Easter Grub

The New American Digest Posted on by

So you’ve paid your taxes and counted your remaining pennies and now Easter is coming and Lent is almost over. Time to make, what?
What Easter specialties do folks here prepare?

My favorite Easter sweet is home made hot cross buns served warm with butter.

Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters give them to your sons!

On the Canadian island where I was born the Easter “scoff” (big meal) included flipper pie prepared with onions, turnips and carrots. Harp seal flipper that is. It’s a dark gamey meat not to my taste but the dish goes far back in history and many islanders still love it even if animal rights activists now object to its consumption.

In England no Easter Sunday lunch would be complete without fresh pea soup made with mint and spring onions. So delicious.

And then there’s lamb that is traditional everywhere.. roasted leg of lamb, roasted or grilled shoulder of lamb , griĺled lamb chops, lamb burgers.

In northern Italy, there is the delicious Colomba di Pasqua (Easter Dove). It’s a sweet bread with dried fruit or candied citrus that is sprinkled with sugar and almonds, like a panettone but shaped like a dove. In the unlikely event you can’t finish it all it makes great French toast or bread pudding.

In the south, Easter luncheons almost always include deviled eggs. The Scandinavians do deviled eggs deluxe for Easter with shrimp or fish roe added on top.

Personally, I’m just looking forward to my first glass of wine in 40 days. I’ll be happy to have it with nothing more than potato chips.

I’ve included links for recipes in case anyone is interested, but not for flipper pie!

www dot kingarthurbaking dot com/recipes/colomba-pasquale-easter-dove-bread-recipe

www dot countrylife.co dot uk/food-drink/recipes/how-to-make-homemade-hot-cross-buns-25333

www dot southernliving dot com/recipes/classic-deviled-eggs

www dot bbcgoodfood dot com/recipes/pea-mint-spring-onion-soup-parmesan-biscuits

www dot recipetineats dot com/rosemary-garlic-grilled-lamb-chops/

Tunes For Tuesday – Beatles “Taxman”

The New American Digest Posted on by

A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today’s selection: Beatles – “Taxman” 1966

A classic tune for Tax Day – from the album “Revolver”

If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet

While Walking Uphill To School Both Ways In The Snow …

The New American Digest Posted on by

At the time of this sign, I had occasion to often drive Telegraph Rd (the one in the Dire Straits song – also passing where Jimmy Hoffa was last seen). Something to do with a young lady of my acquaintance …

Driving back and forth to see this girl sucked up a lot of gas, maybe 80 miles round trip (she became my fiancee but the marriage never happened).

Anyway, there was this gas station open past midnight. Not many were in those days. And I often made the return trip after midnight.

Recall gas tanks were small and gas mileage even smaller. If you didn’t keep an eye on the gauge, it was easy to run out of gas. Being young-ish and somewhat stupid played into that possibility. So did being broke much of the time.

“Can I have a $1.25 worth of regular please?” That was an hour’s work … and maybe 50 miles worth of driving.

So, this was often the only open station for the 15 miles or so I drove along Telegraph.
Trouble was, they charged … 32¢/gal !!! Outrageous gouging!

I swore I wouldn’t pay that much.

And, by God, all these years later, I was right.

Reprint – An Excerpt: “Trad Life” Is a Spectrum, Not a Straitjacket

The New American Digest Posted on by

Suggested by jd; article by Andrea Mew
www dot theconservateur dot com/lifestyle/trad-life-is-a-spectrum-not-a-straitjacket

Concluding paragraph:
I’m so grateful I was raised by a SAHM [“stay-at-home mom”]. I enjoy working and want to figure out a way to get both the bread and the baby. And I’ll fight for the right for any trad-aspiring woman to bake her sourdough bread, drive her minivan, and cook for her hardworking husband if that tickles her fancy. If you’re bothered by that? Maybe you’ve been mixing up equality and equity all along. The future of feminism shouldn’t be about forcing women into the failed girlbossery of yesteryear; it needs to be about ensuring all options are on the table.

Make believe…

The New American Digest Posted on by

Originally posted: May 31, 2008

Let’s pretend
we’re an old
married couple,
Still in love and
still liking each other.
We know the
sweet spots
and the soft spots.
We can still find
the hot spots.
I’ll cook your
favorite dinner.
We’ll watch a
favorite movie.
…what do you mean,
it’s getting late?
When did you join
a bowling league?

About Fiddlesticks

The New American Digest Posted on by

Submitted as a comment by SK

That was a word permitted when we were children (as opposed to many others that were not) as an expression of frustration at some ridiculous situation.

I looked up its origin because seeing it in print made me laugh. Hadn’t heard it in ages. The only people I know who still use it are all English.

According to an etymological web site, he term seems to derive from the bows that are used to play violins. Those have been named in English since the 15th century – then as ‘fydylstyks’.

The word was appropriated to indicate absurdity in the 17th century.

Thomas Nashe used it that way in the play Summer’s Last Will and Testament, 1600:

“A fiddlesticke! ne’re tell me I am full of words.”

There’s nothing inherently funny about a violin bow. It seems that ‘fiddlestick’ was chosen just because it sounds like a comedy word, like ‘scuttlebutt’ (a cask of drinking water), ‘lickspittle’ (a sycophant) and ‘snollygoster’ (an unprincipled person).

In the same way the ‘I don’t give a fig’ was originally ‘I don’t give a fig’s end’, that is, it referred to something insignificant, ‘fiddlesticks’ was originally ‘fiddlestick’s end’, that is, it was a reference to something paltry, trifling and absurd.

Advice From The Snakepit

The New American Digest Posted on by

Submitted as a comment by Snakepit Kansas.
Too good to not share widely

Have six months of food and water on the shelf. Maybe more. 50lb bag of Thai rice from Sam’s is not that expensive. Neither are pinto beans, cans of tuna, tubs of peanut butter and macaroni/cheese. Plenty of ammo. If things go to shit, ammo will be the new currency. The most common currency will be .22long, 9mm, .223 and 12gauge. You already have gobs of ammo? You do not have enough ammo.

Pay off your mortgage now. Get a second job at a liquor store of something and make extra payments. Do the math and figure out how quick you can pay it off. Quit paying the bank and pay yourself. I took a picture of myself some years ago as I dropped the last mortgage payment in the mailbox. Smiling so hard my ears hurt. I do not work at the liquor store any more either.

I am still heavily invested in the stock market. It goes up and it goes down. The trend over time is that it goes up. How much money did I lose last week? None. Why? Because I did not sell. You only lose if you sell low. Do not sell low. If there is a huge dip then that is time to buy. All kinds of folks panic and sell low and that is how some smart wallstreeters make their money, on other folks fear.

God is in charge and we do not get out of this alive. Some day my wife and I will pass. Maybe someone will think we were odd for having so much peanut butter and 9mm shells. What anyone thinks at that point, will matter no more.

Cats

The New American Digest Posted on by

Submitted as a comment by SK

The Cat

You get a wife, you get a house,
Eventually you get a mouse.
You get some words regarding mice,
You get a kitty in a trice.
By two a.m. or thereabouts,
The mouse is in, the cat is out.
It dawns upon you, in your cot,
The mouse is silent, the cat is not.
Instead of kitty, says your spouse,
You should have got another mouse.

Ogden Nash

A Gerard Tale+ “American Digest Has a New Editor”

The New American Digest Posted on by

by Vanderleun on October 28, 2018 … with a bit of follow-on by DT
… (due to an error in judgement, this will be the only Gerard essay I’ll be able to re-post) …

Introducing Olivia aka “Olive” who, after an exhausting search and a searing series of interviews at the local Wags and Whiskers rescue station was hired for a cup of kibble, a splash of canned tuna juice, a slosh of water, a few tiny faux-tuna treats, and a signing bonus composed of a scratching post and an empty box. Now, after only three days on the job, the whinging meows have already begun.

According to my good friend Ray, these kinds of editors have been helping writers since (at least) the publication of The Book of Kells in the 6th Century.

Blackcat – by DT

He’s a he, not a she; his name is not original: “BlackCat”. Doesn’t matter what his name is – he only responds to tuna and milk. He turns his nose up at wet food but enjoys crunchy kitty-kibbles. He once disappeared for 2 months, coming back home after we had given up on him, looking like he’d been on a 2-month cross-country bike ride to Sturgis.

The Betterhalf adopted a stray cat – or should I say, this stray cat adopted Betterhalf. Betterhalf doesn’t like cats … at the time. Did I mention I’ve been around cats most of my life? I’m a sucker for them, I know it, accept it, and enjoy their company. In all my years, there’s only been one cat I didn’t get along with – and the feeling was mutual.

But that’s not this story.

The stray was obviously a pet, not feral – domesticated and feral cats are almost two distinct species. This stray had been on her own for a while, and was hungry. And desperate as it turned out. It was early December; winter coming on. Betterhalf thought we needed a cat for a potential mice problem at our relatively new (to us) house (bad enough to be in the disclosure statement) so she started feeding this stray.

And then found herself attached.
Betterhalf: “It WILL be an outdoor cat.“
Sure …

I was working out of town at the time; Betterhalf told me about her and that she was feeding well and getting fat. I got home for Christmas … “Hey, Betterhalf, your cat is not “fat”, she’s pregnant.“

The kittens were born in March. Mamacat got her name. Now, what to do with the kittens???
Need to keep them until they’re weaned. Need to get them vaxxed and neutered …

They’re so cute.

Along about the next winter, another stray shows up. Young one – 5-6 months old, a bit younger than all 4 kittens we kept, acts feral but showed more signs of having been dumped. Could see it out on the edge of the sage every once in a while. Would sit some distance away and watch us. A bit of “Please let me in” and a whole lot of “Stay away”.

The five cats we now had more or less ignored it.

It was winter; I may not go out and seek strays, but if one comes around, I’m not going to ignore it either.

So I started setting out bowls of milk for this stray. I’d have to set it out and go away, but he’d come to the porch and lap it up. He was getting along with the others – still kittens they were – and by the time this stray would come close to us, it was obvious it was younger than ours – and ours were only 9 months old.

So they all started being kittens together. Vaxxed and neutered … and now Blackcat is part of the family. Been six years now.

Lost one of the siblings several years back. I suspect she didn’t watch her 6 while out hunting. Likely a hawk.

Another stray lost kitten showed up … and got got shortly thereafter.
(a different tale for a different time for which God will never forgive me)

Lately, we have a homeless beggar camping out in the backyard. Maybe 1yo, likely less than 2.
Named (“Noisy”) but no house privileges.

Mamacat spends most of her time indoors these days.
Time passes for us all.

But the point being, Blackcat thoroughly enjoys sitting on my keyboard and helping me write …
sssssssssssssssssssssggggggggggggggggggggggggjjjjjjjjjjjjmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm//

Note To Ghostsniper

The New American Digest Posted on by

(and anyone else who backed up American Digest)

I was looking for an essay and discovered that the backup essays – other than the post title and comments – linked back to the original site. That’s why everything looked OK when I checked the backup … and why nothing is there now.

Oh – fiddlesticks !!!