June 5 is NATIONAL GINGERBREAD DAY.
My brother Norman loved our mother's gingerbread and one of my "signature dishes" now is my mother's gingerbread with lemon sauce. My recipe from my mother:
GINGERBREAD
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup Brer Rabbit molasses (Mother was name-brand loyal)
2 1/2 cups Gold Medal flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
Cream together sugar and butter. Beat in egg and mix in molasses. In separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake for approximately an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.
LEMON SAUCE
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
Mix sugar and corn starch together. Gradually stir in the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve warm over gingerbread.
Today, at a fundraiser, a friend said, "Oh, you're always dressed up; you never look frumpy." I answered, "That's my goal in life; never to look frumpy."
Later, at home, I mentioned the conversation to my brother and he said, "She should see you in your gardening outfit!" I laughed and said, "Oh, that's shabby chic!" He said, "In your alliterative dreams, maybe!"
I said, "I don't think I've heard the term 'frumpy' used in years." He said, "What's the difference between that and dowdy?" I said, "They're synonymous, I think."
He asked, "How about frowzy?" I said, "I'm going to look it up!" He said, "Look up slatternly while you're at it."
FRUMPY: dowdy and old-fashioned
DOWDY: unfashionable and without style
FROWZY: scruffy and neglected in appearance
SLATTERNLY: dirty and untidy
I commented, "Isn't it interesting that all of these derogatory terms are reserved for women?"
At a get-together, a male friend who is my contemporary, was engaged in a lengthy, lively conversation with a much younger female friend of mine; Later, I commented to him that I was surprised that they had so much in common.
He chuckled and said, "Yeah, she was flirting with me." I said, "What? Don't you know that she's GAY?" He answered, "I'm not so old that I don't know if someone is flirting with me!"
Later, I told the younger friend about the conversation I'd had with my friend, by saying, "You're going to think this is hilarious; he thought that you were flirting with him."
She laughed and said, "I WAS flirting with him!" I replied, "I can't believe that; he has a son your age!"
She answered, "Hey, he's still an attractive, interesting PERSON; always want to keep those skills honed."
My mother always said, "We do the right thing because it's the right thing to do." When I first heard Martin Luther King say, "The time is always right to do the right thing." I told Mother, "That sounds like you." She said, "Well, I'm older; he must be borrowing from me."
Yesterday, in discussing current events with my brother, I asked, "Why is doing the right thing so stunning these days?"
He answered, "Maybe it's because we aren't used to seeing integrity any more."
We admire Sally Yates, the former Acting Attorney General, who was fired because she was doing her job, but she still did the right thing when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Deputy Attorney General Ron Rosenstein did the right thing in appointing a Special Counsel; we wonder how long he will last. When Senators McCain and Graham make their rare criticisms of the current Administration, we jump to praise them for doing the right thing.
Mitch Landrieu, the Mayor of New Orleans, did the right thing when he ordered that four Confederate monuments be removed, but he received criticism, protests, and death threats. He stated, "You elected me to do the right thing and this is what it looks like. These monuments purposefully celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy, ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement and terror that it actually stood for."
The "leakers" who are being castigated by the current White House occupant, are heroes for doing the right thing, just as Mark Felt was a hero for doing the right thing.
It was reported that "12 noted artists" refused to paint the official White House portrait of the current resident of the White House. My brother commented, "Too bad Peter Hurd is dead, he would have done a masterly job!"
I was reminded of LBJ's acerbic quote when he viewed his first official White House portrait: "That's the ugliest thing I ever saw." LBJ refused to have the portrait displayed in the White House; the portrait is now housed at The National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.
Peter Hurd was the artist who painted that "famous/infamous" portrait. Hurd was an accomplished American landscape and portrait painter, working mainly with subjects of the American Southwest. Hurd studied with N.C. Wyeth, along with fellow students Andrew Wyeth and Andrew's sister Henriette Wyeth. Hurd and Henriette married,
Among the artists who have refused the commission to paint the portrait of the current White House occupant are: Liza McHenry, who painted both the official White House portraits of George W. Bush and Barack Obama and Gregory Buchman, who painted Ronald Reagan's official portrait. In a letter, Buchman wrote:
Dear Sirs or Madams:
It is with no regret at all that I turn down your offer to paint Donald Trump to look formidable, respectable, and credible on the walls of the White House for future generations. It is not possible for me or any other artist with integrity, to paint this con man, buffoon,and utter impostor in a way that would appear intelligent, wise, magnanimous, erudite, courageous, stable, responsible, principled, or leaderly.
He is none of those things.
I will not dishonor my fellow artists, bamboozle the American public, or deceive history by painting him to look as if he ever had the qualities to be the President of The United States, even if I could. As an alternative, I might suggest you locate one of those $5 caricature artists on the sidewalks of New York and get them to do a clownish likeness of this presidential pretender, an astoundingly criminal, albeit horribly, dangerous commander-in-chief.
Yours respectfully,
Gregory Buchman
Not--Your--Shill Artist
After wearying second shifts for me, Muhammad, the Supervisor of Maintenance on third shift, would offer me a ride to my car, while driving his 3-wheel cart. During those few minutes, we had good conversations, and I admit that I used these conversations to "schmooze" and ask favors to get things fixed because he had the authority to gauge priority.
Everyone, except for me, called him "Mo". One night, I asked, "Muhammad, are you all prepared for Ramadan?" He said, "Well, thank you for knowing about Ramadan; we're having problems finding a goat." I asked, "Do you need one already dressed or on hoof?" He stopped the cart, turned to me, obviously surprized, and asked, "Do you know of any way to get one?" I answered, "Sure, a friend of mine raises goats." He asked, "Where does he live?" I chuckled and said, "Well, SHE lives in my county." He asked, "Would she sell any?" I said, "I'll call her tomorrow and ask her the cost, etc."
The following day, I called my friend and after three days, Muhammad came from Springfield to purchase the goat, and visited with us in my home. He said they would be using the goat to roast for Eid-al-Fitr. Afterwards, Muhammad mentioned my kindness several times.
John, my best friend--at work--was a friend of Muhammad's and he made the amusing accusation that my "goat-arranging" was just to have my requisitions to be given top priority. He said, "Yeah, I heard you buttered up Mo by saying Ramadan Kareem; what the Hell does that mean?" I said, "You can say that, it means, 'Congratulations, it's Ramadan', or you can say 'Ramadan Mubarak', that means 'Generous Ramadan'; both are rather like saying Happy Ramadan." John responded, "Do you think I can get my tools fixed faster if I say it?" I laughed and said, "You better learn about Eid-al-Fitr!"
Ramadan is celebrated worldwide by members of the Islamic faith. It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, this year from May 26 to June 24. Ramadan is the commemoration of the date that the Prophet Muhammad received the Holy Quran and the month-long observance ends with the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr.
I have indeed been fortunate to know a number of people of the Islamic faith. I have been invited to their homes for dinner, shared joy in weddings and other celebrations, and at funerals, to share in their grief.
