Tuesday Treat: Buffalo Shrimp

I am in a shrimp mood today. Probably because half a dozen people asked me about Alabama while at work today and it made me miss my old home a bit. The best place to eat was a restaurant called "Jefferson's" and their Shrimp Jammers are the frigging best. Ever.

Now, shrimp jammers are butterfly shrimp stuffed with cheese and deep fried. They are served with cocktail sauce or shrimp sauce usually, but I actually got a side of their medium buffalo sauce and some ranch. Wonderful. I'm drooling right now thinking about them. Ugh!

Anyways, I found this recipe today for Buffalo Shrimp. It is pretty long so I'll just link to the website instead of retyping it all today. Judging by the comments, even folks that enjoy spicy foods thought this recipe had a good bit too much spice so if you are leery of it, cut back on the spices by a little (or a lot) to suit your tastes. I wouldn't leave any out, just maybe 1/2 the amount suggested in the recipe. Also, make sure you have tons of ranch available. Mmmm ranch. I wonder if we have any celery...

Tuesday Tale: The Frog Prince

The last Tuesday Tale for this month, and for the next several months, is The Frog Prince. In this tale, a spoiled princess befriends a frog. Many versions of the tale relate that this friendship only began after the princess dropped a golden ball into his pond and the frog agreed to retrieve the ball in exchange for her friendship. The tale goes on to the frog transforming into a handsome prince after a) spending a night on the princess's pillow; b) receiving a kiss from the princess; or c) when the princess slams him against a wall in disgust. Take your pick. It is one of the three in the many different incarnations of this story.

Tuesday Tales: Doctor Know-all

Today's Tuesday Tale is Doctor Know-all. 

A peasant, Crabbe, saw the food a doctor ate and asked the physician how he could become a doctor too. The doctor told him to buy an ABC book with a rooster on the front, sell his ox and cart for doctor's equipment and clothing, and then advertise himself as "Doctor Know-all."

Tuesday Tales: The Clever Little Tailor

Tuesday Tales time again. In The Clever Little Tailor, the Brothers Grimm introduce a persnickety princess and her suitors.

The princess posed a riddle to her suitors and found that none of them could answer it. She sent them away. Three tailors came to replace the suitors. Two were smart and skilled and the third was known to be useless. The first two tailors scoffed at the little tailor and told him not to bother wooing the princess. The little tailor went anyway. The princess asked them what two colors were her hairs. The 1^st said black and white. The 2^nd said brown and red. The 3^rd said gold and silver. The 3^rd tailor was correct.

Tuesday Tales: The Blue Light

All of the Tuesday Tales this month are from the Brothers Grimm. That was not intentional. I just looked at the list and saw it.

Today's Tale is The Blue Light. A soldier, recently discharged from the King's service, finds the home of a witch on his journey away from the castle. In return for a night of lodging, the soldier agrees to spade the witch's garden the next day. It takes him so long that he must stay another night. In return, he chops wood. This also takes so long that he is forced to spend a third night. In exchange, he agrees to climb into the well and get the witch's blue light. He figures out that he will be trapped once he hands it over to her so he keeps the light. The witch leaves him in the well anyways.

Tuesday Tales: Buttercup

A short Tuesday Tales today. Buttercup is the story of a boy named Buttercup. He saw the old witch coming down the road and his mother hid him away. With the offer of a shiny new knife, Buttercup came out of hiding anyways. The Witch told him the knife was in her sack. When he climbed in to get it, she bundled it up and carried him off. At the end of the day, while the witch rested, he escaped the sack and replaced his weight with a root.

The next day, the witch again tempted Buttercup, this time with a shiny spoon. Again, he climbed into the sack and again she carried him off. He escaped when she rested for the night, replacing his weight with a stone.

On the third day, Buttercup was once more captured in the same way. The witch offered him a shiny fork. Except this time, she didn't stop to rest. She went straight home and turned him over to her daughter to cook into a stew. The witch went off to invite friends over for dinner. The daughter, not very bright, was unsure of how to kill Buttercup, so he demonstrated how to cut off his head by having her lay her head on the chopping block.

As soon as she did, he cut the girl's head off. He stuck her head in her bed and stewed her body. He hid on the roof afterward. When the witch and her husband came home (without the friends), they ate up the stew, remarking on the "Buttercup broth." After they ate, Buttercup caused a ruckus outside. The husband and wife rushed outside to see cause of the disruption. As soon as they got outside, Buttercup dropped the root and the stone on their heads, killing them. He then stole all their gold and silver before returning home.

I like this tale but I kept yelling at Buttercup to stop being so damn stupid. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Ya know? But the stupid boy gets tricked into the sack, not twice, but THREE times with shiny things! Really? He redeemed himself at the end in my eyes though. That was pretty slick with the witch's daughter.


Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Tuesday Tales: Brother and Sister

Ah, a return to the Brothers Grimm for today's Tuesday Tale. Brother and Sister is a well-known European tale, often confused with Hansel and Gretel because they both went by "Little Brother and Little Sister" at one point. This story is different from Hansel and Gretel though, so don't confuse the two.

Tuesday Tales: The Boy Who Drew Cats

I don't read much in the way of Japanese fairy tales but I thought The Boy Who Drew Cats would be a nice short one for Tuesday Tales.

A small and weak farm boy was not cut out for life on the farm, so instead of doing chores, he drew cats. Lots of them. His parents, tired of feeding a mouth that would not work, sent him to the temple to become a priest. The priests were pleased with how quickly he learned, but he again drew cats everywhere. Finally, they told him that he could not become a priest and sent him away. Before he left, one of the priests advised him to avoid large places at night and to stick with smaller places for safety.

As he wandered, he encountered a big temple and thought he might inquire about them taking him in. He found the temple abandoned. He didn't know the priests had been driven away by a goblin. He found a light burning within and was pleased to find large screens erected around the room. He drew many cats on the screens until he decided to rest for the night. Remembering the priest's advice, he found a small cupboard to sleep in.

In the middle of the night, he heard an awful battle happening within the temple. He stayed within the safety of the cupboard until morning. When he climbed out of the cupboard, he was amazed to find the goblin-rat dead in the center of the room and all of the cats he had drew the night before had wet, bloody mouths! The priests hailed him as a hero and he went on to become a famous artist. Of course, he still only drew cats.

So what do you think? I thought it was an incredibly cute tale, even if it was a little confusing when the goblin turned into a goblin-rat.


Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Tuesday Tales: The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen

I enjoyed last week's tale so much that I revisited the thievery this week for Tuesday Tales with an Irish tale called The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen. In this tale, we have princelings, evil stepmothers, and quests. Sounds familiar.

Tuesday Tales: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves/ Arabian Nights

There is just something about fairy tales that make me smile, even if they are really gory or scary. Today's Tuesday Tale is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (or Arabian Nights for some). There is some dispute as to if this particular story was originally part of One Thousand and One Nights or if it was added later on. Regardless of origin, this is a pretty good tale.

Tuesday Tales: The Water Nixie

Today's Tuesday Tales may be less familiar to you. The Water Nixie was one of the tales collected by the Brothers Grimm in Hanau.

Simple story: Two children fall in a well and are captured by a nixie. She makes them work as slaves. While she is away, the children escape. As they are running from the nixie, they throw items behind them that magically change into obstacles blocking the nixie's way. A brush becomes a mountain full of spikes. A comb becomes a mountain with thousands of teeth. A mirror becomes a mountain with a slick surface. The nixie runs home to get an ax to chop through the mountain, only to find that the children have finally escaped.

The plight of the children has always reminded me of Hansel and Gretel. The kids get lost and then have to fight to find the way home. The Water Nixie is cute though and worth the read.

Tuesday Tales: Bearskin

If you aren't familiar with the Brothers Grimm, you should make yourself acquainted. They collected fairy tales from all over and recorded them for future generations. Today's Tuesday Tales is for Bearskin. It follows the folk tale tradition of a man gaining fortune and a beautiful wife by making an agreement with the devil.

Tuesday Tales: Alice in Wonderland

Tuesday Tales today should remind you folks of a previous post (The Top 10 List of Things Based on Alice in Wonderland). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or Alice in Wonderland for most, was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

The story follows a little girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into the amazing fantasy world of Wonderland. Wonderland is full of fantastic creatures like White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, the Duchess, the March Hare, Caterpillar, Queen of Hearts, and Mock Turtle. Alice encounters magic food and drink that make her shrink and grow. She plays croquet with live animals. The story is rife with plays on logic and has been considered highly influential in the fantasy genre.

Tuesday Tales: Sleeping Beauty

I'm trying to keep today's Tuesday Tales short. That is unfortunate because I could probably fill two pages talking about Sleeping Beauty, but I doubt anyone wants to read a two page blog post. It has had many different forms over several hundred years, but most people are either familiar with the Grimms version called Little Briar Rose, or Disney's 1959 animated version.

The basic story goes that a princess was blessed by fairies at her christening. One fairy was not invited and so she cursed the girl to prick her finger on a spindle of a spinning wheel and would die. The last fairy somewhat is able to reverse the curse, rescinding the death so that the child would sleep for 100 years instead.

Tuesday Tales: Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. The first published version came out in 1740, written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. It was abridged in 1756, and then translated into English in 1757.

The story is fairly simple. The Beast was born a prince and cursed to live as a beast until he found true love. A young woman, Belle, goes to live with the Beast, after an agreement between the Beast and her father saves her father's life. The Beast and Belle become friends and Belle learns of all the enchantments in the Beast's castle. When she fails to return to the castle on time after a trip to see her family, the Beast nearly dies of heart break. Belle returns and confesses her love for the Beast, and her tears break his curse. They get married and live happily ever after.

The fairy tale has been adapted into new stories, films, and plays many times since its original publication. Disney adapted a musical animated film of Beauty and the Beast in 1991. A horror version came out in 1979, called The Virgin and the Monster. Disney adapted a stage production for Broadway that ran from 1999 to 2007, playing over 5,000 shows. Beastly, written by Alex Flinn, modernized the fairy tale and set it in Manhattan in 2007. It was later adapted into a movie. George C. Scott was nominated for an Emmy for his 1976 television performance of BatB.

This is probably my favorite fairy tale. The theme of love redeeming misdeeds is heartwarming, inspiring, and consistent. I was a child when the Disney musical came out. It filled me with wonder at the possibility that all the toys in my room, and the dishes in the kitchen, might be able to walk and talk! I'm sure I wanted to marry the little tea-cup.

Tuesday Tales: JRR Tolkien's On Fairy-Stories

I love fairy tales. I read the ones adapted for children when I was a kid. I read the much scarier "originals" versions in college. As an adult, I still love a good fairy tale. I relish new spins on old stories. I look up the stories behind the stories when I get a hankering.

I came across a document a while back from J. R. R. Tolkien that was riveting. Tolkien wrote this piece, On Fairy-Stories, for a speech back in the late 1930's. It was first printed, with some help by C. S. Lewis, in the mid to late 40's. Several incarnations have been published over the years. It is 60 pages (including 10 pages of notes) of Tolkien's philosophy of fantasy and mythology. Read the entire text here.

Tolkien argues that the fantasy genre is able to help a reader see the world from a different perspective. He encourages leisure reading, or reading as an "escapist pleasure" for everyone. He also suggests that the happy ending of fairy tales can provide a person with consolation otherwise unachieved.

It is a long and interesting read. What Tolkien piece isn't? The notes at the end are an incredible insight into the mind of one of the pioneers of my favored genre.