Salad Is Slaughter

A couple of years ago S. M. Stirling wrote a trilogy about the island of Nantucket being somehow transported back in time to the Bronze Age.  I eagerly read Island in the Sea of Time, Against the Tide of Years, and On the Oceans of Eternity as soon as I could get my hands on them.  It was a fascinating series that I recommended to several people.

Recently I saw that Stirling had come out with a new book called Dies the Fire which takes place at the same time as Island in the Sea of Time, and mentions its disappearance – it’s the parallel to the story I had read in the earlier trilogy, except it’s about the people who stayed behind instead of the people of Nantucket who went back to the bronze age.  I haven’t finished the book yet, but already I have a few problems with it.

In Dies the Fire when Nantucket disappears, the rest of the world undergoes a change to the laws of physics:  electrical devices including IC engines, batteries, radios, etc. stop working, gunpowder burns slowly so guns won’t fire, and so on.  The world plunges into chaos.  I have a few problems with this event, like how can animals live since our nervous systems are electrical in nature?  However, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for the story.

My main problem so far is that most of the main characters are Wiccan, and I can’t relate to any of them.  While I can predict some potential conflicts coming up in the story like fundamentalist Christians attacking them because they believe that Wiccans worship the devil (the don’t), I get really tired of being reminded every page that they’re on, that they belong to a misunderstood non-mainstream religion. 

Years ago I dated someone whose mother always used the phrase “if God wills it” whenever anyone spoke of a planned future event – “I’ll be back in an hour.”  “If God wills it.”  It was like a conditioned response and it was enough to make you scream.  This book has a character that’s just as bad as that girl’s mother, only the character invokes “the goddess” in almost every paragraph.  Sometimes I think that if Stirling removed all of the references to “the goddess” he would shave 20 percent off of the book.  It’s really, really annoying.

I’ll continue reading the book because the story is somewhat interesting but so far having my nose rubbed in the character’s religion all the time is kind of irritating. 

Technorati Tags: books

I’ve started writing a play about the current NHL lockout.  I think it’s going pretty well.  Suggestions for a title are welcome.

Bob Goodenow – Head of the NHLPA
Gary Bettman – NHL Commissioner
The Game of Hockey
Hockey Fans

GARY BETTMAN

Draw, Hockey Fans; beat down their weapons.
Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
Bob Goodenow, The Game of Hockey, the fans expressly hath
Forbidden bandying on arena ice:
Hold, Bob Goodenow! good The Game of Hockey!

BOB GOODENOW under GARY BETTMAN’s arm stabs THE GAME OF HOCKEY, and flies with his followers
THE GAME OF HOCKEY

I am hurt.
A plague o’ both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?

HOCKEY FANS

What, art thou hurt?

THE GAME OF HOCKEY

Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, ’tis enough.
Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.

Exit Page
GARY BETTMAN

Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.

THE GAME OF HOCKEY

No, ’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door; but ’tis enough, ’twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o’
both your houses! ‘Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
was hurt under your arm.

GARY BETTMAN

I thought all for the best.

THE GAME OF HOCKEY

Help me into some arena,
Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your houses!
They have made worms’ meat of me: I have it,
And soundly too: your houses!

Exeunt THE GAME OF HOCKEY and HOCKEY FANS
GARY BETTMAN

This gentleman, the game,
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
In my behalf; my reputation stain’d
With Bob Goodenow’s slander, — Bob Goodenow, that an hour
Hath been my kinsman! O sweet owners,
Thy money hath made me effeminate
And in my temper soften’d valour’s steel!

Re-enter HOCKEY FANS
HOCKEY FANS

O Gary Bettman, Gary Bettman, brave The Game of Hockey’s dead!
That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds,
Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.

GARY BETTMAN

This day’s black fate on more days doth depend;
This but begins the woe, others must end.

HOCKEY FANS

Here comes the furious Bob Goodenow back again.

GARY BETTMAN

Alive, in triumph! and The Game of Hockey slain!
Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!

Re-enter BOB GOODENOW

Now, Bob Goodenow, take the villain back again,
That late thou gavest me; for The Game of Hockey’s soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company:
Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

Technorati Tags: hockey

I’ve always said that Italian food in a St. Louis area strip mall is far better than anything I could get in northern California.  Original Joe’s in San Jose is pretty good, but they wouldn’t survive for long if they had to go against places on The Hill. 

Last Thursday we had some incredible pizza from a place in Florissant called Perroni’s that had a thin, crisp crust, a nice assortment of toppings, and a fabulous sauce.  There are some places in the San Jose area that have good pizza — Amici’s and Los Gatos Pizza to name two — but they pale in comparison to an average pizza in the St. Louis area.

Saturday we went to Gian-Tony’s on the Hill restaurant.  There were eight of us at dinner, and we started with toasted ravioli.  This restaurant claims to have invented toasted ravioli, and they were very good.  It seems like you can’t get them outside of the St. Louis area. 

After the toasted ravioli we had fried artichoke hearts.  They were different than what you would find at Pezzini Farms near Monterey.  The fried artichoke hearts that I’m used to have a thick breading, are sprinkled with parmesan cheese, and dipped in ranch dressing.  The fried artichoke hearts at Gian-Tony’s have a thin breading and are dipped in a lemon butter sauce.  It was very good, but they should have mixed the sauce a bit better.

There were a variety of main courses at the table.  We had three different kinds of cannelloni.  Mine was stuffed with veal and it was the best cannelloni that I’ve ever had.  The pasta was freshly made, not out of a box, and the stuffing was nicely seasoned.  Also available were seafood cannelloni and chicken cannelloni which was on special that evening.   All were quite tasty.

My brother had a rissoto that was very good.  They use a lot more garlic than I normally do, but I still liked it a lot.  My sister had a chicken dish that was fabulous.

We had a very nice reserve chianti to go with dinner and it seemed to be pretty reasonably priced at $ 37.  I did notice that they had a Cakebread Chardonnay on the wine list for $ 55, which is overpriced even considering the restaurant mark up.  You can get it at the winery for about $ 25 or $30.

For dessert we headed over to Ted Drewes for frozen custard.  That’s the best way to end a meal in St. Louis.