Roosevelt and Roosevelt on Twain

In my task of cataloging and subcataloging my library, the next book up is a Library of America volume, The Mark Twain Anthology. After the introduction, it gives a sampler of brief comments on Twain by various American figures, from Louisa May Alcott to Barack Obama.

Both Presidents Roosevelt are quoted; both comment on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Theodore despised it:

"There is nothing cheaper than to sneer at and belittle the great men and great deeds and great thoughts of a bygone time."

Franklin admitted appropriating the phrase "New Deal" from it:

"I felt the same way about conditions in America as the Yankee did about those in ancient Britain... I freely acknowledge my debt to Mark Twain."

E-da-ma-me

In leafing through my cookbooks for recipes to try, I frequently find myself put off by ingredients that I don't recognize, or which just sound ooky to me. There are a couple of recipes I've avoided because they call for edamame - general reaction, "edawhat?"

Today, being lazy, I nuked a Healthy Choice dish, boringly called Pineapple Chicken. I'm quite fond of it, mainly for textural reasons: it has water chestnuts and some kind of crunchy legume, looking like giant peas or something.

Of course, looking up the ingredients, I have discovered that the unknown legumes are edamame.

Recipes to try ho!