I think that’s a common ancestor to most of us.
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Yep. I’m not even sure which country my grandfather is from, with changing borders and all…
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Before they emigrated to Canada, my family was DutchGermanCzechprobably on one side, and the other was CroatianHungarianCzechScandinavianprobably.
And the whole “looking Norwegian” thing (I know you had an adoption in the family, but just saying) should have died out in the Middle Ages – it says something about the power of stereotypes that it’s still around. First Dane I ever met had dark hair, dark eyes, and tan skin. The Vikings traded abroad as far away as Iran, so it’s not really weird, just stereotypes make it so.
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I’m not into genealogy myself, but my understanding is that I’m a mutt mix of GermanDutchEnglishScotch-Irish1Cherokee2.
1 Irish who came from Scotland or northern England, then later migrated to Appalachia.
2 Somewhat unlikely - the Cherokee princess myth is extremely common. However, the place where my ancestors lived and are buried is closer to Cherokee lands, where many of the tribe have the same last name as one of my parents, than I am to the place where I work. So I consider it plausible if unlikely.
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You are absolutely right about the Cherokee princess myth! Almost always, it was someone trying to hide the fact that their family had an African or Jewish ancestor.
Because the traditional lands of the Cherokee were where Europeans first landed, the tribe was nearly obliterated early on by foreign diseases. The kids who made it usually did so because they had Euro fathers (whether the mothers were willing or not) and thus some inherited immunity. Thus, MANY hundreds of years ago the Cherokee were already admixed with Euro genes. Add to that the fact that they were welcoming of those who were not considered fully “white”, and what you get all these centuries later is a tribe that is held together by tradition and community, not genetic markers. If your relatives were on any of the rolls (or for other tribes, were listed as tribe members in census reports, tribal documents, etc.) then that’s what would make you part Cherokee. DNA doesn’t matter for inclusion in that tribe.
This is how a lot of tribes do it, actually. For example, in Canada the two tribes I personally have both genetic proof and extensive documentation for have a clear indicator: if you live with the tribe as a tribe member, you belong, otherwise you cannot claim that you are a member of that tribe. Since my grandmother moved to the States and married someone from a different heritage and raised her children as white, we can’t claim to be members of the tribe, despite having the genetic markers.
When you consider the long ugly history of how the various tribes in the Americas have been basically obliterated, it makes perfect sense. They’ve managed to survive this long at least partly because they’re admixed. Genetics aren’t what bind them together: it’s actually being together as a tribe and dealing with the prejudices from the non-Native world that makes them members.
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I’m English & Irish on my mom’s side, and English & Danish on my dad’s side (hence the Petersen). My sister has had some pretty decent luck tracing my mom’s family tree back a couple hundred years. A couple of notable names dating back to the American Revolution, but I don’t remember them off the top of my head. We don’t know much about my paternal grandfather, except that he emigrated from Denmark when he was 15, by way of South America. So he’s kind of a genealogical dead end, unless I manage to find some useful birth records in Copenhagen once I finally get around to visiting there.
Most of my childhood and adult life, I didn’t know much of anything about my genealogy from before the 20th century, except for Adlai Stevenson (distant cousin of my mom’s). And most of my grandparents were dead before I was born, and the last one died when I was seven, so I didn’t really have much connection to the family’s past, except through my parents’ memories.
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Typical story: Black kid sets up Hot Dog stand. Anonymous caller calls the cops.
Difference: City health inspectors bring him up to code and pay for his permit.
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This, and the one about the kids with the lawn maintenance business, are great examples of restorative justice. Not only did the authorities make the (bleeding obvious) right call, but they helped make the kids’ businesses run a little bit better.
And then it got publicised.
So the neighbourhood concern troll not only has their scheme foiled, but a clear message about community support is sent.
If it happens enough times, maybe even the trigger-happy cops will think twice.
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Video appears to have been removed from that site.
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I am tired, sore and cranky, and it’s wet and miserable out, meaning it’s the perfect time to curl up with soup.
1 large can diced tomatoes (without added sugar)
1 portion of broth (frozen, homemade)
1 can of coconut milk
Garlic, basil, ginger, paprika, parsely and some curry spice (things that looked good in the cupboard)
Heat in pot. Purée with immersion blender. Eat.
Is good soup. Not much work.
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How do you make the broth? (I tried to make something recently and thought we had some of those broth cubes around here somewhere but couldn’t find them. Realized I don’t know how to make broth.)
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Take leftover bones and whatever’s left on them (a bone-in ham, rotisserie chicken, turkey – holidays are kind to broth makers). I put mine in a slow cooker, cover with water and simmer on low temperature for a couple of days, until it reduces. You will see a difference in the water level.
Let cool and strain. Put in the fridge to make skimming the grease off easy (solid comes off easier than liquid). I then portion into ziplock bags and freeze it. Depending on how much it reduces (and therefore the strength), you may put more or less in a portion. I use about 2 ladles full, which generally makes a small-medium pot of soup (treating the concentrated broth as a base, and adding to it).
Some people purpose-buy meat and bones for broth, but I prefer to use stuff that would otherwise be thrown away. If you start with raw meat, I would initially make sure it boils long enough to be well-cooked. I have never done it that way. I also don’t add salt (which you would if cooking from fresh) because usually the original cooking process involves enough salt.
You can also do veggie broth – I am trying an experiment where I save up the vegetables from take-out (aka the overcooked sides) until I have enough.
The straining, skimming and portioning take the most time. I use a slow cooker because then I can literally just walk away and leave it, and not have to worry. One batch usually does up to 8 portions for soup. From leftovers that would normally be thrown away.
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I’ve been been using Bob’s vegetable soup mix, add 6 cups of broth, and then any chopped root vegetables you have on hand. Cook on low boil for an hour stirring every 15 minutes. You can also add 1/4 cup wild rice.
Vegetables: carrots, beets, leeks, rutabaga, parsnip, squash, turnip
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To the bones, add some carrots, celery, onions chopped into big quarters and some peppercorns for flavor - after cooking, strain them out.
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Any time soup is involved, the holy trinity of onions, carrots and celery MUST be the base!!
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If we’re swapping broth recipes, all Japanese cooking is based on varying amounts of water, soy sauce, sugar, mirin (a sweet, low-alcohol sake), actual sake, dashi (tuna stock) and konbu (dried kelp seaweed).
Teriyaki? Up the sugar and soy sauce, lower the water (maybe add honey instead of more sugar, if you want it to glaze for a BBQ). Oden? Up the water, sake and mirin. Nabe? Up the dashi, soy sauce and konbu, add some miso. Sukiyaki? Heavy on the soy, sugar, mirin and sake, less of everything else.
Japanese cooking is deceptively simple. It’s really just finding the right balance of the same base ingredients.
For bonus points, you can completely replace the tuna stock and make it vegan, if you simmer some konbu with some shimeji and shiitake mushrooms for a few hours to make a good stock.
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“Plane crash” is the kind of thing you hear and just wince.
But everybody survived the actual landing, and local civilians rushed right in to save the passengers. The US Navy was also in the right place at the right time to help with the effort.
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The 737 has only done two no-casualty water landings, but it is supposed to be one of the easiest-to-land of the middling-big airliners. Something about the the way the ground effect is just right, not too much and abrupt (and thick) but enough that the pilot knows exactly where the ground is.
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My sister just popped over to say hi and stayed for dinner. It’s so nice to have someone unexpectedly turn up to help. Thanks, sis.
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