Pleasure and Business

OK, all these years I never noticed the mustard sauce in my fridge said "Swedish Style" (Photo courtesy losbagels.com)

I had dinner with my favorite professor, also my thesis adviser, last night at Larrupin Cafe in Trinidad.

It was my first time to try that place, although I've been eating their famous Larrupin Sauce on my bagels and anything else I can think of for years. It's a delicious mustard dill sauce. I had no idea it was Swedish.

I noticed everything barbecued or smoked on the menu was "mesquite grilled," an indicator of a Texas connection. Besides "larrupin" means delicious in old-fashioned Southern vernacular.

When our little appetizer board came out, that's when I became aware of the Swedish connection as well. Besides the ubiquitous sauce in its natural habitat, there was a little smoked salmon and cucumber, little rounds of dark rye bread, soft cheese, and pieces of apple.

Photo courtesy of Laurie H. at yelp.com

And also a little chicken liver pate, a Texas thing, I think, although I am starting to become confused about which things in my own family history are Southern things and which are Swedish things. Our family dips everything in everything else, celebrates Christmas on Christmas eve, sleeps at night with pillows in our arms; I am no longer aware of where our idiosyncrasies come from. At any rate, chicken liver pate is something I am already familiar with.

So like me, Larrupin Cafe has a healthy mix of elements of Sweden and the American South. Sure enough, when I asked our waiter about this, he said the original owners were a Swedish man and a Texas woman.

So besides having a good dinner and great fun catching up on the details of my friend's life, I also got a reminder that many deadlines are coming over the next few months. My schedule is going to be hectic as soon as I return from Sweden (all the more reason to enjoy myself like crazy while I'm there).

My adviser warned me not to take on too much. Over the years I have learned to trust her judgment absolutely (there are very few people I can say that about).

She told me that teaching English 100, taking one graduate level class, writing a thesis, working at the newspaper and raising a teenager are plenty; do not also teach a class through the international program, no matter how much I like it, no matter that I was going to teach grammar, no matter that the students wish it. She is right, of course.

So anyway, now I have a bit of a roadmap of my next five months.