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From Mensagenda - October 2001
Reciphiles
Ron Corradin
August
Reciphiles was held at the picnic area just north of the Lake Harriet
bandshelI. The theme was "underground foods." The event was
combined with the Lake Harriet Picnic SIG and the Nature Walk SIG.
The event was very casual. Food was served
picnic-style: put everything on the table and see who grabs what.
There was ground cucumber dip, potato salad, Subway sandwiches, KFC chicken,
and "baked yet greasy" chicken. The chef's notes, carefully written on
the back of a paper plate, explain it this way: "Underground made me think
of underground railroad, which made me think of the South, which made me
think of chicken, but I didn't fry it, I baked it."
For dessert there was apple pie and blueberry pie
(since both fruits come from plants with roots underground), dirt cake with
worms (actually chocolate cake with pulverized Oreo cookies and Gummi
worms), and maple, apple and walnut cake (again, the root connection
applies). There was also a bag of Famous Amos cookies.
Drinks included Mendota Springs sparkling water (which
may have come from an underground spring) and various types of pop. To
satisfy the park police there was, of course, nothing with alcohol in it.
Casualties included one Mensan stung once by the
abundance of yellow jackets, and five dead yellow jackets done in by the
Mensan who did not like being stung. Even Minnesota has no daily limit
on stinging insects.
There was no movie, since there was no place to plug
in a TV and a VCR in the picnic ground. But there was a nature walk
along a trail on the northeast side of Lake Harriet and through the rose
garden. Maps and historical plaques explained how the ecology of the
Lake Harriet area had changed over the years, guided by the principle that
"Rich people don't build big houses overlooking swamps.
The Minnesota Transportation Museum, of which Mensan
Dave Norman is a member, also had their restored street-cars running that
day just west of Lake Harriet.
But the star of the show was Declan, the Irish
wolfhound. Large enough to give an elk (or a Shriner, for that matter)
a major scare, Declan was a hit with everyone who saw him. The answers
to the three most popular questions about him were, "Yes, he's very big";
"Yes, he eats a lot"; and "Yes, he does look like a small horse."
Well, actually, horses are proportioned differently, but you get the idea.
The theme for October Reciphiles will be northern
Italian foods. Northern Italian cooking emphasizes veal and chicken,
and is based less on red sauce and garlic than does southern Italian
cooking. If you're looking for ideas, one recommended cookbook is
Northern Italian Cooking, by Violeta Autumn [], but there are many others.
October 2001 Reciphiles will be held on Sunday,
October 21, at 2:00 p.m. For directions and to RSVP (a necessary step
to ensure there are enough seats), call the Mensaphone at
(952) 953-8575, or use
e-mail.
There is a very good chance the movie will be The
Godfather or Goodfellas, or perhaps The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Bread and Chocolat, or 1900.
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