Brining is a process similar to marinating in which food is soaked in brine before cooking. It is an old Jewish tradition to give salt and bread when someone moves into a new home as a housewarming gift. Salt is to season your life, the bread is so you will not go hungry, and together brined bread assures the host and guest of a rich and fulfilling visit.
I will brine the bread.
Skeptical of Dad's knowledge of Hebrew history, culture and customs, I responded with the following email:
Dad's responded to my skepticism as follows:
As I was reading this I was taken back o February of 1982. I remember sitting in the basement of the Eberhart house watching the Denver Nuggets play the Washington Bullets on our rectangular wooden console Zenith tv. As I sat there, Dad took the opportunity to explain to me how he played three seasons with the Boston Celtics, and that he would still be playing to that day had he not answered a call to go serve his country in Vietnam.
It wasn't until years later, after an exhaustive internet search, that I discovered that my dad had neither played in the NBA or served in Vietnam. I hope that the same isn't true for this Jewish brining story. I don't think I could handle the disappointment. I also hope that Daniel never starts researching the 1991 Junior National Flap-Jack Invitational held in Des Moines, Iowa to find out whether his dad was really first runner up...
Dad's responded to my skepticism as follows:
Sam,
Google: '1971 National Collegate Jello slurping records'. Unless Takeru Kobayashi recently became a two sport athlete, my record should still be posted in Portland, Oregon at Jello's National Headquarters.
Because the Celtics still owe me contract and bonus guarantees from 1970-72 they have removed my name from prior rosters because of legal and salary disputes. I entered Viet Nam in '72 as an undercover operative and a Green Beret, was captured by the Viet Cong when I stayed behind enemy lines to fight a battalion of commies so that my platoon could escape. I was a POW in Hanoi for three months, escaped back to the US through Laos and Cambodia, eventually being picked up in the Indian Ocean on a homemade bamboo raft by a naval destroyer. My military records are still classified and top secret until 2022, however I did receive an official US flag flown over Washington, DC. from Wyoming's Senator Craig Thomas office in 2000. Senator Thomas will confirm my war record but I've asked him to keep the military details confidential until they are released to the Washington Post in twelve more years.
I remain your truly, a humble American freedom fighter.
