Reading and writing train our people for logic, grace and precision of thought, and begin a lifelong study of the exceptional in human existence. I think literature is the history of the soul. Writing should be a journey into worthy perception.
Barry Hannah, The Daily Mississipean, I forget what year.
The first time I had to write a teaching philosophy, I began with this. Years later, I no longer begin my pieces with quotes, but I still adore and believe in this particular statement, particularly since I’ve begun teaching graduate students. RIP Barry Hannah, who was one of the great ones.
One of my personality flaws is my perpetual dissatisfaction with pancakes. I’m always and ever in search of the platonic recipe, and all variations inevitably fall short. This one is pretty good, but it hasn’t ended my quest.
I’ve had the recipe squirreled away for months, ever since Megan at Rhubarb Pie blogged about them last October. Then someone linked to this post on Orangette about a similar recipe. Clearly, I had to make them. I threw the batter together last night and tucked it away in the fridge. What was in the bowl this morning was too runny to hold a shape on the griddle, and so I ended up adding around 3/4 cup more flour to them. They were good. We ate about half and I froze the rest. But my quest is not ended.
You are going to have to operate your analysis of meaning without the solace of closure; more on the basis of the semantic raids that Benjamin proposed—to find the fragments, to decipher their assembly and see how you can make a surgical cut into them, assembling and reassembling the means and instruments of cultural production.
Mister Husband came home with half a pound of fresh lump crab meat last week and asked for crab cakes. I’ve always loved them but never made them myself because it seemed … hard. Somehow.
Turns out they’re really not at all difficult. I came home on Thursday evening, received said request, looked up a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated Online (well worth the subscription), and put these together. They were so good we ate them before I had a chance to take photos.
I cut the recipe by 2/3, since our half-pound of crab meat was $15 — quite enough for the two of us, given the richness of the ingredients.
1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup juice from 2 lemons
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 1/2 pounds crabmeat , picked over for shells
1 1/4 cups Saltine crackers (1 sleeve), crushed into cracker dust
4 scallions, minced
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1. Combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and Old Bay in large bowl. Reserve 1/2 cup sauce for serving.
2. Fold crabmeat, saltines, and scallions into remaining sauce until combined. Form crabmeat mixture into eight 1-inch-thick patties.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add 4 crab cakes and cook until golden brown, 21/2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to platter and tent with foil. Repeat with remaining oil and crab cakes. Serve with reserved sauce.
