Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, April 18, 2021
through
Saturday, April 24, 2021
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It’s Saturday, April 24, 2021
Welcome to the 1079th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
LA Dodgers Fully Vaccinated Section
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2.0 Commentary
Due to Biden’s robust response to covid, we are already looking at a time in the near future when appointments for vaccinations will outstrip demand.
When we are substantially distant from the herd immunity that as a nation are striving for.
What to do?
We see the rising of incentives.
The LA Dodgers are reserving sections in their stadium for citizens who have been twice vaccinated.
The gov’t is proposing tax incentives to businesses that give their employees time off to get vaccinated.
Schools are inviting students back in the fall as ong as they are fully vaccinated.
A little imagination.
And a little compassion.
At this stage in the pandemic, different people are making different decisions, and many even opposing decisions will be defensible.
Before lashing out at behavior that is different from your own, maybe it’s worth pausing to ask whether compassion is the better response.
We’re under great stress.
Let’s be human.
Loving.
And no!
Absolutely no!
We do not have to wear face masks while we’re walking in areas not overly crowded.
I’ve been scammed.
What an idiot, I.
Details tomorrow.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted: Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format. Target for completion is July 4th.
My editor, whom I trust, has just given me a 1,000 lbs of rewrites.
I hope the extra time I put in recently in the rewriting will pay off so I can effect her changes and still stay on schedule.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
How is your faith different from your parents?
I did a little work on this on Thursday.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
I did today’s reading/
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but
he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”
~Mark Twain
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C:
Et voila! You have produced an entirely new crab cake recipe! Kudos!
That’s the fun of cooking.
Sally
Blog meister responds: Sally’s original email prompted both Howard and I to enter the field.
Fun.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I enjoyed a sea bass filet on a bed of arugula.
I made a pan sauce of garlic-olive oil, fresh dill, lots of it, and lemon.
salt and freshly-ground pepper.
I sauteed the fish (skin side down) for five minutes and then
slid the pan tightly under the broiler for 5 minutes.
Fresh, juicy, and delicious.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Saturday, April 24th - Dodgers vs. Padres @ 6:10PM PT
Additional seats are now available in our Loge level's fully vaccinated fan section for Saturday's game against the Padres! The fully vaccinated fan section allows for more flexible seating options while maintaining safety within the fan zone and throughout the stadium.
Sections 166LG and 168LG will be reserved for fully vaccinated patrons (i.e., at least two weeks have passed since they received their final vaccine dose) and children between the ages of 2 and 15 who can provide proof of having tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of admission. Children under the age of 2 do not need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
All ticket holders for a fully vaccinated-only section MUST enter the stadium through the Right Field Loge entrance, where they will be required to show proof of vaccination (if 16 years of age or older) or of a negative COVID-19 test (if between 2 and 15 years of age). This will be the only stadium entrance for the fully vaccinated-only sections.
Any person with a ticket for a fully vaccinated-only section who is 16 years of age or older and cannot provide the required verification of full vaccination, or between 2 and 15 years of age and cannot provide the required proof of a negative test within 72 hours of admission, will not be permitted to enter the stadium.
Social distancing will not be required in a fully vaccinated-only section. Persons seated in these sections will be seated directly next to other parties.
Face coverings must be worn in the fully vaccinated-only sections, except while actively eating and/or drinking in the ticketed seat.
No resale of tickets will be permitted.
If you cannot verify your eligibility at the stadium, entry will be denied.
Acknowledgment
FULLY VACCINATED-ONLY SECTIONS:
I understand that in order to sit in a fully vaccinated-only section, all of the people in my audience group who are sixteen (16) years of age or older must be fully vaccinated before being permitted to enter the stadium. People are considered to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 two (2) weeks or more after they have received the second dose in a 2-dose series (e.g., Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), or two (2) weeks or more after they have received a single-dose vaccine (e.g., Johnson and Johnson [J&J]/Janssen). Audience groups are limited to a total of six (6) persons made up of a maximum of three (3) household units.
I also understand that any children in my audience group who are two (2) to fifteen (15) years of age and are not eligible to be vaccinated may sit with their parent, guardian, or sponsor in the fully vaccinated-only sections if they have tested negative within seventy-two (72) hours before the start time of the game. Children younger than two (2) years of age do not need to be tested and may sit with their parent, guardian, or sponsor in the fully vaccinated-only section.
Finally, I understand that (i) all of the people in my audience group who are sixteen (16) years of age or older and I will be required to provide verification of full vaccination, and (ii) all of the people in my audience group who are two (2) to fifteen (15) years of age and are not eligible to be vaccinated will be required to provide proof of a negative test within seventy-two (72) hours before the start time of the game, before being permitted to enter the stadium.
The following documents are acceptable as proof of full vaccination: A government-issued photograph identification and a proof of vaccination, such as a vaccination card (which includes the name of the person vaccinated, the type of vaccination provided, and the date that the last dose was administered), or a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document, or a photo of the attendee’s vaccination card stored on a phone or electronic device, or documentation of vaccination from a healthcare provider.
For children two (2) to fifteen (15) years of age, the following documents are acceptable as proof of a negative COVID-19 test result: a printed document (from the test provider or laboratory), or an email or text message displayed on a phone or electronic device from the test provider or laboratory. The information provided should include the name of the person tested, the type of test performed, and the date of the negative test result (for a PCR test, the date of the negative result must be within prior 72 hours; for an antigen test, the date of the negative result must be within the prior 24 hours).
By purchasing tickets to a fully vaccinated-only section, I attest that all of the persons in my audience group who are sixteen (16) years of age or older have been fully vaccinated or will have been fully vaccinated before entering the stadium. I further attest that all persons in my audience group who are two (2) to fifteen (15) years of age have or will have tested negative within seventy-two (72) hours before the start time of the game. I understand that any person with a ticket for a fully vaccinated-only section who is (i) sixteen (16) years of age or older and cannot provide the required verification of full vaccination, or (ii) between two (2) and fifteen (15) years of age and cannot provide the required proof of a negative test within seventy-two (72) hours before the start time of the game, will not be permitted to enter the stadium.
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It’s Friday, April 23, 2021
Welcome to the 1078th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Crabcakes
with salad, served at the restaurant
at the Tate Modern Art Gallery.
Photo credit: Heather
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2.0 Commentary
Tuesday night’s dinner was terrific.
My first time making crabcakes and they came out terrifically.
So. I had three recipes in front of me and I broke the process down to three steps.
1. The aromatics. Looking over the recipes I chose bell pepper, chili pepper, scallion, red onion, olives, lettuce, celery, and fresh basil and parsley. Very small amount, like a ounce or so. Trial and error. These in a food chopper until very fine, but not a paste.
2. The base. Mayonnaise, lime juice, 1 anchovy, sweet relish, mustard, beaten egg, and panko breadcrumbs.
Mix the base and the aromatics and add the crabmeat. Very expensive: 1 pound was $52.00 Gasp. For two people.
3. The coating. I used the traditional coating for a cutlet: the shaped salad into flour then into a beaten egg and then into fine breadcrumbs. I set the cakes onto a very hot baking platter and seared and broiled them simultaneously.
Having several recipes to read over and given your own experience go for it.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti: So two groups are going to virtually meet in the next two weeks. We’re hoping for an alliance that will make us a more powerful group going forward.
3.2 Conflicted: Work is proceeding apace. I haven’t missed a day yet in my writing. Right now I’m ahead of my daily goals.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
How is your faith different from your parents?
I haven’t started this yet. Not so true. I have jotted odd notes that will eventually weave themselves into a pattern.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. I think that May 3rd is our last class.
3.8 San Francisco via San Jose: Taking advantage of a reduced air fare for an early May trip.
I had good luck booking a couple of restaurants on Tuesday night.
Friday I’m meeting with my cousins and aunt to iron out more details of the trip.
I’ll publish my calendar early next week.
It's fun/
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Now and then we had a hope that
if we lived and were good,
God would permit us to be pirates.”
~Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Colleen G:
How sweet Dom!
"I miss my daughter." :)
I miss my dad:( He died almost 17 years ago and he SO would have loved these grandchildren of his.
Unfortunately they never met.
And, I miss him.
Wasn't expecting to write those last three lines, but they just came upon me and so I included them.
You're children are lucky to still have you. And you them:)
Enjoy each other!
Cheers,
Colleen:)
Blog meister responds: Yes. We do.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night’s dinner was terrific.
My first time making crabcakes and they came out terrifically.
One revelation to me was the way that a beaten egg combined with fine breadcrumbs
to hold the cakes together.
And another: proving the efficacy of the sear/broil method that I use,
Cakes ready to cook to a crust, I put the baking pan under the broiler
for 5 minutes until it got flaming hot.
I brushed on butter and set the cakes on it.
I brushed more butter on the tops of the cakes and set it tightly under the broiler
for 3 minutes. Then I lowered it to the bottom shelf and let the cakes brown more slowly.
That took another 3 minutes.
Done and delicious.
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11.0 Thumbnail
A crab cake is a variety of fishcake that is popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powder), eggs, and seasonings. The cake is then sautéed, baked, grilled, deep fried, or broiled. Crab cakes are traditionally associated with the area surrounding the Chesapeake Bay, in particular the states of Maryland and Virginia.
Crab cakes are particularly popular along the coast of the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, where the crabbing industry thrives. The earliest use of the term "Crab cake" dates to Crosby Gaige's New York World's Fair Cook Book in which they are described as "Baltimore crab cakes".[3] They can also be commonly found in New England, the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northern California coast. While meat from any species of crab may be used, the blue crab, whose native habitat includes the Chesapeake Bay, is the traditional choice and generally considered to be the best tasting. In the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, the Dungeness Crab is a popular ingredient for crab cakes, and the cakes are prepared at many restaurants throughout the region.
Many restaurants and fish markets advertise their crab cake product as "Maryland Crab Cake" or "Maryland-Style" crab cake, which implies the crabmeat is the domestically-sourced Blue Crab; however, it is a widespread practice to substitute cheaper Blue Swimmer Crab, which is imported, usually from Asia. The foreign product is often harvested using methods and practices that would be considered unsustainable in the United States, where the crabbing industry is carefully regulated to ensure sustainability.
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It’s Thursday, April 22, 2021
Welcome to the 1077th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Frances McDormand (cropped)
Red Carpet Report on Mingle Media TV -
This file has been extracted from another file:
Frances McDormand 2015.jpg
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2.0 Commentary
Didn’t realize how well recognized Frances McDormand’s body of work is until I opened Wikipedia.
Wow!
I miss my daughter.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti: I’m working on establishing a memorial to two victims of social injustice.
3.2 Conflicted: Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format. Target for completion is July 4th. I work on the book every day, averaging four pages per day. Yesterday kept me on target.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
How is your faith different from your parents?
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
I’ll finish my assignment on Tuesday and get my thoughts together on Wednesday morning for the class.
3.8 San Francisco via San Jose:
Taking advantage of a reduced air fare for an early May trip.
I’ll be researching my itinerary this week.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Write without pay until somebody offers to pay.”
~Mark Twain
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from fellow writer and blog meister, Sally C:
Here’s the crab cake recipe. (Don’t have an anecdote at the moment.) Share the recipe in your blog if you like – since I’m not a professional chef with secret recipes, I’m happy to share a good recipe with anyone who likes it. Some things are too good to share; other things are too good not to share.
Sally
CRAB CAKES
1 lb. can of claw crab meat
1 cup unseasoned fine bread crumbs
1/2 cup flour
½ cup milk
4 eggs
1 stalk of celery, very finely minced
1 tablespoon tarragon
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black peppeer
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
Mix together thoroughly, using a fork to break up chunks of crabmeat.
Heat oil (I use ¾-inch deep olive oil in a large frying pan) until bubbles stream from the end of a wooden chopstick. Drop mixture into oil by large tablespoon, flattening them so they cook through. Turn once, cooking on both sides to a nice brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with tartar sauce. (They taste good cold, too, but most don’t live that long.
Blog meister responds: Sounds great. Thanks for sharing.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I made Clams Casino to serve as an appetizer with a London Broil main Course.
All delicious.
My cousin providing great company.
After dinner we walked about three miles.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith, June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. McDormand is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting." One of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation, she is known for her portrayals of quirky, headstrong female characters. Although primarily recognized for her roles in small-budget independent films, McDormand's worldwide box office gross exceeds $2.2 billion helped by her appearances in the Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012).
McDormand was educated at Bethany College and Yale University. She has starred in a number of Coen Brothers’ films, including Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Burn After Reading (2008), and Hail, Caesar! (2016). For her portrayal of Marge Gunderson in Fargo, McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film roles include Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000), and North Country (2005), all of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2017, she starred as a hardened woman seeking justice for her daughter's murder in the crime-drama film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2020, she starred in the acclaimed independent drama film Nomadland, receiving further Academy Award nominations for her work in the Best Actress and, as a co-producer, the Best Picture category.
McDormand made her Broadway debut in a 1984 revival of the drama Awake and Sing!, and received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her acclaimed performance as Stella Kowalski in a 1988 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. She returned to Broadway in 2008 with a revival of The Country Girl, leading to a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Play. In 2011, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing a troubled single mother in Good People. On television, McDormand played the titular protagonist in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014), which won her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
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It’s Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Welcome to the 1076th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Andy Warhol
coined the phrase "15 minutes of fame"
Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) - http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-the-american-artist-andy-warhol-at-his-news-photo/141553292
Portrait of the American artist Andy Warhol at his exhibition dedicated to Black transvestites in the US. Ferrara, November 1975
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2.0 Commentary
Bad news today is that someone from Trump Republicans has realized what a huge mistake is the forming of the coalition calling itself the America First Caucus to Protect Anglo Saxon traditions.
It appears that Trumpians are working to disband or isolate this group.
That is bad news because were this group successful, it would prove an anti-platform around which center right Republicans could safely gravitate to; and that would spell the end of Trump’s control of the Republican Party.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
How is my faith different from my parents?
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Often it does seem such a pity that
Noah and his party did not miss the boat.”
~Mark Twain, Christian Science
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Tommie T, our dear southern friend:
As a Birmingham native, a liberal Democrat, and somewhat of an activist, I hope someday that you go to the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingam.
I went several years ago when I was in Birmingham for a high school reunion.
I was "blown away" by the powerful presentation and message.
Hopefully, we are changing beliefs about race, the caste system, etc.
I think it is going to take another generation or two.
I have just finished reading James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son, a powerful commentary on race and culture in America.
I am now reading a book Leigh gave me - Caste - The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
I have just begun reading and find that I want to underline every word and go back and reread what I just read.
I wish I were younger and had more energy.
There is so much yet to do.
When I look at our grandchildren, I see hope.
Blog meister responds: When I look at you, I find hope. God bless, Tommie.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night I enjoyed a plate of ravioli that I bought from Monica’s on Richmond Street in the North End, with meatballs and Gravy that my cousin Lauren brought over for me.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of an individual or group, or occasionally a character or animal, as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. A person may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports or the entertainment industry, their position as a political figure, or even from their connection to another celebrity. 'Celebrity' usually implies a favorable public image, as opposed to the neutrals 'famous' or 'notable', or the negatives 'infamous' and 'notorious'.
FAMOUS PEOPLE I HAVE MET:
Aerosmith: Regular patrons of the restaurant.
Al Stewart: Had an incredible knowledge of wines.
Beverly Sills: The most personable of the opera stars. A regular visitor to Dom’s. Her daughter loved me because I always gave her a bowl of upscale Maraschino cherries that she much appreciated.
Boston: This whole group were regular patrons of the restaurant. I had the honor of kindling Fran Sheehan’s interest in wines. I hung out with them, getting to know Tom Scholz, Fran Sheehan, Sib Hashian, and Barry Goudreau in particular.
Cameron Diaz: Spent 15 minutes talking to her. The occasion was dog walking. We each were walking our dogs. Intelligent and at ease.
Cedric Maxwell: Max was always my favorite Celtic because he had the balls. His job was fighting for rebounds. Four times I met him at the Prudential Center, speaking to him a total of fifteen minutes. Great guy. Always dressed down.
Colleen Dewhurst: Effusive actress spending most of her nights in Boston having dinner at Dom’s. I ended up creating a Stuffed Lobster dish that I called Lobster Dewhurst. She loved it and was thrilled to see her name on the menu. Don’t have the recipe.
Danny Kaye: He came in late one night and we got to talking. He was a terrific cook, and then we went into the kitchen and he cooked clam sauce for me.
David Bowie: Aloof, with me and our staff. Seemed professional with the musicians and promoters surrounding him.
Doc Rivers: @ Bristol Lounge. He had breakfast alone. I congratulated him for something. Didn’t linger beyond that.
Donna Summer
The Queen of Disco was born in Boston and recorded a video at Dom’s. She was friendly.
Drew Barrymore: Only saw her from a distance and only once, in the now defunct Boston Common coffee shop in the North End. I was with my lovely daughter.
ELO: They just popped in, had a drink, and popped out.
Faye Dunaway: I first met Faye as a student at BU in a passing, “Well done,” moment after she had starred in an Ibsen play.
Faye Dunaway: A decade and a half after first meeting Faye I met her as the owner of Dom’s, she a regular patron. I had dinner alone with her one night that included a classic moment with my son Chris. It’s in my book.
Foreigner: Nice guys.
Huey Lewis: Saw him coming out of Four Seasons hotel. Snazzy dresser. Does that count as a meet?
J Geils Band: J. Geils, Magic Dick, Danny Klein, Seth Justman and of course, Peter Wolf. I hung out at the restaurant with all of them. I believe there were one or two other group members that I didn’t know well.
James Beard: Wrote the most impactful reviews of Dom’s we ever received. Especially praising of my son, Dom who made a Gorgonzola Sauce for him at table. Dom was twelve. Hs readers cut out his articles and put them away for years, until they had a chance to visit Boston. One or another would show up and hand me the local version of Beard’s review. Always they ordered the Gorgonzola Sauce.
Janis Ian: She had a party one night when “At Seventeen” became the lead single out of her #1 album “Between the Lines”
Jim Plunkett: Casual. Comfortable. Wisecracking
Jimmy Cannavino: Had an hour long dinner conversation with him. Had recently lost his son. Tragic.
Joan Sutherland: A serious diva, friendly.
Joe Cocker: I hung out with him one night before his show. From 6pm to 9pm he drank a full bottle of Glenfiddich. He was proud of his capacity.
Julia Child: Along with James Beard, our most famous foodie cutomers. She particularly wanted to be shown the array of mushrooms that we served at the restaurant. No, she was never married to Stanley Tucci.
Kevin McHale: Casual. Comfortable. Wisecracking
Kiss: Nice guys. Hey came in after their show at the Boston Garden and partied. Even though a school night and they didn’t arrive until midnight, my boys and their visiting friend stayed until the group left, about 4am. Don’t remember if boys skipped school. No harm done but great memories. The group was unmasked and had taken their makeup off. No sense in explaining why that was important to my sons.
Lee Majors: My son Chris wasn’t on site the afternoon that his favorite TV star “Steve Austin” came in for lunch.
Marilyn Horne: A serious diva with a smile that melted.
Mike Dukakis: I believe Dom’s restaurant was the host for Mike’s first fund raising event for his gubernatorial campaign. He didn’t forget. The day after he won the election, he came to Dom’s for lunch and received a standing ovation. Mike was a true believer. Honest. Committed. Then came the Democratic presidential nomination and the ill-fated Snoopy photo of him driving a tank.
Neil Bogart: Founder of Casablanca Records ate regularly at Dom’s when he was in town. Filmed a video at the restaurant. I think is was
Peter Wolfe: Very smart; loved early rock and roll and we shared several conversations on the early performers, esp Clyde McPhatter. Very often drove him home to the Prudential Center where he lived with his wife, Faye Dunaway.
Queen: Queen concert on November 12 1977 – Boston Garden. Strangely, I don’t remember meeting Freddie Mercury although the band provided me and my sons a limmo to get to the concert, backstage passes, and up front tickets.
Rex Harrison: A star at the height of the My Fair Lady movie. No Audrey, I’m afraid.
Stephen Tyler: Multiple Times; once in limmo and to hotel room; use your imagination
Tom Scholz: A regular customer at the restaurant. MY book, Dom’s the Odyssey, takes place the night of his group’s return to Boston after a triumphal tour in which they started as an intro act and returned the headliner. They held a huge party at the restaurant that went until 6.00am. Wearing another hat, I represented Charlie McKenzie and negotiated Charlie’s exit as band manager.
Van Cliburn: At the height of his fame. High strung; attended by mother
Village People: They had a party at Dom’s but I hardly said hello. They were busy having fun.
Wolfgang Puck: Met him when he was hired by a customer to cook at my restaurant for a group of 60. I was pissed but he was nationally famous and they paid me a lot. Like me, he was full of himself.
I’m not bragging when I say I probably met double this number. Where do you draw the line? And who remembers? And they just slobs like one of us.
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It’s Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Welcome to the 1075th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Nomadland.
The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the item promoted, the publisher of the item promoted or the graphic artist
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2.0 Commentary
Okay.
I finished my piece on famous people I have met.
I’ve published it in the 11.0 Thumbnail section of today’s post.
What defines famous?
Is a local celebrity famous?
Is the head of a large family famous?
Is an aging star still famous?
Do you have a parent that is getting old?
How are you adjusting to that?
How do you respond when you see her fumbling?
I have a cousin about whom I’ve written much.
Cousin and best friend.
If I have trouble opening a jar, Lauren will step over and take it from me without a word.
Hand it back when it’s loosened.
I drop something.
She’s there picking it up, cleaning it up.
Needing to make a vaccination appointment?
No worries. She’s there to do it for me.
How do you stack up when dealing with age?
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted:
Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format. Target for completion is July 4th. I work on the book every day, averaging four pages per day.
The big problem for me is not that I don’t attend to this but that
it is my favorite part of the day.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
On Sunday morning I completed this week’s question: What famous people have you met?
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days. Am doing it now.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. I’m halfway through today’s assignment.
3.8 San Francisco via San Jose:
Taking advantage of a reduced air fare for an early May trip.
I’ll be researching. My friend Gary sent in some thoughts. See Mail.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Noise proves nothing.
Often a hen who has laid an egg cackles as if
she had laid an asteroid.”
~Mark Twain
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from my friend Gary B:
Hi, Dom,
My friends who live in San Francisco also recommended the Fillmore district for shopping. They highly praised B. Patisserie and Tartine (sp?) for pastries.
BTW: In a little while Micky, Y Y, and I are headed to the Far East (that is, Worcester) for a mini vacation: Old Sturbridge Village, North African food, outdoor strolls in parks, and so on. The usual.
Gary Bartos
Founder
Echobatix, LLC
Assistive technology for the blind, the DeafBlind, and those with low vision
Blog meister responds: In view of so many restaurants being closed, any ideas are appreciated.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Saturday night I enjoyed a dry-aged rib eye.
I bought several small containers of prepared vegetables and had
a little-effort delicious dinner.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Nomadland is a 2020 American drama film written, edited, produced, and directed by Chloé Zhao. It stars Frances McDormand as a woman who leaves her hometown of Empire, Nevada, after her husband dies and the sole industry closes down, to be "houseless" and travel around the United States. It also features David Strathairn in a supporting role, as well as real-life nomads Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells as fictionalized versions of themselves. The film is based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.
Nomadland premiered on September 11, 2020, at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It had a one-week streaming limited release on December 4, 2020, and was released by Searchlight Pictures in selected IMAX theaters in the United States on January 29, 2021, and simultaneously in theaters, and streaming digitally on Hulu, on February 19, 2021.
The film was praised for its direction, screenplay, editing, cinematography, and performances, especially of McDormand. It was the third-highest rated film of 2020 on Metacritic, which found it to be the most frequently ranked by critics and publications as one of the best films of the year. It earned six nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for McDormand. At the 78th Golden Globe Awards it won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director (making Zhao became the second woman and first Asian woman to win the award), and won four awards, including Best Film, at the 74th British Academy Film Awards.
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It’s Monday, April 19, 2021
Welcome to the 1074th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Chicken Pot Pie
Photo by Howard Dinin under private license. With cooking notes, below, at 11.0 Thumbnail, about baking this pie.
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2.0 Commentary
I am enjoying my writing so much that today, Saturday, I plan on writing one page every hour.
An indulgence.
And a way to ensure I spend time on my other projects.
America First and the Anglo Saxon traditions.
With the emergence of this coalition, the extreme right has taken their eyes off the prize,
the prize being the historically conservative but relatively mainstream Republican party.
This crazy-right wing group gives traditional Republicans a legitimate way to oppose Trump and the insane right while maintaining their Republican credentials.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted: Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format. Target for completion is July 4th. I work on the book every day, averaging four pages per day.
Saturday was a good day for work on the manuscript.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
What famous people have you met?
I’ll answer this tomorrow.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1075 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. I read another 20 pages today.
3.8 San Francisco via San Jose:
Taking advantage of a reduced air fare for an early May trip.
I tried on Friday booking six Guide Michelin restaurants.
All six were closed until further notice.
I must continue my research.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into
small manageable tasks, and
starting on the first one.”
~Mark Twain
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Colleen G:
Hey Dom,
Who would have thunk it but--yes--today is a chicken pot pie kind of day. Blah!
I've never made a chicken pot pie with a pastry crust, but like you idea.
I'll offer up an idea I swiped from my cousin and can be used for a variety of "pies" when you want to bring someone a meal and maybe you can assume they've already received six lasagnas, three rigatonis with red sauce, and lots of pasta. But, other dishes can be difficult to transport and reheat. Here's a solution that I've used for chicken and pot roast.
I roast a chicken as I would for winner-winner chicken dinner complete with making the gravy afterward and mashed potatoes. I simply pull a bunch of the chicken meat off in chunks and throw it into the bottom of a casserole (or tinfoil) pie pan. Sprinkle a heap of frozen peas on. Pour gravy in to almost cover and then dollop mashed potatoes on top and smooth out with your spoon. This is nice and easy to reheat and then people just scoop out and serve. It's just a messier, upsidedown version of roast chicken dinner:) Also, I've done this before when I wanted to get everything ready ahead of time and just make later easier to serve my own family. It can also be broken into small foil tins for single serve dinners to freeze or hand out to a friend, etc.
Same for pot roast. I make it in a pressure cooker. A tablespoon of horseradish is my secret ingredient. Same as chicken, i break up the roast which is easy if you cook it enough, add chunks of carrot that cooked with roast. Sprinkle the frozen peas again. Pour gravy over as you see fit. Make mashed tatoes on the side and spoon and smear over the top. Yum!
Again, someone could do this and break it into small little "pies" to put in the freezer for a rainy--or snowy--day:)
Enjoy the weekend. Tuesday is supposed to be 70!
Cheers,
Colleen:)
Blog meister responds: Sounds like the kind of home we all want to be part of.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night my cousin returned from a trip to the Bahamas with her boyfriend.
She had a great time.
We had a tasting of Chicken Pot Pie, London Broil, and Lauren’s meatballs.
She’s got that recipe down.
Dinner was good.
The company terrific.
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11.0 Thumbnail
a cooking note, by Howard Dinin
CPP.
That stands for Chicken Pot Pie. It’s also a sudden urge kind of food for me… But a tough one.
Think about it. It’s comfort food, par excellence, let’s face it… But it’s hard to come by in a truly satisfying presentation. Almost every prepared chicken pot pie, from food industrial complex factory prepared dishes, usually frozen, to the ones you can buy in the prepared food section of your usual groceries – and even WFM, which usually does so well in their kitchens with so many other dishes of similar palliative cooking categories, fails to make a satisfying chicken pot pie.
Too often it’s the crust that’s a fail… But even with that as a given, the real deal breaker for me is the paucity of any specific ingredient. Usually there’s an overabundance of potatoes, and a dearth of chicken (which is truly bizarre, and cheap), but always it’s at least one of the staple items, but mainly skimpy carrots, skimpy celery, and too few pearl onions. And the final last straw for me – and I admit it’s a completely personal highly quirky (probably, but maybe not) idiosyncracy of mine – is what, so to speak, binds the whole thing together.
What it boils down to – pun intended – is that for me, this is pie, as in a good old-fashioned, going back to the various savory animal flesh (I mean all animals: mammalian, arthropods, peschatorial) pies that date back one way or another to ancient Rome, to Mesopotamia, you name it — even Grendel had his own version of a kind of grisly, well, very grisly, deconstructed kind of savory meat pie, just not bothering with a crust, with fillings, etc.) pies and pasties that are still eaten today in evolved forms, in almost all cuisines all over the world. It’s pie. It’s not soup. Not even stew. Which means I really hate runny fillings for a chicken pot pie.
If you serve yourself a good healthy wedge of a chicken pot pie, which should have a top crust, for sure, AND a bottom crust, it should maintain its integrity as a geometric section of a truncated cylinder (which is, after all, what a pie is), and not deflate, allowing its innards to run out all over the plate in a sea of off-white insufficiently viscous goo.
I finally found a recipe that delivers what I think is the Platonic chicken pot pie, and it comes, not surprisingly, from the home kitchen of that most Platonic of chefs of the late 20th and early 21st century master chefs, Thomas Keller. It’s in his cooking at home cookbook, the actual title of which I forget at the moment, and I’m not going to interrupt this meditation on CPP to find it. I’ve made it a couple of times. The second time was perfect.
And I’d do it many times more – it’s with that frequency that I get a hankering for CPP, but it’s a lot of work, alas. And not because of the crust, which is the downfall of many a home cook, whose usual fallback, and an unfortunate one it is, is to get a pre-made “shell,” usually sold in the frozen food cases of the supermarket. And they all suck.
The crust is nothing. I make crust in my sleep. Flaky, tender, rich, and buttery all at once, and with a modicum of effort. Four ingredients, one of which is water.
No, my downfall, in terms of overcoming what is developing into a really troublesome inertia and resistance to cooking, which leads to fabulous dishes, which are the real deal in terms of a highly diminished set of pure honest righteous pleasures in a world now severely impoverished spiritually by this fucking plague that still rages.
The last time I made it was just a little over five years ago, and this is what it looked like. This is what all chicken pot pies should look like. Many large chunks of all key ingredients, a savory binding sauce, filled with umami flavoring (hard to bring off, while you keep the lighter tones of coloring of the rest of the ingredients… my usual additives are both fish sauce (the extra-long fermented kind) and/or a Roman colatura di alici), unctuous, but not runny, and not leaking out as soon as you cut into the integrity of the whole, and a good sturdy but flaky toothsome crust. I think I remember I used the meat from a roast chicken (that I roasted), but this is one of those areas where you can cheat a little bit, especially if your butcher or traiteur (usually just a really good prepared food kitchen in a serious supermarket chain, like WFM) is really good at a better than average rotisserie chicken. Ultra-fresh vegetables and cut into chunks you can bite into and chew, not dainty little bits. The hardest thing to come by are the pearl onions. Usually they’re only available in major branded frozen varieties, and this means you won’t find them at WFM, which stopped packaging them in their own brand (as did Trader Joe’s), like Birdseye, the pioneer in frozen foods. Oddly, white pearl onions increasingly are always available fresh. But then you need the patience I don’t have in the kitchen to follow that series of handy housewife tips for a painless way of skinning them without cooking them into mush prematurely and without driving yourself nuts.
[update: the cookbook of Thomas Keller’s from which the recipe alluded to here is called ad hoc at home. Ad Hoc is the name of one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants, and the home cooking aspect derives entirely from the fact that the restaurant, unlike his flagship haute cuisine venues, is categorized as American Casual… In any event, Keller adopts the, if you ask me, attention-calling pretentious affectation of only using lower case titles for recipes, ingredients, the title of the book itself, etc.; he also says potpie is one word, but that’s neither here nor there… This pie is so good, it neutralizes all such peccadilloes and even a few solecisms. One blogger, who also loves this recipe, makes note of the incredible time-saving tip of cooking all the vegetables in this pie at once, instead of one at a time… which is what the original Keller recipe calls for – a typical bit of clueless direction from a world-class celebrity chef who is used to having a cadre of expert assistants in the kitchen to do all the tedious bits.
Also, the recipe is available online, with attribution to Keller, for sure, but no indication that the blogger who posted it was permitted, never mind licensed, to republish what is, after all, copyrighted material. It’s worth looking up though. That’s all I can say.]
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It’s Sunday, April 18, 2021
Welcome to the 1073rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Recreation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s cell
in Birmingham Jail at the National Civil Rights Museum
Adam Jones, Ph.D. - Own work
Recreation of Martin Luther King's Cell in Birmingham Jail - National Civil Rights Museum - Downtown
Memphis - Tennessee - USA
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2.0 Commentary
I know little about guns.
So it’s a layman’s question.
Is it possible to draw up a national list of weapons that may be legally owned by individuals?
An inclusive list with the understanding that if the gun is not listed it is illegal to own.
The government will buy any weapons acquired before the effective date of the law.
But after the effective date of the new law, possessing any weapon not listed is a serious federal criminal offense, separate from possession without proper licensing.
A citizen has the right to bear arms.
Not a nuclear bomb, however.
Not a biological weapon, however.
And not any firearm not specifically listed.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted: Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format. Target for completion is July 4th. I work on the book every day, averaging four pages per day.
On Friday I went way over target.
I’m really enjoying the writing.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
What famous people have you met?
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Reading Closer: francesca@readingcloser.com
This is an online workshop teaching and discussing literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults. My granddaughter, Francesca Capossela, conceived the idea and teaches the classes. She’s very good. This term I signed on for Modernism and Existentialism.
The final book of this term is Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.
The 20 pp I read on Friday puts me ahead of my target to ready for Wednesday’s class.
This past Wednesday’s class was another great discussion.
3.8 San Francisco via San Jose:
Taking advantage of a reduced air fare for an early May trip.
Friday I worked on restaurant reservations.
I searched out seven Guide Michelin restaurants. Each of them was closed due to the pandemic.
Difficult for me to believe.
More research is necessary.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Never argue with an idiot.
They will drag you down to their level and
beat you with experience.”
~Mark Twain
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night I had a chicken pot pie.
I created the recipe.
It was passable.
a guest couldn’t stop eating it so that part was good.
But I did learn a lot.
The principal takeaway was that I cannot have chicken that is flavorful if I poach it for as long as it needs to make the stock intense enough for my taste.
The solution is to substitute water with the stock I make and keep in my freezer.
I’ll try the recipe again.
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11.0 Thumbnail
The "Letter from Birmingham Jail", also known as the "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" and "The Negro Is Your Brother", is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr.
It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts.
Responding to being referred to as an "outsider", King writes: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
The letter, written in response to "A Call for Unity" during the 1963 Birmingham campaign, was widely published, and became an important text for the American Civil Rights Movement.
The Birmingham campaign began on April 3, 1963, with coordinated marches and sit-ins against racism and racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The nonviolent campaign was coordinated by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) and King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). On April 10, Circuit Judge W. A. Jenkins Jr. issued a blanket injunction against "parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing." Leaders of the campaign announced they would disobey the ruling. On April 12, King was arrested with SCLC activist Ralph Abernathy, ACMHR and SCLC official Fred Shuttlesworth, and other marchers, while thousands of African Americans dressed for Good Friday looked on.
King was met with unusually harsh conditions in the Birmingham jail. An ally smuggled in a newspaper from April 12, which contained "A Call for Unity", a statement by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and his methods. The letter provoked King, and he began to write a response to the newspaper itself. King writes in Why We Can't Wait: "Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly black trustee, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me." Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, arranged $160,000 to bail out King and the other jailed protestors.
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