Why do I keep hearing people say the word fondue?  Is there something going on that I should know about?

Three employees down at the movie store, who must be in their young twenties, are talking about their fondue party?  I half expect them to begin discussing harvest gold and avocado green appliances.  And earlier this week, I heard some other people tossing that word around like it was suppose to mean something.

Fondue?  The only person in my life who ever used the word with any authority was a former employee, Crabass Tom, who would pull the word out and use it occasionally to describe a fine dining establishment.

“Oh, you’ll want ta head down there and eat.  It’s re-ul fancy,” Crabass Tom would say whenever the conversation would head in the direction of fine dining.  “I mean re-UL fancy!  Fondue and everything!”

Of course, some of Crabass Tom’s other culinary tales included squirrels and opossums.  But he was a good-hearted backwoods boy, and in all fairness, I don’t think he ever mentioned the two critters being served together at the same meal.