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Move Over Regis & Kelly – I’ve Got My OWN Personal Banker

March 1, 2012 by pbenjay

This is an ode to old-fashioned customer service! Regis Philbin and Kelly Rippa have been appearing in a series of television commercials touting the virtues of TD Bank.  No monthly fees, debit cards and most of all personal service.  Perhaps the commercial I’m referring to, doesn’t run in your part of the country and if so, the irony of the title may escape you.  However, this blog post isn’t about TD Bank; No, it’s about my own personal banker.

Way back in the ’80’s I had occasion to open a joint savings account with my father at Superior Federal Bank in Arkansas.  Yes, I know it sounds odd.  Well. I had my reasons…. I lived in Connecticut then and for many years I had little to do with bank account – whatever money was in there was money I had put aside, not to touch.  Years later, the bank was bought or merged with Arvest Bank and I moved to New York City.

Eventually, periodically I  would  transfer funds from that account  to my bank in New York.  It was quite a process actually.  In order to get the money to New York,  I had to dictate an extremely long and complicated litany of addresses, AB routing numbers , a beneficiary account and then for further credit to another account number .  This was a lot to say on the telephone and not being a banker, I don’t really know what the process was on the end in Arkansas, but often when I called, the woman who answered the phone would tell me that she would get Ethel to assist me because Ethel knew what to do and I didn’t have to reiterate the litany to her;  Ethel was my first personal banker at Arvest!

Every time I’d call the bank,  I was warmly greeted with a cheery “Hello, Miss Lori”.  Gosh, you’d think I was a regular local customer who came in every week to deposit my paycheck!  Fast forward to the last couple of years;  Ethel retired and  at some point, Damon answered the phone when I called to facilitate a wire transfer.

Damon has that silky Southern drawl, not real deep-South, and not Arkansasese, just soft and pleasant.  So here I am, Type A++ living in Type A Manhattan and on the other end of the phone is this relaxed voice exuding capability and assuring me all would be handled asap.  And true to his word, Damon got the wire transfer out and followed up with a phone call to let me know it went through.

Now, don’t you find that amazing?  I mean, really…have you ever tried to get a live person at Chase Manhattan?  Ha, ha, ha, and you can add Bank of America, Citi Bank and every other mega financial institution around here to that impersonal personal service.  I CAN pick up the phone and call my banker, in fact, I can also email him and get a reply!  I think that IS JUST FANTASTIC!  And he always inquires “How are you today, Miss Lori?”   Sometimes we chat about the differences in the weather between Arkansas and New York.

I called one day and was told Damon no longer worked at that branch YIKES panic strikes!  Oh! He was now in an Oklahoma branch, BUT he would  still be able to take care of business for me.  The next time he transferred, he let me know where he would be and sent me pre-addressed envelopes with Attention to his name so my deposits would be personally handled by him!!  NOW I CALL THAT PERSONAL SERVICE!

So there it is, my ode, my homage to REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE and Damon, the best personal banker you could have!  Thanks Damon!!

Superior Federal Bank, Mena, ARK, ARVEST bank, Damon Miller

ARVEST BANK

Posted in BY THE WAY, Smooth or Crunchy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Pasta with Cauliflower and Collards-Tasty Tidbits Tuesday

February 29, 2012 by pbenjay

English: A bundle of collard greens, from an o...

A Bunch of Collard Greens

DON’T be put off by the ingredients in this super winter pasta dish.  Depending on where you are when you are reading this, winter has either been a no-show or you’re cursing that damn gopher in Pennsylvania!  I’m in NYC and we’ve had a “pass”  (so far) on a snowy, frosty, icy winter.  Thank you Mother Nature  for making amends to us for last year’s horrible onslaught of snow! So even though Daylight Savings Time is around the corner as is the official beginning of Spring, I don’t count out the infamous month of March.  It IS still winter and it is cold even if it’s  not freezing.  And that’s why a hearty pasta meal featuring classic winter vegetables is appropriate and tasty.

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3/4 lb of short pasta such as rigatoni or penne

1 TBS olive oil plus more for drizzling

1 large shallot, minced

1/3 cup white wine such as Pinot Grigio

1 bunch collard greens-ribs removed, leaves sliced crosswise

reserved roasted cauliflower**

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Cook pasta according to directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and drain pasta.

Meanwhile in a medium pot, heat oil over MEDIUM heat.  Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, till soft, about 5 minutes.  Add wine and cook till almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add collards and cook, stirring  occasionally, until bright green and crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Add cauliflower, lemon zest and pasta.  Cook until cauliflower and pasta are hot, stirring and adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta, about 4 minutes.  Transfer to serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil.  Serve immediately.

** Preheat oven to 450 degrees; Toss cauliflower florets with 2 TBS olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper. Roast 15 minutes, flip and roast for 10 more minutes or till tender.

Recipe from Martha Stewart‘s EveryDay Food

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Posted in Everyday Food, Marthaspeak, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes) | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Oscars-Who Will-Who Should WIN

February 26, 2012 by pbenjay

Academy Award

Oscar

The red carpet has rolled out, the nominees and wannabees are strolling in, all smiles glancing to the left and then the right.  Right now it’s all about “WHO” are you wearing? Rooney in Givenchy doesn’t do it for me, although I love her looks, I don’t think the dress flatters her.  Viola in Vera Wang, Tina Fey in Herrara, it’s the night to vote on talent and praise the stylists.

However, what I really want to blog about is who I think should win an Academy Award and who probably will.  A couple hours from now, I’ll know how I sco

BEST ACTOR: Jean Dujardin will probably win.  Brad Pitt should win because he put all his skills into making the character natural and believable.

BEST ACTRESS : Viola Davis seems to have edged out Meryl Streep in the last couple of weeks but I think it’s still a toss-up.  Glen Close was outstanding in the difficult role of Albert Nobbs and she should win, but won’t.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer will win and I think so too.  He is “due” .

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:  What a tough race! Every nominee was fantastic in their roles.  If Viola Davis doesn’t win Best Actress, then the Academy may pick Octavia Spencer.  However, I think Janet McTeer will win and I pick her also. Melissa McCarthy was unbelievable – really can’t imagine playing her role.

BEST DIRECTOR: It is a rare year when the Best Director and the Best Movie are not one and the same.  For that reason I think Michel Hazanavicious will win. However, you can’t discount Martin Scorcese.  I think Woody Allen should win.

BEST PICTURE: The Artist will win because it is novel, an homage to the silent film era and it’s an intellectual choice everyone can feel good about.  The only nominated film I didn’t see was Tree of Life.  My pick is The Help primarily because the others weren’t BEST.

Personal Footnotes:  Berenice Bejo is beautiful.

Demian Bechir is really good looking.

Michele Williams channeled Marilyn.

Watching Hugo stoned makes it better.

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Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books | 2 Comments »

Wegman’s Week of Delicious Economical Meals

February 22, 2012 by pbenjay

Yes I do like to cook…BUT not always!  After all, living in NYC, the capitol of take-out and delivered food makes it really easy to never have to cook.   Not to mention the late late serving hours in many restaurants and the neighborhood Coffee Shop that’s open 24 hours.  Can you imagine how liberating and indulgent that is?  If you can’t sleep and you think a Belgian Waffle would hit the spot, you can just pick up the phone at 3:00 am and in 15 minutes you can be pouring maple syrup over a steaming hot waffle.

Ok I digress…this past week, I’ve been cooking every night and one of the main reasons is economics.  I’m not making Beef Wellington, or Lobster Bisque.  I served up some yummy food and none of the meals cost a lot.

I started off making a batch of Butternut Squash Soup.  This savory version of a root vegetable soup came from the latest issue of Wegman’s MENU magazine.  It’s not as thick and rich as some other recipes, however, it has a flavorful twist.   Here it is:

1 TBS olive oil

1 cup of chopped onion

1 cup of thinly sliced leeks

1 cup thinly sliced celery

1 TBS chopped garlic

2 bay leaves

2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

2 pkgs of cleaned, cut butternut squash (20 oz ea.) or 3 lbs bulk squash cut in 1 inch dice

2 cartons of vegetable broth ( I used chicken broth)

2 TBS amber maple syrup

pumpkin seed oil ( I didn’t have any)

toasted pumpkin seeds (had those and toasted them)

You’ll need a stockpot and a blender

Heat olive oil in stockpot on MEDIUM.  Add onions, leeks, celery, garlic, and bay leaves;  season with 2 tsp salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, stirring, 10 minutes till softened bu not browned.

Add squash and stock.  Increase heat to MEDIUM-HIGH.  Bring to a simmer, cover, vented.  Reduce heat to LOW; simmer 20-25 minutes.

Turn off heat.  Remove bay leaves.  Stir in maple syrup.  Working in batches, add soup to blender.  Puree till smooth, pouring pureed soup into another pot.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

Ladle soup into warmed serving bowls, garnish each with 1 tsp pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil.

The next day I got the stockpot out and made one of favorite winter Wegman’s recipes;  Slow-Cooked Beef Minestrone.  I  posted this truly economical and delicious recipe previously -see post at https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/slow-cooked-beef-minestrone/

On another night  we had veggie burgers and as a side dish I made Pan Steamed Cauliflower, also a Wegman’s MENU magazine recipe.  This is a great way to prepare  vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower.

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tsp chopped garlic

1 anchovy fillet (in the jar, not tin) or 1  1/2 tsp capers

1 – 1  1/2 lb trimmed vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, romanescu, brocoletti, green beans)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

cracked black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil, garlic, and anchovy on MEDIUM-LOW.  Cook, stirring, 2-3 minutes (until anchovy dissolves).

Raise heat to HIGH.  Add vegetables, water, and salt. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer; cover.  Cook, stirring occasionally 8-12 minutes or until water is evaporated. 

Season to taste with pepper.  Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, grated cheese or red pepper flakes, if desired.

My husband loves pasta so we don’t go too many days without a pasta night.  I decided to make a special sauce – Wegman’s San Marzano Tomato Sauce.  This was Soooo Goooood.   I will post the recipe for you but not today because I just previewed this post and it’s already getting long.  And to finish up my Wegman’s Week,  I prepared Chicken Breasts with a Lemon Caper Sauce -I’ll post that one later too.

Wegman's brand,

San Marzano Tomatoes

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Lifehacker? Oh That’s What You Call Them!

February 17, 2012 by pbenjay

Until an hour ago,  I had never heard the term, Lifehacker.  How strange is that?  Well I’m sort of banking on the fact that many of you have not heard the word either.

A lifehacker is a secret way to make your life easier, or better and without great expense.  After I read these, I thought it was a bit like reading Hints from Heloise, (you remember her don’t you?)  Then I went on the website lifehacker.com and was astounded by the breadth and depth of the subjects and topics that are dealt with and they are chock full of great ideas.  However, to clarify the source here;  I took these from mental_floss.com and I understand that that web post copied them from Wildammo.com.  So now that I’ve documented all the sources, I hope you enjoy reading these good tips, these lifehackers.

  1. Take scratches off your CDs and DVDs with a ripe banana. Rub the banana on the CD/DVD surface, then use the underside of the peel to rub the banana in deeper, wipe clean with soft cloth and spritz off any smudges.
  2. Store bed linen sets  in one of pillowcases and you won’t have to search for any missing pieces.
  3. Rubbing a walnut over the scratches in your furniture will disguise the dings and scrapes.
  4. Use magnetic strips attached to the back of a medicine chest to hold bobby pins, tweezers, nail clippers etc.
  5. Use an upside down muffin tin and bake cookie dough over the top and you will have baked cookie bowls for ice cream.
  6. Take those ubiquitous little plastic bread loaf tags and attach them to the myriad cords under your desk.  Mark the tag with the name of the device.
  7. You can hull strawberries using a plastic straw, sounds simple enough.
  8. Pump up the volume of your iPod or iPhone by placing in a bowl – the concave shape amplifies the sound.
  9. Put a tension rod in your cleaning cabinet and you can gain valuable space by hanging spray bottles from it.
  10. Find tiny lost items by putting a stocking over the vacuum cleaner’s hose and you will trap your lost item.

    Banana to the rescue.

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Flags At Half-Mast in New Jersey!? What is he thinking?

February 15, 2012 by pbenjay

Governor Chris Christie has ordered that all flags in New Jersey be flown at half-mast the day of Whitney Houston’s funeral! OMG! Are you kidding me?  

I believe flags should be flown half-mast for heroes and very important public officials of the state.  I think Whitney Houston was beautiful, talented, probably a kind and loving person BUT I do not want my grandchildren to think  she was a hero! She was a drug addict and you can call it a disease and that’s fine with me BUT it is not a disease that you contract like polio or cancer!  It is a self-induced, self-inflicted affliction and the sick person has to own that.  I tried to teach my own children to be responsible for their own actions and that every action has a consequence (good or bad).

So Governor Christie thinks she’s an icon of the state;  That’s interesting, I never even knew she was from New Jersey and I have lived in the tri-state area my whole life.  Sadly, more people associate Snooki from the show Jersey Shore as an icon and she doesn’t even come from New Jersey.  I know Frank Sinatra came from New Jersey and that Bruce Springsteen comes from New Jersey.  I loved

Governor of New Jersey at a town hall in Hills...

Image via Wikipedia

songs, I loved that he was Italian (as I am) and that he came from Hoboken, like my grandmother did but he was certainly no hero!  Whitney Houston is NOT a hero;  She was a fantastic singer/entertainer with a remarkable God-given gift and unfortunately for her and us, she took her own life and has robbed us of her gift.

I certainly hope no other celebrity dies soon, as I cherish their talents more and more each year as yet another and another slips away.  New Jersey has been the birthplace of so much talent that if we were to fly the flags at half-mast each time one of them died, we would hardly have full mast flown flags.  Here’s just a handful of New Jersey born celebrities:

Bruce Sprinsteen: 1949

Jon Bon Jovi: 1962

Kevin Spacey: 1959

Meryl Streep: 1949

Judy Blume: 1938

Joe Piscapo: 1951

David Copperfield: 1956

Dionne Warwick: 1940

Ray Liotta: 1954

Jerry Lewis: 1926

Ice-T: 1958

Jack Nicholson: 1937

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Valentine’s Day Cards – A Look Back in Time

February 14, 2012 by pbenjay

I remember the Valentine’s Day cards of the 50’s – the ones we exchanged in grammar school (that’s what we called elementary school).  They were mostly funny, sweet, and complete with  sugary clichés.  The Valentine cards shown here are older and speak to a slightly different take on expressing affection.  Can you imagine the phone calls you’d get if you sent your child to school with these today?

Not your average Vegan Valentine!

"Ouch"

Ain't Love Swell?

"Muddy Waters"

Vintage Violent Valentine

Chesterfields no less!

Fuzzy Worms?

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Pull Out All The Stops-Obscure Origin of a Common Phrase

February 14, 2012 by pbenjay

Ever wonder where some of the phrases we use in our everyday language?  I do and in this blog I have often featured phrases that once were common and now are obscure to generation X and Y.  Sometimes a phrase fades away because it’s no longer applicable or contains words that have dropped out of usage.

PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS has come to mean let it all go, or let it all out, or put the force of 100% effort into something.  This past Friday, Peter and I took our granddaughter, Finley, to the Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ.  We really wanted to see their collection of antique music machines and automata.  It is an amazing collection with gorgeous elaborate music boxes of every evolution and Living Dolls and Mechanical Musical Instruments ever since we saw the movie, HUGO.

Now you are wondering what does all that have to do with this blog post?  The early Music Machines operated on a bellows system.  The docent demonstrated several of the mechanical musical machines.  There was  large wooden instrument that worked with bellows and you could adjust the volume  by pulling out a row of stoppers. 

And there you have it -all the sound was let out, by pulling out all the stoppers!

Antique music box with brass cylinder

French Automaton - Lady Knitting

Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Obscure Origins of Common and Not So Common Phrases | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

WHITNEY HOUSTON – RIP – Another Celebrity Suicide!

February 12, 2012 by pbenjay

Whitney Houston

I’m just one of hundreds maybe thousands of bloggers who will write a few words today extolling the virtuosity of Whitney’s magnificent voice and bemoaning the tragedy of her untimely death!

There will be eulogies in the newspapers, song retrospectives on the radio, youtube videos, and of course a meaningful tribute tonight on the Grammy’s.  I don’t usually watch the Grammy’s because the fact is I don’t listen to really contemporary music.  I freely admit it – I like classical music, all the songs from the Great American Songbook, some country-western and I love the music of my own youth; Doo Wop and the songs of the 70’s and 80’s.

I’m really sorry that Whitney Houston killed herself.  Yes! She did!  Whether intentionally or not as we will find out in the next few days, we know that her long love affair with drugs ended her life long before it should have.  And that lays her death at her own feet.

Why? Who knows?  On the news this morning, the usual trite explanatory phrase was used to describe this event.  “She had her share of tragedy”.  Well really now, I almost want to say who hasn’t?  My own mother died when I was 9, I have friends who have lost a child to SIDS, to a car accident, and cancer before the child was 5.  At least half of the population in their 30’s now, are products of divorce and yet NOT everyone succumbs to the escape of reality through drugs. And NOT everyone is as gifted and blessed as Whitney Houston was in talent.  Not to mention, she was born into a family with roots in the music business and that certainly couldn’t have hurt her career and rise to stardom.

Whitney Houston joins the long list of self-destructive talented people who killed themselves by CHOOSING to do drugs: River Phoenix, Jimmy Hendrix,  Heath Ledger, Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, Jonathan Melvion, Nick Adams, Pier Angelli, Charles Boyer, Lenny Bruce, Kurt Cobain, Brian Cole, Judy Garland, Paul Gray, Michael Jackson, Brian Jones, Bruce Lee, Alan Ladd, Frankie Lymon, Billy MacKenzie, Keith Moon, Anna Nicole Smith, Jim Morrison, Brent Mydland, Elvis Presley, Freddie Prinze, Sid Vicious,Flattus Maximus, Layne Staley, Ike Turner, Dinah Washington, Mikey Welsh, Amy Winehouse.  There were more, lots…but I was unfamiliar with some of the bands and not sure of their notoriety

So I’m not going to mourn Whitney Houston, the troubled person, I leave that to her mom, her daughter, even her ex-husband, Bobby Brown.  BUT Whitney Houston, the singer with the extraordinary voice and style of her own.  Yes.  I’m sorry she died.  We have her musical legacy and she will live on in the hearts of those who loved her songs and appreciated what she accomplished in the music world.

Whitney Houston will be best remembered for:

I Will Always Love You – 1992

Greatest Love of All – 1986

How Will I now – 1985

All The Man That I Need – 1990

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) – 1987

Where Do Broken Hearts Go? – 1988

Didn’t We Almost Have It All? – 1987

Saving All My Love For You – 1985

I’m Your Baby Tonight – 1990

So Emotional – 1987

Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Thursday’s Top Ten Guide to Politics and Newspapers

February 9, 2012 by pbenjay

New York Daily News logo

The Daily News

I love Thursdays because I love making lists so this week I got carried away and made two. 

Kind of a crazy title but once you read the first two on the list you’ll know what it means.  With all the headlines and whatnot around the primaries and who won what and why and who is staying and who is going…aren’t you just tired of it all?

Hopefully this guide will give you a deeper knowledge and clearer perspective on just who is who and reading what!  Sent to me by Gail and I don’t know where she found it but here it is:

  1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
  2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
  3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and are very good at crossword puzzles.
  4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but they don’t understand the New York Times.  They do, however, like their statistic pie charts.
  5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could find the time – and if they didn’t have to leave southern California to do it.
  6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it,thank you very much.
  7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure  who is running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the bus.
  8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t really care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
  9. The National Enquirer is read by people who are trapped in the line at a grocery store.
  10. The Key West Citizen is read by people who recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.
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