#honestly this is just a modified version of French bread

[adarkrainbow]

To conclude my series of posts about "Frau Holle" (honestly this character is so cool, why isn't there more of her alongside other "great archetypal fairytale witch-goddesses"? She's clearly equal to the likes of Baba Yaga), I will share some elements highlighted by Cyrille François in another article which focused on the brothers Grimm's edit of their fairytales... The article initially covers how the story of "Frau Holle" evolved from the Grimm's first collect/first edition to their final "product", the one we know today.

Because if you didn't know, yes the brothers Grimm collected faithfully all sorts of oral tales around them... But the fairytales we know today are edited versions of the text they collected. For example, when they collected several variations of a same fairytale, they tried to fuse them into one story (this is why the German "Little Red Riding Hood", or rather "Little Red Cap", has two wolves instead of one). They also were known to modify their tales to make them more "German" because their entire point was to collect and preserve purely German folklore. They notably removed all French elements from the fairytales - elements unavoidable since before them THE dominating continent of fairytales was the French one, but elements hated since the French were perceived as the enemies and invaders of Germany... This is why the first edition of the brothers Grimm fairytales contained German variations of purely French stories such as Puss in Boots, Blue-Beard or "The Orange Tree and the Bee", that the Grimms promptly removed upon identifying their French origin ; and this is also why in the first-edition version of several fairytales we can find terms of French origin ("Fee" for "fée", "fairy" or "Prinz" for "prince"), that the Grimms also promptly erased...

Here are some key points of the evolution of "Frau Holle", from the first edition to the last:

In the first edition, the good girl went to the well to fetch water. This made the story closer to its "ancestor" and French counterpart, Perrault's "Diamonds and Toads". By the second edition onward, the girl goes to the well to spin straw ; this was also made to highlight the presence of Frau Holle, which in German legends is a figure associated with spinsters and weaving. It also makes the story more cohesive.

Up until the 1837 version, the text is unclear and vague enough that a possibility is left open: the girl might have thrown herself into the well as an act of suicide, caused by despair. Of course, the Grimms couldn't have that - after all the heroine of a fairytale can't be rewarded for trying to kill herself - and so from 1840 onward it is explained that she jumps in the well to fetch back what fell at the bottom.

In the original version, there is no mention of anything between the moment the girl falls down the well and when she wakes up - later editions precise explicitely that she lost consciousness as she fell, to highlight how the transition went from one world to the next.

In later edition, the brothers Grimm decided to add a mention of the girl's courage and braveness when she accepts Frau Holle's other, as a way to highlight how spooky and threatening the character must look, and how counter-intuitive the choice to serve her is.

The brothers also added several details here and there for practical effect: for example they added that she removes the bread with a baker's shovel (before we didn't know how she removed it), or that she doesn't just pick the apples but also puts them neatly into a pile.

As usual, but it is no surprise to those who know the Grimms: just like in "Hansel and Gretel" or "Snow White", here the wicked stepmother used to be the girl's biological mother, similar to Perrault's "Diamonds and Toads". But the Grimms, due to their worship of the mother figure and the idealization of the family decided to turn the bad mother (such a horrible idea!) into a wicked stepmother (an outsider entering in the family to break it apart, now that's acceptable). [The text notably points out M. Tatar's chapter within her "The hard facts of the Grimm fairytales" called "From Nags to Witches: Stepmothers and other Ogres"]. The change from mother to stepmother also helps the Grimms "rationalize" the mother's favorotism, due to the bad sister being of her own blood.

Originally the character of the bad sister was more akin to the one of "The three little men in the forest", and her main crime was to answer in a bad and dishonest way to the various entities she met in the otherworld. The Grimms only decided later to highlight her main "crime" as sloth, by adding the element of her pricking her fingers to make it believe she spun thread until she bled, as her sister did.

Finally, the Grimms, still out of their desire to present family as some sort of fundamental and essentiel value, changed the passage where the girl wishes to return home. In the original text, it is just said that she grows sad living at Frau Holle's house, and thus demands to leave. In later editions the Grimms explicitely added that the reason for her melancholy was because she longed to return home and to her family: as such, they again point out that, in the moral system they developed, the faithfulness to the family, even if they treat you badly, is a virtue and a sign of goodness. (Again, we all know how fucked up this can be and how fucked up this entire moral ended up becoming in other centuries, but again, that was the Grimm's big thing... They were ALL about family, these two.)

#frau holle #brothers grimm #grimm fairytales #mother holle #fairytale evolution #fairytale history #fairytale analysis #german fairytales

[themauvesoul]

Ok since ive been asked

@kat-stratfords-ponytail here is how to make my pizza bread. U will need:

5-6 cups of flour

1 packet of yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

2 cups of warm water

Some spices

Ur preferred pizza cheese

Ur favorite pizza toppings

An unspecified amount of corn meal

1 egg’s worth of egg whites

2 bowls

1 baking sheet

A rolling pin

DISCLAIMER: I just made this shit and I’m not making it again. so you don’t get pics. Sorry.

Anyways to start off put 2 cups of flour, the salt, the yeast, and your spices in a decent sized mixing bowl. What spices, u ask? Idk. Pick what seems like it’ll taste good. I grow a lot of herbs so I usually put fresh basil, parsley, and oregano. Maybe some garlic and onion powder. Perhaps some red pepper flakes. There are no quantities with the spices. U feel that shit in ur heart.

add the 2 cups of warm water. U gotta make sure that the water is warm bc that’s what activates the yeast. Too cold, and your bread will not raise. Too hot, and you will kill the yeast. So like. U know the perfect hot shower temp?? That’s roughly how hot ur water should be. Anyways add the water and then mix that shit until it isn’t clumpy. So like. Stir it aggressively for a minute or so.

Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time. Basically for this bit you’re just drying out the dough until it’s workable. So like. Once you’ve added enough flour it’ll be impossible to stir. At that point u gotta get in there with your hands and knead it until the dough sticks together enough that you can pick it up with relative ease. Once you’re at that point, lightly flour your counter and turn the dough out. Knead it until it’s nice and firm (8-10 minutes). Once you’ve gotten the dough to the point where it forms a nice little ball, grease a bowl and stick the dough in there. Put the ugly side down and then flip it over, so the whole dough ball is greased. Then cover it, and let it sit for an hour.

IF YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO GREASE A BOWL: pour some oil in a bowl and spread it around with ur fingers. What oil? Any oil. Olive oil. Vegetable oil. Whatever you’ve got lying around your kitchen. It doesn’t really matter the oil is just to make sure the bread doesn’t stick to the bowl.

IF YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO KNEAD BREAD: I’m not writing out all that. Go look up a YouTube tutorial please.

Ok so you’ve let your bread sit out for an hour and now it’s fucking MASSIVE. punch down that bitch! Put your fist in the middle and press until it deflates. Then u gotta turn ur dough back out onto the counter, which is presumably still messy from when u were kneading it. Let ur bread sit for another ten minutes.

While ur bread is resting, start preparing ur toppings. I typically use pepperoni, banana peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Theoretically you can use anything.

Ok so ur bread is done resting. What ur gonna wanna do is grab your rolling pin, lightly flour it, and roll ur dough out into a 9x15 rectangle. Ish. The dimensions do not have to be exact. Once ur done rolling out the dough, sprinkle your toppings on. Be sure to leave about 2 inches of space on the short ends and an inch of space on the long ends. When you’ve got all your toppings laid out how u want, roll that bad boy up!! Seal off the roll by pinching all along the seam, and then pinch the ends together. If you want the ends of your bread to look pretty, you can fold the very ends over and pinch that to make sure it stays.

Once ur bread roll is all pinched together, grab ur baking sheet and sprinkle some cornmeal where your bread is gonna go. Be generous. We ain’t greasing this shit, so if you don’t use enough your bread WILL stick. Once ur pan is all situated and properly sprinkled, grab ur bread roll and put it in the middle of the cornmeal, seam-side down. Let that bad boy rest for another half hour or so.

Preheat ur oven to 375 degrees. Idk what it is in Celsius because I’m American and too sexy for math. While ur oven is preheating, take a sharp knife and cut four slits in the top of the loaf. Then take ur egg whites, mix them with a tablespoon of water, and brush the top of the loaf with the mixture.

The oven has finally preheated! Pop that bad boy in the oven! After 20 minutes, take it out and brush it again with the egg white mixture. Bake for another fifteen minutes or until the outside is golden brown and it’s hard when you tap it. Remove from the oven and let cool for however long u have the patience.

#honestly this is just a modified version of French bread #so like. if u know how to make that ur golden

[lovelovetangle]

In Lumiere’s Level 4 Pop’n Sweet Cafe story, MC dines out with the ambiguously gay duo and enjoys Escargot while Yangzi is disgusted at their choices.  Then MC becomes disgusted with Lumiere when he notices all the ways in which she has “enlarged” since meeting and eating out all the time with them, and honestly he should have just shut his mouth and kept sucking up those snails because he ends the story pretty much in The Doghouse.  Oh, and MC declares a preference for balsamic vinegar dressing while Lumiere exclaims that he can’t help but eat baguette with the sauce.

When it comes to escargot I’m #TeamYangzi on this one, so I’m very unaware of the different ways you can eat them but garlic butter seems to be a popular choice.  The recipe had to mention baguette or French bread, and this recipe by the late and great Anthony Bourdain not only fit the bill but made me laugh with his earthy wit.  It’s definitely worth reading, even if you’re #TeamYangzi with me and would never prepare it.

The salad is never specified, but Lumiere asks MC what her favorite dressing is, and she replies that it is balsamic vinegar.  Her choice honestly surprised me since it’s evidenced in previous stories that she doesn’t like the taste of lemon, and I figured it was the tartness she didn’t like.  But then again I personally love lemon and hate balsamic vinegar so maybe the two aren’t so similar.  In any case, I wanted to focus on the dressing for the next recipe, which I found at Chinese Grandma. 

...I actually found the dressing recipe on another food blog saying it was a modified version when in reality the only thing they modified was using sea salt and freshly ground pepper instead of...salt and pepper??  Sheesh. 

#love tangle #shall we date love tangle #cooking with love tangle #lumiere rousseau #escargot #pop n sweet cafe #lr4

[quality-chaos-and-other-qcs]

Just finished Shield

Aaaand now we have the news about the DLC stuff.  So, that’s a thing.

Some thoughts:

Positives

* Marnie is definitely the best of the ‘rival’ characters in this generation, both in terms of design and in terms of character.

* Sadly, that’s not because she’s a really excellent character- she’s alright, don’t get me wrong.  Just.... Bede is an arrogant jerk and.... that’s it.  Hop is an enthusiastic fool and.... that’s it.  There’s really not much character there.

* I like the variety in the gym leaders and other character designs.  It’s especially noteworthy that they’re definitely actual different ethnicities/phenotypes from one another- Kabu is clearly intended to be Japanese (Kantonian?  Whatever the equivalent in-universe is), Milo’s a big triangular goof, and off the top of my head I can’t recall seeing any characters in the Pokemon games ever who’re soft chubchub like Melony is.  The closest you get is the ‘middle-aged mom’ trainers from some of the earlier-gen games.

* THE WILD AREA OMFG

* Wow this game is British.  I don’t know if it’s just the translation or what, but it feels a lot more British than, for instance, the Unova region felt American or the Kalos region felt French.  Some of the pokemon really helped with this too.

* Corsola/Cursola.  Corsola has always been just a tad on the weak side to use reliably when you get to the late-game, so having an evolution for it is nice (even if it’s restricted to the Galrian version), and the relation to coral loss in the ocean works really well.

* Most of the Galarian variants in general, really.  Not only are there some really neat references but there are type-mix coverages and evolutions to things that needed them badly (cough farfetch’d cough) and so on.

* The ability to modify Natures and to Vitamin past 100 EP in a given stat.  The ability to play mostly casually but still be able to squeeze out some extra strength for battling with friends or overcome an unfortunate Nature or save a little time training Effort Values is great.

* HMs didn’t return.  I hope they never come back.  They never really bothered me too much- Surf, Strength, Fly, and to a lesser extent Rock Smash are all perfectly usable, Cut is alright as a backup move, though I have no use whatsoever for Flash, Defog, or Whirlpool- but it feels a lot better to have overworld use of PKMN moves be completely optional.

* Some of the visual design for the various areas is really great.  I loved the neon mushroom areas, for instance.

* Paid DLC rather than a third game or second set of games is a much, MUCH better way to go.  I think the only generation where it was really worth it was B/W, because it was a whole later storyline and you could do things like have the stuff you did in B/W affect B2/W2.  If you can’t do that level of development on the latter part of the generation, there’s no sense bothering with a whole extra game, nevermind two (looking at you, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon).

* Camping and making curry is fun.  I’d really like to also have the ability to interact one-on-one like in the Sun/Moon generation, but it’s fun nevertheless.

* All the Max stuff- from the Gigantamaxes on down- is generally pretty great, with one major and one minor exception.  I even like most of the derpy forms because of the references (Long Meowth is long, gen1 sprite Pikachu....).

* A lot of the stuff for the DLC looks great.  Galarian Zapdos may become the third Legendary ever that I like the design enough to actually use (the first two being Articuno and Terrakion.)

* TMs and TRs.  I love this.  This is really good.  So many moves that can be taught via them.  Keep this forever please.

* Team Yell is not trying to take over the region/world/universe/etc., nor working with the Head Villain.  They just really really like Marnie.  I like this.  Maybe we can start adding more Teams, both non-villainous and villainous, maybe even make it a mechanic or something, I don’t know.  Team Yell aren’t as fun as Team Skull, but I don’t think there’s an organization in the PKMN world at all that is more fun than Team Skull... nobody else will ever be your boy Guzma.

Negatives

* You can’t turn off the EXP Share effect.  I get it, you don’t want people to have to grind, but this doesn’t feel really like it was thought through- I finished the game and some of my team members who’d been on team for the whole game had only fought in maybe twenty or twenty-five battles outside the E4/Champion battles.  I really, really hate the permanent EXP Share and I want the ability to turn it off.  Having it is fine, I don’t care if anyone else uses it or not, but I want to be able to not.  Please can I turn it off?

* The major Max exception- the assortment of NPC assistants for Max Raids is awful.  It’s kind of hilarious to see a Magikarp actually use Hydro Pump, but the NPCs who team up with you are generally just awful.  They never Dynamax even if you don’t Dynamax at all, their move pools are really crummy, a lot of them get wiped out in one shot by Gigantamax ‘mon, making it incredibly difficult to capture Gigantamaxes without several friends in the room with you, when they don’t get oneshot it’s often because they were carrying Focus Sash and for no other reason, you’ll often get horrible random selections (every time I fight a Dynamax ghost I get that guy with the Throh and he literally can’t do anything at all).... the Dynamax Raid battle ally selection just wasn’t sufficiently refined.  You can do better than this, come on.

* The minor Max exception- Gigantamax Charizard.  FFS, why?  I get it, Charizard is kinda popular because dragon and because way back when the TCG started it was a heavy bomb in any Fire deck, but.... it just really rubs me wrong.  It’s the only starter from any gen to get a Gigantamax, and the work being done on Gigantamaxing the Sword/Shield starters for DLC barely makes up for it.  I’m tired of Pikachu- especially the voice clip it uses for a cry- but I’ll live with it because Pikachu’s the mascot.  But I’m SO FUKKIN TIRED of Charizard and only Charizard getting extra bennies.  I think I’m starting to actually hate Charizard.

* There’s only one Wild Area, it only connects three actual locations (two hub cities and a train station), and most of the routes are virtually just straight lines.  Next time, just make the entire region Wild Area please.

* Some weather types (and therefore some ‘mon, both Galarian and not) are not available until completing the storyline.  I don’t like this, and it doesn’t make sense to do it.  Cut that out.  I’m fine with locking the time of day to the storyline outside of the Wild Area until the storyline is complete, but the weather locking is dumb and bad.  Don’t do that again.

* The story is..... uh..... How to put this.  If the stories of all the Pokemon games were breakfast, the story of this game would be a scrambled egg sandwich with soggy limp bacon and burnt eggs on white bread that wasn’t even toasted.  It’s not completely bland, but it’s really, really limp and hasn’t been made the right way.  Honestly, I found most of it outright annoying.  Hop’s alright, but he doesn’t do anything- doesn’t even have a vague attempt at a character arc- a lot of what should have been exciting events either took place offscreen, were horribly bland, or came so far out of left field with so little explanation that I mostly just went ‘oh okay I guess I’m doing this now until I can get back to trying to become champion.’

* Player trainer is customizable, but no moreso than in Sun/Moon (I think maybe even less so?)  Where are the body types, Game Freak?  Where are the long skirts?  The kilts? Long hair for boys? Varied hairstyles? Why are there only three bangs options?  Only three eyelashes options?  The selection here is pitiful.

* OH YEAH THE LIE ABOUT REDOING THE MODELS AND THAT BEING WHY POKEMON WERE BEING CUT

Overall.... eh.  I’d give it a 6, maybe 6.5 out of 10?  If anyone likes Pokemon and hasn’t got Sword or Shield yet, I’d say wait until it’s on sale.  It’s not a full-price Pokemon title right now, and with the pass for the DLC set at $30 American, the overall pricing is... not okay.

They really should have taken the extra time on it, instead of shoving it out this winter.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Sword and Shield #Pikachu #Charizard #Dynamax #Gigantamax #Gamefreak #The Pokemon Company #PKMN #Pocket Monsters #Galar #Galarian #Galar Region #Hop #Rival #Fucking Charizard #Long Meowth is Long #Melony #Kabu #Milo

[number06fan]

All About Air Fryers & Food Safety

Air fryers are one of the hottest cooking trends currently. People are using them in the hopes that they are eating in a more healthy manner but a lot of people are making critical mistakes when using their air fryers that can lead to some major health concerns. Here is what you need to know about Air Fryers and Food Safety.

First things first though: What is an air fryer?

An air fryer is a kitchen appliance that cooks by circulating hot air around the food using the convection mechanism. A mechanical fan circulates the hot air around the food at high speed, cooking the food and producing a crispy layer via the Maillard effect. The Maillard effect which occurs between an amino acid and a reducing sugar in the presence of heat. It leads to alterations in the color and flavor of foods.

Cooking times vary so much with an air fryer compared to an oven or traditional deep fryer and while many people preheat their air fryer many opt to just toss the food in and set the timer. We experienced using an air fryer several years ago through some market research, but honestly it was tiny and wasn’t even worthwhile for a household of 3. Since then things have changed so much and the newer versions feed a family quite well, but the real question is: how safe is this?

There are websites that tell us things that we should avoid but a lot of those include but are not limited to allowing the air fryer space to “breathe” when you decide where to place it. Personally I like mine to have the most room it can have so I make sure that it isn’t too close to any walls or anything. I also like to use it near the vent in the kitchen just because I am not really big on food smells.

Air Fryer Reviewed really hit on some legit food safety concerns though:

Cooking Several Times Without Cleaning In Between

Ever been to a fried food takeaway joint and been hit by that unattractively strong smell of seasoned oil?  It’s not pleasant at all.  If you treat your air fryer like a deep fryer, expect it to smell like one. Cleaning it out once a month will have your kitchen smelling like a deep-fried take-out restaurant.

You may also notice your deep fryer will smoke a lot more if not cleaned after every cook; this can negatively affect the taste of the food. And lastly, you’ll put yourself at a much higher risk of food contamination if you do this.  Aim to clean your air fryer after every meal that’s cooked in it.

The air fryer isn’t difficult to clean.  Just use hot water with a bit of dishwashing liquid.  Let the basket soak as long as it needs so you don’t have to scrub off baked-on food.  Three minutes of your time will keep your air fryer fresh, your tummy safe and your kitchen won’t stink.

Cross Contamination Concerns

Many people worry about cross contamination in air fryers as well. This is a definite alarm for anyone who suffers from food allergies. It would be very hard to clean all of the internal parts of a fryer if say for example you have a shellfish allergy and someone air fried some breaded shrimp. A strong consideration for anyone looking into the possibility of air frying.

Temperature Concerns

For those who think that there is no need to check internal temperatures when you air fry this can lead to major disasters such as foodborne illness. You want to make sure that you are practicing the same sanitary precautions as well as cooking precautions as you would with any other method of cooking. While I personally do not cook a lot of raw meats in the air fryer aside from an occasional steak (and the entire unit gets washed after this because of the meat and wanting to be careful about things like Salmonella and Ecoli) I know many people who cook chicken wings and other small meat portions inside their air fryers. A traditional internal thermometer works wonders when checking the temperatures just like when using a deep fryer or even the oven.

A Healthy Option

Healthline features a lot of great health benefits of using an air fryer.

Some manufacturers claim that using an air fryer can cut the fat content of fried foods by up to 75%.

This is because air fryers require significantly less fat than traditional deep fryers. While many recipes for deep-fried dishes call for up to 3 cups (750 ml) of oil, air-fried foods need only about 1 tablespoon (15 ml).

This means that deep fryers use up to 50 times more oil than air fryers and, while not all of that oil is absorbed by the food, using an air fryer can significantly cut down on the overall fat content of your food.

One study compared the characteristics of deep-fried and air-fried french fries and found that air-frying resulted in a final product with substantially less fat but a similar color and moisture content.

If you’re looking to trim your waistline, swapping your deep-fried foods for air-fried foods can be a good place to start.

Clocking in at 9 calories in every gram of fat, dietary fat contains over twice as many calories per gram as other macronutrients like protein and carbohydrates.

Air-fried foods may be healthier than deep-fried foods in several ways.

They are lower in fat, calories and even some potentially harmful compounds that are found in traditionally fried foods.

If you’re looking to lose weight or lower your fat intake without modifying or cutting down on fried foods, switching to an air fryer may be a good choice.

However, keep in mind that just because it may be a better option than deep-frying doesn’t mean that it’s a great option when it comes to your overall health.

Conclusion

Compared to deep-frying, using an air fryer can reduce the amount of fat, calories and potentially harmful compounds in your food. You still have to practice food safety protocol when handling foods prior and after being cooked.

Air-fried foods are still fried foods and eating them on a regular basis may be associated with adverse health conditions.

Although air fryers may be a better alternative to deep fryers, limiting your intake of fried foods altogether is the best option when it comes to your health.

Everything in moderation.

By: Samantha Cooper, Contributing Writer (Non-Lawyer)

The post All About Air Fryers & Food Safety appeared first on The Lange Law Firm.