A DIFFERENT 9/11

 

On, September 11, 1954 Edna headed into New Britain.  Who was this Edna woman you ask?  Edna was a charming little hurricane on the way to disrupt our lives as best she could.  Fortunately she was not one of those real scary monsters, but was still strong enough to be cause for concern. Who’s concerned? All those poor folks who were invited to a Saturday wedding.   Especially this particular wedding where over 500 received invitations to attend the wedding of yours truly and Marge. 

Five hundred? Did they even have 500 friends?  No, but their fathers did.  Both mine and Marge’s fathers owned bars and you don’t dare leave out and disappoint customers. The strange fact is the wedding was supposed to be on 9/4.  When we announced our intentions and that date we were quickly shot down.  We were told that the 9/4 was not acceptable because of concerns that it would conflict with people’s Labor Day activity plans. Marge and I didn’t wish to start things off with a conflict so agreed to the date change.

 Being only 19 years old and even though I was soon to be married man I treated the 9/11 morning like so many other Saturdays, laying on the couch watching cartoons waiting till the last minute to get dressed for the event.. Point is I should have been panicking thinking about how can the day possibly go right with all those people invited and a hurricane brewing outside. What the hell do you do with all that food, booze, and beer?  I don’t remember even giving it a thought, but as I write this I can only imagine what Marge must have been going thru.  Besides all the months of planning and preparations for a big church entrance my soon to be bride had to enter the church wearing an “Old lady Babushka” and hiding under an umbrella trying to avoid the rain.

As it turned out 330 crazy people turned out in a hurricane and were served the usual (in those days) Turkey dinner.  The bottle of booze on every table must have helped take the edge off.  In the late afternoon the storm was over and the rest of the invitees showed up to enjoy a buffet.  So many of the 500 hundred so crowded the buffet that Marge and I never even had a chance to see it.  I guess hurricanes have a way of developing appetites.

Marge and I then packed up the 1947 Chrysler Windsor and began our honeymoon by following the remnants of the storm up thru Mass, Vermont and into Canada

Recipe time: I know the better part of the summer and hot dog season is over, but it seems that when it comes to hot dogs the conversation always seems to include something about Capitol Lunch.  I’m not a big fan of their sauce, but it seems that nearly everyone is. New Britain had several restaurants besides Capitol lunch that made a very similar sauce.  Here’s a version called Metropole Hot Dog Sauce that is about as close as it gets.  Please note that tomatoes are not in this recipe.

Metropole Hot Dog Sauce

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon oil

1 pound hamburger

2 cups water

3 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon celery salt, Salt and pepper to taste

Brown onion and garlic in oil.  Add meat and brown slightly.  Add water and stir to break up meat as fine as possible.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer until mixture thickens.