Does this happen to you?

You’re discussing a TV show with your wife and she asks, “What was the name of the guy who played the detective?”  You are now in big trouble because you remember his face, the part he played but damned if you could remember his name.  You know that at some time in the future it will come to you, but when?  Might be five minutes, five hours, tomorrow or a few weeks from now.  To shorten the time you start straining to remember, then you play the alphabet game starting with A to see if by magic his name pops into your mind. A similar problem occurs when during a conversation you are trying to use a word that just will not come to mind.   How many of you have gone through that?  I know I have.  I can remember occasions where, as a result of one of my wonderful wife’s questions, spent a great deal of time coming up with the name she asked about.  You finally stop the mental search (giving up that is) and put it out of your mind, then days later the name pops into your mind.  Why?  Has your hard drive been silently searching and searching to come up with that answer.  Don’t know, but it always makes me marvel at what a strange and fabulous thing the human brain is.

Sorry, I’m straying from the reason I started this blog.  Did you know that there is a name for these strange lapses of memory?  It’s called Lethologica and is a psychological disorder wherein an individual temporarily forgets things like key words, phrases, or names in conversation.

Things to ponder

Those of you who spend time on Facebook might be aware of a site called “Remembering New Britain” were people make entries concerning their memories and experiences about things New Britain.  Many people have expressed fond memories of the Capitol Lunch famous hotdogs.  In fact people have begun to use the restaurant as a meeting place to discuss old and new times in the Hardware City.  Although I personally am not that fond of the sauce they use on their dogs, many others seem to be finatics about it.  In fact a few days ago someone living in Texas posted a recipe on Facebook for the hotdog sauce used by Capitol. I can only assume it is correct so I’m passing it along here.  If you want to get real authentic please remember the dogs have to be Martin Rosol’s.

                  CAPITOL LUNCH CHILI

2 lbs.   80/20% ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

5 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

5 tbs. A-1 steak sauce

1-1/2 tbs. chili powder

1-1/2 tbs. cumin powder

1 tbs. ketchup

1/4 tsp pepper

1-1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs. yellow mustard

1-1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tbs. chopped garlic

In a large skillet mix the meat with 1 cup of water and Worcestershire sauce and brown for about 15 minutes.  Place in a blender and mix as fine as you like.  Put the browned mix in a sauce pan and add the other ingredients and simmer for 2 hours.  You might need to add water if it gets too thick. Note the absence of beans or tomato sauce….Enjoy!

In a previous Blog entry I mentioned that we had received one of those daily calendars that featured a quote a day referring to forgetfulness.  I’ve included a few here that I thought you would enjoy.

“Quit the world, and the world forgets you”

 BRITISH PRIME MINISTER – BENJAMIN DISHRAELI

“Most of us forgive and forget; we just don’t want the other person to forget we forgave.”

 APHORIST IVERN BALL

“I prefer to forget both pairs of glasses and pass my declining years saluting strange

 women and grandfather clocks.”

  POET OGDEN NASH

“Your marriage is in trouble if your wife says. ‘You’re only interested in one thing,’ and

 you can’t remember what it is.”

 COMEDIAN MILTON BERLE

“Tom”

 TOM NISSALKE, the absentminded ABA and NBA basketball coach when asked how to pronounce his   

 name.

“People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.”

 INDIAN PRIME MINISTER INDIRA GANDHI