A restaurant in North Carolina has a flair for the unusual. During its Exotic Meats Month, it features such options as python, iguana, camel, alligator and scorpion on the menu. And this year, it added a bonus option: a hamburger topped with gruyere cheese, spicy chili paste, and an oven-baked, salted zebra tarantula. This sounds awesome to me. At our house we have a rule. You have to try everything. You don’t have to like it but you have to try it. I used to tell my children that someone, somewhere eats everything. I also told them that everything they…
Author: Norbert Rug
July Fourth was our celebration of independence. Marching bands, parades and fireworks celebrated our freedom and our democracy. It reminded me of our freedoms and our tragedies of the past year. I fear the seriousness of losing the lives of four journalists who were killed in Annapolis, Maryland last year, people committed to telling the truth, has already been forgotten. This is now old news and the current outrage, whatever it is, has left no room for it. The bang of the fireworks reminded me of the gunfire and that this loss was a tragedy. I think that now, more…
As an ex-smoker, I can smell the odor of cigarette smoke on smokers and can tell if the person driving ahead of me is smoking. I can also smell if someone is smoking a cigar from two houses away. Just like cigarette smokers, marijuana smokers can get used to the smell and won’t notice how repugnant it can be to people who don’t partake in smoking “weed”. Different from cigarette smokers, though, pot smokers have not acquired the manners about bothering the people around them. The state missed an opportunity to fix this problem five years ago when a bill…
Nine years ago, in June of 2009, I went to my doctor with food poisoning that I suspect came from eating an improperly handled hamburger. I casually mentioned to the doctor during my appointment that I was going to the bathroom frequently at night. Due to my age, he became suspicious and gave me an exam of the prostrate. When he said he didn’t like what he found he suggested I have a biopsy. This was despite the fact that my PSA (Prostrate Specific Androgen) was well within normal range. He suggested that I go to a local urologist who…
Back in the 50’s families dined together. My family ate in our kitchen at a green Formica table with chrome plated legs. The chairs were done in a matching color of vinyl and also had chrome plated legs. Hey! Don’t judge! It was the style back then. The dining room was reserved for special occasions, like when we had company coming over or Thanksgiving. Meals were served “family style” every night with us all getting our meal from communal bowls or plates that were set on the table. Dinner was, what dinner was, and if you didn’t eat what was…
I can remember all the food we used to share sitting down together for dinner in my youth. The first thing that comes to my mind is kielbasa or Polish sausage. My father loved Polish sausage and we would have it at least once a week. It had to be Shelly Polish Sausage, no other one would do. Shelly Brand was a well-liked brand of Polish sausage made by A. Szelagowski and Sons, Inc. The owner, Anthony Szelagowski was born in 1873 just outside Poznan, Poland. At age 14, Anthony and his brother Joseph, came to America. In 1887 he…
A long, long time ago, in a place that seems far, far away, many Buffalo area children, myself included, would turn on their TV sets in the morning and were greeted by a trusted friend. In 1961 the space race was on! Before a special joint session of Congress, President Kennedy announced his goal to put a “man on the moon” before the end of the decade. If you were a preteen, rockets and robots ruled. It was in this environment that one of the most popular television programs in the history of Buffalo broadcasting was created. During the span…