Borges meets NASCAR
So, I was up at my dad's this evening to make him dinner.* He had the Celtics game on later in the evening, and while watching idly, something jumped out from the news ticker along the bottom. In the middle of the NASCAR results, they listed P. Menard. I immediately jumped to Borges's short story, "Pierre Menard, Author of Quixote," which describes one Pierre Menard, whose great goal is to spontaneously and independently produce the exact text of Don Quixote. Not memorize, not reinterpret, but independently write the exact same words as Cervantes. It goes on to describe how he attempted to cause himself to do this, and the differences in critical reception of Menard's version versus the original. A classic of nutsy Borgesian contextualism. For a moment, I wondered if someone had put it in there as a joke. If I were writing the news ticker, this is the sort of thing I would do just to see if people were paying attention, like I did sometimes in highschool by inserting brief non sequiturs in the middle of papers.

Minor research has established two things: P. Menard is, in fact, a real NASCAR driver, but his first name is Paul, not Pierre or an equivalent. However, using the initial, I can maintain whatever humorous illusion I choose. I may have to follow this P. Menard.
Original Spanish text of Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote
English Translation

*In the interest of sharing the menu without breaking narrative, a footnote! We made sort of a Middle Eastern fajita dealie.

• grilled semolina/whole wheat flatbreads, stuffed with:
• Flank steak rubbed up with cumin, caraway, black pepper, turmeric, garlic, chipotle, salt, tomato paste and a little hit of honey, then grilled
• Fried peppers and onions
• Kale sauteed with fresh tomato and the rest of the spice rub, with grilled zucchini thrown in at the end
• Strained yogurt sauce with cumin, cilantro, lemon, salt and garlic

Also, we put fiddleheads on skewers, grilled them, then dressed them very simply with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. If you get the chance, try this, it's fabulous. It's basically like asparagus done up similarly, but with a somewhat different texture.
Oh my, was it good. I'm not usually much one for steak, but Dad wanted it, and every so often, done well, it's worth it. This was one of those times. Also, the commies are visiting now; mmm...iron.