A Pocket Full of "Ishes" for a Manic Monday

The problem with stream of consciousness is that you sometimes end up in the middle of a raging flood. Mo has decreed RELISH and I obediantly put up a recipe for Cranberry Relish a few days ago. Of course, since half of my heritage is southern, my brain immediately corrected relish to Piccalilli which is canned at home and is much better than anything you can find made by Heinz

INGREDIENTS:

20 green tomatoes
1 large green bell pepper
1 large red bell pepper
1 hot red pepper
1 cup Kosher salt
6 cups vinegar
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1/3 cup prepared horseradish

PREPARATION:

Chop tomatoes and peppers; put in a large enameled kettle. Sprinkle with the salt, cover with water, and let soak overnight. Combine vinegar, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and mustard. Drain tomatoes and peppers thoroughly.

Add vinegar mixture and simmer until tender. Add horseradish.

Pack into hot sterilized jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace; seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
------------------------
Then the stream overflowed:

Now relish is green and green made me think of leprechauns. It isn't St. Patrick's Day, but one of the best uses of "ish" was written by Yip Harburg who also wrote a little ditty called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and pots of gold are found at the end of rainbows and that brings you back to leprechauns that showed up on the screen in the form of Tommy Steele getting taller by the minute while hunting for his pot of gold and a rainbow belonging to Finnian ... Moving arms and legs rapidly to tread water in that fast flowing stream of consciousness.

Finnian's Rainbow came to the stage in 1947 and to the screen in 1963. While seeming dated now, it was originally way ahead of it's time with it's subjects of poverty and racism while making it all palatable with a wonderful collection of songs including standards such as "How Are Things In Glocca Morra", "That Old Devil Moon", and "If This Isn't Love". The score also contained some humorous patter songs to capture the Irish magic including "When I'm Not Near The One I love", and a delightful song about the flutters of first falling in love that actually contains the Manic Monday word: Relish --- along with a whole lot of other ishes. You can listen to the whole score by clicking on the title link below or just read the lyrics or take side trips on the bios of both Clark and Steele who are still going strong. What made this song so interesting was the Minuet like rhythms and pauses and a lyric that managed to rhyme mouse and Eisenhower.
SOMETHING SORT OF GRANDISH

(Burton Lane / E.Y. "Yip" Harburg)



Tommy Steele & Petula Clark (Film Soundtrack - 1963)

PETULA: Is it a warmish, kind of glowish, kind of peculiarish sensation?
TOMMY: Oh no, it's sort of a shimmerish kind of quimmerish, flibbery-gibberish sensation.
PETULA: Does it make you feel humming birds in your heart?
TOMMY: Butterflies in me feet
PETULA: And bees in your bonnet
TOMMY: Stars in me britches
PETULA: Does it make you want to dance?
TOMMY: I hadn't noticed
PETULA: And sing?
TOMMY: Oh, it does, it does....

TOMMY:

Something sweet
Something sort of grandish
Sweeps my soul
When thou art near

My heart feels so sugar candish
My head feels so ginger beer (Laughter)

Something so dareish
So I don't careish
Stirs me from limb to limb
It's so terrifish, magnifish, delish
To have such an amorish, glamorish dish

We could be, oh, so bride and groomish
Skies could be so bluish blue
Life could be so love in bloomish
If my ishes could all come true

PETULA:

Thou art sweet
Thou art sort of grandish
Thou outlandish cavalier
From now on, we're hand in handish

Romeo

TOMMY:

And Guinevere

Thou'rt so adorish
Toujours l'amourish
I'm so cherchez la femme

PETULA:

Why should I vanquish
Relinquish, resish
When I simply relish
this swellish condish

TOMMY:

I might be manish or mouseish
I might be a fowl or fish
But with thee I'm Eisenhowish
Please accept my propasish

BOTH:

You're under my skinish
So please be give-inish
Or it's the beginish
of the finish of me

I hope you all enjoyed the music and may all your ishes come true.