The Oyster Pail! The what now? The oyster pail. Despite the fact that 99.99% of you know the object to the right as a Chinese Take-out container, it is in fact an Oyster Pail. The oyster pail was developed in the early 20th century at a time when fresh oysters were more popular and less expensive than they are today. In olden times it was a common practice for the oyster seller to shuck the oysters for you at his shop, so that they could be taken home, ready to use in whatever you were cooking. The oyster pail provided an inexpensive and clean way for you to get your oysters home from the shucker. (Some women preferred to shuck their own oysters...these ladies were often called mother shuckers.)

Sometime in the 1940's, over-fishing led to fewer oysters, which meant higher oyster prices, which in turn led to fewer oyster sales, leaving the manufacturers of Oyster Pails holding the bag (or should I say pail) on unsold product.

Fortunately, after World War II, due to the prosperous post war economy, the U.S. experienced a huge increase in take-out food. Among the more popular types of take-out foods, was Chinese. Chinese food was tasty, considered exotic, fairly inexpensive and traveled well.

So let's see here; A. we have a quickly growing market of take-out food and B. an excess of oyster pails used to transport food...hmmmm. Hey! Wait a minute! Have I got an idea for you!

The oyster pail was quickly adopted for "Chinese take-out", it was perfect for the job. The paperboard pails were to some extent self-insulating and they could be used to carry all kinds of food: dry dishes like cooked rice, moist dishes like Egg Foo Yung and sauced dishes like Moo Goo Gai Pan.

So here's to the oyster pail, without which I would have eaten way less Sweet and Sour Chicken, Beef Kow, Shrimp with pea pods, Spare ribs and my favorite...egg rolls. So next time you're taking home an order of Moo Goo Gai Pan, thank the oyster pail, because without it, there'd be a big ol' mess on your car seats right now.

There's an all-you-can-eat Chinese Buffet in Kenosha, which, I know isn't all that unusual. What is unusual though, is that they offer free delivery. So every Wednesday night Julie and I would call this place up and place an order for delivery. We'd order a couple of appetizers and an entree or two and they'd bring it over. About a half hour later we'd call them up again and have them deliver refills. This would go on four or five times until we'd have our fill.

We did this for five weeks until last Wednesday when I made my usual call and a guy yelled "KUNG FU"! into the phone and hung up, at least I think he said "Kung Fu", it was a little hard to hear him. I guess that time I called up and asked them to run over some more hot mustard might have been a little too much.

Speaking of egg rolls...the best egg rolls and sweet and sour sauce I have ever had were at the Ho Kow Restaurant in Chicago. The Ho Kow used to be on Lake street between Wabash and Michigan ave and was owned by my friend Kerry Moy's family. Alas the Ho Kow is long gone, but when I was a kid, Kerry would take us there to eat once in a while. The food there was great, but what I remember most were the big, fat, crisp egg rolls and the home made sweet & sour sauce. It was great stuff, the sauce had nice chunks of peaches in it, fresh peaches! I ask you, when have you ever seen that? Nowadays you order sweet and sour sauce for your egg rolls, you get that watery crap in a plastic packet...man I miss those egg rolls and sauce. Once in a great while, something kicks in at the back of my brain and I can almost taste it all again. Oh well, like my hair, I guess that's just another lost part of my youth; unless...Kerry takes pity on me and sends me the recipe...how about it Kerry? One egg roll for the road, for old times sake?