THE ELEVENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS WITH DANTE & SASCHA

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, Dante's true love gave to him ...

"ELEVEN PIPERS PIPING"

Being a theatrical agent, this was MEWSic to Dante's ears!  He was so glad that the pipes were more like flutes, and not those noisy bagpipes he'd heard so much about.  He felt sure that they could find work for these pipers in some orchestra, perhaps even for a Christmas concert.

"Thank you, thank you, Sascha!  This is just great!"

"You're welcome, sweetheart", said Sascha.  "I wanted to pipe up and let you know how I truly feel about you."

"Hey", Dante said.  "I wonder if these pipers could help us round up some juicy ratsies -- you know, just like the 'Pied Piper of Hamelin", except there are ELEVEN of these guys, so we should get eleven times the rodents!".

And sure enough, after Dante spoke with the pipers, they played their best tunes, guaranteed to attract the "Rat Pack".  Who knew you could play 'Do Be Do Be Do' on a flute?  And before you could say "Sinatra", the rats had formed a Conga line and followed merrily along after the pipers.

They conga'ed themselves right into a rat trap that Dante had set.  "So much for the rat race!", he said.  Dante knew just what he was going to do with them.

In some Asian countries, rats are eaten like chicken. Also, in parts of Africa, the giant rat, cane rat and common house mouse all grace the dining table and, in fact, are very popular.

And here's a Thai recipe that Dante found:

DEEP FRIED RAT

Ingredients


Fresh rats
Fresh herbs
Cooking oil
Chilli peppers
Butter
Peanuts
Preparation:

• Blow the rat skin with a blowtorch.
• Leave rats to cool down.
• When they are cool enough, clean the rest of the skin with a steel wool.
• Eviscerate the rats and split them.
• Put all the good rat parts in a jar, with the fresh peppers, herbs and oil.
• Leave this for half an hour in the fridge.
• Deep-fry until brown in a mixture of butter and peanut oil.
• Serve hot with some crunchy peanuts. 

Dante put his culinary skills to the test once more, and presented Sascha with this exotic deliCATcy.  The pipers, on the other paw, declined to join them for supper.

Dante couldn't help but reflect on the day's events.  "Wow", he said.  "This gift was really a two-fur!"  We signed some new clients to our agency and got a great meal out of it, to boot!"

Dante was truly grateful, but most of all he was thankful for his intelligent, thoughtful and stunning girlfriend, Sascha.

Tomorrow is the twelfth and last day before Christmas, itself.  Please join Dante and Sascha once again to see what Sascha has picked out this time.  Here's a hint:  "Drum roll, please!"