Dash

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Dash was the name of Charles Lamb’s dog. I am deadly serious about this.

One of the books I picked up in Vancouver was Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Centenary Edition (1977, 1st 1870).

There are four pages devoted to “dog,” organized thusly:

Dogs

  • in Phrases of Colloquialisms
  • of note in Classics and Legend
  • of noted people in Literature, etc.
  • in Symbolism and Metaphor
  • Combination of Dog or Dogs

Examples in order:

A dog in the manger. A mean-spirited individual who will not use what is wanted by another, nor yet let the other have it to use; one who prevents another enjoying something without any benefit to himself.

Hum.

Ulysses’s Dog. Argos. He recognized his master after his return from Troy, and died of joy.

Sad.

Nana. Mr. & Mrs. Darling’s dog in P.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. (Mr. Darling was in the doghouse, and had to live in the dog kennel until his children returned, as penance for his mistreatment of Nana.)

Dog-Latin. Pretend or mongrel Latin.

Hold onto your bonnet!

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Remember the huge snow we had in January, 2021? I felt sorry for the birds so I gather up some old flower seeds and tossed them out. Big hit!

Fast forward. What is this foliage (top two photos) I’m seeing at the edge of the driveway and sidewalk out front? And where did it come from? The ferny leaves (bottom left) is love-in-the-mist. It self seeds like crazy. The oval leaves (bottom right) is black-eyed Susans. Ditto.

It finally hit me when the mystery plant started to bloom. Texas blue bonnets!

The seed was leftover from more than 10 years ago.

Why wouldn’t they have?

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The Booklover’s Almanac (1971)

If you’d have asked me if Franklin and Hume knew each other and corresponded, I would not have known how to answer. But it makes sense that they did!

What’s cooking?

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Went looking yesterday in the archives for some to make for Marica Cooks Wednesday. What a find! We both remembered this soup. So that’s what will be cooking Wednesday!

Aha! Would you look at that. I already had a “peasant food” tag.

Recipe: Creative Cooking French Peasant Soup

Published on April 18, 2012

Last weekend we enjoyed a French provincial supper al fresco featuring Creative Cooking French Peasant Soup. (More photos here.) This is a hearty soup, perfect for supper after a day of farm work– and fun to make, too. I especially like collecting items from the garden for the Bouquet Garni.

As you know from recipes I’ve posted previously, Mr. Big Food often includes a bit of commentary from the cookbook where he’s found the particular recipe as he enters it into The Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide. Here’s the introduction to this soup recipe:

Main Dish Soup: French Peasant Soup is a main dish soup which is actually a hearty, healthy meal in itself. It is eaten in vast quantities by the simple peasant folks of France. They accompany it only with a little local wine, French bread and a bit of cheese or fruit.Since this reputable French soup makes such a satisfying, hearty meal, we can hardly classify it as an appetizer, so we have included it here …

This hearty, delicious French Peasant Soup may be made in quantity and frozen in quart containers for convenient use. It is generously filled with pork, white beans, carrots, leels and cabbage.

—The Creative Cooking Course (1982)

We cut the recipe in half and still had some leftover for lunch, and some to freeze.)

CREATIVE COOKING FRENCH PEASANT SOUP

Makes 15 to 20 servings

1 lb package dried Great Northern Beans, brought to a boil in water to cover, removed from heat, covered, stood for 1 hour, drained well
1 lb salt pork, diced, rinsed well, soaked in cold water to cover for 30 minutes, drained on absorbent paper
1 lb cured ham, diced
2 ½ C carrots, scraped and diced
1 C sliced leek bulb or onion
3 C celery, sliced thin
4 C cabbage, chopped
Bouquet Garni
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
½ tsp turmeric
6 C water

Preheat oven to 300*. Fry salt pork in a heavy iron skillet until browned lightly, drain off excess fat leaving a small amount in skillet, add ham and cook, stirring frequently, until browned lightly. Place pork mixture in a large casserole, add beans, bacon, carrots, leeks or onions, celery, and cabbage, add Bouquet Garni, garlic, pepper, and turmeric, and mix well. Pour in enough of the water to cover well, cover casserole, and bake 3 hours 30 minutes. Remove Bouquet Garni to serve.

Biloxi, and then Mobile

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without my laptop. So, sorry for the silence. Too busy before hand to schedule any repostings, and honestly too busy while traveling to do much posting even if I’d had a more convenient way to do it than the iPad.

Lots of walking. Lots of photos. An old book score. And a new quick project to do this week so that should provide plenty of content.

Wintzell’s oyster sampler is out of this world. This was at the original Oyster House on Dauphin in Mobile.

Big Food Favorite Recipe: Sportsman’s Lodge Lentil Soup

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As many times as we’ve had this, I cannot believe I’ve never posted a photo.

Some notes. If you have giant kettles, this recipe is lends it self to doubling, tripling, etc. We once made this for a soup and sandwich tailgate feeding 120. I believe we offered three different soups. So… (120/3) / 8 = 5; 10C of lentils! Red lentils work well.

Regarding the Fall/Winter Soup Contest. When Daughter C and Miss M lived on the Farm we did this two or three times (one was a Spring Soup Contest). Once a week for several weeks, we’d have soup for supper. We’d each keep track of our thoughts on any given soup, and then rank order them. At the end of the contest, we devised a scheme to convert the ordinal data to integral, did some basic statistics, and declared a winner.

Recipe: Sportsman’s Lodge Lentil Soup

Published on February 8, 2012 

After review and consideration, it is unanimous. This is the current winner in our Fall/Winter Soup Contest. Mind you, they are all delicious. 

I see that Mr. Big Food’s opening remarks give the joke away.

From the old Sportsman’s Lodge in Studio City, CA

SPORTSMAN’S LODGE LENTIL SOUP

Serves 6-8

2 C lentils, rinsed

9 C water

1 ham bone

½ lb bacon, diced

¾ C onion, chopped

¾ C celery, chopped

½ C carrots, peeled and diced

½ C leeks, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

½ tsp dried thyme, crumbled

2 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2 Tbsp vinegar

6 frankfurters, fully cooked and sliced

Combine lentils with water and ham bone in a large kettle or Dutch oven, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauté bacon in skillet until transparent but not browned, stir remaining ingredients, except vinegar and frankfurters, into bacon, and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add mixture to lentils and simmer 45 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar and frankfurters, bring again to simmer, remove from heat, and serve.

Animal Stories!

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Animal Stories

Today’s Kid Blog post at Miss Missy’s School talks about the different sorts of animal stories. (And we learn what “anthropomorphize” means, and what Greek words it comes from.) Many references to classic children’s literature and to some wonderful old books that have fallen out of favor.

While you’re at the site, check out the three-chapter preview of Miss Missy’s School Book I: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School, and discover what makes this book, according to one reviewer, “a book unique in many dimensions.”

Some posts from the Kid Blog at Miss Missy’s School!

#childrensbooks #kidlit #homeschool #educational #missmissysschool #talkinganimals #dogs #family #friendship #cleanandnonviolent #readtogether #learning #classics