I Would do Anything for Love

Everything is Better with Bacon 
I made meatloaf on Monday. Pioneer Woman's meatloaf to be precise. Yumm. I'm a fan of meatloaf, and this had bacon wrapped around the beef. Bacon totally makes a dish more healthy. I think I heard that somewhere. Or maybe not, but bacon most definitely makes everything more delicious and this was tasty meatloaf.

I read that the recipe serves eight and I thought about halving it. I wanted to make sure I had leftovers for the week and thought I'd better make the whole recipe, just in case. 10 slices of leftover meatloaf later I realized that I should have just halved the recipe. Looks like I've got dinner for two weeks. And thank goodness for freezers.

In her recipe introduction, Pioneer Woman wonders why meatloaf gets such a bad rap. It's ground beef mixed with seasoning, eggs, milk, bread and cheese. And in this case wrapped in bacon. Seriously, what's bad about that?

PW thinks it might be the word loaf. Or the words meat and loaf together. Or perhaps memories of disheveled seventies rock singers. I think it has something to do with school cafeterias. Bland and made of who-knows-what, cafeteria meatloaf is not the same and is not nearly as delicious. It's an unappetizing grey colour and I'll admit, the greasy cheese pizza always looked much better. If this is your view of meatloaf, you should make meatloaf with good beef and bacon. I can almost guarantee that you'll be a meatloaf-lover convert.

Warwick Castle
Speaking of meatloaf, I have a lot of fond memories from Warwick Castle in England. This English castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. Portions of the current stone structure date back to the 13th century.

What does a 13th century castle have to do with meatloaf, you ask? Well, not much I suppose. But I'm talking about Meatloaf the disheveled seventies rock singer, not meatloaf the meat that is made infinitely better by bacon. I hope that clears things up.

I once had a serious asthma attack at Warwick. Change in my environment often triggers my asthma, and trips to England tend to include some difficulty breathing. As it turns out, visits to historic sites are considerably less enjoyable when you spend the day collapsed on bench and wheezing. You should just take my word for it.

Other visits to the castle have been much more pleasant. Warwick is owned by the Tussauds Group and is now under the Merlin Entertainments (according to trusty Wikipedia, this is the second largest leisure group behind Disney). In other words, the castle is home to flashy entertainers, the world's largest working siege machine (a massive trebuchet), and elaborate wax figures preparing for a royal weekend party. When I was young, I did not understand that the wax figures inside the castle were not real. I desperately wanted to stay and watch a wax woman fill up wax basin with wax water.

Medieval Torture 
In 2006 my family visited Warwick yet again. The wax figures hadn't made much progress and that wax basin was still unfilled. We enjoyed a full day of touring the castle and the beautiful grounds. We cheered for jousting knights and saw plenty of trebuchet action. I also sat in the stocks and practiced my medieval torture skills on my best friend who suffered on the rack. Oh how I love good, wholesome fun.

The Warwick experience is a bit flashy and focuses heavily on entertainment and money. However, I think it is a lovely place that successfully interprets the castle's history. Because it is incredibly theatrical, it makes for a grand time. [Insert here a lengthy and heated discussion about the monetizing of historical sites and the principles of historical site interpretation]

An Unexpected Performance 
Our historical journey through the castle ended on an interesting note. As we were leaving we heard musical chords coming from beyond the castle walls.

I would do anything for love...
I would do anything for love...
But I won't do that

Yep, Meatloaf was rehearsing for his evening performance at Warwick Castle. Meatloaf's riffs blaring across loudspeakers isn't exactly what you expect to hear from the stones of a medieval castle. Nevertheless, on that day a disheveled seventies singer provided the soundtrack for our medieval experience.

And that is why meatloaf always makes me think of Warwick Castle.

Merneptah Stele

Last Monday I sat at the Toyota dealership with my styrofoam cup of coffee and waited as the oil in my car was changed and my state inspection sticker renewed.

Egyptian Revolution
I'm sure I looked a little out of place reading Lost Treasures of the Bible: Understanding the Bible through Archaeological Artifacts in World Museums. My dad got this book for me last Christmas, and I've enjoyed reading and rereading it. This week I was refreshing my memory on the
Merneptah Stele. This Egyptian stone tablet was created around 1200 BC and is now in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo.


Dad and I visited the Egyptian Museum when were in Egypt of 2011. We traveled to Egypt just days after President Mubarak stepped down, when the US State Department still advised Americans to avoid travel to Egypt. As tourists we largely had the country to ourselves and other white westerners were few and far between. The road to the museum was lined with tanks and you can see me walking alongside our guide Shaza to get to the museum.


The Boy King
One of the Egyptian Museum's most famous, or perhaps infamous, exhibits is the treasure of King Tutankhamun's tomb. We had read up on the Egyptian Museum before our visit and had heard of the crowds that surround King Tut's treasures. Tour guides must wait outside the room that houses Tut's ornamented funeral mask and sarcophagus in order to slightly reduce the number of people crowding the room. I read several accounts of visitors who were herded through the congested room with only a quick look at Tut's famous gold burial mask. But not us. A guard and three visitors milled about the room with us as we stood face-to-face with Tut's mask and gazed for minutes upon end into the ageless face of the boy king.

Evidence of Israel
After viewing the King Tut collection, Dad and I set off in search of the Merneptah Stele. It is in an out of the way corner in the museum, hard to find and unlabeled. This is likely because it is, to many, just another stone tablet, interesting only in that it is covered in hieroglyphics.

To historians and biblical scholars, however, this stele is significant because it contains the earliest known mention of Israel. Additionally, it is by far the earliest reference to Israel outside of the Bible. The hieroglyph in front of the word Israel is indicative of Israel as a people group rather than a nation, which is consistent with the biblical record.

Please Do Not Touch!
The section of tablet that reads "Israel" is worn black from many hands that have streaked fondly across the surface. This darkening of the stone is evident at the bottom center of the tablet. Clearly I am not the only one fascinated by by this tablet. And if you ask me if I took the opportunity to lightly brush my curled finger across this piece of history, I will adamantly tell you no... And as an aspiring museum professional, I feel I should take this opportunity to point out the damage done to objects by inquisitive hands.

The Merneptah Stele is appreciated both by historians and by the millions of Christians and Jews whose spiritual beliefs are connected intimately with the people of Israel. Because of its incredible biblical significance, this is one of my favorite museum objects that I've seen. Though seeing Tutankhamun's burial mask was yet another amazing experience. And the mummified body of Ramesses II. And... okay, this list could just go on and on. Suffice it to say, with my love for Egyptian history, this museum was amazing and the less than three hours we spent inside was far too short.