Italian Buon Capo d'Anno, Japanese Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu, Norwegian Godt Nyttår, Pilipino (Tagalog) Maligayang Bagong Taon, Polish Szczesliwego Nowego roku, Portuguese Feliz ano novo, Romanian La Multi Ani , Russian S Novym Godom, Spanish Feliz Año Nuevo, Sudanese Wilujeng Tahun Baru, Swedish Gott Nytt År, Turkish Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun, Welsh Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Try pronouncing that one. I actually have very little trouble with it. There must be many erudite cats among the Welsh.)
There are other language choices, of course. Most countries want to wish everybody a Happy New Year! I do rather like Chinese (Cantonese): Gung hay fat choy, a New Year greeting meaning, "May you become prosperous." (www.enchantedlearning.com)
Where did I find all these marvelous translations? I regularly surf the web looking for information on things like tuna and salmon and other things that might be of some use in my articles. This brings me, in a round about way, to my next subject; that of the cookbook written by Sharon Corbin. Many of you may remember my very deal friend, Don. He was a librarian assistant at our Pine River Public Library. I have Don to thank for my years of comfort and friendship at the library. Don promised Muriel many years ago that he would clean out the litter box if she would let me stay. He may not remember this, but I certainly do. Thanks, Don! But I digress. Don’s wife, Sharon, has written a cookbook. While surfing the web the other night, I found just the biographical information for which I was searching:
“… Sharon Corbin’s roots in northern Minnesota go back many years when her parents, Kenneth and Katherine Peterson were charter members of the Faith Lutheran Church in Swanburg, Minnesota. Sharon moved to Crosslake as a permanent resident in 1999 after vacationing on Stark lake, Trout lake, Woman lake and Little Pine lake for many years. As a child she was interested in cooking and has collected recipes all of her life. It finally came time to convert the scraps of paper and old 3 by 5 recipe cards to a more organized format. So she converted the dream into actually writing a cookbook of her own using many of her favorite recipes over the years. Over a period of almost two years Sharon selected, re-wrote and clarified the hand written scribbles and notes into a marvelous collection of family and friends favorites…” (http://www.cookbooksforsale.com/)
But the compelling information does not stop there. Certainly not! The featured recipe on this particular website is none other than Halibut Lasagna, which the site claims is Sharon’s favorite recipe. Right on, Sharon! Find this and other wonderful recipes in Sharon’s book, “Crosslake Cooking”. We have a copy at the library, of course. If you wish to own your personal copy, order it online or ask Muriel at the library. I am pretty sure you can get one signed by Sharon. My friend and co-author, Cora, purchased several for gifts during the holiday season. Each was signed by Sharon. She – Cora – tells me that the gifts were received with great enthusiasm.
In closing, Aide shoma mobarak! (Happy New Year in Farsi, no less.)
-Browser, the library cat
Printed in the Pine River Journal 1/4/07
