Unfortunately, Concetta’s love of exotic cooking had gone to her head. She had quite a name for it, and it was always wonderful to get invited to one of her festive meals.
She moved from country to country; not for real you understand, but in recipes. One day it might be a recipe from Bosnia-Herzegovina and the following week she would cook as if she lived in the jungles of the Amazon. Once, slap-bang in the middle of winter, her invited guests were treated to an array of recipes strictly from Iceland. Dried seals’ pizzles, for example. No one could guess where she got them from! What fun!
And then something wonderful happened! A new root vegetable appeared at the market. It was from South America. Concetta had never tried it before. Her research told her it was sweet and juicy. It could be eaten raw, in a salad or even a fruit salad. Or it could be cooked, like a potato. It came under a number of names. Some called it the Peruvian Ground Apple, but how plain is that? Concetta used the proper name of Yacón. Concetta invited her guests to partake of the exotic food. She would use it not only as a side dish for the main, but raw in a fruit salad along with pineapple and bits of peach.
The guests arrived. They were very interested in the side dish. It tasted alright; nothing to write home about. And then came the dessert. Thank goodness for French Vanilla Ice Cream! The fruit salad was horrible. No one said a word, but it was disgusting. It was extremely bitter. The guests chewed it with a smile.
But Concetta had muddled Yacón with Yucca. Yucca is an ornamental plant. By the morning, all her guests were dead from cyanide poisoning.
Oh dear, the seal pizzles should have been a warning to her friends…
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It’s such a terrible word!
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And I wouldn’t know it if it wasn’t for the fact that having a dog has introduced me to the world of pizzles as dog treats 🙂
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😀 😀
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And what about Concetta? Didn’t she eat her own delicacies?
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I had the same thought this morning! Perhaps she was Concheater?
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That is a notoriously Goodmanesque turn of events. Perhaps Concetta was fed up with her greedy guests who never offered her a treat in turn. So, manslaughter or murder?
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I prefer murder!
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Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend. ~A Christie
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You must be the most voracious reader I’ve ever known!
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Thanks, but those are all memories from my childhood. For the last 5 years or so, I’ve been reading only 25% of the books I’ve been acquiring, and my mind has barely been able to retain even 5% of whatever it’s being served.
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I’m the world’s most terrible reader. I read “The Nose” by an author I can’t even remember (but I loved it) – when in hospital four years ago following a heart attack. That’s the last thing (apart from blogs) I read… Correction.. I have reread the Bronte sisters’ novels since… and Jane Austen.
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Take care, Bruce. I too plan to return to Brontes, Austen, Eliot and Hardy. I want to walk the desolate moors once again. I hope you read one of my novels too, yet to be written. 😄
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I shall definitely be reading your novel(s)! I’m still deciding what I want to do with my life….!
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Amen.
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Massacre
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There’s no one left to criticize her cooking! But I’m with the other comment – didn’t she eat any?
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True – but if everyone gets killed off there’s no one left for tomorrow!
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