Well, dear readers, it is Friday and you know what that means. I don’t have a clew what it means so perhaps one of you could enlighten me because at this time I am not enlightened, only endarkened. I hate when that happens. May I just talk about meat loaf for a moment? Well, that came out of nowhere didn’t it? There I was, a Jew talking about Friday and what it means, and suddenly I’m a Jew talking about meat loaf. But I had meat loaf on my mind because I had meat loaf for my meal o’ the day yesterday. Now, meat loaf is not something that is usually on my radar. Nor is it on my sonar, but that’s another story. I will start by telling you that meat loaf was a food staple in the Kimmel household. My mother, Mitzi Kimmel, made it at least once a week and it was always a good day when she did, because she happened to make wonderful meat loaf – or is it meatloaf? I like the latter better, don’t you? Otherwise I get an image of meat loafing and that skeeves me, frankly. Where was I?
Oh, yes, meatloaf and not loafing meat. I’m not going to touch loafing meat with a ten-foot pole or even a five-foot czech. Do you know what the say when a Czech person is late? The Czech is in the mail. We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com. Where was I? Oh, yes, meatloaf. In any case, while I had a less than thrilling relationship with my mother, her meatloaf was heavenly. I have vivid memories of standing in the kitchen while she mooshed the meat and the egg and the onions and the ketchup in a big bowl with her hands. I can smell it now as I type these here notes. I would watch mesmerized as she shaped it into a loaf of meat and then put more ketchup on the top along with a few more onions. She’d then bake that in the oven and you could smell it all over the house. But it was the eating of it – it was just so damn tasty and yummilicious and in all the years since I have never anywhere tasted meatloaf that came anywhere near my mother’s meatloaf. I could say the same about her brisket but I’m not talking about damn brisket, I’m talking about damn meatloaf.
I’ve eaten meatloaf in restaurants over the years, some of which has been very good but not at all like the meatloaf I knew as a child. And while yesterday’s meatloaf was actually really good, it, too, just didn’t reach the heights of my mother’s meatloaf. After our video shoot, Nick and his ever-lovin’ Julie Kirgo and I went to the Daily Grill. After the previous day’s rather terrible Daily Grill shrimp cocktail and salmon, I wasn’t about to have those again. And then the meatloaf caught my eye (no mean feat) and I just went with it, replacing the red mashed potatoes with some creamed spinach. It was so comforting to eat the meatloaf and I even shared a little of it with Nick and Julie so I wouldn’t be eating quite so much (it was a very large helping of meatloaf). And the creamed spinach was nothing to sneeze at, and yet I sneezed so go know. When I got home I immediately looked at the calorie count for the Daily Grill’s meatloaf and I was rather irritated to find it was REALLY high, like 1500 calories high. But I think that calorie count included the red mashed potatoes, too, which I didn’t have, although I did have the creamed spinach. But I’ve been so good for so long even if it WAS 1500 calories, I still ran some of that off, and I felt so guilty about that number (it’s really what I SHOULD be eating every day, rather than the 1200 I do eat – I’d still lose weight at 1500 calories) that I did a second jog. Anyway, the meal reminded me just how much I love meatloaf, and it actually makes me want to try to recreate my mother’s meatloaf. I wonder if I could? I don’t think she used breadcrumbs – is that possible?
Other than the meatloaf, the day was perfectly fine. I got up at ten, answered e-mails, did a three-mile jog, played on our ghost discussion board and notes sites and then the video shoot happened with Nick, Julie, Julie’s son (he was the cameraman) and the film director. It was fun and went well, I think, and when it’s edited it will make a nice interview feature for the Blu and Ray. Then we had our meal, I did the second jog and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched the first half of the new Twilight Time Blu and Ray of Leave Her to Heaven. I’d seen a bit of the check disc before, but I do love this film and its cast. Some have complained that the original camera negative and Technicolor elements were all junked in the 1970s, which is criminal, of course, but I have to say this Blu and Ray looks really good to my eyes. The color is wonderful, there is excellent detail. It was restored from whatever surviving internegatives exist – Martin Scorsese had a hand in it. And, of course, while it would have been nice to see what this would have looked like transferred from the camera negative, no one back in the day save for the filmmakers ever saw that. We saw prints that were generations away from the camera negative. Anyway, I look forward to finishing it, but I can already recommend it highly – the transfer is spotless, rock steady, and with the exception of the opticals, quite lovely looking and sharp.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it won’t be here in a week.
Today, I shall jog, I shall have a work session with our musical director, I’ll hopefully hear about tapes that I need to pick up soon, I shall hopefully pick up some packages, I shall read through my commentary, and then that’s it – my long holiday weekend begins and woe to those who think I’m doing anything but relaxing.
Tomorrow evening I’m supping and then seeing a musical entitled Parade. I have no real interest in seeing a musical entitled Parade as I have seen a musical entitled Parade twice before – Harold Prince’s original production, and then Rob Ashford’s streamlined production at the Mark Taper Forum, which I did not like at all, not that I liked the New York production much better. But I will endure it because our very own Jenna Rosen is in it. Sunday, no plans. Monday, no plans until evening, at which point we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora and the turkey trot, because today is the birthday of our very own beloved dear reader Jeanne. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own beloved dear reader Jeanne. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN BELOVED DEAR READER JEANNE!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, have a work session, hopefully pick up packages, eat, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – Blu and Ray, Leave Her to Heaven, then Philadelphia. CD, lots of British musicals. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as I hit the road to dreamland where I shall undoubtedly dream of meatloaf but not loafing meat.