From the dazzling, fancy, and elegant appetizers to the easily portable, palatable, and just plain good appetizer dishes, we've got a list of some of the most impressive hors d'oeuvres that are perfect for your entertaining needs.  https://www.myrecipes.com/hors-doeuvres-recipes   See also 50 Simple Hors D’oeuvre Recipes by Lara Eucalano at https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/hors-doeuvre-recipes/

Science fiction.  Once you're converted to it, any other form of literature is dead--that's what the true believers say.  J.G. Ballard has taken the "language" of science fiction and turned it into something quite unique.  As a writer of parables and fables, his real comrades are Hawthorne, Kafka, Italo Calvino and Borges, rather than Isaac Asimov and Ursula Le Guin.  Read more at http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/98/07/12/specials/ballard-stories.html

Ursula Le Guin quotes  “Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”  The Lathe of Heaven  “Nobody who says, ‘I told you so’ has ever been, or will ever be, a hero.   “To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them:  this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.”  The Left Hand of Darkness  “The book itself is a curious artifact, not showy in its technology but complex and extremely efficient:  a really neat little device, compact, often very pleasant to look at and handle, that can last decades, even centuries.  It doesn't have to be plugged in, activated, or performed by a machine; all it needs is light, a human eye, and a human mind.  It is not one of a kind, and it is not ephemeral.  It lasts.  It is reliable.  If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you're fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you're reading a whole new book."  (Staying Awake: Notes on the alleged decline of reading, Harper's Magazine, February 2008)”   https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/874602.Ursula_K_Le_Guin

A sled is a vehicle or toy used to slide downhill on ice or snow.  A sled may have runners or a smooth bottom.  Sled is mostly an American and Canadian term, sled may also be used as a verb to mean sliding downhill on ice or snow in a sled.  The word comes from the Middle Dutch word sledde  Sledge is the British term for a vehicle or toy used to slide downhill on ice or snow.  This type of sledge may have runners or a smooth bottom.  A sledge is also a vehicle with runners used to transport people or loads over ice and snow, often pulled by horses or oxen.  Sledge may also be used as a verb to mean sliding downhill on ice or snow on a sledge, or transporting people or loads over ice or snow, often pulled by horses or oxen, a sledge may also be a conveyance mounted on runners used on muddy or rough ground.  Sledge comes from the Middle Dutch sleedse. 

A sleigh is a sled on runners pulled by horses or reindeer used to convey people over ice or snow.  Sleigh may also be used as a verb.  The word sleigh originated in North America in the early 1700s, from the Dutch word slee. 

A toboggan is a narrow sled, usually made from a lightweight wood, the front of which curves up and backward.  Tobaggan comes from the Canadian French tabaganne, which in turn is taken from the Algonquian Maleseet language word thapaken.  Toboggan may also be used as a verb.  https://grammarist.com/interesting-words/sled-sledge-sleigh-and-toboggan/

Also known as Pearl or Gourmet Couscous, Israeli Couscous is the giant form of the more common tiny couscous.  Commonly mistaken as a grain, couscous is actually a type of pasta, and is ideal used in salads or as a side.  While the tiny couscous can be prepared by soaking in hot water, Israeli Couscous needs to be simmered on the stove.  In my view, the most delicious way to do this is to cook it like risotto, starting with sautéed garlic and onion then using broth instead of water.  This infuses the couscous with so much flavor, you can even serve it plain as a side.  Find recipe from Nagi and link to other recipes at https://www.recipetineats.com/israeli-couscous-salad/

“Catalogue” can also be spelled “catalog.”  “Dialogue” can also be spelled “dialog.”  But “monologue” is rarely spelled “monolog.”  The Americans are at it again.  The combining form “logue” is French, descended from Latin, and it indicates an engagement of some sort, a discourse, if you will, between people or things.  People browse “catalog(ue)s” to “discuss” what items to buy; a “dialog(ue)” is a conversation between two people; a “monologue” is a discourse between a person and some thoughts.  An “epilog(ue)” is the closing part of a piece of writing, usually to wrap up some loose ends, and so on.  Some words have made the full transition to “American.”  “Analog” is rarely spelled as “analogue” any more, even in England, largely because of computers.  And of course, some words show no signs of dropping their “ue” endings:  “brogue,” “tongue,” “vogue,” etc., whose endings are part of a different combining form.  There is at least one place where American tastes and English have coincided.  The “chaise longue,” or “long chair,” has been so spelled for more than 200 years.  (Well, sometimes it has a hyphen.)  But it’s also been spelled “chaise lounge” for nearly as long.  It probably has something to do with the extreme similarity in spelling, and the default to a familiar word.  Even though some rail that one should never combine a French word (“chaise”) and an English one (“lounge”), many dictionaries list them as equals.  And the Associated Press prefers “chaise lounge.”  Merrill Perlman  https://archives.cjr.org/language_corner/logue_jam.php

"Un Poco Loco" is an Afro-Cuban jazz standard composed by American jazz pianist Bud Powell.  It was first recorded for Blue Note Records by Powell, Curly Russell, and Max Roach on May 1, 1951.  "Un Poco Loco" is in thirty-two bar form.  On the original recording, improvisation was based on a single scale instead of a chord sequence.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_Poco_Loco  Carlos' Poco Loco is a Mexi-Cuban restaurant which opened in Toledo, Ohio in 2017.

A regionwide electrical failure cut power to all of Argentina and its small neighbor Uruguay, halting subway trains, reducing water service and leaving traffic signals dark.  The Wall Street Journal  June 17, 2019

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  The ultimate sense of security will be when we come to recognize that we are all part of one human race.  Our primary allegiance is to the human race and not to one particular color or border.  I think the sooner we renounce the sanctity of these many identities and try to identify ourselves with the human race the sooner we will get a better world and a safer world. - Mohamed ElBaradei, diplomat, Nobel laureate (b. 17 Jun 1942)

WORD OF THE DAY 

gastrodiplomacy/gastro-diplomacy  noun  (uncountable)  A type of cultural diplomacy where relations between representatives of different cultures are improved by the means of gastronomy and the promotion of national cuisines. quotations ▼ Synonym:  culinary diplomacy  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gastrodiplomacy#English  June 17 is the eve of Sustainable Gastronomy Day, which is designated by the United Nations to highlight the role that gastronomy can play in promoting sustainable development.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2111  June 17, 2019