On The Road Again (Again)

Packing for Atlanta, where my sweet lovely boss and I will be giving a paper on "Decon, Dosimetry and Dogs; Investigating The Role of Local Health Departments After a Radiological Event."

They'll be on the edge of their seats.

Quote of the Day

The day you make a soldier of them is the beginning of the end of the Revolution  And if slaves seem good soldiers, then our whole theory of slavery is wrong. ~ BGen Howell Cobb, CSA

Grrrsday

The Online Bookshelf - Walter Crane's Painting Book

A child's painting-book by Victorian illustrator Walter Crane.  Available as a free download on the Open Library.

A Murrain Upon Thee (And Thee, Too)

I have wasted most of the afternoon dicking around with this adware issue.  It might be possible for Trend Micro tech support and Google Help to be more useless, but I don't see how. 

Caturday!

At last week's visit, Dr Tinyvet said that She Who Shall Remain Nameless needed to increase her thyroid dose as her levels were still too low.  Twice daily one of us wrassles a pill down her throat and then holds on to her neck until we feel her swallow.

I was cleaning this morning and guess what I found?  She's been tucking the little suckers into her cheek and spitting them out under the daybed.

Eye Of The Beholder

He:  Your favorite actor is on this afternoon.

Me:  ?

He:  Your favorite actor; with Deborah Kerr.

Me: (the penny drops).  Oh, Robert Mitchum! Well, he's one of my favorite actors.  And that's my favorite movie.

He:  One of your favorite movies.

Me:  Okay, my favorite chick flick.

He:  (scornful).  It's not a chick flick...he goes around killing Japanese soldiers.

Me:  To me, that's a chick flick.

This is beginning to piss me off

I have noticed, fairly recently, that someone or something is inserting advertising links into my posts.  I have deleted the ones that I've found, but this is more than annoying.

Is this just a Blogger issue, or is this happening elsewhere?  Because if there's a permanent solution I'd like to find it.

(Note:  as fast as I delete them, they are re-inserted, so this is obviously a program run by the Blogger people.  Grrr).

UPDATE:  This is not Blogger, but rather appears to be the work of an extension called Coupon Server, which smugly informs me cannot be removed or disabled.  Like hell.

Knitting - A cardigan from 1952

Trim and ladylike, this fitted cardigan is from the July 1st, 1952 issue of the Australian Home Journal.  The instructions are on my Flickr account, here.

Vintage Greeting Cards - St. Patrick's Day

As he does every year on March 17th, the spousal unit took pains to wear an orange shirt to school.

When Lunches Were Lunches, Part IV

Vintage advertising from the Woman's Home Companion, October, 1921.

In addition to the detailed recipes discussed last week, Mrs. Berolzheimer provided a list of "Miscellaneous Sandwiches and Sandwich Fillings" for the benefit of homemakers pondering the Lunch Question.  Her suggestions:

1.  Raisins worked into cream cheese.

2.  Chopped raisins, figs, dates or prunes, mixed with chopped nut-meats and moistened with mayonaise dressing or lemon-juice.

3.  The well-whipped white of an egg mixed with a cup each of chopped raisins and nut-meats, seasoned with a little salt.

4.  Peanut butter moistened with salad dressing and mixed with raisins, dates, figs or bananas.

5.  Equal parts olives, peanut butter, celery, mixed with a little salad dressing.

6.  Peanut butter mixed with chopped dill, sweet or sour pickles.

7.  Cream cheese and chopped stuffed olives.

8.  Chopped stuffed olives and chopped nuts, moistened with salad dressing.

9.  Cream cheese and crushed pineapple between very thin slices of bread.

10.  Tunafish mixed with parsley, lemon-juice, seasoning and a bit of onion.

11.  Cream cheese and chopped nuts.

12.  Ground boiled ham and chopped pickles or chopped peanuts.

13.  Cottage cheese and pickles, olives, nuts or pimiento.

14.  Currant jam with pounded walnut meats and creamed butter.  Pass with cream cheese.  Preserved currants may be substituted in this combination.

15.  Boston brown bread with cream cheese or mayonnaise mixed with chopped nuts or raisins.

16.  Rounds of brown bread spread with chopped olives,  minced lettuce and watercress, tarragon, paprika, parsley and chives mixed with mayonnaise.

17.  Pimientos, cucumbers and onion or chives, minced, mixed with mayonnaise and spread on buttered entire-wheat bread.

18.  Green pepper, pimiento and olives with mayonnaise.

19.  Boston brown bread with minced corned beef seasoned with mustard and rubbed to a paste.

20.  Cream cheese used with chopped parsley, pimento and mayonnaise, chopped nuts, sliced sugared bananas, crushed pineapple, chopped or sliced olives, shredded sliced apples.  The cheese may be rubbed with butter or the creamed butter may be spread on the bread.

I'll pass on #s 3, 5 and 20.  Next week:  Hot sandwiches! (I'm on a roll, people.  Pun intended).

Caturday!

In the interests of economy, the spousal unit booked an appointment at Dr. Tinyvet's this morning for both cats.  He trapped Reserve Cat with no trouble but as soon as she spotted the kitty crate being brought out of storage, Her Majesty disappeared.

Neatly and completely.  We spent a quarter of an hour in an unsuccessful room by room sweep before bowing to the inevitable.  Five minutes after he drove off she walked out of the furnace room with a neener neener neener look on her face.

Grrrsday

When Lunches Were Lunches, Part III

1950's food pyramid found on Pinterest.

Continuing the series of hearty lunch ideas from The American Woman's Cook Book, here are some of Mrs. Berolzheimer's recommendations for sandwiches there are 21 pages of recipes but this includes tea sandwiches.  Does anyone serve tea sandwiches anymore?).

Panavia, this first one's for you:

Peanut Butter and Onion Sandwiches

1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 small Bermuda or Spanish onion

Beat peanut butter, add mayonnaise and spread sandwiches.  Slice onion in very thin slices and put a layer of these over mixture on bread.

Cheese Sandwiches

1/2 pound American full cream cheese, grated
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Salt, paprika

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and use between buttered slices of bread.  This filling will keep indefinitely in closed jars in the refrigerator.

Russian Sandwiches

1/2 cup cream cheese

1/4 cup chopped olives

1/4 cup chopped pimientos

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Lettuce leaves

Boston brown bread

Spread the cream cheese on thin slices of Boston brown bread.  Spread an equal number of buttered slices with chopped olives and pimientos mixed with mayonnaise dressing.  Press together in paris with a crisp lettuce leaf between.

Egg Sandwiches

Hard-cooked eggs

Capers or pickles, if desired

Salt, pepper, paprika

Slice the eggs and lay the slices between thin buttered slices of bread.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika and add a layer of chopped capers or pickles if desired.  These are good for lunches for traveling or for picnics.

Chicken, Ham and Celery Sandwiches

1 cup cooked chicken meat

1/2 cup celery

1 tablespoon green pepper

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup cooked ham

Mince the chicken, ham, celery and green peppers.  Mix with the mayonnaise and spread on buttered bread.

Beef Sandwiches

1 1/4 cups cold roast beef
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon tomato catchup
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon melted butter

To minced cold roast beef, add the salt, tomato catchup, Worcestershire sauce and melted butter.  Spread on buttered bread, cover with a second slice, and cut into fancy shapes.

I'm not sure why the egg sandwich recipe above is considered good for traveling or picnics; without a binder such as mayonnaise or butter, I think the filling would wind up all over one's lap.  The beef and chicken/ham recipes reflect an era when a big chunk of some variety of baked or roasted protein was the centerpiece of every Sunday dinner and a thrifty cook had to come up with a way to use the leftovers.

If you are tempted to try the Russian Sandwiches, here is how to make the bread.

Boston Brown Bread

1 cup corn meal
1 cup rye flour
1 cup graham flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup molasses
2 cups sour milk or buttermilk

Sift corn meal, rye flour, soda and salt together and mix well with graham flour.  Add combined molasses and sour milk and mix well.  Fill greased molds 2/3 full, cover closely and steam 3 hours.  Remove covers and dry tops in moderate oven (375°F).  Makes 3 loaves.

I believe that people washed and re-used metal cans of some sort -- baking powder or maybe coffee -- as molds for Boston brown bread, covered with greased foil, pleated to allow expansion and tied tightly around the tops with kitchen string.

Next week -- Mrs. Berolzheimer's "Miscellaneous Sandwiches and Sandwich Fillings," many of which aren't bad.

Caturday!

(I know this looks like Reserve Cat.  But it isn't).

Quote of the Day

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me. ~   Abraham Lincoln.

I Want To Clone This One

It occurs to me that I have not taken the time to introduce my new (well...since September)  Americorps member, Fernanda*.

She is not a pre-med competitive swimmer but she is a runner, an honors graduate, tri-lingual, and her parents let her go backpacking to South America when she was a freshman in college.  She got as far as Peru, volunteered with an earthquake recovery agency  there, and wound up spending six months running their volunteer program.

Her very first week on the job was the airport crash drill (that's her in the second photo, applying moulage to a victim). I asked her to put together folders for the exercise evaluators.  She cross-referenced and color-coded them.

In January I assigned her the job of putting on a family preparedness day  at the local Home Depot.  The manager was so impressed with Fernanda's ideas for children's preparedness games that she forwarded them to corporate.

I am giving my annual guest lecture to the global public health class at That Other University and I asked her to meet with me and brainstorm some ideas. She arrived in my office with an outline, a Powerpoint, and an interactive decision-making roleplay for the students.

I really like the kid, but it's hell trying to live up to her.

Grrrsday

Caturday!