The Way the Future Blogs

The recipe for Fred’s Cream of Potato, Carrot, Onion and Hot Dog Soup was such a hit — well, with two of you, anyway — that I am going to give you the secret of another of my closely guarded dishes, this one for my version of Ham and Cabbage Soup. For this you will need:

(In a pinch you can use Spam in place of unprefabricated pork. Just don’t tell your guests you’ve done it.)

How long you cook the ingredients depends on how tender you like your cabbage to be. My wife likes it crunchy. I like it boiled into submission. So for me, I boil it with the meat for 15 minutes before I add the other ingredients, then cook until the carrots are tender. Taste before serving and add pepper. No salt unless some salophile diner demands it; there’s plenty in the pork butt.

Serves 4 with leftovers.

Robert P. Mills

I have rarely been jealous of another editor — too much ego in the cosmos for that, probably — but there was a time at the Worldcon in Seattle in 1961 when I was thoroughly jealous of Robert P. Mills. He was in order for yet another Hugo — in all, he garnered three of them — and he had been telling me for two or three days how little he cared about his magazine and how little attention he paid to it.

He didn’t even read the stories that were submitted to it. True, he had some very good people reading for him, Cyril Kornbluth having been one of them, but he couldn’t remember a time when he had read every story.

“It’s funny,” he said, “but it seems the less I do on the magazine, the better the readers like it.”

It was impossible to dislike Bob; he was amiable and amusing and his wife made the best paella I’ve ever had. But I did wish for a time there that I knew his secret.

One each: potato, onion, and carrot, peeled

One kosher frank (kashruth required not for theological reasons, but because it won’t taste as good if it isn’t)

Cut up and boil in lightly salted water to cover until carrot is tender. Add one cup milk. Blend at high setting. Serve.