ASSOCIATION

Watching Jeopardy! the answer was: name the Greek god who wore winged boots or a designer scarf.





Gerald and I answered simultaneously, both saying, "What is Hermes?" However, Gerald pronounced it "HER-MEEZE", like the Greek God, and I pronounced it "AIR-MEZ", like the scarf!

The difference in association!

GENERAL GRANT AND THE JEWS

Mona Lisa asked me to re-print the Sue's News posting from 2012 as she had an argument about Ulysses Grant.

      WHEN GRANT EXPELLED THE JEWS

I attended the Fayette County Historical Society Civil War Program at the Fayette County Museum. The Ulysses S. Grant Homestead Association from Georgetown, OH, which maintains the boyhood home of Grant, provided the program which celebrates the life, history, and legacy of Lieutenant General Grant during the Civil War and as the eighteenth President of the United States. The displays regarding the daily lives of soldiers, weapons, and photographs of Grant were very interesting to me, and the performers, attired in their woolen Civil War style uniforms on a hot summer day, were especially impressive.

Lieutenant General Ulysses Simpson Grant was performed by Michael Miller of Georgetown, OH. Grant, born in Galena, OH, moved to Georgetown, OH, when he was 11 months old and resided in Georgetown, OH, until he went to West Point. 

It was good to see someone of the correct physical stature playing Grant: during the Civil War, Grant was 5' 7" and weighed between 135-150 pounds. Mr. Miller's portrayal was a fitting homage to Grant and when Miller completed his speech, he said, "If there are any questions, I would be glad to answer."

I stood and asked, "Yes, General Grant, I have a question: would you comment on your General Orders Number 11?" Mr. Miller looked stunned and replied, "I'm sorry, I don't know about that; could you tell me what it is?" I said, "Yes, it's your Orders where you expelled the Jews from your war zone and you expelled them as a class because of smuggling."

It was actually exhilarating to hear the shocked intake of breath from members of the audience and the titters as people looked to see the questioner. [I love debates about history!] I continued, telling that Grant had been upset by rampant smuggling, but that he had unfairly singled out Jews to punish, when his own father Jesse Grant was also known to be smuggling during that time.  I said, "You might want to read the new book on the subject." He asked the title and I said, "When General Grant Expelled The Jews." Someone close by, within my earshot, said sarcastically, "Did she write it?" A school classmate of mine, Alice, said, "Oh, Phyllis knows what she is talking about--you can be sure of that!" [Thank you, Alice!] My nephew Michael was with me and he whispered, "She had to go to school with you since she called you Phyllis."

Within half an hour, the moderator of the program came to the microphone and commented about General Orders 11. [It was great to know that someone actually cared enough to go quickly to Google, to check my assertion.] When the moderator said that President Lincoln had "overruled" Grant, I said, "Actually, the President RESCINDED the orders."

After the program, I went to speak to Mr. Miller and I complimented his "grace under pressure". His "significant other", who sometimes portrays Julia Dent Grant in performance, said, "That's the first time in 15 years that he's ever been stumped!" Mr. Miller asked how I became an expert on Grant. I said, "Oh, I'm not, I'm much more interested in Sherman."

Several people approached me and said that I should join the Historical Society. I said, "I'm a Lifetime Member!" I guess I should attend more meetings.

The book I mentioned, When General Grant Expelled The Jews, by Jonathan Sarna is on my birthday wish list.

CLICK HERE to read the article at Townhall.com by Jeff Jacoby entitled When General Grant Expelled the Jews.

BUTTER LEAF OR BIBB?

A wonderful friend called and asked if I could use some free lettuce. [As FREE is my favorite word, you now know why I described the friend as "wonderful"] It seems as if a truck was stalled and the refer unit was out and could not deliver on time; the distribution center refused to take it as the refer unit had been out. The produce company said to dump the lettuce. 

Fortunately, my friend was called and she was able to get 3 crates. How many in a crate, you might ask. 24 heads to a crate! My friend delivered a crate to my house. Thank goodness we have an extra refrigerator in the garage.

I immediately put the word out to family and friends--FREE lettuce. I now have 6 heads left.

When my friend called, I assumed it was iceberg lettuce, but when I looked in the refrigerator, I said, "WOW, it's Bibb, I love Bibb!" Les pointed to the label and said, "No, it's BUTTER LEAF." I said, "It sure looks like Bibb!" He said, " Your first indication that it's NOT Bibb is the label on the crate." I said, "I've had butter leaf lettuce when I've bought bags of mixed lettuces, [Yes, I said LETTUCES!] but this looks like Bibb." He said, "Just admit that you don't know EVERYTHING in the world--it's butter leaf!"

Of course I had to check on google and guess what? "Butter leaf" and "butter head" lettuces are also known as BOSTON BIBB.

So there, Les!

PRODUCE PICKS: Butter Leaf Lettuce
By–Michael R. Marks

"For many people, digesting lettuce salads is tough, especially as they get older. So for many older diners, lettuce salad is no longer on the menu.

Whenever George Burns entered a restaurant, his first question was,“Do you have butter-leaf?” Chefs who served Burns knew that when he walked in, the butter-leaf came out of their walk-in. That's because butter-leaf is the easiest of all lettuces to digest.

Cut a head of butter-leaf lettuce in half and you will know how it got its name – from the buttery yellow color inside. It's also marketed as butter lettuce, butterhead, Bibb, Boston or limestone lettuce.

You can also find it still “alive,” hydroponically grown, which I love. The leaves are soft, and the flavor is delicate and sweet. Field-grown butter-leaf retails for about 99 cents to $1.49 a head. The hydroponic lettuce will cost about $3.99, but it lasts a long, long time. You will never have to throw lettuce away again."

CRUMBLING CAKE ll

We made German's Chocolate Cake for Gerald's birthday.  This article is a repeat from Sue's News from 2012.


Les made the best German's Chocolate cake--EVER--for Gerald's birthday. I have been making German's Chocolate cakes from scratch for Gerald's birthday since 1969 and they've always been good. Les has been making them the last several years and each time they've also been good. Les greased and floured the pans the same way as usual, but when he started to release the cakes from the pans all three layers were stuck to the pans (We are blaming the use of "old" Crisco).  He did everything he could think of to get the layers to release, but one layer was torn apart into three sections; the second layer had some some chunks remaining in the pan and the third layer had just one piece adhering to the pan. I said, "Make extra filling!" We pieced the first layer together and added the filling; we camouflaged the second layer with filling and on the top layer, we heaped on the filling.

Julia Child would have been proud of us!

That damned cake got rave reviews. We had six guests for dinner and each had a piece of cake and I sent pieces home with some people. Gerald asked, "Why were you sending my cake home with people?" I said, "Because it's so rich we can never eat it all and I'd have to throw some away." He asked, "What did Les do differently--the cake was better than usual?" I said, "We only make it once a year!"

Les finally told Gerald about the Crumbling Cake and our artwork.

HOW TO DRIVE PEOPLE CRAZY

FROM MONA LISA

HOW TO DRIVE PEOPLE CRAZY


1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice!
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to Espresso.
5. In the memo field of all your checks, write "for marijuana".
6. Skip down the hall rather than walk and see how many looks you get.
7. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
8. Specify that your drive-through order is "To Go".
9. Sing along at the opera.
10. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you have a headache.
11. When the money comes out the ATM, scream "I Won! I Won!".
12. When leaving the zoo, start running toward the parking lot, yelling "Run for your lives! They're loose!".
13. Tell your children over dinner, "Due to the economy, we 're going to have to let one of you go".

AND THE FINAL WAY TO KEEP A HEALTHY LEVEL OF INSANITY:

14. PICK UP A BOX OF CONDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.

CLANDESTINE

Recently I watched a documentary about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and I vividly recalled how we were gathered around our television set as President Kennedy addressed the nation.

In his address, President Kennedy used the word "clandestine";  he pronounced it CLAN--DUH--STINE instead of CLAN--DES--TUN. Although I was a teenager, I thought I knew the correct pronunciation. I could not believe that MY President had mispronounced a word. Mother said, "He was probably just reading from cue cards and stumbled over it."

I was torn--of course, I wanted to be right--but I didn't want my President to be wrong.

I rushed to our one lone dictionary and it gave only my pronunciation, not his. The next day I went to the library and I checked three different dictionaries. All gave only my pronunciation.

After that, every time I would hear the word clandestine, I would recall the President's pronunciation.

After watching the documentary, Les said I should I check all the internet possibilities. I learned that the President's pronunciation is British.

I said to Les, "He studied at the London School Of Economics; he probably picked it up there."

Les said, drily, "Just like Madonna and Gwyneth sounding British!"