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The Ten Retired Girl Scout Cookies Fans Miss Most – DivineCaroline

Posted in BY THE WAY on March 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The Ten Retired Girl Scout Cookies Fans Miss Most – DivineCaroline.

I hadn’t planned on revisiting the Girl Scout cookie issue because thank God in a rare moment of sanity I actually gave all the rest of the evil ones to my doormen and handymen.  BUT then my friend Gail sent me this article and ohhhhh did it ever bring back some memories.   I didn’t remember all of the retirees but Ole Oles!!! This is a great blog about Girl Scout cookies, I wish I had written it myself 🙂  And I learned that there are TWO different cookie bakers, wow!!

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Spring Has Sprung in my yard

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , on March 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

The first photo was taken on Sunday March 14th, a bleak misty day at the shore.  The second photo was taken yesterday March 21st.  Mother Nature  is freaking amazing.  You see this is why living in a place where there are 4 separate seasons is so great.  Just when you think the doldrums of winter have robbed your soul of life, your spirit of a sense of well-being, Mother Nature rewards you a clouldless blue sky, crocuses and snow drops peeking their heads out from under dead brown leaves, the grass looking a shade greener, the sound of birds chirping the morning call to rise and signs everywhere of perrenials reappearing.

The rose bush has new growth buds all over it.  The forsythia, which on Friday had green buds appearing on its lanky branches, today had slivers of yellow peeping out on those same buds.  But best of all, I think the rate of growth of the daffodils is truly unbelievable.  Check out these photos.

Daffodils March 14th

Daffodils March 21st

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Girl Scout Cookies are EVIL

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, tagged , , , , on March 17, 2010| 5 Comments »

It’s annual rite of passage; you can expect the knock on your door sometime in  January or in my case, one of your co-workers approaches you, cookie order form in hand and asks you if you would like to buy some cookies from her daughter.  Uh, (a pause – does anyone ever say no? Not likely! In my office  alone  I understand cartons of cookie boxes arrived and the cookies have been appearing in the coffee room every day since, as those who have greater will power than me, put their cookies out and hope that the rest of us will gobble them up and spare the buyer hundreds of calories.  How can you resist a tasty morsel with your coffee? They’re omnipresent and they stir up a deep seated familiarity and embedded memories of Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-si-dos, Trefoils and Tag-a-longs. Oh yes, those memories are alive and well and just because they manage to lay dormant for most of the year, they DO rear their ugly and evil heads at the mere mention of Girl Scout Cookies. Girl Scout Cookies are Evil – even if in this case it was the Girl Scouts!!! Who doesn’t remember (well if you’re a girl anyway) donning that most attractive green shirtwaist uniform and visiting all of your neighbors and with a big-eyed smile asking them sweetly if they would like to buy some cookies?  I do!  I had two best friends growing up; one of them attended parochial school with me and the other (AND this is one who reads this blog) went to public school.  Well, St. John’s grammar (yes that IS what we called it) school got out an hour and a half earlier than Wilbur Snow school and so my other friend and I used to race through the neighborhood and try to sign up all the people before Susan even got home. See, I told you

The Evil Ones!

AND it’s just not the calories that are out to sabotage your diet -with every mouthful I heard Gillian Michaels speaking in my ear. “Palm Oil? are you trying to kill yourself?” Partially hydrogenated? Two very bad words! Saturated fat-6g, are you crazy?” And that’s not even mentioning Invert sugar, Dextrose and Monocalcium Phosphates, whatever the heck that is!! And it isn’t just Gillian, my Jiminy Cricket conscience, have you read any of the food rules in the now very popular eponymous best seller?  Here’s one that haunts me; Don’t eat anything that contains ingredients your Grandmother never heard of or a third grader can’t pronounce.!!!

So there it is – Girl Scout Cookies are EVIL and if you any left in your house, you should rid yourself and your heart of them immediately.  If you’re not sure what to do with them, you can leave them at my door or on my desk and those that I don’t eat I am sending to Susan because she told me she is going to use Thin Mints for the crust on her Easter cheese cake.

Thin Mints

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Last Look at the Remains of the Fire

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged on March 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Only The Manchester Inn's Mini Cooper remains

Sunday afternoon, we walked over to Ocean Pathway, where lots of people were standing around.  It was eerily quiet – bystanders gathered in groups of two or three and everyone talked softly, as if not to wake the dead…embers.  The sound of the giant shovel clawing at the rubble and remains was surreal.  The gray mist shrouded the ghastly site and we walked on sooty ground and noted hundred of black spots where burning embers had landed.

The remains of The Manchester Inn and the houses on either side of it.

The Shovel and the Rubble

Next door to the house next door to the INN

This is where 3 houses stood on Bath Avenue

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Amazing New Fire Photos By Edward Wyzykowski of Ocean Grove

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG on March 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Amazing New Fire Photos By Edward Wyzykowski of Ocean Grove.

I had planned on posting some photos I took on Sunday of the aftermath of the fire – but before I do, I wanted to share these amazing photos that were published today on Blogfinger.  These were taken at the height of the conflagration.  Unnerving to say the least and after seeing them and knowing my own pictures were taken around 6:45am it illustrates how quickly the fire was able to consume the properties.

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Dire Fire Pre-Dawn Disaster

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , on March 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

5:00 am – still snuggled under covers, we hear sirens wailing down Broadway.

6:15am – my cell phone rings downstairs and I don’t get to it in time.  Look at the missed call and it was Susan.  Call her back – she is yelling into her cell phone over the roar of the wind and called to tell me that the Manchester Inn burned down and several houses were burning too.  In two minutes I know I ‘m not going back to sleep and I tell Peter I’m going.  He really doesn’t want to get up but doesn’t want me to go alone.  So believe it or not (and those of you who know us, know….) we got up, threw on some clothes and drove over to Main Avenue.  Stepping out of the car we were hit by the smell of the smoke.  And looking farther west down Main we could see a wall of smoke that extended from the fire on Ocean Pathway to Main Avenue  We left the car in front of the Hardware Store and made our way down Pilgrim Pathway.  There were orange cones on Ocean Avenue at Main, at Central Avenue and Main, at Pilgrim Pathway and actually almost anywhere you looked north of Main Ave.

The wind was howling, it was raining and as we stood in front of the Auditorium we could only see about 50′ in front of us. The wall of dark gray smoke was more like a house, not a wall.  Everything was enveloped in this ominous gray cloud.  We encountered a man who was walking around the Great Auditorium with a coal shovel and he told us he was looking for embers that were landing close to this famous structure.

Next move was to the Auditorium Pavillion to change batteries and assess just how close we could get.  Walking past the tent structures up to Central Avenue it was difficult to see anything – so many fire engines, so much smoke.  Some people were moving left and we followed them to Bath Avenue, the street that runs parallel and to the north of Ocean Pathway.  There the horror and scope of what was happening was made real for us bystanders.

Bath Avenue is a narrow street and we were able to stand on the sidewalk opposite the houses on fire.  This had to be about 6:45am and 3 of the houses had already burned beyond salvage.  The firemen just kept pouring water on these houses and the fire would keep popping up along a roof line or somewhere in what was left of a house.  The firemen tried to stop it from spreading but this was fairly impossible.  I saw one house, a green house with siding and it was scorched so badly,  I wondered if it would just ignite some place too.

I stood there crying, this was such a tragic scene and one every Ocean Grove homeowner dreads and fears and knows “that there but for the grace of God goes…”.   Looking at these burnt out shells, emotions running in high gear, the house, yes – BUT the belongings, the treasures, the photos, the memories all gone up in smoke so to speak.  Dear God, my heart goes out to these residents.  Finally cold and wet through and through, Peter and I walked around to Ocean Pathway to see if we could now see anything of the ruins of the Inn. Not really, just the eerie sight of the Manchester Inn’s little car still parked out in front.  The labyrinth of hoses was mind-boggling – running east to west on the Pathway, south to north from Main Ave to the Pathway, hoses up and down Bath Avenue, hoses laying along Beach Avenue.  Then as I was walking back to our car, I noticed the firemen laying ladders alongside the big beautiful house on the northwest corner of Beach and Ocean Pathway.  I couldn’t bear to watch another historical Victorian go up in flames.

We thought we might have breakfast at Nagle’s but it hadn’t opened yet.  Then we got word that the water pressure on Main Avenue was greatly diminished and the water was running out brown.  Thinking better of that idea, I assumed that our cottage was far enough away not to be affected by the water situation – WRONG!!!

The cats got bottled water and I hope to shower before bedtime.

This has been a day of anguish, of introspection, of concern, and a deep appreciation and thankfulness for the bravest of the brave – The firemen and I assume some of the many companies that responded to Ocean Grove’s call for assistance, are volunteer fire houses.  Thank you West Long Branch, Neptune, Asbury Park, Spring Lake, Allenhurst, Bradley Beach, Shark River Hills, Avon , Deal, Belmar, Ocean and please forgive me if I omitted some, there were just so many trucks and firemen everywhere.

Just like a victim of 3rd degree burns, our town has been indelibly scarred.

Saving the big Victorian on the corner

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

A House is Not a Home Anymore

Relentless Fire in Spite of the Rain

A Burnt Piece of a Column Amid the Omnipresent Hoses

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Eight on Main at Seven

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , on March 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Pecan Pie

And they call this Pot Luck? What a meal! Eight of us gathered Friday evening at the home of Trish & Ron who live on Main Avenue.  They have a big beautiful home with a fantastic dining room and a table large enough to seat eight comfortably and Editthat wasn’t even with all of the leaves.

Guests included Heide, who divides her time between Belgium, Ocean Grove and California, Carol, a full-time resident who runs The Ocean Grove Trading Post, Jim and Susan, full-time entrepreneurs (I’ll be doing a blog about their business in the near future)in Ocean Grove, and Peter and I, the Ocean Grove part-timers.

You had to know with this group, Pot Luck wouldn’t be your Ham & Bean, Macaroni & Cheese church supper type.  We started the evening off with liberal libations and small gourmet pizza slices – delicate and delightful.  Oh and I forgot to say right up front that our hostess is a baker of renown and when we walked in, the table was set beautifully and two enormous racks of individual pies were flanking the centerpiece of flowers and the aroma was mouth-watering.  And then we sat down to an array of delicious dishes.  While we were chatting away before dinner, Ron and his guest chef of the evening, Jim, were in the back yard grilling lamb chops that had been previously marinated in Ron’s own special marinade.  So rare, so beautifully charred on the edges,  a real treat.   We had a chicken dish that I truthfully have no idea how Heide made it or what was in it besides chicken.  What I can tell you is that I had two helpings and the flavor was so familiar, it took me to the second helping to remember where I had savored this kind of dish before – my Grandmother Schmidt used to make any meat delectable with the same kind of sauce and seasoning that Heide used, and I have had steak at Heide’s home and she did some similar magic with that too.  I think it’s some kind of Germanic thing that these great cooks do. Carol created an artful arugula salad that was crisp and fresh and chock full of good things.  Susan was on vegetable duty and she brought us seasonal vegetables (almost locivore) -they were roasted to perfection.  With 3 of the 5 woman having Italian ancestry, of course we had a pasta dish but no ordinary red sauce (a/k/a gravy to those who know) for this group.  I contributed a rigatoni and cannellini bean and broccoli dish and I thought it was very good.

And then the piece de resistance – the pies came out! Two big trays; mini pecan pies and apple pies.  Well anyone who knows Trish knows that her apple pies are not only to die for but we all tell her she should sell them – so I immediately said, “I’m only having apple and besides I don’t like pecan pie, it’s too sweet”.  WRONG – Jim, our N’awlins native proclaimed the pies to be perfect.  Was it curiosity, arm-twisting ( lol,lol) or an insatiable appetite for dessert, well maybe all of the above – even though I made the arm-twisting part up!  I took half of a mini pecan pie and the flavors just swirled around in my mouth. This was not the sticky, sweet, gooey glop that I always thought all pecan pies tasted like- Oh No, this was smooth, creamy, flavorful and not  too sweet. Trish let us in on her secret but unless given permission, far be it from this blogger (who wants to be invited back!) give away any culinary secrets.

And after many hours of laughter and even some after dinner cordials, we all went home and that ladies and gentlemen is Pot Luck in Ocean Grove.

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Jeff Bridges-Best Actor INDEED

Posted in BY THE WAY, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , , on March 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I just came home after seeing Crazy Heart and am more convinced than before that Jeff Bridges truly deserved the Best Actor Academy Award.  He was convincingly the aging, washed up, alcoholic country singer.

The best actors take the risks.  And they make it look easy, so easy in fact that you don’t even think they’re making it look easy. Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake was an outstanding example of an actor willing to let it all hang out, both figuratively and literally.  At 60 years old, he was brave enough to take off most of his clothes and let’s be honest, he wasn’t exactly sexy in his tighty whities.  Actually it was the scene in the movie where he vomits and lays down on the bathroom floor wearing only his underwear – that was when it really hit me….he was a drunk, moaning and then passing out.  Every expression, every movement of his body…. and then I realized, he’s NOT ALONE in this room; the cameramen, the lighting people, the grips, and the electricians, the script reader, set decorators, make-up and on and on are all around him – it’s almost unbelievable that he was so …. vulnerable!

And then as I said in my previous Oscar-related blog, when you compare his performance to that of his competition, there really wasn’t any competition.  That’s not to say that George Clooney and Morgan Freeman and Colin Firth aren’t great actors – they are.  The role and the depth of your character certainly plays a huge part in your ability to bring an Oscar home.  Even though you often read in a review the statement that the actor brought depth to the role , there are some roles that just don’t allow an actor to stretch. This blog is not about criticizing the other nominees or their roles; it’s only about singing the praises of Jeff Bridges in what surely was his best role ever.  Best Actor – Jeff Bridges Indeed!

Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake

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REVELATIONS not in the Bible

Posted in BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , , on March 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

What do you think about these recent revelations?

Red wine can help you lose weight.  I’ll have  the Pinot Noir please.

Don’t carry your newborn in a pouch-like sling, the  baby could suffocate.

Eric Massa says he tickled, okay maybe it was a grope and then denies he groped. He crossed the line – the Equator, and maybe that wasn’t the only one.

Bachelor Bob gets married but not to his reality show pick. I’m shocked.

Rush Limbaugh said if the health care plan goes into effect, he will move to Costa Rica in 5 years.  I say why wait?

Spring might actually be “around the corner”.

A meal based salad is fattening! 1400 calories in Chilli’s Explosion salad

There’s a coyote in Central Park and has been seen in Chelsea too.

You can write your own epitaph – join the Coffin Academy.

The Insane Clown Posse! Celebrate murder and decapitation.  Oh to be a Juggalo.

Lindsay Lohan sues E-Trade for 1M. You didn’t really think she’s the “Milkoholic”  in the commercial did you???

Nascar drive Carl Edwards rammed the car of Brad Kesselowski at 196 mph.  And he didn’t get fined or suspended!

Feel Free to Rant here….

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Politics and Greed – The OSCARS

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged , , on March 7, 2010| 1 Comment »

As promised I am going to make my predictions for the winners of tonight’s Academy Awards.  So so much has been written about who will win, why they will win and who will lose.  There are predictions in every major newspaper, every Oscar and Academy Award website, every “social” website, all the Twitterers are ready to tweet; Perez Hilton, The Daily Beast and dozens and dozens more.  But before I add my predictions for the winners and wishes for those who won’t but in my opinion should….

I just want to quote my friend Gail who said as we were discussing how we were going to watch tonight’s show:  “Greed is good “ .  Peter and I were planning on going to a friend’s house along with another couple and the six of us would gather around Jim and Susan’s 40″ screen to see the show.  That was of course if ABC didn’t pull out of Cablevision because they weren’t receiving enough money or any at all – who knows?  All I know is we just may hosting the party with the 20″ TV without the flat screen and with a remote that can’t mute or lower the sound.  Fun fun fun.  Susan and Jim have come up with a couple of creative ideas – all of which are occupying most of this glorious sunny day in the Grove.  They’re inside, I’m inside and the other woman is working in her shop.  Later on I’m going to send Peter up the road to see if there really is a beach here.  So here’s the thing; ABC must be on skids (yeah right!), the Mouse must be as poor as his cousin, the churchmouse and Cablevision must be David to the Goliaths of Verizon and Time Warner but this time David is too poor to buy any stones.  Greed is Good or maybe Greed is God.

Now on the lighter more frivolous side, there is the politics of the Oscar game.  We have the two Exes battling for Best Director but they have conducted themselves just way to politely to make anybody’s gossip web site.  BUT maybe it would be very politically correct to have a woman win this year.  Just maybe.  Then there’s the politics of war itself.  Unusual to have a movie made about an ongoing war isn’t it? Is it politically correct?  Meryl Streep up for Best Actress in what seems to be a by a nose horse race with Sandra Bullock – Sandra Bullock?! NOT to be mean or catty but really now-she’s is just not in the same class as Meryl – BUT is the Academy getting tired of giving this grand dame of the screen yet another Oscar?  Hasn’t she won enough?  We’ve all been in a class, a race, a group where one person always wins and even though we know they are the best, we eventually begin to resent them.  Poor Meryl- she may lose tonight because politically it would be so correct to bring Sandra Bullock into the Winner’s Circle and get some fresh new blood, uh wouldn’t it?  Meryl Streep gave an outstanding performance is Julia and Julia further proving (and she doesn’t have to prove anything) that as an actress she can stretch herself across the lines to a Jewess during the Holocaust, a middle-aged woman in a torrid love affair and a hard-driving female editor and each time she totally embodies her character as she recently did as the affable and lovable Julia Child.  We’ll see just how far politics goes tonight.  And in the same vein, Jeff Bridges seems to have already wrapped up Best Actor although I haven’t seen it yet, the reviews all say he was marvelous in the role and hopefully he will win it because of his performance and NOT because it’s his time. When you look at the other nominees and their roles, I think he should win easily.  Best Supporting Actor may have some political overtones too.  Word is that Christophe Waltz will walk away with the Oscar and politically you know how easy it is to hate Nazis and he played on mean Nazi bastard – not to be confused with being a Basterd. However, it is also easy to hate a child molester, and God knows Stanley Tucci’s performance was chillingly brilliant.  Personally I think that role was much harder than playing the all too familiar (almost predictable character) Nazi SS Colonel.  Not sure if there is any politics involved here but I think Tucci should win but he won’t.  Of course the most political of all the moves the Academy made this year was in nominating 10 movies. Not going there, already did (read a previous blog).  Populist Politics seemed rampant this year – let’s see what happens tonight.  The newbies in the races are there to appease the public who pays to go see movies and be entertained, however they don’t get to vote.

Here are my predictions: Best Picture – The Hurt Locker – I didn’t think any of them were Best Picture caliber except maybe Avatar with its new technology. Best Actor – Jeff Bridges – the others, no big stretch. Best Actress – Meryl Streep – I think Sandra might win after all. Best Supporting Actor – Christophe Waltz– I wish Stanley would win.Best Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique. Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow.  Costume Design – Young Victoria– at first I thought Coco Before Channel should win but there is no denying the scope and magnificence of the designer’s period work, even though period films often do win. Cinematography- Inglourious Basterds – I’m not knowledgeable enough to really understand the requirements for this award so Avatar may win but I didn’t pick it because so much of it was computer generated. Best Original Screenplay -A Serious Man –this won’t win but to me the others were stories just waiting to be told again in film. Best Adapted Screenplay–Precious – I think it should win something (now who’s being political?) and believe the actors brought the story to life. “That’s all folks”  “See you at the movies”

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