The Observer, November 30, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 12
News You Can't Use
For sale: a piece of the Eiffel Tower
While every souvenir shop in Paris might sell miniature Eiffel Towers, only one auction sold a piece of the real thing.
A section of the winding iron staircase that Gustave Eiffel climbed to inaugurate the tower in 1889 was sold at the Hotel Drouot auction house this week.
In 1983, builders removed the 1911-step staircase to install elevators and cut the vast staircase into 24 pieces to distribute to museums and collectors around the world. This piece, which is 14 feet tall, once connected the tower's second and third levels.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair that celebrated the centennial of the French Revolution. About six million people visit the Paris landmark every year.
Minnesota man trumps sister by roasting 72-pound bird
A Minnesota man basted and cooked a 72-pound turkey to beat his sister in their annual sibling rivalry over who can prepare the biggest Thanksgiving turkey.
Rich Portnoy roasted the beast in a 36-inch-wide, chef-caliber oven last week to top the biggest bird his family has ever cooked by at least 25 pounds. His sister, Andra Portnoy, conceded from her Virginia home, but complained that her brother's large oven gave him an advantage.
"It actually tastes pretty good," Rich Portnoy said after pulling the turkey from the oven after 15 hours of roasting.
Last year, Andra Portnoy cooked a 47-pounder to win the battle after her brother could only find a 37-pound bird,
This year, Rich Portnoy approached the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, which helped him locate an 85-pound breeding turkey that, at nearly 60 weeks old, was near the end of its useful life.
Portnoy bought the turkey for $30 and drove the live bird to a local processor. There the bird was made oven-ready at 72 pounds.
Portnoy and his wife, Charlene, invited 26 people to Thanksgiving dinner, but because they weren't sure the giant bird would be edible, they cooked a 19-pound backup turkey on the backyard grill.
