Wednesday, December 13, 2017

A Minnesota Christmas: Pickled Herring




Growing up in Minnesota in the 1950’s and 60’s, I had very little access to seafood. Being Catholics, we had fish sticks every Friday. They were not a pleasant treat. I’m not even sure they were actually fish of any kind. Mostly breading and salt. Of course canned tuna was endemic, but as a young boy I regarded it as an inedible affront that mothers felt compelled to force on their young for the pure sadistic pleasure of it.

Only at Christmas was the tang of the ocean carried into our home. That is when my dad inevitably brought home a one gallon bucket of Elf pickled herring.

It was a red plastic bucket, I remember, that lurked in the back of the refrigerator from around December 20th through January 5th. It was the exclusive domain of dad and his brothers, who came over nearly every day to eat it with Ry-Krisp crackers and squat brown bottles of Hamms Beer.

Cracking open the lid of pickled herring not only unleashed a rich and tangy odor throughout the house, but also unleashed a continuous and irritable murmur from my mother -- somewhat akin to the endless murmur of waves crashing upon the Baltic shore. She found everything about pickled herring, and those who relished it, to be repugnant. It smelled up the house; it gave one tremendously evil bad breath; and once dropped upon the carpet, it left a greasey stain that even Mr. Clean could not fully eradicate. To her, it was a yuletide curse.

As an inquisitive and intrusive little boy, I was naturally curious about what all the fuss was for. So I asked Uncle Jim for a taste one Saturday afternoon. He was well on his way to finishing up his fifth or six bottle of Hamms, and was only too happy to oblige his nephew. I gave the proffered hunk of pickled herring a few perfunctory chews and then swallowed it. The taste was very . . . well, after all these years I really don’t remember the taste so much as the subsequent reaction -- all over the living room carpet. Such a household felony usually meant the firing squad, but mom took pity on my outraged digestive system and merely sent me to bed without any supper -- a moot point anyways, since the thought of food for the next twelve hours sent my gorge to Himalayan heights.

Over half a century later, with mom and dad and the beer swilling uncles sleeping quietly in their plots at Sunset Memorial Park, I am spending the Christmas season with some of my own kids and grand kids, benignly overseeing the decoration of spritz cookies and the mixing of non-alcoholic eggnog (the kids found an internet site that claims nutmeg is the best thing in the world to prevent catching a cold.) And when no one is looking, I furtively go to the fridge to pull out an 8 ounce jar of Elf herring in wine sauce for a quick nibble. Like my father before me, I eventually discovered it is the perfect Nordic comfort food for the holidays. It no longer reminds me of the tang of the ocean -- I’ve lived on the beach in Thailand -- but the tang of vinegar, after too many heavily decorated spritz cookies, is a welcome change of taste.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Restaurant Review: Bam Bam's BBQ. Orem, Utah.



I've passed this place on State Street dozens of times since moving back to Happy Valley four years ago. But since I'd eaten at some of the best BBQ joints in southern Virginia prior to my arrival, I felt not urgent need to dig into the smoked meats again. But today my daughter Sarah took me to the Walgreen's for some orthopedic supplies I need for my chronic plantar fasciitis, so in return I offered her a free lunch anywhere she wanted. She wanted meat, and lots of it -- so we wound up here.





I ordered us a half pound of brisket, a pound of ribs, a sausage link, and sides of beans, potato salad, and mac & cheese. We drank water. Total cost:  $34.97. Sarah left the tip -- she used to be a waitress, so she likes to leave a generous gratuity.




Now you may hear a lot of flummery about the best way to eat BBQ -- but I'm here to tell you that there is only ONE way to eat it right, and that is with the meat in one hand and a slice of white bread covered with raw onion and dill pickles chips in the other. Take a bite of meat,and then a bite of the open faced sandwich, and then repeat. Until full. Or dead -- whichever comes first.


My grand son Lance spurned everything but a slice of white bread, on which he vainly attempted to spread a pat of frozen butter. By the time he gave up, the bread was smooshed beyond recognition and the butter had fallen on the floor.



The sausage was disappointing; very gristly. The brisket was fine. And the ribs were to die for. I recommend the dark red bbq sauce on the tables -- rich and sweet. The other kinds on offer are thin and vinegary. This place gets 4 Burps. Just stay away from the sausage and you'll do fine. But eating on a picnic table does not count as Fine Dining, so don't bring your wife here for your anniversary.



Money spent on eating out with family is a better investment than Bitcoin or Wall Street.



Headlines & Verse. Tuesday December 12. 2017. Having lunch with Meryl Streep



Alabama Senate Race: Four Things to Watch

The state of Alabama is most noted for one point:
Thugs and creeps the populace does casually anoint.
Piously elected through constituent rapport,
They crucify the nation with the likes of ol’ Roy Moore.


The West Faces Up to Reality: China Won’t Become ‘More Like Us’

The Chinese are self-satisfied.
The Western world they can’t abide.
We ask them to please
Don’t be so Chinese --
They tell us to stick to fluoride.


A $1 Cup of Coffee in NYC? Fuhgeddaboudit


In New York the coffee is steep.
They trim you like you are a sheep.
And asking for cream
Is just a pipe dream,
Like having lunch with Meryl Streep.




Arizona newspaper owner says he was poisoned



It could not have been his own staff.
The thought of it makes me just laugh.
Reporters agree
That owners are free
From handling them like riffraff.




Millions of People Post Comments on Federal Regulations. Many Are Fake.


Fake names on the internet grow
Like yeast working through a warm dough.
Most comments are sham;
Just fuel for a scam --

Identity ain’t apropos.


‘Fake News,’ Trump’s Obsession, Is Now a Cudgel for Strongmen

Dictators now take great delight
In claiming that ev’ry sound byte
That questions their views
Is nasty fake news --

And so to truth-telling, good night!

Monday, December 11, 2017

Be kind to the Philly Eagles fan. The Ballad of Carson Wentz




For Eagles fans, an injury to Wentz is a painful way to be reminded of this fact. There’s a silver lining somewhere in here, that numerous players have recovered from ACL injuries, and that Wentz’s leadership intangibles will probably be sharpened by the perspective of lost time. But that’s not great consolation amid a Philadelphia season that looked outrageously promising—until, suddenly, it doesn’t.


Be Nice to Philadelphia Eagles Fans

Be kind to the Philly Eagles fan;
They are a sad and morbid clan.
Just when they think that life makes sense,
They go and lose their Carson Wentz.
So buy them coffee, donuts, booze --

Cuz on the field their team will snooze . . .

Headlines & Verse. Monday December 11 2017.


How Much for That Tree? $35 in Harlem, or $135 in SoHo

From the New York Times
I think that I shall never see
Another budget Christmas tree.
The scent of pine is awful dear;
Some needles must suffice this year.

Opening of the first Cheesecake Factory in Hong Kong has diners cooking up strategies to handle heaping portions  from the Wall Street Journal


Learn to use a doggy bag and never will you want
The means to stave off hunger or grow up as very gaunt.
American franchises shovel too much on your plate;
So nibble some and take the rest to home refrigerate.
The reason that the yankees pile the food on in a heap
Is so you’ll tip ‘em lots of coin before you fall asleep.



Small Investors Face Steeper Tax Bill Under Senate Proposal

From the Wall Street Journal
The little guy will get the shaft; of this you can be sure
When Congress passes laws to keep Big Money all secure.
Investors who are modest would be better off instead
To put their hard-earned shekels in the mattress of their bed!


U.S. Bitcoin Futures Climb in First Day of Trade


Though bitcoin is such a big deal,
I doubt if it even is real.
It seems like a trick
That someone would pick

Who thought that Enron was a steal . . .


Sunday, December 10, 2017

Headlines & Verse. Sunday December 10 2017.



Young entrepreneurs are loving retro office equipment


I never had a Rolodex;
I think they are outdated
But I can tell you anyhow
They look too complicated.


Meet Your New Boss: An Algorithm

My new boss does not hesitate.
Distractions it won’t tolerate.
The formula used
Leaves me so abused,
I’ll tell it to go copulate!


The First Women in Tech Didn’t Leave—Men Pushed Them Out

From the Wall Street Journal
Though women are smarter than men
It happens again and again
That technology
Shoves girls constantly
Back to the housework and playpen.


U.S. Sets January Push for $1 Trillion Infrastructure Revamp

Improvements inside the U.S.
Can lead to financial abscess.
Contractors will draft
Big plans for much graft

That pork barrel councils will bless.

Letter from my Missionary Daughter



Hi everybody!!

I'm super excited, because this week I get to leave for California!! I'll be heading out on Tuesday in the morning, and will get to call my family before I go, so I'm extra excited for that :)

It hasn't quite hit me that I'll be leaving the MTC... I haven't packed any of my stuff, but that's okay because it's apparently tradition to pack an hour before you leave ;) Just kidding, but I am sort of in denial. Only a few of the people in my district are going to Irvine with me, and the rest are going to Reno and San Diego. It's going to be hard separating from my second family, but the Lord's work must go on, and I'm really really excited to be able to get to help. 

This week probably the most important thing I've learned is a lesson in humility and listening. I thought initially that I was a good listener; but when I think about it now, I'm pretty sure I was just good at being silent and not necessarily listening to what others have to say. We were in a lesson with an investigator, and I thought that it had gone well...or at least not terrible. We talked about the restoration of the church through Joseph Smith, and his experience of the First Vision. That's kind of what we had planned in the first place, but I think I was more talking AT the investigator than listening TO them and what needs they had. So anyway, we finished and I felt pretty okay with what we had talked about. Also, every time we have a lesson, the investigator fills out a survey, then we fill out that same survey, but from their perspective, then we compare the two. When we got the survey back, it said that the investigator had felt uncomfortable, bored, and talked at. I felt angry at myself for being so clueless, because I had absolutely NO IDEA that she had felt that way in the lesson! I got really down on myself and I couldn't think about anything else but how I had messed up so bad. My companion tried to comfort me in her way, but I just kind of shut down and wouldn't talk. It came time for us to head to class, so we got up and headed to our room. I started to feel better as I focused on the gospel and not myself. I also realized that I am NOT a perfect teacher and I don't know everything and that that's okay. Then I got an email from a friend and that really helped to pick myself back up and go on. Just knowing that I had somebody out there who had felt as I had, was really comforting and felt like home. That was such a tender mercy from the Lord to me. On our next lesson with that particular investigator, I really tried hard to listen better and I learned a lot more about how she felt about God and her purpose in life. It was our last lesson with our MTC practice investigators, which is bitter-sweet. I loved getting to know these investigators and their concerns, but I am way excited to get out to California and get to know the people there and help bring them the gospel of Jesus Christ!
I don't have much time left, but I just want to let you all know how much it means to me to have a support system and to know that you all are still out there, alive and happy. Already the mission is hard, but it's been the best thing I've done in my life so far and I would not trade it for anything. 
Until next week, take care!

Sincerely,

Sister Torkildson


****************************************************


Dear Sister Torkildson;
I hope you are not going to be near any of those terrible brush fires that seem to be burning up half the state of California lately! Please address this issue in your next email, K?
Here are my latest Book of Mormon poems. I thought you might enjoy them:



". . . and became the devil, to rise no more."

to rise no more, the devil schemes
to take away all mankind's dreams.
the chains he carries evermore
he puts on us so we can't soar.
to soar above the bitter plain,
to leap beyond all present pain --
the Savior only this can give
if for him, by him, I will live! 


“Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength.”


Dependent on their own physique, the Lamanites did fail
To slay the Nephite armies and were forced to soon turn tail.
For when the saints are righteous and the Lord of Hosts responds,
No flesh and blood can ever send free people into bonds.

And from last General Conference:

Ian S. Arden

When thirsty I am not inclined some sour milk to drink,
Nor do I want a rotten piece of meat with all its stink.
I prefer a wholesome, fresh, and pure bit of cuisine
To provide good health and strength and keep my judgement keen.

And so my spirit hungers for the perfect word of God --
Not some caustic bilge that comes from crackpot or from fraud.
The fruit that I am after does not grow on poisoned trees,
No matter what the world may say my caution to appease.


Love, dad.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Headlines & Verse. Saturday December 9 2017. Trent Franks



Trent Franks, Accused of Offering $5 Million to Impregnate an Aide, Abruptly Resigns



A lawmaker said to his aide
“My dear, you’re a comely young maid.
I would be happy
To be a new pappy --
And you would be very well paid."


Actually, You Do Want to Know How This Italian Sausage Gets Made

A heedless young man of Verona
In curing shed smoked a corona.
The sausage turned green
From his nicotine --
He’s now a non grata persona.


Trump Hails Civil Rights ‘Heroes’ in Speech Some Black Leaders Boycotted



If you have a building to clear,
This news ought to bring you great cheer:
Have Trump give a talk,
And people will  balk
At staying unless there’s free beer.



How Amazon Picks Its Seemingly Random Deals of the Day

I never intended to buy
A thing from that Amazon sly --
It must be black art,
Cuz my shopping cart

Fills faster than Nixon could lie.

Friday, December 8, 2017

The Plumber's Gag




Bill Ballantine, the venerable Dean of the Ringling Clown College, was a writer and illustrator by trade. With a literary flourish, he nicknamed the Class of ‘72 “The Young Turks.” His reason for doing so was based on the fact that we were feeling our oats, grew too big for our britches, and generally ignored the tried and true Biblical warning that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Several of us First of Mays on the Blue Unit of Ringling that first season felt that we could come up with much better gags than the ones that Mark Anthony, Swede Johnson, Prince Paul, Dougie Ashton, and Otto Griebling assigned us to perform. Levoi Hipps, the boss clown that season, finally threw up his hands in despair at our constant whining and carping about the antiquity and unfunniness of our current buffooneries.

“Alright!” he hollered at us one day after the matinee. “Alright! If’n you think you can come up with a better ring gag than the ones you’re doing, I’ll put it in center ring -- dagnabbit! Go ahead and show us jest how high-larious you all can be!” And he stalked away to replace the worn baby shoes on his stilts with a new pair of white ones.

I rubbed my hands in glee at his challenge. NOW we’d show ‘em! I already had a wonderful gag vaguely planned out in my mind, and began to explain it to Chico, the Little Guy, Roofus T. Goofus, Rubber Neck, and Anchorface -- all of them as eager and anxious as I to show up the veteran clowns, who took so little notice of us that they didn’t even know our names. To them I was either ‘Smutch Finger’ or ‘Greaseball’ -- as in “Hey, Smutch Finger, better get started on blowing up the balloons for come in” or “Hey Greaseball, don’t powder so damn close to my trunk -- take it outside the alley, will ya?”  

We’d get this oversized toilet, see, and pretend to be plumbers like the Three Stooges and we’d fall into the darn thing and then at the end it would explode and we’d all run out of the ring with toilet plungers stuck to the top of our heads!

Sounded like a great gag to me. But strangely enough my compatriots had their doubts.

‘What ya gonna build a giant toilet out of?” asked Roofus T. Goofus. “Balsa wood or foam rubber or what? It’s gonna weigh a ton -- the roustabouts won’t wanna carry it in and out of the ring.”

“Kinda poor taste, dontcha think?” queried the Little Guy. “I mean, couldn’t we make it a bathtub instead?”

Chico liked the idea, but he wanted to put in too much ‘spaghetti.’  “Let’s have it shoot water at us and then we’ll put in a toilet paper fight!”

“You can’t make fun of plumbers” said Anchorface, whose old man actually was a plumber. “They got a real powerful union -- they could sue us!”

“Bah!” I retorted to one and all. “We can work out the kinks later. But first let’s build a prototype and get Levoi to let us put it in center ring for the next matinee!”

They all liked that word ‘prototype.’ It sounded scientific and encouraging. So we cobbled together something that looked like a cross between a Sherman tank and a bidet, using odds and ends of foam rubber and plywood, and held together with several miles of duct tape, and informed Mr. Hipps we were ready to make circus history. We didn’t really ever rehearse for it -- we figured our brilliant improvisational skills would provide a risible storyline. And we each had a hardware store red rubber plunger ready to stick on top of our heads for the blow off.

Giving us the stink eye, Levoi granted us permission to go into center ring after the rola bola act and try our luck. The veteran clowns merely shook their heads in tired silence. Damn fool kids -- they’ll probably kill themselves out there . . .


Bandmater Bill Prynne played us on with ‘Wedding of the Winds,’ as Roofus T. Goofus and I lugged our mammoth toilet out into center ring (the roustabouts would have nothing to do with it unless we paid them five bucks a show for the extra work.)

Then, to put it politely, everything went south. The turkey basters inside the toilet, designed to spritz us intermittently, sprang a leak, which not only caused the seams of foam rubber pieces to come unglued, but also ruined the black powder squibs so they didn’t explode at the end of the gag. The circus audience resolutely sat on their hands during our debacle, refusing to release a single titter. Finally, in extremis, we started pummeling each other with our toilet plungers and ran dispiritedly out of center ring backstage to a glowering Charlie Baumann, the Performance Director, who soundly berated us for bringing such deplorable infamy to the proud name of Ringling Brothers.

And did I learn a lesson from this embarrassing fiasco?  Actually . . . no. For the rest of my clown career I kept tinkering with new ideas and trying to build original clown props to titillate the audience. Most of what I came up with was pure dreck -- but once in a blue moon I’d hit upon a piece of whimsy that got a rise out of the fickle circus crowd, as well as my fellow jesters. And so clown alley old-timers today will tell you, if you give them half a chance, about the time old Tork built a pyramid of pop cans in center ring; or how he clipped a balloon on the back of Charlie Baumann’s tuxedo coat one day, and the fun that then ensued.  

Then again, they’re just as likely to tell you about the time I split my pants during the elephant manage number . . .