Bena Mae’s Kitchen: When the screen went black

Like millions of people who looked forward to Sunday night for six seasons, I was a Soprano’s fan. Sunday morning I couldn’t wait for the appointed hour when it came on on HBO. From the show’s opening song, “Woke up this morning, got myself a gun. Mama always said I’d be the chosen one,” and Tony drove up to his suburban home, to the credits at the end, I was captivated. So was the rest of the nation.
We were all on tenderhooks as to how the last show would end. We knew it would leave a huge void in our Sunday night viewing. But there was always the hope that there would be a sequel that would explain what happened to the Soprano family and give us closure. That’s what we thought as Tony’s daughter Meadow walks up to the door, the screen goes to Tony. The diner door opens with a bell ringing, Tony looks up and the show cuts to black and after a few seconds the credits roll in silence, leaving his and his family’s fate a mystery. One could almost hear the resounding voice of millions of fans crying No, No, No! 
I slammed my fist against my pillow and yelled. You can’t just drop off the face of the earth and leave us wondering what happens next, I cried. Six long seasons of utter devotion to the show and it ends with a black screen! It was the most devastating ending to a series and left its audience in shock for days. We had invested so much in the Soprano family and now this!
But I kept telling myself, there’s got to be a sequel. There will be a sequel. I was thinking about this only last week, hoping the producers would find a way to satisfy the public’s need to know. That’s how all-consuming the show was. This dysfunctional family with a father who was a brutal mafia boss, who allowed his private demons to take out anyone who got in his way, and murder was a way of life, had captivated our weekends for years. What was the magic formula?
What was it that kept us mesmerized week after week? First off, it was excellent drama, a groundbreaker in the history of television. The acting was superb and the story line left us holding our breath from one week to the next. Nothing before or since has equaled the standard it set.
I got my answer to the sequel thing when its star James Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Italy last week. We will not see the likes of the character Tony Soprano played so well by Gandolfini ever again. But more to the point, we will miss him in future roles that he was scheduled to portray. He was a fine actor and still had many parts to play in the future. Fortunately for his fans, he left his mark that will be etched in our memory for a long long time.
It is an irony that this kind gentle man who epitomized the face of evil in the role of Tony Soprano, would meet such an untimely and natural death on the floor of a bathroom in Italy. Maybe they couldn’t write that into the script. Maybe that’s the sequel.

Zuchinni Pizza Casserole

4 cups grated zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt + pepper, to taste
2 eggs
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese, divided
2 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup pizza sauce
any desired pizza toppings: pepperoni, sausage crumbles, olives, peppers, onions, etc.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9×13 glass dish with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
Grate zucchini and measure out 4 cups. Sprinkle salt over zucchini and let sit for 10 minutes. wring out zucchini to remove any excess water and mix together with pepper, eggs, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 1 cup cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and spread evenly into prepared baking dish. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with pizza sauce, remaining cheeses and any desired pizza toppings. Bake 15 more minutes and remove. Cool 5 minutes before cutting.

CORRECTION: On last week’s directions on cutting the quesadilla’s, cut each tortilla into four slices instead of two.