The other day we went to our local asian supermarket to stock up on various sauces and spices. We often buy produce there, but usually shy away from the butcher's area, where there are plastic wrapped packs of meat in the cooler, helpfully labeled as "Meat".

As we passed the frozen food section, Gary saw that they had frozen ducks on sale. Being a big duck fan, he said he wanted to get one to cook over the weekend. And so we did.

Having defrosted the duck for a day, he was making his preparations to roast it and cut open the opaque plastic covering. I was in the den when I heard him utter a cry of dismay and walked into the kitchen to see the duck . . . "smiling at us". I just started laughing.

For those of you who have never seen the movie "A Christmas Story", the movie ends with the family's Christmas turkey dinner being eaten by the neighbor's dogs. The family winds up enjoying Christmas dinner at the "Chop Suey Palace," with the waiters singing Christmas carols off-key, and a duck taking the place of turkey for the main course. In accordance with Chinese custom, the "Chinese Turkey" is served with the head intact. When the father complains that the duck is "smiling" at him, the cook swiftly and efficiently hacks the head off with a cleaver.

I offered to get the cleaver and take care of it, but Gary surgically removed it. Unfortunately, the patient was still dead, so we ate him.

[Quite tasty, too.]

SAVE YOUR CORKS!!

[Only 3,540 more needed for our Wine Cellar Wall.]

Quote du jour:

"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath."

Michael Caine (1933 - ____) English actor

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