Friday 3 May
Since 2005, perhaps inspired by
Holt's use of a croquet mallet as a lituus when he presided (as pontifex
minimus) over the opening of the new Blegen bridge, our department has been
holding an annual "Dikaiopolis Classic" croquet match.
The change from quarters to semesters now
means that it has to be held after exam week, but the weather was good and
the grass green enough for six brave malleteers to sally forth and enact that
incomprehensible, interminable exercise.
The point (as with
cricket, and many another British "game") is drinks and snacks on the
lawn. Unfortunately no Pimm's cup was available, but
there was lemonade, cookies, apple pie, a great lemon pie, various kinds of
hummus and pitas, and Deema's cooling cucumber, tomato and feta salad with
basil.
That kept body and soul together in preparation for another
social event soon after: our summer book club was meeting for the first time,
at Valeria's downtown loft. So we went
home and baked up a batch of kale chips from the giant sheafs Barbara had just bought. This type of deeply
ruffled kale takes 15 mins., no more, and soon we were carrying the crispy bounty
downtown.
Valeria greeted us (and Duncan,
and Daniel, and Rose accompanied by her new-found tiny kitten) with
glasses of wine (the kitten had milk), and soon we sat down to a satisfying meal of her Bulgarian banitsa, grape tomatoes, and a variety
of cheeses, plus the kale crisps. The cheeses
were especially appropriate, as we had met to discuss The Pasteurization of France, by Bruno Latour.
The judges' verdict: food great, conversation
stimulating, kitten adorable, book terrible. We're looking forward to the next meeting.
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