The cooking world`s Great Compromiser, Julia Child, has entered the great veggie scandal. ”President Bush would love to eat broccoli,” but only if it is prepared correctly, said the confident Child, advising Air Force One chefs to serve it cut, blanched and sauteed in olive oil and garlic. She didn`t address the next question: With garlic on his breath, how could Bush avoid being an isolationist?
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BLOWIN` IN THE WIND As blowhards go, Linda Spanky Gray surely is among the more diversified. Already accomplished on trumpet, slide trombone and French horn, Gray, 37, also is handy with sea shells. She won the 24th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest over the weekend in Key West with a jazzy rendition of Dizzy Gillespie`s tune, ”Salt Peanuts.” Thirty-seven other contestants also made music with the tightly coiled mollusk, including ”Sentimental Journey” and Beethoven`s ”Ode to Joy.”
WORDS WITH A CUTTING EDGE Being long-winded isn`t an asset only for musicians. But in Nebraska`s bellowing Legislature, the pipes were cut off sharply. The assembly, closing in noisily on its final days, was abuzz as usual as Speaker Bill Barrett pleaded for quiet efficiency. Suddenly, Barrett`s walnut gavel splintered under the might of his message. The next day Barrett called colleagues to order with an instrument arguably more appropriate: a meat cleaver. The 48-member legislature quickly quieted down. They even worked through lunch.
THE CATTIEST DIVORCE OF ALL In the end, all Karen and Robert Elliott of Nashville could agree on is that they care about their cats-which made them part of their divorce decree. Indeed, with no property to split between the couple, the two cats occupy the lions` share of the settlement. Under terms of the decree, the ex-husband is granted custody of the ”two feline pets . . . of great sentimental value.”
The ex-missus gets ”reasonable” visitation rights-as long as she phones first.
A DIFFICULT ACT TO FOLLOW Australian golfer Greg Norman has a new handicap, but it`s not about his game. Norman is taking over for actor Paul Hogan as Australia`s leading promoter of tourism, which must be something akin to following ”The Great White Shark” of the fairways. Like his affable predecessor, Norman offered his services for free.
NIXON SEES THE PAST Richard Nixon always did have a keen sense of history. In his interview with Time magazine, Nixon was asked how the future will remember his past.
”Clare Boothe Luce once said that each person in history can be summed up in one sentence,” answered Nixon, predicting that historians won`t remember his China hand but Watergate. They will record, ”He resigned the office,”
Nixon said. ”The jury has already come in, and there`s nothing that`s going to change it. There`s no appeal. Historians will judge it harshly. That`s what I would say on that.”