Waking Up Is Hard To Do - Shiny Spaghetti Sauce and Soapboxes

Monday, Day 14 - I did not vote for Barack Obama.  Not because I am a Republican - I'm not.  Not because I'm a racist -  seriously, dudes, look at my family portrait.  Not because he has conducted his rather short and unspectacular political life with more lies and subterfuges than Bill Clinton - what kind of president fights to have their college records sealed?  Who plays fast and loose with their birth certificate?   Not because I'm suspicious of any politician out of Illinois, although that might be closer to the truth.  Not because I was a gung-ho supporter of John McCain and Sarah Palin - it actually hurt to cast a vote for that ticket, and if memory serves me correctly, I walked out of the voting both without doing so. I liked Romney and Ryan quite a bit, so that preference is definitely close to the truth. I felt, and continue to feel that Barack Obama was horribly inexperienced in both domestic and foreign affairs.  A law school professor?  I've known quite a few of those in my day, and the only one who might have qualified to run for President was former Dean Howard Glickstein.  I also felt that after eight years of George W. Bush, we the people deserved much better, not a second term of Jimmy Carter. I felt that Mr. Obama was no friend of Israel, and it turns out I was right.

In conclusion, I feel that Barack Obama is a childish, petulant, ill-tempered man with a pen in one hand, a cell phone in the other, the proverbial stick up his nether-region, and is dangerously unsuited to be the leader of the free world.

I read the news this morning, and it pissed me off, and so did the President.  And that's all I'm going to say about that, except - if you are a regular reader, and also a strong supporter of this President, anything I say is not going to change your opinion.  All I ask is that you respect my right to express my own.

Before I read the news, however, I woke up and remembered that I go for the endoscopy procedure tomorrow morning.  This left me feeling sad and scared at the same time.  Definitely made it hard for me to crawl out of bed.  Walking up is hard to do.  Oh, and did I mention it was raining?  On a Monday? As my grandmother-who-raised-me would pronounce, this is a Mizzo Day.  As the Carpenters would sing, Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.  Pick your own ear worm today, my friends.

Speaking of my grandmother - well first, let me explain that after careful kitchen courtroom direct examination on my part, I discerned that the meatloaf, having been reheated for Robert's lunch, was a trifle dry.  Fair enough, and I am ALWAYS on the lookout for dry meatloaf.  It is a relatively easy matter to cure, and given the prominent role that Campbell's tomato soup presented in the original recipe, I thought I would turn to my grandmother's recipe for - ahem - shiny spaghetti sauce.  Except it wasn't shiny and that's not what she really called it.  What she called it was ethnically self-deprecating, in a humorous, Mel Brooksian sort of way, but even Mel couldn't get away with it these days, nor should he even try.  I am not one who believes anyone should use any word that is derogatory to any ethnic or racial or religious group, even if you happen to belong to that particular group.

Will someone PLEASE get me off this soapbox?  First President Obama, and then President Skroob.  Enough already.

I like this sauce, but I like anything that involves fried onions.  I also like Campbell's tomato soup, and have been known to actually eat the stuff, besides cooking with it.  Since I dislike eating most canned soups, that's fairly extraordinary.  This sauce is ridiculously easy to prepare; try it over spaghetti or with this meatloaf (or any meatloaf) or on mashed potatoes.

3-4 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 can Campbell's tomato sauce
water
kosher salt
ground black pepper
granulated garlic
a pinch of sugar

Cook the onions in the canola oil until tender.  Add  the salt, pepper, the sugar, and very small amount of the granulated garlic. Continue to cook the onions until they start to turn brown around the edges.     Stir in the soup, and thin with about half a soup can of water.  Let simmer about 10 to 15 minutes; taste and re-season if necessary.  The flavor is all about the sweet caramelized onions.  Let simmer a few more minutes.  Spoon over the meatloaf, or serve on the side.