Schnitzel Surprise

I am not a person who likes surprises. I think it is part of being Type A and Control oriented. That said, I don't say no to surprise packages of Dove darks coming home from the store or great new books waiting for me at work. There are surprises like "something has come up in the Teen Center" or "need your input fast" that I'm not so keen on.

Here is Schnitzel Surprise from Betty Crocker's "Good and Easy Cookbook" from 1971, the year I was born.

5 thin slices Swiss cheese (each about 3 3/4 X 2 1/2 inches) (Seems oddly precise)
5 thins slices boiled ham (I'm not listing the measurements for each of these. Look at the picture if you really want to make this.)
1 package frozen breaded veal patties
1/2 teaspoon salt.
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place Swiss cheese and ham on 5 frozen veal patties; top with remaining patties. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Bake on ungreased baking sheet 10 minutes. Turn patties; season with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bake 10 minutes longer.

OK, basically put the patties down with cheese and ham on top - bake, put the other on top and bake. I'd love to see how folks spread 1/4 teaspoon salt across 5 patties.
Then the book includes a way to make your own veal patties. Is this not a veal sandwich with no bread or am I missing something?

Moving on to other gross things - Illinois politics. I worked on Roland Burrs' Comptroller campaign in college and he is a good man. I do think he is wrong that the senate seat is separate from our favorite governor. I also have great respect for Jesse White, our state librarian and Secretary of State. What a mess. I have taken to knitting very fast while watching the news and muttering. What a waste of every one's time.

I just finished Forever Princess by Cabot - the last Princess Diaries book. You can read my review at www.teenreads.com in a couple weeks but it was a great end to a really fun series. It's amazing how Cabot took such a premise and made the heroine a realistic teen.

I'm taking an online blog book tours class to get ready for the release of the anthology Missing from www.echelonpress.com - Echelon Press. It will be out early February and will benefit missing persons organizations. I will be hosting a few guest bloggers here in the next few months - I've asked them all to come up with some recipes, and I will be blogging elsewhere too. I hope the readers of those blogs like prune recipes...