the ZuppeQueen Chronicles

One of the things that abounds in Fredericksburg Texas is anabundance of really great cooks.  Notice I did not say “chefs” which is generally an educated culinary talent also of which there is an abundance of in Fredericksburg.  Being a chef definately does NOT guarantee one is a good cook.

The very best cooks are true culinary talents in my book.  They prepare food that never gets returned to the kitchen or goes uneaten.  You know the difference if you have ever had a bad meal at the restaurant.

Well, the ZuppeKing ran on to a bowl of Banana Pudding that was a good as banana pudding any as I have had in entire my life (though I would  have never said that in front of my grandmother who considered banana pudding her speciality).

“Yummiee” as the televison food channel host, Rachael Rae would say.

Creamy Banana Pudding

14 oz. Sweetened Condensed Milk
3 1/2 oz pkg of Instant vanilla pudding
16 oz Heavy whipping cream
1 box Vanilla wafers
12 oz Cold water
As many bananas as you like

In a large mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, cold water, and pudding mix.  Blend well with a whisk and place in refrigerator to thicken and chill.  While the pudding is being set, whip the cream with a pinch of salt and a few drops of liquid vanilla until it forms stiff peaks. Next fold the whipped cream and puddinging together taking care not to collapse the cream with over mixing.

Next, line a large bowl with vanilla cookies, you may need to “glue” the sides in place with a small dollop of pudding on each cookie. Layer the bowl repeatedly with bananas, then pudding, then cookies and so forth until all of the pudding is used.  Important!, end the mixture with a layer of pudding. Refrigerate for several hours until the cookies have absorbed some of the moisture and become soft.

Decorate the pudding with a light layer of coarse cookie crumbs, garnish with freshly sliced bananas and mint leaves and serve in bowls with large spoons.

It doesn’t get any better as far as comfort desserts go.  The ZuppeQueen and I think this would make the perfect breakfast dessert at the Town Creek Bed and Breakfast.

When the ZuppeQueen and I first met in San Francisco she could not tell by my voice I was from Texas.  I had traveled quite a bit working in various parts of the world before we met and one of the things that tends to happen when you travel quite often is that you begin to loose your native accent.  Well that is what happened to me and my light Texas accent did not show much in general conversation.  That is true with one exception.  When I get tired, I tend to sound ”real Texan”.

I must admit I rather enjoyed the shock value and attention when people discovered I was 100% Texan, conceived and born. Still there was one Texan sounding word I never seemed to be able to shake, “futhur”.  You know like in the three forms of the word… farther further futhur in the Texan dialect!  Everyone in Texas knows those three words, even George W. Bush in his speeches acknowledges the word “futhur” from time to time.  I explained to the ZuppeaQueen that “further was more than farther and that futhur more than further”. Still, the ZuppeQueen did not buy off on that logic so her chuckles became ceasless on the subject.

Well now for the benefit of all the persecuted Texans I have researched the subject and came up with this primer…..

Two words often confused by non-Texans are farther and further. Is it farther down the road or further? Do you have to read further in the book or farther? Do you further your education? Yes! Let’s take a look at the meanings for these two words.   FARTHER denotes physical advancement in distance.  FURTHER denotes advancement to greater degree, as in time.    The correct answers to the above examples follow: It is farther down the road. (For distance physically traveled.)  

 You can read further into this blog. (To a greater degree than where you are now.) You further your education. (To a greater degree than what you have now.) 

Practice test:     

1. How much __________ do you plan to drive tonight?     

2. I’ve reached the end of my rope with this dog chewing up the carpet. I just can’t go any _____________.      

3. Do you have any _______________ plans for adding on to the building?    

4. That’s a lot _____________ than I want to carry this machine and tripod!    

5. The _____________ that I travel down this road, the ____________ behind schedule I get.    

6. How much ___________ do you intend to take this legal matter?          

7. I want to ___________ my career by taking some management courses.    

8. It’s not that much ____________ to the gas station.    

9. How much ____________ do I have to read in this text?    

10. How much __________ do I have to run, Coach?    

Answer Key:    

1. farther    

2. further    

3. further    

4. farther    

5. farther, further    

6. further    

7. further    

8. farther    

9. further    

10. farther

So I hope the lesson above helps the “farther word” impaired people out there and if any of ya’ll need futhur discussion on the topic please contact the ZuppeKing.

We get a lot of guests at Town Creek Bed and Breakfast., upwards of 2000 per year.  About 1/3 of all those guests tell us they chose Town Creek because we serve a full gourmet breakfast which makes us a “Bed & Breakfast”… not a “Bed & ?” that serves day old muffins… or a “Bed & ” that is just a bed.  Plus breakfast is not all that is served up around the breakfast table either.  Lively discussion is usually the true order of the day. 

Sure a few guests are still groggy from all the deep relaxing sleep that goes on around here but by-in-large most guests are bright-eyed and ready for the lively chat comes at breakfast time.  The topics of discussion have covered every subject imaginable except we purposely steer it away from politics and religion.  When a guest starts going down the road of one of those two discussion taboos the ZuppeQueen immediately changes the subject and redirects the whole table’s conversation.  Our breakfast table is supposed to be a no conflict zone.

Yesterday however, the breakfast group got on the subject of mixed marriages.  Yes, no, and indifferent, the opinions were all over the place.  One guest even suggested that a mixed marriage where he now lives [which is in Kansas] is when a person marries someone from Missouri. 

After the laughter died down someone from Dallas then offered that a mixed marriage was when someone from Texas married ANYONE not from Texas.  More laughter.  Now I understand that statement very well because I have a mixed marriage.  The ZuppeQueen hails from Oakland California.  Ok, I can accept diversity with the best of them.  Then the ZuppeQueen herself offered up a rather profound and true observation by saying that in Fredericksburg Texas a mixed marriage was when a Catholic married a Lutheran. 

I had to admit she was right.  There are two cemetaries in the older historical part of Fredericksburg, Catholic and Lutheran…. they are on the fringes of the opposite ends of town and could not be further apart.  It was that way one hundred-fifty years ago and it is that way today.