Mike du Jour: My sister

When we were kids and had to eat all our vegetables or no desert I was the king. There’s nothing you could put in front of me I couldn’t get down. Even rutabagas. The smell of rutabaga alone cowered other children and some men. Not me. That they were mashed made the job easier but tell that to broccoli, asparagus and brussel sprouts all of which required some degree of masticating. But turns out I was the vegetarian Joey Chestnut and guess who wasn’t? My sister. It’s true parents are easier on the second child (that’s true in my children) but for some reason asking my sister to eat a green bean was the Atlanta Georgia version of "Lucia di Lammermoor": A tragic story of a woman caught in a feud between her family and the Ravenswoods if the Ravenswoods were Bob and Helen Lester and while I’ve never sat through a performance of the opera I would bet money they lasted about the same time.

Chocolate pie will make a man do a lot of things. -ML