Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, February 7, 2021
through
Saturday, February 13, 2021
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It’s Saturday, February 13, 2021
Welcome to the 1028th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Raymond L.S. Patriarca
During the 1940s, Patriarca rose to power.
In 1950, mobster Philip Buccola fled the country to avoid prosecution for tax evasion,
and Patriarca took control of his criminal operations.
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2.0 Commentary
The 14th is hard on our heels,
the 14th, my personal annual emotional watershed.
By coincidence, the freeze that has gripped much of the country is coming to an end,
temperatures heading into the high thirties.
Because the nearing end of winter being an important part of the valentine emotion,
thinking only three more weeks of hard winter
Although every day for a year the news has been filled with sickness and covid deaths,
these days, more and more the daily news is filled with supply and vaccination improvements.
Thinking increasing battle victories in the vaccination v infection war.
Hoping as the passage of Pres. Biden’s covid-relief package draws closer,
thinking the economy bottoming out on its way to rebuilding.
The impeachment trial is exacerbating the split in the Republican Party.
The party cannot go on part Trump and part conservative.
The conservatives must fight for control.
Despite some primary and general election losses, the conservative will eventually regain the party.
Thinking the remake of the Republican Party will require the sloughing off and the marginalizing of the extreme right and smiling.
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Lots of emailing re: Friday’s Board of Directors’ zoom meeting.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
There are three kinds of people: those who can count, and those who cannot.
~George Carlin
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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 Tommy D re: Commentary Feb 12 2021. Just scroll down a bit.
Dom
What a wonderful personal narrative on you paper route days. It’s time for your second book on the lessons from life.
Tommy
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my friend.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I was cousin Lauren’s guest for dinner.
A first.
She roasted Chilean Sea Bass with roasted asparagus and potatoes.
It was spectacular.
Thank you, my dear.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day. For many years the "number" has been the last three digits of "the handle", the amount race track bettors placed on race day at a major racetrack, published in racing journals and major newspapers in New York.
Gamblers place bets with a bookmaker ("bookie") at a tavern, bar, barber shop, social club, or any other semi-private place that acts as an illegal betting parlor. Runners carry the money and betting slips between the betting parlors and the headquarters, called a numbers bank.
Closely related is policy, known as the policy racket, or the policy game. The name "policy" is based on the similarity to cheap insurance, which is also a gamble on the future.
History
"Policy shops", where bettors choose numbers, operated in the United States prior to 1860. In 1875, a report of a select committee of the New York State Assembly stated that "the lowest, meanest, worst form ... [that] gambling takes in the city of New York, is what is known as policy playing." It flourished especially in working class African American and Italian American communities across the country, though it was also played to a lesser extent in many working class Irish-American and Jewish-American communities. It was known in Cuban-American communities as bolita ("little ball").
Other sources date the origin of Policy, at least in its most well-known form, to 1885 in Chicago. During part of its run from 1868 to 1892, the Louisiana Lottery involved drawing several numbers from 1 to 78, and people wagering would choose their own numbers on which to place a bet. Initially, it instead ran by means of the sale of serially-numbered tickets, and at another point, the numbers drawn ran from 1 to 75.
By the early 20th century, the game was associated with poor and working-class communities, as it could be played for as little as a penny. Also, unlike state lotteries, bookies could extend credit to the bettors and policy winners could avoid paying income tax. Different policy banks would offer different rates, although a payoff of 600 to 1 was typical. Since the odds of winning were 999:1 against the bettors, the expected profit for racketeers was enormous.
In Boston, the number was based on the handle from the early races at Suffolk Downs or, if Suffolk was closed, one of the racetracks in New York. The winner could be controlled by manipulating the handle.
After Jerry Angiulo became head of the Mafia in Boston, in 1950, he established a profit sharing plan whereby for every four numbers one of his runners turned in, they would get one for free. This resulted in the numbers game's taking off in Boston. According to Howie Carr, The Boston American was able to stay in business in part because it published the daily number.
During the 1950s, Wimpy and Walter Bennett ran a numbers ring in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. The Bennetts' protégé Stephen Flemmi took and collected bets for them.
Around the same time, Buddy McLean began forming a gang in Somerville, Massachusetts to, among other criminal activities, run numbers. This would become the Winter Hill Gang. By the 1970s, the Winter Hill Gang, then led by Whitey Bulger, moved bookies under its protection away from the numbers game to sports betting, as the state was starting its own lottery, and the National Football League did not allow betting on its games outside of Nevada; thereby Massachusetts could not compete with them. Despite the creation of the state lottery, however, the numbers game's demise in Massachusetts was not immediate, as the state lottery had a lower payout and was taxed.
And talking about the numbers racket, in 1953 Louis Prima recorded this song:
There's a fella named Luigi
He comes from Italy
I wanna be like Luigi 'cause he's always got money
With a book in his pocket, a pencil in his hand
Luigi's got-a the bees-a-knees that I no understand
He stand-a on the corner, I think-a he waste his time
People come up to him and say "Number five-a for-a dime"
Hey Luigi, Whadda you do?
Hey Luigi teach-a me too
When you come here, you no can count
Now you make-a the money by the big amount
With Luigi things are cookin' he dress-a like a dude
He's-a no what you call good lookin' but he sure is a lookin' dude
"Hello Hello Luigi" The pretty girls all say he's no Giovan Amici, but still he's a do okay
On every one of the fingers, he flash-a the big-a jewel
Now he can buy the caviar, he's through with pasta fazool
Hey Luigi whadda you do?
Hey Luigi teach-a me too
When you come here, you big-a bum, now you make-a the money by the big-a sum
Now a funny thing-a happen, it happened yesterday
The police-a-man he come and take Luigi far away
Goodbye, goodbye Luigi, I no like to see you go
I know just how you feeling, but I make-a the dough
Don't you worry Luigi, I call-a you on the phone, I'll take over the numbers while you crack-a the big stone
Hey Luigi! I'm-a no fool
Hey Luigi! Ah you wretched troll
I take-a the numbers, but notlike you think
I'm-a the policeman who put you in the clink
My dear paisano's, I'm telling you, don't be like Luigi or the police-a-man will get you too!
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It’s Friday, February 12, 2021
Welcome to the 1027th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Newsboy
Iowa City, 1940
Arthur Rothstein: US Farm Security Administration - https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997013024/PP
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2.0 Commentary
My daughter asked:
How did you get your first job?
While I did odd things to make money when I was young, my first seriously-producing job was offered to me out of anger and spite.
Newspapers were an important source of America’s news in the 1950s. Boston had two dominant papers, the broadsheet Boston Globe, for intellectuals, and the tabloid Boston Record-American for us working stiffs. To gain a much-needed competitive edge, the Record American published a half-dozen editions throughout the day, including late afternoon and nighttime editions. In Boston’s North End, a tightly-packed, entirely-Italian ghetto, the multi-edition Record was the dominant newspaper, especially the late-afternoon edition which carried the racing handle from which the bookies took the day’s number.
The number? The numbers racket. The daily number, a form of illegal gambling played mostly in poor and working class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempted to pick three (or four, for the big money) digits to match those that will be posted later in the day. You couldn’t place a bet after 3pm and the bookie joints had to hand their slips into the ‘office’ immediately after 3pm. The "number" was the last three digits of "the handle", the amount racetrack bettors placed on race day at a major racetrack, published in racing journals and major newspapers in New York. Sometime after three o’clock.
(Note that the numbers racket was so profitable and so ingrained in certain working-class neighborhoods that the government started its own Lottery. Where police work failed, the Lottery drove the numbers racket out of business, even though the government Lottery only paid out 600 on 1,000 spent, where the bookies had been paying out 720 per 1000.
Many people had their papers delivered to their door by a legion of newspaper boys. In the North End the newsboys would buy a stack of papers at half the printed cost from one of two cigar stores on Hanover St., Martini’s or Fiore’s, tobacco stores that doubled as bookie shops. As a newspaper boy you bought either from one or the other. And you were marked as belonging to that store only.
The cigar stores didn’t wait for delivery of the late afternoon edition. The first store to have the afternoon edition always sold fifty extra copies to the small groups of inveterate gamblers waiting desperately to buy the paper to see if they had suddenly become rich. And the delivery boys from the winning cigar store got their bundles early and always randomly hawked ten copies more than their counterparts who had to wait for their store’s late arriving papers.
So each store had a car at the Record American printing plant in downtown Boston waiting to grab the newspapers as they came off the presses. Every day those two cars would race through the Boston streets with their stacks of newspapers and the racing handle. On the days that Fiore drove for the papers, he would always win. He ignored warning signs like red lights and stop signs. A bad habit of his. One day in broad daylight he was shot and killed in his own store. He had been warned to stop running his late night Barbu (a card game for skilled gamblers) unless he started kicking up to the ‘office’. The last warning he ignored.
I was a ‘Martini’ boy. Even when Fiore wasn’t driving, we usually lost this race. Sucked.
In the North End, the newsboys carved out routes by soliciting tenement customers building by building, slowly growing profitable customer bases. They kept their customers happy by never failing to deliver as scheduled, collecting the full cost of the newspapers plus a tip weekly, on Fridays, payday.
Traditionally, the boys respected blocks already serviced by someone else. We were too young for territorial wars.
Patsy had developed one of the biggest and richest routes in the neighborhood. He kept a small book in his pocket, a listing of every customer by address; and also a ledger for collections with space for any idiosyncrasies, like dogs or rats. To these home deliveries, which took him from 4.00pm to 7.00pm, he appended a street walk from 8.00pm to 10.00pm. This beat took him through the Combat Zone, Scollay Square, adjacent to the North End.
But to sell on the street at night your customers wanted the late edition of the Record American. So after the home deliveries Patsy had to return to the store and pick up a fresh stack of the night edition papers. Sometimes he would run home for a quick supper between shifts.
One day Patsy announced to the gang that he had gotten a terrific job and wanted to give up his newspaper route. Now Mario and Patsy had been best friends, the buildings they lived in were side-by-side. Mario should have gotten that route but Mario’s sister had rejected Patsy as a suitor and Patsy rejected her whole family. Mario wasn’t getting it. Mario offered to buy the route. No deal. Patsy wasn’t giving Mario anything.
I was eight years old then, Patsy was twelve, and Mario was ten. Sometimes I had gone along Patsy’s routes with him, helping to lug the huge stack of papers he carried in a large cloth bag that hung diagonally around his neck and across his chest. That sack freed both hands to pull out a newspaper, fold it in half, and one-hand it to the street-customer while receiving payment and tip with the other. At the end of the night Patsy would give me a dime for keeping him company. In the North End we were all poor. But among the poor, my family was dirt and that dime was the most money I had ever held in my hands.
One night, about a week before his retirement, he told me to come with him on his route. Ten cents! I spent it in my mind fifteen times. You could buy a lot for $1.50. I was excited. My excitement turned to stun when, as we walked out of Martini’s with our stack of papers, Patsy handed me his book. I took it without understanding the meaning. “Where do we start?” he asked, using his chin to direct me to open the book. I read the name and address. “Well, let’s go.” And with that, patsy handed the fortune-making route over to me. In the event, the customers couldn’t care less.
Mario cared. I had deprived him of something he lusted over. Incensed, yes but more like furious. He threatened me. He was two years older, bigger, but less aggressive, less maniacal. I swung minutes before the thought would have entered his mind. But eventually it would have. Two punches: to his cheek bone and then to his ear and head. He fell back three steps before he stumbled into a bicycle and fell to the ground crying, in front of a crowd of Endicott St. locals who shook their heads and walked away.
The route was crazily lucrative producing a huge amount of money. For the first week or two Patsy took tips that he had earned in the days leading up to the transfer. Those tips barely dented the scads of bills I took home. I made a huge amount of money, like $25.00 a week, almost half of what my father earned.
Without her asking, I gave my mother $5.00 every week. She took it without looking at me. She just nodded. Once in a while my father gambled or drank some of his paycheck. Then my mother would ask if I could pay the oilman or the milk man. I always did. We were always at the outer credit limit of every purveyor. I really don’t know how my mother coped. She was naturally a very nervous person. On Saturday mornings she and my father did our budget, choosing whom they wouldn’t be able to pay this week. And she had to face these people day after day. Four kids. Three meals a day. And snacks. No spending money. Poor woman. Not the life my father had envisioned either.
The worst thing about the job was that in the summer my arms got black from ink. And there was an element of loneliness: my friends were hanging out with each other, learning to roller skate, to build scooters out of orange crates and roller blades. On the other hand, I bought myself an endless stream of delicious hot fudge sundaes in the afternoons and hot dogs late at night at a Scollay Square dump called the White Tower. They were delicious.
I enjoyed walking the streets of Scollay Square. I stayed on the main streets and walked slowly, listening to the most God-awful sounds of music from inside the bars. Once in a while the doors would open in such a way I could see women in underwear. They were mostly very homely and very old and tired. Drunks might wave me into the bar, take a newspaper and give me a big tip before the bouncer could reach me. “F y “ I said on my way out the door.
It was during my newspaper sojourn that my father had the proudest moment in our lives together.
One night I got picked up by some law enforcement person.
He accompanied me home and gave my father a ticket that demanded he appear in Court.
The state didn’t like eight-year-olds walking Scollay Square at night hawking newspapers.
That man told the judge what he caught me doing.
Who knew selling papers was a crime?
The judge called my father to stand and explain himself.
My father was typically a fearful man.
Not this day.
He rose as well as he could, he carrying around a tree stump instead of a left leg.
He spoke of our poverty.
Of the real-crimes alternative to unusual work.
Of family.
Of fighting handicapping circumstances.
Of doing something admirable.
Of the work ethic.
Still shining in school.
I had never seen my father like a lion before,
Growling,
Eating up the judge.
I was prouder then of my father than I had bee3n before or ever was again.
“Go home,” was all the judge said.
I learned many lessons selling newspapers but perhaps the biggest takeaway
was honing the art of making deals.
Not so much from the staid home deliveries, but the street-hawking, where every paper sold was an opportunity to make a score.
From my first week as a newsboy I was never without money.
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Worked today on prepping for Friday’s Board of Directors’ meeting.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Meow” means “woof” in cat.”
~ George Carlin
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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
The email pile was heaped yesterday.
My daughter asked me to edit a paper on Constitutional Law.
I did and sent it back.
She replied that the edits were exactly what she had in mind.
Nice.
My sons filled the clouds with an ongoing discussion on son Mino’s efforts in obtaining Italian citizenship for all of us. We’re so excited that we set up a dinner date for a year hence which is when we expect to gain he citizenship.
Blog meister responds: Family is nice.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night I ate a 60-day aged steak on sale at Eataly for 50% off the regular price.
It was excellent, the texture chewy without being tough, the taste rich without being gamey.
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11.0 Thumbnail
A paperboy is someone – often an older child or adolescent – who distributes printed newspapers to homes or offices on a regular route, usually by bicycle or automobile.
In Western nations during the heyday of print newspapers during the early 20th century, this was often a young person's first job, perhaps undertaken before or after school.
This contrasts with the newsboy or newspaper hawker, now extremely rare in Western nations, who would sell newspapers to passersby on the street, often with very vocal promotion. They were common when multiple daily papers in every city – as many as 50 in New York City alone – competed.
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It’s Thursday, February 11, 2021
Welcome to the 1026th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Brazilian feijoada
made with black beans
Chris.urs-o - Own work
Brazilian black beans stew
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2.0 Commentary
My son Mino engaged a firm specializing in Italian Citizenship Assistance.
After months of investigation and document gathering and scads of money, they inform us that my sons and I are likely eligible for Italian citizenship.
The application and remaining work will take about a year.
I think that’s a hoot.
Hoot!
My cousin Lauren goes for her second shot on Friday.
I’ll go with her.
Next Friday, I get my second shot.
She’ll come with me.
And the beat goes on.
Vaccinate! Vaccinate! Vaccinate!
Mask up.
Socially distance.
Hand sanitize,
Ventilate spaces.
Don’t linger in closed spaces.
Every country in the world features a national dish based on beans, pork fat, and beans,
Italians make a Minestra.
Brazilians make a Feijoada.
I love them both.
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
I spent creative time writing up a description of the committees we will need going forward,
sharing it with the Board of Directors.
Also engaged a group in Italy and the North End Historical Society.
The Board of Directors will discuss the progress on Friday.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Have you ever noticed that
anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and
anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”
~George Carlin
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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 Rita P:
I remember you always were a culinary genius.
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my dear.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I had dinner with cousin Lauren.
We ate Minestra.
Delicious.
It had been a while since we had dinner together.
A lot of fun.
Sat far apart, windows opened, masked when not eating.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
Feijoada is a stew of beans with beef and pork. It is commonly prepared in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Timor (West Timor and East Timor), Goa, and Macau, where it is also considered a national dish. However, the recipe differs slightly from one country to another.
Brazilian feijoada made with black beans. The name comes from feijão, Portuguese for "beans".
The basic ingredients of feijoada are beans with fresh pork or beef.
The stew is best prepared over low heat in a thick clay pot.
It is usually served with rice and assorted sausages such as chouriço, morcela (blood sausage), farinheira, and others, which may or may not be cooked in the stew.
The practice of cooking a meat (pork) stew with vegetables that gave origin to the feijoada from the Minho Province in Northern Portugal is a millenary Mediterranean tradition that can be traced back to when the Romans colonized Iberia.
Roman soldiers would take this habit to every Latin settlement, i.e., the Roman Empire, and this heritage is the source of many national and regional dishes of today's Europe, such as the French cassoulet, the Milanese cassoeula from Lombardy, Italy, the Romanian fasole cu cârnați, the fabada asturiana from Northwestern Spain, and the also Spanish cocido madrileño and olla podrida, not to mention non-Romanic regions with similar traditions that might be derived from this millennial Roman soldiers' dish like the Polish golonka.
Registered for the first time in Recife, State of Pernambuco, feijoada has been described as a national dish of Brazil, especially of Rio de Janeiro, as other parts of Brazil have other regional dishes.
The Brazilian version of feijoada is prepared with black beans, a variety of salted pork or beef products, such as pork trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, smoked pork ribs, and at least two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef (loin and tongue).
In some regions of the northeast, like Bahia and Sergipe, vegetables like cabbage, kale, potatoes, carrots, okra, pumpkin, chayote and sometimes banana are frequently added, at the end of the cooking, on top of the meat, so they are cooked by the vapors of the beans and meat stew. The final dish has the beans and meat pieces barely covered by a dark purplish-brown broth. The taste is strong, moderately salty but not spicy, dominated by black bean and meat stew flavors. It is customary to serve it with white rice and oranges, the latter to help with digestion, as well as couve, a side dish of stir-fried, chopped collard greens, and a crumbly topping called farofa, made of manioc flour.
Feijão com arroz is the rice and beans without the addition of the meat and is not considered as feijoada.
A plate of feijoada in Minas Gerais with traditional accompaniments: rice, fried collard greens (couve), cassava flour crisps, orange slices, a mix of olive oil, alcohol vinegar, tomatoes, onions and sometimes bell peppers called vinagrete (vinaigrette), and cassava flour (farinha).
Depending on the region of Brazil, the type of bean used in feijoada varies. While in some regions like Rio de Janeiro or Minas Gerais, feijoada is typically prepared with black beans, in Goias and Bahia brown or red beans are more commonly used.
As a celebratory dish, feijoada is traditionally served on Saturday afternoons or Sunday lunch and intended to be a leisurely midday meal. It is meant to be enjoyed throughout the day and not eaten under rushed circumstances. The meal is usually eaten among extended family and paired with an event like watching a soccer game or other social event. Because of the dish's heavy ingredients and rich flavors, feijoada is viewed as Brazilian soul food. In the city of São Paulo, feijoada is a typical dish in working-class restaurants on Wednesdays and Saturdays, mainly in the commercial area. In Rio de Janeiro, restaurants traditionally serve it on Fridays. The dish is normally served with a choice among a selection of meats, e.g. pork, bacon, pig ears, pig feet, to fulfill the customer`s needs. Other variations of feijoada, such as the low fat version or the vegetarian. The dish is frequently compared to American Southern Soul Food, which shares many similarities in terms of ingredients and taste.
According to legend, the origins of Brazil’s national dish, feijoada, stem from its history with slavery. Slaves would supposedly craft this hearty dish out of black beans and pork leftovers given to them from their households. These leftovers included pig feet, ears, tail, and other portions seen as unfit for the master and his family. However, the theory has recently been contested to be considered a modern advertising technique rather than its origin. Instead, scholars argue that the history of feijoada traces back to Brazil’s cultivation of black beans. Because of the crop’s relatively low production cost and the simplicity of its maintenance, the beans became a staple food among European settlers in Brazil. Although both the upper-classes and the poor ate black beans, the upper-classes particularly enjoyed them with an assortment of meat and vegetables, similar to feijoada. In contrast, the poor and enslaved usually ate a mixture of black beans and manioc flour.
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It’s Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Welcome to the 1025th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Tom Brady in 2011
Jeffrey Beall - Own work
Tom Brady, a player on the National Football League. This picture was taken at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, in Denver Colorado, on December 18, 2011, as the Patriots and Broncos were about to play.
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2.0 Commentary
Microsoft became the latest company to say it would suspend donations to politicians who voted against certifying the election results.
The company’s president, Brad Smith, explained why on “Sway.”
Happy to report that my son had a say in this decision.
My diet is shot to hell.
But the gym has reopened.
They work hand in hand, diets and workouts,
one supporting the other.
Am hopeful that the excitement I feel lifting
will carry over to my diet and
provide the needed boost to
return me to more diligent eating habits.
A GOAT.
A sixth round draft choice.
What a deal!
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Intelligent and active people are flocking to the Sacco and Vanzetti effort.
Discussions on how to use this enthusiastic help was the work of the day.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
"The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant.
Every table had an argument going."
~ George Carlin
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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
Emails abounded regarding the Super Bowl and the flood of enthusiasm as the core group reaches out into the next circle of participants.
Blog meister responds: See the 11.0 Thumbnail for a response to the Super Bowl. As to the use of volunteers, it appears to me that we must very clearly define the different committees that we need to fill. Their definitions might be what we propose to recruits. Of course, many of the enthusiasts are simply meaning, “You may use my name as an endorsement.” Which is okay, too.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I enjoyed dinner with cousin Lauren.
We ate Minestra. The same dinner I had on Saturday night.
Again, delicious.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
A Boston Globe Sports headline the day after TB’s 7th Superbowl championship:
It wasn’t supposed to be this easy, but Tom Brady made it look that way
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent the first 20 seasons of his career with the New England Patriots, where he was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. Because of his numerous records and accolades, many sports writers, commentators, and players consider Brady to be the greatest quarterback of all time and one of the greatest players in NFL history.
After playing college football at Michigan, Brady was selected by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft with the 199th overall pick, earning him a reputation as the draft's biggest steal. He became the starting quarterback during his second season, which saw the Patriots win their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVI. As the team's primary starter for 18 seasons, Brady led the Patriots to 17 division titles (including 11 consecutive from 2009 to 2019), 13 AFC Championship Games (including eight consecutive from 2011 to 2018), nine Super Bowl appearances, and six Super Bowl titles, all NFL records for a player and franchise. He joined the Buccaneers in 2020, and led them to win Super Bowl LV, extending his individual records to 10 Super Bowl appearances and seven victories.
Brady holds many quarterback records, including combined passing yards (91,653), regular season touchdown passes (581), and career touchdowns (664), in addition to the most Pro Bowl selections (14, tied with Peyton Manning) and the second-most regular season passing yards (79,204). Never having a losing season, he is the NFL leader in career quarterback wins (264), quarterback regular season wins (230), quarterback playoff wins (34), and Super Bowl MVP awards (5). His career has also been noted for longevity, with his 353 starts in 21 seasons being the most for an NFL quarterback. At age 43 in Super Bowl LV, he is the oldest player to be named Super Bowl MVP and win a Super Bowl as the starting quarterback, along with being the oldest NFL MVP at age 40 in 2017.[13] He is the only NFL quarterback named to two first-team all-decade teams (2000s and 2010s)[14] and was named to the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019.
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It’s Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Welcome to the 1024th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Food Magazine
We at Dom’s created and published this quarterly.
We had fun.
Picture with permission of Howard Dinin who designed and executed the cover of the magazine
as he did to the entire publication.
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2.0 Commentary
A vaccination rhythm is developing; picking up speed.
NFL stadiums.
Pharmacies.
Pop-up vans.
In a free society free minds wax creative and I expect a wide array of vaccination sites to pop up before we satisfy demand.
Meanwhile, it behooves us to stay safe, following the mantra: time, distance, ventilation, and mask-wearing.
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Worked on the second meeting of the Board of Directors, these meetings a prelude to the ‘coming out’ meeting to be held on Feb 26 @ 8.00am.
The purpose of the meeting: to introduce the effort to three or four dozen people who have expressed interest.
If you would like to gain access to the meeting, contact me @ domcapossela@hotmail.com and I’ll send you the link.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“What does it mean to pre-board?
Do you get on before you get on?”
~George Carlin
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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
Got an email from dear friend Howard D who, while browsing his decades of creations, came across some memories of Food magazine which he, Toni-lee, and I produced so many years ago. Would I like to see them?
Blog meister responds: Would I?
Which led to Howard’s submission reproduced in 11.0 Thumbnail below.
Got an email from a friend who, over decades, has assembled half a house-full of boxes containing projects he has worked on.
The friend is quite talented and the projects artful and interesting.
The plan is to hire someone to help with the moving and organization.
Blog meister responds: But for whom are they intended? No one really, not anyone beyond a most intimate circle. A memento is only interesting when the originator tells the story of it. Without the background, I’m not sure of their value.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night I enjoyed a small piece of halibut and four large shrimp poached in the broth leftover from a Red Clam Sauce I enjoyed earlier in the week with my daughter Kat.
Delicious.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
I’ve been looking for these ever since I wrote that first bit of what will obviously be a longer piece about Food Magazine.
I knew I had some samples somewhere. Turned out to be right under my nose. My only regret is I’ve so far unearthed only these two issues, a year apart.
I’m pretty sure the first one (blue cover with fish) is the first one I worked on, after Jerry Schuerger stopped for reasons I don’t recall. The second one with Pam A, the waitress, on the cover as the model, with a goose-shaped lamp we borrowed from a store in Chestnut Hill (to go with the theme for that issue of cooking birds), is dated Winter 1976, and was the Second Volume, Number Four. We had four issues a year, and you’ll also note the cover “price” went from 30 cents to 35 cents. I have no recollection if there was actually a revenue stream. I had nothing to do with that. I understood we left a certain allotment of issues with each advertiser (most of whom were retail purveyors), and you used the mailing list of Dom’s customers to mail a certain number to interested parties.
These are just quick and dirty scans I did to give myself an aide-memoire and inspiration. I’ll make better scans under better conditions. It will take awhile. As artifacts, made of the cheapest pulp newsprint stock (and therefore probably very full of destructive acids, the effects of which you can see in the foxing (browning) of the edges of the paper, these are very fragile and ready to tear and begin to fall apart even as the pages get turned.
Anyway, I thought you’d like to see these.
Here’s what it says on the cover of the second magazine (the goose issue):
Volume 2/Number 4
A Quarterly Magazine for the Serious Food Consumer in New England
Winter 1976
Thirty-five cents
Everything’s just ducky in this holiday issue. Inside: Features on the birds of the season, that is, duck and goose: Where to buy and especially how to cook (this issue is loaded with recipes)! Many gift suggestions from what to prepare yourself to some ideas from the area’s merchants. Also, an expanded Marketplace, Ruminations, Your Favorite Columns, and in keeping with the holiday bird motif: Howard’s Swan Song.
You may recall, I had a column called “Howard’s Column” in which I pretty much wrote what I pleased on anything related to food. I’m sure you remember the one that contained a review of a fictional restaurant I invented called Botticelli. You got a lot of phone calls from people, pissed off ‘cause they couldn’t find it. In the last issue I worked on, with my “swan song” the column consisted of a thinly disguised memoir in the form of a short story about a young people just married having their first thanksgiving. I called it “Hope for the Wrong Thing” (which you also might remember I unearthed around the time you started your blog and I forwarded it to you; I don’t remember what we did with it).
The other issue (blue cover) has a letter to the editor from George Beiers of Mediteranee Restaurant, in which he “corrects” some of the content of a review we printed of his restaurant. I’ll get around to transcribing it someday and when I do, I’ll send it along.
Anyway, enjoy.
h
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It’s Monday, February 8, 2021
Welcome to the 1023rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Nancy Pelosi
Official photo of Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2019.
United States House of Representatives - www.speaker.gov
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2.0 Commentary
What a wonderful Superbowl quarterback lineup!
The oldest v the youngest.
Both football geniuses.
Both recognized as giants.
Sports fans cannot root for a team.
We must root for a game.
And what a game it promises to be.
Boston fans will be rooting for Brady to do his best.
No hard feelings.
With this past year’s version of the Patriots behind him, Brady and Belichick would not have won anything.
We lost nothing at Brady’s departure.
Let’s enjoy the day without paying a price.
Let’s not be part of a super-spreader.
Be careful.
Everyone around me has gotten the virus.
Family.
Friends.
Large numbers of personal acquaintances.
Let’s be careful out there.
And in here.
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Telephone call to Alex.
Then a flurry of emails related to meetings, new alliances, committee descriptions, etc.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
"The main reason Santa is so jolly is because
he knows where all the bad girls live."
~George Carlin
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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
Several emails re: covid and effects.
Fortunately, no deaths.
Blog meister responds: We wish everyone well. We’ll say a prayer.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Saturday night I enjoyed Minestra for dinner.
In addition to the regular recipe ingredients, the ‘how to’ in 11.0 Thumbnail Thumbnails,
I went through my refrigerator and to the pot of Minestra added leftover broccoli rabe, unused baby arugula, and two chicken drumsticks.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnail
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (née D'Alesandro; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019, and previously from 2007 to 2011.
Pelosi has served as a U.S. representative from California since 1987.
A member of the Democratic Party, she is the only woman in U.S. history to serve as Speaker and, until the inauguration of Kamala Harris as Vice President, was the highest-ranking female elected official in United States history.
As House Speaker, Pelosi is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president.
Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987, following her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., who served as a U.S. representative from Maryland and Mayor of Baltimore, into politics.
She is the dean of California's congressional delegation, having begun her 18th term in 2021.
Pelosi represents California's 12th congressional district, which comprises four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco.
She initially represented the 5th district (1987–1993), and then, when district boundaries were redrawn after the 1990 Census, the 8th district (1993–2013). Pelosi has led the House Democrats since 2003—the first woman to lead a party in Congress—serving twice each as House Minority Leader (2003–2007 and 2011–2019) and as Speaker (2007–2011 and since 2019).
Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush administration's 2005 attempt to partially privatize Social Security.
During her first speakership, she was instrumental in the passage of many of the Obama administration's landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the 2010 Tax Relief Act.
Pelosi lost the speakership in 2011 after the Republican Party won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. But she retained her role as leader of the House Democratic Caucus and returned to the role of House minority leader. In the 2018 midterm elections, the Democrats regained control of the House.
When the 116th Congress convened on January 3, 2019, Pelosi was again elected Speaker, becoming the first former Speaker to return to the post since Sam Rayburn in 1955.
Under Pelosi's leadership, the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump, first on December 18, 2019, and again on January 13, 2021.
On January 3, 2021, Pelosi was reelected to a fourth term as Speaker of the House, which is expected to be her last, after a deal with progressives
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It’s Sunday, February 7, 2021
Welcome to the 1022nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Minestra with Duck
This picture is a version of Minestra with duck as the only meat and savoy cabbage as the only green.
And a pale green at that.
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2.0 Commentary
So today I heard, for the first time,
that the administration is planning a massive infrastructure rebuilding
to be announced once the 1.9 trillion dollar covid-relief package is passed.
Without a powerful reignition, our disastrous economy will not recover in this decade.
Once covid-relief is apparent, returning 10,000,000 people to work becomes our top priority.
We have long been in favor of government-led massive hiring to rebuild our infrastructure.
Isn’t that better than just handing cash out?
Has any of us ever seen
a President explode on the national and international stages with the impact of Joe Biden?
Not I.
He has been singularly impressive.
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Had our first Board of Directors’ meeting on Friday morning.
Lively and organized.
Even tho no refreshments were served (Zoom doesn’t allow for that) we decided we would meeting again next Friday as well, all in preparation for our first All-In meeting at the end of this or the beginning of next month.
Feeling good.
We are rowing in the same direction.
We must be careful to keep this same elan as we go forward and as we grow.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town.
~George Carlin
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
Our mail today mostly dealt with whether we should have our All-in meeting at this time.
Blog Meister responds: My own thinking is Yes, now. The meeting will serve to shake out our first list of participants and will lead to committee assignments and the start of the second phase of our efforts. (The first phase being the incorporation and application for tax-exempt status.)
The meeting doesn’t depend on attendance.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night I had dinner with my friend Cindy.
We shared a lightly dressed Caesar salad and we each had a plate of fried clams.
The food was very good as was the service.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
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11.0 Thumbnails
My version of Minestra.
The combination of greens, beans and fatty meats is endemic in every culture.
It’s a perfect meal.
Not expensive when compared to a meat-as-main-course dinner.
And as delicious a meal as you’ll have.
Look up Minestra and you’ll find tons of recipes touting Minestra as a soup.
And I suppose that technically it is.
But in my family, it was a very thick soup.
My recipe here is a cross between a thick soup and a stew.
Choose meats.
This day I chose porchetta, baby back ribs, and a lamb shank for fun.
I was home for several hours so I took all my time.
I chunked the porchetta, put 2 TB of duck fat into the pot, and fried the pork, rendering a good deal of it.
When it browned, really browned, I added the ribs and the shank and browned them.
Then I poured out the excess fat, leaving several TB for the greens.
I used savoy cabbage which I chunked, a bunch of dandelion, and a head of bok choy,
tossing the greens until they picked up some of the fat.
Added 8 cups of my own chicken stock, brought it to a boil, and then reduced it to a simmer.
Then the beans.
8oz of dried navy beans went directly into the pot with the other ingredients
where they cooked in the ninety minutes I let the pot simmer.
An additional 8oz of the beans went into a pan of hot water and boiled until tender.
After draining, the boiled beans were pureed in a food chopper.
The puree got stirred into the soup to thicken the broth.
Voila.
My interpretation of my family’s recipe for Minestra.
This Minestra loves hot red pepper flakes and crusty Italian bread.
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