Many Inventions
My grandparents' TV trays before my time
When my brother, sister, and I visited our grandparents, were allowed to eat TV dinners on a TV tray and watch TV. Now that I'm an adult, I like to do the same. It may seem uncivilized, but sitting at the dining room table and staring at your family, spouse, or guests is just so boring. I prefer to pull out the TV trays and set everyone up.
Now, some of you may be asking, "WTF is a TV dinner? WTF is a TV tray?" or perhaps for our younger readers, "WTF is a TV?" TV dinners were rather disgusting frozen meals that only children could appreciate. Typically, the aluminum tray held a meat entree such as chicken or Salisbury steak, a vegetable like peas and corn, a potato item, and a strange dessert such as a piece of starch with cranberries on top. The whole tray was cooked in the oven and served without the need of a plate. Easy for everyone.
I'm sure there was no nutritional value. The vegetables had been boiled to death and then flash frozen. The fried chicken had a remarkable duality: it was both very greasy and very dry. I don't want to consider the sodium content. But when you're eight or ten, who cares? It's like space food that astronauts eat.
TV trays were nicely decorated folding trays that could be set up in front of a sofa or chair. They really are an amazing invention. They fold up neatly, can be washed in the sink, and serve a multitude of functions such as eating while watching Mercy Street, as a tray that is impervious to watermarks from drinks, and as a flat surface to hold tools if one is working on a project. While I would stay away from the frozen sodium laced TV dinner, I strongly recommend the TV tray.
President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with fancy TV trays
