Lawrence.com

My hide, frankly, is a little bit chapped. So the title of this video series is "Depression Cooking," but it's not very depressing at all! I was expecting a goth kid with open wrists trying to bake his own head in the oven, or Leonard Cohen crying into an apple chutney, but instead it's an adorable old lady making hot dog hash. That's false advertising, Internet!

Once I swallowed my rage over this rope-a-dope, however, I was quickly smitten with 94 year old Clara Cannucciari. She has her own Youtube channel, DVD, and cookbook, all devoted to the recipes she and her family used to survive the Great Depression. In between tossing dandelion salads, she regales you with anecdotes from the hard-scrabble '30s. Favorite quote: "I had to quit high school because we couldn't afford socks."

Suck it up, America. If this little old lady can survive the lower depths of our nation's darkest hour and still smile about it, we can stop our belly achin' about the quarterly hit our 401k took.

And for those of you holing up in your leftover Y2K bunker waiting for 2012 to hit...first of all, you're Lord and Lady Gaga. Second of all, Clara can help you stretch those bags of potatoes and cans of condensed milk.

Between this and senior citizens critiquing Dan Deacon and Animal Collective, maybe old people aren't so irrelevant after all!

Poorman's Meal

Depression Breakfast

Poorman's Feast

Dandelion Salad