Leverpostej-Off 2011, Part Two

There was only way to properly judge the liverpostej, and that was through a blind taste test. Jess, my dad and I went into the kitchen and to prepare two equal plates to share. Theoretically, no one would know which one belonged to who. But as we began to prepare the plates it became clear right away that this would not be the case, as well as who had won the battle. It was Grandpa, without a doubt.

"You know, I don't even think we should serve this."

"No!" My dad said. And then he tried ours. "Yeah...Grandpa's is way better."

My uncle came in to find out what the holdup was and we told him that we were thinking of throwing in the towel; our liver was not up to snuff. He picked up our plate of leverpostej, its color and consistency clearly not right. He brought the plate up to his nose and took a sniff.

"It smells like Friskies!" he said. That was less than comforting.

I was ready to just dump all of it and anything resembling my Danish ancestry in the trash since we had so clearly failed. But Grandpa was really looking forward to trying it so instead "quitting" we surrendered.


With our white flags made out of chopsticks and napkins, we humbly accepted our loss.


Grandpa's is the one on the left and ours is on the right. Not that you know what leverpostej should look like, but ours is not right. The color is wrong and the consistency is wrong. I realize that both look equally unappetizing.


The most important judge.

My Grandpa is a fairly quiet guy in general. At 91 years old, he is in great shape but sometimes even the simplest tasks can be a bit tiresome for him. These days, our visits usually consist of him sitting quietly and taking it all in. He tells the occasional story that I just love and wish I could bottle up and keep in my pocket to listen to anytime I need a smile. But for the most part, he just sits back and enjoys his family enjoying themselves; he doesn't have to say much for us to know what he is really feeling.

"You know, Grandpa," I said, "Dad says your pickles won too."

"Well, yes," he said. "I suspected as much." And he smiled a big proud smile.

I've never been happier to lose something in my life.