Meatball And A Movie

Tagliatelle, ragu alla bolognese, ricotta, parmesan from Cento. Seconds, 1966, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Rock Hudson. Booed at the Cannes Film Festival, it continues to gain a larger audience with each passing decade. I didn't think I had seen Seconds, but while watching it, I realized I had. I may have been holding a personal John Frankenheimer film festival quite a while ago, and this was one of his films I viewed.

Cheese ravioli in marinara sauce. I bought it from the grocery store. I sprinkled some crushed red pepper over the top and served it with crusty bread. Not like fancy restaurant food, but it was tasty. Intermission dessert was fancy; triple chocolate brownie a la mode with a strong cup of coffee. They Live By Night, 1948 London premiere, released in the USA in 1949. Directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger. Criterion did a great restoration of the movie.  

Braised wild boar served over egg pappardelle pasta. Prepared by the Osteria Papavero restaurant, Madison Wisconsin. Donna and I had this dish during our visit to Lucca, Italy. All the food was so good in Italy. There are too many wild boar in Italy, so people eat them. Delicious if prepared correctly, a slow braise. I had it at another restaurant in the United States. They were clueless. It had the chewiness of pencil erasers. But Osteria Papavero put just the right finesse to it. I'd say they rate a very close second to the Lucca restaurant. The Mechanic, 1972, directed by Michael Winner, starring Charles Bronson and Jan Michael Vincent. Charles Bronson played Charles Bronson for over 50 years, and nobody played him better.

The "Meatball" was a change-up this week. I walked over to Taste Of Madison, an annual event the city holds around the Capitol Square. There were around 70 restaurants participating, so I had to go through the list and pick a couple. I chose the Chicken Roti from Mediterranean Cafe and something called a Mo Mo from Little Tibet. I also got a miniature carrot bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes for my intermission dessert. Blue Collar, 1978, directed by Paul Schrader, starring Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel. I was attracted to viewing the film because of the uniqueness of these actors working together. I wanted to see what that would be like. The film is rough around the edges. All the stars and Schrader were pretty young in the late 1970s.