Belgium, a country of northwestern Europe, is one of the smallest and most densely populated European countries.  It holds several significant annual musical events, including the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition.  Belgians also have taken a foreign musical form, American jazz, and made it very much their own.  The style owes much to Antoine-Joseph Sax, the Belgian-born instrument maker who invented the saxophone.  Practitioners of homegrown jazz have included cabaret singer Jacques Brel, jazz harmonica player Jean (“Toots”) Thielemans, and the legendary Django Reinhardt, a Belgian-born Rom (Gypsy) who mastered a guitar style that wedded Duke Ellington to flamenco.  Belgium teems with jazz clubs and bistros and hosts a number of respected jazz festivals each year.  Belgians also played an important role in the creation of techno music late in the 20th century.  In Belgium the comic strip is a serious and well-respected art form that has become part of the country’s modern cultural heritage.  Children throughout the world became familiar with the adventures of the boy hero Tintin, who was created by Hergé (Georges Rémi) and was featured in a comic strip that first appeared in 1929.  The Smurfs, created in 1958 by Peyo (Pierre Culliford), became world famous as a television cartoon series.  Brussels is home to a large comic-strip museum that attracts visitors from throughout Europe.  Jan Maria Juul Materné  https://www.britannica.com/place/Belgium/History 

Known in Sicily by different names (Insolia, Ansolia, ‘Nzolia vranca), Inzolia is a white grape variety anciently brought by Greeks.  It grows also in Tuscany (Ansonica), and in several wine regions of Western Mediterranean.  Historic evidence suggests that Inzolia has been introduced in Sicily between the 8th and the 7th century BC, during a massive migration from the Greek islands to the Western areas of the Mediterranean.  The reasons for those migrations were essentially related to economic factors:  the growth of their population far beyond the capacity of their limited arable land was perceived as a constraint to further development by the small Greek city-states, which started to settle colonies in all directions, fostering a wide net for mercantile exchanges between the mother land and the new settlements.  Inzolia is one of those varieties:  recent studies show that modern Inzolia is genetically linked to two Greek grapes, Rhoditis and Sideritis, which were originally grown in the island of Rhodes and around the city of Patras and are considered to be fathers to different western grape varieties as Airèn in Spain, Clairette in France and Ansonica in Tuscany.  Marilena Barbera   https://www.cantinebarbera.it/en/marilena-barbera-blog/525-inzolia-white-wine-menfi-doc-sicilia 

The origins of the diner can be traced to Walter Scott, a part-time pressman and type compositor in Providence, Rhode Island.  Around 1858 when Scott was 17 years old he supplemented his income by selling sandwiches and coffee from a basket to newspaper night workers and patrons of men's club rooms.  By 1872 business became so lucrative that Scott quit his printing work and began to sell food at night from a horse-drawn covered express wagon parked outside the Providence Journal newspaper office.  Read much more and see pictures at https://www.americandreamdiner.com/diner-history 

New Jersey is called the diner capital of the world, mostly because of the sheer number of diners in the state.  The state didn't invent the diner, but New Jersey did popularize it.  Elyssa Goldberg  https://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants-travel/article/new-jersey-diner-exhibit

This rasta pasta recipe gives Italian pasta a Jamaican spin with creamy coconut milk, lots of spicy jerk seasoning and huge flavor.  The name “Rasta” refers to “Rastafarianism”, the powerful social movement developed in Jamaica in the 1930s.  It is usually served as a vegetarian dish, as Rastafarians do not eat shellfish or meat, but many non-Rastafarian cooks add a protein to round out the meal.  Jerk chicken or shrimp are the most popular, each bringing its own character to the finished dish, though oxtail is a popular addition as well.  posted by Mike  https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/rasta-pasta/

The Colossus of Rhodes stood for just 54 years before it was destroyed in 226 BC, but its legacy lasted far longer than that.  Like an ancient Lady Liberty, guarding the entrance to the New World, Colossus of Rhodes stood astride the entrance to the island’s Mandraki harbor, watching over those who passed into the city and serving as a symbol of Rhodes’ victory over their foes.  After Antigonus I Monophthalmus, the leader of neighboring island Cyprus, unsuccessfully attempted to besiege Rhodes, the people of Rhodes decided to honor their patron god, Helios.  Beginning in 292 B.C., Greek sculptor Chares began construction on the Colossus.  For twelve years, workers forged and reforged iron and bronze left behind from military weapons to create the outer shell of the statue.  As the structure was built, the body would be filled with stones.  As construction took them higher and higher, the workers developed a new method of reaching the heights.  Rather than unstable scaffolding, the workers built long earthen ramps that covered all sides of the Colossus until it resembled a gigantic anthill.  Upon completion of the statue, the earth was removed, and the statue stood solitary.  The exact location of the Colossus remains unknown to this day.  All accounts agree, however, that the 108-foot tall statue of Helios stood atop a 49-foot tall white marble pedestal, putting the entire height of the Colossus of Rhodes at an impressive 157-feet tall.  In 226 B.C., Rhodes was hit by a devastating earthquake.  Large portions of the city were damaged as well as the harbor, but none was more horrifying than the destruction of the Colossus.  In 2015, tentative plans were drawn up to rebuild the Colossus, and once again grace the Greek skyline with their steadfast guardian.  Katie Serena  https://allthatsinteresting.com/colossus-of-rhodes  Greeks pronounce Rhodes ROAD-us. 

Upma is a flavorful South Indian breakfast dish made from rava or cream of wheat.  This traditional dish involves cooking roasted rava in water that has been flavored by ghee (or oil), cashews, urad dal (lentils), chana dal (husked chickpeas), onion, ginger and additional herbs and spices.  Sugar can be added for a mildly sweet and savory dish.  This steaming hot breakfast dish can be made vegan by using oil instead of ghee.  Full of warmth, flavor and deliciousness, this upma tastes so good.  The main ingredient in any upma recipe is rava.  Also called ‘suji’ in Hindi and ‘cream of wheat’ or ‘semolina’ in English, it is simply granulated wheat.  Serve upma hot with slices of lemon.  Dassana Amit  See recipe at https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/upma-savoury-south-indian-breakfast-recipe-made-with-semolina/ 

No letter combination in English is more frustrating than ough.  It can be pronounced at least nine different ways:  rough (uff); through (oo); bough (ow); cough (off); dough (oh); hiccough (up); fought (aw)’ Poughkeepsie (uh); and Coughlin (og).  Slough causes problems because it’s pronounced different ways, depending on meaning.  Slough pronounced sluff is the term for shedding skin, like snakes do.  Slough meaning wet, swampy ground can be pronounced either sloo or slou (rhymes with cow).  Dictionary.com prefers slou, while the American Heritage Dictionary prefers sloo.  Brian Wasco  https://blog.writeathome.com/index.php/2011/08/902/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2431  October 1, 2021