Chris' Moussaka!

Bubble and Squeak; Shepherd's Pie; and Cassoulet  . . . 

other than being some of the best food you'll ever taste, do you know what they have in common? 

Good cooks creating a dish from leftovers!

Chris is a good cook. Chris' Moussaka is made from leftovers.  And it IS one of the best dishes I've ever had!

Moussaka is an international dish that is made differently depending where you are. In the Levant it is primarily eggplant and tomatoes; in Turkey the eggplant is fried and served with a tomato based meat sauce with green peppers, garlic, onions with a side of pilaf; in Egypt, the eggplants are fried, layered in a pan with seasoned ground meat and tomato sauce and baked; in Greece sautéed aubergine is layered with a layer of cooked, seasoned ground meat all of which is covered with béchamel sauce and baked.

Chris' Moussaka has five layers:

1. flavored rice: Over the years she has experimented with making rice. Her process now is to take sushi rice, soak it and wash it thoroughly. While doing this, she heats the water needed for the rice being cooked. After the final drain, she pours a small amount of oil and rice vinegar into the empty pot, adds the rice and water and bakes it covered.
2. ratatouille: I saw some beautiful eggplants and red bells on sale and Chris applied her magic to transmogrify them into ratatouille.
3. loose meat: During the last three months Chris has gone nuts for Souper Cubes. Consequently she's looking for food that she can prepare ahead, freeze in her Souper Cubes and store in freezer bags. We like pizza. Sausage pizza. Chris makes her own "sausage" by seasoning and frying up ground pork, ground beef, and Jimmy Dean's Original sausage. 
4. steamed, diced potatoes:  No story here, she either puts diced potatoes in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and puts them in the microwave or steams then in a steamer on the stove. Do them until a sharp knife tells you they're soft.
5. cheese sauce: We have corned beef as part of our traditional New Year's meal (with cabbage and black eyed peas . . . it's not the most appealing of meals, but Chris being Chris makes the black eyed peas from scratch and adds a key lime pie for dessert to make it an interesting meal). She cooked the corned beef in the crock pot and saved the broth. She used the corned beef broth, added white wine and cheese to make the sauce.
6. panko: Yes, I know, I told you 5 layers.  But you can't really count a sprinkle of panko as a layer, can you?

The oven is preheated to 375F and the timer is set for 45 minutes:

• In a casserole dish, layer the rice, a layer of ratatouille, and a layer of the loose meat. Put it in the preheated oven.
• After 15 minutes, put in a layer of steamed, diced potatoes. Cover the dish (Chris likes to "steam" the potatoes a little more in the dish to make sure they're soft enough).
• After 15 minutes, uncover the cassorole and put the cheese sauce on. Since we're trying to brown the cheese sauce, we won't need the cover.
• After 45 minutes, Chris was not pleased with how it looked (cheese wasn't browning) so she sprinkled some panko and cooked until it looked Golden and Crunchy (10 minutes? 15 minutes?)

This is delicious! This is one of Chris' best dishes. 

Unfortunately we'll probably never have this dish again.

Do you know why?

notice anything missing . . . 

like . . . 

measurements?

When I asked about how much of this or that, Chris said "It's the process that's important . . ." (and this is where I remind her of our granddaughter pouring salt into the deviled egg mix.)

Classics Education Plan: 3rd 100 Days

Harold Bloom (1930-2019): American literary critic

[20250709 EDIT: Here is a link to the  Great Conversation Reading Group. They started the group in 2004 and include a Ten-year reading list as a guide.]

After reading the classics for 6 months,  I've realized that I need to improve my ability to read critically. To address this shortcoming I'll focus on learning literature and literary criticism over the next 100 days.

 My guides will be Professor Paul Fry in Introduction to Theory of Literature; Professor John Rogers in his Milton course; the scholars that have written The Norton Introduction to Literature; and three authors recommended by Harold Bloom in the Best of Literary Criticism

• The Greeks and the Irrational by E R Dobbs
• European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages by E R Curtius
• The Mirror and the Lamp by M H Abrams

Other readings will be selections from an anthology of literary criticism, The Critical Tradition edited by David Ritcher, as part of the Introduction to Theory of Literature; and  various works by John Milton.

Literature Courses
Course	School	Instructor	Hrs
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Yale	Professor Paul H. Fry	52
Milton	Yale	Professor John Rogers	48
The Norton Introduction to Literature		Jerome Beaty Alison Booth J Paul Hunter Kelly J Mays	98
		TOTAL HOURS	198

The hours for the Yale courses include an hour for reading the lecture assignment.  The time for studying The Norton Introduction to Literature assumes 2 hours of study for each subtopic. 

Based on 12 hours of study a week, 198 hours will take 107 days; but I'm going to stick with the "100 Days" title. (Judging by how long it took me to get through Paul Fry's Introduction today, 107 days looks like a pipe dream.)

Here is my plan for today through May 31, 2025

Classics Education Plan: 3rd 100 Days
Course	Module	Description or Reading
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Introduction Introduction (cont)	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter (TB) - - Foucault, Michel. “What Is an Author?” pp. 904-14 - - Barthes, Roland. “The Death of the Author.” pp. 874-77
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Ways In and Out of the Hermeneutic Circle	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter (TB) - - Gadamer, Hans-Georg. “The Elevation of the Historicality of Understanding to the Status of Hermeneutic Principle.” InThe Critical Tradition, pp. 721-37
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Configurative Reading	Iser, Wolfgang. “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 1002-14
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Idea of the Autonomous Artwork	Wimsatt, William K. and Monroe Beardsley. “The Intentional Fallacy.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 811-18
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The New Criticism and Other Western Formalisms	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Richards, Ivor A. and Monroe Beardsley. “Principles of Literary Criticism.” pp. 764-73 - - Brooks, Cleanth. “Irony as a Principle of Structure.” pp. 799-806
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Russian Formalism	Brooks, Cleanth. “Irony as a Principle of Structure.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 799-806
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Semiotics and Structuralism	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Levi-Strauss, Claude. “The Structural Study of Myth.” pp. 860-68 - - Barthes, Roland. “The Structuralist Activity.” pp. 775-84
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Linguistics and Literature	Jakobson, Roman. “Linguistics and Poetics.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 871-74
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Deconstruction I	Derrida, Jacques. “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” and “Différance.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 915-25 and pp. 932-39
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Deconstruction II	De Man, Paul. “Semiology and Rhetoric.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 882-92
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Freud and Fiction	Brooks, Peter. “Freud’s Masterplot” and “The Dream-Work.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 500-08 and pp. 882-92
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Jacques Lacan in Theory	Lacan, Jacques. “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 1129-48
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Influence	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Eliot, T. S. “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” pp. 537-41 - - Bloom, Harold. “A Meditation upon Priority.” pp. 1156-60
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Postmodern Psyche	Žižek, Slavoj. “Courtly Love.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 1181-97
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Social Permeability of Reader and Text	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Jauss, Hans Robert. “Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory.” pp. 981-88 - - Bakhtin, Mikhail. “Heteroglossia in the Novel.” pp. 588-93
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” pp. 1233-48 - - Horkheimer, Max and Theodor Adorno. “The Culture Industry.” pp. 1255-62
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Political Unconscious	Jameson, Fredric. “The Political Unconscious.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 1291-1306
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The New Historicism	Greenblatt, Stephen. “The Power of Forms.” In The Critical Tradition, pp. 1443-45
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Classical Feminist Tradition	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Woolf, Virginia. “Austen-Brontë-Eliot” and “The Androgynous Vision.” pp. 602-10 - - Kolodny, Annette. “Dancing through the Minefield.” pp. 1550-62
Introduction to Theory of Literature	African-American Criticism	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Gates, Jr., Henry Louis. “Writing, ‘Race,’ and the Difference It Makes.” pp. 1891-1902 - - Morrison, Toni. “Playing in the Dark.” pp. 1791-1800
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Post-Colonial Criticism	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Said, Edward. “Introduction to Orientalism.” pp. 1801-13 - - Bhabha, Homi K. “Signs Taken for Wonders.” pp. 1875-99
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Queer Theory and Gender Performativity	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Foucault, Michel. “The History of Sexuality.” pp. 1627-36 - - Butler, Judith. “Imitation and Gender Insubordination.” pp. 1707-18
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The Institutional Construction of Literary Study	- The Critical Tradition by David Richter - - Fish, Stanley. “How to Recognize a Poem When You See One.” pp. 1023-30 - - Guillory, John. “Cultural Capital.” pp. 1472-83
Introduction to Theory of Literature	The End of Theory?; Neo-Pragmatism
Introduction to Theory of Literature	Reflections; Who Doesn't Hate Theory Now?
Milton	Introduction: Milton, Power, and the Power of Milton	Complete poems and major prose by John Milton edited by Merritt Hughes
Milton	The Infant Cry of God	- “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity” (1629), pp. 42-50 - “At a Vacation Exercise in the College” (1628), pp. 30-32 - “On the Death of a Fair Infant” (1628), pp. 35-37 - Elegia sexta (1629), pp. 50-53
Milton	Credible Employment	- Sonnet VII: "How soon hath Time" (1631), p 76 - Ad Patre (To His Father) (1632-37), pp 82-86 - The Reason of Church Government (1642), pp 665-71 - Sonnet XIX, "When I consider", (1652), p 168
Milton	Poetry and Virginity	- Comus (A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle) (1634-37), pp. 86-114 - L’Allegro and Il Penseroso (1631), pp. 65-77 - “On Shakespeare” (1630), pp. 60-62 - An Apology for Smectymnuus (1642), pp. 690-95 - Sonnet IX: “Lady that in the prime” (1643), p. 141 - Prolusion VI, pp. 612-21 - Bible: Revelation 14:1-5
Milton	Poetry and Marriage	- Re-read Comus, focusing on lines 778-805, 975-1010 (added in 1637 to published version)
Milton	Lycidas	- Lycidas (1637), pp. 116-25 - Manso (1638), pp. 127-30 - Epitaphium Damonis (1639-40), pp. 132-39 - Sonnet VIII: “When the Assault” (1642), p. 140
Milton	Lycidas	- Lycidas (1637), pp. 116-25 - Re-read Reason of Church Government, pp. 665-71 - Sonnet XVI: “To the Lord General Cromwell” (1652), p. 160 - Sonnet XVII: “To Sir Henry Vane the Younger” (1652), p. 161 - Sonnet XVIII: “On the Late Massacre” (1655), p. 167
Milton	Areopagitica	- Areopagitica (1644), pp. 716-49 - “On the New Forcers of Conscience” (1646), pp. 144-45
Milton	Paradise Lost, Book I	- Paradise Lost (1667), Book I (esp. lines 1-49) - Note on “The Verse,” p. 210 - “At a Vacation Exercise” (1628), p. 30-32 - De Doctrina Christiana, pp. 900-902
Milton	God and Mammon: The Wealth of Literary Memory	- Paradise Lost, Books I and II
Milton	The Miltonic Simile	- Re-read Paradise Lost, Books I and II, focusing on the similes
Milton	The Blind Prophet	- Paradise Lost, Book III (esp. lines 1-55) - Re-read Sonnet XIX: “When I consider” (1652), p. 168 - Psalm vi (Milton’s trans. of 1653), p. 165 - The Second Defense of the English People (1654), pp. 817-28 - Sonnet XXII: “To Mr Cyriack Skinner upon his Blindness” (1655), p. 170 - Sonnet XXIII: “Methought I saw” (1658), p. 170 - Samson Agonistes (1673), lines 68-101, pp. 553-54
Milton	Paradise Lost, Book III	- Paradise Lost, Book III - De Doctrina Christiana, pp. 916-22; 932-49
Milton	Paradise Lost, Book IV	- Paradise Lost, Book IV - The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (1643), pp. 702-15 - Ovid, Metamorphosis III. (Narcissus episode)
Milton	Paradise Lost, Books V-VI	- Paradise Lost, Books V-VI - Psalm ii (Milton’s trans. of 1653), p. 162
Milton	Paradise Lost, Books VII-VIII	- Paradise Lost, Books VII-VIII - On Christian Doctrine, pp. 973-82 - Bible: Genesis 1-3
Milton	Paradise Lost, Book IX	- Paradise Lost, Book IX - Re-read Areopagitica (esp. pp. 727-29) - Bible: Genesis 3
Milton	Paradise Lost, Books IX-X	- Paradise Lost, Books IX-X
Milton	Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII	- Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII - On Christian Doctrine, pp. 982-90 - Bible: Genesis 4:11; 9
Milton	Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII	- Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII (esp. lines 574-679)
Milton	Paradise Regained, Books I-II	- Paradise Regained (1671), Books I-II, p. 471 - Bible: -- Matthew 4:1-11 -- Mark 1:1-13 -- Luke 4:1-14
Milton	Paradise Regained, Books III-IV	- Paradise Regained, Books III-IV
Milton	Samson Agonistes	- Samson Agonistes (1671), p. 531 - Bible: Judges 13-16
Milton	Samson Agonistes	- Note on “That Sort of Dramatic Poem Which is Call’d Tragedy,” pp. 549-50 - The Passion (1630), pp. 61-63
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Fiction: Reading, Responding, Writing
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	PLOT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	NARRATION AND POINT OF VIEW
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	CHARACTER
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	SETTING
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	SYMBOL
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	THEME
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	THE WHOLE TEXT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	THE AUTHOR'S WORK AS CONTEXT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	LITERARY KIND AS CONTEXT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	FORM AS CONTEXT: THE SHORT STORY
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	CRITICAL CONTEXTS: A FICTION CASEBOOK
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Evaluating Fiction
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing	READING
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing	RESPONDING
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing	WRITING ABOUT POEMS
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	TONE
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	SPEAKER: WHOSE VOICE DO WE HEAR
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	SITUATION AND SETTING: WHAT HAPPENS? WHERE? WHEN?
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	TIMES
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	PLACES
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	LANGUAGE: PERCECION AND AMBIGUITY
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	LANGUAGE: PICTURING
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	LANGUAGE: METAPHOR AND SIMILE
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	LANGUAGE: SYMBOL
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	THE SOUNDS OF POETRY
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	THE SOUNDS OF POETRY: WORDS AND MUSIC
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	INTERNAL STRUCTURE
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	EXTERNAL FORM: THE SONNET
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	EXTERNAL FORM: STANZA FORMS
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	EXTERNAL FORM: THE WAY A POEM LOOKS
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Understanding the Text	THE WHOLE TEXT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	THE AUTHOR'S WORK AS CONTEXT: JOHN KEATS
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	THE AUTHOR'S WORK IN CONTEXT: ADRIENNE RIC
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	LITERARY TRADITION AS CONTEXT: ECHO AND ALLUSION
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	LITERARY TRADITION AS CONTEXT: POETIC "KINDS"
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	LITERARY TRADITION AS CONTEXT: HAIKU
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	LITERARY TRADITION AS CONTEXT: IMITATING AND ANSWERING
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Exploring Contexts	CRITICAL CONTEXTS: A POETRY CASEBOOK
The Norton Introduction to Literature	Evaluating Poetry