Topic for the day is...

Every so often, I go to a site where, for the press of a button, a computer will give you 30 words, suggestions for things to talk about.

Then, with my list of 30 words on screen, I choose one and begin blathering  discussing it with you, dear reader. And so, here we go, discussing the word "Cobbler."

Well, if we learned anything from Led Zeppelin, it was this:

There's a sign on the wall
But she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings

A cobbler can be a tasty dessert and it can be a person who fixes your shoes, or makes your shoes in the first place. How cool would it be if the person who runs the shoe repair shop down on Main St was also a proficient baker, and could turn out sweet blueberry cobblers to treat customers while they waited for their shoes to be fixed, eh?

And some younger readers are going, "SHOE repair? You get shoes repaired? You don't just throw them out?" Yessir, back in the day, we could keep a pair of Weejuns around for a couple of years, with new heels and half-soles every so often. I don't think there are that many shoe repair places any more for a skilled cobbler to ply his or her trade. Sure, you'll find people in the mall with industrial stitching machines to sew up a shoe or a purse, but when is the last time you heard of someone getting new heels on their shoes? More to the point, when's the last time you saw someone wearing shoes with heels in the first place? We're all hopping around in Nike/New Balance/Converse/Vans and Adidas. I personally wear Rockport, the official shoe of old guy mallwalkers nationwide. I might buy new laces now and then, but what's to repair on rubber soles?

Now then, about the yummy type of cobblers. Americans love fruit cobblers, which are most often deep-dish desserts with fruit filling and biscuit crust. Apple cobblers, peach cobblers, blueberry cobblers, cherry cobblers, pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp...oh hold up. I got to thinking about Bubba Gump.

I heard one of those cooking shows on NPR the other day and the host was really drilling deep down into the types of cobblers one can make. For instance, you can make a cherry cobbler, or a cherry crumble, or a cherry crisp. How about a nice torte, pandowdy, buckle, croustade, or bird's nest pudding? Either way, they come out tasting fine, and would go great with a scoop of Breyer's Vanilla right about now, wouldn't they?

And there is also something called a slump. That's actually my favorite kind of fruity dessert, because you have to root for something with such a downtrodden name. A slump is cooked on the stovetop, rather than the oven, and that might account for why it feels bad about itself. But what better way to welcome someone home after a bad day at the salt mines than to offer them a nice slab o' slump?

Blueberry slump!

I also think that diet-conscious Americans like to say, "Oh no, I don't eat pie! My heavens, all those calories! I just had a corner of Martha's crisp!"