Etmooc Third Anniversary Challenge Part 2

Okay, I love Etmooc and how it continues to morph and change. Just read a post from Alan Levine (two posts actually) and as usual they were a hoot! The CMOOC that wouldn't die! and the accompanying poster looking at the long life of Etmooc. Well, there is a reason for that and today's nominee is one of those reasons.

Rhonda Jessen has influenced my thinking, kept me engaged (even when I want to curl up under a blanket and read rather than post) and is one of the founders of Post Etmooc, a fellow zombie and a DS106 cooking partner.

Little did I know when I started Etmooc, that I would find a great educator to share the experience of immersing myself in multiple online communities. Sometimes I think that is the secret to collaborative learning; that of finding not necessarily like minded people, but people who are willing and giving of themselves, to share an exploratory journey fearlessly. Three years later I know I can send an email and ask, "Do you have time to do a radio show?" "Feel like being a zombie this weekend?" or a "I am swamped and can't make it!" and know that I will get an encouraging response. This has been especially important this year as I have not been engaged online as much as in the past. Knowing that I can still reach out, even after a few months of no contact, allows me to be present fully in both the physical and digital space without it impacting negatively on each other, without stressing about performance and participation. Once again, it comes down to remaining engaged positively and keeping a good life balance.

Thank you Rhonda for that positive engagement!

The 3Ts Cooking Show: DS106 Recipe #4 Debreziner Sausage with Salsa Cruda Dessert: Honey Apple Pie

Welcome to the the Three Ts Cooking Show where we explore taste, texture and thyme, because we always have time for cooking. And time for true friends! We’re your hosts, Rhonda Jessen and Karen “Bossy” Young.

Recipe #4 Debreziner Sausage with Salsa Cruda:

Serves 4-6 people

For this recipe I modified (hacked) this recipe from Fine Cooking.

4 Debrizener sausages

1lb of penne pasta

2lbs of tomatoes, chopped, with seeds removed

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1/2 English cucumber, chopped

1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/3 cup dill, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

1/2 cup virgin olive oil (good quality)

salt and cracked pepper to taste.

Combine all herbs, vegetables and oil and let rest for at least 15 minutes. If you want to change the flavour profile a bit you can also drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the tomato mixture.

Put the pasta water on and salt the water if preferred. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.

Warm the sausages on the stove until heated thoroughly. Debreziner sausages are already pre-cooked. Remove from the stove, slice thinly and add to the salsa cruda.

Drain the pasta, shake to remove the excess water and add to the salsa cruda mix. Stir and serve.

Honey Apple Pie:

This recipe is from Margo Oliver's Weekend Magazine Cookbook published in 1967. Truly one of the best cookbooks I have ever used. I cannot recommend this cookbook highly enough. It's so good I am attempting to find copies for each of my sons! 

Apples today are sweeter than the apples used when this cookbook was published. The apples from my parents farm that were planted over a 100 years ago are much, much tarter than today's apples. There were many more varieties and apples were a staple for both cider (hard and soft) as well as cooking. As you couldn't trust the water to drink at least you had cider, wine or ale. (Read the Pleasures of Slow Food for a great discussion on what happened to apples after WWII) So this is one of the few recipes that I cut down the amount of sugar she uses.

For the pastry, I prefer to use a food processor to cut in the fat. My hands are not cold enough to rub the fat into the flour and create the tiny fat beads that make for great pastry. And remember, resting your pastry in the refrigerator is crucial prior to rolling it out. Let it warm for about 10 minutes before you roll it out.

Standard 2 crust Pastry

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup lard or 3/4 cup shortening, chilled

1/4 cup ice water

Place the flour and salt in the food processor. Spin for 5 secs. (Or just place it in a bowl and stir with a fork.)

Cut up chilled fat and place chunks on top of flour. Pulse five times and spin for five. (Or coursely cut in the fat with knives or pastry blender into the flour.) 

Pour flour/fat mixture into a bowl and spinkle 1 tbsp of water into the flour at a time. Use a fork to mix it in until all the flour is damp. Gather into a ball and press firmly. \

Divide into two, shape into a ball and flatten slightly. Chill for half an hour.

Remove from refrigerator and let rest for 10 minutes to half an hour. 

Roll thin on a floured board or pastry board. Roll from centre rather than back and forth. Roll out until 1 inch larger than the pie pan. Lift on rolling pin and ease pastry loosely into pie pan. 

Honey Apple Pie:

Make 1 batch of Standard Pastry.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated is better)

6 cups of sliced peeled apples

1 1/2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup liquid honey

1 tbsp grated orange rind

Roll out pastry and place in bottom of pie pan. Mix sugar, nutmeg and apples. Place in pie pan, dot with butter.

Roll out remaining pastry and cut into 1/2 inch strips. Moisten bottom edge of pastry with water and make a lattice top with the strips, sealing them to the bottom pastry. Turn bottom pastry over the strips and flute to make a high edge. Cover edge with strips of aluminum foil to prevent browning.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until apples are tender and the pastry is golden brown. 

Combine honey and orange rind. Remove pie from the oven and pour honey minture through the openings in the lattice when the pie is baked. Return to the oven for 5 minutes.

Serve warm or cold.

Rhonda

It is lonely where you are.

You are alone.

No human can rescue you.

But we offer love and companionship, friendship and food sharing.

Embrace the zombie horde.

We love you, we will cherish you, we will savour you.

Come into the light so we might welcome you.

On Behalf of @barbiez2013 (who needs to start a blog for the good of humanity!)

WHY RLJESSEN'S "I SURVIVED ZOMBIES ON FRIDAY THE 13TH" IS ZOMBIEST, BLONDIST, ELITIST AND, ULTIMATELY, ANTI-AMERICAN

(POSTERS NOTE:  I am posting this on behalf of my girl @barbiez2013 because she can't figure out how to use this "computer dolly thingy" -- her words, not mine.)

As I sat and read @rljessen's bloggy thingy, tears welled up in my once almond shaped eye.  (I'm down one eye -- I think it's somewhere in Piedmont Park, reward for safe return.) 

@rljessen makes it clear that she is not only anti-Zombie, which can be excused as necessary for survival, but she is also an elitist who regards blondes, and other non-academics, as worthless.  This stance ultimately makes her dangerous to all of us as Americans, whether Zombie or human.

Her prejudice is illustrated by the following:

1.  She makes the ridiculous suggestion that ALL Zombies are headless.  This is totally untrue!!!  I, and all my Zombie girlfriends (including, but not limited to, @karenatsharon and @ATLSockMonkey), still have heads that are very intact, thank you very much.  Sure an eye has been lost here and there.  An ear perhaps  . . . but heads are all accounted for.

Don't think we don't recognize this thinly veiled attempt to associate headlessness with terror and fear from childhood.  We all read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."  You are quite simply pandering to baser instincts and should be ashamed.  Just because I don't have a PhD, doesn't mean I can't read, Ms. Jessen, or Dr. Jessen.  Whatever!

2.  Your suggestion that your fellow professors have lost their value because they are now Zombie is equally insensitive.  Have you been playing this game? Have you even been watching?  Have you seen how we have banded together?  #girlpower  How family bonds have traveled through to the undead lifestyle? @allistelling and @ATLSockMonkey.

Maybe you haven't been reading, but you should.  You should read before you speak -- especially when you have young, innocent, yummy brain-filled, warm blooded, yummy, young, nubile, yummy   . . .  students who look up to you.

3.  I'm too emotional to speak about your comments relating to my zombie, sister-girl @karenatsharon.  Suffice to say, she continues to live a full and vital life and is valued by her new Zombie family.  In fact, she is standing up for me at my wedding tonight.

4.  You encourage cowardice.  How can you feed into such Zombie stereotypes?  You know,  we are not in a 1940s horror movie!

Are we watching?  Yes.  As you sleep in your beds at night?  Maybe.  While you cook dinner for your yummy little human children?  Perahps.  That's all beside the point.  I haven't eaten you yet, have I?  Not yet . . .

All of these points clearly demonstrate that you have no regard for anyone that is different from you, whether they be blonde, or Zombie, or non-professor types.  Your continued use of this vibrant forum to attempt to turn humans (both American AND even Canadian I am now told) against Zombies is just plain wrong, Madame.  Left unchecked, who knows what you can do.

Consider yourself checked AND #overrun.

Sincerely,

Ms.  Millicent Udeceased a/k/a @barbiez2013