ObSurrealityMoment: the video store

Steve and I stopped into the local video rental place after dinner. As we ambled through the "new releases" section, I was telling him about my adventures with J. Clueless Postmaster, which occasioned a fair amount of wild gesticulation on my part.

At that point a large fellow came up to us, congratulating Steve on his good fortune on finding a non-American wife. It seems that he had just been passing outside, saw my gesturing, and was so moved that he came inside to share his emotions. He has no use for American women, as they have no passion, no interest, it's like they're scared or dead; and he wanted to know if I was Russian.

Er, well, Slovak actually, quoth I.

Ah! The Slovaks! They are good people. You have heard of Skoda? The only Eastern Bloc-made car that Europeans would buy. (Etc.)

So, thus Vladimir, a bluff middle-aged science teacher from Moldavia who, fed up with lack of opportunity in his homeland, moved to Israel and taught there for several years before moving on to America, where he lived in his car and learned English by listening to the radio, and he's now teaching physics at a local yeshiva. We expressed our (genuine) admiration for his drive and achievement, there was another round of commentary on the insipidity of American women, he congratulated Steve again, and we parted amicably.

(Denoument: we did not actually rent a movie--went home and watched our own copy of Apocalypse Now instead.)

From the experimental kitchen

Slice up about half a cup of red onion & fry in a bit of olive oil. Toss in 2 "Healthy Choice" turkey/pork kielbasa (cut into thick slices), a Cortlandt apple (chopped into chunks), and a handful of dried cranberries. Season with sage, thyme, marjoram, and a smidge of ground cloves. Fry this til the kielbasa is hot through and the apples are starting to get mushy but haven't lost structural integrity.

Feeds three not-terribly-hungry people by itself, or makes an excellent addition to the brunch table.

Next time: would try a more tart apple (but Cortlandt was what I had).

Based on Beth's family kielbasa fry-ups.

Evening duly seized

On the down side, no game tonight due to illness (8782) and exhaustion (zombywoof). On the bright side, I therefore got to play City of Heroes until my eyeballs bled.

...Almost literally.