To my DC friends-- if you happen to get a Washington Times today, could you save me the paper? I have this piece in there today...
But enough about narcotics policy! What about the haiku?
The Curessa did some fabulous work this week, but she won last week under a different name, and it just seems wrong to win every time. There were lots of great entries, too, but one that rose to the top was this from Maureen Kane Berg:
Okra inquiry:
Do you serve it with a fork?
Or with a Kleenex?
It just rang true. In the fall of 1981 I arrived in Virginia for college, and tried okra for the first time. I still remember the moment. It was horrific.
So, just who is this "Maureen Kane Berg?"
Raised outside of Chicago with an older brother, Maureen became well known in law school at the University of Chicago for her unique skill sets: Legal analysis and musical theater. She combined the two in a way no other student ever has, briefing her cases so as to present them if called on in song, often in harmony with a few other students whom she had bribed. Her greatest hit was a full-length musical, in which Richard Posner was depicted in a whirlwind romance with a bawdy, alcoholic legal savant who ruins his career and then decamps to Boca Raton. The classic closing number, "Makin' the Scene with Antonin" is still performed in some Chicago area retrospectives.
Congratulations, MKB!
You, Yankee!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I had to learn to love okra, but it is the only food in the world I will eat fried. It's better that way. And it's something my mom always ordered, without fail, wherever she found it on a menu. So now I order it in her memory.
I am not opposed to okra,especially in gumbo,but still I enjoyed the vision of the amazingly gifted Maureen with her kleenex. Congratulations and felicitations to the lovely and quick-witted Lady.
ReplyDeleteThe kleenex would have been apt when I was first introduced to okra, but now I know how to cook it.
ReplyDeleteLike Megan, I like it batter fried but we also chop it and fry it lightly in a bit of vegetable oil with salt & pepper. It gets nice and green (not slimey - the result of the okra being cooked WET) and is ready to eat in 7 or 8 minutes.
I'd like to thank my parents. I thank Mr. Osler for providing us with this forum and also for providing me with such an entertaining life story. Of course, I must thank the love of my life -- Tom Berg. I'd like to thank my agent. (If you want to be my agent, please contact me.)
ReplyDeleteThey always forget the agent until the last minute....
ReplyDelete