dark green with the stripes, in it. Interviewer: What are those other little bitty ones, you ever seen them? 289: Yeah I've seen the little ones but I don't know what you call them. Interviewer: Um. 289: They just didn't grow. Interviewer: Uh. Let's see, what do you call the uh little things that spring up in the damp places and dark places in the woods? 289: Mushrooms? Interviewer: Okay. And, do you ever have any of those growing around here? 289: I've seen them grow around because we've had some in our back yard. All I do is just smash them to pieces and throw them away. Interviewer: Does uh uh uh. Did your folks ever call them anything else? They say, "don't eat those-" The ones that you don't eat you call what? {NS:} 289: I've heard- I've said something about them but I don't Even We very seldom ever have them. I know you call them "mushroom caps?" No, "toadstools." Interviewer: Okay, and that's- that's ones. Okay. How about um. The uh- oh there's another type of vegetable, {NW: Cough} The kind that uh, is yellow, uh, is crookneck. 289: Squash. Interviewer: Okay. Did- did they ever get any down here that's white, and kind of flat? You know round? 289: I think I've seen it once or twice but I think they mainly just get the yellow squash. Interviewer: #1 That's the main one that people get. # 289: #2 Yeah. # That's good. Interviewer: Yeah. The uh. Is that a favorite uh- 289: That's uh- let's put it this way- when I was growing up, there weren't too many vegetables that my mother prepared for us. I'll eat squash, I'll have peas, corn, and string beans. But as for any other kind of vegetable, no. Sometimes when I go to like, uh the Polynesian restaurant, you know they might a vegetable- I might try it, like I've tried um- I don't even know if you want to call them vegetables. Brussel sprouts and the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, um. They have uh, what they call the "Heart of the Palm," they take out of the palm tree, put that in salads. But the only time I eat a salad is if I go to a restaurant. But I will not fix one at my house to have, I don't like it. Interviewer: Okay, um. How about uh. {NS: Page turning} 289: Salads are for company. {NW: Laugh} #1 That's when we make the salads. # Interviewer: #2 So like a formal? # 289: Well it's just that um. My mother will sit down and eat a tomato, those little- Uh. Teeny Tomatoes. I forgot the stupid name for them. But she'll eat them. My sister will eat them, my nephew will just take a bit and dip it in salt and eat it, nothing of it. But I won't, I mean I just- to me a salad is- You go out to a restaurant, you got to kill time before they bring your main course so you eat the salad. But when I- I'm {D: running off} diets so much that, when I think of the calories that's in a salad, to heck with the salad, I'd rather have the meat. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: {X} And salads don't have as m- You know, people think they don't have that many calories in it but when you count up calories they do. Interviewer: Yeah. Okay, how about uh. Checking this thing here, uh, if- if uh, if- if you leave an apple, okay on a window or something that it'll turn brown, then it'll- it'll- you know, do what? 289: {X} got the core. {NS} Interviewer: What do you call it when it kind of- 289: We never {D: eat it there, they dry up}, we just throw the thing away. Interviewer: Alright well you know like, when your in the water too long you know what happens to your hands? 289: It gets wrinkled, shrinks, you know you get wrinkle marks. Interviewer: Okay, well uh, do you ever say uh- a different way of saying it would be uh- 289: Shrivel up? Interviewer: Okay. Would you- well, would- would you ever used that word around here? How would you use that? 289: I don't- I don't think we even use it that much, not us. {NW: Pages turning} Interviewer: How about uh, the uh- what kind of citrus fruits do you have here? 289: Let's see, oranges, you got your grapefruit, got your limes, lemons. {NS: Radio} That's about it for citrus, orange, grapefruits, lemons, limes. Interviewer: Okay, if you had a bowl of uh, oranges on the table, uh, when you left in the morning and you expected to have them when you got back but someone beat you to it. You came in and there was nothing but a- 289: Empty bowl. Interviewer: And you'd say that the oranges are- 289: What, "vanished?" Interviewer: Yeah, would you say? You would say- 289: No just that someone, Interviewer: #1 {X}, {X}, okay # 289: #2 beat me to it which I wouldn't I mind because I don't care for oranges that much either. # Interviewer: Would you ever say like, you'd say, "Oh my gosh, the oranges are-" 289: Gone. Interviewer: Okay would you say- uh, the oranges are, anything else gone? 289: No, they just, empty bowl, gone, vanished. Interviewer: Okay. {NS: Pages turning} Um. {NS: Pages turning} Do you know {D: when} they grow- uh okay- What- what's the inside part of a cherry that you don't eat? 289: The- the seed or the pit. Interviewer: Okay. How about the inside part of a- a peach, that you don't eat. 289: The seed. Plug. Interviewer: Okay. Uh, and do you know what they call the kind of peach where the flesh is tight up against the uh, seed? Where, you know, when you- when you go to cut it and pull it apart and it sticks to the seed. {NS:} 289: Only thing I know is they call them- To me a peach is a peach, unless you want to call it, say it's a "Georgia Peach." Interviewer: Okay, then you know like, you don't make any distinction between the type that you can uh, cut and the seed will almost fall out you know. #1 You know what I'm saying, you've seen some that- Yeah. # 289: #2 Yeah you can just take your finger nails and lift it apart and out comes the thing, # and there's some you can't just get, but I don't know the difference. Interviewer: Okay. And uh. {NS} Do you uh, does anyone around here dry- you know, dry fruit? You know like cut it up and dry it for later? 289: Not that I know of. Interviewer: Like apples and, peaches and things like that. 289: No the only thing we might do is uh, take guavas. And we'll take and peel the skin off, and slice them in half, put them in a pot, and boil them with sugar. Sugar and water. And then uh. Sometimes I take and do the same way, and but they take all the seeds out of the guava, and make jelly- out of it. Or sometimes just freeze it, the guava shells. And of course you can make guava ice cream and guava dump- guava dumplings. And take the guavas with a heavy syrup you know from cooking and put a can- of cream in it with some sugar, that's delicious. Because we do that to with um, sometimes we do it with um. Well we take the sour sop and turn it into ice cream by the same way but we don't cook it you know, you don't have to cook it. Interviewer: You ever uh, did you ever hear anybody call it a "dry fruit snitz?" 289: No. Interviewer: You ever heard that word at all? {NS: Radio} Okay. Um. How about uh, and I got one other thing here about, we talking about salads- how about those little red things things they put in salads they slice- they're white inside and they got red skins. 289: White inside and red- Interviewer: They're about that big around. 289: Oh, um. What are they called. Ra- ra- radishes. Interviewer: Okay, and uh you ever- you ever- anybody try to grow them around here? Or is it {X}? 289: I don't think- some people more or less grew them because I know when I was a kid I saw all those packages of seeds, you know, but I don't know if they grew. You know what trouble is with All Conch houses, if you're living in an old Conch house now, they're about, I say two, three feet off the ground. Okay. It's always- rain gets in- gets underneath there and you can, if you're not careful, get some rats. And, or you get caterpillars. You know. And any fruit that grows underneath the ground, or vegetable underneath the ground, you'll lose it to the darn roaches, or rats, or caterpillars, or worms or something, so really, here you have a better bet of growing it if it's- above the ground. Interviewer: Hmm. How about um. So, {D: if it's below}- 289: See we grow tomatoes. Some people I've seen corn. Interviewer: How deep does the soil go here? Before you get to, you know like- 289: Not too deep because in the fr- in our front yard we've got things growing that- maybe only requires about seven or eight inches of s- of soil you know, or even less than that. {NS: Pages Turning} Now in the back yard- some areas in our back yard you can dig down maybe- oh, maybe a foot or two, you know of dirt. But it always seems like your best dirt is underneath your house. Interviewer: Yeah. I guess because of the- 289: The dampness in all of it's richer. Interviewer: How about uh, you know where they- where they grow um. Peaches they call that a what? 289: Grove. Interviewer: Okay how about apples, where they grow apples, they call that a grove? 289: Orchard. Interviewer: Okay. Um. The um. And you said syrup a while ago what kind of other syrups can you get, around here. 289: Syrups? Interviewer: Yeah. {NS} 289: Well the only kind of syrups that I know that people go is they go to the grocery store and they get, you know, honey syrup, you know for your pancakes if you eat pancakes, or waffle syrup. That's about it. Interviewer: Okay. Uh, if you were talking about leather or something, you know, and you wanted to get- real leather, you would go in and you would say uh, you might ask the guy and you say uh, like a belt or something like that and you say, Um, um. Say uh. 289: Genuine leather? Pigskin? Or cowhide. Interviewer: Right. Okay. And- what would you find on a table in a kitchen to uh, season food with? 289: Salt, pepper. Interviewer: Okay. And uh, if a child were uh, talking about those oranges, uh {X} if they were on the table and they couldn't reach, uh, you might uh, how would you uh ask, or what would he say? 289: He wouldn't- more than likely the kid is not going to ask for they just climb up in the chair and get it. Get- sit up on top of the table and get it. Or reach for it. Interviewer: But what, you know if you were there and he thought he better ask, what might he say? 289: {NS} Well my nephew generally says, "would you give me?" {NS} You know- I- "I want-" Bottle of milk, or I want- an orange. But then I'll say what, and then I try to teach to him that if he says, "please," he's going to get it. A little bit quicker. He- generally says, "I want it." Or, "I want an orange," "I want an apple." {NS} Interviewer: Okay, um. The um. {NS} How about um. Already got that. {NS} How about uh, those white things they serve with eggs in the breakfast, and it's a southern food, you know? 289: Grits. Interviewer: yeah, you ever eat a lot of those here? 289: {NS} Yes, they eat them. Interviewer: They ever call them anything else? 289: No, grits, grits is grits. I think some people might call it "Hominy," from up north. Interviewer: Further. But then around here. 289: But it's grits. Interviewer: Are they white, what color is it? 289: White. Interviewer: Do they ever have it yellow? 289: Yeah you can buy, I think- but I don't know if they call it grits, I know you can buy it in yellow pa- isn't it corn meal? Hominy grits, isn't hominy yellow, and grits white. {D: Donna Shore?} did some kind of grits or something that was yellow, but we have white ones, at least what we use is white. Interviewer: How about uh, the starch gr- uh grain that comes from Texas and um, Arkansas and Louisiana grows in the water, you know the Chinese eat it all the time- 289: Rice? Interviewer: Yeah you ever, get a lot of that here? 289: Oh yeah, we- everybody eats rice here. Interviewer: {X} 289: Rice and potatoes is your two. Well Key West, where all the Cubans is here. Interviewer: Oh. I guess you got a lot of them, yeah. 289: Yellow rice, then you cook white rice, then we cook "black eye pea hopping johns," then they cook yellow rice with chicken, and pork chops with chicken. You can put practically any meat in with the yellow rice and it comes out good. Interviewer: {X} Is the cooking here mainly influenced by the Spanish or do you have your own style or, would you say that you have sort of a Key West style? 289: Well, when it comes to the steams and the stews I would say they more or less like Key West. But then since there's a lot of Cubans here or Spanish, you have their foods sneaking in when you have the um, black beans and the yellow rice. But see a lot of Cubans, if you go to the restaurants, the Cubans are not going to put onions, peppers, uh and pieces of meat in the- in the yellow rice. Whereas if you're cooking at home you put the onions and peppers, and you can put ham in it, or you can put chicken. And then that's your big meal right there, you know if you cook it in with it. And it tastes better cause you have the flavor of the meat- in it. But then there Cubans have a picadillo. {C: Spanish} And then they have the ropa vieja. {C: Spanish} Interviewer: Now the picadillo is what? 289: Pica- Picadillo is ground meat that's cooked real fine, you know. And- and- it might be a little- with a little bit of olive oil in it, and the restaurants put garlic salt, and onion salt in it. But at home when we cook it- cook it, we cook it- We cook it with a little bit of tomato sauce into it. You know with the onions the same way. Now the ropa vieja is shredding beef. You go out and you buy the- there's like plank steak and you boil it in a pot of water, until it's done, and then you take it out when it cools off, and then you shred it with your fingers. Then you cook it down with some onions and maybe peppers, you can put olives in it, and with tomato sauce and a little bit of olive oil, and it's good. Then they have uh, {D: bellichi}. And uh, it's just- a form of uh- beef, that when you- it's- we buy big long chunks and it shrinks a lot when you cook it. But it's very tender, you'll never get a piece of {D: bellichi} that's tough, you can break it with your fork. You don't have even to use a knife with it. Interviewer: What's it from, what part of- 289: I think it's more it's like the r- you call the round eye, of the steak you know, or like um porterhouse that round section that, what is it the filet mignon, that little section, it's like that. It's- let's put it this way, you can never get a tough piece of {D: Bellichi}. But it's expensive to get. Interviewer: Hmm, do they sell that around- it's- 289: Yeah you can buy it in the grocery stores, if you go in the grocery stores and say they'll- if you ask for {D: Bellichi} they'll know what to give you. Interviewer: You ever see any in Miami? 289: Yes but it's not listed as {D: Bellichi} Interviewer: Oh, what do they call it? 289: I think they call it round eye, or something like that, and say like with here we call thin steak, "palomilla steak." I guess it's a Cuban- It's generally sliced thin steak- round steak sliced thin. Interviewer: Hmm. Okay. Um. Alright, how about um. Wh- wh- now what do you call the stuff that's uh made- made of flour and baked in loaves? 289: Bread. Interviewer: Okay, uh what kinds of bread can you- 289: Get here? Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Whole wheat, rye, pumpernickel. You get your white bread. They used to at the bake shops used to get sweet potato- sweet- potato bread but- they don't make it now. which I guess it's just gotten to to expensive, that was good. But you have to go to the Key West Bake Shop- Oh, and Cuban bread. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: And you can go and get the uh, French bread. From the- Interviewer: Okay, how about some uh other kinds that are made in different shapes other than the loaves. 289: Hmm, you mean the crescent like Pillsbury's crescent rolls, dinner rolls? Interviewer: Yeah, things like that. 289: And you have the twist rolls, the onion rolls. What's those seeds they put on top of them? I don't know. The seeded rolls. What- {NS: Mic tap} Cresc- no not crescent. Can't think of the darn name of the seeds, so. They look like parakeet food. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} Oh um. {NS: Tapping} Uh. I can't think of anything. 289: I can't think of it, but you can buy that. Interviewer: Okay, how about the- the type of uh um, bread that's uh, made with cornmeal. 289: Cornmeal? {NS} Interviewer: Ever have any? You know it's usually in a flat pan and it's baked uh. In squares? {NS} They ever make any of that here? 289: Cornbread? Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Yeah, Cornbread. Interviewer: Is that- is that fairly common around here? 289: It's a lot common for um, not for Cuban restaurants they wouldn't have it, but uh, the dime stores have it, and- I think most people here they- the corn bread is- for us if we're gonna have it we generally have it in the morning for breakfast, you know? And put butter on it and have a corn bread and whether you want to drink tea or milk or something. Interviewer: Did you ever call it anything else besides just "Corn Bread?" {NS} Or any- let's put it this way uh- 289: They call it- we make corn sticks, corn bread. That's about it. Interviewer: Uh- well uh, now. Have you- uh- have you ever heard of "Corn Dodger?" {NS} 289: No. Corn dodger? Interviewer: Never heard of that? How about um. Have- have uh, supposed you have uh {X}, it has every- the only things it have- would have in it, would maybe just be um um- Cornmeal, salt, and water. Would that be "Cornbread?" 289: Cornmeal, salt, and water. {X} When we make cornbread we buy packaged cornmeal, co- cornbread mix, just add water in it, and then bake it. That's it. Interviewer: Okay, do you ever remember any uh like, your grandparents talk about making any? 289: They made um, Johnny Cake bread. Interviewer: And was that corn or wheat? 289: I think it's flour- it's flour. With some baking powder and water. And that's it. Interviewer: Okay but that was flour. 289: Uh huh, flour. Interviewer: Okay, how about um. Do you ever hear of anybody making uh cornbread on top of a stove in a skillet? 289: Yeah that's Johnny Cake, that's what we call "Johnny Cake" bread. Interviewer: Okay but it would be corn? 289: No it's- it's uh flour. But not corn. I think they do that kind of stuff when people go camping. Interviewer: Oh. It's- it's about an inch thick and it's round? 289: Yeah that's what we call Johnny Cake, but I mean- you know- that's not cornmeal it's flour. Interviewer: Okay. Have you ever- now w- now how about the one that uh- now this is the kind where you take cornmeal and you chop up a little pepper and green uh- and onions and- 289: Uh, you mean hushpuppies? Interviewer: Alright uh. Do you- is that uh- That's not, made of here- not here, not hushpuppies. What- do you have anything like that? 289: We have {D: Boyas}- And we have conch fritters that's made that way. Interviewer: How are they made? 289: Okay you're {D: Boyas} are made out of what is it, um, beans. Black- not black beans. I forgot what kind of beans. It's beans, they soak over night and they take them and they grind them up. {NS} They put- people put garlic salt in them, and uh, they put some onion juice. And all,- and they drop in hot fat- hot fat, or grease- lard, and they cook it that way. And the conch fritters is the conch chopped fine, onions and peppers, and it's done the same way. Now you have banana fritters, the easier way to doing that- the banana fritters is that the ingredients. Is to borrow your pancake mix. Mix it the same way you do with pancakes. Get your fruit, bananas mostly, and smash it. And then mix it all together, and then fry it like pancakes, you know little thin pancakes. And then, some people eat it that way some people put- uh, honey on them, but- in my family we put egg sauce on them. Interviewer: Egg sauce? 289: Because we use that, we use the banana fritters- it's not as a breakfast thing, as a desert. You know it- like we have a stew meat or a st- steam meat or, vegetable beef soup. We'd have banana fritters while my grandmother was alive. Interviewer: Okay, how about um. Have you ever heard of anybody taking a kind of cornmeal and then frying it with- like putting it in a cheese- cheese cloth and uh- uh- uh, mixing it up with maybe pork bits or something like that? And uh, uh. Or chicken, you might mix it up with chicken and um- um. {NS} 289: Do you mean dumplings? {X} Interviewer: Yeah, what uh- would they ever be- what would they be made out of? 289: Okay, dumplings is generally uh, flour and water, with a little bit of baking powder in it. And um. Interviewer: Now it's usually boiled, right? 289: Yeah you can boil it, or- dump- more- we have something that's called "duff" is boiling. Too. Interviewer: #1 What's that? # 289: #2 But um. # Okay, it's uh- you make your duff. It's more or less like a cake mix type-thing but it has extra stuff in it, and we generally put um guavas in it, you know cooked guavas in it, and we put it in a- a pot and have a sealed lid that seals real tight. Then you take a big pot, and you put water into it, and put this- and put the duff can into it and you boil it on top of the stove for about two hours. Then you take it out, you just empty it out, and it looks like cake. And you slice it off, and some people- Well we always use egg sauce on it, but you can do the same thing and put uh, other fruit in it, we- you can put a pineapple. Now that's- that's duff now- dumplings you can cook in the pot, you know with your- like we'll cook chicken- chicken and dumplings you know, make the- the flour mix and put it in there, or when we do ribs we call it um. {NS} Ribs {X}. And dumplings, we call it dumplings, but it's with like uh ribs or any kind of steamed meat, stewed meat, you can put that on top. But when you make a guava- dumplings, it's uh- you roll out your dough, you put your guava down through the center, and then you fold over the sides and the ends and you roll it, and you put it in a grease pan and you bake it, and then, when it's done you slice it off and you put egg sauce on it. Interviewer: Okay, is it very uh. Uh. {X} Okay, I was just- 289: There's different ways of um- either bake it or boil it in a double- boiler pot. Or fix it in with your meat. Chicken and dumplings like that. Interviewer: Okay. Now if you um- um- Now there's two kinds of bread, there's uh- the type that you buy at a store and then what else? 289: Home made bread? Interviewer: Yeah. #1 What do you call and- what did your {D: family}- yeah- # 289: #2 Store bought bread, and homemade. # Interviewer: Yeah. Then {D: which}- 289: I'll go buy some "Wholesome" or "Marita" or, that's about it. Interviewer: The uh, um. 289: I don't remember my grandmother ever making bread. Interviewer: Never made it? Always- 289: Always bought it. Interviewer: What'd you have bakeries here or? 289: Yeah have bakeries- see you used- You used to be able to go to the bake shop and buy a loaf of bread, fresh made bread, twenty cents. Even sweet potato bread, twenty cents a loaf. And when I was little- if I wanted the Cuban bread I could go around to Cu- to the one of the Cuban grocery stores, and that's a whole loaf, now that's about the size of a French loaf of bread you know? Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm. # 289: #2 That long. # And you say I want to buy half a loaf of Cuban bread, five cents, ten cents. It used to be ten cents now it's fifty cents. Interviewer: Mm. 289: For a loaf of Cuban bread. Interviewer: There was- There was ten cents when you were- 289: When I was around nine, ten years old- ten cents. It's gone up to fifty now. Interviewer: Alright now at the bakery, what about those things that have the holes in them? 289: Donuts. Interviewer: Yeah, do you get those here? 289: You get donuts and jelly donuts. Interviewer: Do they- now did you have a different name though you said jelly donuts, do you have a different name for those? Uh. 289: no, they're generally- donuts that don't have a center and, probably the inside is taken out and filled up with some type of jelly. {NS} Interviewer: Okay. Uh, what about uh um. Um. {NS} What about the type that are twisted? Do you have a name for those? You know the whens that are {D: stirred/still} kind of- 289: Twisted donuts um. Interviewer: Y-y-yeah all I'm saying is there any- is there any special- 289: It mainly when you go to the grocery st- the bake shop you just say "Donuts," and then point to whatever it is that you want. Interviewer: Okay. #1 And then- # 289: #2 C- Oh Cinnamon twist donuts. That's the only other kind we used to buy, cinnamon twist. # Interviewer: Yeah. Okay. And uh, how about uh- now you mentioned uh- Johnny cakes, now I think this probably what this uh- sometimes you mix up a batter like Aunt Jemima. 289: Yeah. Interviewer: And uh, now is that the same thing as Johnny cakes? 289: Well I know it's- it's the same way as making dough. You know, f- flour, baking powder, and water. And I don't what else you might put in it because I've never baked it- you know made it. You take the big iron frying pan, you know you roll it out into a big circle- how wide the frying pan- and you grease the frying pan. You don't have excess of grease, you just grease it. Interviewer: #1 So just as long as it's nice and- # 289: #2 And then- yeah. # And then, when it- you think it's done on one side you take your spatula, or your egg turner and just flip it up and plop it on the other side and then, while that underneath is cooking, you know before you flipped it over you greased it, and then that side is cooking and my grandmother always used to leave a piece of paper with the grease sitting on top. You know. Interviewer: You get all- you get all greased up here. 289: Well it's just that it won't- wouldn't burn in the pot. Interviewer: Well I was talking about- well yourself. 289: Oh getting burned, yeah you can get burned with it. Interviewer: Okay, I was just, I was trying to differentiate between the Johnny cake and the type that they have at the international house of uh- #1 You know those- those things they make in the morning and put syrup on- Yeah. # 289: #2 Pancakes? # Interviewer: #1 Are those different? # 289: #2 No, it's completely different. # {X} Yeah because theirs is thin and runny and this Johnny cake isn't going to run no where. It's going to stay. Interviewer: Now you- would you eat the Johnny cake the way they do in the morning, you know- 289: Johnny cake, when you get take it out the of the frying pan, just cut off a- piece and just slid it down the center and put some butter on it. Interviewer: Okay. How about uh- what is it they put in bread to make it raise? 289: Baking powder? No not baking powder. Yeast. Interviewer: Okay. And uh. If you went to the store and you were buying flour you might buy two what? A two- 289: Two pounds Interviewer: Okay. And uh. What the inside part of an egg is called? 289: Yolk. Interviewer: Okay. Um. If you cook- um. A couple of them- if you boil them. Uh. Well let's put it this way- You can- uh. {C: The interviewer is starting to say "let's put it this way" the same way 289 does} 289: What the chicken lays? Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Eggs. Interviewer: And if you put it on water at two hundred and twenty degrees you're doing what? 289: You're boiling them. Interviewer: So you're having- 289: Hard boiled eggs, soft boiled eggs. Interviewer: Okay. How about if you break them open and you put that in water? 289: Um. Poached. Interviewer: Okay. And, now, do you have any names for fat salt pork? {NS} 289: No just pork. Interviewer: You know what I'm talking about like uh- 289: Yeah the chunks of pork you can buy it looks like bacon big chunks if you if you haven't even bothered to slice them Interviewer: Yeah- you ever? 289: No my mother buys um. Salt pork. Interviewer: Is that- what you would call it? 289: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay, how about uh have you ever seen like when they cut the side of a hog that's all hung up there- it's like you say square, big side, what they call it. 289: Slab? Interviewer: Yeah with the- the. 289: I've never seen a hog split open like that, and I'm not interested in finding it. Interviewer: Did they ever have any um, butcher houses in around here? 289: Yeah they used to at the- I don't remember- at the end of uh White Street, a little bit over, they used to have they'd bring the cattle in and they'd slaughter them there sharks- hanging out there. Interviewer: Sharks {D: in their hand}? 289: Mm-hmm. #1 Not now, but they used to. # Interviewer: #2 Well that- that'd be- # 289: They used to say- it used to go out you know where white street pair would go off? Well this is over about, fifty feet. {NS} Interviewer: Toward the Beach? 289: Not towards Monroe county, the other way. And uh, my grandmother says that's when they used to bring in the cattle in there and they'd slaughter them there. And the blood and everything just- they let it go in the water and the sharks used to be there and eat it all up. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} 289: {D: I mean I seen it.} Interviewer: I don't think anyone would want to do- that'd be one- that'd be a good time to go swim on the other side of the island. But yeah, yeah. How about uh, uh- what about the kind of meat that you buy uh- sliced thin that you'd eat with eggs? 289: You mean spam? Interviewer: Well you know, you know- 289: Bacon. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Ham. Interviewer: Yeah, what other kind? 289: Sausage Interviewer: Alright. And what do you call the uh- the outside of bacon like if you buy it unsliced, you know it's got that real hard- 289: I don't know. Interviewer: Yeah, it's hard to eat. 289: We don't eat bacon, that much, that often. {NS: Chair creaking} Interviewer: Okay, and uh, um. {NS} How about uh. The guy that- the guy that cuts the meats is called? 289: The butcher Interviewer: Okay. And if the meats been kept too long you'd say the meat has done what? 289: Spoiled. Interviewer: Okay. {NS} Now um. {NS} This is uh- {X} like for example, uh, I don't know if you're familiar with any of these or not but I'll just run through them quickly. Now what time do you have to g- 289: I don't have to worry about anything until twelve o'clock. Interviewer: Okay so there's a clock right there, I'm going to keep my eye on it. {NW: Laugh} Alright. Um. Okay uh. After someone butchers a hog, do you know what they uh- what they might make with the meat from it's head? {NS} 289: {NW} Interviewer: #1 You ever heard- # 289: #2 No. # Interviewer: #1 Anything? # 289: #2 {X} # People up and around New Orleans and that kind of stuff they make their own sausage but they grind up their stuff, but I don't know what it is that they- I've heard of hog jaws. And chitterlings. Interviewer: Do you know what chitterlings are? 289: Yeah that's the um, I think- now, this is from working in the Navy with these cooks, I think it's the male's something or other. {NS: Pages turning} Or I might got the wrong one mixed up with it. {NW: Laugh} Interviewer: Alright- 289: Hog bowls, hog jaws, chitterlings. Interviewer: Okay- 289: Tripe. Interviewer: Tripe. Alright did you ever hear of anything made out of hog blood? {NS} 289: No. Interviewer: Okay. How about uh, what would you call a dish prepared by cooking and grinding up a hog liver? What do you think is made out of that? 289: Nope. Never heard of anything- chi- The thing I've heard of is chicken livers but they wouldn't do that. On a hog. Interviewer: You have a name for like, in a chicken you know like uh. Um. #1 Like the heart and the gizzard and the- # 289: #2 gizzard, the liver. # Interviewer: #1 All those things together, you know inside of a chicken, # 289: #2 chitterlings? # Interviewer: That's eatable inside a chicken, would they have a common name for all of them, you know, together? 289: No, they may but, see the only one out of my family that ever ate any of that was my grandmother. Interviewer: {D: Never heard her call it anything} Okay. Um. 289: What do- what do they call chitterlings? Interviewer: #1 Chitterlings- # 289: #2 Oh giblets! # Is it giblets that make uh- My girlfriend takes the heart and the, the liver and chumps it up, and her turkey and stuff to make gravy. Is that it? Interviewer: Well you know, just- If it's what you know {NW: Laugh}. 289: Let's put it this way, with me the heart, liver in the chicken gets thrown out the back door for the chickens- I mean- the cats to eat. Interviewer: Oh. 289: Because uh, I'm not about to do it. {NS} Even the neck and the tail-end, last piece that goes over the fence gets thrown out the door. Interviewer: What do you call that last piece that goes- 289: That's {D: it's} the tail-end {NW: Laugh}. That gets out. Interviewer: Did you ever have- hear anybody else call that anything else? 289: No, the last- tail-end- let's see the last piece that goes over the fence the tail-end. {NS} Interviewer: Ever hear it called "nose" 289: No. Interviewer: {X} 289: Mm. Interviewer: Or something like that- okay, how about uh. Uh- Have you ever heard of anyone taking the juice from hogs head cheese, or {D: lure} sausage and stirring it up with cornmeal or maybe some other meat and then cooking it up and the later off uh, when it's cool, slicing it and frying it or anything like that? Any kind of dish that even sounds like that, remotely? 289: #1 I wouldn't even want to know of anything like that- Ooh! # Interviewer: #2 {NW: Laugh} # How about uh, supposed you kept butter too long and it didn't taste good, what would you say happened to it? 289: {NS} The only thing I can think of is milk and that curdles, so you throw that away. But not butter- spoils, the butter spoils. Interviewer: Okay, you ever- 289: We don't keep um- Key West people as a rule, at least for us, for the past maybe tw- twenty years, we don't buy butter, we buy margarine. Because at the time it was cheaper to buy than the butter and the butter was too high in cholesterol. So we buy margarine. And even when I was little I remember my grandmother buying this white stuff, and mixing it up and then putting the yellow stuff in it to make it yellow like butter. Interviewer: Mm. 289: There is some- we only have real good butter when we- maybe when we have company, they think- we think they might like it. But most of them nowadays prefer the margarine. Interviewer: Mm. So you say when milks spoils you call that what? 289: It's curdled milk or it's turned sour. Interviewer: Okay. Have you ever heard of anybody making any kind of a cheese out of curdled milk? 289: My girlfriend did but I don't know what it's called. Interviewer: Okay. 289: You just skim it off and- #1 I don't know what else you put but- # Interviewer: #2 You like to get- in grocery stores it's white and it got chunks. # {NS} And it comes in little tubs? 289: Not sour cream. Interviewer: No. {NS} 289: I'm sure it's- cottage cheese? Don't tell me that- Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} {X} Some people might. 289: I don't- well I only use cottage cheese when I make lasagna so I'm safe that way. Interviewer: Okay. How about- 289: I think I'm going to- {X}- omit the cottage cheese. Interviewer: Have you- but- you never- not too many people make stuff out of uh {D: Clarry Milk} {C: possibly meant "curdled"? I couldn't find what this Clarry Milk is}. 289: No, No- Not that I know of. People nowadays- at least as far as I can remember- is- down here you pay more- you go in the grocery store around here looking, you pay more than what you pay for up- up in Miami, because when been up in Miami shopping for my cousins, and I see the prices of their meat and know what we're paying here, and I hear them complaining, and I say, "well you should come where I come from." Because most people nowadays, they don't buy, in excess. The- you know they had it to throw away. And when we do have something left over from the table, and we know that we're not going to want it, we'll give it to the dog- my dog, and if the dog don't want it we give it to the cats. And the cats don't want it, when we had ducks we'd give it to the ducks or the chickens. I've had a chicken come in the house and stand with my dog and eat dog food. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} 289: Or- or the- Johnny, we had a duck named Johnny like Daffy Duck, He come in through the back door all the way in the house to the front room see what we's doing, turn around, go back out. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: Didn't do a thing, just wanted to know what we was doing. Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} 289: #1 It was true # Interviewer: #2 Ch- Chicken- # How many chickens and ducks did you have at one time? 289: We had- three chickens. {NS} Well we had three boys and one female, okay. The female was Lucy and we got rid of- my uncle came and got the black ones, the males and then {NW} wrung their necks, so he took those, but we kept Lucy. {NS} And uh, she was a white one, but she had- must have had cancer, but she got along with the dogs we had. In fact my dog would go out in the backyard and lay down and she'd go up and flea him. Or she'd come in the house and eat dog food with him. Interviewer: Hmm. 289: They got along perfect together. Interviewer: When you uh, when you were going out to uh- feed the chickens how would you used to call them? 289: I didn't- I- generally I just call Lucy, just, "Lucy." Interviewer: Had grain that you threw? 289: Yep, and well we put out- uh, bread or we put out the rinds of the watermelon or- you know anything like that. But more or less the dog's food was right by the back door as soon as you go out, and the see- with all the dogs we've had, we'd leave the back door open, so they come and go as they please so the chicken, or the duck would come and go as he pleased. and as long as he didn't do anything in the house we didn't- He didn't- He'd be satisfied eating the dog food or the cat food, he didn't give a darn. Interviewer: Yeah. {NS: Something moving} 289: Except she- Except the darn roosters we had never knew when to crow. They'd crow at the wrong time. {NW: Laugh} Generally around um. Two o'clock in the morning. Or, uh, eleven o'clock in the morning. Stupid things didn't know when to crow. Interviewer: Okay if you had uh- if you had uh, um- say uh a soda bottle that when you opened it chipped a little bit, you know, and you didn't want to throw it away, you might take a- 289: Strain it. Interviewer: Yeah. And um. What- what's baked in a deep dish and is made out of apples, has crust on top, or it could be made out of peaches too, has crust on top of it uh. 289: What pie? Interviewer: #1 Yeah. # 289: #2 Apple crisp? # Interviewer: #1 Yeah. # 289: #2 Yeah. # Interviewer: Sometimes uh- well is it a still a pie if it's in a square dish? 289: {NS} Yeah. Well I mean, pies you think of being round. But pie, if it's apple or peach, would have a crust on bottom and crust on top. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: Whereas an apple crisp would be more like a cake- with the fruit in it with sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top of it. Interviewer: How about something that you might uh- it may not have a bottom crust it just has, you know fruit in it and it maybe have a layer of crust, then some more fruit, then a layer of crust. Something like that. {NS} 289: I never had one like that. Interviewer: Okay, you ever heard of like a cobbler or- 289: Oh yeah, I've heard- that's what they call the crisp down here. That's where I picked it up, at least from um, working at the Navy they called it a crisp, you know, ye- but within they'll put uh um, a layer of like the uh- cake mix, then the fruit, then- cake mix and fruit and sugar. Interviewer: #1 Oh so it's got cake in it then? # 289: #2 Mm-hmm. # Interviewer: Oh, and that's a "crisp?" 289: They call it "apple crisp" or "cobbler." Interviewer: Okay. Alright if someone has a good appetite you'd say he sure likes to put away his- 289: Put away his food, put away his meal. Interviewer: Okay. No one ever say vittles here or anything? 289: Mm- I've heard it people say- uh- When my cousin went up to Alabama and came back she called it "vittles" for a little while. Interviewer: Until she got back into it? 289: Got back into the swing of it. Interviewer: #1 If somebody said vittles would that- I know, would that tip you off to where they're from? # 289: #2 It's food # I- I would say they were from the south if they weren't something from, you know. Maybe the northern Florida fo- I don't even think in the northern part of Florida say it. I'd say Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi. Interviewer: How about uh, {NS: Pages turning} the uh {NS: Pages turning} 289: You think of the- Vittles, you think of mountain people. You know. Back hills, hillbillies. {NS: Pages turning} Interviewer: Now, since you mention back hills, hillbillies, do you have any uh, uh- names for uh, um, white people that are in the south that are you know like "hillbillies," that names like that, you know? That you talk about- let's say- let's say people who are rural. you know 289: We call them farm- farm- farmers. Hillbillies. {NS: Pages turning} Um. {NS: Pages turning} I don't know. Interviewer: You know like uh, somebody who lives out in the country and doesn't know anything about town ways, you know- you know like uh. Um. Like you know- I think you said hillbilly but uh- 289: Yeah. Interviewer: {X}- 289: Backwoodsman. Um. Hill people, mountain people. {NS} But you got to go a long way before you go to Key West to get that. Interviewer: Right. Do they ever have any uh, uh, uh. Um. Th reason why I'm asking is because you know, you brought- you just mentioned it but uh. D- do you- what are some local names for negros. {C: Oh.} 289: #1 Okay. # Interviewer: #2 I shouldn't have said that. # 289: No because- Interviewer: #1 Because- # 289: #2 Key- All people- # Like with me when I was growing up. The colored people that I know preferred to be called "Colored," people, colored. Okay now the new bunch have come- come along, and the Navy and all- they prefer to call- be call, "Negros." Then some people want to be called "Black people." But to me they're color- colored person. Interviewer: Were there any um, um. Jocular or you know like, uh, or derogatory terms that are native to the area here. Or just, that you knew when you were young? 289: For colored people? To me the- no, because see- my father and mother had French no other word that was colored. So I mean, to me there's Catherine, Levi, and, I mean but that's their names. Interviewer: Right. Okay how about uh, for a white person now, you know if you've heard since you had, you know- 289: Oh they might call them "whities." Interviewer: Okay how about uh, you know for a caucasian any- any- {NS} How about- do you consider, like you know, we were talking about native island people, okay. And you call those? 289: Key West people who are born in Key West are Conchs. Interviewer: Alright. Now is that a derogatory term or a good term in your mind? 289: Well, when you, the books that we had here in library and we looked it up- to me a conch is an animal, you know in the shell that you can eat, to me- It's just like saying you're a Georgia peach. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 289: I don't take it as an insult to be a Conch, because they always say I'm a Conch- I'm a Conch. But to be a true Conch, your family has had to come from the Bahamas, Nassau or Bahamas, from England. So my family came from England, to the Bahamas, to Key West. That's a true Conch. Interviewer: Could there be any black Conchs? 289: Well I guess if they was born in England and went to the Bahamas and came to Key West then they're- that's it, that doesn't state if you have to be white or black though, or what color, it's just that you- From England, to the Bahamas, to Key West. Interviewer: I was just curious about that because I interviewed someone in {D: Miami}. Uh, Thompson family is black and um, they uh, lived in {D: Miami} three generations and they came from Key West. Part of that and uh. He referred to- now he'd been away for three generations but, uh he was talking about the Conchs in Key West, and I asked him you know, if blacks and whites were Conchs, and he said as far as he knew yes, And he thought it was sort of a derogatory term and it might be because of the, you know, I mean he was- 289: I don't take it as an insult because I mean I was born here, I'm not ashamed of the place, but they- they started throwing in things, first I'm American, then if you want to throw in second spot I'm either a Conch or I'm a Floridian. If you want to throw up another thing I'm either- I've got English, Irish, and a little bit of Seminole Indian in me. And I'm not ashamed of any of them. Interviewer: Yeah. 289: So I don't care if I have Italian or cuban or what have you. If you're not ashamed of yourself or your family then it doesn't make and difference what you got in you. Interviewer: Okay. Well I meant, well you know this isn't- this is just uh, 289: {X} I mean that's true because I'm a Conch, because I was born and raised here. Now if I would have had my way I'd loved to live in California. You'd tell me I could go tomorrow to San Diego to live where my Uncle lives in Point Loma, area. Oh! Interviewer: {NW: Laugh} You like it there? 289: It's beautiful. I love television. And he's seven blocks from the ocean, up like on a hill, but all his- his house is on ground, you know firm ground. And do you know he can get twenty three T.V. stations in his set? Interviewer: Set? 289: Twenty three. What you miss one day, you can pick up the next day or a couple of hours later. Because if you don't like Key West- there's not much to do you can go swimming, fishing, tennis, boating. But I had all of that when I was little so I'd rather, go to California. San Diego your hop skip and a jump from Tijuana and Las Vegas, which I like, you can go to Disney Land. You can go to Los Angeles, you can go to San Francisco. Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, well yeah- that's what I was wondering because I'm from Saint Louis. And uh- not from, I'm from upper Florida, I've been working in Saint Louis for the past five, six years. and um up around there anyway, and uh, to me a big city is, I'm trying to get away from. {NW: Laugh} 289: Well I mean, In San-- That Point Loma area, it's a- it's a very residential area, when he built his house there, I think he built it for twenty thousand and um, he's like he's out in the boondocks {NS: Knocking} Now, in Sixty-Nine they appraised his house as small as what it is, and the rooms not very big, it's sixty-five thousand they could give.