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Editor's Note: We hope you enjoy this previously published Zola classic. Zola wishes everyone a happy Memorial Day and will be back next Monday with a new recipe and column.

Alternative Lyrics

Many of you probably know it as “Stars and Stripes Forever”. That’s the real title. I just never knew it that way. I was a wee little one when I first heard this song. My father used to whistle it as Memorial Day approached. My father was quite the whistler.

One day my father approached me and my brother. We were probably about 4 and 5 years old at the time. He asked if we knew the words to the song he was whistling. We didn’t of course, so he decided to “play” with us a bit and teach us the alternative lyrics. Truth be known, the alternative lyrics probably made more sense to a couple of little mites like us, so we had a ball learning it.

He began,

“Be kind to your web-footed friends,

For a duck may be somebody’s mother...”

I have a feeling we giggled hysterically because I still giggle to this day whenever I hear that song.

So if you are still feeling a bit patriotic after our latest Memorial Day, click here to listen to the song on You Tube. It's a funny song. It’s not dirty and it’s short.

To this day, I still have a hankering each Memorial Day to attend a parade. Thankfully, my husband allows me this little diversion, with no complaints. He seems to enjoy the pomp and patriotism offered at these parades. Now that my father had passed on, I see him in the faces of the WW2 veterans marching along, or being pushed in wheelchairs. It brings back some great memories of Memorial Day parades past and this funny song he taught us when we were little. To this day I don’t know the real words to the song. For me a duck has become a patriotic symbol of easier, sunny days of my past.

For those of you curious to see the lyrics to “Stars and Stripes Forever” by the famous John Philip Sousa, I’ve included a link here. You’ll have to come up with your own accompaniment however.

http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/starsandstripesforever.html

If you’re older, feel free to teach the lyrics of this fun, little ditty to someone small. I’m confident they’ll never forget who taught it to them. And just in time for Flag Day or the 4th of July too!

Sea-salt-roasted green beans with an Asian dipping sauce
This is a super-simple appetizer. I came up with it on the fly about a week ago and it received rave reviews. I can see myself serving this one up several times over the summer. You could even do these on the grill if you want to.
Serves 4 – 6

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

One handful of beans per person (about 10 beans per person). Trim off the stems.
Sea salt
Olive oil spray or drizzle of olive oil out of the bottle
3/4 cup of sweet and sour sauce
1 tsp of Asian hot chili oil (or to taste)

In a shallow pan pile on your beans. Spray or drizzle on olive oil. Grate sea salt over the beans and then toss with your hands to get them all covered in oil and salt.

Roast 12 to 15 minutes until crisp-cooked. You want them hot all the way through and loosened up, but still slightly crispy. You can do this same thing on the grill with indirect heat in a grill pan so they don’t drop through the grates on the grill. If the beans start to get wrinkly you definitely want to pull them off. I try to get them out before this point but it’s not too late to serve them if they get wrinkles.

While the beans are roasting, mix your sauce and chili oil together. This sauce is supposed to be zippy. Chili oil is rather spicy-hot, so if you don’t like hot food, tone the amount down a bit. If you want this more hot than sweet you can add extra. Just add it in bits and taste test as you go along. The idea is that the sauce tastes sweet on the front end and has a bit of fire on the back end of the taste.

To serve the beans just place them on a platter in the middle of the group with a couple small bowls (or ramekins) of the dipping sauce and let your guests eat them with their fingers. People might look at you a bit strangely at first. Not many people have eaten green beans as an appetizer, but once they taste the first one, if your guests are like mine, the beans will be flying off the platter and the dipping will be furious.

I like them best hot, but these taste pretty darn good cooled off too.

Cheers!
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at zolacooks@gmail.com.