h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last night I had quite a well-organized dream. I was visiting a college campus that was situated around the flanks of a hill. (My own college experience was in a dorm on a place called "Orchard Hill," so maybe this was a return as an alumni).

Anyway, I approached by helicopter. There was a prominent greenhouse covering the top of the hill, but when we got lower and landed in the main part of the campus, the buildings above us hid the greenhouse. We visited various buildings, which were done in the brick-facade neo-Colonial style that characterizes a lot of college buildings in New England. Finally, we neared the top of the hill and could see the greenhouses. The propiretor told us that this was the day of the year when we could see something amazing. This was Cucumber Day, the day when removing the glass canopy stimulated the cucumber seeds to sprout and do an entire season's worth of growing in just twelve hours or so. I watched them grow, and ended up with tiny cucumbers to bring home again.

So all the...cucumbers...grew at once...like the poppies in Flanders fields...?

This is the most Freudian dream you've ever had, I think.

Dimitri can you interpret dreams?

Can you tell me why I NEVER,EVER, remember a dream. !!

In fact, I think that I could practcially swear that I do not dream.!!

Except once when I was six years old and I was chased by a teddy bear. !!

I never bought a single teddy bear for my children as a result. !1

Poor deprived darlings. ??

Christiane
AR80

21/11/98 17.10 GMT

Poor Christiane. Poor kids.

Maybe you never remembered another dream because of the teddy bear.

I never owned a teddy bear, but I had a stuffed-toy mouse that my sister made. She was good at that sort of thing.

Perhaps you do not choose to remember your dreams because your Real Life is so much more interesting.

There was a tavern just down the hill from the greenhouse, and one of my co-workers was in the lobby disguised as a pirate. My former college roommate was in a building nearby, asking my advice on how to respond to another acquaintance who had treated him badly. I tried to be diplomatic. I don't know if this helped him.

And yes, I'm sure a lot of my dreams are Freudian, which doesn't say a lot in a period when Freudian analysis has been supplanted by cognitive therapies.

As in, sometimes a cucumber is just a cucumber?

Is it a choice>

If so you are probably right. !!

Go well,

CNE
Ar80

22/11/09 11/47 GMT

thank bob we are way past the cucumber season

DEar Dimitri,

Whilst I was sitting in the living room this morning I realised that it was NOT a teddy bear that chased me, but a HUGE GOLLIWOG!!

In those days we had them. Of coursenow they are not PC>= !!

So Thank goodness I can still like teddy bears. !!

Do you eat Tzit-tsiki? Made from Cucumbers. I wonder if Paul does.
Still waiting for my grandchildren to arrive from London by car to take me to the hospital. They poor travellers have been on the road for well over three hours., They would not listen to Gran who told them to come by train. !!I shall definitely have to give them a contribution towards their petrol.

Go well,

Christiane
AR80

22/11098 15.20 GMT

I'm sure these cucumbers were too tiny to be anything but cucumbers.

Christiane, may I assume that your grandchildren are old enough to drive? If they took the train instead of driving, what would they drive once they got to you? Just curious....

Dear Christiane:

Brilliant! Of course I eat tzatziki, I love it!

THAT'S what Paul's dream is about. Instead of being naughty, he was lusting (you will excuse the expression) after a cool, creamy dish of tzatziki to go with his souvlaki and pita.

Paul, the solution here is to find the best Greek restaurant in Boston, and write about it for .

, cheesy, with feta and olive oil,

DG

I have no idea what tzatziki is.

Grate a cucumber. Press out the excess water. Add salt, garlic, and the cucumber to plain yoghurt. You can add a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon or two of lemon juice, if you like.

Dee-lish.

This is a staple dish in Greece. Eat it with souvlaki or giros. Add a dollop to your pita wrap...

plus it repels s

And enhances the taste of everything Pierce


Marvellous recipe Dimitr. I made mine up from what I had eaten in a Greek a restaurant. !!

Anymore lovely greek receipes ? I love Greek food.

Christiane
Ar80

23/11/09 7.15 #GMT

Dear Paul H

Of course my grandchildren are old ebough to drive.

I have a son who is 60 next Feb. who has two sons aged 31 and 24 Neither of them are married but both have !partners)

I have a daughter(57) who has three daughters aged 31 - economist;' 27 emchanical engineer- staying with me at the moment ; and the youngest daughter who is 24 who is a graphic artist.

I have a step daughter(57) who has a daughter of 33 and has two daughters

I have another step daugher married of (30) who has three sons.

I have another stepson married who has one step daughter and they are expecting their own child next year/
I have two unmarried sons

Dont forget that I was married thrrce and have outlived all my husbands.
When I married my second husband our combined families made five three sons and two daughters and there were five children with four years between them.

I reckon I earned my "colours" then as the children had the most wonderful childhood in Zimbabawe and |I was responsible for raising them. !!

There is a saying

"Only the good die young"

I am very pleased that I was only a little bit good and am reaping the reward of having wonderful grandchildren as well.

CME
AR80

23/11/09 7.45 GMT

Dear Paul H

Of course my grandchildren are old ebough to drive.

I have a son who is 60 next Feb. who has two sons aged 31 and 24 Neither of them are married but both have !partners)

I have a daughter(57) who has three daughters aged 31 - economist' 27 emchanical engineers and the youngest daughter who is 24 who is a graphic artist.

I have a step daughter(57) who has a daughter of 33 and has two daughters

I have another step daugher married of (30) who has three sons.

I have another stepson married who has one step daughter and they are expecting their own child next year/
I have two unmarried sons

Dont forget that I was married thrrce and have outlived all my husbands.

There is a saying

"Only the good die young"

I am very pleased that I was only a little bit good. !!

CME
AR80

23/11/09 7.45 GMT

Dear Christiane

Thank you for reminding me how far we have come, food-wise

when i was a kid the only kind of pasta we knew was macaroni with grated cheese - and we only had that approximately once every year

and nutmeg for instance was only used on boiled cabbage in white sauce

these days the italian cuisine alone gives us and amazingly broad variety of pasta: spaghetti, spaghettini, fettucine, ravioli, farfalle and so on - and a gazillion ways to serve it

and i have learned to use nutmeg in all kinds of dishes, including desserts and cakes and drinks

not only italian food, but also greek (as you mention) and the rest of the mediterranean cuisine is delicious - and by far healthier than the traditional cuisine we were used to up here in the north

let us not forget the cuisine on the south banks of the mediterranean sea: in morocco for instance they cook lamb with almost all the spices we only knew from christmas cakes, when i was a kid

when i was a young man they opened the first ethnic restaurant in my home town. it was chinese. later i have eaten in all kinds of ethnic restaurants - burger king and mcdonal'ds included

i doubt very much that my children will ever experience anything remotely like the kind of "food revolution" i have been through. they ought to envy me

23. november 2009, 1.26pm GMT+1

Hi Pierce the

Ths most wonderful thing is that we appreciate the food revolution. We can ejoy and compare and go on enjoying and comparing.


Food! Glorious good!

I shall never forget hearing that chorus the first time in London. wonderful.

Go well,

Christiane
AR80

"£/11/09 13.40GMT