google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday October 3, 2009 Bruce Venzke and Stella Daily

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Oct 3, 2009

Saturday October 3, 2009 Bruce Venzke and Stella Daily

Theme: None

Total blocks: 32

Total words: 68

I am so curious about the original clues for this puzzle. They can't be so straightforward that even I could finish without much trouble.

There are seven grid-spanning fill in the Across. The stacking did not intimidate me at all. Several just popped up to me immediately with only a few letters penned in:

14A. "This can't be true!": YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS

17A. 25-Across's WWII command: EUROPEAN THEATER. And DDE (5A. WWII general who became pres.). We often see the abbreviated ETO clued as "DDE/IKE arena", nice to see its full name

31A. Scorned notion: HARE-BRAINED IDEA. Like the Cash-for-Clunkers, no?

37A. Oil and vinegar concoction: ITALIAN DRESSING. My first thought is vinaigrette.

38A. "Back off!": DON'T GET TOO CLOSE

55A. Title guy asked to "play a song for me," in a Byrds hit: MR. TAMBOURINE MAN. I only know Bob Dylan's version.

57. Cause of many traveling delays: AIR PORT SECURITY. And VAN (46A. Terminal-to-hotel transport).

Across:

5. __ Rouge: KHMER (kuh-MAIR). The Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, just like the Han people in China (We have 56 ethnic groups in China). I am a Han. Rouge (red) is due to its communist party status.

10. Sch. support groups: PTAS (Parent Teacher Associations). No such support groups in our school.

18. Algae on the beach: SEAWEED. Nori (sushi wrapper) and kelp (dashi soup base) are probably the most popular edible seaweeds.

19. Semaphore user's output: SIGNALS. Sema is Greek for "sign". Phore is a suffix for "bearer/carrier". New word to me.

20. "__ Blu Dipinto Di Blu": 1958 hit: NEL. Italian for "in". The song title is literally "In the Blue Painted Blue" or "Volare", Italian for "To Fly". I can never remember it.

22. Nursery bed: CRIB. And COTS (50D. No-frills beds).

28. Devilish tot: IMP

39. SASE, e.g.: ENC. SASE = Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. You've got to attach a SASE if you want an autographed card from those baseball players.

41. Not much: A TAD

48. Kind of fingerprint or code: GENETIC. Genetic fingerprint = DNA testing.

51. "Is it worth the risk?": DO I DARE. Nope, I don't dare, to eat a peach.

59. Davis of "Do the Right Thing": OSSIE. Always want GEENA.

60. Words before ghost or doctor: SEE A

Down:

1. Tars' affirmatives: AYES. Tar/salt/gob, all slang for sailor.

2. Licentious sort: ROUE. Roué is pronounced as roo-EY. Did you guys want RAKE again?

3. Certain something: AURA. I like the clue.

4. High martial arts rank: BROWN BELT. Only know black belt.

5. Get ready to pray: KNEEL

6. 1950s tennis great Lew: HOAD. Nailed him this time. He's a two-time Wimbledon champion (1956-57).

7. Part of a range: Abbr: MTN

8. Inexact nos.: ESTS (Estimates)

10. Beethoven's instrument: PIANO. See, you don't see Rich Norris repeats any clue. It's "Upright, for one" yesterday.

11. Nincompoop: TOTAL IDIOT

12. "The Mammoth Hunters" author: AUEL (Jean). Also the author of "The Clan of the Cave Bear".

13. Lith. et al., once: SSRS (Soviet Socialist Republics)

15. French for "sword": EPEE. Oh, good to know.

16. __ Park: Queens area near Forest Hills: REGO. No idea. What's the name origin of this park?

22. Scold: CHIDE

23. Boca __: RATON. A city in Palm Beach, Florida.

24. Ollie North's '80s "affair": IRAN-CONTRA. Is Ollie a nickname for Oliver?

25. "Divine Comedy" writer: DANTE. A Hell of a writer.

26. Inflicted upon: DID TO

27. Collapsed company chronicled in the 2005 documentary subtitled "The Smartest Guys in the Room": ENRON. Watched it immediately after its release. Not impressed.

29. Club for smart guys and girls: MENSA. Spanish for "stupid"(feminine adjective).

30. Alerted, as a doctor: PAGED

32. Important: BIG. As in big potato, slang for an important person.

34. Want-ad abbr.: EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity). EOE = Equal-Opportunity Employer.

35. U.S. Army medal: DSC (Distinguished Service Cross). Can't be DSM (Distinguished Service Medal) because medal is in the clue.

36. Martha's Vineyard natives, e.g.: ISLANDERS. Did not come to me readily.

43. Gets as a return: REAPS. You reap what you sow.

44. Prefix with sphere: ATMO. Atmosphere.

45. Book, to Bolívar: LIBRO. Spanish for "book". New to me. Bolívar is chosen for alliterative purpose.

46. Express, as an opinion: VOICE. Can't be OPINE because of "opinion".

47. Japanese aborigine: AINU (AHY-noo). The native language for "person".

48. Exam for a Wharton Sch. hopeful: GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test). A test for MBA hopefuls. I think GRE can be a substitute.

49. Port on its own lake: ERIE

51. Eins plus zwei: DREI. 1+2=3, in German.

52. Gallic girlfriend: AMIE. Cher ami (male), Chère amie (female).

53. Interest percentage: RATE

54. Pop musician from County Donegal: ENYA. Well, who else could it be, with the "County" tip off? One name singer can only be SEAL, SADE and CHER. Did I miss anyone?

56. __ Constitution: USS. The oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world.

Answer grid.

C.C.

40 comments:

Argyle said...

Good Morning, C.C.,

You can add BONO(from U2) to the list: SEAL, SADE and CHER. And He is Irish, too.

Argyle said...

Re: Rego Park

In 1923, Rego Park was named as such by its developers; Rego being simply the contraction of "Real" and "Good." The Real Good Construction Company bought up the land and carved out a grid of crescent shaped streets. Along these they built more than 500 Tudor-style one-family attached and detached homes.

An extensive write-up is on this site, if anyone cares. One interesting part of its history: "By the close of the 19th century, the colonial farm families had been replaced by Chinese farmers, who leased the land on which they grew their own crops to sell at the markets of Chinatown."

Martin said...

54. Pop musician from County Donegal: ENYA. Well, who else could it be, with the "County" tip off? One name singer can only be SEAL, SADE and CHER. Did I miss anyone?

Other than BONO, as Argyle mentioned, there's ELVA but she's clearly not Irish. :)

Martin

Anonymous said...

Wasn't familiar with Rego Park.

Enjoy the weekend Jeannie!


RSD

Andrea said...

Morning -

Had to hit the g spot a few times this morning, mostly up in the northern region... first time for that in ages. I put Bono first, which threw me for a bit of a loop, but eventually got it sorted out. Got most of the stacked 15s from the partial fills.

Off to get ready for company for the weekend.

Enjoy the day.

Andrea

windhover said...

The Lexington H-L carried another LTTE this morning complaining that the puzzles are too difficult. If I don't write, I'll probably be back to the abomination known as the Commuter puzzle soon. If I do, I'll be in the category of "idiots who write letters to the editor about frivolous topics". Sort of "between a rock and a soft (headed) place".
This was a nice puzzle, sort of a Wednesday/Thursday puzzle in the "old" system. (Three months ago). The late week puzzles, as I've said before, often hammered me. I guess people just want a fill in the blank validation of their ego. As Old Blue Eyes himself sang, "I get no kick" from that. We'll see.
RSD - If Jeannie is having a good weekend, she probably won't see your note.

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning,

C.C. I guess you are the BIG POTATO, but I am more familiar with the term BIG CHEESE

A very straightforward Saturday, though it was nice to remember THE BYRDS and their ties to with BOB DYLAN .

Off to the beach, enjoy the day.

kazie said...

A really nice puzzle for me today. I liked the long fills and didn't need any help other than perps here and there. A couple of short-lived missteps: IKE for DDE, CAB for VAN, other than that, enjoyable smooth sailing.

C.C.,
I wonder if you meant SEMA was from Greek--it definitely isn't German, and my Webster's says it's Greek for sign.

Thanks for the Dylan link. I compared his Newport version with his later one with the Byrds. Interesting to see the difference.

Argyle,
Thanks too for Rego. We have a family here with that last name, but no connection, I'm sure, since the park's name is a concoction.

My husband's office is sponsoring a pig roast downtown today, but the weather is very cool (mid 50's), so I'm not too keen on spending much time there. I hope it doesn't scare too many other people off.

tfrank said...

Good morning, C.C. and all,

All those stacked 15s were intimidating at first, but turned out to be easily solveable (if that's a word). I got the first one from having seen recently rental car commercials starring tennis star McEnroe with his patented "You can't be serious" line. Favorite clue was Many a Yemeni.

I have not been posting much lately due to other obligations, but I have been solving the puzzles, reading the blog and most of the postings.

Jean is slowly recovering her ability to work puzzles. This week she was able to solve Monday-Friday puzzles with only an occasional tip from me. She can now read a novel (heretofore she could not remember plots) and recently plowed through James Michener's "Space" tome.

The hurricane season is over for South Texas. The experts say there has never been a hurricane after our first cold front or after the pelicans have returned from wherever they go in Summer. We have seen both things happen recently.

Have a great weekend. Cowboys vs. Broncos Sunday. I assume you Vikings fans are estatic over Favr's heroics.

kazie said...

TFrank,
Great news of your wife's progress!

Lemonade,
I also was only familiar with big cheese, but forgot to mention it before.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I WAS intimidated by all those 15 letter blank stacks. Given our current level of difficulty, I should have known better.

I ran into some trouble early on, anyway. I entered BATON (5A) and BLESS (5D). I knew very quickly that wasn't right and after correcting 5D to KNEEL, I spelled 5A KYMER. I knew Lew YOAD wasn't right, but I was tired of messing with that section and came back to it later when my "lightbulb" went on and I remembered HOAD.

Everything else went very nicely and the holes in my picket fence filled in without problems. I did have BONO (54D) the first time around, but MR TAMBOURINE MAN was a gimme, so ENYA was my second choice.

C.C. I've never heard of BIG potato as slang for an important person. In addition to CHEESE, I think WIG, GUN and KAHUNA are all more common.

Windhover, I can't imagine that your fellow Kentuckians think the current LAT puzzles are too difficult. Ever thought of running for governor? Good luck with your one person letter campaign.

PJB-Chicago said...

G'morning.
Overall, the fill seemed Ok, but nothing close to the Saturdays of yore. Clues were drab, methinks. Hate to come down on the constructors (Stella Daily has co-written some fine puzzles before this), but am wondering how much the clues were sanitized. If the letter WHover read in his paper was written in the last few weeks, I find it hard to conceive that anyone still wants easier puzzles than this on a Saturday. The 15 letter stacks were a little bland but still admirable and, best of all, easily gettable.

Call me cranky this a.m. --lots of car alarms going off after midnight, so sleep was iffy! Going to the market later will put a smile back on my face, I promise.

Couple goofs. Had BATON instead of KHMER in 5A, and ATAD in 41A looked wrong but wasn't. The 29D clue for MENSA struck me as bizarre with "guys and girls." Doesn't the word "guys" usually pair with "gals" or, heck, even "dolls"? And "boys" with "girls?" And I know (hope?) that I wasn't the only one to want BLACKBELT instead of the BROWN one (4D).

Time to get out the door to support my cheese/herb/ vegetable habit. The "spice girls" and "herb pushers" always make laugh, but I still don't like tarragon or onion powder. Those lovely ladies are like drug dealers by offering you a few free sprigs or a half ounce of something nasty-ish, in the hopes that you'll get hooked and come back to buy it at full price!

JD said...

Good morning CC and all,

At first glance I thought I was in trouble because of the long fills. I was surprised because they were very doable, and although I take longer than most, this was quick and over too soon. As usual, many times I fill in answers that I do not understand, like European theater, but CC , you always explain.
I had one empty square when "done"-hadn't noticed.The H in Hoad/khmer stymied me. I started my glorious tennis career in the 60's (LOL), but CC, how do you remember soo much?

Had to sing nelbludipinto... for that one..hope the melody leaves my head soon.. That's like those songs you hear but never see, so the words are not too clear.We discussed some of those songs awhile back.

Debauchee has good vowels; is it ever used in c/w? Rake= Clark Gable. Roue=??????

Argyle, real good Rego Park info

Windover @ 9:10...LOL

tfrank, good news about Jean!

Clear Ayes said...

Cranky@10:24, PJB, you're not alone. I had BLACK BELT the first time around too. BTW, I don't think I could ever organize a poetry anthology. My choices would be too many and too much all over the map. I wouldn't be able to figure out how to arrange them. For anyone who is interested, there are so many poems available on the internet, all you have to do is type in a name or a subject and there are usually dozens, or hundreds, right in front of you.

tfrank, I'm glad to hear that Jean is feeling better.

C.C. "BIG Shot" is another important person.

WM, I hope your husband is doing well after his surgery.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Argyle,
Thanks for the REGO Park information, really good.

Kazie,
You are right. Sema is Greek for sign. I've corrected my mistake. Thank you.

Lemonade & Clear Ayes,
I think I picked up "big potato" from Chris Matthews.

JD,
ROUE= Don Juan/Casanova or perhaps David Letterman? I've never seen Debauchee in a Xword before. When are you leaving for Africa? And how long will you be there?

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Frank,
Did you read the article I linked at my post yesterday?

Dot,
I always print an answer sheet when I download the puzzle.

Jeannie,
I must have gained 5lbs just by reading your posts. Did not know you are such a serious foodie.

Chickie said...

Hello All--Good thing I started out knowing European Theater and DDE because it gave me enough of a boost to try the other long fills. I did enjoy the puzzle, and was able to get all of the fills today without help. The perps pretty much filled in enough for me to get the rest of the long answers.

CA, I loved your picket fence reference as my grid looked the same way. That described it perfectly.

I didn't know Hoad and had misspelled Kamer (Khmer) Rouge so relied on C.C. again for that one area. I also had one blank square in the SW corner--the G for Genetic code, just overlooked it when I thought I was finished.

Touring the USS Constitution is a real thrill. It is amazing how the sailors were able to move, live and fight aboard such a small ship by today's standards. Going down into the inards was amazing. this tour is well worth the time if you are in the Boston area.

T-Frank, I'm so glad to hear that your wife continues to improve.

Beautiful fall weather for us here in our area. We need to enjoy it while we can. Have a great weekend everyone.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Al & Jazzbumpa,
Forgot to say that I enjoyed reading yesterday's carbon information. Al, "element/molecule of life" sounds very lyrical, no wonder PJB wants to use it.

WM,
I was unaware of your husband's surgery until I read Clear Ayes's post. Hope all is fine.

Buckeye,
No picture to share with us?

Jerome said...

C.C.- You'll have to forgive me for being a thief. It's not my natural inclination. However, you're about to be robbed!

Dante- "Hell of a writer"

It's an unwritten crossword rule that constructors may steal clues from others if it's done only in moderation and the purloinor notifies the purloinee.

Thanks!

embien said...

10:02 today. A bit easier than Friday's puzzle for me, even though themeless (which is not usually my favorite).

My main problem was confidently putting in BLACK BELT instead of BROWN (I solve "downs first") and that took a good while to sort out as it crossed 6 of the stacked 15's (at least the BELT part was right or I would have been in serious trouble).

Interestingly, EON was my last fill. I just couldn't see that being a "facetious" response--seemed too literally correct to me.

c.c.: I loved your response to Dante. A "hell" of a writer, indeed!

Mary said...

I enjoyed today's puzzle, although the 15 letter stacks crossed with 3 & 4 letter perps are not that difficult. The old pattern of 6 x 6 letter corners were much harder. I kept looking for a theme, but see that CC agreed there was no theme.

My favorite clue was 'many a Yemeni'. I put Baton with Rouge, but kneel forced me to rethink there. My singing husband knew the clue from Volare. He'll be the one singing it all day.

Al, thanks for yesterday's chemistry lesson. Between that and Jeanie's yummy recipes I'm remembering Frederick Pohl's book Beyond the Blue Event Horizon. It features the CHON food factory, where you can order any food you want, all synthesized from carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, the most common elements in the universe.

We're still feeling the let down from Chicago's Olympic failure. It's not like with the Cubs where you just say "wait till next year."

Dennis, I hope your tests go well and the doctors' stop-leak recommendations work out.

Bendoregonphoto, welcome to the blog. I found it through googling answers too.

Health, happiness and chortles to all of you.

Mary said...

Jerome,
I always love to see how constructors think.
:)

tfrank said...

C.C.

I missed that link yesterday. Thanks; very interesting. I suspect common interests of any kind help to seal most marriages.

Anonymous said...

Not too difficult today again, but liked it being a little of a challenge. I always love when I can get those long fills.

Another one word singer would be PRINCE, albeit not a four letter one. Absolutely not Irish either.

Hope all have a good weekend. Gotta spend time with my hubby while he is home. Only one day at a time.

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon everyone.

tfrank: such good news about Jean's progress.

My poor spelling kept me from getting Khmer even tho I knew the answer after getting kneel, and I had now clue about Mr. tambourine Man. Had all but four letter in, too. But this level of difficulty is just right for me. So it must be way too easy for most of the posters here.

Cheers

Annette said...

LULU (of "To Sir With Love" fame) is another 4-letter singer's name.

Rake=Clark Gable. Roue=Caesar Romero?

tfrank: That's wonderful progress!

The HOAD/KHMER cross tripped me up. I wasn't familiar with either one, even after seeing the answer.

Jerome: Good catch. We'll be on the lookout for that clue in a future puzzle of yours. :-)
CC: It was a great turn of phrase! It sounds like you're ready to try some constructing, if you haven't already.

Besides all the caring people on this blog, I really like the expanded information. Examples: The chemistry lessons from yesterday, and the Rego back story today, the links everyone shares with examples. Even when the puzzles may seem a bit easy, the advanced lessons learned from the other bloggers still make it an enjoyable learning experience!

kazie said...

I was surprised at how many of you didn't know Lew Hoad, but I guess you had to be there. Lew Hoad was one of the earliest Aussies to become world famous as a tennis player, born 1934 in Glebe, a suburb of Sydney. He was frequently matched against Ken Rosewall, born the same year also in Sydney. Another was Rod Laver, a leftie, born 4 years later in 1938 in Rockhampton, QLD.

They were all stars when I first learned to play tennis as a kid in Oz. I think all of them got to play and sometimes beat Pancho Gonzalez too. Maybe the others will come up in future puzzles.

Warren said...

Hi C.C. & gang, my wife and I did the puzzle in pencil today (hard copy enlarged from the paper). The only clue that stumped us was the crossing of Khmer with Hoad - the tennis guy was before my time (the first one I remember was Rod Laver) and we didn't remember how to spell Khmer...

For C.C: it turns out that there are 14 karate levels

For Jeannie: We're going to make your meatloaf recipe today, it took me a trip to two different markets to find Shiite mushrooms -- my wife said it was worth it since you said it was the secret ingredient.

PJB-Chicago said...

Back from the market of many farmers, where I stocked up on cheese, basil, arugula, apples and 3 kinds of potatoes. Then a trip to my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's for breakfasty stuff, lemons, and chipotle garlic salsa. Bought my first pomegranate ever and a nice employee showed me how to cut & eat it. S'posed to be healthy. Will keep y'all updated!

At the store, noticed that many people have hair that "makes a statement" such as "My assymmetrical bob makes me look edgy" or "My bangs mean I'm way trendier than you" or "Pink streaks in my hair define me as unique." And "Don't I still look like a frat boy with a cool mop like this?"

Caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the elevator, and it dawned on me that my own hair is pretty much just a desperate cry for help. : - }

C.C. Yes, your Dante phrase is classic and clever. Will be fun to see what Jerome does with it! The line I borrowed from Al re: carbon & life played well. The "boys need more safety features" bit purloined here also always gets lotsa applause. Gracias a todos.

Time to iron and shine shoes. Bad hair men need to dress sharp.

Clear Ayes said...

More singers with four letter names, albeit not from Ireland: Pink, Seal, Moby and Sade. I suppose Edge, also from U2, wouldn't count since technically his stage name is The Edge. He is from Ireland however, so that should count for a half point.

JD said...

CC, we leave for So. Africa on the 11th and return on the 26th. We're very excited.

Kazie, Hoad must have been "hot" before Rosewall and Laver. Like Warren, he was before "my" time. But, who could forget Laver's left arm?!

Perfect Fall weather..blue skies, slight breeze, about 74.Life is good.

Sorry about Chicago.

JD said...

Lots happened on this day in history:

1849 - American author Edgar Allan Poe was found delirious in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland under mysterious circumstances; it was the last time he was seen in public before his death.

1872- Bloomingdale's dept. store opened in NY

1955- Both Captain Kangaroo and Mickey Mouse Club premiered. The 50's sure had a lot of good clean family programs. What happened?

1963- Haiti was hit by a hurricane killing 5000. We're relieved that the season has ended for those of you living in the danger zones.

1990- East Germany and West Germany merged to unite into one Germany.That must have been quite a day...lots of beer consumed.

1994- Gary Larson announced that he would no longer be doing his "Far Side" cartoons- what a loss. He is my favorite.There was a room dedicated to his work in the museum in SF...hm, but it was just remodeled.

1995- OJ Simpson was found not guilty of killing Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman

2003- Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy was attacked by one of his show tigers, ending their show in Las Vegas.The show on TV last year was really sad.

2008- The 700 billion bailout bill for the US financial system was signed by Pres. Bush.

windhover said...

Warren:
Make sure you're facing East when you toss in those Shiite mushrooms.

kazie said...

1990- East Germany and West Germany merged to unite into one Germany.That must have been quite a day...lots of beer consumed.

Yes, today is Germany's new National Day, the day the final agreement was signed in 1990. The wall came down on November 9, 1989, but they couldn't make that the national day because it's the same date as Kristallnacht, when the Nazis broke the windows and burned so many Jewish businesses in 1938.

DCannon said...

Not a bad puzzle today. Got most of the long ones right away. I got "DDE" and "European Theater" right away, so I was off and running. The only two that really gave me trouble were "drei" and "Enya" but I got them from fills and then had to look them up for confirmation. Oh, and "Rego," which came from fills, also.

Clear Ayes, I had "Kymer" at first, too, even though I knew better. Most of what I know about tennis and tennis stars, I learned from crosswords, so the names don't come readily to mind. As soon as I got "Khmer" corrected, I remembered hearing about Lew Hoad.

Even though it is fun to have the easy fills, the difficult ones are more interesting.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

We went to the kids' soccer game this a.m., then were off to T-Town. Nate had 4 shots on goal, no scores. Samantha had her head in the game, for a change, and it seemed like she actually cared about what was going on. Their whole team played really well, and got a shut-out 2nd week straight. Nate finished the game in goal, and made a couple of nice saves.

Worked the puzzle in the Blade at my mother-in-law's, but it was different from the one reported here.

Other than that, for S E Mich sports fans it was worm quiche Lorraine for breakfast, worms en casserole for lunch, and worms with fava beans and a nice Chianti for supper. Red Wings (for some reason) opened the season against the Blues with two games in Sweden. In each, they managed to blow a 2 goal lead, and lose. Total of 9 goals against in two games. Wolverines took their 4-0 record into E Lansing to play 1-3 State. Spartans won in O/T but dominated throughout.

No team has ever managed to lose the pennant after being three games up with 4 to go. No guarantee the Tigers will achieve that unprecedented feat, but it's looking more and more likely. They just stranded 2 in the 8th, and trail 4-1. Pitching has been awful, and hitting nonexistent. Even with Verlander starting tomorrow, this looks very grim.

Now in the ninth, Sox have two on and no outs. Ah well . . .

Cheers! (you Twins fans)
JzB the wrong-puzzle-working trombonist

Jeannie said...

C.C. are you insinuating that my recipes are high in fat? Really, they aren't. Just all natural ingredients. I don't have a single boxed item in my pantry besides good pasta. I work with some Mom's that make Hamburger Helper of all things...I know it's fast and easy but comeon, you can make your own hotdish (that's Minnesotan talk for casserole)without adding a season packet that you can't even pronounce the ingredients.

PJB, I am glad you enjoyed the tomato/basil soup.

Warren, let me know how you liked the meatloaf.

Windhover, not too much escapes you does it?

RSD, thanks. I have enjoyed my weekend so far.

I came home with some braeburn apples and decided to whip up a quick apple crisp.

Peel, core and slice your apples; toss with about 2 tbslpn of flour, one tblspn or cinnamon and grind some nutmeg (or about 1 tspn of dried) add about 1/4 cup of sugar and mix all together. Layer in a pie pan.
For the top mix together one cup of oatmeal (uncooked), one cup of light brown sugar, and one stick of butter. I use my hands and it turns into a crumbly mixture. Spread over the top and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour. I serve it warm with ice cream. Two words...Yum-Yum.

Jeannie said...

I just re-read this recipe and it's not OR cinnamon but OF cinnamon plus the nutmeg.

TFrank, good to hear Jean is doing better. I forgot she has been battling depression. If I remember right, one of the featured photos here was of you and your lovely wife on an anniversary dinner. She looked happy and lovely then too.

Jazzbumpa said...

Jeannie -

We were just talking about apple crisp. Very timely.

In the last few months, I've been grinding fresh nutmeg whenever we need some. Compared to the canned stuff, which is pretty good in it's own right, fresh ground is not only stronger flavored and more aromatic, it also has more flavor complexity. Pre-ground powder must lose a lot in storage.

For anyone who likes and uses nutmeg, I strongly recommend grinding it fresh. I use the side of a cheap box grater. with the smallest holes.

Forgot to mention the Lions travel to Chicago tomorrow, the site of their last road win, which I think was actually in the current century! My prediction: worms la-bourguignonne, with nutmeg, of course.

Here are some more pix of the lovely Elva Hsiao. Nutmeg not needed.

Cheers!
Jzb the spicy trombonist

Jeannie said...

JZB, I have had the same jar of "nuts" called nutmeg for about two years. They keep like crazy and you are right that they go a long way. I have invested in a couple of these I have the spice one and the parmesan cheese one, that I also use for mincing garlic. I also have the big grater that is lethal. Watch your knuckles when shredding cheese on that bad boy.