Something Spells Fishy Around Here

Using email to communicate is convenient and virtually instantaneous, but that very speed and ease of use can cause problems. Everyone has received emails with misspelled words, sometimes minor things, sometimes funny, sometimes serious enough to make the message difficult to decipher.

If you have spell check turned off, you may find tghat many wirds dont make much sesne. Turning it on and not paying attention to the recommended replacement words, you may fond that same of the substituted words are inappropriate within the taxi.
Even minor mistakes can bring some weird results, for instance leaving out a space between the words Meeting:October might get changed to Meat-and-potatoes.

Turning on Spell Check
If you're using Outlook 2003, click on tools/options/spelling, the pop up screen seen at right will appear. Select "Always check spelling before sending" and then choose any other options you want (such as ignore words in uppercase and ignore Internet and file addresses). You are now good to go. With Outlook you can also add words to your personal dictionary, such as names that will come up often in your emails. For instance, if your name is Gutekunst and you don't want to be telling spell check "no — Gutekunst, NOT Gluteus!" every time you type it in, then add that word to your dictionary.

If you're using Outlook 2010, click on options/mail, the pop up screen seen below where you can click on "Always check spelling before sending." Use the Spelling and Autocorrect button to find the options you want to use.

Gmail works a little differently. As you compose your email message misspelled words will show up with a jaggy red underline. When you click "Check Spelling" the suspect words are highlighted in yellow. When you cllick on the word a list of suggested replacements pops up. Select a replacement word from the list or click ignore to leave it alone. Unfortunately you cannot add a word to your dictionary in Gmail.

Turning on Spell-check can help reduce some problems, but not all. A good rule of thumb:

Tqke your timer with what your'e ding, and bee carful!

The Ravenous Dilettante

Everything but the Squeal

The old saying you can't compare apples to oranges doesn't really hold up when you think about it. After all they have as many similarities as difference — they're both fruits, both about the same size, and they're both sort of roundy-shaped.

The same can be said for boudin blanc and scrapple. Despite boudin being a Louisiana specialty and scrapple a Pennsylvania Dutch staple, they have much in common: pork mixed with spices and an ingredient originally used to "stretch" the meat. Both are then cooked and served hot.

Boudin contains rice and uses generally hotter, more pungent spices, and is stuffed into hog casings. Boudin is usually steamed, and the casings are not eaten. For those unfamiliar with scrapple it is a mixture of chopped pork, cornmeal and spices (sage), cooked together and formed in a loaf pan, sliced, then fried.

The Ravenous Dilettante is not responsible for what commercial scrapple makers may use in their recipes, but good scrapple does not need to contain pig snouts, tails or other questionable parts (popularly: everything but the squeal). If you would like a recipe for offal-free scrapple please send us an email and together we can help keep America's tables snout-free!

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Oklahoma has a Cowboy Museum, Nebraska has a Prairie Museum. What does Louisiana have? What else, SOFAB: the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. The Museum interprets the food and drink of the entire South, not just New Orleans. A must see for all foodies.