A Little Bit of Truffle Oil is Too Much

by | Oct 31, 2007 | 0 comments

I can’t pinpoint the time or place when or where truffles (genus tubar, sub genus hypogecous ascomycetes)  first came into my consciousness, but I know it wasn’t in San Angelo.  I suspect it was in the mid 80’s and in Paris…..France that is.  S. and I were wandering the streets and found ourselves in Place de l’Opera.  On the one hand, the edifice of Palais Garnier, home of the inestimable Paris Ballet de l”Opera and on the other, Fouchon, the pinnacle of French gourmet foods.  Of course, I opted for the food instead of culture.  It was there, I think, that I first saw a blackish, golf ball sized orb that resembled a desiccated monkey brain.  I remember...

America’s Values

by | Oct 2, 2007 | 0 comments

I’ve been ambivalent about John McCain since my host in Hanoi showed me gleefully the lake in the center of his city where dear John floated down to four years of inhuman imprisonment and a subsequent lifetime of fame. John, now a senator and seeker after the presidency, seems less a paragon of American heroism as he ducks and bobs through the runup to the republican primaries.  I will admit that I know nothing of dear John’s spiritual life, nor do I want to inquire. If only he would keep his views private as well. His recent interview with beliefnet.org wherein he dug a theological hole, jumped in, and then dug deeper, is a perfect example of why...