Roald Dahl was the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, and a treasury of original, evergreen, and beloved children’s books.  He remains for many the world’s No. 1 storyteller.  Born in Llandaff, Wales, on 13th September 1916 to Norwegian parents, Harald Dahl and Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg, Dahl was named after Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian who had been the first man to reach the South Pole just four years earlier.  In 1960 Roald helped invent the Wade-Dahl-Till valve, prompted by the need to alleviate the head injuries endured by his son after an accident in New York.  There followed a burst of literary energy:  in 1961 James and the Giant Peach was published in the US, followed by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Roald then wrote screenplays for the James Bond hit You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as adult novels such as Kiss Kiss. Fantastic Mr. Fox was published in 1970, the year before the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released.  The rest of the decade saw the publication of many other classics, including Danny the Champion of the World, The Enormous Crocodile, and My Uncle Oswald.  Roald also enjoyed enormous success on television.  Having already had his stories told in six episodes of the award winning US series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, his Tales of the Unexpected ran for several series between 1979 and 1988 in the UK.  In the early 1980s he published The Twits, Revolting Rhymes, The BFG and The Witches.  There followed two autobiographical books:  Boy, in 1984 and Going Solo, in 1986.  Matilda was published in 1988, Esio Trot in 1990, and finally, in 1991, came the posthumous delight of The Minpins.  Roald Dahl died on 23 November 1990, aged 74.  He was buried in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul in Great Missenden--the Buckinghamshire village where today The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre continues his extraordinary mission to a mission to amaze, thrill and inspire generations of children and their parents.  https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/about 

The Oxford Roald Dahl dictionary covers interesting facts, mini-etymologies, and usage points for a range of everyday words from Dahl's books, but the real fun starts in the sections on "gobblefunking" with words.  Gobblefunk, a verb of Dahl's own invention, means to play creatively with sound and meaning—something the author excelled at.  Arika Okrent  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/86009/9-splendiferous-words-oxford-roald-dahl-dictionary 

In 1541, John Calvin banned the wearing of jewelry.  No longer could the shops display enticing gold and diamonds, and the jewelers found themselves in a quandary.  Refugees from France and Italy came to the rescue, teaching the jewelers how to make watches.  Calvin deemed the watch to be a practical instrument, and so allowed its production and sale and unwittingly created a loophole.  This allowance ushered in the vaunted Swiss watch tradition that we know today.  The suppression of ostentation led to tremendous prosperity for Geneva.  Genevan watches distinguished themselves for their high quality.  Watches were popular indeed; so popular, that the city of Geneva was crowded with competitors, and watchmakers began to migrate north into the Jura region.  Far from Geneva and in need of supplies, the watchmakers enlisted the help of winter’s indolent farmers.  When they were unable to farm, they could be making watch parts.  This innovative supply chain continues today with movement makers and parts suppliers spread throughout the Jura region.  The “Watch Valley” runs from Geneva to Basel and is home to such companies as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Girard-Perregaux, Piaget, Patek Phillipe, and Rolex just to name a few.  Suppliers like Dubois-Depraz, Renauld & Papi, and Nivarox support these and other companies.  Max E. Reddick  https://monochrome-watches.com/john-calvins-austerity-and-the-birth-of-the-swiss-watch-industry/ 

Mayonnaise Piecrust Doesn't Become Soggy by Melba Lovelace  https://oklahoman.com/article/2227941/mayonnaise-piecrust-doesnt-become-soggy  See also https://www.yummly.com/recipes/mayonnaise-pie 

Peter Blake (born 1932) is often called the "Godfather of British Pop art."  Like many artists of his time, he came of age in a country recovering from the war, so much of his interests were drawn toward the bright and happy lifestyle that was being touted in America via a booming advertising industry utilizing groundbreaking new methods such as screen-printing to create optimistic and bold renditions of life in magazines, on posters, and on billboards.  Many of Blake's more noted paintings are compositions of pictures within pictures, painted homogeneously on a singular plane.  Whether pinned onto a subject's clothing, framed on a wall in a conjured environment, or held up by a character within a composition, Blake is showing us our common trait of collecting visuals, of treating them as objects to assimilate into badges of our own individual identity in which the line between looking and adopting becomes one.  The infiltration of popular culture, and most specifically pop music, into the art world scene was a common motif in Blake's work.  The most famous example of this crossing of genres can be seen in the work he produced for The Beatles' seminal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.  https://www.theartstory.org/artist/blake-peter/ 

In August 2018, Rhino’s Pizzeria in Rochester, New York, sent internet pizza fans into a frenzy with their unconventional creation.  The polarizing pie began unassumingly enough, with a base of white garlic sauce and mozzarella cheese.  Rhino’s then added sliced dill pickles on top and sprinkled it with dill weed, for good measure. They called it a dill pickle pizza, posted it on Facebook, and thousands of people responded.  The two-location eatery received everything from public outcries of pizza defiling to attracting devout fans and recipe inquiries from across the country.  The unusual pairing is the brainchild of Kathy Szuba, a Rhino’s employee, and her daughter, who suggested it after returning from a pickle festival.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/dill-pickle-pizza?utm_source=Gastro+Obscura+Weekly+E-mail&utm_campaign=0f6379ce15-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2418498528-0f6379ce15-71793902&mc_cid=0f6379ce15&mc_eid=aef0869a63 

Despite its name, allspice isn't a universal blend of multiple spices.  It is actually the dried unripe berry of the Pimenta dioica tree, which is indigenous to an area of the Caribbean, as well as Mexico and Central America.  It was the English who gave the spice its name in 1621 since they found the dried berry's flavor to be similar to a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  Allspice is a versatile spice that can be used in sweet or savory dishes but may be best known in the Caribbean as a key ingredient in Jamaican jerk seasoning, and in Mexico as part of a mole recipe.  Allspice is native to Central and South America but it's most closely associated with the West Indies island of Jamaica.  Jamaica exports the majority of allspice for consumption around the world, so it's no wonder that most classic Jamaican dishes such as jerk seasoning and beef patties make generous use of this spice.  Although the spice is known in Jamaica as the "pimento," there's no relation between it and the pickled red cherry pepper that is stuffed into olives.  Allspice berries have a combined flavor of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, with a hint of juniper and peppercorn.   Allspice used for cooking can be in powdered form or a whole berry.  Be aware that some spice companies sell a mixture of spices labeled as "allspice," so check the ingredients on the label to make sure you're getting the real thing.  Peggy Trowbridge Filippone  https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-allspice-1809322 

Chipotle announced a new "responsibly sourced" clothing and goods line August 3, 2020, and all of the T-shirts, sweatshirts and tote bags will be dyed with the food chain's used avocado pits that would otherwise go to waste.  After using avocados to make guacamole, Chipotle is left with nearly 300 million avocado pits that go to waste in its restaurants every year.  Each item in the clothing and goods line will require five avocado pits, which is roughly equivalent to five orders of guacamole, according to the press release.  Alexis Benveniste    https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/business/chipotle-avocado-clothes/index.html 

The Penguin imprint Philomel Books announced August 3, 2020 that “Good Morning Zoom,” written by Lindsay Rechler and illustrated by June Park, is scheduled for Oct. 6, 2020.  Currently self-published, “Good Morning Zoom” takes Margaret Wise Brown's beloved bedtime story and turns it into a narrative about Zoom, bread baking, home schooling and other familiar parts of life during the pandemic.  Rechler is a banking executive and mother of two who lives in Manhattan.  Park is a graphic designer and illustrator who lives in Brooklyn.  All author net proceeds will be donated to coronavirus relief charities.  https://www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/pandemic-parody-of-goodnight-moon-to-be-released-in-fall/2170892/ 

A THOUGHT FOR AUGUST 5  Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. - Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (5 Aug 1850-1893) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2238  August 5, 2020