Apple Pork Chops or Steaks

Very simple to make; otherwise, how the hell do you think I did it?  lol! Ah, why am I laughing?

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork chops or pork steaks (thin cut)
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon brown sugar (I use dark)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon white or black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 apple, chopped (I use a Granny Smith apple)
4 tablespoons apple jelly
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping tablespoon chili sauce (I use old standby, Heinz)
1/2 serrano or jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons corn starch + 2 tablespoons water

Mix together 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, the sweet paprika, the seasoned salt, white or black pepper and the garlic powder. Rub one side of the pork with the mixture. Let sit while you heat the oven to 325 (F) degrees. Place the pork on a baking sheet or in a shallow roasting pan, keeping the individual chops or steaks separated. Lining the baking sheet or pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil helps tremendously with clean up. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. In the meantime, put all of the other ingredients, except the corn starch and water, into a small pan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is boiling, then turn down the heat and let simmer a couple of minutes. Mix the corn starch and water, then slowly add to the simmering sauce, stirring constantly, while also maintaining the light bubbling of the sauce, so the corn starch properly thickens it. Remove the pork from the oven  and spoon the sauce evenly over each piece. Return the pork to the oven, increase the heat to 350 (F), and bake a further 10 to 12 minutes. If you use thicker cut pork, you will naturally have to lengthen the initial baking time.
  
I  used pork steaks and I had mashed potatoes with some of the sauce over the potatoes.

WORD HISTORY:
Jelly-This word, distantly related to "cold," goes back to Indo European "gel/gol," which carried the notion, "to be cold, to feeze, to solidify from cold." This gave its Latin offspring the noun, "gelus," which meant, "cold, chill," and this provided the verb, "gelare," meaning, "to congeal, to stiffen or thicken from cold." Old French, a Latin-based language, had "geler" ("to thicken or solidify") as its form of the verb. From the verb's participle form came the noun "gelée," meaning "frost," but also, "semi-solidified, quivering soft food product, jelly" (originally meaning more of the jellied animal products, rather than fruit substance). This was borrowed into English in the latter part of the 1300s as both "gelly" and "jelly," with the latter finally winning out as the proper form.

A Friend in West Virginia, Part One

This will be a series of short comments about a friend. I say "series," but I don't have any set plan of how many I will write, and they will likely be interspersed with other, unrelated, articles.

What do you do when a person you like and care about turns on you, irrationally?

To start, for several months I had what was really daily communication with a guy via email. We rarely missed a day where we exchanged at least one or two emails, and most days we exchanged far more; in fact, during those months, we exchanged some 2000 emails, and many pictures of ourselves and things from our lives. I love humor, and he was witty and funny, but he was seemingly a good worker and an animal lover, something dear to my heart. With such extensive communication, even though by email, you begin to "know" a person, and their very temperament shows through their writings.

We all have some "eccentricities," and during much of the time of my communication with him, I noticed some eccentricities in him, but nothing that, at first, seemed too troubling, but then things began to turn, displaying a man with an increasingly troubled mind. Such a situation is not uncommon in people with mental instabilities, as "episodes" can occur for any number of reasons.

More in the next installment ...   

WORD HISTORY:
Mind-This word, distantly related to "mental" and to "mean" ('mean' in the sense, "express a thought or intention,' as in, "here is what I mean"), goes back to Indo European "men," with the notion of "to think, to develop an idea or ideas." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "gamuntiz," ^ meaning, "thought of, memory, thought," and this then gave Old English both "mynd" and "gemynd," meaning, "memory, thought, use of mental faculties." These later became "minde" (the "e" pronounced "eh"), before the modern form. The idea of "memory of something," has now shifted to other words later borrowed into English: "memory, remembrance, reminiscence." Some relatives in other Germanic languages include: German has the derived poetic noun, "Minne," which originally meant "memory, thought, but then altered to mean "love," from the idea of this sense/feeling, thought, memory developed in the mind (German once had "gimunt/gemunt," obviously very close to then English "gemynd"), also the verb "mahnen," meaning "to remind," as well as the noun, "Mahnmal," meaning "memorial," Danish "minde," meaning "memory," Icelandic "minni," meaning "memory, remembrance," Swedish "minne," meaning "memory, memento."

^ The "ga" prefix, often later rendered in the Germanic dialects and languages, including English, as "ge," was a common part of Germanic participle formation, which then at times were used as nouns or adjectives, but it was often later dropped, especially so in English. Example: "Like" was once spelled "gelic," and in German it was once "gelich," which later was contracted to just the "g;" thus modern German "gleich," which indeed means "like" (in the sense, 'same, very similar').

Salmon With Parsley, Dill & Pecorino Romano

Ingredients:

1 lb. salmon filet
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons parsley
2 tablespoons dill
3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano, grated*

Coat the salmon with the oil and lemon juice mixed together, let sit while the oven heats to 400 F. Place the salmon on a baking sheet lined with foil. Mix the garlic, parsley and dill together and spread the mixture over the fish. Cover "lightly" with foil or parchment paper. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove foil/parchment paper, but keep for further use in a few minutes. Sprinkle top of salmon with grated Pecorino Romano. Return fish to oven, uncovered. Bake another 8 or 10 minutes. Remove salmon, cover with retained parchment paper, but more tightly. Wait about 10 to 12 minutes before removing the covering and cutting the fish into serving sizes. You do not need to add salt to this dish, as the cheese will supply enough salt.

* If you want your cheese to brown somewhat, and you grate your own Pecorino Romano cheese, make sure it is not too soft, because the retained moisture in the cheese will not be conducive to easy browning. Pecorino Romano is a sheep's milk cheese made in Italy, but pretty easily found in other countries, including in the U.S. Cheese in the U.S. simply called "Romano" is almost always made from cow's milk, but you can use it, or even the already grated type of Romano you buy in the shaker containers. Oh boy, the "cheese police" will be after me now. 

I served the salmon with home fried potatoes

WORD HISTORY:
Filet/Fillet/File-This word, related to "file:" that is, "file" with the meaning relating to "documents,"^ goes back to Indo European "gwislho," which carried the notion, "vein, sinew." This gave Latin "filum," meaning "cord, thread, wick." This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "fil," meaning, "thread, string" (also a verb form, "filer," meaning "to arrange documents on a thread/string"). English borrowed the word circa 1450. From Old French "fil" also came "filet," which meant, "small piece of cord or string;" thus also, "band of string to tie the hair back, headband." And this was borrowed into English in the 1300s, and later still, the idea of tying meat and fish with string seems to have transferred the meaning to "cuts of meat and fish, especially deboned."     


^ Files were once documents put into some order on rope or string; thus, the connection to "fillet/filet."

George Voinovich

To me, George Voinovich will always be Mayor Voinovich. Although he later was elected governor of Ohio, then U.S. senator from Ohio, he loved his time as mayor, because he loved his hometown of Cleveland. For about 45 of his 79 years he lived in the same house in the northeast neighborhood part of town, called Collinwood. He was mayor at a time when the country was seeing a continuing decline in the decent paying jobs provided by heavy industry, as technology replaced human labor. Cleveland's economic foundation had long been heavy industry. Voinovich, a Republican, was not a member of the fanatical right wing that developed a major foothold in the GOP during the 1980s, but he had a definite conservative side, based upon his devout Roman Catholicism, derived from his Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian heritage, as the child of immigrants from that region of southeastern Europe.

As mayor, George Voinovich developed a great working relationship with another man named George; the president of Cleveland city council, and highly influential political force, George Forbes. Together, the two helped move a number of projects and reforms forward, laying the foundation for the highly modernized Cleveland of today. Forbes, known for his highly volatile temperament, forced controversial legislation through a sometimes reluctant city council, while Voinovich was more laidback and a conciliator; the two were like a perfect match. One time, however, angry with the media criticism of the Cleveland Indians, Mayor Voinovich publicly laid into the press, then saying, "I think we've got a damn good team." Jaws dropped, including mine, as Voinovich's public use of "damn" stunned many people more than Rhett Butler's 1930's retort to Scarlett O'Hara, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" The mayor picked a date and set "City of Cleveland Night" at an Indians' game which drew a huge crowd to the then home of the Indians, old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

As a Republican in an overwhelming Democratic city and county, Voinovich learned how to compromise and how to get along with various groups, and it showed, as people of all backgrounds liked George Voinovich. In a nation now so often polarized by venomous politics, Voinovich was a rare bridge between the two parties, between the, in my opinion, false choice of being either a Fox News or an MSNBC viewer. When he was a senator, he angered me once, as in reply to a letter I sent about the staggering increase in oil and gasoline prices at that time (2007), he wrote something that could have been written by an oil company CEO, not a true representative of the people: "while oil companies experienced record high revenues, their profit margins are still below that of many other industries." Then to rub salt into the wound, he continued, "...these larger industry profits have translated into greater tax revenues from these companies payments' of federal and state taxes." I couldn't believe Voinovich had said this, but you put people in Washington D.C., and sometimes they change. It was like, "Thank God for sky high gasoline prices, they give us more tax money." It was all a bunch of nonsense, which was demonstrated when the economic nosedive occurred just months later, and oil prices, vastly inflated, collapsed along with the economy and many people's lives. I eventually got over Voinovich's remarks, and when he later decided to retire, he said "something to the effect" about how a person can get out of touch with the people he grew up with and worked with for so long. He talked too how he missed home, and that meant Cleveland. His time in Washington was just not for him, as extreme partisanship was not Voinovich's style. He later told how, upon Barack Obama's assuming the presidency, the Republican leaders in the Senate had told Republican members  to oppose everything the new president proposed, Voinovich saying, "If he was for it, we had to be against it."

So now we've lost George Voinovich, a man who became a part of so many lives, including my own. His ally from his days as mayor, George Forbes, now 85, commented about his long time friend: "Most of us saw ourselves as leaders, George Voinovich saw himself as a servant." Farewell Mayor Voinovich!

WORD HISTORY:
Mayor (Major)-These are really the same word, although the specific meanings diverged. They go back to Indo European "meg," which had the idea of, "large, great." This then produced "megnyo," as a comparative adjective meaning, "greater, larger." The Indo European form gave Latin "magnus," which also meant "large, great." and also "maior," the comparative form of "magnus;" thus, "larger, greater." A noun developed from the use of the adjective, and "maior" meant, "main leader of a town." Old French, a Latin-based language, had "maire," with the governmental meaning, and English borrowed the term from both the French and Latin forms, likely with one reinforcing the other. The adjective "major" was also derived from "magnus," as another comparative form (larger, greater), and it "seemingly" was borrowed into English directly from Latin in the early 12th Century. Meanwhile, Latin also used "major" as a noun, meaning "an adult, a grown up, mature person," but also, "a superior officer of an organization, often military." French used the term as part of the military rank, "sergeant-major," which was often shortened to just "major" by many, and it was borrowed by English in the mid 1600s as the military rank. The verb, "to study a particular subject with great emphasis," and that noun use, "main course of study," developed in American English in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

How Marriage Equality Changed Americans' Lives

Before marriage equality Americans:

woke up, checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
drank coffee or tea while they checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
went to work
before starting work, checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
during work, checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
ate lunch and checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
went back to work
checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
finished work
checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
headed home or stopped for an after work drink
checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
ate dinner
checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
watched television while they checked their email, Facebook and Twitter
got interrupted during sex by a private message on Facebook
got interrupted during sex again by a text message from a friend
went to sleep, dreamed about checking their email, Facebook and Twitter

After marriage equality Americans:

woke up ...... oh the hell with listing all of that again, they did everything they did before marriage equality! Hey, I've got to check my email, Facebook and Twitter, excuse me!

WORD HISTORY:
Equal-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown. It goes back to Latin "aequus," which meant "even, level;" thus also, "impartial." This then gave Latin "aequalis," meaning "the same, like, without variation, on the same level." English borrowed the word as "equal" in the second half of the 1300s, likely reinforced by French "egal," which was the French form of Latin "aequalis." English is the only Germanic language to use a form of the Latin as a primary word, although German borrowed the French form, "egal," but it is not their primary word with that meaning, as they use their own word "gleich," which is really the same word as English "like," which was once spelled "gelic." In German it is part of a fairly common expression, "Es ist mir egal," which literally means, "to me it is equal," but the real meaning of which is, "it is all the same to me," or, "it doesn't matter to me."

Roasted Beets

I had never had roasted beets until I made them recently. I LOVED them! I kind of think, when many people hear the word "beets," they think of pickled beets, with some sort of vinegar brine used. I simply used the recipe below, and that was how I ate the beets (OK, I didn't eat the baking sheet or the aluminum foil, but it wasn't because I didn't try).

Ingredients:

2 large beets, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
baking sheet and aluminum foil

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Put a large sheet of aluminum foil on the baking sheet. Spread the sliced beets on the foil, drizzle the olive oil over the beets, then work the beets around to coat all slices with the oil. Sprinkle the salt over the beets and lay the thyme sprigs on top. Pull the foil up around the beets to form an enclosed pouch. Roast the beets for about an hour, carefully open the pouch and use a fork to see if the beets are tender, if not, re-close the pouch and allow another 10 to 15 minutes roasting time.

Ready for roasting, with thyme on top ...

After roasting (thyme stems removed) ....

WORD HISTORY:
Beet-This word for the bulbous part of the beet plant taproot, has an uncertain origin, but Latin had "beta." Borrowed by the West Germanic languages from Latin centuries ago, as Old English had "bete," which then later became "beet," where it has remained ever since. Other Germanic languages have: German "Beete/Bete," Low German Saxon "Beet," Dutch "biet," West Frisian "byt," while Norwegian has "bete" and Swedish has "beta," both borrowings, likely from Low German, as they had much contact with Low German in the north of Germany.

Cleveland & The Republican Convention

It's about money, I know, BUT explain to me how a Democratic mayor, a Democratic Cuyahoga county executive, a Democratic Cleveland city council, a Democratic majority Cuyahoga County council, and a number of other Democratic officeholders, all worked to bring the REPUBLICAN CONVENTION here? Granted, not many people, if any, would have thought the likes of Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee, but the security tasks for any nominee are immense, only made even more immense with such a polarizing figure as Trump coming here to accept the nomination. Protests will likely (and correctly) be numerous. The question is, will we have a downtown area left when the Republicans leave?

WORD HISTORY:
Task-The ultimate origins of this word, related to both "tax" and "taxi," is uncertain. ^ It goes back to Latin "taxare," which meant "to assess, to charge." This then provided the basis for the noun "taxa," which meant "calculated fee or rate, a charge," which later became "tasche," and was inherited as such by Old French, a Latin-based language, but in the Old Northern French dialect it was "tasque." This was borrowed into English as "task," circa 1300. The meaning, "work to be done as payment of an obligation," seems to have come from the feudal system, as work/service was often owed by vassals to the nobles. This later broadened to the more general meaning, "work needing to be done."

^ For the history of the related word "tax," this is the link to that article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/11/answer-on-taxes.html

Portuguese & Brazilian "Green Soup": "Caldo Verde"

 

Edited for clarification purposes 11-21-21

"Caldo Verde" is a traditional soup from Portugal, also made in Portugal's former colony of Brazil. It is typically made with a type of cabbage grown in Portugal and the neighboring Spanish province of Galicia, but this cabbage is very tough to find outside of the above mentioned area; however, there is a suitable substitute, kale. Further, the Portuguese and Brazilians use their own "chouriço," or "linguiça," both types of sausages which are, again, not always easily found elsewhere in the world, but Spanish "chorizo" is much more readily available, and is "similar." (Note: This is the dry cured Spanish chorizo, not Mexican chorizo.) These Portuguese and Spanish pork sausages are flavored with paprika, with the Spanish version tending to have more paprika. In Portugal, this soup is traditionally served with Portuguese Cornbread ("Broa de Milho"), a crusty topped cornbread, somewhat different from American cornbread, due to its crusty top and dense interior, and it is made using yeast. While this is my own version, the basic recipe and information was from "Culinaria, European Specialties, Volume 2," chief editors: André Dominé and Michael Ditter; Christine Westphal, editor, Könemann Publishing,  Cologne, 1995

Ingredients:

1 lb. kale, with large stems removed, then chopped or torn into smaller pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
10 to 12 oz. chorizo, sliced into bite-sized pieces
2 cups water
6 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon pepper (white or black, but white is more common in Portugal, from my understanding)
drizzle olive oil on each serving

Simmer the sliced chorizo in the water for a couple of minutes, remove the chorizo, but keep the now flavored cooking water. In a large pot, heat the olive oil on medium heat, add the onion, salt, garlic and potatoes, stir well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and 1 cup of the reserved chorizo-flavored water, stir well. Adjust heat to simmer the soup for about until the potatoes are softened, but still firm and not mushy. Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for a couple of minutes, then, using a stick blender, puree (also spelled, 'purée') the soup until smooth. Return the soup to the heat (medium heat, and if you want to thin the soup more, add the remaining chorizo-flavored water). Add the kale and pepper, stir well. Simmer to just soften the kale some ("about" 3 minutes; it should keep a nice green color this way). In each serving bowl, add 3 to 5 pieces of chorizo, then add the hot soup over it. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil onto each serving.

 
WORD HISTORY:
Cauldron-This word for "kettle" goes back to Indo European "kelhe," which had the notion "warm, hot." This gave its Latin offspring "calidus," with the same meaning, and this produced "calidarium," meaning "warm or hot bath." This then gave Latin "caldaria," meaning "cooking pot, basin," which gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "chaudron," meaning "kettle," and this was rendered as, "caudron/cauderon," in the northern dialects of Old French, and it was borrowed as "caudron" into English circa 1300, with the spelling "cauldron" coming a little later by influence of the Latin form. 

Orlando: Our Tears Show Sadness, Not Weakness

At this terrible time of mourning, parents and family members who scorn, reject or isolate gay children or other family members, let this tremendous loss of life show you how misplaced your feelings and fears are. Our lives are fleeting enough, without hate seeking to do us in. Some parents may have only found out their child was gay when they were informed of their death or wounding in this massacre of innocent people. Religion used as a cover to spread hate needs to be called out. DON'T BE STILL, SPEAK OUT! Our tears show sadness, not weakness. Remember the victims, their families, their friends. Donate in some way to help comfort those who suffered loss and to help those who survived, for even those untouched by bullets will bear the scars of this tragedy for the rest of their lives. No matter how much our hearts ache, WE ARE STRONG, WE HAVE STRENGTH!

WORD HISTORY:
Strength-This word, derived from the ancestor of "strong," goes back to Indo European "streng/strenk," which had the notion of "tight, taut." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "strangiþu" (þ essentially equals "th"), meaning "strongness." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "strengþu," with the general meaning, "physical strongness, firmness in body or spirit." This then became "strengthe" (ending 'e' pronounced 'eh'), before the modern form. The close relationship between "strong" and "strength" makes it difficult to separate the exact meanings, as they often overlap, so I will list only a few, but German has "Strenge" (hardness, toughness, strictness, harshness), Low German "Strengde" (harshness, strictness), Dutch "strengte" (strict, stern, severe).  

Caponata Crostini, Sicilian Eggplant Appetizer

Caponata is an eggplant based dish from the Italian island of Sicily. It can be used as a topping for bruschetta, or as I've done here, for crostini, or it can be used as a side dish, and it can be served warm or at room temperature. There are a lot of variations in recipes, so as always, this is my version. Crostini are small slices of bread, brushed with olive oil, then toasted by grilling, in the oven, or in a skillet, and then topped with any variety of vegetables, cheeses, meats, or some combination thereof.

Ingredients (using just one eggplant):

1 medium eggplant, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon salt
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
6 to 8 medium to large pitted green olives, roughly chopped
2 plum tomatoes, chopped

1 small onion, chopped 

1 large garlic clove, minced or finely chopped 

1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 

Small Italian bread slices, brushed with olive oil, toasted, then halved

Cut the eggplant into bite-sized pieces, then spread it out on a large plate covered with a paper towel. Sprinkle salt over the eggplant, then cover with another paper towel. You can also place another plate or two on top to add weight. Let the eggplant sit for 30 to 45 minutes. This will draw out some of the liquid from the eggplant. In the meantime, heat 1/2 cup oil in a heavy-duty skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook about 5 or 6 minutes, the until onion and celery are softened. Add the garlic, olives, anchovies, chili flakes and tomatoes and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle in the sugar and then stir in vinegar. Reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking for another couple of minutes. In another skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Wash off the eggplant pieces (you can discard the rendered liquid). Squeeze the eggplant by hand to remove water and other juices and then add it to the fresh skillet. Cook until lightly browned. Remove to a plate with a paper towel and allow excess oil to drain. Add the eggplant to the other mixture and stir well. Spoon some of the caponata onto the crostini (the plural form of "crostino").

Great as an appetizer, or add a salad for a nice light lunch.

WORD HISTORY:
Isle-First, in spite of the similarity in spelling and meaning, this word is NOT related to the word "island," which is a Germanic word essentially meaning, "water land," or "land on the water," although the spelling of "island" with an "s" (which had not been part of its spelling), was definitely influenced by the Latin spelling (see below). On the other hand, the ancient origin of "isle" is uncertain, but it "may" be related to "salt," with the general notion being "(land) in the salt water (sea)," but this is far from certain. Latin had "insula," meaning "island" ("insula" is indeed the second part of the word "peninsula"). "Seemingly" a later Latin variant spelling "isula" gave Old French the greatly contracted form "isle," which was contracted further to "ile." This was borrowed into English in "about" 1290. The influence of the Latin spelling, however, had French restore, and English add, the "s" to the word circa 1500, although modern French spells it "île," with the "^", called a circumflex, indicating there was once an "s" in the spelling. Close English relative German uses "Insel" as its primary word for "island;" a borrowing long ago directly from Latin "insula," although it also has "Eiland," pronounced "I-lahnt" (long "I" sound), the close form to English "island," but it is stylistically very high sounding, used more in grand writing and poetry in modern times.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

This highly popular salad dressing, also used as a dip, was developed in the 1950s by Steve Henson, founder of the Hidden Valley Ranch brand of dressings. This recipe is purely my own and I make no claim to it being the equivalent to the highly successful commercial brand, or any other brand, for that matter.

Ingredients

1/2 cup buttermilk (low fat is fine)
1 cup mayonnaise (reduced fat is fine)
1/4 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

Simply mix all the ingredients together very well. If it is still too thick, add a little more buttermilk to get it to the consistency you want. Chill well before serving.

I just mixed and chilled everything right in a measuring cup (then covered it with plastic wrap), which shows that everything together made about 2 1/4 cups of dressing.

WORD HISTORY:
Heap-This word goes back to Indo European "k(h)oup," which had the notion of "raised surface;" thus, "hill." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "houpaz/haupaz," which "seems" to have reduced the meaning from "hill" to the lesser, "pile or stack of something." ^ This gave Old English "heap," but with the likely pronunciation of "hee-ap," and with the same general meaning, but with the figurative sense of "many," including people. This then became "heep/hepe," before the modern version, which "likely" mimicked the old spelling by coincidence. There was also a verb form, "heapian," dating to Old English (and in other Germanic languages, too) meaning, "to pile things together, to collect into a stack/pile." Going back to Old English, there was a further underlying notion in some uses as, "something bad, something spoiled," and this notion has carried through with the word since those times, as "heap" has been used for places of human waste, "dung heap," and also places for trash, garbage, "trash heap," and who hasn't owned a beaten up, old car at some point, "a heap." The other Germanic languages have: German "Haufen," Low German Saxon "Huup," Dutch "hoop," Danish "hob" (meaning "crowd, mob"), Icelandic "hópur" ("crowd, group").

^ The Old Germanic form may well have retained the original meaning, but then its West Germanic offshoot reduced the meaning from "hill" to "pile, stack." The "main" West Germanic languages in modern times are: English, German, Low German, Dutch and Frisian. Further, and this bolsters the idea that "apparently" the lessening of the meaning to "pile/stack" was made in West Germanic, Old Norse borrowed the word from Low German or Frisian as "hópr;" thus, the modern Danish and Icelandic forms came from that borrowing, as Old Norse is their North Germanic ancestor.

Plantain Chips

Plantains are starchy, non sweet bananas, common in tropical parts of the world, including on the island of Puerto Rico, which is a territory of the United States (people born on Puerto Rico are American citizens). Plantains are generally available in the produce sections of many supermarkets these days, and definitely in Latino markets, and make sure you look at the little sticker on them that says, "plaintain," because they are identical to the more common sweet bananas. Plantain chips, called "platanutres," in the Spanish of Puerto Rico, are one of the island's most common uses for this produce, but they are also common in other places in the Caribbean and in some South American countries. The "basic" recipe for these chips is the same all over, but for me, it was inspired by: "A Taste of Puerto Rico," by Yvonne Ortiz, Dutton, a division of Penguin Books, 1994. There are some slight variations in recipes from place to place, and from person to person.

Plantain chips are simple to make, but what is not so simple, is to be able to stop eating them:

2 green plantains
1 1/4 cups canola or vegetable oil
Puerto Rican adobo seasoning to taste*
(for a spicy kick, 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper)

Peel and very thinly slice the plantains. Add enough oil for an inch or 2 in a heavy duty skillet; cast iron is good for this, but not a necessity. Heat the oil, but it should not be smoking hot. Fry the chips in batches, removing them to paper towels to drain them as you go. Add Puerto Rican adobo to taste, and the 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, if using.

* Puerto Rican adobo is a type of seasoning, easily available in supermarkets, although perhaps in the "Hispanic/Latino Foods" section. I deliberately put "Puerto Rican adobo," as "adobo" can mean different things in Latino countries or in the Philippines, a country with Spanish influences (it was once a colony of Spain).

WORD HISTORY:
Plantain-There are two words of this spelling in English, but by far the more common is the one meaning, "a type of starchy banana using in cooking," although its pronunciation may well have been influenced by the other word.^ This word goes back to the "Carib" language of the "Cariban" family of languages, native to South America, which then spread to some of the islands of the Caribbean. This language family is much diminished in modern times, as its forms were often replaced by Spanish, Portuguese, French, English or Dutch in the areas colonized by the European speakers of these languages. The Carib word, "platana/blatana," meaning "banana," was borrowed into Spanish as "plántano" (early on likely influenced by the other Latin derived word, see note below), which then became "plátano." It was borrowed by English in the mid 1500s, but was likely influenced in spelling and pronunciation by the already borrowed word, "plantain" (see note below).

^ The other word of identical spelling is the name for a plant with broad, flat leaves, but it is from a form of the Latin word "plantago," which gave Old French, a heavily Latin-based language, "plantain," but it has nothing to do with the origins of the Carib word. This word "plantain" was borrowed by English in the 1400s from the French dialects brought to England by the Normans and other French speakers, thus called, "Anglo-Norman," which had a variety of spellings, like "plainteine, planteine, planteyne," but its English spelling seems to have been influenced directly by the continental French spelling, "plantain."