Somewhat food related chat: I had the pleasure of spending some time with Dave Barry...

M

michael-in-phoenix

Well-known member
...last week. He came to our school for a book signing with his friend, Ridley Pearson.

I am a huge Dave Barry fan and I jumped at the chance to help with the set-up and with the event itself. Mr. Barry and Mr. Pearson have written two "prequels" to J.M. Barrie's famous "Peter Pan" novel.

I HAD to talk to Dave Barry about a column he wrote during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. He was poking fun at a traditional dish served there called Lutefisk. It is cod filet that has been preserved in lye. It has to be soaked in water and the water has to be changed repeatedly in order to get it to a point where it can be eaten. It is, to put it mildly, an *acquired taste*.

He was marveling at how the Norwegians would serve this dish to the reporters and then guage their reaction to the jelly-like offering. He was certain the Norwegians were laughing their collective butts off when they went back to the kitchen! "They'll eat anything as long as we say it's a national tradition! Here, warm up these moose doots and put them on a plate. I'll bet they eat those too!"

I laughed myself silly. I have wonderful Swedish friends and we reference that column at least three or four times a year. What a hoot!

Mr. Barry was pleasantly surprised at my recollection of that column. He remembered it well, as he was one of the press corp that was served the Lutefisk. "Nasty stuff", he proclaimed.

He was, for the record, a very nice guy, and bent over backwards to take care of all the kids (and adults) who wanted to meet him. He and Mr. Pearson gave a wonderful presentation to the kids and the books are terrific!

Michael

http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Starcatchers-Dave-Barry/dp/0786854456/sr=1-6/qid=1159224214/ref=sr_1_6/104-7359817-7932706?ie=UTF8&s=books

 
Hey, Lutefisk is a traditional Christmas dinner here. It's considered

a feast and is eaten with potatoes, green peas, bacon, beer and aquavite. smileys/wink.gif

 
Neat! I love his writing. I have his 25 Things Learned in 50 Years

of Living posted on my memo board at work. I pasted it below in case anyone is interested. I also love his holiday gift ideas column he does every year.

DAVE BARRY'S LIST OF 25 THINGS YOU WILL LEARN IN 50 YEARS OF LIVING

1. The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people not in them.

2. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe Daylight Saving Time.

3. People who feel the need to tell you that they have an excellent sense of humor are telling you that they have no sense of humor.

4. The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.

5. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

6. A penny saved is worthless.

7. They can hold all the peace talks they want, but there will never be peace in the Middle East. Billions of years from now, when Earth is hurtling toward the Sun and there is nothing left alive on the planet except a few microorganisms, the microorganisms living in the Middle East will be bitter enemies.

8. The most powerful force in the universe is: gossip.

9. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is the fact that, deep down inside, we all believe, we are above-average drivers and everyone else who drives is a maniac.

10. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is: age 11.

11. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness".

12. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

13. There apparently exists, somewhere in L.A., a computer that generates concepts for television sitcoms. When TV executives need a new concept, they turn on this computer. After sorting through millions of possible plot premises, it spits out "THREE QUIRKY BUT ATTRACTIVE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN AN APARTMENT," and the executives turn this concept into a show. The next time they need an idea, the computer spits out "SIX QUIRKY BUT ATTRACTIVE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN AN APARTMENT." Then,next time it spits out "FOUR QUIRKY BUT ATTRACTIVE YOUNG PEOPLE LIVING IN AN APARTMENT." And so on. We need to locate that computer and destroy it with hammers.

14. Nobody is normal.

15. At least once per year, some group of scientists will become very excited and announce that: The universe is even bigger than they thought! There are even more subatomic particles than they thought! Whatever they announced last year about global warming is wrong.

16. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be: "meetings."

17. The badness of a movie is directly proportional to the number of helicopters in it.

18. The value of advertising is that it tells you the exact opposite of what the ad actually thinks. For example, If the advertisement says "This is not your father's Oldsmobile," the advertiser is desperately concerned that this Oldsmobile, like all other Oldsmobiles, appeals to old coots like your father. If Coke and Pepsi spend billions of dollars to convince you that there are significant differences between these two products, both companies realize that Pepsi and Coke are virtually identical. If an dvertisement shows a group of cool, attractive youngsters getting excited and high-fiving each other because the refrigerator contains Sunny Delight, the advertiser knows that any real youngster who reacted in this way to this beverage would be considered by his peers to be the world's biggest dork ... and so on.

On those rare occasions when advertising dares to poke fun at the product, as in the classic Volkswagen Beetle campaign, it's because the advertiser actually thinks the product is pretty good. If a politician ever ran for president under a slogan such as "Harlan Frubert: Basically, He Wants Attention," I would quit my job to work for his campaign.

19. If God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories, decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.

20. You should not confuse your career with your life.

21. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

22. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

23. When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.

24. Your friends love you anyway.

25. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

 
Sorry, EveN, but my mom tried to get us to eat Lutefisk on Christmas eve's

for three consecutive years. I thought the jelly-like consistency was my mom's doing. At my Swedish father's request, she finally took pity on us and started serving Creamed Finnan Haddie on Xmas eve. I loved that. However, when I started to try and serve it to my family on Xmas eve, you would have thought I was trying to cancel Xmas. I may have to try and sneak it in again. Maybe this year! Or maybe Egga Dopa.

 
I saw Coral Gables (and Florida) for the first time in January. What a beautiful area!

We had fun driving through, ogling the homes and then crashing the Biltmore.

 
I just printed this and put it up at work. Thanks! Hope nobody takes offense. Ya never know.

 
Number 26 should read, "No matter what you do, say, print, record, smoke signal, or...

...in any other way 'profess', there will always be SOMEONE willing to be offended by it".

And like they said on the Tonight Show last night, the Islamics are offended by everything, so there's always that. (I'm sure they're getting tons of letters on that one. Soak them in water first.)

Michael

 
*LOL* I didn't say it tastes good. Heck, it tastes aweful, and that nasty >>>

jelly-like texture is horrible!!!

It's still considered party-food tho. Don't ask me why. I guess it's an excuse to drink lot's of beer and aquavite, as someone already suggested.smileys/bigsmile.gif

EvaN - who serves smoked lamb ribs on Christmas eve smileys/wink.gif

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top