I own that I am disposed to say grace upon twenty other occasions in the course of the day besides my dinner… . Why have we none for books?
Charles Lamb as found in The Guide to Reading (1925)
I like Charles, and Mary, too. Every child should have his own copy of Tales from Shakespeare.
While recovering from a food coma,
and watching the NFD (National Freaking Disgrace) that is the NFL.
Tonight’s sky is clear, though there’s a lot of moisture in the air, so moon photos will have halos. Which isn’t a bad thing.
Update. 8:20. NFD. Roughing poor Tommy. BS. And no. He did not catch that ball.
Update 9:30pm central. Oh holy cow! I thought nothing much had changed and then I looked with my naked eye more carefully. The moon is becoming occuded.
9:37 the shadow of the ragged edge of Earth is showing up.
Ugh. What a game. The eclipse was super cool. Thinking about the distances traveled to cast such a shadow so fast we saw it move in real time. Wonder World.
10:27 I’ve seen a blood moon. I did not see one tonight.
In order to realize the beauty of man we must realize his connection to nature.
Walter Inglis Anderson
More coming soon– including The Little Room!
SueK’s comment on the 50+ stroganoff recipes post?
CHICKEN STROGANOFF????
_SHRIMP_ STROGANOFF?????
____SPAGHETTI______ STROGANOFF?????
Beyond recognition!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Named after 19th-century Russian diplomat Count Paul Stroganoff, this dish consists of thin slices of tender beef (usually tenderloin or top loin), onions and mushrooms all sautéed in butter and combined with a sour-cream sauce. Stroganoff is usually accompanied by rice pilaf.
The New Food Lover’s Companion Fourth Edition (2007)
I looked at a few of those odd balls and have concluded that in this great land of ours, “stroganoff” has come to mean a casserole with noodles or rice, and sauce, often with sour cream.
In this way it is like Goulash. I’ll never forget the first Hungarian Goulash I had in Budapest. Nothing at all like Mom used to make!
And now– from me to you!
And my favorite beyond recognition…
For the folks up north…
Via Powerline’s The Week in Pictures
Long time reader & commenter SueK commented, “50+ recipes for stroganoff???? That’s hard to believe!” So I searched Mr Big Food’s Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide and this is what I found.
A note on the Roman numeral designations– as in Beef Stroganoff XVI: A recipe, and its name (“Beef Stroganoff”) is considered unique– and thus deserving of its very own word doc– iff (if & only if) it has three fundamental differences from any other of the exact same name. So imagine Mr. Big Food coming across a recipe named “Beef Stroganoff” in the cookbook he is working through right now. He would need to go through 16 other Beef Stroganoff recipes to check for differences!
In the event that you are in need of a recipe for Elk Stroganoff, here ya go.
Had to scroll through a lot of really funny political stuff at Powerline’s The Week in Pictures, to get to the more apolitical. This one deserves a post of its own. Links and more coming up soon.
The Biggest News happened after our little local weekly newspaper went to press. Part 1. Not only had the sheriff been transferred from the Lafayette County jail to the Lee County jail, but he pleaded not guilty and he finally made bail! It was set at $400,000 so he sat in jail for almost a month. Now he’s out on house arrest– ankle tracker and all. Trial date set for June 24.
The Biggest News, Part 2. Two more county sheriff’s employees have been arrested! Per WLOV, one is charged with “two counts of sexual activity between a jailer and an inmate, furnishing contraband to an inmate and the sale/possession of a controlled substance.” The other with “trafficking in firearms and embezzlement.”
To say that we have lost confidence in our sheriff’s office– and others?– is putting it mildly.
In other news… .
Lions Club is collecting used eye glasses at a local restaurant and bank branch. Please drop your used eye glasses in the box.
Church members, 4-H’ers deliver fruit baskets. 200 baskets, each with fruit and an inspirational message, delivered to elderly community members, and to a local nursing home.
Jail Docket
Sammie Fondren (dob 2/6/71) possession of marijuana in vehicle, no insurance, obstructing roadway, possession of paraphernalia, hunting after hours, hunting from vehicle, hunting on federal parkway, no hunting license, no hunter orange, headlighting deer and hunting from public road.
Jeremy Dixon (dob 10/14/71). Hunting from public road, warrant-hunting from vehicle, hunting after hours, hunting on federal parkway, headlighting dear, no hunting license and no hunter orange.
911 Calls
1/8 3:22pm Horses in road. Transferred to another county for them to deal with it.
1/12 7:54am Illegal hunter. Fish & Wildlife dispatched.
1/12 1:27pm Cow out by road. Sheriff’s Office dispatched. Poor cow.
1/12 2:44pm Person sitting on side of road. Sheriff’s Office dispatched. Poor person.
Lions Club sponsors PPK finalists. Ha! Mr. Big Food’s business manager’s son won, by the way! I knew this but there’s his picture, right there in the paper!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program. “Community Outreach Ministry will sponsor a program to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” The theme is “Keeping the Dream” (Jeremiah 29:11).
So… . Let’s see if we’ve gotten this straight.
“Hey dude!” Sammie hollers at Jeremy. “Whadda say we jump in the truck, head over to the Trace, smoke up a bowl and see if we cain’t spot us some deer to shoot at!”
“Man, I’m down with that. Let’s go!”
Dumbasses.
Yesterday was Thursday Stroganoff Dinner! You may recall that upon coming to realize there are 50+ beef beef stroganoff recipes in The Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourish Guide, Mr. Big Food suggested be begin with the first stroganoff recipe he entered into Big Food and make our way through as many as we are able.
Last week’s, Jiffy Stroganoff, was to beef stroganoff as MacDonalds is to a freshly ground beef grilled over apple wood hamburger. Quick, tasty, filling. The kids would love it. But to those with a more discriminating palate, Russian Beef Stroganoff is preferred.
Chief among its attributes is that the noodles are cooked separately, thus affording one the freedom to control one’s noodle to sauce ratio. The sherry is a nice touch, as is the bit of tomato paste. Makes for a nice color.
Served with hot buttered noodles, but I can imagine buckwheat groats would be good, too. Recipe below the fold.
Another easy way to prevent bird impacts is simply to keep your household or apartment lights off from dusk until dawn.
Andrew Del-Colle, “Three Ways You Can Help Migrating Birds This Fall,” August, 2018.
I like birds just as much as the next bird lover, but that’s just stupid.
To begin, a spot of editing is in order. An apartment is type of dwelling, just as is a tarpaper shack, double wide, or cave. Household pertains to the people who occupy a dwelling, typically as a family unit. There are many households in apartments. I get it. But it still should have been ‘house’.
Bird impacts is a highfalutin way of saying the birds fly into windows. And of course! No one wants that. And I understand that migrating birds do become disoriented by vast displays of lights. But keeping your dwelling’s lights off from dusk to dawn? You go right ahead and let me know how that plays out with the other members of your household. Idiots.
“Missy! Rocky! Come ‘er!” Marica hollered.
Missy and Rocky jumped from the bed and ran into the kitchen. “What is it, Marica?” Missy asked. “What is it?”
“Ruff? Ruff?” asked Rocky.
“You’ve got mail!” Marica said.
“Ruff?!?”
“Really?!? We have mail! Oh my goodness! Oh my!” Missy said excitedly while spinning around in circles. “Who’s it from? Who’s it from?” Missy was positively Bebe-like in her enthusiasm.
“Well, see for yourselves,” Marica said as she held out the envelope.
“Oh my. Oh dear. Where are my reading glasses?” Missy squinted at the envelope. “Oh! Why, why! That’s Bebe’s hand writing! I would know it anywhere! Oh please, Dear Friend, help me find my glasses.”
“Ruff,” Rocky said as he trotted off to search through the clutter on Missy’s desk. He returned momentarily and dropped them at her paws. “Ruff.”
“Oh! Thank you so much, Dear Friend. This is so exciting! A letter from Bebe!” Missy said slipping on her glasses, and looking more carefully at the envelope said, “Oh! And I see it’s from the good ‘Ole Retired Hippy Fellow Gil, too! This is all too exciting! I don’t believe we’ve ever gotten a letter, have we, Dear Friend? And one from Bebe and Gilbert! I wonder what they have to say?”
“Ruff. Ruff,” suggested Rocky.
“Rocky’s right, Missy,” Marica said. “Why don’t you open it and see what they have to say?”
“Oh, yes, yes! Where is my pearl-handled letter opener? The one you gave me for Christmas, Marica. Where have I placed it? I’ve never had to use it before to open a letter. This is so exciting. Where can it be? Oh my!” It was as if the mere mention of Bebe– after her short absence– took Missy back to her own days of wild puppihood abandon.
“R.U.F.F.”
“Missy, calm down,” Marica said. “Here. Give it to me, please. I’ll open it.” Marica took her pocket knife from her pocket, opened the envelope, and handed the pages to Missy.
“Oh! Would you look at this!” Missy exclaimed. “It’s hand written in Gilbert’s best handwriting!”
“Rrrrrruuuuufffff….,” Rocky warned.
“No need to get testy, Dear Friend,” Missy countered and began, “Dear Missy and Rocky, I am Bebe sp… speaking to you… through… … (cough) Jil… no no… Gil… Gilbert.”
“Ruff?”
“What’s wrong, Missy?” Marica asked.
“Oh my, Marica. Gilbert has such beautiful handwriting, but I’m embarrassed to say that I am not flatulent in reading cursive,” Missy said. “Would you mind, Marica?”
Marica was so touched by Missy’s humility that she didn’t say a word about ‘flatulent’ and instead said, “I’d love to read Bebe and Gilbert’s letter to you. Come on, let’s go into the living room.”
And so, when they were all settled– Rocky on the hearth pillow, Missy on The Couch, and Marica in Mr. Big Food’s Chair– Marica began to read the letter to Missy + Rocky in MS from Bebe + Gil in NC.
*It’s a sheep stamp. Get it?
Today is the day I begin picking up and dusting each of the 3320 books in my library. I had hoped to start last week, but until today, I was still coming to terms with a) Daughter C’s insistence on decorating for Christmas– looked very nice, I was still finding things that needed to be put away and 2) she and her husband’s leaving the Farm, and their returning the many books they had borrowed from me that needed to be put away!
But here I am! Beginning with my Treasure Chest. I know it looks something of a mess– I’ll tidy up as I go along. In my Treasure Chest are all of the books I have that belonged to Aunt Margaret (DOB 1907, I think)– except of course, The Dictionary of Standard Facts which is on my desk. There are many that belonged to Dad. I’m ashamed to say that the one book that I borrowed from Mom and have no intension of ever returning, Swiss Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil New Edition ( Rev. S. Manning, Edward Whymper, illus, The Religious Tract Society, London, 1891), is tucked safely away on the bottom shelf along with Mr. Big Food’s Grandmother’s autobiographical family stories, the pamphlet written by Miss M and her schoolmates after the big flood, and unframed photographs of Kat as she prepared to marry.
Of course, after its long journey to San Diego and back, Durant’s The Tragedy of Russia is in the Treasure Chest. Interesting, my 1868 leather bound Rubáiyát is not. Too much sun falls on the Treasure Chest in the winter. Winter Sunshine, however, is.
So let’s get to it, shall we?
I don’t know where they went but Missy sure does… have quite the aroma about her!
Originally published January 3, 2015. Funny. I had that One Hundred and One Famous Poems with a Prose Supplement laying on my desk for a few weeks and almost every time I picked it up, I read this poem.
Why am I quoting so much poetry, you may wonder. Two reasons. 1) That’s just the way it is. I mean, like, umm… I dunno. There just happens to be a lot of poetry laying around the joint lately. B) I need to learn how to format poetry– because I do quote poetry from time to time, don’t you know?– in WordPress using code so it appears as I wish.
Invictus by William Earnest Henley is a poem brought to my attention by Miss M. She asked if I could find it in any of my crappy old books and indeed I did in The Book of Knowledge: The Children’s Encyclopedia (The Grolier Society, 1954, Volume 5 in the section titled, “Poems of Courage”).
I have no idea why Miss M was interested in this particular poem this afternoon but it’s a good one for a rainy, stormy day at the start of the new year.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods there be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced or cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
2019 – 1975 = 44.
Forty-four isn’t really a lot of years, is it? But in 1975 if you wanted to photograph (get this)
the President in the White House… Hank Arron clouting one over the fences… a U.S. Olympic track star… your favorite actress receiving an Academy Award
you would need to read four pages of instructions on
There’s even an “Exposure Table” cross tabbing different kinds of film, shutter type, and B&W / color TV sets.
Burning question: Why were televisions called TV sets?
Some tidbits:
And according to that infallible source…
Hey Alexa, find Welcome Back, Kotter.
It’s Recipe Tuesday!
Mr. Ed’s Boiled Dinner is quite possibly the easiest dish to make this side of a microwave pot pie (not that there’s anything wrong with a microwave pot pie). Inexpensive, too!
It’s also a recipe that you can vary wildly depending on what’s in your herb garden or spice cupboard. Yesterday– Marica Cooks Monday– I added three bay leaves and omitted the peppercorns and parsley entirely. If you want to hurry things along, add the potatoes at the start with the ham, boil until potatoes are done and then add the beans and return to a boil. Done & done in less than 45 minutes or so.
Originally published January 24, 2016.
Daughter C asked for some slow cooker recipes. Here are a few links to recipes here on the blog. Unless otherwise noted, all have photos. Note that many of the recipes are migrants from the old blogger host and so look a bit weird (but it’s the recipes that matter).
Country Swiss Steak in Slow Cooker
Tomato Rice Soup with Pesto in a Slow Cooker; discussion of the soup’s qualities and photo here.
Slow Cooker Potato Cheese Soup with Wieners
North Carolina Pork Barbecue (this is the real thing)
Here’s a link to a list of soup recipes that have been entrants in our various soup contests. Many of them are slow cooker recipes and, Daughter C, I’m sure you will remember them fondly!
More slow cooker recipes below.
Mom always says, don’t wish your life away. Still… . Stay warm!
I’m not sure know where you’re coming from, but thanks for stopping by! Special mention of Dining with Donald who treks all over frozen Winnipeg in search of the best fast-food fried chicken. (As a Southerner, I’m happy to report that Popeyes is in the lead!) Donald– given your calling, I hope you are intrigued by ‘the creeds.’
The three creeds– which I’ve posted about several times before and which deserve to be posted anew– are The Meal Planner’s Creed, The Shopper’s Creed, and The Cook’s Creed. They are from the Modern Family Cookbook (1942, updated 1958) by Meta Given, who “made it her life’s mission to feed a nation nutritious food economically.”
A creed, as the word was understood by Given at the time, was “a summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953). (FYI, folks once knew of America’s Creed.)
The Creeds speak directly to one of my favorite rant topics– the transformation of attitudes from the pride of making a home to the drudgery of housework. But we’ll set that aside.
The Meal Planner’s Creed
The health of my family is in my care, therefore–
I will spare no effort in planning the right kinds of food in the right amounts.
Spending the food dollar for maximum value is my job, therefore–
I will choose from variously priced foods to save money without sacrificing health.
My family’s enjoyment of food is my responsibility, therefore–
I will increase their pleasure by planning for variety, for flavorful dishes, for attractive color, for appetizing combinations.
My family’s health, security, and pleasure depend on my skill in planning meals, therefore–
I will treat my job with the respect that is due it.
Be sure to check back Friday to see how Beef Stroganoff Thursday turned out!