Footnotes to the TV series
LORELAI: Hey, let’s sit at the counter.
RORY: Nah, the counter, those are not the power seats.
LORELAI: Yes, but with no one here we can sit at either end and play bagel hockey.
In North America, “hockey” nearly always refers to ice hockey. Hockey is usually called “field hockey” in North America.
Bagel Hockey appears to use a bagel as the puck – the little disc that is pushed across the ice with hockey sticks in an attempt to get it into the goal.
LORELAI: Hey, let’s sit at the counter.
RORY: Nah, the counter, those are not the power seats.
LORELAI: Yes, but with no one here we can sit at either end and play bagel hockey.
A bagel is a ring-shaped bread roll which is boiled before being baked, resulting in a dense, doughy interior with an often crisp crust. It originates from the Jewish communities of Poland, and is first mentioned in the 17th century, although very similar breads can be found in 13th century Arabic cookbooks, and a bagel-like bread was made in Poland as early as the 14th century.
They are a popular bread product in North America and Poland, especially in areas with a large Jewish population. Brought to the US by Jewish Polish immigrants, they came into general use by the last quarter of the twentieth century.
They are so closely associated with Jewish culture that the verb “to bagel” refers to a Jewish person deliberately using typically Jewish words or phrases in front a stranger to signal to them that they are also Jewish.
RORY: Whack you with a cannoli? Oh, because he left the gun and took the cannoli.
In another scene of The Godfather, a Corleone bodyguard named Clemenza (Richard S. Castellano) is asked to kill Paulie (John Martino), a perceived weak link in the crime family. As Clemenza leaves after performing his task, he tells his accomplice, “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli”. This scene takes place in a car on a deserted road, the cannoli was food packed for the trip.
LORELAI: Hm. Or we could sit in the corner – you know, the Mafia table so that no one can come up behind you and whack you with a cannoli.
Cannoli are Italian pastries consisting of tubular pastry shells filled with a sweet, creamy, often ricotta, filling. In Italian, the singular of the word is cannolo, but in English, people usually say “a cannoli”, like Lorelai does.
The dessert dates to the Middle Ages, and is believed to be Sicilian, traditionally from Palermo and Messina. Historically, they were a treat for Carnival, before Lent, but are now enjoyed year-round.
RORY: The other night when we were watching Julia, and Jane Fonda was playing Lillian Hellman.
LORELAI: Oh yeah, and I made the Hellmann’s mayonnaise joke.
Hellman’s is an American brand name for a line of condiments, owned by the British company Unilever since 2000. They are sold as Hellman’s east of the Rocky Mountains in the US, and around the world, and as Best Foods west of the Rocky Mountains and in Asia/Oceania.
The company was begun by Prussian immigrant Richard Hellman, who opened his first factory in New York City in 1913 to make Hellman’s Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise. It was voted the best mayonnaise in the US in 1920.
pasta with four kinds of pesto
salad
pineapple-cranberry chutney
3 different types of cookies, including heart-shaped ones covered in pink icing
a tart topped with fresh fruit
a lemon meringue pie surrounded by ladies fingers
miniature wedding cake
bottle of champagne
candles
flowers
probably a lot more we don’t see
the basket itself is an edible pretzel with a goat cheese filling!!!!
How did this go for only $35??? Incidentally, this helps to partially justify Lorelai and Rory’s complete lack of effort. If Sookie can work for hours to make a beautiful picnic basket and it only earns $35, what exactly is the point of slaving in the kitchen for the Bid-on-a-Basket Festival?
Mrs Kim Approved Basket
homemade granola
soy chicken tacos
wheatgrass juice
Lane’s Own Choice (bought from Gianelli’s – is this the same place they buy pizza from?)
meatball heroes (in New York City, a hero is a submarine sandwich, a bread roll [pictured])
chips
DEAN: I’m fine with the whole hating him thing, thank you.
RORY: I just think it’s a waste of energy.
DEAN: You know, I’ll have a PowerBar.
The PowerBar was the first “energy bar” made to be used during competitions for endurance athletes. The company was founded by Canadian athlete Brian Maxwell in Berkeley, California, in 1986; the recipe for the bars was formulated by nutritionist Jennifer Biddulph, later Maxwell’s wife. The company was bought by Nestle in 2000.
Lorelai orders a lot of Chinese food from Al’s Pancake World (too much, in Richard’s view). We don’t know everything she orders, but apart from egg rolls, we know she orders:
Egg foo young [pictured]: an omelette dish found in Chinese American cuisine. Its Chinese name fúróngdàn literally means “hibiscus egg” in Cantonese, and it derives from fu yung egg slices, a recipe from Guangdong (various vegetables cooked in beaten egg). In Western countries, it is usually a folded omelette with meat and vegetables embedded in the egg. In North American, it is often served with sauce or gravy.
Garlic chicken: a Chinese American chicken dish, where the chicken is stir-fried in a thick garlic, honey and soy sauce. Often topped with sesame seeds and green onions. Rory asks for this to be added to the menu.
Moo shu pork: a dish from northern China which has been a staple of Chinese American cuisine since the 1960s. It consists of marinated pork stir-fried with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and scrambled egg, in a rice wine sauce. Usually served with rice or pancakes, and hoi sin sauce.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 