Some Unexpected News

A few weeks ago I attended a photo walk at a local brewery, which reminded me of a fun brewery visit in San Francisco when visiting my college friend Dave.  I sent him an e-mail to tell him about the Jersey version, along with a link to a blog post if he wanted to see some photos.  Tonight I got his response.  First, he thanked me for giving him an opportunity to relive the memories of our visit to the Anchor brewery.  Then he sent some related news.  Back in his early comic creating days, Dave's output was mostly self published as mini-comics, and one of his classic early stories was about when I visited him in San Francisco.  I was staying with him for a week, and the first meal he served me was ramen noodles and tofu.  That would need improving for me to survive a week, so we went shopping and I got ingredients for a variety of Italian dishes, including spaghetti arrabbiata.  Later Dave asked me to send a list of ingredients and directions.  Eventually it turned into a comic book story called "Arrabbiata" which shows me cooking the sauce as I explain it to him, while his mind drifts to the build up just before the Gulf War, a combination that sounds odd, but as a story it worked perfectly.  (did make for an unusual vacation, as some plans had to change to work around anti war riots throughout the Bay Area, but still a good week)  This first recipe comic was a hit, and he later followed it up with another one set in SF, where a coworker/roommate teaches him to make refried bean burritos.

It turns out that someone from Sweden had acquired a bunch of these 90's comics and enjoyed them, and had recently contacted Dave to get permission to translate the stories and republish them there.  That guy did so, and had sent Dave a photo of the results, which he forwarded to me.  I have no idea what DET GRYMMA SVARDET 21 means, but apparently it includes me explaining in Swedish how to make arrabbiata sauce.  There's a skill I didn't know I had.  The publisher was not only a fan of the comics, but of the food; he wrote Dave that he's a stay at home father, and both the spaghetti and burritos became regular parts of his family's diet.  Well, if this art thing doesn't work out, maybe I should try doing a cooking show in Scandinavia.