Another Interview

[chickenfeet]

a_d_medievalist asked...

If you could live in another time and place: when, where, and why?

One always answers this assuming some kind of idealised existence in putative time and place of course. So, I'd live in Athens before the war with Sparta and go to parties with Alcibiades, argue the toss with Socrates, have front row seats for the latest Aristophanes comedy. Oh. and keep Phryne as a mistress. I'd probably like the place less if I was working in the silver mines.

How did you meet owlfish?

I came across her on LJ shortly before she moved to Toronto. I don't recall how. We met "in the flesh" shortly after she arrived when lemur_catta and I gave her and some friends a tour of the St. Lawrence Market.

What was the absolutely best meal you ever had?

Tricky. There have been several really good ones, notably a couple at Heathcote's near Preston, one of which featured a rather remarkable terrine of fillet of lamb and the other a perfect darne of salmon served on a bed of samphire. I had a really excellent meal once at Chez Jean-Pierre in Greenwich CT which included a brilliant dish of lobster medallions in a Sauternes gelee. I've also eaten some great meals at the various Berman establishments in Toronto and at Susur Lee's Lotus.

Would your schoolboy self be happy with your present self?

I think he'd be impressed with some of the things I've done but less impressed with how things have turned out generally.

Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire?

Groucho Marx perhaps?