SOMETIMES, EVEN THE IDEA OF rolling out of bed is too painful for words. Prosatio Silban was sick. He wasn’t quite sure with what, but the symptoms were plain: congested head and chest, sore throat, joint- and head-ache, cough, chills,…
Tag: The Cook For Any Price
Culinary myths for the mystically inclined (with a few ancillaries).
Prosatio Silban and the TED Talk
IT WAS A GREAT HONOR to speak before a throng of one’s peers at epicurean Pormaris’ Archive of Gastronomic Artifice – but it was also not without its terrors. Prosatio Silban made a point of perusing the Archive at least…
Prosatio Silban and the Affable Invitation
AS A COOK-ERRANT, PROSATIO SILBAN perhaps knew better than anyone the importance of first impressions. “What a charming turn of phrase!” exclaimed the elegant middle-aged woman sitting down at the beefy cook’s table-and-chairs in the afternoon shade of his galleywagon.…
Child’s Play (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
THERE IS A MOMENT IN AN out-of-control situation when its utter wrongness becomes agonizingly apparent – and it’s the same moment that the experiencer realizes there’s not a damn thing to be done about it. Such were Prosatio Silban’s thoughts…
Prosatio Silban and the Sudden Feline
(Three printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) IT BEGAN WITH AN ALMOST automatic kindness, and led to an inevitable but gracious end. Prosatio Silban was tidying up after a somewhat slow morning…
A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Utensils
“ALMOST AS MUCH THOUGHT AND effort goes into the choosing of eating implements as for the selection of food for which they are meant,” said Prosatio Silban, reaching for the sea salt container next to his fatberry-oil stove. “Silver, gold,…
Prosatio Silban and the Twice-Cooked Eggs
(Two-and-a-half printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) ONE OF THE NICER THINGS about traveling in a buopoth-drawn galleywagon down a smooth dirt road is the slow pleasure of the unfolding scenery. Prosatio…
Prosatio Silban and the Elegiac Escort
(Two printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) FROM HIS GALLEYWAGON AT THE edge of epicurean Pormaris’ busy South Market, Prosatio Silban could see the dockside funeral pyres at their greedy task. It…
Face Value (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Six printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) PARTLY, IT HAD TO DO with the eyebrows. In order to pass as a mercenary cook within the Three Cities and Thousand Villages of the…
Caveat Bibitor (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Four printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) IT WAS A COMMON ENOUGH skillet: two-thirds of a cubit across, three finger-breadths deep, of simple cast iron with a carved maplewood handle. The…
Passing Notes (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Ten-and-a-half printed pages; the longest Prosatio Silban tale so far, and though it’s the third I’ve written, it’s actually the first one in narrative order. If you’re new to these, here are the (much shorter) preface and introduction. Enjoy.) IT…
Prosatio Silban and the Lost Foundling
(With much, much help from the indefatigable Ann Clark; five printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) WAKING UP TO A BABY’S cry can be a normal thing for some people – but…