English: Meals on Wheels ‘HotShot’ delivery vehicle, Hamburg Township, Michigan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I knew I was getting old (-er by the day) and certainly not making the money I once was BUT I didn’t know I qualified for Meals On Wheels!! Apparently I do because yesterday my cousin Janet (you know the one I like to call Janie) called in the morning and asked Peter if he would like to have a dinner with the most delicious sauce and the pasta of his choice. That was pretty sexy in Peter’s mind – and the fact that he found that sexy is yet another story.
We knew we were in for an all-around great day. We love when Danny and Janet come because we can talk about so many things. First of all we always like to spend a little time discussing her sister Marian ( my cousin) and the ongoing saga of what to do with the house in Vermont? Whether to sell the condo in Florida and why not buy or rent something in Ocean Grove? You know how easy it is to talk about someone else’s business lol lol.
But most of all we love our political conversations. We are kindred spirits when it comes to politics and as the current presidential election draws closer and the antics escalates, we have much to talk about. We breezed through the RNC which amounted to a substance-lacking, misinformation fest and liars convention and moved onto talking about the DNC. Of course since we are all Democrats, it was a lovely conversation praising the eloquence of Bill Clinton, the directness of John Kerry and intelligence, demeanor and character of President Obama. No surprises there, as I said, we are all Democrats.
However, before we convened on the front porch with drinks and a fabulous antipasto, we spent a couple of hours on the beach. Is there anything better than sitting on a virtually empty beach on a beautiful warm sunny September afternoon? Hard to beat that not-too-hot, not humid, soft warmth of the September sun. The sun has quickly shifted to a new slant in the sky, it knows summer is over even if we don’t want to believe it! Did you ever notice your shadow at about 11am during this month? I did a few days ago and realized how intensely dark and visibly outlined your shadow is. This doesn’t happen during the long hazy lazy days of summer.
But back to the porch…we feasted on exquisite semolina bread brought from upstate – thank God because for some unknown reason, here in the heart of the Jersey shore, I can’t find decent Italian bread. Janet brought the bread AND everything else you can imagine or will read about in the next few lines. Perhaps you remember that this cousin Janet, is the one I have referred to in a previous blog as the one with the traveling pantry and bar. Add to that, she arrived with a change of clothes and make-up! Here’s what came out of that cavernous trunk: A liter of white rum, 2 limes, a cucumber, 3 packages of mint leaves, 2 quarts of her famous homemade macaroni gravy, 2 lbs of spaghetti, the loaf of semolina Italian bread, a container of simple syrup, a container of pre-washed lettuce, a container of tomatoes, special salad seasoning, a stick of pepperoni, a jar of fried Italian peppers, a jar of roasted red peppers, a chunk of provolone cheese and a package of brie, 2 bottles of water for the beach, and 2 quarts of seltzer for the Mojitos. Gosh I hope I didn’t forget anything!!! This is serious packing! And so you can only imagine this delightful antipasto which we relished along with Danny’s famous Mojitos. Added to all the delicacies she brought, we added Greek olives, green olives, olives stuffed with blue cheese, dolmades and stuffed red cherry peppers. I am surely prejudiced but seriously you can’t beat a great Italian antipasto!
When the pesky mosquitos started nibbling on Janet and I, we quickly retreated inside where while they watched MSNBC (WHAT ELSE?) I set the table and prepped the dinner. Eventually we sat down to dinner and once again just kvelled ( a Yiddish word meaning gushing, praising) over Janie’s fantastic sauce (aka gravy). It was dark, dark red indicating how long it had simmered into a thick rich ragu laden with sausage, meatballs and pieces of pork. OMG! we ate a whole pound of spaghetti! The salad was barely touched because there really wasn’t much room left after all the pasta we ate. Except of course we found a bit of room about an hour later for some cookies, dark chocolate and tea.
Thank you Danny and Janet for making my day in not quite Clint Eastwood style – although he did make quite a few spaghetti westerns before he made an ass out of himself at the RNC.
With meals this good, I’m calling to sign up for regular delivery!
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
Two Nights-Two Movies-It’s All About Love and Relationships
Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged Anton Yelchin, Clint Eastwood, Felicity Jones, Helen Gandy, Hoover, J. Edgar, Jacob, Judi Dench, Leo DiCaprio, Robert Kennedy on November 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The Federal Bureau of Investigagtion
Not necessarily healthy, mature love or balanced, equitable relationships negotiated between two or more adults. No, instead it was more about obsession, control, immaturity, desperation, loyalty, fidelity, commitment.
Let’s start with LIKE CRAZY. Superbly acted by Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin, LIKE CRAZY is a love story about two young college students who think they are in love. They probably are in love or at least as they define love. It seemed to have a lot to do with sex, fantasy and a disregard for life as it is with rules and boundaries as only two young people wrapped up in their own world perceive it.
Really it’s about love, that beautiful precious emotional gift, mishandled by two immature kids. Basically that’s the problem here – Jacob and Anna are just too immature to grasp what love and commitment really mean. Patience! That one word engraved on the bracelet given to Anna by Jacob was the key to creating a deep and lasting relationship. They talked the talk, but couldn’t walk the walk. Maturity knows patience, maturity understands that it isn’t necessary to indulge your every desire in order to be happy.
Final thought: Anna’s parents came off as way too liberal psuedo-hippies from another era.
J. Edgar
Now here is tale or two of twisted love….a doting mother whose love was controlling, compulsive and suffocating and lavished on a son eager for Mommy’s approval in all things. Dame Judi Dench embodied the role of this overbearing and obsessive mother. Edgar was her favorite, Edgar was destined to be a great man and she was the stage mother in the background, directing and advising on everything from the clothes he wore to commanding him to find the Lindberg baby. Edgar was devoted to his mother, turning to her for counsel, revering her and escorting her to political functions as his date. The only other woman in his life was Miss Gandy, his personal secretary who was not only the gate-keeper, she was also his trusted secret-keeper.
And then Clyde Tolsen is introduced to the Director of the FBI and in a swift series of meaningful glances, we know that Clyde is destined to be in Hoover’s life. Almost laughably transparent in his intent, Hoover arranges for Tolsen to be accepted into the Bureau even though as a candidate, Tolsen has none of the desired qualities. But he is tall and good-looking. In this day and age, homosexuality is understood, acknowledged and acceptable in most circles. NOT in those days. It was apparent that J. Edgar was somewhat conflicted, alternating between assuming an almost asexual ascetic life and craving the companionship that Clyde so eagerly offered. Although there were moments of tenderness between Tolsen and Hoover, their relationship was not consumated, at least not in this depiction. Poor Clyde was ever the faithful puppy dog sidekick, thankful for any random ear-scratching that Edgar rarely bestowed.
We don’t know how much of this movie is based on fact or historical fiction. After all, Hoover appeared to be a very private man and the only two people who could know the intimate side of him (Miss Gandy and Clyde Tolsen) did not talk!
Overall I found the movie interesting because it was a biopic, but I didn’t think it was an exceptionally good movie. I expected more from Clint Eastwood than a laundry list of Hoovers triumphs and failures. Of course it was hard for me to spend 2 hours in the life of a man who I believe was misguided by his obsessiveness and evil in his vindictiveness. Also not for a minute was I not aware that DiCaprio was the actor behind the make-up. I don’t know if that’s because of mis-casting or bad acting – I believe it to be the former.
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