Nothing says homecooking like Mom's meatloaf. Not having a clue (and I really mean no clue) about what goes in to making a meatloaf, I called my mother this morning for her secret recipe. Her secret recipe turned out to be my Aunt Verne's secret recipe.

Sorry, I do digress... so I made meatloaf for the first time. Amanda had never had meatloaf, frankly, I don't think she even wanted to try it! But she did, and it was fabulous!!

Let's just say, the secret's in the sauce! Here's the general recipe (you're instructed to improvise as you go):

My Great Aunt Verne's Meatloaf:
a pound or so of Ground Beef
small onion chopped finely
4 slices of fresh soft white bread (who knew)
1 egg
1/2 cup of Heinz Ketchup (don't you dare use anything else - oh and on a side note, we bought the collector's edition bottle with a quote from Mia Hamm)
several "dabs" of Worcestershire sauce

Mix all of the ingredients above, put in a loaf pan (or glass dish) and then make the glaze

Topping Glaze sauce
1/2 cup of Heinz Ketchup
1/4 cup of French's Yellow Mustard
1/2 cup or so of brown sugar

Mix these ingredients into a nice glaze, add more sugar as needed.

Pour glaze over the meat and bake at 350 for an hour or so. Potatoes of any kind should accompanying this dish.

I'm still recovering from a nasty cold. At least I had the long weekend to lay low and relax. Although, it was a little stressful watching Jeremy Mayfield lose the Hershey's Take 5 300 AND the Daytona 500 NASCAR race. I suppose losing the $200 was more stressful!

Dropped off 4 disposible cameras at the local Wal-Mart tonight. Should be interesting to see what is on them! I'll keep ya posted.

So, during the website usability testing we did last week in San Francisco, our star user "Bob" introduced the room to Clusty.com. Now, I know what you are thinking... sounds a bit like a porn site. But, in all seriousness, it's a new search engine that displays results categorized. There's also a browser plugin similar to Google's, complete with the essential pop-up blocker. So far, I'm a big fan. And, don't forget, you heard it first from me!

okay, so it has been a while since I last blogged.

To make long story short, I blame the government (stole that one from Amanda). Actually, I've just been working a lot. We finally launched the "search engine friendly website" and so I can finally breath a little. I also have a new boss (our new CMO came on board). We are all really excited to have him on board. The energy in our marketing group is infectious.

Among all the chaos at the office, I did mange to take a quick trip to San Francisco this past week. Unfortunately, I was only there for two very short days. However, I did stumble upon Voda, a chic vodka bar in the Parisan-inspired Belden Place Alley (just steps from the Omni Hotel where I was staying in the Financial District). They boast 96 bottles of vodka, all illuminated on modern white block shelving with changing accent lights. It was right up my alley. Even with all of those choices, I stuck with my favorite - Kettle One Dirty Martini, straight-up! I can still taste that last olive!

For dinner the next night, the concierge suggested a lovely Italian restaurant, Palio (again within walking distance). I had roasted quail stuffed with rabbit and mushrooms. It was incredible.

Despite the threat of yet another major storm in Boston, my flight Thursday night arrived 6 minutes ahead of schedule. I contemplated driving up to NH that night, but thankfully I waited until the morning (even that drive was messy). I took Amanda to the hospital for her knee surgery. I then returned home to anxiously await the phone call that she was out of surgery. Everything went well, thankfully. I then spent the rest of Friday and Saturday reading aloud to Amanda while she drifted in and out from her lovely morphine induced haze. I don't think I've ever read an entire novel out loud. It was great fun, although, I'm not pleased with how the book ended. Oh, I was reading John Grisham's new book, The Last Juror. I've been stewing about the damn thing all day. If you read it, let me know your opinions, I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Lastly, after suffering a stroke a couple weeks ago, my Grammie Kilby is finally well enough to have the brain tumor removed tomorrow morning. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.