Sunday, January 31, 2010

Bulky Bartokomous

My friend Jonathan is a very unique person.

There’s the fact that he grew up as the son of a Baptist minister in small-town Texas and later lived as a Catholic priest-in-training in Toronto…there’s the fact that he is an excellent pianist who can play “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and can also play an absolutely hilarious version of the Brady Bunch theme song…and then there’s the fact that he went to culinary school and has cooked both a three-course delicious Hungarian meal and a complete, delectable raw food feast for my friends and me…

There are many things that make Jonathan an interesting person to be around.

And just recently, I discovered another. While I was hanging out with him at his little studio apartment last Tuesday night and he grabbed a bottle of wine out of his pantry, I noticed that he tends to buy foods in bulk…but not foods that most people buy in bulk, like cereal or toilet paper. For example, he had…

A huge tub of cumin!



Who ever needs this much cumin?!



Then there was this big jar of cloves. Tell me, when was the last time you used even ONE clove in your cooking? Surely no one really needs this many!



And then there was the green tea that Jonathan bought “online, for really cheap”…four boxes of it! (The next day, Jonathan called me at work and told me that he found a FIFTH box of green tea on top of his fridge.) I guess I know who to call if this country ever faces a massive green tea shortage!



But then I noticed something even funnier to me. He also had the TINIEST bottles of ketchup and mustard! Aren’t they cute? That hit me so funny. Surely, you would never need more than a couple of tablespoons of ketchup or mustard…but apparently you need loads of cumin, cloves, and green tea!



Yes, Jonathan is indeed a unique person. I don’t know anyone else who would have that much cumin and that little ketchup and mustard.

Oh, and did I also mention that he has a bird feeder?! But Jonathan doesn’t use it as a bird feeder—he uses it to serve candy to his coworkers (one piece at a time). So I guess it’s not so much a bird feeder as a people feeder.



I’m really glad to have Jonathan not only as my friend, but also as my neighbor. After all, you never know when you’re going to need to borrow ten cups of cumin!

11 comments:

lisahgolden said...

What great friends you have. And that's brilliant - the people feeder. Once upon a time, I was the candy/gum supplier for the office and it was a constant struggle to keep things stocked.

Murry said...

what I have deduced about Jonathan...he likes Indian food, Japanese (or is it Chinese?)drinks, lots and lots of pumpkin pie...He does not like the works on hamburgers...and he has a lot of coworkers...so many that he needs to dole candy out to them in small quantities, or he'd go broke. I'm so glad to know more about him. Gotta love Jonathan!

Daisy's Mom said...

While I have not been raised by a Baptist minister or been in priest training, I currently have in my pantry massive amounts of cumin. I like Jonathan.

Barb said...

I'm so jealous that you actually KNOW him in person. I only know him in the bloggy world ~ and I already adore him!

Random Thinker said...

Better to have too much than not enough. I think that's Costco's mission statement.

Br. Jonathan said...

Awww -- I love being your neighbor too. And I'll always be here whenever you need cumin or cloves.

shannon lara said...

That's my cousin! He has never changed - weird food, weird inventions of cooking (have you seen the lobster execution?) He is the Bomb and I love him more than my luggage! I'm glad you are friends with him - you'll learn alot and laugh alot! Kiss him on the check for me!

Mom said...

What a lovely sounding man! I wold love to know Jonathan.

Sling said...

The man just likes to be prepared..
You never know when terrorists might try to poison the cumin supply.

Anonymous said...

AND he's a crazy intelligent writer.

I'm thinking God needs to shuffle the talent jar a little more before he goes passing them around like that.

rosemary said...

Steve does the same thing!!!!! We have two HUGE jars of cucumber chips....and he doesn't really like them.....pretty clever with the bird feeder use.