"Time Squared": Pulaski's curious culinary preference

[Ragitsu]

Good evening.

Looking back at "Time Squared", I find it odd that Pulaski brings ale to Riker's quarters; considering the main (only?) dish he was serving was egg, I took the occasion to be a sort of breakfast...and yet the frontier doctor fancied a bit of (non-replicated) beer for the most important meal of the day?

 

[Tosk]

"Having people over" seems more like dinner to me. Omelettes can be consumed any time of day.

 

[Ragitsu]

"Having people over" seems more like dinner to me. Omelettes can be consumed any time of day.

If that is an omelette, then I am the King of Siam; there was no filling and no folding. Scrambled eggs for dinner?

 

[Zombie Cheerleader]

If that was an omelette, then I am a monkey's uncle; there was no filling and no folding. Scrambled eggs for dinner?

Breakfast for dinner is a thing.

 

[Tosk]

If that was an omelette, then I am a monkey's uncle

I agree.

But Pulaski mentions omelettes, so maybe it was to be a dinner of eggs done three ways?

 

[Doug Otte]

When I start to think about time on the ship (biological, social, work shifts) I quickly think of something else so I don't go down a rabbit hole.

It might be breakfast according to Riker's schedule, but dinner according to Pulaski's schedule.

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

They're never better than when they're green... now there's a hasenpfeffer hole for sure...

p.s. Apologies, I forgot to stick in Waldo somewhere, would have been near Data's other shoulder, somewhere...

 

[Mojochi]

I think the drink was merely a courtesy & something she just had on hand. She's new aboard & maybe just wants to be a little extra friendly with her new mates

Nothing was said about what meal they were gathering for. She mentions omelettes, but that needn't be just a breakfast meal, least of all for them in the 24th century. She also mentioned breaking bread, which they don't have lol, but that's just an idiom.

I've always felt it was a midday meal, as they head right to the bridge & Picard is already on duty. So maybe a touch of wine with lunch? Plus, this is an unusual event, I think. Riker needs equipment supplied to cook with. I think he happened to find eggs & just wanted to share a bit of his home culture with his mates. Keep reading for why that might be.

I like this scene so much. Pulaski seems to be acclimating to her mates much better, midway into the season, especially with regard to being conversational with Data, but also... there seems to be a mix-up about omelettes vs scrambled eggs. The eggs aren't especially well received, & Riker tells an interesting story about his dad, & his being the house cook...

All of which gets my head canon rolling. It's clear Riker has pride in being able to actually cook (a rarity in the 24th century maybe) but this encounter makes me wonder if Riker's dad maybe gave him a false impression of his abilities. He claims his dad never wanted to cook, & that he made the meals. That could maybe have been the only warm hearth type bonding the 2 of them had. If Riker hadn't ever been taught how to cook, would his dad really tell him it was bad?

I like to think that for the sake of his son, he ate badly prepared meals with him for his whole youth, and eventually Riker got wise as an adult, after some glaringly obvious events like this one, where his cooking is bad. All of which prompts him to improve, to where versions of him that we see later, he's a cook on Enterprise & making pizzas on Picard, that are good cooking

 

[Boo-khat!]

Yes, that’s clearly not an omelette.

And scrambled eggs for dinner maybe, might be a thing, but that’s kinda pushing it. And if this is supposed to be breakfast, drinking beer with eggs seems quite peculiar.

 

[David cgc]

It's a stardate divisible by three somewhere!

Because at 1000 stardates a year, that means three per day, so the third stardate of the day would be about five o'clock... forget it.

 

[Zombie Cheerleader]

Yes, that’s clearly not an omelette.

And scrambled eggs for dinner maybe, might be a thing, but that’s kinda pushing it. And if this is supposed to be breakfast, drinking beer with eggs seems quite peculiar.

It's beer o'clock somewhere

 

[Count Korbula]

If that is an omelette, then I am the King of Siam; there was no filling and no folding. Scrambled eggs for dinner?

dinner was when i usually had scrambled eggs when i was younger.
breakfast was not for effort.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

dinner was when i usually had scrambled eggs when i was younger.

Or lunch. I rarely have anything beyond whole wheat toast and cereal (either Cheerios, Rice Chex, farina, or grits) for breakfast, unless I'm on vacation. And even on vacation, breakfast is oatmeal more often than anything else (I can't remember the last time I was offered farina in a restaurant or a hotel breakfast room, or grits, outside of the historic South, and oatmeal is not something I'm particularly good at cooking). I'll also note that the only pancakes that don't make me dyspeptic are the "Eighteen Little Swedish Pancakes" served at San Francisco's renowned Sears Fine Food.

 

[Ragitsu]

Yes, that’s clearly not an omelette.

And scrambled eggs for dinner maybe, might be a thing, but that’s kinda pushing it. And if this is supposed to be breakfast, drinking beer with eggs seems quite peculiar.

Regardless of the meal-of-the-day, some liquid bread with eggs is a peculiar choice (to say the least).

 

[Frightscape One]

That scene also added some unintentional continuity.

"Time Squared" was produced and aired directly before "The Icarus Factor", when Riker's dad comes aboard.

When Riker said he had his father to thank for him knowing how to cook, Pulaski asked, "Your father liked to cook?" But she said it in a way that she was genuinely surprised. While Worf says he 'understands most human families the woman shares in the cooking', Pulaski would know better. (Even now, it's not unusual for the father to be the cook in the family. Let alone 340 years from now.)

We discover in the very next episode that Pulaski and Kyle Riker were engaged. Considering how often actors would be shooting one episode while they already have the next episode's script ready (and probably already looking at it between takes or filming days), this felt like a nice continuity nod by Diana Muldaur... a clue that she knew him already, while none of us was the wiser.

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

Yes, that’s clearly not an omelette.

And scrambled eggs for dinner maybe, might be a thing, but that’s kinda pushing it. And if this is supposed to be breakfast, drinking beer with eggs seems quite peculiar.

My sick headcanon: If words/meanings can change over time, then "omelette" can become "scrambled eggs"? Just to be sure, "sick" means "cool" nowadays? The 80s were bad enough where "that's bad" meant "that's good", as comparative example...

I'm not going to egg Pulaski's choice of dinner, though. It looks eggcellent. If anyone laughed at those cracked-up puns, then the yolk's not on anybody, especially me.

 

[Frightscape One]

My sick headcanon: If words/meanings can change over time, then "omelette" can become "scrambled eggs"? Just to be sure, "sick" means "cool" nowadays? The 80s were bad enough where "that's bad" meant "that's good", as comparative example...

I'm not going to egg Pulaski's choice of dinner, though. It looks eggcellent. If anyone laughed at those cracked-up puns, then the yolk's not on anybody, especially me.

I appreciated and approved all those puns.

Glad you whisked them together.

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

I appreciated and approved all those puns.

Glad you whisked them together.

Thanks!

 

[Tosk]

(Even now, it's not unusual for the father to be the cook in the family. Let alone 340 years from now.)

The 'assumed role' has shifted in the last few decades. And evidently it will shift again sometime before the 2300s.

 

[Mister Spock]

Pulaski was a functioning alcoholic. The brunch in Riker's quarters was meant to be an intervention.