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[Panni]

And one for Mahler! Or to go with today's flow...
Ktyhj ftoplkj dzwrtuoop wply!

[Dan-in-Toronto]

I have to admit I'm a fruitaholic.

About seven years ago, Gord, our friend Clifford, and I took a trip to England, renting a little apartment in a Lancashire town called St-Anne's-on-Sea. (It was recommended by a friend's sister. It's picturesque and accessible, but a retirement community; when we cleared immigration at Manchester, the officer said, "Oh, St-Anne's. My grandmum died there.")

I took the train to London for an overnight jaunt, and at Harrods purchased three perfectly ripe Alphonso mangoes. My neighbor from India had talked about the Alphonso for years, rightly calling it the "king of the mango." Before heading back to St. Anne's, I wrapped each of these treasures in a couple of pairs of socks. I guarded my suitcase, and on my return carefully placed the mangoes on the kitchen counter. As we were having our coffee in the living area the next morning, Clifford walked in from the kitchen, squeezing the life out of the Alphonsos. "So what are these things for?" he asked.

[DERBRUCER]

...or slathered or perhaps smeared with peanut butter.

Methodist and Baptists “slather”
Lutherans and Presbyterians “smear”
Episcopalians “add a dollop”
Good Jewish boys “schmear!”

der Brucer (wonder what bad Jewish boys do?)

[Stuart]

(wonder what bad Jewish boys do?)

Would you REALLY like to know?

[DERBRUCER]

Why is Panni so reticent to tell us what Hungarians do with fruit - in the words of the immortal Emeril, they "punch it up" a bit:

One can order from Click4ABottle the following:

Our spirits called pálinka are top quality 100% fruit distillates. With a view to supplying some of the rarer varieties such as diópálinka (walnut pálinka), bodzapálinka (elder pálinka) and törkölypálinka (marc pálinka), we currently stock barackpálinka (apricot pálinka), szilvapálinka (plum pálinka), birspálinka (quince pálinka) and körtepálinka (pear pálinka).

(I daresy no one is brave enough to order by vocie mail.)

There is even a bit of history, reported on a Hungarian Horticulture site:

FRUIT PÁLINKA

How good is Hungarian pálinka? Edward VIII, heir to the English throne, answered this question when visiting Hungary in 1935 as follows: 'The apricot pálinka of Kecskemét drunk with soda is better than whisky, and with tea better than rum.' The fruit, whose delicious and distinctive floral scent, and light spicy bouquet are transmitted to fruit-specific noble spirits, is grown on expertly tended fruit trees. After resting and ageing the spirit becomes smoother, airy and rounded, and its flavours and aroma harmoniously integrated. This is how wonderful Hungarian fruit is turned into fruit-specific fruit-brandy which inimitably resembles the original fruit.

As DR Panni might say, 'Egészségére!' (Cheers!)

der Brucer (who has yet a stranger tale to tell)

[DERBRUCER]

Would you REALLY like to know?

In the immortal words of Jack Benny:

"I'm thinking....I'm thinking!"

[DERBRUCER]

The promised "Stranger Tale to Tell", extracted from a
Bizarre (and not highly recommended) website:

This is the story of Gloomy Sunday

Written in 1933 ,by a Budapest pianist named Rezs?Seress, Szomoru Vasarnap (Gloomy Sunday) became infamous throughout Hungary after a spate of suicides was linked to the song. The newspapers of the day began to report stories of lovelorn individuals who had taken their own lives directly after listening to it's haunting melody. Some had died clutching the lyric sheets or left suicide notes quoting lines from the song. A few years later, as it's dark reputation had grown, the lyrics were re-written by the Poet Lászl?Jávor. His take on the song was less despairing and more melancholy, with a third - less pessamistic - stanza. But the suicides continued. Soon after an English version of the song was recorded, as 'Gloomy Sunday', by Sam Lewis. This was followed by recordings in the early forties by, first, Artie Shaw and then most famously by Billie Holiday. Although it's reputation was unknown outside of Hungary soon reports of suicides in America and ,later, the UK began to circulate. The BBC actually banned the song from broadcast - although an orchestral version was a minor hit. The ban remains to this day. Rezs?Seress' girlfriend jumped from a Budapest bridge into the Duna (Danube). She left a suicide note which read simply 'Szomoru Vasarnap'. Rezs? himself died by jumping from the window of his flat in 1968. Gloomy Sunday, that strange, haunting song of a broken heart longing to be with it's lost love had finally come for it's creator. More recently, artist such as Sarah MacClachlan, Bjork and The Bronski Quartet have all recorded interpretations of the song.
And that's the story of 'Gloomy Sunday' - the Hungarian Suicide song…

And here, to cheer us all up, are the lyrics:

GLOOMY SUNDAY
Sunday is gloomy
My hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows
I live with are numberless
Little white flowers
Will never awaken you
Not where the black coach
Of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thoughts
Of ever returning you
Would they be angry
If I thought of joining you?
Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy is Sunday
With shadows I spend it all
My heart and I
Have decided to end it all
Soon there'll be candles
And prayers that are said I know
But let them not weep
Let them know that I'm glad to go
Death is no dream
For in death I’m caressing you
With the last breath of my soul
I’ll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday
Dreaming, I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you asleep
In the deep of my heart here
Darling I hope
That my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you
How much I wanted you
Gloomy Sunday

der Brucer (who thought Don McLean was depressing!)

[DERBRUCER]

Well, here's a jolly on-line trio:

Jay, Stuart and me!

[Panni]

I'm not a fan of hard liquor, so palinka is not something I've tasted often. But I'll take your word for it, DB.
As for Gloomy Sunday, I've heard the tale. I saw the film witht that title a few months ago and quite enjoyed it.

[Panni]

Speaking of fruit, I've just discovered that a lovely peach that I was saving until it was pefectly ripe -- got overripe and is now rotten.
Skammen!

[Jay]

Well, here's a jolly on-line trio:

Jay, Stuart and me!

Trio?  I spy a sextet.

Shall we all sing that number from Lucia now?

[Stuart]

Trio?  I spy a sextet.

Shall we all sing that number from Lucia now?

And there enlies the difference between my brother and I.  You mention sextet to him and he conjures up crazy women singing on the moors.

You mention Sextet to me, and I think if the inimitable Mae West and one frighteningly bad movie.

[Dan-in-Toronto]

Trio?  I spy a sextet.

Shall we all sing that number from Lucia now?

And I assume you mean the one by Comden and Green.

[DERBRUCER]

And there enlies the difference between my brother and I.  You mention sextet to him and he conjures up crazy women singing on the moors.

You mention Sextet to me, and I think if the inimitable Mae West and one frighteningly bad movie.

You mention Sextet to me and I think "Continental Baths"!

[DERBRUCER]

I.  You mention sextet to him and he conjures up crazy women singing on the moors.

You mean like Othello carrying Medea on his sholders?

[Ann]

I love fruit, almost without exception.  My top three would be pears, grapes, and blueberries.  I can eat a bowl of frozen blueberries as a meal if I need to.  My grandmother and mother both canned their own fresh pears, and NOTHING beats a bowl of those, fresh from the fridge, on a hot day.  
The only fruits I dislike are melons..honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  Not passionately...I will eat them, especially in things like fruit salad.  But they're not my preference.  Oddly, it's not really the tastes of these that I mind, it's the texture.  

[Jane]

Thank you Tomovoz and Panni.  Emily I’m sure his good deeds won’t stop if, and if is the word at the moment, he returns to the states.

Sandra, no Swedish chef when you google yourself?

Td I just gave Echo a pat for you.

DerBrucer charging combat soldiers for coffee seems uncharitable.

Now to read today’s notes and posts.

[MBarnum]

My co-worker has been eating licorice candies all day long, chewing with his mouth open...very loudly...the constant smacking sound is taking it's toll on me...I am about to commit a crime.

[Stuart]

You mean like Othello carrying Medea on his sholders?

Something like that, yes.

[Ron Pulliam]

Smack him, Mike!

Then tell him that for every smack of his mouth, you will smack his mouth.

[Panni]

Smack him, Mike!

RLP - You're quite the vicious boy today. Maybe the pain in your arm is making you angry at the world.

[Jed]

Most any fruit is alright with me, particularly grapes and raspberries.  Only one I can think of right off that I'll usually decline is a mango.

Love rhubarb pie... also a great fan of strawberry pie... yet I can take or leave strawberry-rhubarb pie.  Such is the mystery of me.

[Dan-in-Toronto]

Be careful what you wish for ...



"State Employee Chokes on Nib"

Murder not ruled out as police investigate link between 1952 movie magazine and blow to victim's neck.

[Sandra]

I love fruit! My favorite is kiwis and I like to swallow them whole. I don't like bananas, and if you'd ever met my grandfather you would understand. I also don't like figs, but you don't want me to go there.

I stumped that "guess the character" thing with Ranger Gord from Red Green. And I was only the second person to chose Grandma Thora from Arthur.

[Jay]

I stumped it with Consuela from "Marcus Welby."

It did figure out Tito of Yugoslavia, however.

[George]

What Fruits do I like?  Well, there’s Rick and Scott and Michael and Thom and Bill and another Rick and Adrian, etc., etc., etc. (a King and I reference)  Just kidding!  Actually I do like fruit:  bananas, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, apples, peaches, apricots, watermelon, pineapple, grapes...lots.  NOT, however:  honeydew, cantaloupe, rhubarb (is this really a fruit?  It looks like red celery), papaya, mangos, plus others too numerous to remember.

When I was growing up, my mom (who's from Germany) used to make a fruit torte where you bake then invert a thin sponge cake that has a raised edge around the outside.  You cut up all different kinds of fruits (we usually used strawberries, bananas and blueberries) and cover it with a flavored gelatin...I guess the gelatin was optional.  It’s quite delish, either way.  Here's a picture of the pan:

[Sandra]

rhubarb (is this really a fruit?)

NO.

[George]

Here's another picture:

[George]

Click HERE to see a large version of this last picture...for no other reason than "just because."

[Dan-in-Toronto]

DRs from the Pacific Northwest: Has there been a bumper crop of rainier cherries? They're usually outrageously expensive, but this year they're priced the same as the regular ones.