photo musings to cool off your soul

* You always want a second helping of dessert, but only want to cross the desert once.

* People, you know, who use commas, incorrectly, especially when they, and others, know better.

*  I hate hearing nauseous in place of nauseated.

* How about your vs. you’re? That’s a REAL bad one.

* This is all making me loose my mind!

* Their, there, and they’re! “Their dog got out and ran across the street. He’ll probably play there until they’re able to pick him up.”

* When someone asks, “How are you doing?” and the response is “I’m doing good” instead of “I’m doing well”. Doing good is returning someone’s lost wallet or rescuing a damsel in distress.

* OK, here’s another one (with apologies to G, above , using adjectives instead of adverbs!  I’m feeling gooder now.

* Supposably…. and how about MUTE point, rather than moot…

* “Mute” instead of “moot” drives me mad!

* How about the expression “How do you do?” How can you answer that? Is it a rhetorical question? You can’t say “I do fine.” All you can say is “How do you do?” back and that seems just plain silly. So there (not their, or they’re).

* The Times ran a Complaint Box recently about the greeting “How are you” that’s a statement, not a real question. In terms of language pet peeves, there’s always “your” instead of “you’re” and the “its” vs. “it’s” thing. You see those at least once a day.

*  I love to say, “How do you do?” It makes me feel like Eliza Doolittle.

* And that is why we have editors! I don’t know what I would do without them.

* Slightly off topic: I think it’s funny that THREE people on this thread are from Montclair, NJ, home of the Russian spies!

* We may be the home of Russian spies, but English is still our first language, and proper usage is important!

* Complaint: Why does everyone think it’s okay to use their (plural) instead of (singular) her or his??? I realize that it’s gender nuetral and less clunky, but it’s just plain wrong, right?

* I hate the lie/lay issue. It makes me crazy. It’s like nails on a chalk board for me every time some one mixes the two up.

*  Why is the word “abbreviation” sooo long!

* ALL of the above. Also pronoun abuse: “between you and I” or “she gave it to he and I.” Aaaaarrrgh!

You can look forward to more of these in the near future. Thanks for stopping buy. Ahem….

New pet peeve #1: “walking the walk.” Isn’t it supposed to be: “walking the talk?” Who doesn’t walk when they walk? Putting words to action makes sense. Walking the walk is just plain redundant! – signed,the (far from grammatically perfect) English teacher’s daughter

Am I wrong?

Last week I conducted a very small and official survey about your cookbook buying (or not) habits. Many of your responses were reassuring in the fact that cookbooks are still something that you want on your bookshelves – even if you do a lot of recipe downloading from the internet.  I won’t fault you for that, I often download by ingredients, too. As a thank you to those of you who participated and just a nice freebie for the rest of you food-loving people, enjoy the four recipes below from Chef Jennifer Schaertl. You won’t find these recipes in any cookbook. These were put together just for you. Mangia!

Holy Moly Chicken Pasole

Makes 2.5 Quarts

A gourmet version of tortilla soup, this rustic version is actually thickened with finely diced pieces of corn tortilla that break down as the stew simmers. It’s also a great way to utilize leftover chicken, which makes it a standard on my rotation of Soupe du Jour in my restaurant. There’s always leftover chicken laying around!

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded off the bone

8 c chicken stock

1 onion, diced

6 cloves garlic

1 green bell, diced

1 rib of celery, diced

2 T chili powder

1 T ground cumin

½ c tomato puree

1 large tomato, diced

1 T oregano

5 corn tortilla finely minced

½ tsp red pepper

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

½ c cilantro, chopped

1. In a large stock pot over a medium-high heat, bring the shredded chicken, stock, onion, garlic, bell pepper, and celery to a gentle simmer. Once simmering, add all of the other ingredients except for salt, pepper, and cilantro.
2. Once the tortilla has begun to break down and thicken the stew (about 30 minutes), season to your tastes with salt and pepper. Garnish with the chopped cilantro.

Nobody Better Lay a Finger on My Corn Fritter

Makes 15-20 fritters

Beautiful little side dishes, but I usually put them in bread baskets along with the rolls at my restaurants. The corn is sweet and juicy inside this fluffy pan fried biscuit. The kids will eat with butter and the adults will dip it in the soup, but everyone will be all over this moist and flavorful fritter.

3 ½ c all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 T sea salt

5 eggs

2/3 c whole milk

3 ¾ c yellow corn kernels, canned or defrosted, but well drained

2 T butter, melted plus more for frying

1. Preheat your oven to 500°. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Add the eggs, milk, corn and melted butter and fold until completely moistened. Don’t worry, it’s supposed to be lumpy!
2. Place a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Add just enough melted butter to cover the bottom of the pan, and drop corn batter by tablespoon full into the hot butter. Fry until brown on both sides, and transfer to a baking sheet to bake at 500° for 5 minutes once all the fritters have been fried. Cool slightly before serving.

Make no Mistake Coffee Cake

Makes approximately 18 pieces

Whether for brunch, dessert, or coffee table edible décor for company, this is a fool proof classic. It mixes together easily, looks beautiful, and tastes a buttery and divine. I’ve served it as a complimentary table gift at brunch serves, but my good friend and wonderful pastry chef friend, Tsuki, makes it for her family all the time.

Cake:

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter, unsalted, room temperature

½ tsp salt

2 eggs

3 cups all purpose flour

1 T Baking powder

1 cup milk, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

Filling:

1 ½ cups brown sugar

1 T Cinnamon

4 T Butter

4 T all purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and spray a 9 x 13-inch disposable pan with pan spray.
2. Make certain that the butter is a soft, room temperature to make sure it creams easily. Using a whisk cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until they become light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time.
3. Sift the remaining dry ingredients into a clean bowl or plate using a fine wire strainer. Fold in half of the dry ingredients to the cake batter and then half of the milk and vanilla. Repeat with the last of the dry and wet. Combine the filling ingredients in a separate container.
4. In prepped pan layer add ½ cake batter, sprinkle ½ filling, and then the other ½ of the cake batter. Carefully spread the batter evenly with a spoon or spatula, trying to keep the filling in place. Sprinkle remaining filling over the top.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes and serve.

Rhubarb Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

Makes approximately 18 pieces

Use the same bowl for the crust and the filling with this recipe, rather than making multiple dishes for washing. This is also a crazy adaptable recipe. Substitute berries or any other fruit that is in season for the rhubarb, or even ½ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of lemon zest to make a traditional lemon bar. Feel free to dust them with powdered sugar using a fine mesh strainer, but I don’t feel the distraction is needed.

Crust:

2 c flour

¾ c sugar

1 c butter at room temperature

Filling:

5 eggs

1 ½ c sugar

½ c flour

½ tsp salt

4 c rhubarb, medium dice

1. Preheat your oven to 350°. In a bowl, work the flour, sugar and soft butter together until a soft dough ball forms. Press this dough evenly into the bottom of a 9×11 baking dish and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
2. Work quickly because this filling works best if poured over the crust while it’s hot from the oven. Simply whisk together the filling ingredients in the same bowl that you made the crust.
3. Pour over the piping hot crust and put back in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown and set. When cool, cut into desired shapes, but I prefer diamond shapes. They stack just as well as squares, but look far more striking to the eye.

These recipes may be reproduced with the following credit:

Recipes by Jennifer Schaertl, author of Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens (HCI Books)

www.CrappyLittleKitchens.com

My handsome Dad

Sandor Weiss November 14, 1916 – June 21, 1966

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