John Meola

Author: John Meola

  • St. Francis of Assisi

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    John Meola
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    Yesterday was St. Francis of Assisi Day (Feast of St. Francis). At our local Episcopal Church we celebrated it today with a blessing of the animals. So, parishioners brought their pets to be blessed today. A couple of the dogs barked a bit, and one poor woman with a Great Dane was walked by the…

  • Cinematography Then and Now

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    John Meola
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    With the recent death of the great actor and director Robert Redford, I have embarked on a kind of Robert Redford retrospective. I am watching three films that I have heard are some of his greatest: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Three Days of the Condor, and All the President’s Men. Next on deck…

  • Bonanza Napa Valley Cabernet

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    John Meola
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    With fall upon us, I wanted to give outdoor grilling on the charcoal grill one last hurrah and grill an exceptional piece of meat. So, I got a prime tomahawk ribeye at Stew Leonard’s over the weekend. I wanted to recreate a dinner like what one would get at the great New York steakhouses like…

  • Another Summer Gone By

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    John Meola
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    Another summer is now in the books. Today autumn begins and, according to my calendar, we have only 100 days left in the year. I like fall, but this time of year is bittersweet for me. As a kid, it meant that I was back in school, seeing some people I liked and many that…

  • Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

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    John Meola
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    As summer winds down in the northeast and we begin our last full week of the season before autumn is upon us, I like to squeeze in as much outdoor grilling on the Weber charcoal grill that I can. And what goes better on the grill than a delicious steak? On my Costco run last…

  • RIP Charlie Kirk

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    John Meola
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    I have a standing policy with this site to refrain from political topics. They are just too divisive and off-putting. My goal here is to bring people together with topics on photography, information technology, food, and wine. Also, let’s face it, politics in the United State has become a dangerous topic today. If you need…

  • Wine with Smoked Meats?

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    John Meola
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    Yes! It is possible to serve wine with barbecued ribs. For me, when it comes to barbecue, I always think of pairing such a meal with beer. But I’m not a beer lover. It fills me up and gives me gas. And I don’t like the taste of it. Crap Craft beer has devolved from…

  • 2021 Clos Castelot

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    John Meola
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    Purchase Date: August 23, 2025 Location: Manny’s Bistro, New York City Price: $68.00 Region: Saint-Émilion I took my wife out for a special meal for her birthday last night in New York. The restaurant is Manny’s Bistro. The owner, Manny Colon, is the boyfriend of an old friend of my wife’s. He is one of…

  • The Joys of Summer

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    John Meola
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    August is always a bittersweet time for me. The locusts start buzzing, the birds have mostly gone silent, the bees are frantically gathering as much as they can before the flowers die and the crops are harvested, and the hungry wasps search for new sources of food, such as unwitting people working in their garden…

  • IT, HIPAA, and the Medical Sole Practitioner

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    John Meola
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    It is rare today to encounter a physician working as a sole practitioner. Between dealing with insurance companies, reimbursement rates, hospital privileges, and myriad regulatory requirements, the sole practitioner, we could say, is a critically endangered species. And yet last week I had a conversation with such a doctor working as a sole practitoner. He…