Tuesday, November 21, 2006

It's A Drookit Doggie Day

Some things translate well over here; some don't. Pumpkins just don't fit. The equivalent of jack o lanterns over here was carving turnips. So when American-based displays of nice round pumpkins show up in the grocery stores, they just look kind of awkward and out of place. I bought two last year, which wound up uncarved on the compost pile. I tried again this year with just one that I meant to make into a pumpkin pie, but it is still sitting sadly on the kitchen counter shrouded in its plastic CoOp bag like a condemned criminal awaiting its fate.

Oddly, Country and Western music is very popular over here. They have a Northern Nashville day with bands and street party. I never liked Country and Western music back in the States, so for me it sounds doubly out of place.

With a sticky, heavy (drooky) rain falling pushed along by a hurrying wind and grey skies even in the brief interval when the desultory sun should be shining, I needed a lift for my spirits. My sturdy Volvo was chugging along into town with BBC Radio Scotland on the radio belting out what seemed like grey lifeless sounds. Without taking my eyes off the road, I pushed the CD button and was treated to a lively rendition of "It's A Doggie Day," an original song from my favorite more than local band back in Indiana, Dog Talk. I added the drooky bit and sang along with great abandon.

Great art balances the universal and the personal, or so I was taught somewhere in my liberal arts education. Dog Talk translates well for me at least. I think you can get some samples of their sound from their web site, so if you need to banish your own equivalent of a drookit day, see what you can find there. If you visit their web site (http://dogtalk.net/), send them a hello and tell them the only Mambo Doggie in the North of Scotland sent you. They'll know who that is.

7 Comments:

At 4:35 PM, Blogger Hayden said...

being firmly ensconsed in the least "american" of US cities, I still had a bowl of baked pumpkin with a bit of butter for breakfast this morning. SF may not be garden-variety US, but it does sit next door to Half-Moon Bay, which is known for growing a big percentage of the pumpkins sold in the states, so I guess that's my excuse. And anyway, squash is yummy.

Still, I'm curious. I'm wondering if pumpkin pie wouldn't be more yummy made with butternut squash?

 
At 6:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am going to say that great art also balances the sad and the happy, which your new lyrics do.

 
At 7:05 PM, Blogger landgirl said...

I agree squash of all varieties is yummy. I have had sweet potato pie, too, which is very tasty. I love the idea of butternut squash pie but maybe made more like a quiche than a sweet dessert pie.

 
At 7:06 PM, Blogger landgirl said...

Dear ampiggy, you have a good ear for the overtones of lyrics. Thanks for being there. I tried to upload a picture of me looking very earnest next to the forester but could not bend blogger to my will. I'll try again perhaps.

 
At 6:46 PM, Blogger Hayden said...

quiche instead of custard is a good idea. maybe seasoned with diced, litely sauteed green onions. and with duck fat instead of butter in the crust --- ummm, I'm making myself hungry! Oh wait, should we leave it at that or toss in a handful of finely diced ham?

 
At 8:36 AM, Blogger landgirl said...

Oh, I think we could go without ham in the pie-quiche, but how about a salad on the side with sassy lettuces and greens that tend to bite back and something crunchy in it and some nice shredded cheese. ooh boy. I just may have to make that. Makes my breakfast porridge pale by comparison.

 
At 12:42 AM, Blogger ZACL said...

Wish I'd known you had a spare pumpkin, I could have put it to culinary use.

I really can't fathom the tradition here in the UK to use this rather warmly coloured food, just as gargoyle material. Then, it disappears from the retail stores as soon as Halloween has passed.

 

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