12/29/02

Woke up at a reasonable time this morning...only slept for about four hours.

I want to bring the term "Jive Turkey" back into regular acceptable usage.

It's not racist, sexist, or vulgar (as far as I know)... and it's goofy enough to make sure that there is a minimum of hard feelings.

If I annoyed someone with my opinion, and he or she petulantly muttered "Jive Turkey"... I don't think I'd mind much. I'd probably laugh, and ask for their take on what was being said.

Another term I've not heard in a while is "Neutron Bomb". Has all research into those things stopped? Are they still feasible, but just not the trendy weapon of destruction, now that bioweapons are popular?

a year ago - how to diaper a monkey, (dead link), newt meds, holiday prezzies, hoogerbrugge, midget village, shopping, eclipse.

two years ago - noodles, sweetie showed me bejeweled, Dan stress, Jell-O flavors, snot production.

Feeling creaky... off to the showers with me!

Can't sleep. Making up for my snoozing late this morn?

Wishing I had some square sheets of paper, to make some star wars origami for Newt to fetch.

"Get the X-wing! Git it! Git it! There's a Porkins-shaped treat in that one! Yum!"

Not wanting to read, which is what usually knocks me out.

I'm looking for patterns in the shadows, window-shopping on ebay for weirdness, Newt's sleeping at the foot of the bed.

I've got a craving for a homemade bierock sandwich and a glass of beer. I haven't had one since the early 80s... I would lunch at Brent's Gramma & Great-grandma's house (with Brent, of course) on the odd Saturday, after helping out around the yard and doing assorted chores. Faux-Gramma Ashland made a sandwich in a bread pocket with a filling of ground beef, sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings. It was fantastically filling and tasty meal, especially when she'd slip some swiss cheese in there (infrequently). I probably ate a thousand of those things over 1983/1984. Note...I've never had one with a glass of beer. She served 'em with milk. That woman took great joy in feeding me, and I enjoyed eating what she set out, a sweet arrangement all around. (Best food I ate that decade, I'd wager.) She'd chide Brent terribly about how picky he was... He would always have grilled cheese or a grilled bologna sandwich with tomato soup. That was it. No bierocks, no homemade liverwurst, no goblin-fart bread, no cabbage or kraut. He wouldn't even eat potato pancakes. Little wonder he was so thin.

I bet I could make some outstanding (and far more healthy) ones with "soy beef". I'm not sure what seasonings she used...let's see what the internet says...quite a few hits just say salt and pepper to taste.... some less palatable looking than others. I'm going to go with this one. Looks pretty simple, though I've never made anything inside a bread shell before.


Krautranzen or Bierocks - 4 servings

Dough

1 tsp salt
2 tbsp (scant) active dry yeast
3 1/2 c bread flour
1/2 c lukewarm water
1 1/2 c lukewarm milk
Dissolve yeast in warm water until bubbly. Heat milk to lukewarm. In mixing bowl combine shortening and sugar and beat well. Add eggs and beat. Add milk and salt.

Gradually add 3-3 1/2 cups flour. If using mixer with dough hook, finish according to machine directions. If kneading by hand, turn dough out onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top of dough. Cover with plastic wrap, set in warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk.

[hooray for scotto's bread machine, and it's dough feature!]

Filling

1 lb lean ground beef [replacing with 'soy beef']
1/2 c soft shortening
1 medium-sized head of cabbage
1/2 c sugar
1 large onion, chopped
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet brown beef and season. Drain off excess fat. Add onion and cabbage and steam until cabbage is tender. Salt and pepper to taste and cool.

Punch dough down. Divide in half and roll out onto lightly floured board. Roll dough into 12"x24" rectangles. Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Divide half of the filling equally on each square. Wet edges of dough with water. Bring opposite corners of squares together. Pinch edges together tightly. Place, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet. Cover lightly and let stand in a warm place until light. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Bake at 350 degree F. for about 15 minutes. Brush with margarine while still hot. Cool. Serve warm or cold.

From Mennonite Foods and Folkways From South Russia by Norma Jost Voth.

It's so strange to think that those days are so long gone... I can remember some of the goofy jokes and conversations we'd have over doing lawn duty, picking up pine cones and hedge cuts into trash bags. Talking about Vladimir the evil spy, Scout Troop 395, Pete, designing the Delsig, programming on the new Apple ][e.

Harpo Marx was an undercover agent for J. Edgar Hoover, running secret documents out of the Soviet Union.


FBI chief 'recruited' Harpo
By John Harlow in Los Angeles
23dec02

IN the golden age of Hollywood, Harpo Marx was the definitive clown - a wild-haired mute in a dirty raincoat who chased women, sounding a loud horn.

Yet the most anarchic of the Marx Brothers - in order of age, Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo and Zeppo - was a secret agent for the US government. J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, was so impressed he wanted Harpo to work for him as well, according to US records to be released soon.

The 165cm-tall comedian was inducted into the dark corridors of espionage in the winter of 1933 when - after the commercial failure of the slapstick comedy Duck Soup - the brothers agreed temporarily to go their separate ways. Joseph Stalin, who was a fan, authorized a six-week tour of the Soviet Union for Harpo, a skilled harpist and mime who played with comedians across the country.

At the end of the tour, Harpo told his family, he was asked by the US ambassador in Moscow to take home some "diplomatic mail", which he was instructed to conceal in his socks. The nature of the documents remains classified.

Marx Brothers enthusiasts who heard these stories after Harpo's death in 1964 were unsure whether to trust them, but the records indicate there was more than a grain of truth in the comic's tale.

Hoover spent much of his tenure as director of the national police force from 1924 to 1972 seeking allies to fight communist infiltration of the Hollywood community.

One letter from the FBI archives, signed by Hoover in 1949, congratulates Harpo on his "loyal past services" to his country.

Hoover hoped they might meet in the near future, saying: "There may be ways that you can help your country again."

Although Harpo went on to entertain US troops during the Korean war, his family believes he felt his spying days were behind him.

His widow, Susan Fleming, who married him in 1936, still lives in Los Angeles. "Who knows what might have happened? Harpo Marx could have been the first James Bond," a friend said.