Quito. Chapter 13. Some Unlikely Help

     Page Two Hundred Fifty-Five.
     Quito was dry as a beige pterodactyl bone when Henry Mancini's very pink and instantly recognizable theme to Breakfast At Tiffany's, Moon River, started. (In fact, it was a massive hit song in the early 1960's when the movie came out. Just everybody knew it.) But more to the point, Quito needed to know who or what could aid him in getting out of this jam. So he was grateful for his Mancini-powered ESP to provide a little help. He wished he could break free by himself, but the leashes were just too strong and there were 7 hench-poodles plus our villain. Also, he knew that asking for help when needing it or accepting it when offered was good for the soul. And really, who would be impressed by a dog getting loose all by himself? Lord knows, they do it all the time anyhow.
     So with Mancini's music playing on the TV, and the other dogs all working hard on their project, our dog used his ESP to find out who'd scare Wanda the most. He concentrated hard, real hard, to get into Wanda's brain and discover who'd really freak her out. When he felt her deepest fears, he barked "are you kidding me?" to himself. He just couldn't believe whom she was scared of. In fact, he actually felt like laughing at her for having this most silly fear. But he knew how mean it would be to laugh. He wouldn't like it if somebody laughed at him for being scared of something. He knew, for example, that some people are scared of the Wicked Witch from the Wizard Of Oz. It not nice for people or dogs to judge each other about their fears. So he just said to himself  "whatever". But he also thought, "this explains a lot."
     Then he went into his brain and concentrated on materializing the help...
     He heard them singing from outside while marching.

Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho!

We're here to save Quito,

Our furry friend,

From a dreadful end,

Heigh Ho!Heigh Ho! 

     And with that, the little door in the corner opened and marching down the stairs and into the room came the Seven Dwarfs ready to kick some poodle butt.
Continued Next Week... Chapter 14. The Fight.

On Eating Broccoli Stalks

     Page One Hundred-One.
     I always thought that the only part of broccoli which was good to eat was the flower. So I would always trim my broccoli to within an inch of its life prior to cooking and then toss most of what I'd purchased in the garbage can. A few years ago, I was corrected.
     I was helping build the Coliseum in Rome one day and was having my traditional lunch of two Big Macs, an extra large order of fries, two hot apple pies for dessert and a diet Coke. I noticed some of my co-workers eating what appeared to be broccoli stalks. I recognized these co-workers in passing as they were all six original members of Pink Floyd: Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Syd Barrett, Henry Mancini, Richard Wright and Nick Mason. They were all sitting together and joking around, even Syd, who appeared to be somewhat stable. I approached them and introduced myself. We hadn't really met prior because we were working on different elements of the building and we'd been placed there by differing contractors. They were welders, I was electrical. But I was so stunned by the sight of these Earthlings eating broccoli stalks that I just had to investigate. They were shocked that I didn't eat the stalk as they thought the stalk was practically the sweetest and most flavorful part of the entire plant. They offered me a sample and I had to agree. I asked them how to prepare stalks properly. Henry Mancini spoke right up:  
     "The only real trick is to peel it prior to cooking as the skin is yucky. Use a potato peeler for this project. But once you get the tough skin out of there, just cook as normal. The stalk will take longer than the flower by a couple of minutes. So it's best to cut the stalk off right near the flower and cook it longer. If you leave the flower on the stalk and cook the entire spear together, by the time the stalk is done the flower will be mush. An average stalk might take a total of six or seven minutes or so to boil up, while the flower might be done in four or so, depending upon size. That's it."
     Then Syd Barrett weighed in:
     "Make sure to use plenty of water and also heavily salt it to retain the beautiful green color. So just toss the stalk into the boiling water, set the timer for about three or four minutes then toss in the flowers. Then set the timer for another three minutes or so. Let them all cook together.  Once everything is fork tender, they're done. They'll be great."
     So, that's it. I've been cooking and eating stalks ever since and golly gosh gee are they good or what?