Amuse-bouche du jour | Pbenjay's Blog

Archive for the ‘Amuse-bouche du jour’ Category

One, Two and New Baby Makes THREE! YIPPPEEE!!!!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Frankie, Friends on April 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

I just want you all to know that everything they say about being a Grandmother is true. Grandbabies are life’s reward for having their parents in the first place. I wish I had the way with words that could convey the swelling in your heart and throat and the tears that creep up behind your eyeballs when one of those darlin’ grandchildren smile at you.

Francesca is going to be the middle sister, in a family of three! Oh I do hope baby number three is another girl – I’m sure that sounds really selfish since I think Tom is hoping for a boy, but that’s the glory of being a Grandma, you can say something like that and get away with it.

Due in October? Hey that’s my birthday month, Mommy!

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Is It Really April? Amuse Bouche du Jour

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour on April 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This weather is so strange! It was cold yesterday and windy, it was cold today and not quite so windy. It’s probably about 10 degrees colder than it should be. We’ve had the first day of Spring, we’ve had Easter and still the mercury hovers in the high 40’s! The calendar says differently and many of the annuals have shot up and bloomed. Thank God for that because otherwise looking around at down parkas, scarves wrapped around necks and people wearing gloves you’d think it was still winter.

Wispy and Crinkly

Feathery Yellow Petals

Tiny Pink Buds and Flowers

Photos courtesy of Murray Head

Photo by Murray Head

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Finny and the Flamingos

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Finley Ray, Peter Coddles, tagged Finley Ray, Finny, Flamingo, Flora and Fauna, Florida, Phoenicopteriformes, WordPress on March 23, 2013| 2 Comments »

“I love flamingos too”

It’s been quite a while since I posted a photo of my little Finny. My daughter, Chiara, sent this to me today and of course it not only made me smile, it made me miss that little cutie even more. Anyway, what is the significance of Finley and flamingos? Well if you recall a blog post way back when…in the category of Peter Coddles* then you know that I LOVE Flamingos. In fact I have a collection of flamingos and here is the link to the blog post I did featuring some of my collection:

https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/queen-of-kitsch-a-brief-history-of-the-plastic-pink-flamingo/

Pink Flamingos Who Lunch (allyouneedisstyle.com)
+Riedel Flamingo Decanter (riedel20071flamingodecanterqsale.wordpress.com)

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In Your Easter Bonnet

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, tagged Clothing, crazy Easter hats, Easter, Easter bonnet, Easter Parade, Fifth Avenue, Holidays, Irving Berlin, Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby Day, kooky Easter bonnets, New York City, Shopping, Straw hat, Top hat on March 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I’ve been checking my blog stats and have noticed a really strong uptick in the number of people visiting the blog that are looking at a previous blog post about Easter Hats. In New York City, every Easter Sunday the Easter Parade takes place on Fifth Avenue and hundreds and hundreds of people come out to walk (parade) along the Avenue.

It is a day of colorful, creative, beautiful, outrageous, big, small, funny and fabulous hats. chapeaus, bonnets, derbies, top hats and straw hats! I make my own creations, sometimes re-cycle them with new flowers and ribbons. You have no ideas how difficult it is to store these broad-brimmed hats in an apartment!!

As Easter is literally around the corner and if you’re going to make your own Easter bonnet, the time would be NOW! So here are some inspirational creations for you look at and if you’re successful, you’ll be all set for a Kentucky Derby Day party.

Lavender Lady

Red Roses

Sun Flower Sue

Black & Cream Dream

Pink on Pink on…

Dramatic Plume

Aren’t these stunning? Hats can be so flattering. For more Easter Hat photos click on the link below.

https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/crazycreativec…ky-easter-hats

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Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, Happy Valentine’s Day To You!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged candy hearts, chocolates, Cooking, Day Valentine, Germany, Holidays, Home, Pinterest, Saint Valentine, Valentine, vintage valentines on February 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I love Valentine’s Day! Everybody (mostly) is happy and smiley and if you’re a kid in Grammar (lol) erh I mean Elementary school, this is a fun day. Don’t you remember how carefully and thoughtfully you looked for just the right package of Valentine’s cards to buy at Woolworth‘s or W.T. Grant‘s? Teacher said you really have to give a card to everyone in the class. And there was always one card in the package just for the teacher. I LOVED THOSE 50’S VALENTINE CARDS! To my delight I found several other Vintage Valentine fanatics on Pinterest. What a great fun trip down the nostalgia road looking at all of those clever and colorful little cards. I have a bunch myself but you’re not surprised about that I’m sure. You know it’s just another collection!

As much fun as those cute clever cards are, I really like and collect much older Valentine greetings. Over the years, my husband has given me some and each year I love putting them out. I started collecting them because I loved the old Victorian frilly 3-dimensional cards. I learned along the way that Valentine cards like any other collectible have value based on the creator. In the case of old Valentines, cards produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons of Germany are more valuable than others. Often Tuck cards were hinged and opened up to reveal a character with moving arms and legs. I own a couple; a big brown dancing bear and a funny-looking character whose face is a grimace of all things!

So today is a day of red roses, pink carnations, red velvet candy boxes, diamond rings, pearls and pendants, lobster and steak dinners, mushy romantic cards, candle light and cocktails…but for me I’m hoping for just another old Valentine.

Vintage Valentine in my collection

Detailed 3-D Vintage Valentine.

Tuck Valentine Card

And here are some of those cute ’50’s cards.

Amorphing objects into Valentine Cards was very popular

‘Round the World

Love the pink rollers

Happy Valentine’s Day to All! Hope your day is a sweet as a Candy Heart.

Candy Hearts

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2013 – The Year of the Snake

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, tagged Arctic, Chinese New Year, New Year, Snake, Space, Water Snake on February 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Black-Snake-31t (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s something about Chinese New Year that gets to me. I don’t know what it is exactly. I always want to eat Chinese food on the night of the New Year. It’s not like I run to Chinatown to see the Dragon Parade or the fireworks, although one year I organized a whole group of friends to go to Chinatown for a traditional New Year’s meal. I asked a friend who would know, what were the dishes to order and that was the first and the last time I had the traditional chicken soup made from the chicken’s feet.

I like to keep a small figurine of whatever astrological animal is representative of the year on my desk. Then the little critter joins his or her astrological mates on a shelf in my bedroom. Somewhere I read that this year was a special snake year because it’s the year of the Water Snake whose color is black, so I’ll have to find not just a snake but a black one at that.

The Cosmic Element and Color of 2013 year of Snake
The 2013 year of Snake is Water Snake, Water Snakes are lucky with finances, they always seem to have money flowing their way. They are adventurous spirits and love to take risks. They are also very intelligent and often a wellspring of creative ideas. Water Snakes love to socialize and meet new friends.They are proud of their achievements, and also very thoughtful and considerate of others.
The colour of the 2013 year of Snake is Black. Black color is the Space, Arctic night, darkness on the Abyss, this is a color of deep waters. The Black Snake will bring people unexpected changes, instability, and changeability. That is why it is important in the year of Snake to plan everything beforehand, and evaluate adequately before taking any actions. You need to be more careful and cautious than ever. – taken from Han Ban.com

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INDIAN EARTH – Magic Make-up in a jar!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, tagged Arts, Clay, Cookie jar, Cosmetics, Earth, Earth Day, God, Holidays on February 2, 2013| 8 Comments »

IT”s BAaaack! The miracle magic make-up of the 80’s. I actually thought it came out in the 70’s but I can’t seem to find the correct answer. Indian Earth and I go way back, I mean waaaaay back. As I said I don’t really remember the exact year, but when it did hit the market, all my friends and I bought it and were using it.

The premise of Indian Earth is that it is a natural product, I don’t know if that means it’s ground up dirt or clay although the company claims it is made up of minerals. And the other amazing attribute is that this ONE color works on all complexions! It may be true, however, you do have to be prudent in using it. I remember some fair-skinned friends who looked a little ruddy bordering on orange some days!!

About a month ago, I was leafing through some magazine and there it was…An ad for Indian Earth claiming it was the original. I couldn’t believe it. I mean really??? It looked just like it did, decades ago; A small clay bottle with a wide mouth and its stopper is a big fat round cork. The original Indian Earth came with a puff that looked like lambskin. I know because I had it AND yes I still have it!! Oh yeah, well not the puff, at some point I must have thrown it out. But I never threw out the cute little clay pot. I don’t know why, I just kept it.

I ‘m SO GLAD I still have my very own original Indian Earth. Ever since I saw the ad, I’ve been using it every day. I rarely wear foundation make-up, usually just a tinted moisturizer and now I finish off using a large make-up brush on the bottom of the cork. Of course you need to shake up your clay pot first.

So not only can everyone use it to get the look of a sun-kissed face, there’s more! Indian Earth can be mixed with a little water to make eyeshadow, lip liner, lipstick, even nail color. This is getting a tan without the harmful UV rays. Sounds like a miracle magical make-up doesn’t it?

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GRAND CENTRAL 100 Years GRAND!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Beaux-Arts, Beaux-Arts architecture, Campbell Apartment, Grand Central Terminal, John W. Campbell, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, Oyster Bar on February 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Completed in 1913, the awe-inspiring Beaux-Arts landmark became the country’s busiest train station serving commuter and long distance rail lines and bringing development to midtown Manhattan.

I love to go to Grand Central Terminal. It is so magnificent with its massive marble floors, soaring ceilings, marble columns. The ceiling which was restored a few years ago is a heavenly vision of the Zodiac. There is an astronomical mural depicting the Mediterranean sky during the period between October and March. There are 2500 stars in the ceiling. In the center of the main Concourse there is an information booth and a beautiful round 4-sided clock. “Meet me at the clock” – an iconic meeting place for decades and has been featured in many films.

GCT is home to many secrets! Did you know that in the middle of the Main Concourse there is a marble column that holds a hidden spirlal staircase to the lower level?

The Campbell Apartment, a popular bar, is tucked away out of sight. Formerly the private office and salon of 1920’s tycoon, John W. Campbell; The Campbell Apartment has been fully restored to its original splendor — and reborn as a chic cocktail lounge that has already been cited in the national media as one of “the best bars in America”

The famous Oyster Bar and Restaurant are located on a lower level and obviously that’s not a secret. BUT outside of the restaurant there are four columns positioned in a sort of square. The secret is; If you stand in one corner facing the column and your friend goes to the opposite diagonal corner and you whisper a few words or sentence (and I mean whisper), your friend will clearly hear what you have said. YES it is amazing but it is true.

“I’m late, I’m late…”

Photo courtesy of Murray Head

New York’s Grand Central Terminal turns 100 (telegraph.co.uk)
Memorable moments in Grand Central’s 100 years (cnn.com)

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Baby It’s Cold Outside! Hello Robin Redbreast!!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, tagged Environment, Folklore, Legends, Literature, Mother Nature, Robin, Robin Hood, Tales, United States on January 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Two days ago I saw a Robin and thought “wow, is that really a Robin in the tree”? Uh yes it was and then today I saw another Robin out in front of our building. I’m wondering if this is a major screw up on Mother Nature‘s part or could it be that winter is over and here is our harbinger of Spring? Or maybe it just hasn’t been cold enough for the Robins to realize that winter is here and they should have left a couple of months ago.

Well it’s cold enough now! 11 degrees today and possibly going down lower tonight. I hope those Robins still have intact nests, although this would be night to bunk in with a warm furry squirrel.

Global warming anyone????

Go South NOW!

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CENTRAL PARK – Look Who Hangs Out There!

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged Ashkenazi, Ethnicity, Israel, Jewish, Jews, List of English words of Yiddish origin, Yiddish, Yiddish language on January 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Sometimes I get a bunch of photos from Murray and Fab Foto Friday just doesn’t give me enough space to put a lot up. So today because I also have an ulterior motive, I’m going to post some of the photos of the Who and What hang out in the park. Oh so you want to know the ulterior motive? Well the last few days and all the rest of this week is filled to the top with what is known in Yiddish as tsuris.

There are ISSUES and more ISSUES with work, with the adult kids, with health, with timing, with trying to be in two places at once and God how I wish I had the power of bi-location! Anyway, all that stuff is really personal and since I don’t want to put that stuff up on the blog because that I will have to bite my tongue a lot more than in chic!