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Orphaned Tidbits

Didn’t rise enough. I has sad.

My recipes have funny tidbits at the end. This was the case for my sourdough-bread recipe. I wrote up the recipe. I wrote the tidbits. Unfortunately, I didn’t come up with a recipe worked for me. But I still had the tidbits for the sourdough recipe.

And here they are, the Orphaned Tidbits:

1) Ancient Egypt got a big jump on civilization compared to its Mediterranean and Near Eastern neighbors. Why was Ancient Egypt so advanced? It was the first nation to bake sourdough bread. Sourdough bread originated in ancient Egypt around 1500 BC.

2) Rome didn’t even get founded until 753 BC. It didn’t start conquering until about 250 BC.

3) Rome’s empire did not derive from vast amounts of sourdough bread. Oh sure it had some. (See Pistoria Uvam Massam Panis by Flavius the Younger.) Rather, Rome conquered the Mediterranean and parts of Europe with its vast, superbly trained army. So, global importance arises from sourdough bread and big armed forces.

4) The Unites States operates a huge military. America also has lots and lots of sourdough bread, especially from San Francisco.

5) China also possesses an immense military, but relatively few loaves of sourdough bread. China is also powerful, but not as much as America.

6) Sourdough starters have been found in Egyptian tombs, indicating that the Egyptians baked sourdough bread. A hieroglyph in a Theban temple depicts Keith Richards baking sourdough bread for Pharaoh Amenhotep II.

7) In 1620, Yeoman Keith Richards sailed on the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock. He ,brought sourdough starters with him. Soon sourdough baking spread all through the 13 colonies. Not so much, in the mother country, Great Britain. This is why is America is the more powerful nation.

 

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Tostada Shells

Mexican Appetizer

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TOSTADA SHELLS

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INGREDIENTS
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6 corn tortillas
1½ tablespoon olive oil (½ teaspoon on each tortilla side)
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SPECIAL UTENSILS
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baking sheet
aluminum foil or parchment paper
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Serves 6. Takes 20 minutes.
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PREPARATION
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil Place tortillas on foil so that they don’t touch each other. Use brush to spread ½ teaspoon olive oil on each tortilla side. Bake for 7 minutes at 400 degrees. Flip tortillas. (Be careful.) Bake for another 7 minutes or until tortillas become crispy like a tortilla chip.
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Remove from heat and cool on plate cover with paper towel.
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TIDBITS
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1) Tostada is an anagram for DA toast. Because district attorneys everywhere have loved tostadas, as who does not? However, DAs have an especially deep and abiding love for tostadas that transcends national boundaries and the centuries. If you wish, I can direct you to volumes of research by culinary lawyers.
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2) The tostada craze first infected jurisprudence when in 1920 Pablo Erickson bribed a Manhattan DA to mount a particularly feeble prosecution. Of course, Mr. Erickson was as a guilty as sin, but he was a great chef. (All Mexican-Swedish chefs are. It’s in their blood.) Anyway Chef Erickson served a tostada to the DA each and every day of the trial. Of course, the jury acquitted Pablo. However, this decision astounded the nation. Newspaper headlines screamed, PABLO ACQUITTED IN ERICKSON v GOODNESS.
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3) Hardened criminals took note and bribed DAs everywhere. Our streets teemed with ruffians and bad eggs. The height of our judicial system illness occurred from 1920 to 1933. How do we not know this? Because the Great Tostada Corruption (GTC) coincided rather closely with Prohibition. Sure, GTC and Prohibition spawned corruption, but the bootleggers also emphasized violence. Illegal tostadas simply could not compete with hooch for newspapers headlines. Now you know why DA never let people take their pictures while they are eating a tostada.
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– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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A Fine Outcome

Farine du Ble sat down. She spent all day cleaning that room. What for? No one ever used it. Still she tidied. Her muscles ached. Now it was time for reading. She openned her book, Dress Patterns and the Women Who Made Them. She soon imagined herself making fancy dresses for the First Lady. Little by little she drifted from day dreaming to dreaming.
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A few hours later, bricklayers sealed off the room; apparently someone else thought the room to be useless. She noticed not. Farine’s tired muscles ensured that only the dead would wake her. Which they did as soon as she had used up the oxygen.
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And now they’ve found her; her book still open. One of her descendants has a gigantic library fine waiting for him.
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– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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I Finally Celebrate My Birthday

My birthday was in the first part of May. Normally, the natives and I would have celebrated back then. But then a nasty strain of Covid struck. Immediately after, came a severe ear blockage. About a month later, I went to the emergency room with horrible pains. It transpired that I had a severely infected gall bladder which had to be removed immediately. Because of the surgery, I couldn’t do any bending, twisting, or lifting anything over ten pounds for six weeks.

Well, I got better. I even think that the antibiotics given me for the surgery and the weeks afterwards helped unclog my ears. Yes, I am a multi-tasking over achiever.

Today,  I made an angel f00d cake and chocolate frosting. I used my kitchen stamps to make letters, numbers, and designs out of old, blue fondant.

 

Happy delayed birthday to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Flags of the World – Triangles, Part Four

 And now, the:

ROLL CALL OF FREEDOM

13. Equatorial Guinea

Here, blue stands for the bountiful ocean that laps at Equatorial Guinea’s enchanting beaches. Green stands for the nation’s green plants that grow through the miracle of photosyntheis. White represents the white blood cells that defend the citizens from nasty bacteria. Red stands for the nation’s mythical red bunnies that will protect Equatorial Guinea in times of great need. Note the small blue triangle to the left. This represents (I’m really need to look up synonyms in my Thesaurus for “represents.”) the tenuous hold the trianglistas have on this troubled land. Please send thoughts and prayers to Equatorial Guinea.

The flag’s coat of arms indicates this nation’s committment to unity, peace, and justice. The green tree in the coat of arms symbolizes green trees. These trees provide shade for picknickers.  The five stars indicates the average grade-level of literacy. This is fine, as everybit of linguistic knowledge after that is only needed for specialized knowledge such as econometrics or archeology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14. Eritrea

Eritrea fought a long war for independence. This flag clearly represents the aspirations of the trianglista revolutionaries. Eritrea’s flag contains not one, not two, but three triangles. (And three is a special number in many cultures.) The red triangles refers to tomatoes, yum, and to the land’s armed struggles for self rule and independence. The laurel wreath harkens to the one in the United Nations flag. (Note that their copyright infringement does not apply to flags.) The weird thing in the middle of the wreath symbolizes the claw prints of the reclusive mok-mok bird.

The green triangle stands for green things. The blue triangle indicates blue skies and blue waters. It’s important to note that these two triangles are orthogonal. Together with the red isoceles triangle this flag manages to incorporate just triangles into its rectangular flag. That last big is a bummer, but still an “A” for effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.  Guyana

This flag was chosen through public competition. Cool. More countries should try this. The color white symbolizes the nation’s waters. Aren’t oceans and lakes blue? Perhaps white is a nod to white-water rafting.  Red stands for sacrifice, just like the red-shirted crews in Star Trek(tm). Black means the nation’s perservance in building a brighter future. Yellow symbolizes Guyana’s mineral deposits and egg yolks. (I need my egg yolks cooked through because of allergies.) Green refers to the land’s abundant vegetation.

Together, the yellow triangle and the white trim harken to the emblem sewn onto Star Trek uniforms. This symbolizes the nation’s desire to go boldly into the future. Best wishes, Guyana. Please note that this happy land starts with one triangle ends with two. This is as it should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

16. Jamaica

Jamaica is the home of excellent reggae music and fantastic jerk chicken. I wish these two things could have made their way into this flag, but I suppose that would have been hard to do. Anyway, the Pan-African colors of black, green and yellow were placed around the cross of Saint Andrew. The two black triangles stand for hardships that will be overcome. Yellow symbolizes the Jamaican sun.” The two green triangles refer to this land’s beautiful greenery. And well done, Jamaica, for putting four triangles in your flag. You rock.

 

 

 

 

 

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– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Wanda Wunder Wonders About Murderers

I mean every single episode.

Wanda Wunder #41

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Life Tips – What to do on a Rainy Day

1)  Stay inside.

2) Or go outside, if you prefer. I’m not going to be dogmatic or controlling.

3) If you opt for option 2), please use an umbrella or drive with the windows up.

4) Look out the window to see if it’s still raining.

5) If it is, say, “Look, it’s raining.”

6) Wait for people in the room to say, “Yes, sure is.”

7) Binge watch TV.

8) Play Risk(tm).

9) Learn quantum physics. It’s difficult, but it can be done.

10) Take up painting.

11) Take up latch hooking.

12) Contemplate the turning points in Carl La Fong’s life.

13) Conjugate your Portuguese verbs. Don’t let this slide. You’ll never know when you’ll end up in Brazil.

14) Make whopee with your partner.

15) Nap. Catch up on your sleep debt.

16) Look at pictures of kittens and puppies on the internet.

17) Avoid surgery.

18) Stay inside. It’s still raining.

19) Contemplate the infinite while looking at the ceiling.

20) Call Carl La Fong. It’s been such a long time and he’d love to hear from you.

21) Call home. This is especially easy when you’re home.

22) Read a book while taking a bath.

23) Pretend to book a flight to Madagascar.

24) Make a machine that says, “Repeat,” over and over to any automated online menus.

25) Before going to bed, look out the window and say, “If wonder if it’ll rain tomorrow.”

 

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Testing the Calendar

 

My stunt double

Is today July 11?

*My stunt double looks at calendar*

*My stunt double looks at date on cell phone*

They are in accord with each other.

Today is indeed July 11 and our 2024 calendar is correct.

It’s nice to know.

 

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Flags of the World – Triangles, Part Three

In Part One, we saw how geometry haters tyrannized lovers of triangles. We also discovered how geometry made better living possible. In Part Two, we learned of the terrible rivalry between circles and triangles. When, oh when, will trianglistas ever bask in the sunshine that is peace and security?

Perhaps quite soon. Here in Part Three we learn of more nations incorporating triangles into their flags. Perhaps very soon we’ll amass enough triangle loving countries to form a United Nation for Triangles. Please, make this so. And now, the:

ROLL CALL OF FREEDOM

9. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Here, blue means peace, red stands for blood of martyrs, yellow represents prosperity, and the star symbolizes hope for a brighter future. (I would have used the Sun, because the stars at night while big and bright deep in the heart of Texas, don’t illuminate much. But to each his own.) Notice the placement of the two triangles. The upper-left triangle stands for the those who are rich and whose political views lean to the left. The bottom-right triangle symbolizes the lower classes and those whose views are more conservative. Thus, entire flag cleverly represents the hope that rich and poor as well as the liberal and conservative factions in politics can unite in mutual respect and harmony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Cuba

The revolutionary who designed this flag wished for Cuba to join the United States. The white star, in his vision, would later become one of the stars on the American flag. This vision,  remained unfulfilled and Cuba would go communist. (This is a real bummer as Cuban food takes its place as one of the world’s best cuisines. Cubans also love baseball and cars. What more do you want?) The blue stands for blueberries, the white for purity of ideals, and red for the blood shed during the wars for independence. The angles of the triangle represent: liberty, equality, and fraternity. Go, Cuba, go!


 

 

 

 

11.  Czechia

The flag symbolizes national unity. Czech places it sole triangle at the left, a place of honor, as what righeous country would not? The two quadrilaterals represents tolerance for all views and presents an olive branch to the land’s quadrilateralic (a new word) separatists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Djibouti

Blue represents the Somali Issas and green, the Muslim Afars. The white triangle stands for peace. (White triangles continue to be a potent symbol around the globe.) The red star represents the unity of Djibouti. (Another good thing.)

 

 

 

 

 

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– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

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Misheard Lyrics of The Cars

Their brilliant song “My Best Friend’s Girlfriend” immerses us into a world of envy, abandonment, regret, and betrayal as can be seen in:

“(Here she comes again)
When she’s dancing ‘neath the starry sky
I kinda like the way she dips

“Well she’s my best friend‘s girl
She’s my best friend’s girl
But she used to be mine”

But didn’t you hear dressed instead of friend’s?

“(Here she comes again)
When she’s dancing ‘neath the starry sky
I kinda like the way she dips

“Well she’s my best dressed‘s girl
She’s my best dressed girl
But she used to be mine”

She doesn’t leave the protagonist because his best friend is more attractive and smarter than he. Instead, she severs the relationship because the singer is distressingly shallow. He desires her only for her impeccable taste in clothes. He cannot accept the breakup. He places himself where he see her coming toward him. He does this many times. He’s become a stalker. This kinda changes the meaning of the song. And now, the incorrect lyrics.

Misheard lyrics #20

 

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

­My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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