Zucchini Fritters/Patties

Summertime means zucchini comes to market, or from your garden. A good way to serve these patties is with horseradish sauce ( http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/08/horseradish-sauce.html ), or with some tzatziki sauce (link to the recipe: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2018/01/greek-tzatziki-turkish-cacik-sauce-dip.html ). 

Ingredients:

Zucchini Patties/Fritters (5 to 6 servings):

2 medium zucchinis, shredded + 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme 
oil for frying 

Put the shredded zucchini into a sieve, add the salt, mix it around a bit, and put the sieve over a bowl to let the liquid drain for about about 20 to 30 minutes. Give the zucchini a squeeze to remove excess liquid before adding the other ingredients. Mix well. I use about 2 to 3 tablespoons of regular olive oil in a nonstick skillet to fix four fritters, then I use fresh oil to fix the next batch. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties until nicely browned on both sides.

WORD HISTORY:
Fritter-This word, closely related to "fry," a Latin derived word borrowed by English from French, goes back to Indo European "bher/pher," which "seems" to have had the notion of "fire, heat;" thus also, "cook or roast." This gave Latin "frigere," meaning, "to fry, to roast," two forms of cooking for which we now have separate terms. "Frigere" gave Latin the noun "frictura," which meant, "a frying, the process of frying." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "friture," and meant, "a pancake, a fried food product." English borrowed the word in the late 1300s as "fritter," for a "pancake or patty that is fried." It is also related to Italian "frittata," which is a type of omelette. The verb "fritter," meaning, "to waste something, usually time or money, little by little," is "likely" from a different source. I hope to do its history in the near future.

Horseradish Sauce

This is a recipe for American style "horseradish sauce," which is often used to accompany prime rib and roast beef.

Horseradish Sauce:

2/3 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (reduced fat is fine)
4 to 5 tablespoons horseradish, drained
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Put all ingredients into a bowl and stir to mix well. Refrigerate.

WORD HISTORY: 
Vegetarian-This word is derived from "vegetable." I did the history of the word "vegetable" earlier, and here is the link to that article:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-kitchen-sink-veggie-drink.html  "Vegetarian" was formed in English circa 1840, but it took a few years to become more widespread, helped along by the founding of the Vegetarian Society in the second half of the 1840s in Britain. The main body of the word "vegetable" was coupled with the ending "arian," which was used to show the name for a person from some countries or regions (example: "Bulgarian"), or to denote the practice or support of some activity (example: parliamentarian) or for a person who practices or supports a certain belief (example: Presbyterian). It was derived from the Latin suffix "arius," which was used to form adjectives or nouns to show, "of, from, belonging to." "Vegetarian" was borrowed from English by German in the second half of the 1800s as "Vegetarianer," but this was altered in German in the 20th Century to "Vegetarier." 

Many Contributed To Hitler's Defeat

Recently I decided to watch the 1965 movie "Operation Crossbow," a movie I've seen several times over the years.* This World War Two film is "loosely" based on history and the British efforts to disrupt Hitler's rocket program. There is an important scene at the end of the film that shows the head of Britain's forces to combat German rockets, Duncan Sandys (played by English actor Richard Johnson), speaking with Prime Minister Winston Churchill (played by English actor Patrick Wymark)** about how so many unknown people were contributing to defeating Hitler. Many people have heard the names of political leaders and generals who became famous during World War Two, but these leaders would have been nothing without the men and women who took on Hitler and the Nazis on a smaller and a more personal level: from the Allied military personnel who helped to attack and defend against Hitler's forces, to the Allied personnel who monitored and decoded enemy messages, to secret agents who risked their lives to get information to help the Allies plan military operations, to resistance members who worked in a variety of ways to get information, to pass information along or to actively sabotage Nazi military installations and facilities, to other resistance members, including Jews, who rose in armed conflict against Nazi occupiers, to workers in factories producing Nazi military goods who sabotaged Hitler's war effort by slowing production or by weakening the quality of the goods they produced. It's almost impossible to know how much of the latter sabotage went on, but it did happen. Remember, as I said above, we'll never know all of the little bits and pieces that went into efforts to defeat Hitler, but they happened, and likely taken together, they did substantial damage to the fanatical, furious Führer, also known as the, "Wacko-in-Chief." 

The movie shows one man, a Dutch sailor, who becomes an Allied agent who makes it into Germany to get information on the Nazi rocket program. He ends up being arrested, and after torture, he faces execution, but he never gives up the names of his accomplices. Just before he is executed, a Nazi officer tries one more time to get the badly beaten man to give him information, telling the Dutchman that if he doesn't cooperate, he will die and no one will ever know even how he died, that his heroism will be for nothing. He tells the Nazi NOTHING, and he is then executed. Later in the film, two other Allied agents inside the Nazi rocket facility, located underground in Germany, are supposed to open the facility launch doors to provide light to guide Royal Air Force bombers to the Nazi rocket center. Their heroics make the mission a success, although both men are killed. While the movie has much fiction to it, I can't help but believe that there were real incidents of a similar nature throughout the war, and these things all helped to drive nails into the coffin of the Nazi nutcase. Just as the Nazi official threatened the Dutchman in the movie that no one would ever know how brave he had been, or even know how he died, so many people likely really did fit into that category in real life, but they all did things to help defeat Hitler and fascism. We owe so many a debt of gratitude.

* For my article about "Operation Crossbow," this is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/04/operation-crossbow-george-peppard.html

** Just as a point of information, Duncan Sandys was married to Winston Churchill's eldest daughter, Diana.

WORD HISTORY: 
Sabotage-This is a tough word in its meaning development, and its ultimate origin is uncertain. First, forget about the modern meaning completely at the moment. There are forms of the word in Turkic and Arabic, as well as in some Indo European language branches like Persian, Latin-based languages and some Slavic. While some believe it spread FROM Persian, Turkic or Arabic INTO Latin and then into other Indo European languages, that is not a certainty. Anyway, one of the Latin-based languages to have a form was French, which originally acquired the word as "savate" (perhaps first as, "chavate?"), which meant, "shoe, slipper, old shoe," a meaning similar to forms of the word in other languages, all of which had to do with "shoes, slippers." This then became "sabat," and then "sabot," with the "bat" part being altered in spelling (perhaps mistaken by French speakers for "bot," the French word for "boot"), by which time (1200s) it meant "wooden shoe." A French verb form developed from the noun as "saboter," which seems to have at first meant, "to bungle something," and from this came the idea of "workers in a dispute with employers remaining on the job, but doing shoddy work to make customers angry, and thus, hurt the employer." Why a word for "wooden shoe" spawned a verb with this meaning is not understood and there are various theories, including, "workers throwing or putting shoes into machines to cause malfunction," but the reason is just not known. French later developed the word as "sabotage," by taking the root "sabot," and then adding the noun forming ending "-age," which indicated a state of action or being. The meaning also broadened to "obstruction, interference, disruption by non official military personnel of a nation's military forces, infrastructure or means of production," but the labor dispute meaning also persisted into the 1900s. The word is a relative newcomer to English, as it was just  borrowed in the early 1900s, and at first, it had both meanings in English too.  

"Salute the Uniform" Can Only Go So Far

Way back when I was a teenager, the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement brought some, but certainly not all, younger Americans to begin to question the nation's adults. In those times, that was a "no-no." Back then, a common expression used by adults to avoid the difficult arguments of the young was, "Children should be seen and not heard," an expression that apparently dates to the mid 1400s. It means that children should only be seen, and they should not offer opinions on what were seen as "adult matters." Back then too, adulthood was "often" legally defined as the age of 21 on many matters. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the states in the summer of 1971 and it established the age of 18 as the lowest legal age for voting.

Over the years there have been various allegations about members of the clergy being involved in sexual matters with children, both male and female. The clergy is a group that has benefited by people's trust and the fear that if you criticize a member of the clergy, there is a spot reserved for you in Hell. Now, just days ago, we learned of a major scandal in the state of Pennsylvania involving Roman Catholic clergy. The scandal comes from a grand jury report hundreds of pages long in which it alleges that a thousand children were abused by hundreds of Catholic priests and that Church officials developed a plan to protect the abusers, not to help the children.

I "suspect" the same thing has been true, to some degree, in schools. Teachers have received lots of respect because of the role they are supposed to take in educating children and in preparing them for life. Accusations of misbehavior, especially criminal misbehavior, against a teacher is not something the public will necessarily leap to believe right away, and that was even more so when I was young. Back when I was in high school, a good friend of mine, a girl, talked to me very privately one day. She ended up crying as she told me about a male teacher who had grabbed her and tried to kiss her. It's all been so long ago, I can't remember everything, but she didn't want me to do anything about it. I was a student leader and I was on pretty good terms with the school principal, an ex military officer. I advised the girl to talk with her parents, which I believe she did, but I can't say that with complete certainty, as time has clouded my memory. The thing was, in those times, to accuse a teacher of such an offense was difficult, to say the least, as adults were given the benefit of the doubt and, "children should be seen and not heard" was the prevailing belief. Even today such would likely be the case, but in those times, the chance of breaking through against a teacher would have been very, very low. Not only that, this was not just any teacher, but a man well known throughout the community because of his other job, which was highly public, but not in government. He didn't really like me anyhow, but I didn't particularly give a damn. I don't recall exactly what happened, but he confronted me about something one day, and I threw out a hint that I knew about what he had done with my friend. He was furious and threatened to have me suspended. He always acted as if the principal had died and left him in charge. This is how people in power can abuse that power to cover their asses. And this is why there must be checks and balances on power, including, or perhaps especially, on the power of the president of this nation. I never pursued the matter of his behavior, because the girl didn't want the matter brought out in public, so we went on with our lives, but not too many years later, a family member mentioned that this teacher had been implicated in similar matters with female students. The teacher passed away a couple of decades ago, but with the recent grand jury report, this episode with my friend and the teacher came back to me.

"Salute the uniform" needs clarification. We do not always have to agree with leaders in various parts of society in order to give those leaders respect, BUT if they are breaking laws, they are not deserving of our respect, and I don't care what garb they wear, whether it be a military uniform, some type of religious outfit, law enforcement uniform or the outfit of a school teacher. People need to earn respect by who THEY are individually, not by just serving in some position.    

WORD HISTORY:
Use-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown. The verb form (pronounced in English as if, "youz") goes back to Latin "uti," which had a wide range of meanings: "to make use of, to gain from (thus also, to benefit, to profit), to enjoy, to consume." This produced Latin "usare," meaning, "to use." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "user," meaning, "to make use of, to employ." English borrowed the word as "usen" in the early 1200s. By circa 1400, the word had also come to mean, "to take advantage of," a sense shared to a great extent by the derived words, "misuse" and "abuse" (formed by "ab" + "use"). The noun form (pronounced in English as if, "youss") has the same older history, which then produced the Latin noun "usus," which meant "use, employment, habit, skill," This passed into Old French as "us," meaning "a custom, a habit, the usage of." English also borrowed the noun form in the early 1200s. 

Cuban Bul: Refreshing Beer Cocktail

This is a popular refreshing Cuban beer cocktail. It is super easy to make.

Ingredients (4 to 6 servings):

2  12 ounce bottles or cans of light colored beer, like a lager or pilsner
2  12 ounce cans of ginger ale
juice of 3 limes
1/4 cup sugar
ice cubes
pitcher & glasses
lime slices for garnish

Empty the beer and ginger ale into a pitcher. Add the lime juice and sugar and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Fill some glasses with ice cubes and pour in the drink mixture. Garnish with a slice of lime.

WORD HISTORY:
Cinch-This word goes back to Indo European "kenk," which had the notion, "to encircle, to put a ring around something with the intent to bind." This gave Latin "cingere," which meant, "to encircle," which produced the Latin noun, "cingulum," meaning, "belt, girdle, sword belt." This gave Latin-based Spanish "cincha," meaning, "belt, girdle," used in Mexican Spanish for a "a saddle strap or belt for horses." This was borrowed by American English in the 1850s with that meaning. A verb form developed from the noun in the 1860s and meaning, "to fit with a belt or girdle, to tighten with a belt to make secure." By circa 1890, the idea of "securing" produced the verb meaning, "to make certain," and "a certainly, something easily accomplished," for another noun meaning.   

Mexican Rice Drink: Horchata

"Horchata," pronounced as if, "ore-chahtah," with the "ch" pronounced liked the "ch" of Charles, was taken to Spain by the Moors of northern Africa,* and the drink became well established in the Valencia region, where it eventually spread throughout much of Spain. The Moors and the Spaniards used "tiger nuts" ** to make the drink, a tradition that has continued to this day. Spanish colonizers took the drink along to Spain's vast colonial realm where it also caught on in various places. Instead of tiger nuts, people in the Spanish colonies brought about the use of a number of substitute ingredients for the preparation of Horchata, including in Mexico, where rice, sometimes mixed with almonds, became the common substitute, and it has remained so right up to the present.  

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked white rice
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar (I found 2/3 cup to be too sweet, but you may prefer the sweeter taste)
5 cups cold water
1 12 ounce can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
(optional) little pinch of ground cinnamon to garnish each serving

Put rice, cold water and cinnamon sticks into a blender. Blend for about 1 minute, until the cinnamon sticks are broken up, but this will be strained, so don't worry about getting this totally ground up. Cover and set the mixture in the refrigerator for 8 to 10 hours. Get a pitcher and a fine sieve. Strain the mixture into the pitcher. Dispose of the strained solids. Add the milk, the vanilla and the sugar, stir well to dissolve the sugar. Serve in glasses filled with ice cubes. If you'd like, you can dust the top of each serving with a little ground cinnamon, and then you can play James Taylor's, "Mexico" .... "Ohhhhh, Mexico...It sounds so simple, I just got to go..."

* The Moors were a Berber people of northern and western Africa who formed the vast bulk of Muslim invaders of the Iberian Peninsula beginning in the 700s.

** "Tiger nuts" are not really nuts at all, but rather they are small round parts of the root system of a plant called "yellow nutsedge." 

WORD HISTORY:
Cull-This is the verb, as the noun is not in common usage. It is related to "collect," a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English. "Cull" goes back to Indo European "leg," which had the notion "to gather, to collect, to pick;" thus also, "select, choose." This gave Latin "lego," which meant "select, appoint," which produced the verb "legere," meaning, "to gather, to collect." It was given a prefix from Indo European "kom," which meant, "near, by, with," and which took on various forms in Latin, including, "col," which meant, "together with." The two parts gave Latin, "colligere," which meant, "to gather together, to collect together." This passed into Old French as "cuiller/cuiler," with the meaning, "to gather, to collect, to select." This was borrowed by English in the mid 1300s as "cuilen," which then became "cullen," meaning, "to choose something from a large number to gather into a select group." The meaning "to select a number of animals for killing to avoid overpopulation" seems to have developed in the first half of the 1900s. 

Canadian French Fries & Gravy: Poutine

Often pronounced like, "poo-teen," in the U.S., but more like, "poo-ten," in Canada, its birthplace (Quebec).

If you mess up the recipe, no problem, just call it, "Putin," send it to Trump, and he'll never utter a word of criticism about it.

You can make this recipe very simply by getting some french fries at your neighborhood fast food outlet and by opening a jar or can or beef gravy. If you enjoy cooking and don't mind a little more involvement, you can buy frozen french fries and cook them per the instructions on the package, or make the fries yourself from scratch (see below). You can fry them in oil, or you can forgo the oil and put the potatoes on a baking sheet and pop them into the oven. Cheese curds can be found in many cheese shops or supermarkets (for Clevelanders, I bought my cheese curds at the West Side Market). Then you can make your own gravy (see below), but you can use store bought beef broth to streamline the gravy making process a bit.  

Ingredients (5 + servings):

2 pounds baking potatoes, skin on, cut into fries
1 1/2 cups cheese curds
2 tablespoons oil + 1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups beef stock/broth
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (remember, the beef stock will have salt)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

If you want to fix the potatoes from scratch, scrub and rinse the potatoes well, cut a small slice off of the unpeeled potato to form a flat base for the potato. Place the potato on its cut side, then cut through the potato to make about 1/4 inch thick pieces. Cut each of those pieces into uniform fries. Soak the fries in cold water. While the fries soak, add the butter and oil to a sauce pan over low heat. Add the chopped onion and the garlic and let cook, stirring occasionally to prevent burning or heavy browning, until the onion softens. Stir in the flour and let cook a minute or two to take away the raw taste from the flour. Increase heat to medium and gradually add the beef stock, stirring constantly. Add the Worcestershire sauce, the ketchup and the dried thyme, stir to mix. Bring the gravy to a boil and lower the heat to maintain the gravy at a simmer. Let the gravy simmer until it reduces by about a quarter or until it reaches the thickness you want.
 
Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium heat (or if you have a deep fryer, follow the fryer's instructions). Drain the potatoes and dry them well onto paper towels (otherwise, big time spattering ... ah, someone once told me that). Add the potatoes and cook for a few minutes until they are about "half" done. Remove the potatoes and allow them to cool. Turn the heat up a notch and return the potatoes to the hot oil until they are nicely browned. Drain the potatoes on paper towels (you can sprinkle on a little salt, if desired). Put some fries onto a plate, sprinkle some cheese curds over them and ladle or spoon some (or a lot) of hot gravy over the fries and cheese. It doesn't get much better than this ... 

WORD HISTORY:
Imp-This word is distantly related to "boor," "bower" and to the last part of "neighbor" (British: "neighbour"), all words from the Germanic roots of English. It goes back to Indo European "bu/bhu," which meant "to be," with extensions: "to dwell, to live upon/on, to grow." This gave Ancient Greek "phyein," which meant, "to make grow," and when given the prefix "em" (=in), it meant, "to implant." This produced the Greek adjective "emphytos" (implanted), which was borrowed by Latin as "impotus" ("implanted;" thus also, "grafted"), which was contracted to "imptus," with the same meanings. This was borrowed by Germanic, but the actual form is unknown, although it gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "impian," meaning, "to implant, to graft." This produced the English noun "impe," meaning, "a shoot from a plant, a shoot grafted to another plant." From this meaning the word began to shift in meaning to, "a child," from the notion of a "young plant shoot." By the second half of the 1500s, the word was used in the expression, "imp (child) of the devil/Satan," which added the meaning to the word of, "a small demon," and thus also, "a mischievous child." German eventually took a different turn with the word, as it has the verb "impfen" (to inoculate^) and "Impfung" (inoculation).  Low German has "empen" (graft, implant), Swedish has "ympa" (graft).

^ A few hundred years ago, the main meaning of the word "inoculate" was, "to graft buds onto a plant," a meaning still around, but more in agriculture than in the general public. It wasn't until later that the idea of  "implanting dead or inactive virus into a person to help prevent illness" came about and then it became the primary meaning in English. 

Michelada Cocktail: A Toast To Mexico!

A "Michelada Cocktail" is from our southern neighbor, Mexico. Since before becoming president of the United States, Donald Trump had shown more than a little disrespect for Mexico and its people. Of course, Trump shows disrespect for many people, except Nazis and Vladimir Putin. So, if you decide to visit the White House, put on a Nazi armband; nothing fancy, any old Nazi armband will do, and you're sure to be given a warm welcome, which may even include a "heil" or two.

There are variations to this beer-based cocktail, including the use of tomato juice or Clamato.*


Ingredients (per 10 to 12 ounce drink):

light colored beer like Corona or Modelo
juice of 1/2 lime
lime wedge to rub around glass rim and outer edge
some chili powder mixed with some salt (or Mexican Tajin seasoning**) 
1 to 2 teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce
a pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
cucumber slice
lime slice
ice cubes

Mix a teaspoon of salt with about 2 tablespoons of chili powder on a small plate (or use Tajin seasoning). Use a large chilled glass or beer mug and take a wedge of lime and rub it over the rim and outer edge of the glass. Dip the lime juice moistened glass rim into the seasoning, making sure to then tilt the glass and roll it in the chili powder mix so that the outer edge of the glass also gets a coating of the seasoning. To the glass add the lime juice, the hot sauce, the pinch of cayenne pepper, the Worcestershire sauce, a few ice cubes and then fill the glass with beer. Give it a stir and add a slice of cucumber and a slice of lime to the side of the glass for garnishes.   

* "Clamato" is a brand of drink, which is a mixture of tomato juice, clam juice/broth and some seasonings. It is produced by Motts, a Keurig Dr. Pepper company.    

** "Tajin" is a dry Mexican seasoning of lime, salt and ground chilies. It has a spicy, tart flavor, but it is not overly "hot." It is available in many supermarkets, Latino markets or spice shops.  

WORD HISTORY:
Pint-This word is closely related to "paint." It goes back to Indo European "peig/peikh," which meant "to cut, to carve," the notion of which led to, "to carve decorations into an object." This gave its Italic/Latin offspring "pingere," and the idea of "decorate or adorn" broadened further into "decorate with color;" thus came the meaning, "to paint." The participle of "pngere" was "picta" ("painted") and this produced, "pincta," which meant, "a mark painted on a container to show a particular quantity." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "pinte," meaning, "a measurement of liquid." English borrowed the word as "pinte" in the mid 1300s, but it wasn't long before the ending "e" was dropped. By the mid 1700s, the word had also come to be used for a pint of ale.  

Caesar Cocktail: Here's To Canada!

This drink could be called a "Bloody Mary," Canadian style, and indeed, like its close cousin, it is considered by some to be a hangover cure, as well as a popular drink in its own right with our friends and neighbors in Canada. And make no mistake about it, Canadians are our friends and neighbors, in spite of the nasty nutcase named Donald Trump with all of his bluster and insults. He's a disgrace!

Ingredients (per drink):

1 1/2 to 2 ounces vodka
3 to 4 ounces tomato juice
2 ounces clam juice (easily found in supermarkets)
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 to 4 drops hot pepper sauce (or 1/4 teaspoon sambal oelek*)
celery salt for glass
lime
leafy stalk of celery 
ice

Spread a little celery salt on a small plate. Rub the edge of a 10 to 12 ounce glass with a piece of lime, then dip the glass into the celery salt to give a coating to the glass rim. Put some ice cubes into the glass and add the vodka, the clam juice, the Worcestershire sauce and the hot sauce (or sambal oelek). Then add the tomato juice to fill the glass; so, you may use more or less than the amount I have in the recipe. Stir well. Garnish with a leafy stalk of celery and a slice of lime. Here's to our friends, the Canadians! "May no orange haired horse's ass put our friendship asunder."

WORD HISTORY:
Ounce-This word for a "measured unit of weight" is related to a large number of words, including "inch" (a word borrowed by English from Latin), and to "one" and "an" (both original English words from its Germanic roots). "Ounce" goes back to Indo European "oinos," which meant, "one." This gave its Latin offspring "unus" ("one"), and then the derived "uncia," which meant, "one twelfth part of  something." This passed into Latin-based Old French as "once" (initially "unce?"). English borrowed the word in the early 1300s. From what I can find, English is the only Germanic language to use a form of "ounce."

For Duty & Humanity

Back in 1934, "The Three Stooges," the famous comedy trio, released one of their short films called "Men in Black." It was nominated for an Academy Award in the short subject category. The little film of about 20 minutes had the Stooges* being doctors in the "Los Arms Hospital," with Dr. Graves as the hospital  superintendent. The Stooges have promised to devote their lives to the cause of "duty and humanity," a slogan given to them in medical school. They don't remember much else from their medical training, but they remember the slogan. Later, when they report to Dr. Graves, he asks them where they found the patient in Room 72. They answer, "Up on the chandelier," and Dr. Graves then asks, "What did you do for him?" Curley replies, "Nuthin'! What did he ever do for us?" Graves yells, "What are you working here for?" And the Stooges say in unison, "For duty and humanity!"

There are numerous incidents during the film, but the point is, quaint slogans may seem nice, but they are meaningless, unless their meaning is truly understood and acted upon accordingly. Does any person claiming Christianity REALLY believe that the Ku Klux Klan is a "Christian" organization, more specifically, a "white, Protestant Christian" organization? This is a terrorist group responsible for the burning of crosses and the use of violence to frighten and injure those they find to be "unacceptable."  Does anyone with a shred of tolerance and kindness toward others believe that "MAGA" ("Make America Great Again") is a slogan of tolerance and inclusiveness? Quite the opposite, it is a slogan associated with INTOLERANCE, BIGOTRY and outright HATE. It is a slogan for a particular American fascism led by the "Fascist-in-Chief," an American fascist sonofabitch, Donald Trump. The Three Stooges portraying doctors in a short film and shouting, "For duty and humanity," didn't hurt anyone, nor did they threaten American democracy. I cannot say the same thing about Donald Trump and his stooges.

* Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curley Howard (the actual 1934 film spells it "Curley," in the opening credits, but I believe later it was spelled "Curly").  

Public domain photo from Wikipedia showing the Three Stooges in 1937 (Larry Fine, Curley Howard and Moe Howard.  

WORD HISTORY:
Charade-This is a word with a great deal of uncertain history. It was borrowed by English from French "charade" (meaning, "a riddle") in the 1770s. French got the word from the Provençal word "charrado," which meant, "chatter," which was derived from the verb "charrar," which meant, "to chat, to converse." This seems to have come from Italian "ciarlare," meaning, "to chatter," but where Italian got the word is unknown, although Spanish has "charlar," meaning, "to chat, to talk on about unimportant things," and an obvious relative of the Italian word. The English meaning certainly ties in with "a riddle," as the name of the game "Charades" has participants acting out a word or individual parts of a word until someone guesses the correct answer. This provided the other meaning to "charade," although with a negative twist to the meaning; that is, "to act to deceive someone about a real intention or to cover up the real meaning of something."     

Zuckerberg & The Professor

Regular readers may go, "Ohhhhhh noooo, he's going back to Gilligan's Island," one of my all time favorite television shows, which began in the mid 1960s, but the episodes of which aired for decades after the show stopped production in 1967. There were many good lessons given during the show's original 3 television seasons and nearly 100 episodes. In one episode, Gilligan discovers some seeds on a bush in the jungle. He finds out that when he eats the seeds, he can read the minds of the other castaways. Naturally, the others all want seeds too, and Gilligan brings back seeds for all. At first the castaways are all thrilled and amused with their newly found power, but then they begin to argue, as they now know the negative thoughts they also have toward each other. Gilligan talks with the Professor, the island's intellectual, about the ongoing strife, and the Professor tells Gilligan he thought the mind reading ability would help to promote world peace, an idea Gilligan "thinks," but doesn't say, is absurd. The Professor reads Gilligan's mind and he is deeply offended over Gilligan's disparaging thought, so he stomps off (that kind of shoots 'world peace' in the ass!). As the "former" friends all argue, the always bungling, but well meaning Gilligan decides to go into the jungle and set fire to the bush. The seeds are destroyed and the crisis is over. Now...

In more recent times, enter Mark Zuckerberg and his band of... ah, his band of... ah, techsperts. "If only we could connect the entire world on an online website, where everybody could say what they wanted; sort of the ultimate 'free speech' forum. A site where the only things needed would be an Internet connection and a device to reach the Internet. Wow! This would be as great as the castaways of Gilligan's Island being able to read minds. It would unite the world, work to fight poverty, support freedom, and"  ...,well, you get the drift. People the world over could communicate with one another easily. This was just too good to be true. And it was too good to be true; at least, to some extent. The world is a complex place, full of all kinds of people with lots of personalities, mood swings and motivations. Believe it or not, there are actually BAD people in the world, and Zuckerberg's Facebook, and other "social media" sites, gave these "bad people" a way into the lives of many unsuspecting users. Fake stories and conspiracy theories were posted on ALL of these websites, although Facebook became the "face" (no pun intended) of this whole part of the modern tech world. I almost wrote "phenomenon," but this has NOT been a phenomenon, but rather a situation just waiting to happen and to gain a foothold. People and organizations who had been voiceless in their lives were given a chance to join the world, and to do so "essentially" anonymously, some with venom dripping from their fangs as they "got even" with the world for the state of their own lives and with "enemies," real or perceived. Egomaniacs saw a chance to tout themselves.   

Understand, the technology CAN'T be un-invented, but the idea that all of this technology shouldn't be regulated is sheer nonsense, although the particulars as to how to regulate it are difficult to determine; after all, the Internet is WORLDWIDE. This is no longer some television or radio stations in a country being regulated by their own people in some manner. There is no bush with seeds in the jungle to set afire to solve the problem. Remember too, however, that the social media websites are not governed by constitutional "free speech," as many people do not understand that term. The "free speech" part of the Constitution applies to government suppression of free speech, and of course, that protection ends at both the boundaries of the U.S. and at the boundaries of private individuals and of private companies These websites are privately owned companies and they can limit, restrict or stop certain people or groups from posting anything and everything, if they so choose. Remember too, governments have chosen to get involved on social media sites, so this is not just some individuals or political groups that are leading "the bad guys and girls." With tremendous amounts of funding, these governments can aggressively operate under the cover of seemingly independent groups, but they can push their own agendas, or help allies to push their agendas for them, or they can launch cyber attacks on others or hack into websites, which has the potential to shutdown electric power in large parts of some countries. Remember... I mentioned egomaniacs...

Zuckerberg and Company had a nice idea, and there's no question that people used the services provided, although we also know that personal privacy was damaged by social media shenanigans and that Facebook and other sites opened up new worlds for criminals, including criminal regimes in the world. So Mark Zuckerberg and the Professor have some idealism in common, but Zuckerberg also has something in common with Dr. Frankenstein. How far that "something" goes is the question.    
WORD HISTORY:
Burden-This word, related to the verb "bear" (meaning, "to carry, to give birth"), an original English word from its Germanic roots, which goes back to Indo European "bher," which meant, "to bear a burden, to carry." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "burthin(ja)," meaning, "something carried, a thing borne." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "byrðen" (=byrthen") and meaning, "burden, weight, load;" also, "a fee, a charge" (also "byrd" was another form, meaning "burden"). This then became "burthen," before the modern form. Forms in the other Germanic languages: German "Bürde" (burden, load), Low German Saxon had "Börden" (weight, load, burden), but now has the shorter, "Böör," Frisian had "berde," but no longer uses a form of the word, Dutch had "borde," but apparently no longer uses it, Icelandic has "byrði" (burden), Danish and Norwegian "byrde" (burden), Swedish "börda" (burden). 

Greek Farmer's Salad: Horiatiki

This is a common salad with some regional variations in Greece, among which are: some add capers and some use red wine vinegar to dress the salad instead of lemon; often too, the olives are not always pitted and in some areas they peel the cucumber. I've had Greek salads in the U.S. and in Germany, and they had red or yellow bell peppers  and the cheese was crumbled over the salad.

Ingredients (about 6 good servings):

4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, I partially peeled the cucumber, making it sort of "striped," chopped
1 medium red onion, sliced into rings, then quarter the rings
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into about 1 inch strips
15 to 20 Kalamata olives, I used pitted olives
about 2 to 3 inch long by 2 inch wide by 1/2 inch thick slices of Feta cheese, per serving
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (pretty easily found in markets or supermarkets)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano per serving
1 to 2 tablespoons drained capers
salt to taste, but remember the cheese, olives and capers have salt, so you may not need ANY salt
6 to 8 lemon wedges

Into a large bowl put the chopped tomato, the chopped cucumber, the red onion, the green pepper strips and the olives. Add the olive oil, the lemon juice the fresh oregano leaves, the capers and the salt (if using), mix together well. Place a small "block" of cheese on top of each serving and nestle a couple of lemon wedges into the side of each serving too. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano over each serving. 

WORD HISTORY:
Brine-This word for salty water used for pickling; and thus, preserving some foods, has an unknown ancient history, although there have been attempts to connect it with forms in Indo European, but I'm not terribly convinced by these connections. Further, while "brine" has forms in Dutch (brijn) and Flemish (brijne),^ there seem to be no other connections in the Germanic languages. It is an old word, as Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "bryne," but whether the word was taken along with the Anglo-Saxons from the Continent to Briton, or whether it was acquired after they established themselves in what became England is unclear. With the Germanic dialects that became Dutch/Flemish right across from Anglo-Saxon England, did one provide the word to the other? If so, there is still the question of where it came from originally. The spelling "brine" has been in English for hundreds of years. Of course too, the idea of sea water being salty gave the word the slang meaning for water from the sea.

^ Modern linguists classify Flemish as a dialect of Dutch, but in the past, Flemish was usually seen as a separate language, likely because Belgium and the Netherlands became separate countries, and before that, there was a "general" religious divide during the Reformation times, where Dutch was associated more with Protestantism and Flemish was associated with Catholicism. English, Dutch and Flemish are all close cousins. 

Austro-German Dessert Pancake: Kaiserschmarrn

I often had Kaiserschmarrn at the "Wienerwald" Restaurant in Frankfurt back in the 1980s. If I remember right, the restaurant was on Kaiserstraße, not far from the main train station, and it was located in a split level space, so you had to walk down a few steps (not many) to enter. "Wienerwald" means "Vienna Woods," and the restaurant was part of a large restaurant chain in Germany and Austria, one of the largest in Europe at the time, as I recall. They specialized in chicken dishes, with particular emphasis on "Backhendl;" that is, "fried chicken." The chain had financial difficulties and they later closed the restaurant on Kaiserstraße, but after some restructuring, they opened at a new location around the intersection of Kaiserstraße and Weserstraße. The chain was much scaled back a number of years later, as financial problems continued, and this resulted in the closing of the restaurant in Frankfurt. I believe the restaurants in Austria were sold off, so that they have a separate owner from those in Germany, but they all have similar menu offerings. 

Anyway, Kaiserschmarrn are a type of sweet pancake that is torn or cut into pieces and dusted with powdered sugar before serving. They are often served with a side dish of plum compote (German: Pflaumenröster or Zwetschgenröster) or apple sauce (German: Apfelmus), but I like to put a little glaze on my Kaiserschmarrn. The German word "Schmarren/Schmarrn" is related to English "smear," which in German is "schmieren" (verb), and the noun from that is, "Schmer," meaning, "fat of a swine;" thus also, "lard," and the connecting thought was likely because the original pancakes would have been cooked in lard. The word seems to have only come into use in southern German dialects in the 1500s, and the meaning became, "piece(s)," perhaps from the idea that the pancakes cooked in lard were then cut up into pieces. Besides its use for a cut up pancake (a pancake in 'pieces'), it also took on the slang meaning of "nonsense/rubbish."* This may have come from the idea of regular pancakes being cheap; thus, with little value. 

The history of this dessert is not really known, but the "Kaiser" part has long tied the dish to Kaiser (Emperor) Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, who ruled for some 68 years, before his death in late 1916 at the age of 86. Over the years I've read several theories about the name of this pancake dish, with one simply being that it had originated from a simple pancake recipe from the countryside, but that by the mid 1800s, it took on added ingredients, like raisins, sugar, vanilla and sometimes, cinnamon, which were not available to common people, thus making it "fit for the Kaiser," or perhaps, "fit for a Kaiser." Other stories "claim" it was a favorite dessert of Franz Joseph and that this is, therefore, the source of the name. 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour, sifted
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
few drops of vanilla 
1/3 cup golden raisins
pinch of salt
2 to 3 tablespoons butter for frying (or mix of half butter, half neutral oil)
powdered sugar for dusting

Mix together the sifted flour, sugar, salt, egg yolks and milk to make a batter. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the batter. Some people use a large skillet and make one large pancake, but I prefer to use a smaller skillet and make two pancakes, one after the other. Melt the butter in a smaller skillet over low heat. Add enough batter to the skillet to make a 6 to 7 inch pancake, tilting the skillet back and forth to even out the batter. Sprinkle some raisins on top once the bottom of the pancake sets. Fry the pancake until it is nice and brown, then fry the pancake on the other side. Remove the pancake to a dish and keep it warm, while you repeat the process for the second pancake. Cut or tear the pancakes into bite-sized pieces. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar, or pour on a little powdered sugar glaze... enjoy.


Powdered sugar glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoons warm milk

Put the butter and 2 tablespoons milk in a microwave safe dish. Heat for a few seconds until the butter melts. Mix in the powdered sugar. You can add a little more milk if the glaze is too thick.

* For a little more on the word "Schmarren," and also about Kaiserschmarren," here is the link:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/09/its-none-of-your-pancake-business.html

Click to enlarge

WORD HISTORY:
Speck (2)-This word, meaning "small spot," has a very uncertain history. It is related to "speckle," both the noun and the verb forms. In Old English (Anglo-Saxon) it was "specca," which then became "spekke," before the modern form. It is related to the Dutch verb "spekelen," which fell into disuse, but which meant, "to sprinkle." The Dutch word in this case is the likely source of English "speckle," and it was influenced in meaning by English "speck," then still spelled "spekke," to produce the meaning "make small marks on something." Whether "speck/speckle" are from Germanic; that is, derived from some Germanic base word, is unclear.    

Hominy & Bacon

 

New photos added/old photo removed 10/27/21 

"Hominy, hominy, you and me, that's hominy..." Ah, there's something wrong with these lyrics. They don't seem to be in harmony with the Suzi Lane song. Hey wait, in "harmony" with the Suzi Lane song?

This is super simple to make. Hominy is more of an American English term for corn that is soaked in a lye solution to remove the hulls prior to its use, which can also include drying the hulled kernels that are then ground into a meal called "grits," a popular food, especially in the American South, where they are very traditional. This hominy recipe is likely similar to some others, but it's something I've been making for decades, although about 12 to 15 years ago, I started adding adobo seasoning (which I love!).  
 
Ingredients:

2 cans hominy (white or yellow), drained
2/3 cup onion, chopped
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 slices bacon, cut into about 1/2 to 1 inch pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons adobo seasoning*
2/3 teaspoon Spanish paprika (it's smoked)
2 to 3 green onions, chopped (garnish)

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the chopped bacon and onion. Cook the bacon and onion until the onion is softened. I've made this where I didn't need extra oil, but I've also had times where the extra oil was necessary. It will naturally depend upon how much bacon fat is rendered from the bacon pieces. Add the hominy, then sprinkle on the adobo seasoning and the paprika. Reduce the heat slightly. Make sure to mix the hominy and seasonings together well, so that the hominy is coated with the oil/bacon/seasonings. Heat until the hominy is hot. Serve with chopped green onion strewn on top.

* Adobo seasoning is type of seasoning (seasoned salt) associated with some Latino cultures, especially Puerto Rican. It is available in supermarkets and Latino markets, but it is easily made at home. Here is the link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/adobo-seasoning.html
 

 

 

  

WORD HISTORY:

Speck-English has two words of this spelling, but this is the noun meaning, "bacon, fatty pork meat, lard." It goes back to Indo European "sphei," which had the notion of, "thrive, be successful;" thus also, "to grow fat." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "spika," meaning, "fatty meat of swine, bacon." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "spic," meaning, "bacon, lard." This then became "spicke, spycke," then "specke" (likely the pronunciation and spelling by then were influenced by related languages German, Low German, Dutch and Frisian), before the ending "e" was dropped. Forms in the other Germanic languages: German "Speck" (bacon, bacon fat, but also, flab, blubber), Low German had "spek," but it "seems" standard German "Speck" has overtaken it, Dutch and West Frisian "spek," Icelandic "spik," Swedish "späck" (meaning "lard," and it seems to have been borrowed from German or, more likely, from Low German).

Thai Iced Tea

This iced tea is transliterated as "Cha Yen" in Thai, a language of the Tai Kadai language family (also known as Kra Dai languages) of southeastern Asia. Use black tea for this recipe and the tea should be fairly strong, as the ice will dilute the tea. Real loose leaf "Thai tea" is available in some supermarkets and Asian stores, and from what I understand, most, if not all, brands contain the food dye that gives the tea its "orangish" color. I've tried to duplicate the color by using regular red and yellow food coloring, but it didn't work. Understand, the dye doesn't really change the taste of the tea; it just alters the color, and certain types of food dye makes some people uneasy about health side effects. Of course the sight of food does influence our perceptions, and if you've bought Thai tea in bottles or cans, it has the orange color to it. Also, chances are, if you've ordered Thai tea in a Thai restaurant, it likely had the orange color. When I first made the tea, I added some red and some yellow food coloring (just regular food coloring), but it didn't really make the tea orange in color. Now I don't use food coloring very often, so I thought my coloring might have been  in the kitchen cabinet too long, so I went out and bought some fresh food coloring, which was also another brand from what I'd had. I made the tea again, but the food coloring just didn't do it. No matter the color, Thai iced tea is sweet and sort of creamy.   

Ingredients (per cup):

1 tablespoon black tea
1 cup + of boiling water
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
dash of vanilla
(optional) red/yellow food coloring
ice cubes or crushed ice

In a pan, bring the tea and water for whatever amount you are making to a simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the tea steep for 15 minutes. Strain the tea into a large dish or a large cup (whatever can hold the amount you've made, and remember, it needs to be able to hold HOT liquid) and add the sugar, the vanilla (just a drop or two per cup only) and the sweetened condensed milk, then stir to dissolve the sugar and mix the ingredients. You can also try food coloring at this time, if you'd like (good luck!). Let the tea cool for about 10 minutes, then fill each glass about 2/3 of the way with crushed ice (about half way, if using ice cubes), and pour in the tea. Add the canned evaporated milk on top. Best to use a straw for drinking. I read 20 to 25 recipes for Thai iced tea, and some people drizzle in both the sweetened condensed milk and the evaporated milk, leaving a bottom layer of the dark tea. Other people whisk the tea to give it some froth. 
  

WORD HISTORY:
Chest-This word is closely related to "cistern," a word borrowed from Latin-based French, and Latin  borrowed it from Greek. "Chest" goes back to Indo European "kisteh," which meant, "container of woven twigs;." thus, "basket." This gave transliterated Ancient Greek "kiste," meaning, "basket, box." Latin borrowed the word as "cista," meaning, "box, chest (having a hinged top);" thus also, "casket." It was borrowed by Germanic in the 3rd Century as "kistah," with the same meaning. This later gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) both "cest" (box, chest) and "cist" (casket, chest), which melded into "cheste," before the modern version. By the second half of the 1300s, the word also began to be used for "upper torso," from the idea, "protective box for the upper torso," which gradually began to replace "breast" as the word for the upper torso (German still uses their form of the word breast, "Brust," with that meaning). Relatives in the Germanic languages: German "Kiste" (box, chest, crate), Low German "Kist" (chest, box, casket), West Frisian "kiste" (chest, crate, box), Dutch "kist" (box, chest, casket), Swedish "kista" (casket, chest), Danish and Norwegian "kiste" (chest, crate), Icelandic "kista" (chest, trunk).