Macho men get food tips from ‘Oprah’
First, you should know about chutney. Which is, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, “a relish made of fruits, as raisins and mangoes, spices, herbs and sugar, with vinegar or lemon juice.” Seems the pear chutney at Donald Trump’s private club Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach was mentioned recently on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as a side dish to a mouth-watering turkey sandwich recipe, which isn’t a big deal in itself. However, the Mar-a-Lago pear chutney was elevated to Huckleberries print status when Berry Picker MamaJD heard two fathers talking about it at a local Little League game Saturday.
Take it away, MamaJD: “Two men – men! – were talking about apples and chutney while discussing the secret ingredients in a turkey burger recipe. I overheard a guy say, ‘Yeah – the other thing you need, besides the apples, is chutney. I got the recipe from ‘Oprah.’ Just go to her Web site.’ “
Not only was MamaJD stunned that North Idaho macho men would be openly discussing chutney, but also that they’d admit to watching Oprah. The full impact of Oprah’s mention didn’t hit MamaJD until later, when she discovered there’d been a run on chutney at her favorite Safeway store – and she couldn’t find any.
No boundaries
I was reminded again that the Internet has no circulation boundaries after that single-car accident on U.S. 95 Sunday that killed 32-year-old Shane Beebe/Sagle. Sandpoint blogger Marianne Love/Slight Detour responded to an account of the accident at Huckleberries Online by e-mailing a photo of Shane from the recent winter. Surrounded by snow, Shane holds a shovel after clearing the roof of Marianne’s mother. Marianne recalled Shane as a hard worker and a talented photographer. I published the photo and Marianne’s comment online Monday – and was surprised to read the heart-wrenching remembrances that the post attracted from family and friends throughout the country, including this one from his mother, Cass, who recently moved from Tennessee to Connecticut: “I love seeing Shane grinning even after a tough work out like shoveling a roof. His tendons locked up on him for days after this hard work. Shane was my eldest child – our golden boy.” Cass mentioned last month on her blog about health care that she wanted to see the beautiful North Idaho country reflected in Shane’s photos. Alas.
Huckleberries
With graduates, faculty, family and friends expecting Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” at the North Idaho College commencement exercises, the quartet of Cody Bray, Adam Durfluger, Chris Fannon and Gavin Krieg brought smiles with a few lines from ShaNaNa’s “Get A Job” first … One observer couldn’t understand the need to have a ticket for the NIC graduation ceremonies when the graduation crowd filled only two-thirds of the Schuler Auditorium … Randy Stapilus, an Idaho political observer extraordinaire, lists two North Idaho races among the 10 from the Gem State that are worth watching – the Senate District 1 Repub battle between incumbent Shawn Keough/Sandpoint and Donald Heckel/Laclede and the House District 3B race between incumbent Phil Hart/Athol and ex-CdA schools super David Rawls/Hayden Lake … BTW, the League of Women Voters of Kootenai County posted its new voter guide ( www.lwvkcvoterguide.org) online recently. It’s a good, nonpartisan source of the candidate information … Sure, I know the identity of the misguided fixture with the conservative Pachyderm Club who considers North Idaho College to be a “pus pocket of liberals.” Weird.
Parting shot
U.S. Sen. Larry Craig got off a decent line when he and most other U.S. senators were asked by staffers from The Hill if he’d accept an offer to be the vice president nominee: “No, Hillary.” Somehow, I can’t picture that scenario. Mike Crapo, Idaho’s junior senator, was more realistic: “No. I like serving in the Senate and I have no aspirations to be vice president. Hasn’t crossed my mind. Never really thought about it.”