A Digital Medievalist's Commonplace Blog

"You're an Idiot and Shouldn't Be Allowed Near a Keyboard"

2012-01-30T17:18:00.000-08:00

This is a cartoon from 1996.

It used to be next to my desk:

I don't think I'd ever say this to a user, but there are users who suck up more time, money and resources in tech support, than they will ever contribute to a community or a company.

Chaucer on Sleep

2011-12-12T00:04:00.000-08:00

“Rather then that I shulde deye
Through defaute of sleping thus,
I wolde yive thilke Morpheus,
Or his goddesse, dame Juno,
Or som wight elles, I ne roghte who—
To make me slepe and have som rest—
I wil yive him the alderbest
Yift that ever he abood his lyve,
And here on warde, right now, as blyve;
If he wol make me slepe a lyte,
Of downe of pure dowves whyte
I wil yive him a fether-bed,
Rayed with golde, and right wel cled
In fyn blak satin doutremere,
And many a pilow, and every bere
Of clothe of Reynes, to slepe softe;
Him thar not nede to turnen ofte.
And I wol yive him al that falles
To a chambre; and al his halles
I wol do peynte with pure golde,
And tapite hem ful many folde
Of oo sute; this shal he have,
Yf I wiste wher were his cave,
If he can make me slepe sone,
As did the goddesse Alcione (Chaucer The Boke of the Duchess. ll. 240–256)."

On Book Reviewing

2011-01-24T19:41:00.000-08:00

[I now] suggest some hard-won guidelines for responsible reviewing. For instance: First, as in Hippocrates, do no harm. Second, never stoop to score a point or bite an ankle. Third, always understand that in this symbiosis, you are the parasite. Fourth, look with an open heart and mind at every different kind of book with every change of emotional weather because we are reading for our lives and that could be love gone out the window or a horseman on the roof. Fifth, use theory only as a periscope or a trampoline, never a panopticon, a crib sheet, or a license to kill. Sixth, let a hundred Harolds Bloom.

The New York Review of Science Fiction. "Editorial 192." David Hartwell. January, 2008.

Octavia Butler on Writing

2010-10-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.

—Octavia E. Butler

Coleslaw

2010-07-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

My father cooked. Not a lot, but he cooked. There were three things that he specialized in; amazing French toast, oatmeal cookies (using the original Quaker Oats recipe), and coleslaw.

I loved his coleslaw. There were two things that made his coleslaw different; one, he didn't overuse mayonnaise, and two, he added nuts. At first, it was slivered almonds, or pecans, but later, after he retired, he started using macadamia nuts. I can remember him standing over the cutting board with half a head of green cabbage, and shredding it with a knife. He didn't like to use the food processor. He'd add grated carrots, a little high quality mayo, salt and pepper to taste, and last of all, the nuts.

Some of my earliest memories are of my father chopping the cabbage for the coleslaw; I can remember him doing it when we lived in Indiana, where we lived until I was five, and I can remember him doing it some forty years or so later, when my parents were retired and living in coastal Maine. I always had a hard time waiting until dinner time to try the slaw, and Dad would often let me have a sample before (though it was always better after being chilled for a few hours). And it was something he'd make when we were camping, when I was small.

Dad's Coleslaw

Ingredients

Cabbage
Carrot
Mayonnaise
About 1/2 cup of chopped Nuts (slivered almonds, pecans, or crushed macadamia nuts, or a mixture of any 2)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure

Thinly slice the cabbage, horizontally, and then vertially, until you have approximately 4 cups (not packed) of sliced cabbage. (Using a mandoline helps in this case.)
Grate a carrot.
Add about 3 Tablespoons of Mayonaise for about 4 cups of cabbage; adjust to taste.
Add chopped nuts to about 4 cups of cabbage
Add pepper to taste.

The last time I had my Dad's coleslaw, he made the coleslaw in the morning, then we drove to the Keag Store (referred to as "the Gig") on Route 73 in South Thomaston, Maine, to pick up lobster rolls, (with the buns toasted in butter, first) to go with the the coleslaw.

My Dad died in 2005. They said I'd stop missing him. They were wrong.

Image Credit: Michael E. Cohen

G. K. Chesteron on Writing

2010-04-17T17:02:00.001-07:00

Most of the machinery of modern language is labour-saving machinery; and it saves mental labour very much more than it ought. Scientific phrases are used like scientific wheels and piston-rods to make swifter and smoother yet the path of the comfortable. Long words go rattling by us like long railway trains. We know they are carrying thousands who are too tired or too indolent to walk and think for themselves. It is a good exercise to try for once in a way to express any opinion one holds in words of one syllable. If you say "The social utility of the indeterminate sentence is recognised by all criminologists as a part of our sociological evolution towards a more humane and scientific view of punishment," you can go on talking like that for hours with hardly a movement of the grey matter inside your skull. But if you begin "I wish Jones to go to gaol and Brown to say when Jones shall come out," you will discover, with a thrill of horror, that you are obliged to think. The long words are not the hard words, it is the short words that are hard. There is much more metaphysical subtlety in the word "damn" than in the word "degeneration."

Orthodoxy. (1908) by G. K. Chesterton

Stuffing

2009-11-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

Prepare one box of StoveTop Pepperidge Farm or Mrs. Cubisons or other stuffing mixture, according to the package instructions, using broth instead of water, or use about four cups of bread crumbs, corn bread crumbs, mazo meal . . . whatever you've got.

Add to the stuffing mixture:

Ingredients

1 Cup onion sauteed in olive oil
1 Cup Celery
1/4 teaspoon Garlic
3 teaspoons Sage
2 Teaspoons Fines Herbs
1 can sliced water chestnuts or 1/2 Cup chopped Chestnuts (boiled, peeled, chopped)
Pepper to taste
Cooked giblets, and neck meat, if desired.

Procedure

Fry a small patty of the stuffing to check for taste, and adjust accordingly.
Mix thoroughly, and stuff a clean, rinses, salted and seasoned (garlic, salt, pepper, etc.) bird, without packing too firmly.
The ingredients should be adjusted to taste; you might use other herbs (Thyme, Tarragon, Parsely, Rosemary).

Stuffing is something that you mess with, adjusting to individual taste, and the available ingredients. Other possible ingredients: dried soaked (to soften them) cranberries, apricots, raisins, apples. Green onions, parsley, more garlic, thyme, herbs de provence. More sage. If you use bread, let it dry a day or three (unless it's homemade corn bread or biscuits; one day only then) and make crumbs. Some people like to use milk instead of broth. Butter is really unhealthy, and makes the stuffing really good. Choose your poisons.

From LRS AKA "mom"

Lena R. Spangenberg's Pound Cake

2009-11-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 pound (2 cups) room temperature butter
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour1
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of ground mace
3 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
10 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Procedure

Assemble ingredients 1 hour ahead of time. Everything should be room temperature.
Separate eggs.
Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
Preheat oven to 300 F.
Beat egg whites with 1/4/ teaspoon salt until whites stand in soft glossy points, but not until they're dry.

Gradually add one and a half cups sugar, beating after each addition until blended.
Sprinkle the cream of tartar on top of the whites, and using the mixer on the lowest speed (or a spatula), gently fold into the whites.

Put flour, soda, ground mace, and 1 1/2 cups sugar into large mixing bowl.
Put the egg yolks, vanilla, and lemon juice in a second bowl and set aside.
Transfer the beaten whites to another bowl and set aside.
In large mixing bowl, beat the butter until it's creamy.
Gradually add 1/2 cups sugar, blending it in to the butter.
Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and lemon juice, gradually, alternating with the dry ingredients.
If the batter is too stiff, add an additional tablespoon of lemon juice.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, until thoroughly combined. You may need a larger bowl to do this.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top with a spoon. Set the pan down hard on a table to remove air bubbles.
Bake approximately 1 1/2 hours, until done. The cake will shrink from the sides of the pan. Use a knife to test for doneness.
Remove from oven and let stand for about fifteen minutes.
Loosen sides with a spatula. Using pot holders to lift the hot pan, vigorously shake up and down to loosen cake, and then turn out on a rack.

Notes

The original recipe was in Woman's Day Magazine December, 1954. As published, the recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of ground mace.

Mom doesn't actually sift the flower, she "fluffs" it though. Mom usually makes one larger and one smaller cake form this recipe. The size depends on how well the whites are beaten. It really fills a bundt pan, rising above the rim.

Murder Your Darlings

2009-10-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

To begin with, let me plead that you have been told of one or two things which Style is not; which have little or nothing to do with Style, though sometimes vulgarly mistaken for it. Style, for example, is not—can never be—extraneous Ornament. You remember, may be, the Persian lover whom I quoted to you out of Newman: how to convey his passion he sought a professional letter-writer and purchased a vocabulary charged with ornament, wherewith to attract the fair one as with a basket of jewels. Well, in this extraneous, professional, purchased ornamentation, you have something which Style is not: and if you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings."

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch. (1863–1944) On the Art of Writing. 1916.

C. S. Lewis on Narrative Lust

2009-09-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

I give you C. S. Lewis in "On Stories," at the part where he talks about "narrative lust":

The re-reader is looking not for actual surprises (which can come only once) but for a certain surprisingness…In the only sense that matters the surprise works as well the twentieth time as the first. It is the quality of unexpectedness, not the fact that delights us. It is even better the second time. Knowing that the "surprise" is coming we can now fully relish the fact that this path through the shrubbery doesn’t look as if it were suddenly going to bring us out on the edge of the cliff. So in literature. We do not enjoy a story fully at the first reading. Not till the curiosity, the sheer narrative lust, has been given its sop and laid asleep, are we at leisure to savour the real beauties. Till then, it is like wasting great wine on a ravenous natural thirst which merely wants cold wetness. The children understand this well when they ask for the same story over and over again, and in the same words. They want to have again the "surprise" of discovering that what seemed Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother is really the wolf. If is better when you know it is coming: free from the shock of actual surprise you can attend better to the intrinsic surprisingness of the peripeteia.
(C. S. Lewis. On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature. 17

The Very Best Maine Blueberry Muffins

2009-07-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

1 to 1/2 Cups blueberries, adjusted to taste
2 Cups flour
1 Cup sugar (may be slightly reduced depending on berries)
1/2 Cup milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 Tablespoon sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Procedure

Grease muffin pans or use liners.
Beat butter, add sugar beat till creamy and fluffy.
Mix in eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt.
Fold in half the flour, then half the milk. Stir gently.
Add the rest of the flour and milk alternately.
add the blueberries, folding them in gently. Don't over stir.
Pour into muffin tin cups.
Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the sugar and nutmeg mixture.
Bake at 375 25-30 minutes until the muffins are golden brown.
Let the muffins cool about a half hour before removing.

These freeze really really well. If you're planning to freeze them, take them out of the oven one or two minutes before they're done. I like to substitute finely shredded fresh lemon zest, a generous teaspoon, for the nutmeg in the sugar topping.

H. L. Mencken on Puritans and Puritanism

2008-08-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable.

—H.L. Mencken. Prejudices, First Series. 1919.

Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

—H. L. Mencken 1880 - 1956

Plato on Writing

2008-07-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.

Plato—Phaedrus 275a-b

John Davies' Weasel Sonnet

2008-07-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

According to medieval bestiaries, with help from Pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville, "the weasel conceives through the mouth and gives birth through the ear"-- Isidore, after describing this reproductive miracle, says it is false, but that didn't stop John Davies from using it in a sonnet.

John Davies of Hereford, Wittes Pilgrimage, Sonnet 29

Some say the Weezel-masculine doth gender
With the Shee-Weezel only at the Eare
And she her Burden at hir Mouth doth render;
The like (sweet Love) doth in our love appear:
For I (as Masculine) beget in Thee
Love, at the Eare, which thou bearst at the Mouth
And though It came from Hart, and Reynes of me
From the Teeth outward It in thee hath growth.
My Mouth, thine Eares, doth ever chastly use
With putting in hot Seed of active Love;
Which, streight thine Ear conveyeth (like a Sluce)
Into thy Mouth; and, there but Aire doth prove:
Yet Aire is active; but, not like the fire
Then O how should the Sonne be like the Sire?

Via Cliosfolly

Rebecca West on Feminism

2008-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist when I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute
Rebecca West

Robert Frost on The Figure a Poem Makes

2008-05-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

. . . inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life—not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion.
Robert Frost

Robert Frost On Education By Poetry

2008-05-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. People say, “Why don’t you say what you mean?” We never do that, do we, being all of us too much poets. We like to talk in parables and in hints and in indirections—whether from diffidence or some other instinct.
Robert Frost

Chaucer on Plain English

2008-03-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Speketh not in the heigh style, but so playn at this time,
I yow preye, that we may understonde what ye saye.

The Host to the Clerke of Oxenforde. Chaucer. Canterbury Tales. c. 1400.

Mark Twain on Doing Right

2008-01-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest
Mark Twain

Book, Libraries, and Readers in the Sixth Century

2007-08-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

In cuiuscumque maibus libellus iste venerit, rogo et cum grandi humilitate supplico, ut eum et ipse frequentius legat, et aliis ad legendum et ad transscribendum non solum tradat, sed etiam ingerat, ut et de suis et aliorum profectibus duplicem a Domino remunerationem recipiat. Hoc ideo suggero, quia multi sunt, et forte aliqui religiosi, qui plures libros et satis nitidos et pulchre ligatos habere volunt, et eos ita armariis clausos tenent, ut illos nec ipsi legant, nec aliis ad legendum tribuant: ignorantes quod nihil prodest libros habere, et eos propter mundi huius inpedimenta non legere. Liber enim bene coopertus et nitidus, si non legatur, non facit animam nitidam; ille enim qui iugiter legitur, et pro eo quod saepe revolvitur pulcher a foris esse non potest, pulchram animam intus facit.

Caesarius, bishop of Arles, sermo 2 (after ca. 506) by way of Dr. Carol Lanham

Christmas Fruitcake Muffins

2006-12-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons (1/2/ stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup diced red and green cherries
1/2 mixed diced candied pineapple
1/2 cup raisins
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons orange zest

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 400º.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a second bowl, mix together the egg, milk, and melted butter.
Add the egg/butter/milk mixture to the flour to make a lumpy batter (do not over mix).
Fold in the rest of the ingredients.
Spoon the batter into muffin cups or tins, filling each cup about two thirds full. I usually line the cups with paper muffin shells.
Bake at 400º until the muffins are plump, golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean; about 30 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Verbing

2006-12-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

"First they came for the verbs and I said nothing, for verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns and I speech nothing, for I no verbs."

Attributed to Peter Ellis (via Diane Duane)

Candied Fruitcake

2006-12-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

3 7 1/4 ounce packages of pitted dates
1 pound candied pineapple, red and green, and yellow
1 pound whole candied cherries, red and green
2 cups sifted all purpose flour *
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 pounds pecan halves (Taste them; they must be fresh)

*Mom says you can get by with "fluffing" the flour with a fork.

This makes roughly four loaves, depending on the sizes of the pans.

Procedure:

Prepare the pans by oiling them and lining them with brown paper cut to fit. Then oil the paper.
Preheat the oven to 275 F.
Chop the dates into three pieces or so. (It’s about 3 1/2 cups cut)
Chop the candied pineapple into about 1/3 of inch wide wedges (about 2 1/2 cups)
Put the chopped fruit in a large mixing bowl. Add the candied cherries, whole (about 2 cups).
Lightly spoon the flour into a measuring cup.
Add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the fruit.
Mix fruit and dry ingredients until all the fruit is well coated.
Using mixer, beat four eggs until frothy.
Gradually add one cup sugar to eggs, beat until well blended.
Add eggs and sugar to fruit mixture, mixing well.
Add two pounds (eight cups) of pecan halves.
Mix until nuts are evenly distributed and well coated with batter.
Pack into pans, pressing down with the back of a spoon. If necessary, rearrange pieces of fruit and nuts to fill up empty spaces. This should be a dense cake, without holes.
Bake one and a half hours at 275 F. When done, tops of cakes should look dry. If there is any doubt, leave cakes in oven longer, as a little extra baking does no harm. Watch for the edges of the cake to pull away from the pan; that’s a sign of doneness.
When cakes are done, remove from oven and place on cake racks.
Let stand about five minutes.
Turn out on racks, and carefully remove paper.
Cool cakes, and turn top side up.

Traditionally you would douse the cake with sherry, or bourbon, or brandy, and wrap the cake in several layers of cheescloth and put it in a container for at least two or three weeks. It isn't requires. You may use the same method to freshen a dry or over cooked cake.

Wrap cakes in plastic food wrap and then foil to freeze them; they freeze well. Thaw at room temperature.

After making the cake the first time, you may find you prefer more nuts or fruit, in which case you may need to add extra batter, using the instructions above. You can use half the eggs, sugar, etc. to make more batter if you don’t need quite so much.

From LRS; originally from Woman’s Day December, 1954.

Grad Student Chili

2005-08-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

2–3 Tablespoons Olive oil
1.5 to 2.0 pounds hamburger
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small can green chilies
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup Beer
1/2 cup strong brewed black coffee
1 128 ounce (794 grams) can of crushed tomatoes
2 12 ounce cans of beans (424 grams per can)
5 Tablespoons Chili powder (to taste)
1 teaspoon ground cumin (or crushed cumin seeds)
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
Salt and black pepper to taste

Procedure

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.
Add the onion and garlic, saute briefly, then add the hamburger. Cook until the hamburger is lightly browned, stirring frequently.
Add the beer and the coffee. Cook for five minutes, stirring it once.
Add the canned tomatoes, with their juice, the beans, chili powder, cumin and oregano.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cook, partly covered, for half and hour, stirring it every ten minutes or so.
Taste the chili; season to taste, and cook a little longer, say, thirty minutes to an hour
The most important thing is to taste the chili, and adjust the seasonings accordingly.
Garnish with chopped cilantro, onions, and grated cheese. Serve with tortillias, grated cheese, cornbread, or over rice or baked potatoes.

Notes:

Trader Joe's frozen garlic is Just Fine. Omit the beer or chili as long as the same amount of liquid is used. Substitute broth (beef, chicken or vegetable. Use ground turkey, or tofu, if you'd rather. You can extend the chili, by adding another can of beans, or a can of corn. Chopped green pepper, celery and mushrooms are nice additions; saute them with the onions. The chili is better the next day, and freezes well. You can even freeze the cooled chili in Ziplock bags. Make sure the bags are tightly sealed, and don't over fill them.

To those who ask why this is "grad student chili" . . . I started making it as a grad student, and it's well suited for cooks on a budget since it's easily extendable and it uses ingredients that are fairly common. Plus it includes two staples of many grad students' diets— beer and coffee. I confess, I started using the beer because I had some and didn't drink beer, but it does add something.

Culled from Twenty Years Ago

2005-08-03T13:13:00.001-07:00

Michael culled these from lower level English composition classes in the early 1980s.

"Maturity and experience come with age."

"Most spectators see Formula One drivers as people who stop at nothing to win."

"As an end product of each class, I received a letter grade from A to F, excluding E."

"When reality finally sets in, the true fan will feel as though a close freind [sic] had died."

"Students are now in school to get degrees so they can get a descent [sic] job."

"The two city council candidates do not frequent the pool thusly they did not have enough information to make a valid claim that the department wastes money on lifeguards."

"The president is only a figurehead with a birthright position."

"It was a very encomppassing book which captivated my attention until the very end."

Signals

2005-06-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

This is from a poster RAL and CDL gave me, and that is an enlarged photocopy from an unknown book.

2 people	2 signals
3 people	9 signals
4 people	28 signals
5 people	75 signals
6 people	186 signals
7 people	441 signals
8 people	1,016 signals
9 people	2,295 signals
10 people	5,110 signals
11 people	11,253 signals
12 people	24,564 signals
13 people	53,235 signals
14 people	114,674 signals
15 people	245,745 signals
16 people	524,272 signals
17 people	1,114,095 signals
18 people	2,359,278 signals
19 people	4,980,717 signals
20 people	10,485,740 signals
21 people	22,020,075 signals

A mathematically inclined friend thought the equation that explained the relationship between the People and Signals was

S=(p*((2^(p-1))-1)

Wycherly's Country Wife

2005-06-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

I culled both of these sentences many years ago from a paper on the Restoration play The Country Wife by William Wycherley.

Horner's action in this play is mainly based on manipulating other characters orally.

Horner's manipulation of Sir Jasper Fidget continues when he pretends to be impotent.

Red Potatoes with Lemon, Parsley, and Olives

2005-05-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

2 pounds of red potatoes
1 lemon
3 tablespoons Olive oil
1/4 chopped fresh Parsley
Several cloves of Garlic
1/3 cup olives, pitted
Salt to taste
1 well-oiled 9 x 13 inch pan

Procedure:

Slice the potatoes, unpeeled. They should not be sliced too thinly.
Thinly slice the lemon, peel and all, being careful to discard the seeds.
Mince the garlic.
Chop the Parsley
Toss everything except the olives, with the olive oil, then spread evenly in the x 13 pan.
Bake at 425F for an hour, stirring everything two or three times.
Add the olives during the last five minutes of cooking.

Notes:

The recipe is from T. Carter who found it in Fine Cooking March, 2004 and posted it here and wrote:

The recipe called for oil-cured olives . . . The potatoes are supposed to crisp while the lemons caramelize.

The thinner you slice the lemons, the happier you'll be. I've found a knife with a serated edge works best. Do try lemon varieties; they all taste slightly different. The recipe doesn't call for it, but when you add the olives, a sprinkle of salt and pepper won't go amiss.

Eachard on Plain Language

2005-03-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

As if plain words, useful and intelligible instructions, were not as good for an esquire, or one that is in commission from the King, as for him that holds the plough.

John Eachard, 1670. Some Observations Upon
the Answer to an Enquiry into
the Grounds and Occasions
of the Contempt of the Clergy.

Cicero on Human Language

2005-03-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

The one point in which we have our very greatest advantage over the brute creation is that we hold converse with one another, and can reproduce our thought in word.

Cicero

Hot Cross Buns

2004-12-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

3 3/4 to 4 cups all purpose flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup dried currants or raisins
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Procedure:

In large mixer bowl, thoroughly stir together 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the yeast, and the cinnamon.
In a saucepan, heat together milk, oil, sugar, and salt just till warm (115 to 120 F.). Add to dry mixture in mixer bowl; add eggs. Beat at low speed of electric mixer for 1/2 minute, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes at high speed.
By hand, stir in currants and enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough. Cover and let rise till double, 1 to 1/2 hours.
4. Stir dough down. Shape dough into 14 balls. Place on greased baking sheet, 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover and let rise till dough is nearly double, 30 to 45 minutes.
Bake in 375 oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly; pipe crosses through pastry tube or bag with using white icing or a powedered sugar glaze.

Notes:

My mother makes these at Easter, and sometimes, at Christmas. The recipe is originally from Better Homes and Gardens, March 1973. The original recipe suggests making 24 buns; I like them slightly larger, so I usually make 16 to 18. I tend to use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the milk and oil solution, and I use a generous 1 and a half teaspoons of cinnamon. I also use more currants; the original called for 1/3 cup. It also called for brushing the buns with a beaten egg white before baking; I don't bother. These freeze quite well.

Shaker Lemon Pie

2004-12-12T23:29:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

2 large lemons (or 5–6 small ones)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon of vanilla
prepared pie crust for a double-crust pie

Procedure:

Slice the lemons cross-wise (to make circles), rind and all, as thinly as possible, removing seeds as they appear. It's more important that the slices are thin than that the slices are perfect circles.
Place the lemon slices in a bowl, alternating a layer of lemons with one of sugar. Mix the two. Let the sugar-and-lemons mixture stand in a refrigerator at least three hours, overnight if possible. Stir occasionally.
Line a pie pan with half the pastry.
Mix the four eggs and the vanilla with the lemons and sugar, then pour into the pie crust.
Cover and seal the pie with the remaining pastry. Make small vents in the top crust.
Cook the pie for fifteen minutes in a pre-heated oven at 450 F. then reduce the temperature to 375 F. and cook for about another 25–35 minutes, or until the blade of a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Notes:

Thinner-skinned, sweeter lemons, work best; I prefer Persian lemons, or Meyer's lemons. Limes can also be good. A serrated knife may work best for slicing the lemons thinly. The pie is even better served slightly warm.

The "authentic" Shaker pie doesn't use vanilla; I think it adds a nice touch, but I've also used vanilla sugar. I suspect that the Shakers favored this recipe because it doesn't waste any of the lemons; only the seeds are discarded.

Heinlein on Writing

2004-11-23T19:41:00.000-08:00

"Writing is nothing to be ashamed of. But do it in private, and wash your hands afterward."

—Robert A. Heinlein

Mac and Cheese with Ham

2004-05-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

What "makes" this exceedingly simple recipe is the baked garlic that's stirred into the cheese sauce. Baking the garlic not only makes it soft, even creamy, it mellows the garlic scent and taste, making it milder and sweeter. It goes without saying that better ingredients make better food, and in this case that means good cheese, freshly grated. That said, I've found using canned evaporated milk rather than cream works fine, and you can get by with onions instead of shallots, though the shallots do make a difference. The original recipe is from Bon Appetit, October 2003 who attributes the recipe to The Federalist in the XV Beacon Hotel in Boston. It makes a very large quantity, so make sure you have a suitable container to mix the sauce and the cooked pasta. It freezes quite well; I like using ziplock bags which can be filled, flattened and frozen.

Ingredients:
1 head of garlic
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, minced
2 cups whole milk
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1/8 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound ditalini or conchiglie or other "small" pasta
8 ounces quality ham, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350F. Cut top 1/4 inch off head of garlic to expose cloves. Place garlic, cut side up, on sheet of foil. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap garlic with foil to enclose tightly. Bake until skin is golden brown and cloves are tender, about 55 minutes. Cool (I tend to put them in the fridge). Squeeze cloves from their skin.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté until tender, about 4 minutes. Whisk in milk, cream, thyme, lemon peel, and roasted garlic. Simmer over medium heat until reduced to 2 3/4 cups, about 30 minutes. You don't want the milk/cream to boil or overcook. Reduce heat to low. Gradually stir in cheeses.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Toss cheese sauce, pasta, ham, and parsley in large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Pie

2004-04-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

9 inch unbaked pie shell
1 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups canned Pumpkin (Not the stuff with spices; just pumpkin)
1 2/3 Cups Evaporated Milk

Procedure:
Blend sugar, spices and salt.
Add eggs, pumpkin and milk.
Mix well and pour into pie shell.
Bake about 60 minutes at 350 F. or until the pie is "set."
Check the pie after 40 minutes. Refrigerate when cool.

Scones

2004-04-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

This is a rewrite of a scone recipe from "Stephanie" that Michael downloaded and printed back in 1998. My approach to scones is practical rather than fussy, so I don't, for instance, use a glass or cookie cutter to shape them. These freeze well; I suggest removing them from the oven just as soon as they are cooked through, cooling them, then freezing them. The recipe can be enhanced by adding dried fruit, lemon or orange zest—use your imagination. You can substitute milk for the cream, use a mixture, or in a pinch, use canned evaporated milk, as long as the quantity remains the same.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Procedure:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour with a pastry blender. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. If you wish to add raisins, or dried fruit, add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup now, and stir them in. In a small measuring cup combine the whipping cream (or a mixture of cream and milk), beaten egg and vanilla. Add this to the dry ingredients, and stir just until it's combined into a dough you can handle. You want to mix and handle the dough as little as possible since the more you handle it, the tougher the scones will be.

Remove the dough from the bowl; most of it should adhere into a single lump. Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface to mix in any odd crumbs or dry flour left in the bowl. Roll or pat out the dough into a rectangle that's about an inch to an inch and a half thick (depending on how many scones you wish to make). If you want to make the scones sparkle, lightly sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the rectangle. Cut the rectangle into six to twelve scones.

Transfer the scones to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake 375 F. for about 15 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned.

Peach or Fruit Cobbler

2004-04-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe my mother gave me; she was given it by an unknown friend. I'll have to ask her who it was.

I generally make it with peaches, though I've used fresh berries, and even canned cherries. It's best with peaches. I use peaches I've frozen. I buy local fresh peaches (from California, sorry mom) at the Farmers' Market, let them ripen, dip them in boiling water just long enough to loosen the skin, peal them, slice them, and mix them with sugar and absorbic acid (to keep them from darkening), then freeze flat in gallon size ziploc freezer bags. Peach cobbler in January through March is a lovely treat, and the frozen peaches have a wonderful flavor.

Cobbler Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups Flour

3/4 Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 1/2 Cups Milk

1 Stick (1/2 cup) Butter, melted

6 cups fruit

For Syrup:
1 Cup Water

1 Cup Sugar

3 Tablespoons Butter

Mix dry ingredients; stir in melted butter and milk until smooth. Spread batter on bottom of a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan. Add and arrange fruit (reserving any fruit juice).
Combine water (substitute any fruit juice you reserved for water), sugar (I adjust the sugar based on the sweetness/sugar of the fruit), 3 Tablespoons of butter, and boil (you want a thick syrup). Pour the syrup over the fruit. Bake at about 400 F. for about an hour; you want the batter to be cooked, the fruit to be slightly crisp on the edges, and cooked all the way through. It can take a lot of cooking, especially if you use a deep dish rather than a flat pan. Serve warm with ice cream, or a little heavy cream.

Chocolate Pound Cake

2004-02-07T19:37:00.000-08:00

When I was in my late teens, my mother gave my sister and I each a copy of a Hershey's Chocolate cook book. This recipe was in that book, though I've modified it a bit. It's one of the easiest cakes you could possibly make. You do need a good size mixing bowl, but other than that, it's very straight forward, and exceedingly unhealthy. It freezes very very well, and since it makes a larg bundt cake, you might want to freeze half.

I often add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate bits to the batter, just before pouring it into the Bundt pan. Alternatively, you may want to try soaking 1/2 to 3/4 cup dried cherries (in warm water, or, my personal favorite, Grand Marnier, or Kirsch), pouring off the excess liquid (saving the liquor for the cook) before you stir the cherries gently into the batter.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 eggs
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
2 cups unsifted all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla in a very large bowl for about five minutes, using a mixer at medium speed. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing them in thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Add this mixture, a little at a time, alternately with the coffee and buttermilk (or sour milk) to the creamed mixture, beating just until the mixture is thoroughly blended. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottoms of the bowl.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 12 cup Bundt pan or ten inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees F. for about an hour and twenty minutes, or until a tester or knife blade inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely; sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if you'd like.

Notes: You can sour milk by adding a Tablespoon of vinegar to the milk, and subtracting an equivalent amount of milk.

The cooking time can vary quite a bit, depending on altitude and weather. Test for doneness with a knife inserted gently into the center; it should be moist, but not gooey.

Chocolate Mousse

2004-01-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

Serves 5–6

Ingredients:
8 Ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 Cup strong coffee
3 Ounces (6 Tbls.) Butter
Six eggs, separated
1 Cup Whipping Cream

Procedure:

Melt the chocolate and coffee. Stir in the butter, and add the egg yolks, one at a time, stirring after each egg.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Beat the cream until it forms soft traces on the surface of the bowl.

Scrape the chocolate down the sides of the bowl containing the egg whites, to mix them. Caefully fold in the whipped cream.

Refrigerate.

LLS

Voltaire on Burning Books

2004-01-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neghbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

—Voltaire

Strunk on Conciseness

2004-01-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

—Strunk W., White E.B. The Elements of Style. Third Edition. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York, 1979. p. 23. ISBN: 0-02-418200-1.

Johnson On Writing

2003-12-29T17:39:00.000-08:00

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

—Samuel Johnson

Chocolate Mousse Pie

2003-12-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

My mother, after years of diligent research, came up with what I think is not only the easiest Chocolate Mousse Pie recipe, it's the best. It is, however, incredibly rich, so you'll likely want to serve rather slender pieces. It's especially lovely if you garnish it with whipped cream, slivered almonds, and or fresh berries.

Ingredients:
Baked and cooled pastry (shortbread, chocolate or plain)
1 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate morsels (like Ghirardelli)
2 1/2 c. cream, divided into 2 cups and 1/2 cup
1 t. vanilla
1 T. Rum, Bourbon, Grand Marnier, or Cointrieau, or Peach Schnapps or Raspberry Liquor (double or triple this according to taste)

Procedure:

Beat 2 cups cream till soft peaks form. Place in refrigerator to keep cool while you do the following:
Microwave chocolate and 1/2 cup cream about 1 1/2 minutes till melted, stirring twice.
Add liquor and vanilla, mix well.
Cool about 5 minutes. The chocolate needs to soft enough to blend.
Fold whipped cream into chocolate.
Pour into shell. Chill at least 2 hours.
Garnish with whipped cream and/or sliced almonds or grated chocolate.
Dip a warm knife in hot water before slicing.

Lena R. Spangenberg

Pie Pastry

2003-12-27T15:41:00.001-08:00

This is the pastry recipe my mother used when I was growing up, and still uses today, as do I. When I was very small I would stand on a chair in the kitchen and watch while she rolled the pastry out and formed the pie shell. She usually gave me a small piece to make a pie or tart of my own with.

Ingredients:
2 Cups flour
2/3 Cup margarine (1 stick plus 3 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 Tablespoons cold water

Procedure:
Cut margarine into the flour and salt mixture until thoroughly mixed.
Add water until moist enough to make a soft dough.

Lena Spangenberg

Pecan Pie

2003-12-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

This is another of my mother's recipes, one that I suspect she was making before I was born. It's one of my father's favorites, next to her "Clemson Peach Pie" (a recipe that I can only successfully make 1 out of 3 times). We usually had Pecan Pie at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's a very Southern recipe, you don't see much call for Pecans in Yankee cooking. My mother always sorts out the Pecans, reserving the best looking Pecan halves to place in an elaborate pattern.

Ingredients:
1 Cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
3/4 cup Karo syrup (clear syrup)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Cup plus of pecans
pastry shell

Procedure:

Cream sugar and butter.
Beat in eggs, syrup, vanilla, salt and vinegar.
Mix well, and add nuts.
Pour into 8 inch pie shell.
Bake at 350 F. for 55-60 minutes or until center is "set: when the pie is gently shaken.

Lena R. Spangenberg

90 Minute Dinner Rolls

2003-12-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

This recipe, which came from an advertisement for Fleichman's Yeast, officially makes a dozen rolls. Rather than double it to make more, it works better to make separate batches. If you cook the rolls until they're almost done, then take them out, cool them and freeze them, they can be cooked ahead and you can take out one or two (or more) as you need them. I don't bother with the pan of water in the oven; I just cover the rolls and let them rise in a draft-free but warm area until they look big (they should at least double in size). Just let them sit for an hour or two. I also tend to make 8 balls instead of 12 for dinner rolls, and four for hamburger/sandwiches/cinnamon buns, which one can make by adding cinnamon and raisins to the dough as you knead.

Ingredients:
2 to 2 1/2 cups unsifted flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons margarine

Procedure:

Mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast.
Heat milk, water and margarine to 120 F. – 130 F.
Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium speed of mixer.
Add 1/4 cup flour. Beat at high speed 2 minutes.
Stir in just enough additional flour to make soft dough.
On floured board knead 2 to 3 minutes.
Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Place in greased 8-inch round pan.
Pour a 1-inch depth of boiling water into large pan on bottom rack of cold oven.
Set rolls on rack above water. Cover. Close oven door; let rise 30 minutes.
Uncover rolls; remove pan of water.
Turn oven to 375 F. Bake 20–25 minutes or until done. Remove from pan to cool. Serve warm.

LLS

The Written Word

2003-08-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

The written word
Should be as clean as a bone,
Clear as light,
Firm as a stone.
Two words are not
As good as one.

Anonymous; early

Western Wind

2003-08-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Western wind, when wilt thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms,
and I in my bed again!

Anonymous. British Library MS. Royal Appendix 58. Early 16th century.

Bibliophage

2003-08-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be digested.

Francis Bacon "Of Studies" (1561–626).

Squid Tenure

2003-08-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the ocean searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain any more...so it eats it. It's rather like getting tenure.

Michael Scriven

On Commonplace Books and Blogs

2003-08-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

The commonplace, as Richard Lanham tells us:

was a general argument, observation, or description a speaker could memorize for use on any number of possible occasions. So an American statesman who knows he will be asked to speak extempore on the Fourth of July might commit to memory reflections on the bravery of the Founding Fathers, tags from the Declaration of Independence, praise of famous American victories, etc. A few scattered traditional loci death is common to all; time flies; the contemplative vs. the active life; the soldier's career vs. the scholar's; praise of a place as paradisiacal; the uses of the past; a short, celebrated life vs. a long, obscure one.

(Lanham, Richard. Handlist of Rhetorical Terms (University of California Press: Berkeley, 1994).

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a commonplace book as "a personal journal in which quotable passages, literary excerpts, and comments are written."

I've written about the striking similarities between weblogs or blogs and the traditional commonplace book elsewhere. This blog is an experiement in using a blog as my commonplace book, instead of the various notebooks, files, scraps of paper and HyperCard stacks I've used in the past.