What's for dinner? - Nobel Prize banquet

[Guest guest]

Today is the day of the Nobel Prize award ceremony (or ceremonies, really, since the Peace Prize ceremony is separate from the others), and the Nobel Prize banquet. As usual, the award ceremony and the banquet will be broadcasted on national television in Sweden. And a silly folksy tradition is to have a "Nobel Prize banquet" in front of the TV. You get the nice food and wine, of your own choice even, but don't have to squeeze yourself into a tuxedo, how much better could it get? . Not much, if you ask me... In fact I have had the opportunity to get an invite to the "real" banquet a couple of times (people with a profession in research have the opportunity to buy some of the tickets/invites), but I am really not interested. I will much rather stay in front of the TV (and out of the tuxedo).... My sister thought that was madness, she thinks a night in a fantastic gown, sparkling jewelry etc, would be absolutely outstanding. I guess that's where we are different...Anyhow, I digress..., what I meant to say was, that our Nobel Prize banquet tonight will be cheese and crackers, followed by chicken. Not sure what the poor guys in tuxedos (and gals in gowns) will be getting... love/Reb

[Guest guest]

the stronger one might be Camembert.

I fell in love with Brie and fruit in Spain, we had it for dessert

many times. Fabulous with banana, awesome with apple...

We had brie, cream

cheese, edam cheese (traditional Christmas cheese in

Sweden), and a kind of cheese I can't remember the name

of, but quite similar to brie except a yellow/orange

colour and a stronger flavor. And four types of

crackers.

And we did

enjoy the Nobel evening on TV, too. The dinner part is

always interluded with short interviews with different

guests about relevant topics: the Nobel Prize winners

are of course interviewed about the achievements that

are honored with the prize, all the different

professionals involved in making the whole evening

happen (chefs, musicians, dancers, designers, flowers

artists etc, etc) are interviewed about their part in

the whole (I may pay a little less attention to what the

dress designers have to say, but the chefs and the

others in the kitchen always amaze me), and other guests

are interviewed about how they enjoy the evening.

This big talk

of the evening this year was, first of all, the fact

that the Crown Princess is now visibly pregnant (the

baby is due in march, and will be the next crown

princess or prince, once her/his mother is made Queen).

That, and of course also the fact that the winner of the

Nobel Prize in Literature this year is the Swedish poet

Tomas Tranströmer. He is one of my favorite poets, so I

was happy with the choice (you can read more about him

here: http://www.cprw.com/Coyle/transtromer.htm ). Many

of the guests at the Nobel Prize ceremonies quoted there

favorite poems by Tranströmer when interviewed.

questioned how it was possible that they all had a

favorite poem by Tranströmer, and could quote him

verbatim when asked. I said: "Easy. They have all

studied for the occasion, of course. Grabbing a book of

his collected poetry, picking one poem you could call

favorite and then memorize it, is done faster than

getting into the tuxedos and ball gowns.... with that

said, though, I would like to read MY favorite

Tranströmer poem to you..."

And then I

read Romanesque Arches to her.

The English

translation (not done by me) is as follows:

"Inside the huge

Romanesque church the tourists jostled in the half

darkness.

vault gaped behind vault, no complete view.

A few candle flames flickered.

An angel with no face embraced me

and whispered through my whole body:

"Don't be ashamed of being human, be proud!

Inside you vault opens behind vault endlessly.

You will never be complete, that's how it's meant to

be."

Blind with tears

I was pushed out on the sun-seething piazza

together with Mr. and Mrs. , Mr Tanaka, and

Signora Sabatini,

and inside each of them vault opened behind vault

endlessly."

love

/Reb

PS. The translation is

great, and done, I believe, by Bly. IF it had

been done by me, however, I would have chosen to

translate the ending of the second line "no

overview" rather than "no complete view", because

that's a more literal translation. I understand,

though, what Bly is trying to convey with the choice

of "complete view".

>

> What kinds of cheese did you have at your

"banquet"?

>

>

> hugs

>

>

> Sharon

> This email is a natural hand made product. The

slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its

individual character and beauty and in no way are to be

considered flaws or defects.

>

>

>

>

> ________________________________

> From: Reb D reb_41se@...

> To: MSersLife

> Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011 6:20 AM

> Subject: What's for dinner? - Nobel Prize

banquet

>

>

>

>

>

> Today is the day of the Nobel Prize award ceremony

(or ceremonies, really, since the Peace Prize ceremony

is separate from the others), and the Nobel Prize

banquet. As usual, the award ceremony and the banquet

will be broadcasted on national television in Sweden.

And a silly folksy tradition is to have a "Nobel Prize

banquet" in front of the TV. You get the nice food and

wine, of your own choice even, but don't have to squeeze

yourself into a tuxedo, how much better could it get? .

Not much, if you ask me... In fact I have had the

opportunity to get an invite to the "real" banquet a

couple of times (people with a profession in research

have the opportunity to buy some of the

tickets/invites), but I am really not interested. I will

much rather stay in front of the TV (and out of the

tuxedo).... My sister thought that was madness, she

thinks a night in a fantastic gown, sparkling jewelry

etc, would be absolutely outstanding. I guess that's

where we are

> different...

>

> Anyhow, I digress..., what I meant to say was, that

our Nobel Prize banquet tonight will be cheese and

crackers, followed by chicken. Not sure what the poor

guys in tuxedos (and gals in gowns) will be getting...

>

> love

> /Reb

>