I had a rare sleepless night last night.
The melatonin didn’t help.
My body just decided to turn on.

Are you ever awake all night?
Tossing and turning?
What do you do?
Chemicals?
Watch TV?

I posted my blog.
Some of you noticed how early it was: earlier than 2.00am.
In fact, one of our bloggers texted me at that time asking me what I was doing awake.
She had just flown in.
That’s her story.

But I was tired.
Tried to get back to sleep.
No go.

But I determined not to lie about, indulging myself, bemoaning my fate, spending time I will never get back.
I got out of bed again and made my first meat loaf.
Pretty good.
A great anchor recipe that will be delicious when made the first time and provide ample opportunities to tweak to our personal tastes.

Decided to post it for today.

When I took the meat loaf out of the oven I went back to bed and slept about an hour and a half.

Better than nothing.
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READERS’ COMMENTS:
From one of earliest and most stalwart bloggers, Anne Marie Kilzer:

Dom— I’ve been enjoying your blog this summer! I noticed you had a nice G&T recipe that’s careful to not be too heavy on the alcohol. I thought of your post this weekend when I was in Toronto and attended a dinner at which a gin-based punch was served. (I’m trying to get the exact recipe, but it included cucumber and mint and was so refreshing in the heat!) In any event, the host served two options, one punch with alcohol and one without. I did a taste test and they were the same. I wondered how they could have the same taste if there was no actual gin in the non-alcoholic version. The guest who developed the concoction (and also happens to hold the title of “Canada’s Best Bartender”) introduced me to Seedlip. I had never heard of it! It’s a brand of distilled non-alcoholic herbs. Below is a cell phone snapshot of the label. I thought, “How wonderful! A delicious gin flavored drink that will still allow me to drive home!”

Hope your summer is going well. Talk soon,

Anne Marie
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I asked Anne Marie if she had any experience with the product.
She answered:

“No, haven’t order it yet, but it is available on Amazon and they have their own online store, too. They claim to be the world’s first non-alcoholic spirit. Love their motto: Solving the dilemma of ‘What to drink when you’re not drinking.’ I’ll let you know what I think when I get some and experiment with their cocktails.”

Looking forward to it, Anne Marie.
__

BTW: Anne Marie hosted an all-into-the-preparation dinner party for sixteen last fall and is repeating it this coming October.
How brave.
Does a second one make it an annual event?
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BOOK SUMMARY: Of “The Goldfinch,” sections x, xi, and xii of chapter Three.
LEFT OFF: Theo could not help the police with their inquiry into the bombing.

The inquiry disturbs Theo so that at random moments he gets flashes of the bombing that take him out of the moment he is in. Theo has lost his appetite and his temporary caregivers, the Barbours are worried about his health.
He is reminded that Welty, the old man killed in the museum, had enjoined Theo to seek out Hobart and Blackwell. He confides this to his friend and peer Andy, who encourages him to make the trek to Greenwich Village. Andy will cover for Theo at home.
On finding the address, Theo is quite nervous but finally rings the bell. When the door is opened, Theo finds himself "gazing up at a large and unexpected person....Over his clothes a rich paisley robe with satin lapels fell almost to his ankles and flowed massively around him, like something a leading man might wear in a 1930s movie: worn but still impressive."
Theo hands the man the ring and answered on being asked where he got the ring:
"He gave it to me," I said. "He told me to bring it here."
He stood and looked at me, hard. For a moment I thought he was going to tell me he didn't know what I was talking about. Then, without a word, he stepped back and opened the door.
"I'm Hobie," he said, when I hesitated. "Come in." 

The entire summary from the start of the novel to date can be found on the Web Site: Pages; “Goldfinch, The – Summary.
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SUBMISSION BY DR. SCOLABASTA
Dr. Scolabasta who specializes in the darker side of ghetto life, sends us a joke he remembers from the fourth grade.

While this isn’t characteristic of many of us growing up in Boston’s North End in the 1950s and ‘60s, for the most part the North End a wholesome place, it certainly was typical of the strangenesses that occurred in our home town from time to time. The joke:

Two North End guys die and go to heaven. St. Peter meets them at the Pearly Gates. He asks where they are from and they say “the North End.”  He hesitates and says he has to talk it over with God, so he goes back and tells God there are two North End guys at the Pearly Gates.

God says, “Well, let me talk to them.”

Peter goes back and then a few minutes come running back to God, shouting “They’re gone! They’re gone!”

God replies, “The North End guys?”

“No,” Peter yells, “the Pearly Gates.”

“You might not find it as funny as I do,” the good doctor said, “But it is who a lot of us were.”

I think the doctor right on both counts.

Note that we collect these oddities in the Web Site section called Boston’s Italian North End, 1950s and 1960s on a page called “Dr. Scolabasta’s Oddities.”

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Today is Monday, July 16, 2018
Good morning, my friends.
This is my ninety-ninth consecutive daily posting. 

It’s 5.09am.
I’m at my desk.
Dinner is excellent leftovers: meat loaf; lasagna; other stuff I haven’t examined yet. By mutual agreement, I’m not allowed to make noise in the kitchen until 8.45am. Kat’s bedroom is adjacent and her eyes and ears are acutely sensitive.
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WIKIPEDIA’S SUMMARY OF WHAT’S PLAYING:
“Oklahoma!” is a 1955 musical film based on the 1943 stage musical Oklahoma!, written by composer Richard Rodgers, and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II and starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones (in her film debut), Rod Steiger, Charlotte Greenwood, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, James Whitmore and Eddie Albert. The production was the only musical directed by Fred Zinnemann.[3] Oklahoma! was the first feature film photographed in the Todd-AO 70 mm widescreen process (and was simultaneously filmed in CinemaScope 35mm).

Set in Oklahoma Territory, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams (Jones) and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain (MacRae) and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry (Steiger). A secondary romance concerns Laurey's friend, Ado Annie (Grahame), and cowboy Will Parker (Nelson), who also has an unwilling rival. A background theme is the territory's aspiration for Statehood, and the local conflict between cattlemen and farmers.
The film received a rave review from The New York Times,[4] and was voted a "New York Times Critics Pick".[5] In 2007, Oklahoma! was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". 

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The latest Web Site Tweaks are the uses of lines to separate the thoughts; and caps and bold fonts to introduce the new paragraphs.

Hoping to make the blogs easier to follow.
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Today’s Post

MEAT LOAF
In a large bowl gather:
12oz ground hot sausage
12oz ground turkey, dark meat
6oz ricotta cheese
12oz ground lamb
2oz pine nuts
1oz raisins
4oz bread cubes soaked in milk for five minutes and then squeezed dry
A scant cup of Romano cheese, grated
A scant cup of chopped fresh parsley and/or fresh basil

In a separate bowl gather:
2 large eggs
½ t salt
Generous amounts of freshly-ground pepper
1T herbes-de-Provence
1/2t each of garlic and onion powders
Beat the egg mix and pour it over the ground meat.

Make an Aromatic Paste in a Food Chopper
3oz each:
onions, carrots, celery, green bell peppers
With touches of a chili pepper and fresh garlic
Add the paste to the meat loaf

With our fingers, thoroughly mix the ingredients until the meats are mixed well and the egg is part of the mix.

Generously oil a 12x9 baking pan and form the meat loaf
Cover the meat loaf with 3 strips of bacon
Bake for 45minutes @ 375*

This dish calls for a sauce so I created this Mushroom Sauce. It came out well.

Remove the bacon
Bake uncovered for another 45 minutes

Temperature should read 160*

Post Scripts
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God bless!

Be good.
Be well.
Love you.