O/T The Music Thread

Now that one made me laugh out loud Inger.  And I do remember when the Olds Toronado first came out -- that car had some muscle and was quite stylish.  Not an Old Man car as I considered most Oldsmobiles to be.  When it first came out in 1966 it was the first American-made front wheel drive car since the Cord in 1937.  Jackie Stewart used to do ads for it.  The later Toronados became rather bland.

It's the kind of dish that used to show up at formal French restaurants of my younger days.  Menus that would have included Beef Bourguignon, Lobster Thermidor, Coq au Vin, Coquille St. Jacques, Magret de Canard, Cassoulet -- stuff Julia Child would make.  Restaurants with waiters who had worked there forty years and were stiff and world-weary and were just daring you to make a mistake with your selections.  You just hoped you met his approval.  I loved those places and now they are pretty much gone -- the world will never know what it missed.  Schooling in the graces of the world.

On my first date with the chick who would eventually become my wife after I wore her down for a few years, I took her to such a place.  Of course I had done that with other sweet young things who thanked me for a nice meal and then beat it for parts unknown, but that's another story.  Anyway, I ordered Faison Sous Cloche -- Pheasant Under Glass to us Anglo-Saxon brutes -- as if this were my typical everyday meal.  I did at least know enough not to lick the glass, so I passed that part of the test.  I learned later -- you probably already know -- that this is actually a New Orleans dish, popularized at Antoine's.

I guess we should be talking about this on the Foodie Thread, so I'll scoot over there should I come up with any pensees about Cuisses de Grenouille. 

Haha, same here Kaybli.  I read the dictionary like a fiend in the months leading up to the SATs, and it really was an enormous help.  When tautology and nonplussed both showed up early in the test, I was ready for them.  Reader's Digest used to put out a series called "It Pays To Increase Your Word Power," where each month they would put up 20 words that weren't necessarily used in everyday conversation.  At some point they put out a composite book of that series and I devoured that thing.  It may have been a homely little device, but it was very useful.  Otherwise I might never have come across uxurious or epicene.  I can't say I use them a lot, but if the right moment arises, by Jiminy, I will pounce.

I used a pile of cards with the word on the front and definition on the back. I remember that Readers Digest series too but I preferred the Laughter is the Best Medicine section. What was your SAT score? I got a 710 verbal, 760 math, for a 1470 total. I'm trying to see how I measured up to grandmaster pipps.

I got you on the verbal, but you beat me at math.  I actually did better on the LSATs, which looked like they had been written by my mother to get me into law school.  Of course I never actually went to law school, but I had a nice test.

There was a guy in my class who aced the SATs with a 1600.  His name was John Marshall and he was a direct descendant of the Chief Justice.  He went to Princeton and was involved in aircraft design.  When he was in his mid-20s he was killed during an experimental helicopter test.  The guy was brilliant -- socially awkward, as I imagine anybody who gets a 1600 would be.  I remember he called his parents by their first names.  I guess it was one of the perks of being a genius.

Wow, I'm surprised you even know about Reader's Digest.  I always thought of that as a 50s-60s thing.  Every home in America got it as far as I could tell.  That and National Geographic.  And one of either Time or Newsweek.  Yeah, I remember Laughter Is The Best Medicine.  Humor In Uniform.  Life In These United States.  Campus Comedy.  The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met.  Definitely a simpler time.