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No. My husband has already vetoed Margaret, although I love it, and I don't like Rhiannon with Bridget. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Boon
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posted
Melissa, spelled Maolisa on that site you linked to, means "follower of Jesus."
I really liked Caoilainn, but my husband's response was "I have to bless this baby, I need to be able to remember the name!"
I got the same response on Caoimhe. It's a MIDDLE name, for heaven's sakes! The one place where I can use a Gaelic spelling and not worry about people mispronouncing my child's name forever!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Boon
unregistered
posted
Maire, pronounced "my-ra", is Irish for Mary.
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All right, you've tried hard enough I hereby remove the curse. Just don't ruin any more Irish names for us! Or baby names in general, for that matter!
quote:No vowels sucks. There are a lot of good names that start with vowels.
I know. But when the last name starts with "H", middle names with vowels can be problematic, acronymically. That's also why no "S"-- B. S. Hamilton doesn't work for us.
Kiera is out because we're naming our second boy Ciaran, and Kiera is the female form. Fiona reminds Jeff of Shrek ( ).
Oh, I just remembered that we didn't like "M" names because of the same reason as "S" names. Sorry, no "M" names, much as I like many of them.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Too bad you are rejecting "B" names, or I would have suggested "Bambino", meaning "please remove this curse".
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Described as "one of the most remarkable women in Irish history" Granuaile or Grainne Ni Mhaille (ang. as Grace O'Malley) was a renowned sea captain who led a band of 200 sea-raiders from the coast of Galway in the sixteenth century. Twice widowed, twice imprisoned, fighting her enemies both Irish and English for her rights, condemned for piracy, and finally pardoned in London by Queen Elizabeth herself, her fame was celebrated in verse and song and in James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake." She is often seen as a poetic symbol for Ireland.
But I almost certainly won't. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Coit-leen, with the "oi" somewhere between "oy" and "ay"-- almost like an "i", is how I've always heard it pronounced.
When it's not being Americanized to "Kaytlin" or "Kaitlyn" or something, anyway. (That's usually pronounced "Kate-lin.")
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
KQ, that's it. I've always wanted to pronounce it that way when I take attendance as a substitute, just to see the kids' reactions. (I would have put it somewhere between Kawt-leen and Koit-leen, but the brogue is subtle, and varies with region)
BTW, I'm no longer a substitute, I finally got a job.
And a side note on Brigid: My wife wrote a book called "Saint Brigid's Passion," about an Irish priest accused of murder.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Wedensday my wife and son are late coming home due to after school conference. My wife, jealous of my free evening, suggests that I could use the time to make the frozen bananas.
I say, "I thought we would all do it. You know, make a family project of it."
She said, "Yes dear, but we don't have time. Just do it."
How hard could it be.
I got off work at 5pm.
By 5:20 I was home. I peeled the bananas on some wax paper. I decided to break a couple in half so that Sasha could enjoy a 5 year old sized one. I then stuck some wooden skewers in each one and stuck them in the freezer.
How long could it take a banana to freeze anyway?
At 7:30 I had had my dinner. I opened up the "Sams" sized container of cashews and prepared them for the bananas. Wait, the wife didn't buy chopped cashews. Pull out the big knife and spend 10 minutes chopping nuts.
Get out the sprinkles. I know Sasha will want sprinkles on his, and we need to use up these. I think they are older than Sasha, maybe older than me.
The sprinkle lid is stuck. Need a bit of force.
Spend 10 minutes sweeping up sprinkles from the floor, table, and wiping a few off of the ceiling.
Now, I've seen Emeril melt chocolate before. Its not hard. OK, I've never cooked with it before, but I know what I've seen. I take out a big pot and put water in it. I start it boiling. Then I take a bowl and pour the chocolate chips into it.
Yes, we are melting Hershey's chocolate chips. We were going to use good cooking chocolate, but its @#$@#$@# expensive.
Put bowl so it is above the boiling water.
Wait.
The chips slowly melt, kind of.
The become very un-chip like, but they don't turn into that deliscious velvety chocolate liquid that Emeril uses so well.
8:30 no change
9:00. Shasha and Momma will be home soon. I change to a bigger pot of water. I turn up the heat. Nothing.
I take out a banana and try coating it with the chocolate. nope. Its not liquid.
Desparate I stick the bowl in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes.
Cindy calls. They are stuck in traffic. How is it going.
I explode all over her, begging for help.
I mention my desparate attempt with microwaving the chocolate.
She says, "Don't put it in too long. That cooks the chocolate more than melts it."
I assure her that I didn't put it in for long, make an excuse, hang up the phone and run to the micro-wave.
Ding.
I have chocolate fudge.
I take out the bananas, but they don't work with the fudge.
They also aren't frozen yet.
I leave them out while I look for another solution.
I put the fudge back on the boiling water.
Then, out of true desparation I do something stupid.
(As if the rest of this was actually doing something smart)
I read the directions on the only remaining bag of chocolate chips.
It says, "Put in pan on low heat to melt."
pan?
No double boiler?
No water and bowl ala Emeril.
Cindy calls, 10 minutes away.
I put the chips in a small pot and see what happens.
They melt beautifully.
I take a semi-hard frozen banana, stick it in the chocolate and ---perfect--
until the stick falls off.
I grab a fork, roll it in cashews, and place it on the wax paper to harden.
I grab another big banana--but now it falls in two. Ok, I grab half of it and do the same, but this time in sprinkles.
Its going good, but I will need more chocolate, and I don't want the evidence of the micro-wave fudge sitting on the stove still trying to melt.
I turn it off.
Then think to put the undone bananas back in the freezer. They may net get any harder, but they won't get any softer.
I take the fudged chocolate and put some of it in with the good chocolate. It ruins the good chocolate.
#@$@#$@#!!@!!
Wait, it just looks dry. It needs some liquid. Someone here mentioned putting a small amount of oil in the chocolate. I have no oil other than olive in the house, and olive oil doesn't sound appetizing.
I go with margarine.
Being scientific with this, I scoop up an oversized spoon full of butter, and throw it in the pot. Repeat.
It works.
Cindy comes in. Sasha comes in, but is walking in his sleep. Cindy likes the way the chocolate looks, and while the banana's drying don't look expert, they do almost resemble chocolate covered frozen bananas. The crazed look on my face warns her. She makes some polite comments about them. We put Sasha to sleep.
I go back into the kitchen. Cindy volunteers to take over. I growl. She decides to help instead.
When all was said and done, they were quite edible.
Sasha, who loved banana's up to 1 month ago, won't eat them of course. Cindy looks at them with a bit of trepidation, if not downright fear.
I however, devour them with gusto. Its called revenge.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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For future reference: When using cheap chocolate, the extra fat is almost always needed. So I would start with the chips and a tablespoon or two of margarine/butter. Microwave one minute (no more!) and stir. If not completely melted, try giving it another 30 seconds.
Yay for being victorious! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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For the record, I have NEVER had a problem making chocolate-dipped frozen bananas.
And I think you need to turn your freezer up.
And Emeril always notes that he's using the bowl so you can see what's happening, but really you should use a proper double-boiler.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
The line I forgot to put in the above, and good thing I forgot it too...
"They bananas were all half frozen, which helped them droop off the stick. Not more than three of the skewers stayed in the bananas, or mostly half banananas now. There limpness made it difficult to scoop out of the chocolate. Face it, if your banana ain't stiff enough, ain't no-one having fun."
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Inspired by this thread, I made chocolate covered bananas last week.
I think it will be a long time before I do it again.
Things went OK, mostly. The main problem was that the melted chocolate chips went on thicker than ideal. It tasted *supurb* but it was far more chocolate than I shoulda been eating in one sitting!!! Tummy ache....
I tried keeping them in the fridge so-as to have soft bananas inside the hard chocolate shell, but the exposed bottoms turned an icky grey color. >.< They still tasted good, but I was the only one in the family who would actually eat them. :sad smile:
Next time I try, I will try to use some kind of chocolate mixture that will go on thinner and keep the bananas frozen. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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