Apropos of Nothing

Around the time we bought our house (8 years ago this week), we decided that we needed a family motto.

The Spouse and I thought about it long and hard, working through numerous drafts and permutations until we came up with something reflective of our family. Then we realized that to be a really good motto it should be in Latin.

Latin is tricky. You can plug words into an on-line Latin translator thingy but it won't necessarily give you what you want. Some words have more than one meaning. Some present day words don't exist in Latin. Such translations require skill. We didn't realize that at first.

We turned it over to a priest friend on the naive assumption that all priests must be good at Latin. Fr. RT came up with something but then another friend got hold of it and gave us yet another translation. The words in the two versions looked similar but we certainly didn't know which was best. So we showed both to our parish priest when he came for dinner (he was in seminary at the Vatican so we knew he knew Latin). He read them, making a pickle face at the first and then asked who had written the second. We told him and he said, "Well, it's not only correct but very elegant".

So there we had it, a correct and elegant family motto in Latin even though we are none of those things:

"Diligere, Convivare, Vitrae Rumpere"

or

"To Love, Feast and Break Glassware"

Over time I decided that I needed a personal motto as well (really, doesn't everyone?) I reflected long and hard to come up with a few words that embraced my life philosophy. I then turned it over to Mr. Correct & Elegant and he delivered the following:

"Miracula precamini et erneum edite"

or

"Pray for miracles and eat pudding"

Specifically, I was thinking of this pudding:

Bread & Butter Pudding with Strawberries

4 large eggs
¼ c. milk
¾ c. cream
7 T. sugar
2 T. dark rum or 1 T. vanilla (or go wild and use both)
8 slices white bread
4 T. unsalted butter
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced in half

Whisk together eggs, milk, cream, 3 T. sugar and rum and/or vanilla. Set aside

Spread top of each slice of bread with generous amount of butter. Cut slices in half diagonally. Overlap bread slices in oiled 9x13 pan. Pour egg mixture over bread and let stand 1 hour.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle pudding with 2 T. sugar. Bake until puffed and golden brown, and pudding has set, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine strawberries with remaining 2 T. sugar. Let stand while pudding bakes. Serve strawberries with bread pudding.