Mmm Meatloaf

Future meatloafs.

Recently I went looking through Carver’s Cafe for a meatloaf recipe and was shocked, shocked, I tell you, to find nothing.

Fortunately I found this recipe on MomsWhoThink dot com and adapted it like so:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cracker crumbs
1 pound lean ground beef
2/3 cup milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 squirt prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix all the ingredients except the sauce together, then spread the meatloaf mixture into an ungreased loaf pan.

3. Spoon sauce on the top of the meatloaf and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour.

RESULTS:  Rodger said “mmm” all the way through dinner. Was more conversation that I usually get out of him at the table, bless his heart.

Photo from Library of Congress.

Pancakes, Insects, Civics 101?

In February of this year, the Montana State Legislature tabled a bill establishing a State Pancake:

SB232, sponsored by Sen. Carolyn Squires, D-Missoula, was the brainchild of third-graders from Franklin Elementary School in Missoula. The schoolchildren contacted Squires last June, and she agreed to sponsor the bill designating a huckleberry whole-wheat pancake as the official state pancake. They chose huckleberries, because they grow in western Montana, and whole wheat to represent eastern Montana’s wheat crop. …

Squires said during the hearing that she’d received plenty of mail saying the bill was a waste of time, but that she considered it a serious exercise because the children had worked hard to come up with the idea and promote it.

And in my current home state of Nevada, as reported in April:

The bill making the vivid dancer damselfly the state insect has been held up by commentators as an example of a lackadaisical, easily distracted Legislature.

But hear out Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, R-Henderson. Speaking on the Assembly floor Monday, the co-sponsor of Senate Bill 392, admitted the bill was “semi-serious.” But, he pointed out, the insect was picked by a group of elementary school students.

“It got young people in the state of Nevada interested in government, got them involved and showed they could make a difference,” he said. “Maybe they’ll carry that with them down the road.”

Say what?

No doubt fun projects for the little ones, but was it their idea? Probably not. I don’t think state politics is on the mind of most 3rd and 4th graders. Is such an exercise educational? Probably, but whatever happened to student government? When I was in school in the 60s, we had student government. Of the students, by the students, for the students. There were student council meetings at which times students could put forth suggestions and present ideas for approval by the council.

We did not operate on the state level.

Not saying it’s “wrong” or a waste of time, just, well, what’s wrong with a School Pancake or a School Bug? Would not the same civics lesson be learned?

I reminded of a line from a popular rock song:

I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote …

The insect bill was signed by the Nevada Governor on May 6. Case in point: the students’ involvement was the result of a contest sponsored by two legislators.

Ponder This: What experience most enriched your knowledge of politics when you were in 3rd grade?

Literary Pom-Poms

The book I cannot finish.

Good things have happened to three of my favorite writers and something weird has happened to me.

First, Tobias Wolff won the $20,000 Story Prize in early March for his short story collection “Our Story Begins.” If you’d like to hear Tobias singing, click here. (Singing?!)

Next, Joyce Carol Oates was married on Friday, March 13th — which was supposedly born of her Gothic sensibilities.

Last but certainly not least, my other favorite writer Rodger Jacobs has seen some luck turn his way in being able to renew his apartment lease for one more year.

Waving my pom-poms for all.

Also impressing me of late is Monique Truong, whose 2003 novel The Book of Salt has done something to me that’s never happened before: I won’t finish the book because it’s so delicious. I keep going back to the beginning, back a chapter or two, back a page or two … I can’t seem to stop savoring her word craft long enough to get even half way through the book. It’s been on my bedside table for over a year. And that’s the beauty of books, that every page sits there patiently for me, to read whenever I choose. (Shoutout to Don at City Lights Books for sending it along to us last year.)

In the Meantime

My apologies for the unintended haitus from posting of late.

In the meantime, here’s a kiss from yours truly, to thank you for stopping by.

I'll be back.

What’s In a Rule?

A headline on CNN’s website today says, “Obama overturns Bush endangered species rule,” and the article’s first two paragraphs explain the debate:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama on Tuesday overturned a last-minute Bush administration regulation that many environmentalists claim weakened the Endangered Species Act.

The regulation, issued a few weeks before George W. Bush left office, made it easier for federal agencies to skip consultations with government scientists before launching projects that could affect endangered wildlife.

Fair enough. People complained about a rule, it got changed. Closer to home, here in Las Vegas, this story caught my eye:

A decade-old rule barring cross-gender massages in Clark County was rubbed out today.

County commissioners voted to rescind the cross-gender rule that licensed massage therapists said lumped them with prostitutes and severely hampered their businesses.

Cool. People complained about a rule, it got changed. So what’s going with this food news from Rome?

ROME, Feb. 26 (UPI) — Authorities in Rome said a law to take effect in March bans ice cream, pizza and sandwich vendors from operating after 1 a.m.

Officials said the city council measure was designed to bring the city’s nightlife to a close at an earlier hour, ANSA reported Thursday.

“This applies to croissant makers, ice cream makers, cake shops, yogurt shops, sandwich shops, take-aways and rotisseries,” city councilor Davide Bordoni said.

Is this a fair rule? Will the Romans revolt when they can’t get yogurt at 2 a.m.?

This topic takes me back to 8th grade. I was tooting along on my nickel-plated flute in band class one day when the director stopped the song, mid-toot. This was a band of around 40 students. It turned out that little ol’ me, a “good girl” if ever there was one, mild-mannered, studious, respectful, honorable, and above all meek, was the reason the music stopped. My infraction? Toe-tapping.

Don't move my feet? Ha!

“Do not tap your foot when you are playing,” was the director’s command. I was shocked. Mortified. More than anything else, though, quite simply confused. I attempted a dialogue, I asked a few questions, I did not argue, nor shout, nor disrespect my teacher. But I questioned his rule. It was a first for me.

My protest, if you can even call it that, was met with the repeated command not to tap my foot while playing my flute. I cannot for the life of me remember what I did thereafter in band practice but the event has haunted me over the years, primarily because so many of my fellow students let me know in study hall later that day that I was a “fool” to argue with a teacher.

This is the dichotomy of rule-making, that we need rules, and that we need to question them. True art lies in knowing when — and how — to question our rules.

Ponder This: What’s the most ridiculous rule you’ve ever been told to follow, and did you protest?