Some favorite Muser films:   

Widely considered one of the best film noirs ever made, Double Indemnity is often cited as the film that set the standards for the genre, with director and co-writer Billy Wilder working around the Production Code to create one of the most cold-hearted onscreen crimes of the era.  Insurance salesman Walter Neff (MacMurray) is gradually seduced into a murder plot by his client’s wife, the conniving Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck), who only has to flash her ankle bracelet to turn him from decent guy into cold-blooded killer.  https://www.goldderby.com/gallery/fred-macmurray-movies-15-greatest-films-ranked-from-worst-to-best/fred-macmurray-movies-ranked-double-indemnity/   

Babette's Feast (Danish: Babettes Gæstebud) is a 1987 Danish drama film directed by Gabriel Axel.  The screenplay, written by Axel, was based on the 1958 story of the same name by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen).  It was produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen and Benni Korzen, with funding from the Danish Film Institute.  It stars Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, and Bodil Kjer.  Babette's Feast was met with widespread critical acclaim and became the first Danish film to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.  It was also the first Danish cinema film of a Blixen story.  The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babette%27s_Feast#:~:text=Babette's%20Feast%20was%20met%20with,the%201987%20Cannes%20Film%20Festival.   

pan·​dow·​dy pan-ˈdau̇-dē plural pandowdies: a deep-dish spiced apple dessert sweetened with sugar, molasses, or maple syrup and covered with a rich crust.    

Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy
Makes your eyes light up
Your tummy say “Howdy.”
Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy
I never get enough of that wonderful stuff…

The song by Guy Wood, with lyrics by Sammy Gallop, is from the 1940s. Pandowdy, however, dates back to colonial times.  It is a sort of pie made with sliced fruit—usually apples—sweetened with sugar or molasses, then topped with a rolled biscuit dough, or according to some old recipes, a pastry dough.  There is also some confusion about why the dessert is called pandowdy.  The name may come from pandoulde, a now obsolete word for a Somerset custard.  But pandowdy itself seems to be an American dish.  Some say that “dowdy” refers to its plain appearance, others that the dessert is so-called because its top is “dowdied,” or cut up, during or after baking.  Find recipe for Apple Pandowdy
Adapted from Eleanor Early’s The New England Cookbook at https://revolutionarypie.com/2013/11/25/apple-pandowdy/   

"From the beginning, Birmingham's strategic location near the mouth of the Maumee River made it naturally attractive to settlers in Northwest Ohio.  Even before the first Europeans arrived, Native American tribes were drawn to the area by its easy access to Lake Erie, its abundant fresh fish, and its location under a major migratory bird route.  What would become the Birmingham neighborhood was settled early on by French, German, and Irish farmers impressed with the area's rich loamy soil.  Streets and park names such as Collins, Valentine, and Paine commemorate these early farming settlers.  Birmingham's economic shift from agriculture to industry happened suddenly, beginning with the establishment of a foundry by the National Malleable Castings Company.  In 1890, the company transferred approximately two hundred Hungarian workers from its home plant in Cleveland to its new East Toledo Site on Front Street.  Their arrival is documented in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church registers, where many of the first Hungarian settlers recorded their baptisms, marriages, and deaths until St. Stephen's church was built in 1899. https://tlcpleasttoledo.omeka.net/exhibits/show/east-toledo/birmingham   Thank you, reader.    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2852  September 6, 2024