Files organizing headache and two Mediterranean recipes

[Guest guest]

Dear Melinda,

I understood, after writing my message, that only the creator of a

file may tamper with it. This means other people cannot add to it,

neither delete it (and maybe it's a good thing too). I suppose the

list owner can, but who is the list owner? I seem to understand there

is none here, at least officially.

 

I am amazed at this problem while opening Word. Yes, I do have Word

2000, but one of their boasts was that it is compatible with all

earlier versions. I suppose it's BS, as most things from that company

(Windows XP compatibility feature, which tells a program to run as in

Windows 95-98: strictly useless!!!)

Okay, so what I did is delete all the Word crockpot files. I may

either convert them into plain text, and let each interested person

do his/her own formatting when downloading them, or convert them into

a winzip file, and see how much space they take THEN.

 

I'm still not very experienced with this file thing, so I suppose it

takes some experimenting.

 

Yes, I suppose for an American a sandwich can be considered a main

meal. For us it's only a takeaway thing, picnic thing, school thing.

Or something a tired mother will do for herself so as not to have to

cook a real meal, but in the same way as she would nibble some

crackers, not considering it a main meal. Of course it depends on the

sandwich, its size, its fillings etc… And maybe on the appetite of

the person eating it. For a big eater, a small sandwich is nothing,

for a picky eater who is always on diet, it may seem more than enough

for a meal!

 

The question of main dishes versus side dishes is a long lasting

topic of contention between me and my Italian friends. See, I was

raised in Greece, where they have the " meze " concept, where

everything is brought on the table simultaneously, and you nibble

here and there. I like it that way. I hate to wait doing nothing in

restaurants waiting for the next course, and I especially hate to

have the salad alone. In Italy it's all much stricter: Appetizer,

pasta or rice for first course, meat or fish for second course, with

vegetables as a side dish, then salad then fruit. Once I had a

boyfriend who was invited by my mother at a party, where she had

millions of different dishes, and at the end he said " What kind of

dinner was that, there wasn't even a first course " He meant pasta.

Pasta could never go in a Main Dishes Folder for an Italian, even if

it had a meat sauce like lasagna. See how these things are ingrained

in one's culture. Just in the last decade, the idea of a single dish

dinner has slowly started to make way into their minds....

 

Bean soup goes under beans, under soup or under main dishes? Hummus

goes under pulses or under appetizers? Many vegetarian books say

about some dishes that " serves 4 as an appetizer, but you can double

the quantity and make it into a main meal " .

No, please don't think that I want to change anything. I have

struggled with categories for very long, and I know very well there

are no answers.

What I am doing in my cookbook is do it in a way that suits me and

put references at the end of each chapter: " Look also here,here and

here .... " Of course, a book also has an index, which helps, and

this is not easy to do here. It could be done, but it's a lot of

work, and you've already put so much time into making all these files!

Maybe somebody else, but then it should be always the same person

updating it, since nobody else can touch the files.

 

As for reorganizing, and changing places, it can be done! Look

under " Files Help " Here is what it says:

Oops! I uploaded a file into the wrong folder. Can I move it?

Yes! Just use our cut-and-paste functions to move the file.

Click on the Cut link next to the file you want to move. You'll

notice the file will move to your " clipboard. "

Go to the folder where you'd like to move the file.

Click on the Paste link.

 

I tried it just now by myself. I went to Snacks and found my

Sandwiches file. There were three options: delete, edit and cut. I

clicked cut, and it put it on top, on a place called Clipboard. Then

I went to the Main Dishes-Sandwich category, and I noticed that near

my Sandwich file the options changed to delete, edit and paste. I

clicked on paste, and there it was! The file had disappeared from the

Clipboard, the clipboard too, and it was in the middle of the other

sandwich recipes. It's a bit laborious, of course, but it can be

done, if needed. If, for instance, you'd like, some day, to change

the Main Dishes/Side Dishes thing.

 

I repeat, I'm still struggling with this, so I don't have ready

answers, but one solution I can offer for approval is put Grains and

Pasta, Vegetables, Pulses, Raw Salads and Mixed Dishes. It's far from

perfect, because when an ingredient is considered to be the principal

one, so the recipe goes into its category, and when does it go under

mixed? But it's not that tragic, I mean someone can look up in both

places!

 

 

Another useful information. Maybe everybody knows it, but I wasn't

sure it could be done. If you want to download the recipe files,

instead of opening them and either copy-pasting them to a document or

clicking on Save As, and then having to hit the backspace button to

go back to the index and choose another one, you can just do all your

work from the index. Just right click the link, and in the menu that

appears, click on Save Target As. Much easier, if you know you want

to download without reading it first.

 

We learn something new every day, yes?

 

I suppose many will be put off by this long post, so to make up to

them, I offer a small recipe.

 

Zucchini patties

 

1 kg (2 lbs +) of zucchini

200 gr (almost 1 cup) of grated feta cheese

½ cup of grated kefalotiri cheese, or any hard yellow cheese (could

use Parmesan, if it's not to pricey in your country)

2 potatoes, boiled and mashed

3 eggs, beaten

1 slice of dry bread, crumbled

some sprigs of spearmint, leaves only, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

Optional: pepper (don't put salt, the cheeses have more than enough!)

plain four

olive oil for cooking

 

Clean and cut both ends off the zucchini, peel them, grate them

finely and leave them stand for one hour to drain. Squeeze them with

your hands to remove as much as possible their liquid. Some cooks

salt them before leaving them, but this leaves you with a very salty

dish. Put the zucchini into a basin, add the eggs, the cheeses, the

breadcrumbs, the mashed potatoes, the spearmint, the pepper, if

using, and 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix well with your hands, put the

mixture in the refrigerator for an hour or so, then shape into

croquettes. Flour them, then place them into a frying pan with very

hot oil (olive oil is the only one that will not burn at this

temperature, and won't become cancerogenous). Fry on both sides-

you'll need about 10 minutes. Drain well on kitchen paper.

Serve with tomato/cucumber salad and a rice or pasta dish, with fava

bean puree and olives.

 

Fava bean puree

Just take yellow split peas (called fava in Greece), put them into

cold water, bring to a boil, skim the froth, then add an onion, boil

them for half an hour or so until they are really mushy and can be

pureed just by moving the wooden spoon. Ideally, you should put just

enough water so that you don't have to drain them. Anyway, since this

ideal is seldom achieved, drain them well, put them into a blender

with salt, red pepper, a bit more onion if desired, lemon and a

little oil, adding more oil, little by little, as you mix. Serve

decorated with olives and parsley.

 

This fava thing is also great on sandwiches. It's a sort of hummus,

if you think about it, only done with a different pulse, and with no

tahini, cumin or coriander added.

 

Have a nice weekend

 

Irene

 

 

, " Melinda " <clicker@i...> wrote:

> Irene, I just went to your crockpot files, which are Word

> documents. When I clicked on one it was VERY slow to open. When I

> hit my back arrow my computer weirded out and wouldn't do

anything.

> Ctrl/Alt/Delete didn't fix it. Then it told me to insert the CD

> disk for Office 2000... then the browser crashed