WE ALL HAVE THOSE DAYS when everything goes wrong – but not always do we have someone looking over our shoulder while it does. Prosatio Silban stifled an exasperated sigh. Mustn’t show my impatience, either with her or my circumstances,…
Author: Neal Ross Attinson
Neal Ross Attinson is one of those writing-compulsives who feels naked without a keyboard, or at least a a pad and pencil. He is unafraid of adverbs, and lives with an animal companion and eclectic library in Sonoma, California.
Sacred Comedy
LAST WEEK AT THE GROCER’S, the guy ahead of me in line is good-naturedly chatting up the sales clerk when he catches sight of my yarmulke. “What happened to the rest of your hat?” he asks. Without missing a beat,…
Prosatio Silban and the Minor Plague
SOMETIMES, A SMALL MALADY CAN be a big problem. Prosatio Silban groaned, sat up in his sleeping-berth, and put his head in his hands. If these hiccoughs don’t (hic) end soon, he thought, I will.
To be religious means to be honest, kind, and thoughtful. Anyone who lacks these qualities is not religious, no matter how careful one is in ritual observance.”
— Rabbi Marc D. Angel, introducing chapter 6 of Pirkei Avot
Prosatio Silban and the Maker’s Mark
AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, “No one here gets out alive” – or unmarred. “Where did you get that scar?” asked the woman with the flirtatious smile, indicating Prosatio Silban’s right hand. The cook-errant raised one eyebrow and a mouth-corner.…
Prosatio Silban and the Assembly Eclectic
AS THE WISE SAY: “Some aspirations should remain so.” Prosatio Silban put the finishing touches on a plate of fidget-hen confit and pureed artichokes, and stood back to admire it. I don’t know how I do it, but I’m glad…
Never allow what you cannot do to control what you can do.”
— Rabbi Avi Weiss
Word to Bring Back: “Prig”
– Definition: noun a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if superior to others. – Used in a sentence: Scratch a prig, find a hypocrite. – Why: To name a thing is to control it — either by voting it…
Camouflage (A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche)
“WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF garnishes?” asked one of Prosatio Silban’s regular customers as he set down a healthy portion of sauced beef-loin with accordion potatoes. “That is a complicated question, and one which inspires many different answers,” The Cook…
I believe life’s a mystery; a sacred one. As for faith, that’s a personal and private thing…”
– John Walton Sr.
From Commonwell Cookery
BY GREAT POPULAR DEMAND, AND barring any unforeseen circumstances, forthcoming editions of The Cook For Any Price — both Across the Rimless Sea and More Commonwell Tales — are planned to include a smattering of appended recipes. Until then, here…
Blades Runner
THIS IS THE TALE OF a third-degree separation from two of the most prestigious knifemakers in Europe. In addition to regular sharpening and honing, home cooks are supposed to have their knives professionally sharpened once yearly. Thus, one recent Friday,…