Of course you all knew… The Maharajah of Magador. And now…
Who’s Eating Dinner?
The first thing in elegant dining… as anyone who knows anything
knows… is to eat off silver tableware. Now… there are probably
those of you who would consider such a thing as being extravagant to
the extreme and to those I say: You don’t know what extravagant is
pal.
First… let’s make the meal. How about some duckling… dripping in
it juices. Asparagus… about five stalks. Garlic mashed potatoes. A
couple of sprigs of parsley. All this of course on a plate of pure
silver. On the side… a glass of fine red wine. Are you ready?
The place: Pompeii. The year: 79 AD. The month: August. There are a
series of rumblings. The animals are behaving strangely. The birds
are suddenly silent. The cats have left town. The dogs are barking
without reason. And then… suddenly… a tremor shakes the ground
with a sound like thunder. A temporary calm… and then catastrophe.
There’s a mighty explosion. Sheets of fire are shooting up from
Vesuvius. The city is in ruins. Many escape. Many die. Many struggle
to gather their finest possessions before it’s too late.
Slaves are sent out with sacks laden with gold and silver. Here.
Take this. Make haste. Bury it well in yon well. And they go. One
slave did indeed bury her master’s treasures… but she did not make
it back. She worked in a villa at Boscoreale… outside of Pompeii.
And there the treasure lay… till 1895. There were gold coins.
Silver jewelry. And silver plates. But there was one… one plate…
that stood out. It clearly… quite clearly… belonged to the owner
of the house. I believe this fellow had a slight taste for the
macabre.
Is there not one of us alive today who does not dream incessantly of
having one’s portrait hanging in the Blue Salon in majestic splendor
while overlooking one’s domain. We all want that. It’s a normal urge.
Ah… but the owner at Boscoreale… he expanded on this mundane
little penchant we all have… and he took it a step further.
I will not tell you what it is. You will have to go look for
yourselves. And imagine the dinner described above… steaming in
fragrant grandeur on this man’s silver plate. You pick up your
fork… you smell the vapors … and you lean forward for that first
delicious morsel…
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Current Tidbits… and then click on it in order to view that which
you are about to view.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark