No matter what age we are, we’ve all probably done it: in conversations with our friends, we all have “funny” stories about our upbringing and specifically the quirks of our parents. I imagine that Christy said, “You think that’s bad…my parents used to save the jars that dried beef comes in, to use for juice glasses. They were plain, straight-sided, with a row of stars encircling the rim.” Naturally, none of the stores she visited in New York City seemed to stock this Jones sandwich-making staple, so when she brought a friend home for the weekend they immediately made a beeline for the basement to find the cache of jars and confirm her vivid memory. It turns out that the stars we all remembered are no longer part of the jar design, and there are only five “real” starry glasses in our collection. Christy will preserve those, her friend will take a set of plain ones for manly-man wine glasses, and the rest will continue to serve their homely functions: holding such diverse items as fresh-picked flowers awaiting arrangement, bacon grease solidifying, or tempera paints for little artists at the kitchen table. In the meantime, Internet cooking sites will continue to gamely assemble appetizing recipes using the salty, chewy dried beef, old soldiers will recall a famous and humorously-named military menu item, and Ralph will enjoy his sandwiches. I will persist in my compulsive recycling just in case another fabulous use for the glasses comes to mind.