Tag: Food

DAR Luncheon

LORELAI: What are you doing here?
EMILY: Well, I was thinking about possibly having our next DAR luncheon here.

It was established in the previous season that the Hartford DAR hold their monthly meetings at the Independence Inn, which Lorelai had to agree to in order to get help with a loan she needed, in “Secrets and Loans”.

The monthly meeting included a luncheon, but this DAR luncheon is presumably something separate from, and far more elaborate than, the monthly meeting luncheons. Lorelai books the DAR luncheon for the 15th March, which was a Saturday in 2003. (There may be some joke here about the Ides of March – the 15th of March – the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated).

Elevenses

BRIAN: I thought there was gonna be coffee, too.
ZACH: Dude, can you chill out about your freaking elevenses ’til we get this song straightened out?

Informal British for a short break for light refreshments, served in the late morning, around 11 am. Known in other parts of the world as morning tea, coffee break, or morning snack. Popular British children’s books such as Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington Bear have made the word reasonably well known.

Stove Top Stuffing

RORY: [reads button] “Stars Hollow Hockey, 2003 semifinalists. Go Minutemen. The future is yours. Bring this button to Doose’s for fifty percent off your next purchase of Stove Top Stuffing.”

Stove Top is a brand of stuffing introduced by General Foods in 1972. It is a quick cooking (“instant”) stuffing that is available in supermarkets. Unlike traditional stuffing, Stove Top can be prepared on the stove, in a pot, and can also be prepared in a microwave oven. It is used as a side dish for meals as well as a medium in which some meats (pork, chicken) can be baked. It is sold in boxes and canisters.

There is a slight retcon or continuity error here, because in “Secrets and Loans”, the Minutemen were the school’s basketball team, not their hockey team. Unless all the sports teams have the same name???

Sushi

BRIAN: Well, I’m sick of burgers, so if it could be a place that has more than burgers –
ZACH: What do you want, like a three-dollar sushi place?

Sushi, a Japanese dish of vinegared rice, accompanied by a variety of ingredient, such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is “sushi rice”. Although fermented rice has long been eaten in South-East Asia, the creator of modern sushi is believed to be Hanaya Yohei, who in 1824 invented the type of sushi most known today, in which seafood is placed on hand-pressed vinegared rice. It was the fast food of its day.

The word sushi has been recognised in English since the late 19th century, although Western-style sushi has variations which are rarely found in Japan itself. Sushi has been popular in the US since the 1970s, beginning in California.

Pizza at John’s in the Village

RORY: How’s it going?
LORELAI: Good. A lot of walking. We all had pizza at John’s in the village and wrote a musical.

John’s of Bleecker Street, simply known as John’s Pizzeria, is a historic pizzeria in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Founded in 1929, John’s is known for its graffiti-carved wooden booths where any patron can carve their name. It has been ranked as one of the best pizzerias in the US.

Toute de suite, Candy

LORELAI: [from upstairs] Rory? … Toute de suite, and I don’t mean the candy.

Toute de suite, French for “immediately, right away”.

Lorelai makes a pun on “Toot Sweets”, a song from the British 1968 family musical fantasy film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, directed by Ken Hughes, and screenplay by Roald Dahl, loosely based on the 1964 novel by Ian Fleming, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car. The film stars Dick Van Dyke as a widowed inventor named Caractactus Potts raising two children.

While trying to raise funds, Potts tries to market several failed inventions, including a musical hard candy you can whistle, which only turns out to attract stray dogs. It is that point that he and many others of the cast sing “Toot Sweets”. Later, Potts is able to become rich by selling the idea to a sweets maker, who markets them as Woof Sweets.

A real candy you could whistle called Melody Pops began being manufactured in the UK in the 1970s, seemingly inspired by Toots Sweets.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was adapted into a musical for the London West End in 2002, and became a Broadway production in 2005.

Flashback 4

Lorelai is eating a sandwich and watching TV when her labour pains begin. We know it’s a pepper sandwich (I think this means a bell pepper or capsicum sandwich, which sounds weird?), because it was mentioned in an earlier episode. There is a cut, and then we see her at the hospital registry, filling out forms on her own.

She has come to the hospital by herself (presumably in a taxi) and there’s nobody to help her with the paperwork or offer support, not even Christopher. To add poignancy to this, there is a young man standing behind Lorelai with a bunch of flowers for someone, but there is nothing for Lorelai.

Sara Moulton

EMILY: Lelaini made a roast before she left and I heated it up … I even added a little wine to the pan to keep it from drying out.
LORELAI: Well, who died and made you Sara Moulton?

Sara Moulton (born 1952), cookbook author and TV chef. She began working with Julia Child on TV in 1979, went on to a regular position with Good Morning America until 1997, and hosted Cooking Live until 2002, after which she began her new show, Sara’s Secrets. Her first cookbook had come out the previous year in 2002, Sara Moulton Cooks at Home. She continues to be a popular author and TV host.

C&H Pure Cane Sugar Dancers

LORELAI: The C&H Pure Cane Sugar dancers?
EMILY: Lorelai, please, we don’t have a buffer here tonight.

Lorelai refers to the popular television commercials for the California and Hawaiian Sugar Company (C&H Sugar), which processed sugar cane from Hawaii at their plant in San Francisco until 2016.

In the 1960s, the commercial depicted happy Hawaiian children singing and dancing to the company’s jingle in a very cute and innocent way while they suck on big sticks of sugar.