21 November 2010
Garlic and Remembrance
I had just been summarily dismissed by a girlfriend, with a memorably long kiss, who had found her ultimate life partner in another town. My previous year’s college roommate probably took pity on me and invited me to help him prepare and partake of an unusual dinner. It was one or two whole chickens roasted and stuffed with garlic cloves. I don’t remember whether he roasted them in the oven or in a pan, but I was reminded of the dish by Calvin Trillin’s article in the November 22, 2010, New Yorker about a New Orleans roadhouse restaurant, “No Daily Specials.”
The two of us diligently peeled many heads of the fragrant herb, apparently without knowing the simpler way to free each clove from its papery shell was by smashing it under the flat side of a carving knife. There were probably many more lessons that my friend learned in culinary arts, not the least of which was an affirmation of the roadhouse-owner John Mosca’s admonition to talk someone who did you wrong into going into the restaurant business in order to “get even with him for the rest of his life.”
I’m sure my friend’s wife and daughters have always been thankful they avoided that argument.
I had just been summarily dismissed by a girlfriend, with a memorably long kiss, who had found her ultimate life partner in another town. My previous year’s college roommate probably took pity on me and invited me to help him prepare and partake of an unusual dinner. It was one or two whole chickens roasted and stuffed with garlic cloves. I don’t remember whether he roasted them in the oven or in a pan, but I was reminded of the dish by Calvin Trillin’s article in the November 22, 2010, New Yorker about a New Orleans roadhouse restaurant, “No Daily Specials.”
The two of us diligently peeled many heads of the fragrant herb, apparently without knowing the simpler way to free each clove from its papery shell was by smashing it under the flat side of a carving knife. There were probably many more lessons that my friend learned in culinary arts, not the least of which was an affirmation of the roadhouse-owner John Mosca’s admonition to talk someone who did you wrong into going into the restaurant business in order to “get even with him for the rest of his life.”
I’m sure my friend’s wife and daughters have always been thankful they avoided that argument.
Comments:
Post a Comment
