What's In A Name: Agnes, Logan

Agnes-This female name is from transliterated Greek "Hagne," meaning "pure, chaste, holy." Latin took the name as "Agnes," and a girl of about 13 years old with the name was killed during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the early 300s C.E. The story was that the girl would not renounce her Christian faith in spite of any enticements or then punishments, including the threat of death; and, she was indeed slain. Within a short time the story of the girl's death spread and she began to be venerated as a saint during the 300s. She is the patron of young girls and virgins. Her name became a common given name in many parts of Europe, for example: Agnese in Italian, Inés in Spanish, Inês in Portuguese, Agnès in French, Agnieszka in Polish, Agnes in German.  

 

 

Logan-This is a Scots Gaelic* name meaning 'little hollow," originally used as a family name for those who lived in or around a little hollow, but later also used as a given name, "seemingly" at first for girls, but then also for boys. Also a town in western Scotland with the name ("Lagan" in Scots Gaelic); thus, a likely source of at least some of the family name origins. 

 

* Scots Gaelic, or Scottish Gaelic, is one of the Celtic languages. It is closely related to Irish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic (from the Isle of Man), and it is also related to Welsh (from Wales), Cornish (from Cornwall in southwestern England) and Breton (from Brittany in France).  

 

 

 

I consulted the following for the preparation of this article: 1) "A World of Baby Names" by Teresa Norman, published by Perigee/Penguin Group, New York, 2003  2) behindthename.com   3) "A Greek-English Lexicon," by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Roderick McKenzie, and Eric Arthur Barber, published by Oxford/Clarendon Press, 1940  4) Catholic.org

 

WORD HISTORY:

Chastity-This word is related to "caste," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from Portuguese, to "chateau," another Latin based word, but borrowed by English from French, and to "castle," another Latin derived word borrowed by English from that language, although with French influence on what became its predominant meaning. "Chastity" goes back to Indo European "kes," which meant "to cut," which gave the parent of Latin, Old Italic, "kastro," which meant "a part, a share, a segment." This gave Latin the verb "carere," meaning, "to be cut off or separated from;" thus also, "to lack, to be lacking, to be without." [Note: The "s" sound of the Italic form (kastro) changed to an "r" (carere), a fairly common occurrence in Latin and in other languages too, including in the Germanic languages, which includes English. It is called "rhotacism" from Greek "rho," for the letter "r."] But the adjectival form apparently was from the Old Italic form; thus, "castus," seemingly originally meaning, "separated, cut off from;" thus then, "pure in morals;" thus in religion, "abstinent, thoroughly pious." This gave Latin the noun "castitas," meaning "chastity, purity," and this passed to Latin-based Old French as "chastete/chasteté," with the same meaning, although with the additional specific meaning of "virginity" often being present. English borrowed the word in the very early 1200s (initially as "chastete?").        

Thai Chili Rice Noodles

Regular readers know I like spicy food, but you can make these noodles far more adaptable to your heat tolerance either to the plus or minus side of the heat scale. Rice noodles are a flat type of noodle made from rice flour. They come in varied widths from very thin to wide. Thai red curry paste is available in supermarkets and Asian shops and it's not expensive.

 

Ingredients:

 

1/2 pound (8 ounces) thin width rice noodles (not the super thin type)

2 tablespoons sesame oil (divided use, 1 tablespoon to start, 1 tablespoon near end)

8 green onions (divided use, 5 for early part of recipe, 3 near the end)

1 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

1 or 2 red chili peppers, finely chopped

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar mixed with 1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup chicken broth

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (also known to some as coriander)

Soak the noodles in warm water for 25 minutes (you will drain the noodles before adding them to the recipe). While the noodles soak, add 1 tablespoon sesame oil to a large skillet (or to a wok, if you have one) over medium heat. Add 5 chopped green onions and saute for about 90 seconds, then add the chopped ginger and garlic, cook another 30 to 40 seconds. Add the red curry paste, finely chopped chili peppers, soy sauce, rice vinegar/sugar mixture and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, and as the broth heats, drain the noodles. When the broth boils, add the noodles. After 1 minute, reduce the heat to low and let the noodles begin to soak up the broth, stirring to prevent sticking or burning (adjust the heat to very low when the broth is nearly gone). Add and mix in the chopped coriander, remaining 3 chopped green onions and remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Serve.     

 

WORD HISTORY:

Castle-This word is related to "castration," a Latin word borrowed by English from that language, to "chaste" and to "chateau," Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French. "Castle" goes back to Indo European "kes," which meant "to cut," which gave Old Italic^ "kastro," which meant "a part, a share, a segment," which gave Latin "castrum," meaning "fort, fortified post, fortified town" (from the notion, "an area walled or fenced off;" that is, "cut off from"), which spawned the diminutive "castellum," meaning "fortress, stronghold." Old English borrowed this as "castel," initially with the meaning "village, town,"^^ but then later (1300s?) with the additional meaning, "walled town, fortified area," a meaning borrowed from Old Northern French "castel" (which had "castel" from Latin "castellum"). It was also in the Middle English period (seemingly in the 1400s?) that the spelling changed to "castle."

 

^ Italic is a branch of the Indo European family of languages and includes Latin, Umbrian, Venetic, and others, most of which have died out. Latin's own limited use today is mainly because its dialects evolved into several modern languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Catalan, Sardinian, and several others. Because these Italic languages and dialects originated from Indo European, they are related to English, but further down the family tree, as English is from the Germanic branch of Indo European. 

 

^^ The original English meaning "village, town" may have come from, or was certainly influenced by, scholars of long ago using "castel" to translate Ancient Greek "κώμη," transliterated as "kome," a generally "unfortified community;" thus, "a village," in translations of the New Testament.           

Shrimp Cocktail

This common and popular appetizer and party dish is easy to make. When I was a kid and teenager, there was a commercially made shrimp cocktail sold in supermarkets. I can't remember the company name, but it came in four individual servings (at least, I think there were four), and each serving was right in its own cocktail glass with the horseradish flavored sauce and several small shrimp arranged around the rim of the glass. Of course, once the shrimp was eaten, you could wash the glass and keep it for your own purposes, which was a common marketing pitch back then, especially for products like jelly, jam and peanut butter.  

 

I tend to use the 31 to 35 size shrimp (that simply means there are between 31 and 35 shrimp per pound), but you can use any shrimp you like. When I bought the shrimp for this article, I chose a few types and sizes (see pictures, below). It's naturally a lot easier if you buy shrimp that are peeled and deveined, but with the tails on, as that gives you a great way to hold the shrimp for dipping into the sauce. You can also buy 'peel-n-eat' shrimp, which have had the shells cut to devein them, and the cuts in the shell make them easy to peel. Shrimp are relatively mild in flavor, but professional chefs and cooks tells us that by cooking shrimp in their shells, it gives them more taste, and indeed, shrimp shells are used by professional cooks in recipes for seafood stock. I once was at a fancy restaurant where I had a few shrimp shells from my dinner, and I tried to sell them back to the restaurant, but they wouldn't take them. Hmm, I wonder what that was about? Some days, you can't make a nickel.  

 

Ingredients (about 4 to 5 servings):

 

1 to 1 1/4 pound shrimp

4 cups water

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 lemon

1/4 cup chopped onion 

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons sugar 

Add 4 cups of water to a large sauce pan, then add the salt, half lemon, chopped onion, bay leaves and sugar. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer for about 3 minutes. Now add the shrimp and turn off the heat. Let the shrimp sit in the hot water for about 3 to 3 1/2 minutes, until they are nice and pink in color (you don't want to leave them in the water too long, they will get rubbery, and you don't want to drop one, but it bounces back into the dish!). Drain the shrimp and put them under cold running water for a minute or two. Add some ice cubes to the water and let the shrimp sit in the ice water as you put together the sauce. Before serving, drain the shrimp and lay them out on a plate covered with some paper towels or napkins to soak up any water. 

For the cocktail sauce:

3/4 cup thick ketchup*

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon horseradish

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 to 1 teaspoon your favorite hot sauce (or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper)

 

In a bowl, mix the ingredients together well. Serve along with the shrimp.

 

* When I'm feeling bold and I want to be a glutton for punishment, I use 1/2 cup regular thick ketchup and 1/4 cup "Cleveland Ketchup/Ghost Pepper Ketchup," as well as some Portuguese piri piri hot sauce, along with the other ingredients. If you do not like heat, please don't do this. If you don't like much spicy heat to your foods, you can cut the horseradish to 1/2 tablespoon and just use a couple of dashes of hot sauce, or even just use a sprinkle of ground red pepper (like cayenne pepper) in the cocktail sauce. If you live outside of the Cleveland area, here is the link to the Cleveland Ketchup site: https://www.clevelandketchup.com/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral    

 

 I had some Danish rye bread, but saltine crackers are common with shrimp cocktail ...

 

WORD HISTORY:

Dry-This word, commonly used as an adjective and as a verb, traces back to Indo European "druegh," which seems to have had the notion of "hardening, strengthened by hardening." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "draugiz," which more specifically added the idea of "dry, drying" to the "hardening, strengthening by hardening" notion, the connection to which is easily seen. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "dryge," which meant "dry." This also produced the verb "drygan," meaning "to dry." These later became "drye," although the "g" persisted in some dialects for quite some time, before everything settled on the modern 'g-less' version. The other Germanic languages have: German "trocken," Low German "dröög," Dutch "droog," North Frisian "driig" West Frisian "droech," Danish has "drøj" (meaning "tough," and the connection to "dry" is obvious), Swedish "dryg" (hard, enduring), Icelandic "draugur" (a noun, "dry tree trunk," but this is apparently antiquated). I could not find a form in Norwegian, but that doesn't mean there isn't one, as the North Germanic languages have tended to retain the general meaning "hard," and from that notion also came "lasting, ample, sufficient in quantity," from the idea that things like dried meats and dried fruits "last," thus also giving "ample" quantities.

Guadeloupe Crabmeat and Rice: Matété à Crabe

Guadeloupe is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea that are a part of France, as an overseas region. Its population is around 400,000. The name came via Christopher Columbus upon his visit to the islands in 1493, from the town of Guadalupe in west-central Spain, where there was a shrine to the Virgin Mary. By the first half of the 1600s the French had taken a major interest in the islands and they brought French colonists and then African slaves to develop farming.* France actually took control of the islands in the second half of the 1600s, but the British took control for several years in the mid 1700s (they were at war with France). Since then, wars and treaties saw Guadeloupe mainly under French control, although there were brief intervals of British and even Swedish control. The spelling "Guadeloupe" is the French form, as France kept the Spanish name of the islands bestowed by Columbus, an Italian (just to add more international flavor).

 

This dish of crab and rice is one of the best known dishes of Guadeloupe, but there are variations. The people of Guadeloupe have lots of access to seafood, so it is not uncommon for some people there to fix whole small or even larger crabs separately from the basic rice dish, which is then used as a side dish. Others use just the meat of the crabs and add it to the top of the seasoned rice or mix it in, as I have done here. Naturally, most of us don't have easy and affordable access to crab, but we can settle for lump crab meat from the supermarket or the seafood shop, although the "affordable" part may be elusive, as crab has generally always been moderately to extremely expensive through the years. The dish can have a "kick," because of the chili pepper, most commonly "scotch bonnet chilies" in Guadeloupe, but if you don't like heat, you can use a little ground hot red pepper, just to mildly season the dish.     

  

Ingredients: 

1 to 1 1/2 cups lump crab meat

1/2 cup chopped white onion

3 scallions/green onions, chopped, green included

1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme) 

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cup chopped tomatoes with juice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil

3 whole cloves

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt 

1 or 2 scotch bonnet (or habanero) chilies, seeded and finely chopped

1 cup rice cooked (see instructions, below)

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the package of the brand you use, but instead of plain water, add 1 bottle of clam broth (also called "clam juice") and enough water to equal 2 cups of liquid (if you have seafood stock, use 2 cups of it instead), then add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 bay leaves (these few ingredients for the rice are separate from the ingredients listed for the rest of the recipe). Again, follow the instructions on the package to cook the rice, and when done, remove the two bay leaves. This rice will be added to the mixture you make with these instructions: Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan over medium heat, then add the onion and saute for just 2 minutes, then add garlic, tomatoes, scallions, thyme, cloves, parsley, black pepper, salt and chili pepper(s), cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then add crab meat and cook another 4 minutes, stirring often. Turn heat to low and add the cooked rice and mix it into the other ingredients, cook 3 to 4 minutes stirring often. Sprinkle with lime juice.

 

* According to the "CIA World Fact Book," the demographic population of Guadeloupe is about 75% black or black and white mixed race, with 11% white and the rest of various backgrounds including East Indian and Asian.

 

WORD HISTORY:

Muscle (Mussel)-This word, closely related to "mouse,"^ goes back to Indo European "mush/moosh," which meant "mouse, rodent," but also "leg or arm muscle," perhaps from the scampering mouse like appearance of the muscle when being flexed. This gave its Latin offspring "mus," meaning "mouse, small rodent." From this, Latin developed the word "musculus," which meant "muscle," but which literally meant "little mouse." French borrowed the word as "muscle" from Latin and English borrowed that word from French in the 1300s. A verb form, meaning "to use force" (muscle), developed from the noun in English, "apparently" in the early 20th Century. With Latin terms heavily involved in medicine and science, forms of the word "muscle" spread to other languages, including to close relatives of English, German and Low German, both of which have "Muskel." The clam-like creature name "mussel" is really the same word, but it was borrowed directly from Latin "muscula," seemingly a diminutive form from Latin "musculus" (see above), and the word in Old English was "muscule" (likely pronounced "mus-kulah," in imitation of the Latin word), but then it became "muscelle" (likely from French influence), and then it became "muscle" during the Middle Ages, but by the first part of the 1600s the spelling "mussel" began to appear, and by the 1800s, that spelling became far more common, "apparently" this spelling was preferred by many to distinguish it from "muscle."  

 

^ For the "Word History" of "mouse," see my previous article at: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/steinbecks-of-mice-and-men-great-book.html

Welsh Cakes

Wales is a country in the western part of the island of Britain, also known as Great Britain. The country of Wales is a constituent part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (note: besides Northern Ireland and Wales, the UK, as it is frequently known, consists of England and Scotland). When elements of Germanic tribes invaded Britain about 1500 years ago, the population likely would have been largely Celtic based, with some Roman segment mixed in, as the Romans had been present as occupiers for about 400 years, but they had sent military forces there even before that. The Germanic elements, commonly called "Anglo-Saxons" collectively, did not pursue the Celts into what became Wales and Cornwall (in southwestern England); thus, to this day these areas have generally remained populated by people of Celtic heritage. With the Norman conquest of England in late 1066, the relationship of England with Wales was highly contentious, and it wasn't until the second half of the 1200s that forces of King Edward I of England subdued the Welsh.    

 

This is a type of Welsh griddle cake that is known beyond the border of Wales in Britain. I found that the basic simple recipe does not vary much, with the main differences being that some recipes don't use lard, some use nutmeg rather than mace, and various types of fruit can be used. If you don't have finely ground sugar, just put regular sugar into a blender or food processor briefly. The finely ground sugar combines more easily in the dough. The first time I made these cakes, I left the heat on medium and turned to wash a dish off in the sink. When I turned back to the stove, the cakes had burned; so, when I put the next batch into the skillet, I heated the butter and oil over medium heat, then turned it to low. I then put the cakes into the skillet and I briefly put a lid over the skillet to help the middle of the cakes to cook. I turned the cakes over, put the lid back on, and cooked the other side for about 2 minutes, I removed the lid and checked the cakes, which were golden brown. Understand, this is something you will have to use your own judgment with, and just check the cakes to see how they are browning, but you need to have them over the heat long enough to cook them in the middle. I'd suggest even turning the heat down to very low if need be (if the outside is browning too quickly to allow the inside to cook), and then let the cakes cook longer so that they brown nicely, but they cook all the way through. Remember too, these aren't pancakes, so you don't want to press down on the cakes to smash them. Some people use no butter or oil to fry the cakes, as they are already heavy with butter and lard, but I prefer to have a small amount of butter/oil mixture to coat the skillet for frying.    

 

Ingredients (about 12 to 15 cakes):  

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

1/2 cup finely ground sugar granules (also called "caster sugar," NOT powdered sugar!)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons butter, not soft or mushy

3 tablespoons lard

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup dried black currants (or raisins, sultanas or dried cranberries)

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon oil mixture for frying

sugar for coating

In a bowl, add the sifted flour, fine sugar, baking powder, salt, mace and cinnamon, then add the butter and lard, and mix to form crumbs (I use my hand). Add the currants, beaten egg and milk and mix again to distribute everything throughout the dough. Put the dough into a ball, put it back in the bowl and cover the bowl. Let the dough rest for 30 to 45 minutes. Roll out the dough to 1/3 inch thickness, then cut the dough into 2 inch round cakes, like you would for biscuits or cookies. Melt 1 teaspoon butter in a skillet (cast iron is good for this) over medium heat and add an equal amount of oil, then reduce the heat to low. Place some cakes into the skillet (don't crowd the pan) and cover the skillet. Cook for about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes, then flip the cakes over, cover again and cook for about 2 minutes to 3 minutes. You can sprinkle sugar onto the finished cakes, or you can dip them into sugar on a plate to coat them, or you can leave them plain.   

WORD HISTORY:

Requiem-This word is related to "quiet," "quit" and "acquiesce," all words of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French, although certainly with some Latin influence, and it is distantly related to "while," a word from the Germanic roots of English. The "re" prefix is a common word forming prefix in Latin often meaning "back, back to," but also, "again, once more," but at times its meaning is difficult to determine, and in at least some of those cases, it may have been used as an intensifier. The main part of the word goes back Indo European "kwiyeh," which had the notion, "to rest, to be still." This gave Latin the noun "quies," which meant "rest, quiet," which then was "requies" with the prefix, and meaning, "rest, lying at rest." The accusative singular form was "requiem," which also was used for a Christian religious service in remembrance of a dead person, and then also for music written for such a service. English borrowed the word from Latin in the very early years of the 1300s. 

Lamb Chops & Herbs

My guess is, when people think of lamb chops, they most often think of lamb rib chops. Rib chops have the rib bone with a relatively small attached segment of meat. They are often "frenched;" that is, the thinnest part of the rib bone is scraped clean of the fat and any meat. Rib chops are tender and delicious, but they are also expensive. Lamb generally tends to be more plentiful in the spring, and because of that, you might well find the best prices for various cuts of lamb at that time. Somewhat less expensive are lamb loin chops, which are much meatier than rib chops. Excellent served with rice. 

 

Ingredients (2 servings):

 

4 lamb chops

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided use)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

strip of lemon peel, about 2 inches long by 1/2 inch wide

5 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons chopped mint leaves

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary 

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup water 

In a dish or shallow bowl where the chops can fit together to marinate, mix together 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, chopped mint leaves, chopped rosemary and ground black pepper. Place the lamb chops into the marinade mixture and turn to coat them, or spoon some of the mixture onto the tops of the chops. Cover with some plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator to marinate for one or two hours, then remove from the refrigerator, leave covered and marinate a further 30 minutes at room temperature. Heat the 2 remaining tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle the lamb chops with salt on both sides and add them to the skillet so they fit and reserve the marinade. Let the chops cook for about 3 minutes until the first side is browned, the turn the lamb chops and cook another 3 minutes, or until the second side is browned and the internal temperature is 130 to 135 F for medium, or 145 F for well done. Remove the skillet from the heat and let the lamb chops sit for 5 minutes. Remove the lamb chops to a platter and put the skillet back on the burner over medium heat. Add the lemon peel and marinade to the cooking juices in the skillet. Saute for about 1 minute, then add 1/3 cup water, stirring to mix, while scraping up any little bits from the bottom of the skillet. Let the mixture come to a simmer for 1 minute, then remove it from the heat.    

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Seat-This word is related to "sit," "set,"^ "settle,"^^ and "saddle," all words from the Germanic roots of English, and it is more distantly related to "sedate," a word borrowed from Latin, and to "siege" and "assess," Latin-derived words borrowed via French. "Seat" goes back to Indo European "sed," which meant "to sit." This gave Old Germanic "sitjanan," meaning "to sit," which produced the Old Germanic noun "sæt" (the 'æ' combination is called an 'ash,' as in "The a told the e after they were combined, 'We just made an ash out of ourselves.' "), "a place where one sits;" thus "seemingly" also by extension, "a place where one is established," as Old English had "sæt," meaning "ambush," a concealed place where one sits and waits to attack," sæte," which meant "house;" that is, "an established place to live," and this meaning extended further to "a place from which one rules," as in, "The archbishopric's seat is about 100 miles from here," or, "The county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania is Meadville." "Setl," a relative of "seat," became the main word for "a seat, a place to sit," but the Old Norse noun "sæti,"  which meant "a seat," seems to have combined with the Old English form, emphasizing "seat" ("a place for sitting"), or came into English as a direct borrowing from Old Norse and replaced "setl." Over time, the meaning has expanded to also mean, "seat of one's pants or other clothing covering one's behind" and "backside," but with the old meaning of authority expanded to things like "a seat on city council," "a seat in the legislature," and "seat belt," which was originally a term for "a belt used to strap one into the seat of an airplane," which later expanded to cars and some carnival rides. Note: The old forms of "sit, set and settle" are all so close in meanings and derivation from Germanic, that it can be tough sorting them out; and as such, the modern relatives in the other Germanic languages are tough to pinpoint. German has "Sitz" (seat) and "Gesäß"^^^ (backside, buttocks), Low German has "Sitt" (seat, place to sit), Icelandic "sæti" (seat), Danish has "sæde" (seat), Dutch has "zit" (seat), Norwegian had "sete" (seat, also buttocks), Swedish has "sittplats" (seat, seating, pew), "säte" (seat, but also residence, buttocks).       

 

^ This is for the verb "set," but also for the noun that means "the act of setting;" as in "sunset." There is also the noun "set," which is unrelated to the above form, and it means "part of a group of similar objects or objects in common purpose," as in, "I own a set of four tea cups from the 1700s," or "Our neighbors gave us a nice set of salt and pepper shakers when we moved here."  

^^ This is only for the verb "settle" (and the noun, see further above), meaning "to live, or to come to live, in a place," while the meaning "to make an agreement about something," as in, "The company decided to settle the lawsuit out of court," is likely from a different Germanic word that came to be spelled the same way as the other word "settle."   

^^^ In some High German dialects long ago, a sound shift took place that changed "t" to "s" or double "s." That shift prevailed and, thus, it is very much in evidence in modern times, as for example, whereas English has "kettle," standard German as "Kessel," English has "vat," but German has "Fass," English has white, but German has "weiss."

Cape Verde Islands Bean & Hominy Stew: Cachupa

Cape Verde is a country made up of several islands (an archipelago) in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 350 miles off the western coast of Africa. Cape Verde's official language is Portuguese, and the name is "Cabo Verde" in Portuguese. The Portuguese were great explorers and Cape Verde was discovered by the Portuguese in the mid 1400s, and it became a colony of Portugal in the late 1400s, and Cape Verde gained its independence in 1975. The population is nearly a half million, with people of Portuguese ancestry being common, but with some of other European ancestry too, as well as people of Middle Eastern and Sub-Sahara African background. The capital is Praia, and it is located on the island of Santiago, the largest island of the archipelago.

 

"Cachupa" is the national dish of Cape Verde, and as with popular dishes, there are variations, with even a vegetarian style prepared. Most of the variations have to do with the types of meat used, as well as the mix of beans used; and yes, the dish typically includes more than one type of bean. Cape Verdeans generally use dried hominy and dried beans, so the preparation time is naturally longer, but I use canned hominy and canned beans, everything rinsed, to shorten the overall time needed to enjoy this stew, and it is a good one! 

 

Chouriço is traditionally a smoked Portuguese sausage, typically flavored with garlic, red wine and some smoked paprika. While it is akin to Spanish chorizo, it is not really the same, as the Spanish sausage is typically not smoked, but rather it is cured by drying over a period of time and it has more paprika as a seasoning. Neither of these sausages is the same as Mexican chorizo, as the Mexican version is generally fresh and needs to be thoroughly cooked. The Mexican version is the most common chorizo in the U.S. and "likely" also in Canada, although Spanish chorizo can be found in the U.S., but it "may" take a bit of effort. I'm in Cleveland, and the Greater Cleveland area is quite diverse, with people from all over the world. A few years ago, I wanted to do a Spanish recipe* that needs Spanish chorizo, so I went to our West Side Market, but no vendor there had Spanish chorizo, and not only that, one or two of the vendors weren't quite sure what I meant by "Spanish" chorizo, so strong is the influence of Mexican chorizo. If you like trying to find ethnic foods, see if your community has Portuguese chouriço or Spanish chorizo, but if not, you can easily find either online, or you can use some pepperoni, although it won't be the same. "Blood sausage" is commonly called "blood pudding" in Britain, and in Portuguese it is "morcela." Blood sausage is "generally" sold in delis, and again, if you live in an area with a number of people of Portuguese heritage, you'll likely find "morcela," but it can also be found online, and you can substitute other blood sausage, like Spanish (morcilla) or British (blood pudding).           

 

This stew is commonly served with piri piri sauce on the side. Piri piri is Portuguese hot sauce, and it is my understanding that people in Cape Verde do not add the pepper sauce to the dish itself, but rather piri piri is put on the table for each person to season their stew to their own heat level preference.  

 

Ingredients (6 to 8 servings):

 

1 1/2 pounds pork ribs

1 pound chouriço, sliced into about 2/3 to 1 inch pieces

2/3 to 1 pound blood sausage, sliced about 2/3 to 1 inch thick

8 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 slices bacon, chopped 

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/4 to 1 1/3 cups chopped onion 

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced

1 cup chopped yam

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (or just white vinegar)

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika

1 tablespoon tomato paste (or thick ketchup) 

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) yellow hominy, rinsed

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) butter beans, rinsed

1 can (14.5 to 16 ounces) red kidney beans, rinsed

3 cups chopped kale 

In a pot, add the pork ribs and 8 cups of water, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook until the ribs are tender, remove them to a plate and let them cool down, and then take the meat off the bones. Skim off the foam from the cooking water, then strain the water into another pan or other container (just in case there are any bone or gristle bits), then add it back to the pot. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the bacon, followed about 2 minutes later by the onions, followed about 2 minutes later by the garlic. Saute for a few minutes until the onion begins to soften, then add the contents to the pot (oil, bacon grease and all), along with the the chouriço, blood sausage, chopped yams, bay leaves, vinegar, ground white pepper, smoked paprika, tomato paste/ketchup, rinsed hominy, rinsed butter beans and rinsed kidney beans. Bring to a light boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a steady gentle simmer. Use a lid or foil and cover and cook for 45 minutes to one hour, periodically checking the pot and stirring. Remove the lid/cover and add the chopped kale and stir it into the stew. Cook uncovered for another 10 to 15 minutes. Stir well before serving in shallow bowls with some crusty bread and hot sauce on the side. 

* The dish was "Spanish Butter Bean & Chorizo Stew," known in Spanish as "Fabada Asturiana." Here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/04/spanish-butter-bean-chorizo-stew-fabada.html 

 

WORD HISTORY:     

Yam-This word technically is used incorrectly in English as another name for a sweet potato, a vegetable to which scientists say true yams are not related. I'll skip the technicalities, since "yam" IS used in English for a sweet potato, but the word's origin lies in West Africa from one of the Niger-Congo languages of that region,^ perhaps Fulani, which has "nyami," a word that actually means "to eat," but true yams are a main source of food in some cultures in Africa; thus, a form of the word is applied to "yams." Both the Spanish and Portuguese were involved in the slave trade in West Africa during the 1500/1600s where they borrowed a form of the word; Spanish has "ñame" (pronounced like "nyahmay") and Portuguese has "inhame" (seemingly pronounced both "in-yah-mi" or "in-yah-meh"). "Perhaps" English picked up the word in Jamaica, once a Spanish possession with numerous West African slaves, but taken over by England in the mid 1600s.    
 
^ The Niger-Congo family of languages includes many African languages and dialects, including Zulu, Swahili and Fulani. Niger-Congo is to these languages what Indo European is to English, German, Italian, Hindustani or Persian (and many others).

Roasted Spiced Delicata Squash

Like with zucchini, you can eat the skin of the delicata squash, but just wash the squash well. To my knowledge (ah oh, we're in trouble), delicata squash don't get really large like some other squash varieties, and when I have bought them, they were all similar in size (see photo of a whole delicata, below; I put my cellphone in front of it for comparison). Good as an appetizer, a side dish or as a snack.

Ingredients:

2 delicata squash, halved, seeds removed, the halves sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

3 or 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (for drizzling over the squash)

2 to 3 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 to 1 teaspoon ground red pepper, depending upon your preference for heat, but you can leave it out

Wash the squash well and dry them. Cut the squash lengthwise and remove the seeds, then slice each half into about 1/2 inch pieces (kind of like half moons). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and begin heating the oven to 400 F. Then place the squash pieces on the baking sheet. Make sure each is lying flat, no overlapping, just a single layer. Slowly drizzle the olive oil over the squash to make sure each piece of squash gets a little of the oil. Sprinkle the salt over the squash pieces. I use a storage container with a snap on lid for this next part, but you can use a bowl. Add the dry spices, snap on the lid and shake (ah, I mean, shake the spices, but you can shake too, if you'd like), or if you're using a bowl, stir the spices and mix them together well. I just use my hand to sprinkle the spice mix over the squash. Just make sure your hand is totally dry, or the spices will stick and your hand will quickly become a candidate for the next "dry rub barbecued hand party." Although you may win the "Gotta Hand It To You Award." Roast the squash for about 25 minutes, or until they are a little browned, but nice and soft in the middle.  

 

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Drug-First, "drug" is used "by some English speakers" as the past tense form of "drag," but likely many scholars do not accept it as being a part of standard English, as "dragged" is the accepted standard form. Regardless, "drug" is used by some, although I believe is was more commonly heard when I was a kid and teenager in the 1950s and 60s. There is an expression used when someone makes an appearance unexpectedly, especially if they haven't been seen for awhile, and that is, "Look what the cat dragged in," but years ago if someone, especially a guy, had been out drinking for a long period and he returned looking messy and red eyed, you'd often hear someone say, "Look what the cat drug in." The main forms of the word "drug" is the noun (for a substance used as medication or as an illegal substance, often addictive) and the verb (used to indicate the administering of a drug to someone to put them under the influence of the drug to limit mental and/or physical performance). The noun and verb forms are actually pretty close relatives of English "dry" ("dry" once had a "g" in it), see further. The noun came to English via French "droge," which meant, "a substance used to treat a medical condition." This was a borrowing by Old French from Dutch "droge," which meant "dry" ("droge" was a relative of English "dry," a word from the Germanic roots of English), and French speakers seemingly mistook the first part of the Dutch term "droge ware/waere," meaning "dry wares," as the word for substances used for medical treatments, especially when that belief was reinforced by the Dutch term "droge vate," meaning "dry vats/barrels." In the first instance, the "wares" were often dried plants and herbs often used in making various medications in those times, and in the second instance, in trade, those dried plants/herbs were often stored in vats or barrels. English borrowed the word in the late 1300s from French, originally as "drogge." The verb was coined in the early 1600s.        

What's In A Name: Max, Minerva

Max-While this name may well be used as a name in its own right, it is most often a shortened form of Maximilian or Maxwell in English. Maximilian was the name of a Christian saint of the North African part of the Roman Empire (now Tebessa in Algeria), known as Saint Maximilian of Tebessa. He was executed in 296 A.D. for not joining the Roman army; and as such, he is credited by some as being a conscientious objector. The name is based upon the Latin word "maximus," meaning "greatest," with the second part seemingly being based upon the Latin name "Aemilius/Aemilianus,"* which meant "rival," perhaps to simply combine the name of a saint and a Roman emperor (Aemilianus was emperor briefly in the 250s (A.D.). The feminine form is "Maxine," which, according to behindthename.com, only came into common usage in English in the early part of the 20th Century.

 

 

Minerva-"Minnie" is frequently used as a nickname for women named Minerva, but "Minnie" is sometimes used for other names too (like "Amelia" and "Wilhelmina"). The name seems to go back to the Indo European root "men," which meant "to remember, to think;"** thus, "Minerva" means "intellect, wisdom." It was the name of the Roman goddess of "wisdom and thoughtfulness," which seems to have been the Roman equivalent to the Greek goddess "Athena" (spelled "Athene," by some). The name came into English in the late 1300s, initially as "Minerve/Mynerfe," from Latin "Minerva" (originally "Menerva").     

* For more about Aemilius/Aemilianus and the modern derived names, here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2021/06/whats-in-name-emil-emilio-emily.html

 

** The Indo European root "men" lies behind the common English word "mind," a word from the Germanic roots of English.

I consulted the following in the preparation of this article: 1) behindthename.com  2) "A World of Baby Names," by Teresa Norman, published by Perigee/Penguin Group, New York, 2003  3) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages" (Volume 7 of the Leiden Indo-European Etymological Series), by Michiel de Vaan, Brill (Publishing), Leiden (Netherlands), Boston (U.S.), 2008 4) https://www.catholic.org/saints/

 

WORD HISTORY:

Speck/Speckle-English has a couple of words spelled "speck," and I covered the other one, commonly meaning "bacon," before. This is a difficult word, and I can't give a definitive history here, although it was in Old English as "specca" (supposedly in Low German and Dutch, but sources are very scant on info), meaning "a small spot, a stain," but exactly where any of these forms came from is unknown. The Old English form then became "spekke/specke," meaning "a stain, a small spot,"  before the modern form "speck." "Speckle" showed up in the mid 1400s, and likely it was based upon the existing English word, but at least patterned after Dutch "spekel/spekkel," also seemingly meaning "spot," with a Dutch verb, "spekelen," meaning "to sprinkle." By the 1500s, English had developed the verb "bespeckle;" that is, "to mark something with spots." I'll throw out my own possible explanation, which would tie it to "speck," meaning bacon. Could the relatively thin layers of meat and fat in bacon have given some of the Germanic languages the figurative meaning "small amount;" thus also, "small spot?"