Artichokes.........love them want more recipes on how to make them even more wonderful?

here is a great recipe, for example





Artichoke Crowns Stuffed Saffron-Scented Crab


Recipe from: Gratins


by Tina Salter, Paul Moore, Catherine Jacobes


Cookbook Heaven at Recipelink.com





These artichokes topped with creamy, golden, saffron-scented crabmeat make an elegant special-occasion starter. Choose large artichokes, because you’ll be trimming away all of the leaves and choke and using only the meaty base, or “crown.” Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice because it takes more than 4,300 crocus blossoms to produce enough (handpicked!) stigmas to make a single ounce. It’s worth the expense, though; it only takes a pinch to add a beautiful golden hue and subtle but distinctive flavor to foods.





Artichokes, a kind of thistle, have been around since ancient times. Today, most of the artichokes we find at the market are cultivated in Castroville, the self-proclaimed “artichoke capital of the world,” near California’s Monterey coast. Don’t think of artichokes merely as leaves to be dipped in lemon butter; their tender bases can be topped with all kinds of wonderful fillings, an experience well worth the effort it takes to clean and prepare the crowns.





Servings: 6





*





46 large artichokes, trimmed*


*





Topping:


*





1 cup fresh bread crumbs


*





3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted


*





Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


*





1 tablespoon unsalted butter


*





1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


*





1/2 cup heavy cream


*





1/3 cup clam juice


*





Pinch of saffron


*





Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


*





1/2 pound fresh lump crabmeat, picked over to remove any cartilage or shell bits





1.





Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the artichokes and cook until a thin-bladed knife can be easily inserted into the bottom of the artichoke, 15 to 25 minutes. Drain and place the artichokes upside down on a clean kitchen towel; let cool.


2.





Preheat the broiler. Lightly butter a 9 by 13-inch (3-quart) gratin dish.


3.





To make the topping: In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and butter; toss until the bread crumbs have absorbed all of the butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.


4.





Carefully remove the remaining leaves from the cooled artichokes. Using a melon baller or small, sharp- edged spoon, scrape away the fuzzy chokes. With a sharp knife, trim the outside of the artichoke crowns to a smooth shape. Transfer the crowns to the prepared gratin dish and set aside.


5.





In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in the cream, clam juice, and saffron. Whisking constantly, bring to a boil and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and add the crab; mix gently with a fork so that the crab is coated with sauce but remains in small chunks.


6.





Spoon the crab mixture into the artichoke crowns, dividing it evenly. Sprinkle the topping over the crab. Place the gratin dish on a sturdy baking sheet. Set under the broiler, about 4 inches from the heat source, and broil until deep, golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.





* To trim artichokes:





1.





Working with one artichoke at a time, cut off the stalk flush with the base of the artichoke, then remove the outermost leaves to reveal the sides of the pale, cream-colored heart. Cut off the top about an inch above the base. As each artichoke is trimmed, rub the cut surfaces with lemon to prevent discoloring, or drop them into a bowl of cold water with the juice of 1 lemon.

Artichokes.........love them want more recipes on how to make them even more wonderful?
http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/artichoke...





http://artichokes.org/recipes.html





http://elise.com/recipes/archives/000318...
Reply:Go to recipezaar.com and do a search for "artichoke"... I'm sure you will find tons of great recipes. Here is a good one ... Greek Chicken with Artichoke Hearts. http://www.recipezaar.com/69442

Men vs Women: Showers (joke)?

How To Shower Like A Woman...


* Take off clothing and place it in sectional laundry hamper according to lights and darks.


* Walk to bathroom wearing long bathrobe. If you see your boyfriend/husband along the way, cover up any exposed flesh and rush to the bathroom.


* Look at your womanly physique in the mirror and stick out your gut so that you can complain and whine even more about how you're getting fat.


* Get in shower. Look for face-cloth, arm-cloth, leg-cloth, long loofah, wide loofah and pumice stone.


* Wash you hair once with Cucumber and Lamfrey shampoo with 83 added vitamins.


* Wash your hair again with Cucumber and Lamfrey shampoo with 83 added vitamins.


* Condition your hair with Cucumber and Lamfrey conditioner enhanced with natural crocus oil. Leave on for 15 minutes.


* Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red and raw.


* Wash entire rest of body with Ginger Nut and Jaffa Cake body wash.





-continued-

Men vs Women: Showers (joke)?
lol
Reply:FUNNY
Reply:Funny! 100!

What do you think of my haiku? Honest criticism & detailed suggestions apprecited.?

Autumn crocus fronts


grasses massing in mauve -


trees standing their ground.





Or is this better -





Purple petals front


grasses massing in mauve, and trees


standing their ground.

What do you think of my haiku? Honest criticism %26amp; detailed suggestions apprecited.?
The language is not visual enough and I don't see a real meaning here. Then again poetry can be confusing. I do like the personification of the trees however but I just don't get it.
Reply:You have the general idea of what a Haiku is, but the traditional Japanese haiku is a 5-7-5 verse make up. Though the new American and English Haiku's may be of any number of words per line, so long as the first and third are of equal. Even a 2-1-2 haiku is possible such as Pebble falls - Plop - Pebble sinks.


Your second haiku would have been better as a 3-4-3. Perhaps.





Purple petals front


Grasses massing in mauve


Trees standing tall





But a good effort.





Robert

omar

HELP!! PLEASE!!!!! What is the theme in the poem "The Bluebird's Song?"?

okay first of all the poem is by Emily Huntington Miller and here it is:





I know the song that the bluebird is singing,


Out in the apple tree where he is swinging.


Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary -


Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.





Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat!


Hark! was there ever so merry a note?


Listen a while, and you'll hear what he's saying,


Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.





"Dear little blossoms down under the snow,


You must be weary of winter I know.


Listen, I'll sing you a message of cheer!


Summer is coming! and springtime is here!





"Little white snowdrop! I pray you arise;


Bright yellow crocus! please open your eyes;


Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,


Put on your mantles of purple and gold;


Daffodils! Daffodils! say, do you hear? -


Summer is coming, and springtime is here!"





please please please help me i have no idea what the theme is!!!!

HELP!! PLEASE!!!!! What is the theme in the poem "The Bluebird's Song?"?
The bluebird represents the "bluebird of happiness", and the theme of the poem is that, no matter how bad and endless things might look (you know, like this last winter, that seemed endless?) there is always an end to sorrow, just like there is to winter.





It also implies, in the first stanza, that no matter how bad things might look around you, you can defeat despair if you have a positive outlook.

Hello Irish Friends across the Great Blue! What do you plan on growing in your gardens this Spring?

I'm really curious to hear what folks in other countries grow in their home flower and veggie gardens. We live in the Midwest, in the States, and here's what we'll have:





Loads of tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and other bulbs my girls planted with me in the fall.





We'll plant zinnias, cosmos, morning glories, roses, along with butterfly bushes, stargazer lillies, daylillies, lilacs, mulberry bushes, and tons of other flowers.





Our veg garden will have loads of tomatoes, Indian corn (the girls love the colors), cucumbers, and some herbs. We have deer, rabbits, and bunnies, so lots of other veggies get nibbled down. :)





I was wondering what you all grow? How big are your yards? Ours is .78 acre which is 2,608 square meters . We usually start planting our spring gardens around Mother's Day in mid-May - is it the same for you?








Thanks so much! I can't wait to get the Spring Gardens going and have always wondered what gardeners in other countries plant.

Hello Irish Friends across the Great Blue! What do you plan on growing in your gardens this Spring?
I've already got tons of flowers out there, so I am doing some vegies this year.
Reply:I planted a bunch of Guinness cans this winter, so I cant wait to find out what I will get!

Hello German Friends across the Great Blue! What do you plan on growing in your gardens this Spring?

I'm really curious to hear what folks in other countries grow in their home flower and veggie gardens. We live in the Midwest, in the States, and here's what we'll have:





Loads of tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and other bulbs my girls planted with me in the fall.





We'll plant zinnias, cosmos, morning glories, roses, along with butterfly bushes, stargazer lillies, daylillies, lilacs, mulberry bushes, and tons of other flowers.





Our veg garden will have loads of tomatoes, Indian corn (the girls love the colors), cucumbers, and some herbs. We have deer, rabbits, and bunnies, so lots of other veggies get nibbled down. :)





I was wondering what you all grow? How big are your yards? Ours is .78 acre which is 2,608 square meters . We usually start planting our spring gardens around Mother's Day in mid-May - is it the same for you?








Thanks so much! I can't wait to get the Spring Gardens going and have always wondered what gardeners in other countries plant.

Hello German Friends across the Great Blue! What do you plan on growing in your gardens this Spring?
Our garden measures 1000 square meters


We plan to grow our own tomatoes this year as the ones you can buy in the shops are not that good.
Reply:Sauerkraut

Emily Dickinson: the feet of people walking home?

The feet of people walking home


With gayer sandals go—


The Crocus— til she rises


The Vassal of the snow—


The lips at Hallelujah


Long years of practise bore


Til bye and bye these Bargemen


Walked singing on the shore.





Pearls are the Diver's farthings


Extorted from the Sea—


Pinions— the Seraph's wagon


Pedestrian once— as we—


Night is the morning's Canvas


Larceny— legacy—


Death, but our rapt attention


To Immortality.





My figures fail to tell me


How far the Village lies—


Whose peasants are the Angels—


Whose Cantons dot the skies—


My Classics veil their faces—


My faith that Dark adores—


Which from its solemn abbeys


Such ressurection pours.





WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!!!!

Emily Dickinson: the feet of people walking home?
“The feet of people walking home,” is of some interest in its own merit. Unlike some of Dickinson’s other poems, such as the ones that exist among other versions due to a few dissimilarities, this poem is duplicated verbatim. To the untrained eye, this triviality would often be overlooked, were it not for the fact that Emily Dickinson had not intended on publishing many of her poems. Why, then, did she duplicate this poem? Perhaps a more in-depth analysis of the poem, as well as the current events in Dickinson’s life, would answer this query. Estimated to have been written in the year 1858, the poem begins its first stanza by conveying the emotions of gaiety and joyfulness, which are associated with passage to heaven. A much more somber note pervades the second stanza, in which Dickinson uses metaphors to compare the entrance to heaven with the act of theft. The third stanza combines the previous two by hinting at the theory that those who are already in heaven do not want more people entering heaven’s gates, because that would diminish the high status that heaven and angels hold. The tone in the first stanza is of joyousness and excitement, as people make their way to heaven. Dickinson uses the words “gayer,” “hallelujah,” and “singing” to emphasize the uplifting feeling here. It could be argued that this is the point in the humans’ lives (or deaths, or afterlives, depending on how one looks at it) when they reach the pinnacle of happiness, for they have finally entered heaven. The humans, now dead, would then acquire wings, immortality, and an angelic status that rises far above that of humans. Much like Dickinson’s other poems, this one uses metaphors to represent similar things, such as “home,” which represents “heaven,” “snow,” which represents the “clouds” on which heaven resides, and “vassals,” which represents the “angels” who serve God. The second stanza shares a relation to the first, but it could be described as being completely opposite in tone. Dickinson uses the words “extorted,” “larceny,” and “death” to emphasize the crime that is personified here. Dickinson uses more metaphors in this stanza to compare the onrush of people entering heaven to divers who take pearls from the sea. In both cases, a sense of “value” is diminished, or perhaps even lost. Referring back to the first stanza, Dickinson subtly states that the status of angels would no longer be as honorable or magnificent as it is now if everyone were to acquire wings, achieve immortality, and enter heaven. As with the pearls under the sea, the value attributed to angels is inversely proportional to the number in known existence. More pearls out of the sea would be comparable to more angels in heaven. Their values are derived from their rarity. The third stanza continues by combining the previous two, as well as taking into consideration the feelings of the angels, whom Dickinson believes are enraged at the “extortion” of their honor and magnificence. Dickinson metaphorically describes the angels’ method of keeping people out by saying that the angels (including Dickinson’s ancestors) “veil their faces” so that humans cannot easily find their way to heaven (line 21). (Though it is true that each of Franklin’s versions regarding this poem, as well as the original manuscripts, contain the word “vail,” Dickinson has proven in at least one of her letters that she has a tendency to misspell words, including “veil.” Taken in context, “veil” seems more appropriate.) Wolff makes a note that “concealment” is a recurring motif in Dickinson’s poems when she says, “Rage is entirely separated from ‘my father, Edward Dickinson’: it finds expression only in the poetry, directed toward a ‘Father’ in Heaven Whose face we never see and Whose voice we never hear” (64). Could it be, then, that the phrase “My Classics” roughly translates to “My Father” (line 21)? It is interesting to note here that Dickinson loved her father dearly, but that love was not reciprocal. Shortly after her father’s death, Emily Dickinson writes in one of her letters, “I am glad there is Immortality – but would have tested it myself – before entrusting him” (Wolff 64). Despite her love and respect for her father, she perhaps feared the possibility that her father would make efforts after his own death to prevent her from entering heaven. It seems, then, that one’s interest for this poem is twofold. The first interest is the purpose for the poem’s duplication. A possible motive can be brought to light with a quick look at the original manuscripts, at the end of which there is a snippet of another poem. Perhaps the duplication process was enacted merely to separate “The feet of people walking home” from the other, much shorter poem. If this is the case, the duplication may be of no significance at all. The second interest, the poem’s meaning, is undoubtedly the most interesting of the two. The poem could be about Emily Dickinson’s thoughts regarding an unloving father. Yet, with Dickinson’s multitude of metaphors, any meaning can be interpreted for this poem.

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