The Slice: We’ll just settle for rib stickin’

The problem with trying to “win” the potluck with your exotic, supposedly mind-blowing culinary concoction is that it might fail to wow people secretly hoping for macaroni and cheese.

Let’s move on.

•Why drive to Spokane: “All of the reasons you mentioned (doctors, concerts and shopping) are good ones but the best for me is just seeing my family,” wrote Linda Hall of Colville. “After living in Alaska for most of my adult life, it’s a pleasure to be able to drive a couple hours to attend weddings and holiday celebrations or just stop by and visit. It seems like such a luxury and I don’t take it for granted.”

•Condolences: Hospitals probably don’t want to sell a lot of them. But Janice House said she has found some good sympathy cards in the gift shop at Sacred Heart.

•Some people might think I’m crazy, but winter weather isn’t going to make me stop: “ … making sun tea,” wrote Sue Storer of Colville. “I do it all year long. Of course, in winter, it is ice tea.”

•Compare and contrast: How did discussions of politics in your childhood home differ from the tone and content of such conversations in your current household?

•Choose a nickname for your neighborhood with Hollywood’s help: A) Skull Island. B) Peyton Place. C) Ice Station Zebra. D) Pleasantville. E) Stepford. F) Tara. G) Munchkinland. H) Amity. I) Bedford Falls. J) Haddonfield. K) Gatlin, Nebraska. L) Mos Eisley Cantina. M) Other.

•Slice answer (reacting to in-laws’ dietary habits): If you are eating breakfast, you might want to skip this.

“Yes!” wrote North Idaho’s Sue Jones. “Finally, I can vent. Over 25 years ago, when we all got together at my husband’s mom and dad’s home (on their farm in Southern California), my sister-in-law always had to have pickled pig’s feet. Are we disgusted yet? Anyway, the way she ate them was like something out of ‘Deliverance’ — slurping, chomping the bones, cartilage, skin and, well, you get the idea. I literally had to leave the room, it was so gross. The noise was most disgusting, but the sight of the grease running down her chin took it over the top.”

•Evidence that today’s teenagers did not invent morbid self-dramatization: Consider the body count in the following songs, all of which were hits more than 40 years ago: “Teen Angel,” “Moody River,” “Dead Man’s Curve,” “Ebony Eyes,” “Honey,” “Last Kiss,” “The Tale of Patches,” “Ode to Billie Joe,” and “Tell Laura I Love Her.”

•I’ve mentioned this countless times: Still, confusion persists.

So here’s a tip: The simplest way to remember which episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” features the reference to Spokane is to note that it’s the one with the first appearance of the Darling family.

•Today’s Slice question: Who around here has met the greatest number of famous people?