Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Frog Talk Responsa
Q: What’s your favorite thing about writing a blog?
One favorite thing? The audience. I love having an audience.
Q: If you had a choice between making your living as a writer or as a chef, which would you take?
Writer. Cooking is fun, but the mental challenge of writing is much deeper, and more varied. I suspect being a chef would get dull after a while.
Q: If you could spend one day learning from any chef in the world, who would you choose and why?
Julia Child. We would have to resurrect her, of course, and hopefully she wouldn’t have that zombie problem. (If all she ever says is, “MORE BRAINS,” then I’ll know I wasted my opportunity.) What would I learn from her? I’d love it if she would teach me to be a better baker.
Q: If you could step back in time and right a wrong, which one would it be?
Easy. The theft of the 2000 election by George Bush. I can think of other historical wrongs of greater magnitude, but the farther back you go, the harder it is to predict unintended consequences. A Gore presidency? I can’t see any downside.
Q: If you could talk to only one famous writer for two hours, who would it be?
Probably Vonnegut. He’s a hoot. Fitzgerald or Faulkner would be too drunk, Conrad or Dostoevsky too depressing, P. K. Dick too crazy.
Q: If you could collaborate on a novel with any writer, past or present, who would it be?
Toughie. My one attempt at a collaboration (on a screenplay) ended in disaster, thanks to the other guy being . . . ah . . . what’s the polite term for nuts?
This is like my sister’s chef question. Whom would I most like to learn from? When I look at it like that, I think of the contemporary writers whom I admire the most: John LeCarre and Martin Cruz Smith. Of the two, I think I like Smith the most.
As for dead authors . . . Raymond Chandler.
By the way, did anyone notice the remarkable similarity of the recent polonium poisoning of the Russian ex-spy with the plot of Smith’s Wolves Eat Dogs? Uncanny!
Q: What is your favorite post from your blog?
I’m afraid this changes with my mood. Today, I’m feeling glum and pensive (you know why, CD), so I would have to go with either Thirteen Patients or Healer. Ask me on another day and you’re likely to get another answer.
Q: What is your all time favorite recipe?
You think I would hold back on something like that? Although my family is sick of it (at one time, I made it once a week), tagine still ranks as one of my personal favorites. That tagine recipe has it all: depth of flavor, complexity of texture, variety of color. It’s the perfect main course. Close runner up: velvet butter chicken for its richness and flexibility — you can use that same basic recipe for any meat, fish, or shellfish, and it would probably work for tofu as well.
Q: If you could visit any country, that you have not been to, which one would it be and why??
Another toughie . . . but if I’m travelling solo, I would pick Antarctica, because there’s nothing like it anywhere else on Earth. Does anyone remember the blog 75 Degrees South? Simon posts some spectacular photographs of Antarctica (click on “Gallery” in his menu). I figure, if it’s breathtaking to look at a small, two-dimensional photo, how much more spectacular would it be to see it in person? Memories to last a lifetime.
That’s it for now. We’ll do another Frog Talk some time soon, so save up your questions!
D.
If you could collaborate on a novel with any writer, past or present, who would it be?
>>If all she ever says is, “MORE BRAINS,†then I’ll know I wasted my opportunity.
With Julia, that really wouldn’t be a tip-off. She might just want to saute them.
1) What is your favorite post from your blog?
2) What is your all time favorite recipe? Have you posted it? If not, please do.
3) If you could visit any country, that you have not been to, which one would it be and why?
Ummm, did you say we can ask more than one question?