Monday, February 9, 2009

165 words, 55 at a time

What gastronomic genius created this classic?
No Catholic June Cleaver could have survived without it.
Family dinners were reborn and meatless Fridays reformed
the day some culinary queen combined egg noodles,
condensed cream-of-mushroom soup and the main ingredient,
sprinkled it with bread crumbs and baked up what is now an
American tradition: Tuna Noodle Casserole.




Some people (my parents) should never name their children.
I was born in sixty-nine, the summer of love, to two Berkley
grad students.
My best friends had hippy names (Zephyr and Cosmo.) My wife,
born in seventy-one, is named Wendy. I was not so fortunate.
I, Claudius Horatio Smith, despise classic literature to this day.



Mildred’s Common Courtesy CafĂ© is a pleasant place.
She has two cross-stitched wall plaques that say “Electronics Free Zone”
and “Friendly Family Friendly.”
Ignore her signs and you’ll be handed your bill and shown the door.
If you are a vocal projector she will get to the point, “Pipe down honey,
you’re hogging the airspace!”

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