Paul Anka Concert – Becoming a Teenager for a Night
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at
8:38 am
Leave your comment
George and I just got back from seeing a wonderful performance by Paul Anka. He was absolutely marvelous and the audience was so thrilled with his performance, they wouldn’t let him leave the stage after performing two hours straight.
His initial entry to the stage was through a side door into the theater and he went down the side aisle to the stage. I was sitting on the aisle and as he came closer to my seat I reached out my hand which he grabbed and gave me a strong handshake and a great big smile. Golly gee, I felt like a teenager all over again and my heart skipped a beat.
A very versatile dish my Mother made on meatless Fridays was a potato, pepper and mushroom frittata. It is delicious hot or at room temperature and leftovers can be reheated in the microwave. Mom would often use eggs in place of meat or poultry as she knew eggs were high in protein and had always been labeled “nature’s most perfectly balanced food”. In fact, eggs have been the standard which all protein foods are measured. 
I wonder if any of my readers are familiar with the expression “Flat Leaver“. It was an expression that was commonly used during my youth and teenage years. The only other person I know, who remembers this expression is my husband, George.
A tradition in our home every Easter was to bake Easter bread. It is an easy recipe, but it is rather time-consuming. I use my Cuisinart food processor to mix and knead the dough, which made things a lot quicker and easier. This delicious sweet bread would be made into loaves, or bunny rabbits, individual little loaves,and even braided into baskets.
I always think of my daughter, Allison, when I prepare this topping. She loves it on her “all time favorite dish in the world, “Meatloaf”. I will post my recipe for Allison’s favorite meatloaf soon. This condiment makes an excellent topping on baked meatloaf, hamburgers and frankfurters. Serve warm. It replaces the usual ketchup and mustard toppings.
A dish that our family loved, not only during the Lenten season, but also during the growing season for plum tomatoes. I call it Egg Jumble since I cannot spell the Italian name, but it is pronounced “Jum-bort”. What Italian family who has a little piece of land doesn’t grow a vegetable garden? They would grow bushel loads of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, basil and other Italian herbs. These vegetables would be picked fresh and cooked the same day or they would be jarred for the winter months. 
During our working years the one thing we look forward to is Retirement. It’s the time to enjoy leisurely days when you don’t need to look at the clock, you can take your time having a second cup of coffee, you can read the newspaper from front to back and you can go out to lunch and not worry if you will get finished in an hour. Your time is all yours! 
I have tasted many versions of polenta, but nothing tastes as good to me as fried polenta. Mom made this often, especially when we were having Minestra (steamed mixture of greens and beans saute with olive oil and garlic). She would put the fried polenta in the bottom of the dish and spoon the greens over it. You would mix it through as you ate. 
This was a meal made on Fridays when we were fasting from meat or poultry. Nothing tasted as fresh as this when zucchini was in season.