<p>My father is of Swedish-Danish descent. (Not a hint of Poseidon, although there is of course the sea connection in the rather muddied gene pool.)</p>
<p>There is some sort of tradition having to do with consuming vast quantities of pickled herring and copious quantities of vodka, preferably as close to the freezing point that pure distilled spirits can get.</p>
<p>When I was a wee sprout, somewhere betwixt the age of Sweet Pea and Popeye’s nephews this ritual would occur weekly, normally on a Sunday. It would start in mid-morning, and continue unitil either the herring or the vodka was exhausted.</p>
<p>Curious child that I was I had to ask the background behind this celebration. In all probability the latent desire to understand my Viking heritage, for even at that tender age I had yearnings of pillage and plunder.</p>
<p>“Grandpa, why do you do this every week?”</p>
<p>My grandpa gave me a grizzled stare, then smacked my father upside the head. “Don’t you teach this boy nuthin’?”</p>
<p>He reached over, plucked me up, and ensconced me on his massive knee.</p>
<p>Looking me squarely in the eye, he began.</p>
<p>“Son, we do this to honor a great man. An explorer in the service of Tsar Peter the Great. He was truly a great Dane. He braved the most vile sea in the world, in the dead of winter and discovered and claimed Alyeska for the Tsar. You know his name, don’t you?”</p>
<p>“No, Granpa.”</p>
<p>“Well let me tell you. It was Vitus Herring.”</p>
<p>When DS was in 8th grade we bought THREE tongues and put them in a pot in the kitchen. This is called “triple tonguing” and it was something DS’s brass instrument teacher was teaching him. This strategy really helped. Just thought I’d pass along the suggestion.</p>
<p>JaneyPT: As Junior Members, we’re not really supposed to be so presumptuous and ask such questions. I think we’re supposed to go along making believe we know what’s happening until we can hijack the thread and talk about what we feel like.</p>
<p>But I’ll tell you quietly that I think it’s about getting your post count up. That really works for those of us who are looking to become official Members. The Senior Members get to gripe about not having any level beyond Senior, but because they’re already at the highest level they get to say whatever they want.</p>
<p>Right now, I’m just trying to stay humble and follow their example and say things like “I like herring” (in cream sauce, of course) and gripe that I haven’t been able to have any since my first marriage because no one in my current family can tolerate the smell. They seem to think it’s gross (current direction of thread) even though I think it’s yummy (what we say to gross others out.)</p>
<p>I should call up Poseidon and ask him what to do in this situation.</p>
<p>GreyDad, mind your place. This thread is a gift, and the mods have allowed it to stay in the Parents Forum, where your meaningless posts actually count, as opposed to moving it to the Cafe, where padding efforts are wasted.</p>
<p>My apologies…my post about the “triple tonguing” should have been in the music forum. Oh…but as long as I’m back…I think the same strategy could be used for double tonguing (use two tongues instead of three in the pot). Perhaps Binx can comment.</p>
<p>Now I thought it was Thumper – triple tonguing. However, I have spoken in tongues on occasion, so I can understand the confusion. (And again, naughtier things deleted. Leave to your imagination.) However, the name GreyDad might appear.</p>
<p>My mother’s recipe for tongue (as best as I can remember it)
1. Put tongue in pressure cooker
2. Boil the heck out of it
3. Slice and serve. This was before I had learned of blueberry sauce.
Nevertheless, I got to like tongue and still do.</p>
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<p>Mythmom: your mother sounds like my grandmother, but that can’t be since I am older than you.</p>
<p>On the topic of herring - one of my favorite dishes. Years ago when I still lived in NY I went one evening to the Copenhagen restaurant. The smorgasboard was laid out in a large square. The first side contained at least ten varieties of herring. I almost didn’t make it to side no. 2. Perhaps I hadn’t had enough vodka. </p>
<p>Will cover college cafeteria food in another post. No point in lumping all items in one post. Amazing that this thread hasn’t been moved to the Cafe to save CC from having to keep taliying points. I bet one of us is really a mod in disguise. </p>
<p>Hey, Harriet, since you’re back, I just discovered the source of the word you were tossing around, talking about S2’s commitment to developing his unusual talent. It’s from the comic Frazz, isn’t it?</p>
<p>I just ran across it because of all the time this thread has saved me . . . . as a result, I’ve had time to sift through the pile of newspapers and incoming mail on the floor and front seat of the car. They had recently reached dashboard-level. (Our local newspaper of 4/15/08 was only about 6 inches from the top.)</p>
<p>Moderator Note: This thread is back by popular request :). It had taken a direction which involved numerous posts with Terms of Service violations and had been removed for that reason. We have deleted a number of posts and restored the thread…</p>
<p>This did take time on the part of our volunteer moderators. We anticipate everyone’s cooperation in keeping the thread in line with its original intent, rather than veering off into inappropriate territory.</p>