Avocado & Tuna Salad

This is a simple dish to make, as there is no cooking involved.

Ingredients:
2 avocados
1-12oz. can tuna, drained
the juice from one or 2 lemons
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 green onions, sliced, including some of the leafy part
1 jalapeno or serrano chili pepper, finely chopped
4 tablespoons tartar sauce (you can use the low calorie type, or cut the tartar sauce to 2 or 3 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
paprika for dusting

Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, scoop out the avocado flesh into a bowl, reserving the cup shaped skins, or shells, whatever name you prefer. Squeeze lemon juice over the avocado, and place a little lemon juice into skins. You need to do this, as avocado, like potato and apple, turns brown relatively quickly from the air (called "oxidation"). Put the drained tuna in with the avocado, and add the soy sauce, garlic, green onions, chili pepper, tartar sauce, and parsley. Mix all the ingredients well and spoon into the avocado skins. Dust each with some paprika. Of course, you can spread the tuna on crackers or make sandwiches with it. 

WORD HISTORY:
Is-This essential word, the third person singular present form of the verb "to be," ^ goes back to Indo European "esti," meaning "is." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "ist," with the same meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "is," and it has remained as such ever since. I guess you could say, "Is, is what it is." The other West Germanic languages have: German "ist" (some German dialects have lost the "t"), Low German Saxon, Dutch, West Frisian "is." The modern North Germanic languages also have related forms, but they are not as obvious, as rather than the 's,' they have an 'r:' Danish, Swedish and Icelandic "er," and Swedish "är."   

^  Example: "He, she, it is nearby."

A Favorite TV Show of the Past, "Good Times"

One of my favorite shows of the 1970s was "Good Times," produced by Norman Lear, who also did "All in the Family," "Sanford and Son," "Maude," and "The Jeffersons." "Good Times" was a comedy about a black family, the Evans family, of a husband and wife, 2 boys and 1 girl, living in the housing projects in Chicago. The show dealt with poverty and the struggles of the parents to make ends meet, as well as try to plan for their daughter's future college education. Much emphasis was put on education as a way to escape the almost hopelessness of life in the "ghetto." James, the husband, played by John Amos, works at a variety of low paying jobs, as he lacks education, something he wants his children to avoid. Teenage daughter Thelma, played by Bern Nadette Stanis, is a good student, and the proud parents have big expectations for her, as she does for herself, but a couple of boyfriends enter into her life, bringing her temperamental father to go ballistic! The youngest son, Michael, played by Ralph Carter, is also a good student, who aspires to become a Supreme Court justice, or is it the parents who want that FOR him? This issue was a theme of one episode. Then there's teenager James, Jr., better known as J.J., and the oldest child, played by Jimmie Walker, who has no apparent desire to go to college, and his poor grades and bad attitude toward school contrast with the other two kids, but the scripts dealing with this also became an issue in real life for John Amos and Esther Rolle (who played the wife and mother, Florida), as they felt the J.J. character, who quickly became the most popular on the show to many viewers, was sending the wrong message about education and responsibility, in general. Jimmie Walker quickly became known for shouting "dy-no-mite," an expression he used to dub himself, "Kid Dynomite," besides J.J.

Interestingly, in real life, Jimmie Walker was much older than his character in the show; in fact, he was not all that much younger than John Amos, who played his father in the series. On the other hand, Esther Rolle was much older than the "presumed" age of her character in the series.* If you think this all mattered, it didn't, as everything worked, and the show did well in the ratings for the first several seasons. The show's theme song also was a popular and catchy tune in those days, although trying to understand a couple of lines of the lyrics gave many people fits.

As I mentioned, the show often dealt with poverty, but usually in a comedic way, and in one episode, one of the family's neighbors is retired, but she is so short of money, she also supplements her diet with canned dog food. To help the lady out, the family invites her to dinner, as Florida has a large roasted chicken ready, but when the lady shows up, she tells the family that her pride will not allow her to accept dinner, without her providing the main dish ....... meat loaf! The family members each assume that the meat loaf is made with dog food, and in one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen on television, they try to avoid eating. When neighbor and regular character, Willona, played by Ja'net Dubois,** shows up asking to join the family dinner, because she had burned her own dinner, the family members all jump up and try to give her their own seat, pulling and tugging at the poor woman, to the absolute delight and hysterical laughter of the audience (the shows were filmed in front of a studio audience). I can't even type these words without laughing, as I recall that scene. As I mentioned, there were serious scenes during the series too, including about gang involvement by J.J. and later by Michael, and also an episode about James reuniting with his father, whom he hadn't seen since the father had left when James was just a kid.

If you've never seen this show, or if you haven't seen it for a while, check it out, and I can pretty much guarantee you'll be singing, "Ain't we lucky we got 'em .... Good Times!"

* To my recollection Florida's age is never mentioned in the series, but James' age of 40 is mentioned as part of his trouble in getting a job he sought. Using that age, coupled with references to James and Florida having attended school and school dances at the same time, makes me say Florida's "presumed" age.

** A semi-regular cast member was Johnny Brown, who played the apartment building superintendent, Nathan Bookman, and who was often referred to as "Buffalo Butt" by the residents. Prior to "Good Times," Johnny Brown had been on NBC's "Laugh-In," a highly popular weekly comedy for its first few years.

Photo is from the 2003 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD. (All seasons are available on DVD)

WORD HISTORY:
Bed-This common word goes back to Indo European "bhedh, which had the idea of "to stick (pierce);" thus also, "to dig  ("piercing the ground)." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "bathjam," meaning "plot of land for planting, garden," but with the further meaning, "dug out area for animals to sleep," then also the idea of "sleeping place" in general. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bed," with the meanings "planting area" and "sleeping place." The spelling later varied between "bed" and "bed," before the latter winning out. The verb was derived from the noun in the 1200s or 1300s, initially with the meaning, "to give someone a place to sleep," but it didn't take long to add the meaning, "go to bed for the purpose of sex," the main meaning of the verb form in modern times. The other Germanic languages have: German "Bett" (bed) and "Beet," pronounced as if "bait" (plant bed),^ Low German Saxon also has "Bett" (meaning both bed and planting area,^^ West Frisian "bêd," Dutch "bed," Swedish "bädd" (bed, foundation), The other Germanic languages have words that are now essentially out of use.

^ Both words are really the same word, but eventually, from what I can tell in the 1600s, "Beet" emerged as a variant of "Bett" to become the word for "plant bed." While I'm far from certain of this, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that "beet" (the root vegetable, also called "beetroot" by some) and "bed" are related, as beets are "dug out of the ground." If they are related, it would be distantly, as long ago Germanic borrowed the word for the root vegetable from Latin, which may have borrowed a form of the word from Celtic. To be honest, many sources say Latin likely borrowed the term from Celtic, but they sure don't give evidence of this.

^^  Some low dialects seem to use "Bedd," and perhaps even "Bad", as I "believe" the spelling "Bett" was taken from standard German, which is based more on the high Germanic/German dialects. Low Saxon used "Bedde" up until a few centuries ago, as far as I can find, so the "Bett" spelling seems to indeed be borrowed from what is now standard German.

Trump & All in the Family

Note: This was written during the Republican primaries in March 2016


The 1970s saw the airing of a television series unlike any other seen up to that time. The series was "All in the Family," and it showed us ourselves complete with bigotry, fears, prejudices, racism, and all, but usually in a lighthearted, comedic way. Unlike the later "political correctness police," who wagged fingers in faces, or yelled and screamed in an apparent attempt to humiliate those deemed to have violated their codes (thus often so angering people, as to lose them forever), "All in the Family" usually got in your face in a funny way. We saw how silly some of our fears and prejudices were, but without anyone ever leaping through the television screen with index finger pointed at us.

So .... what does all of this have to do with Donald Trump? Well, when Trump began his campaign for president, I thought he was blatantly showing us how bigoted, fearful, prejudiced, and racist many of us still are. Some of his statements were things we might well have heard uttered by one Archie Bunker, the main character in "All in the Family" all of those years ago.* At times Trump seemed to smirk when making his pronouncements, making me wonder if indeed he was thinking, "What a bunch of dingbats we have voting in this country."** The thing is, I no longer think he was doing an Archie Bunker imitation to show us our flaws, but rather he was deliberately stoking the fires of bigotry and racism in a bunch of Archie Bunkers in the country for his own self interest. Trump has been compared to Hitler, but my use of Hitler here is not "necessarily" intended as such, for if I were going to refer to Hitler in some comparative way, I'd be writing about Ted Cruz. Anyway, what Trump really thinks is unknown to me, for as I said, he seems to use derogatory and inflammatory language for his own ends. Once seemingly many Germans thought the same about Hitler; that he used bigotry and racism to further his political career, but that he didn't mean it. Germans and the rest of the world found out something though, HE MEANT IT! While I've sort of given Trump the benefit of the doubt so far about using bigotry and racism, I'd rather NOT find out if he means it.   

* Archie Bunker was played to the hilt by actor Carroll O'Connor.  

** For those unaware, "dingbat" was what Archie called his often slow on the uptake wife, Edith.

WORD HISTORY:
Bee-For such a common word throughout the Germanic languages, with relatives in other Indo European languages too, the history is a bit sketchy. It "seems" to go back to an Indo European form "bhi," with a notion of "shaking, quivering," or perhaps, "humming, buzzing." This gave Old Germanic a form of something like, "bion," which was applied as the name for the "buzzing" ("humming," "quivering") insect. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "beo," which then became "bee," where it has remained for centuries. The other Germanic languages have: German "Biene," Low German Saxon "Bee," Dutch and West Frisian "bij," Danish and Swedish "bi," Norwegian "bie," and Icelandic "býfluga" (literally "bee fly").

"For Whom the Bell Tolls," A Must See Movie, Must Read Book

Updated somewhat January 21, 2020.

American author Ernest Hemingway's novel, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," was published in 1940, and the movie adaptation, highly faithful to the book, was released in 1943. The story is set during the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936 until 1939. Hemingway served as a journalist in Spain during that war, and he favored the Spanish Republic against the fascist and rightist forces of General Francisco Franco, who received substantial aid, including troops and materials, from both Hitler and Mussolini, as well as aid, including troops, from neighboring Portugal, then led by Antonio Salazar, who was prime minister of the fascist inspired national government. The Republic primarily received aid from the Soviet Union, mainly in the form of weapons and munitions, but also some military advisers were sent, who helped to train air crews and other military personnel, but who also participated in the fighting.*

Thousands of volunteers from many countries, including a number from the the United States, went to Spain to fight against the fascists, serving in what were called the "International Brigades." Hemingway's story centers around one of the American volunteers, an anti-fascist named Robert Jordan (played by Gary Cooper). Jordan seems to have a basis in Hemingway's own beliefs of that time and at one point, Fernando, one of the Spanish anti-fascist fighters asks Jordan, "Why did you come so far to fight for our republic?" Jordan answers, "A man fights for what he believes in." Fernando then says, "Well, in his own country." Jordan goes on, "Maybe you feel I'm sticking my nose into other people's business, but I don't feel that way. It's not only Spain fighting here, is it? It's Germany and Italy on one side and Russia on the other, and the Spanish people are right in the middle of it all. The Nazis and the fascists are just as much against democracy as they are against the communists, and they're using your country as a proving ground for their war machinery like their tanks and dive bombers and stuff like that, so they can get the jump on the democracies and knock off England and France and my country (the United States), before we get armed and ready to fight." So the "Spanish Civil War" was a battle for democracy, no matter how imperfect, against fascism.
 
Jordan is an expert in explosives who is sent to join a small pro-Republic military outfit hiding in some mountainous terrain.** The American is instructed to blow up a particular railway bridge used by the fascists to transport men and equipment. The demolition is to take place in conjunction with a major Republican offensive against the Nationalist/fascist forces in the area, but the operation is fraught with danger, and death is a distinct possibility.

Jordan meets two women who are part of the pro-Republic group: Maria (played by Ingrid Bergman), who had previously suffered at the hands of the fascists, and with whom he falls in love, and the ever strong Pilar (played by Katina Paxinou***), the wife of Pablo (played by Akim Tamiroff****), and the driving force behind the move to get the group's support for Jordan's operation, a plan opposed by her husband. The tension builds in several ways throughout the story, as Jordan tries to convince Pablo and the group, and another pro-Republic group led by El Sordo (played by Joseph Calleia), to support his plan to blow up the bridge. Throughout, they struggle to remain undercover from the fascists who have patrols in the area and occasional aircraft overhead.

The title, of course, is from John Donne's poem from the 1600s, also famous for the line, "No man is an Iland" (a spelling then of "Island"). Hemingway and others saw the struggle of the Spanish Republic against fascism as a part of mankind being destroyed by evil, and thus diminishing all of mankind. The characters in the novel (and movie) must decide to resist the fascists, thus risking their lives, or to remain out of the conflict, allowing evil to grow, thus threatening more of mankind; "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

I will not tell more of the story, but if you have never seen this movie or read the book, please do so! You will be highly rewarded with a great story. For those who have read the book and/or seen the movie, nothing like doing so again ... and again. They're both that good!

 * When the Spanish Civil War began, the main democratic nations, Britain, France and the United States, all remained neutral, and prohibited the sale of arms to either side. Put simply, by denying the elected democratic government of Spain their support, the Spanish Republic had nowhere else to turn for substantial assistance, except to the Soviet Union. Then by the Republic's acceptance of such aid, conservative elements within the democracies hardened their stance against the Spanish Republic, seeing the Republicans (nothing to do with the American Republican Party) as tools of the Soviets, a charge that had at least a little truth to it, if not more truth than some liberals and progressives were willing to admit, if they could even objectively see it, but much idealism reigned, although correctly so, as fascism proved to be the most immediate threat to mankind. On the other hand, some American businesses aided the Nationalist/fascist side, often by extending credit for purchases of vehicles, oil and gasoline. For great information and reading on the Spanish Civil War, see: "The Battle For Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939," by Anthony Beevor, published in London, in 2006, as a reprint and update of the original release from 1982.

** The pro-Republic forces are really in two groups, the principal one led by Pablo (played by Akim Tamiroff) and the other led by El Sordo (played by Joseph Calleia).

*** Katina Paxinou was born in Greece and she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this movie.

**** Akim Tamiroff was born in the Caucasus area of the then Russian (Tsarist) Empire. He was of Armenian descent. Tamiroff won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in this film.

Photo is from the 1998 Universal Home Video DVD

WORD HISTORY:
An-This little word, which, along with "a," are known as indefinite articles,^ is really a form of "one." It goes back to Indo European "oinos,," which meant "one, individual, single." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "ainaz," with the same meanings, and this was then passed down to Old English (Anglo-Saxon) as "an," with a long "a" sound. English differentiates in spelling an pronunciation between "one, an, and a," but its close relatives tend to use one for all. Further, English did not always use an indefinite article, and close relative German still does not always use an indefinite article, as for example, "Ich bin Deutscher," where in English we would say, "I am a German." The other Germanic languages have: German "ein," Low German Saxon "en," Dutch "een," West Frisian "in," Danish, Swedish and Norwegian all have "en," and Icelandic "einn" (while I'm not totally certain, Icelandic may not use an indefinite article, "einn" seems to simply mean "one").

^ The indefinite article means just that, it does not specify the exact item (noun), it is more general in meaning. Example: "If you are looking for a book, there is a book on the table." "But that is not the book I'm looking for." "The" is called the definite article, with obvious reason.

Tuscan Tomato & Bread Soup

I've had this recipe written in pencil on a small index card for many years, so where I got it, I don't know, but my guess would be from some television show. Whether I altered the original recipe when I wrote it down is also unknown.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
14.5 oz. can tomato sauce
1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 lb. stale Italian bread, torn into chunks
10 to 15 basil leaves, torn
1 small onion, chopped (+ some finely chopped for garnish)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Heat the oil over medium heat in the pot you will use. Turn the heat to medium low, add the onion, garlic and hot pepper flakes, cook for about five to six minutes to soften the onion. Add the tomatoes with their juice, squishing the tomatoes through your fingers to break them up as you add them. Heat briefly before adding the chicken stock, tomato sauce, and then salt and pepper, to taste. Stir well. Heat through and then add the basil. Serve the soup over bread pieces, allowing the servings to sit for a couple of minutes to absorb the hot broth and soften. Top each serving with some grated Parmesan cheese and some finely chopped raw onion.

WORD HISTORY:
All-For such an extremely common word, the history of "all" is uncertain, and its possible relationship to words outside of the Germanic languages is unclear. It "may" be related to "old," which, like its Germanic cousins, was once pronounced with a beginning "a" sound, and the meaning of which developed from a word that meant "to grow, to grow out;" thus by extension, "grow to full size," thus, "mature, grow old." This notion of "grow to full size" then "could" have provided the meaning of "all;" that is, "complete, total." It goes back to a Germanic base "all," with the general idea of "complete, entire, total, everything." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "eall," with the same meanings. This then became "all," and it has remained such for many centuries, up to the present. The other Germanic languages have: German, Low German Saxon,  "all," Dutch "al," West Frisian, Danish and Norwegian "alle," Icelandic "allur," and Swedish "alla/all."

How Big Is Voter Fraud?

This was first published in 2012.

As some of you may already know, recently there have been attempts by some states to remove people from the voter rolls. Further, there have also been modifications in some states as to how registered voters are actually permitted to vote, with some sort of photo identification being required by some, before a person can actually cast a ballot.*

I've tried to research these issues by checking what I consider to be non-partisan or objective sources, but these seem to be view and far between, and I really deemed nothing satisfactory. Most stories seem to come from either very conservative individuals or groups, or from very liberal individuals or groups. That doesn't mean the articles are incorrect, but I really haven't seen what I consider an in depth article dealing with the subject and presenting both sides of the arguments. To be quite honest, there are probably more than two sides to some of these arguments, but for the sake of simplicity, I'll use two basic points of view.

The basic argument by Republicans is that there is a major problem with voter fraud in America. To halt "non-citizens" from voting, they want proof that we are citizens. Republicans in Florida for instance, want some list of non citizens from the Department of Homeland Security. Further, if I understand this correctly, Republicans also seem to feel that non-registered people are voting in place of people legally registered, but who may be too ill to vote or may even be deceased, or that some people are voting more than once in any given election. In Ohio, there have also been attempts to curtail the "absentee voting" period, where people can vote by mail, or even in person at county election bureaus, in advance of the election.

Democrats argue that "voter fraud," in general, is an issue created by Republicans when the problem is very small and that is it an issue in search of a problem. They feel Republicans are overreacting. Further, Democrats believe Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout among poorer, and often minority, voters, who tend to be Democrats.

Just a little history here: the 1960 election was extremely close between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John Kennedy. In the end, Kennedy won the national popular vote by just over 100,000 votes out of about 70 million votes cast.** Actually these numbers are irrelevant, "in a sense," because American presidents are not elected by the overall popular vote, but by electoral votes, which are votes cast by electors from each state,*** thus making presidential elections a state by state campaign, rather than a true national campaign. Kennedy won the electoral vote with 303 votes (the winner needed a minimum of 269 at that time).

Not only was the national popular vote extremely close, but in several of the truly important state contests the vote was razor thin for one candidate or the other. In Hawaii, for example, Nixon won the state during the initial vote count, only to lose it to Kennedy by about 100 votes in a recount.**** Similarly, Kennedy was thought to have prevailed in California, a state with lots of electoral votes, but when absentee ballots were counted after election night, Nixon eked out a win. Illinois was carried by Kennedy in a highly controversial election. Kennedy led by less than 10,000 votes out of more than four and one half million votes cast in the state. Nixon carried much of the state, but in solidly Democratic Chicago, known for "vote early and often," Kennedy piled up a heavy total to overcome Nixon's strength in other parts of the state. Voter fraud was suspected, but the issue was eventually dropped by Republicans, when charges of Republican fraud were leveled by Democrats in some Republican counties. Fairly or unfairly, a consensus was eventually reached that any fraud or errors had benefited both sides, but had cancelled out enough of a gain for Nixon for Kennedy to carry the state. There were other contested states, but you get the idea. Republicans, including my father, carried a grudge against the 1960 election for many years into the future, but the thing was, in those times, the selection of Nixon or Kennedy was not seen by many folks as all that different, except for religious bigots who felt that if Kennedy were elected he would rule the country on the orders of the Pope or that everyone would be forced to attend morning Mass before heading to work. To be fair, Catholics rallied to Kennedy, and he undoubtedly benefited from that religious tilt. The positions of the two candidates were not all that strikingly different, and the idea that the republic was somehow in danger if one or the other were elected didn't seem to enter the minds of most Americans. This stands in stark contrast to more recent elections, where both sides feel absolutely threatened by the other.***** This just shows how polarized the country is.

* To my knowledge, these are all states with Republican governors or Republican legislatures, or both.

** Kennedy received just under 50% of the popular vote, but there were other candidates from various little known parties on the ballot which accounted for the balance of votes.

*** Each state has a number of electors determined by the number of its congressional representatives, plus its two U.S. senators. So, if your state has eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives, your state then has ten electors for the presidential election. Electors are chosen by varying state laws, but "typically," the state political parties each choose a slate of electors. Technically, when you vote for president, you are voting for these electors, and not directly for a particular candidate. If "Candidate X" receives more votes in your state than "Candidate Y," it is "assumed" that the electors for X's party will vote for their nominee, but there have been occasional exceptions, and some electors have occasionally declared themselves to be "uncommitted." The "Electoral College," as it is known, was set up by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between factions which wanted the president to be decided by popular vote, and those who wanted the president decided by Congress.

**** Understand, even if Nixon had retained Hawaii, it would not have changed the overall election result.

***** Some Democrats (and probably some independents and even some Republicans) seem to feel that the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was "stolen" for Bush, and that the decision led to the eventual invasion of Iraq, a war that ended up tearing at the fabric of our society, and that lax regulation of the financial system by the Bush administration led to the economic meltdown and the still lingering problems with the economy. The idea is, "elections (can) have serious consequences."

WORD HISTORY:
Pull-Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "pullian," which meant "to pluck, to pull." This later became "pullen," before the modern version. Low German, a close relative of English, has "pulen," which means "to pluck, to pull, to tear off," but it originally meant "to tear off the husk or shell." The language of the ancestral homeland of English in northern Germany is still Saxon,^ now commonly called Low German Saxon, but where they got the word that became English "pull" and Low German "pulen" is unknown. Dutch, another close English relative, has the noun "peul," which means "husk, pod," and my guess would be that the original meaning of Low German "pulen;" that is, "to tear off a husk or shell," transferred to the object of that action as a noun, "pod, husk."

^ Standard German is taught in school, but Low German is the indigenous language of northern Germany, although there are many variations (dialects).

Filipino Spicy Chicken Soup ("Tinola")

This common dish from the Philippines is actually sort of a combination soup and stew. I made it as a soup (that is, very thin), and I removed the chicken pieces as the vegetables finished cooking, and took the chicken meat off the bone, then returned it to the soup. It is my understanding that rice is often served on the side, or the soup/stew is served over rice, and the chicken meat is left on the bones. Typically, Filipinos use hot pepper leaves, but I've substituted fresh spinach. If you don't like spinach, this is not going to taste like the gob of spinach you were served as a child, trust me. Also, don't worry about the fish sauce overwhelming the soup, it will just add a subtle taste to the broth. Further, the hot pepper is not likely to make the soup too hot, but rather just give it a little "kick." I like hot and spicy food, and this was far too mild for me, so next time I'll add more serrano pepper.

 Ingredients:

3 lb. whole chicken legs
1 serrano pepper, chopped (you can use jalapeno pepper)
1 papaya, cut into small wedges
1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped or torn, but not too finely
4 cups water
3 tablespoons chopped ginger root
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
salt/pepper to taste (the fish sauce is salty, so beware how much loose salt you add)
2-3 tablespoons canola oil

Add the oil to a skillet or large pan and add the onion, garlic, serrano pepper and ginger root. Cook for a couple of minutes to barely soften, stirring to keep it from sticking. Add the chicken and brown lightly, this will also further soften the onion, garlic, etc. If using a large pan, add the water and fish sauce, bring to a low simmer, cover and cook for about one hour. (You can then remove the chicken, let it cool for a couple of minutes and then take the meat from the bone, if you like.) Add the papaya and spinach and cook a few minutes until the papaya is tender (return chicken meat to the pan, if using this method). Add salt and pepper. 

WORD HISTORY:
Have-This extremely common and essential word, related to "heave," goes back to Indo European "kahp," which had the notion of "seize, grasp, take." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "habjanan," essentially with the meaning, but also with a developing sense of "possession;" that is, "the result of seizing or grasping something." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "habban," meaning "to hold, to keep, to possess." This then became "haven," before the modern version. The word is often used by the Germanic languages to form the perfect tense of verbs (example: "I have eaten already.") German has "haben," Low German Saxon has "hebben," West Frisian has "hawwe," Dutch has "hebben," Danish has "have," Icelandic has "hafa," Norwegian has "ha" (obviously a contracted form), and Swedish has "ha" and "hava."

German Farmer's Breakfast (Bauernfrühstück)

This is a common dish for Germans, although in more recent times, it is more often served for lunch, along with a salad of some type. "Bauernfrühstück," * or "Farmer's Breakfast," was a practical way for German farmers to use up leftover potatoes or other vegetables, or even meat, from the previous day's dinner. This of course meant that these ingredients had already been cooked, and so only needed to be reheated a bit, before the eggs were added. The dish became so popular, the ingredients were prepared fresh, instead of using cooked leftovers. You can essentially add just about any vegetables or meat, as there really is not any one recipe, but traditionally, the base should be eggs, potatoes, and ham or bacon. This is simply my version here. In Berlin, they fix a form of the dish, but they have their own name for it, "Hoppelpoppel," and from what I've seen, it is simply bacon or ham, with fried potatoes and eggs, but that doesn't mean some Berliners don't add other vegetables too.  

Ingredients:

6 eggs

4 medium potatoes, sliced or cubed

5 slices of bacon, cut into about 1 inch pieces, or about a quarter pound of diced ham, or something of both

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 small to medium green or red bell pepper, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

4 to 5 tablespoons of milk
3 tablespoons butter or canola oil, or a mixture of both (in the past, lard or the bacon fat was likely used)
some parsley or chopped chives for sprinkling on top (optional)
preferably a non stick skillet, or a well-seasoned cast iron skillet

If starting with fresh potatoes, cook them, skins on, in some salted boiling water until tender. Let cool a bit, then peel, slice or dice them. Cook the bacon for a few minutes, remove to a dish, then pour off the fat. Add the butter or oil to the pan and the chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, and chopped pepper and cook until the vegetables are softened. Add the potatoes and continue to cook until heated through, or lightly browned, if you prefer. Season with some salt and pepper, and return the bacon to the skillet, mixing it in with the veggies. Combine the milk and eggs and beat until thoroughly mixed. Pour the eggs over the cooked vegetables and meat, cook until the eggs are set. Getting the eggs to totally set can be difficult, so I usually put the almost cooked dish under the broiler for just a few seconds to firm up any runny eggs. Be careful, it only takes a few seconds, and if you have a skillet with a non ovenproof handle, more than a few seconds will likely leave you with a melted or scorched handle. Sprinkle chopped parsley or chopped chives on top, if desired.

* The German noun "Bauer" is pronounced very similar to English "bower," and indeed, it is closely related to "bower." For the history of "bower" and English "boor" (which is the last part of the word "neighbor"), see the Word History of my article at this link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/06/herbert-hoover-march-toward-reactionary_22.html

This is my own picture.

WORD HISTORY:

Burn-English has two words of this spelling,^ but this is by far the most common. It goes back to Indo European "bhrenu," from the root "bhreu," which had the notion, "well up, boil up." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "brennanan," meaning "to burn," from the notion of "fire welling up." This then produced two verbs in Old English (Anglo-Saxon), "beornan/byrnan," with the meaning "be in the state of burning, be on fire, to burn;" and "bærnan," meaning "to light a fire, to set afire." The "r" and vowel sounds were transposed from the Old Germanic form, which is called, "metathesis," and this also took place in other Germanic languages. The Old English forms then became "birnen" and "bernen," but in the 1100s these became various spellings like, "brennen," "birnen" and "bernen," which eventually merged into modern "burn." The noun was simply derived from the verb "byrnan," initially as "brenne," but then "burn" by the 1500s. The other Germanic languages have: German and Low German Saxon "brennen" (to burn"), Low German also has "brannen," West Frisian "baarne" (to burn, be on fire), Dutch once had single words, but now has compounds like, "inbranden, verbranden," even with other forms of the words, Danish "brænde" (to burn), Norwegian "brenne" (to burn), Icelandic "brenna" (to burn) and Swedish "bränna" (to burn).   

^ The other form, a noun meaning "a stream, a creek," has German "Born," (water)well, spring," as a relative, but neither is used much in more recent times, except in dialect, and also for very high style in German, mainly in writing. Both the English and German forms trace back to the same Indo European source as for "burn," and they are, therefore, related, albeit somewhat distantly.