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This week's oddest menu item was a couple of these open-faced sandwiches at the Norwegian Seaman's Church Christmas sale. There are various combinations of toppings - fish, beef, potatoes, dill, leeks- did I mention fish?- etc. Not bad for a snack, but if I had to subsist on these, I can see why Norwegians became very good sailors - they are still looking for good food. I was very disappointed that there was no Glögg available this year. But they do have the dreaded lutefisk, if you are so inclined, which some friends of mine in Minnesota once told me smells like "something your dog dug up, then puked on". I actually ate a bite of it when I was working up in Fargo one winter - there ain't much to eat in Fargo, folks - just another thing to cross off the list of mandatory life experiences. I would rate the experience somewhere between getting my car out of the Claiborne impound lot and my last colonoscopy.

I was in the shipping biz and the Seamen's Church always invited us agents to a thank you luncheon once a year. I went once (and only once!) and God bless them, it was nice and friendly but I couldn't eat. It was the open-faced sandwiches covered in meats and vegetables in aspic. Ughh. It just wasn't my thing.