Irish Gumbo: I was hungry again an hour later

Showing posts with label I was hungry again an hour later. Show all posts

08 July 2011

The Mayo(nnaise) Clinic

I swear, this mayonnaise thing must be some sort of strange attractor for me. Once again, I find myself cogitating on the subject of condiments, with mayo front and center. I know I've done this before (see "French Fries in Holland" and "Mayo Playo Hato" for enlightenment, if you haven't already), and I thought I was finis, but alas, it came back. I must confess to you, why it came back.

Recently while at lunch with some new friends, I ordered a club sandwich with french fries. The waitress asked me if I wanted ketchup or mayonnaise. Perplexed, because I thought she was asking if I wanted either on my sandwich, I said mayonnaise. Because who puts ketchup on a club sandwich?

A minute later, it hit me: she was asking if I wanted mayo or ketchup for the french fries. Sure enough, when the plates arrived at the table there were two tiny stainless steel cups with mayonnaise in them.

Hmm. Given my past stance on that particular condiment, one would think I would have asked the waitress to bring a bottle of ketchup, or malt vinegar (my particular favorite on fries), but not wanting to lose face I gamely decided to try the mayo. To quote Jeffrey Steingarten, the "results, regrettably, were delicious".

I have ventured over to the Dark Side of condiment application...and I liked it. And now I don't what to do...

08 March 2011

Forty Cloves and a Bed

Gingham caresses the open sash
as salt breeze insinuates itself
through the cottage window,
curious for a taste of heaven

Tapers flicker, small spotlights
on the remains of a dinner
started in afternoon languor
and finished in evening fervor

Zephyr curls and twines, slowly,
ruffling tousled sheets and tangled limbs
that define a different kind of table,
a stage for the passion play and coda

Aeolian breath carries the musk,
across the room, the lovers' nostrils flare
at the memory of the eating
and the tasting of their own

She smiles, asks What are you thinking?
He smiles, eyes closed, and answers:
An old saying: shallots are for babies,
onions are for men, garlic is for heroes.

To that, he murmurs, I add: "goddess".
Forty cloves and a chicken make dinner,
he says, but a hero and a goddess...
they make love

Photo and prompt courtesy of Magpie Tales via the lovely Rene at Not The Rockefellers. This is my first ever Magpie Tales prompt. Hope you enjoyed it!

23 December 2008

Ancient Chinese Gumbo Secret Box

I have in my possession a small wooden box that I bought at a specialty gift store many, many moons ago. Originally it was for The Spouse, to hold some small jewelry. Later, she received a much larger jewelry box, and she gave this back to me. At the time I didn't know what to do with it. I am not an 'accessory' kinda guy (besides, the ladies get to wear all the cool sparkly stuff) but I didn't want to put it on a shelf and forget about it. The wood is nice and I liked it:

One night I came home from eating dinner, Chinese food, and I had some of the fortune cookie fortunes in my pocket. I put them in the box, intending to start an art project. Over the years I kept more and more of the fortunes. I jammed packed the box. I never really did start the project, but today I was bored and decided to dump out the fortunes:

There were a lot, as you can see. Some of them are funny, some nonsensical, some are statements yes, but fortunes? I'm not so sure. So here are a few selected fortunes for you