Go G-men!
Oh yeah!!!!!
The New York Giants are going to the Super Bowl where they will meet up with the Boston Patriots. A great day for the East Coast! The Empire State was bathed in blue lights tonight! Yes, they had to go into overtime but win they did with a 31 yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes.
Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York | Tagged Field goal (American and Canadian football), Lawrence Tynes, New England Patriots, New York, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVI | 3 Comments »
Who ever said dessert isn’t healthy? “Eat your fruits and veggies” – how many times have you heard that? Here’s a great winter dessert that tasty, low-fat, sweet and tart and easy to make.
Filling
1/3 cup sugar
2Tbs flour
1 tsp. lemon peel
3/4 tsp lemon juice
3 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced.
1 cup cranberries, coarsely chopped
Topping
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar packed
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 T trans-fat-free margarine, melted
To prepare filling, combine sugar, flour and lemon peel in a medium bowl; mix well. Add lemon juice, apples and cranberries; stir to mix. Spoon into a large baking dish.
To prepare topping, combine oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in small bowl. Stir in the melted margarine.
Sprinkle topping over filling. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until filling is bubbly and top is brown.
Heart-healthy recipe from United Health Care
Posted in Everyday Food, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday | Tagged Apple, apple crisp, Cook, cup cranberries, dessert, Flour, fruits and veggies, Lemon juice, Rolled oats, Sugar, whole wheat flour, Zest (ingredient) | Leave a Comment »
New Yorkers were at it again! Occupy Wall Street hasn’t yet become a distant memory and once again the denizens of the City took to the streets to protest the proposed legislation surrounding internet privacy and piracy – here they are!!
First the newspapers...
"Can you hear me now"?
Warning Senator Gillibrand
"Hey Chuck..."
PIPA No Way
STOP
Say NOPA to PIPA and SOPA
All photos courtesy of Murray Head
Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York | Tagged Chuck, Chuck Schumer, Intellectual property, Kirsten Gillibrand, New York City, Occupy Wall Street, Protect IP Act, United States | Leave a Comment »
Image by SpecialKRB via Flickr
Well that’s a mouthful! But wait…Duane Reade, New York’s very own born-in-Lower Manhattan, all grown-up-now and all over the City chain of stores REALLY is a prime example of retail natural selection, evolution and adaptation.
It started out as a three store health and beauty chain in 1960 and look where they are today.
Others came and went, they stayed and grew – natural selection. As retail outlets failed and left a consumer void, Duane Reade came along and filled each gap – evolution. Duane Reade started out as a drug store and has morphed into a consumer’s mecca, carrying everything from greeting cards to gum, cosmetics to candy, cleaning products to cat food, milk to mops, school supplies to sushi and some even serve alcohol – adaptation. They are all things to all people. a market place where you can get what you want and what you need when you want it and when you need it.
When Duane Reade located on the corner of my street, a whole new world opened up for me! OMG! Here was the answer. YES!
Need to buy a birthday card on my way to the office? Duane Reade is right downstairs. Husband coughing a lot, run down and get some cough medicine-Duane Reade! Oops, no more cat food-Duane Reade! Cleaning lady coming and I’m out of floor wax and furniture polish-Duane Reade! Milk for breakfast tomorrow morning-Duane Reade! Open 24 hours! Granddaughter visiting, gummy bears and cookies-Duane Reade!
And I could go on and on and on…but really, surely you get the picture!! Duane Reade is there for me (and you) for just about everything and anything I need at all hours. And there’s more…
The stores look amazing with their new jazzed-up color scheme, I love the lavender and they’re always clean and well-lit. I can’t tell you how many times I come home late after a long hard and sometimes bad day at work and before I go into my apartment building, I stop in the store, sometimes just to walk around. Looking at the nail polish colors makes me feel good and while I’m there, maybe I should buy some soy chips.
I’m lucky in that I have my own personal Duane Reade right downstairs in my building which means the most convenient ATM in the City is at my fingertips. Thank you Duane Reade.
And lucky for the rest of you, Duane Reade has about 257 stores in the New York Metropolitan area so you should never be too far from finding what you need when you need it!
Stay tuned readers, there’s more DR forthcoming…that is as soon as they designate me as one of their ten VIP bloggers! After all, I tell it the way I see it, share my City with all of my readers and probably would be the ONLY blogger whose name consists of products sold in Duane Reade!!! #DReade
Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks | Tagged Business, Duane Reade, Greeting card, Lower Manhattan, New York, New York City, Retail, Shopping, Upper East Side | 3 Comments »
You can always learn something new, especially about food, cooking, baking and more. It;s really a science, but of course you know that.
A Bunch of Bananas
Posted in BY THE WAY, Thursday's Top Ten | Tagged Cook, Cream, Cream cheese, Home, Ice cream, Mixer (cooking), Sour cream, Sugar | 1 Comment »
Slow-Cooked Chicken Cacciatore a/k/a Chicken Hunter Style
Tomorrow morning I’m taking the crock pot and gonna cook up a storm. I need to make a couple of meals and freeze some of them. If I don’t, I find myself coming home late and too tired to cook and that leads to ordering in or eating junk. Either way it’s no good, one costs too much money and the other ends up being empty calories. So tomorrow morning I’ll make the Chicken Cacciatore and give my husband a real meal and freeze the rest.
3 lbs cut up chicken (split chicken breasts and thighs)
Flour for searing
2 TBS olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz of baby bella mushrooms sliced
2 cups diced green peppers and onions
1 cup dry red wine
1 pkg (24 oz) of seasoned tomato sauce.
Salt and pepper to taste
Dust chicken with searing flour
Heat oil on MEDIUM in large braising pan; add chicken. Brown lightly on all sides, 8-10 minutes. Transfer chicken to slow cooker. Discard all but 1 TBS oil.
Add garlic, mushrooms, peppers and onions to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3-4 minutes, until vegetables soften slightly. Add wine; cook 1-2 minutes. Add Italian seasoning and tomato sauce; stir. Bring to simmer and remove from heat.
Add sauce mixture carefully to slow cooker. Cover; cook 3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-7 hours on LOW. Season to taste with salt and pepper. I’m going to add some red pepper flakes too. Serve over pasta or rice.
And omg, this house is going to smell DEE-LICIOUS tomorrow!
Recipe from Wegman’s Menu Magazine Fall 2009
Chicken Hunter Style
Posted in Tasty Tidbits Tuesday | Tagged Bell pepper, Cacciatore, Chicken, Cook, Cooking, crock pot, dinner, Flour, food, Italian cuisine, Olive oil, Tomato sauce | Leave a Comment »
Talk about influence!! New York City will now have TWO red caps in the Vatican. The news was announced last week when Pope Benedict XVI selected Archbishop Timothy Dolan to be elected to the College of Cardinals. For New York to have two Cardinals in the Vatican at the same time is quite rare.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan
However, it has come to my attention through the watchful eye of Murray Head that there is in fact another regal Cardinal who resides in New York City. He found his Eminence in Central Park.
Meet His Eminence
The Official Portrait
Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Fab Fotos, New York Speaks, Only in New York | Tagged bird watching, Central Park, College of Cardinals, Murray Head, New York, New York City, Pope Benedict XVI, Timothy Michael Dolan, United States, Vatican | 2 Comments »
FAB FOTO FRIDAY
On any given day in The City you will see BLACK being worn everywhere. Every New Yorker has a closet full of black clothes and for all seasons. New Year‘s Day, which was a glorious sunny Sunday this year, was no exception…or was it??
"One and Twenty Blackbirds..."
BUT of course there are exceptions to every rule!!! Look at this fine feathered fellow showing off his “Sunday best”.
One Dapper Wood Duck
Not to mention this beautiful (YES, they are beautiful) Blue Jay who was hanging out nearby.
Big Beautiful Blue Jay
And way up high, taking in the view, sat a richly red Cardinal. Don’t you love his “mask”?
A Ruby Red Cardinal
However, if we had to vote for who was the most colorful denizen of Central Park on New Year’s Day, I think we’d have to admit the Wood Ducks took the prize!
hBest -Dressed Duck
Not everyone knew the photographer was in the park, but once they found out, everybody wanted their picture taken! Look at this guy!
"Hey, wait for me"!
All photos courtesy of Murray Head
Posted in Fab Fotos, New York Speaks | Tagged Blue Jay, cardinal, Central Park, Duck, Jay, Murray Head, New Year, New Yorker, Wood Duck | Leave a Comment »
Central Park Pond
Posted in Amuse-bouche du jour, Fab Fotos, Only in New York | 2 Comments »
Find me on FB
Pbenjay's Blog 
How Can You Not Get Romantic About Baseball?
January 21, 2012 by pbenjay
Oakland Athletics
MONEYBALL
Well, I’ll tell ya – you can’t! Especially if you are watching this year’s under-rated film, Moneyball. On the other hand, given Brad Pitt‘s star quality, it’s hard to say the movie was under-rated, but I do think it hasn’t generated any “buzz” the way say, The Iron Lady, The Descendents and Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud has. However, let’s clarify that even further; Those three films and most especially the Tom Hanks movie which must be advertised on TV at least 15 times a day have gotten a lot of press, a lot of billboard space and a lot of attention by reviewers. My God, you would think Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud was the epic sequel to Ben Hur or Forrest Gump!
But back to Moneyball; I had the delightful opportunity to view this movie in my own home, sitting cosily on my couch, drinking hot chocolate while it snowed outside on a Saturday afternoon. It was surprisingly wonderful and engaging. You don’t even have to be a sports fan to love it! Brad Pitt gives Billy Beane the look of a former athlete still very much in shape, and his performance is superb.
First of all who doesn’t love baseball? After all it is our national pastime or pass time. The storyline isn’t exactly new since we’ve all seen the the evolution of a rag tag team reaching ultimate victory – ie Miracle– True story of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team or A League of Their Own. However, the treatment of this story line takes the viewer to the ball park and back, into the locker room and best of all into the psyche of the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics.
Billy Beane is a conflicted and somewhat lonely man, recovering from a failed marriage and a losing season. He lives, works, eats and sometimes sleeps baseball – except when he is with his daughter who he apparently dotes on. Casey is charmingly played by Kerris Dorsey, a sweet pre-teen who lives with her mom and stepdad and regularly visits her father.
Billy is driven to succeed which in his mind translates into winning the last game. He truly believes it doesn’t matter how many games you win because if you don’t win the last one (World Series) then your achievements as well as yourself are just erased.* The problem he faces is that his player salary is so low, he feels he can’t compete with the deep pocket of teams like the New York Yankess who regularly raid his best players, luring them with astronomical salaries. What is General Manager supposed to do? So for him in one respect it was all about winning, yet on the other hand, he aspired to change the game in a way that would level the economic playing field (no pun intended) between the so-called rich teams and poor teams, the Oakland A’s being of the latter. He is quoted as saying to his genius Assistant General Manager, (Joshua Hill) that he believed in their new and highly technical process of forming a winning team, not for the money or the ring, but because he wanted to change the game. Out with the old (literally) men/scouts and their ideas of what makes a great ballplayer and in with the new analytical technology. Adapt or die.
By season’s end the team is winning and Beane is called to Boston, where he is offered the position of GM for the Boston Red Sox by the owner of the team who extolls the genius of his new selection process and who clearly states it is the wave of the future! Hence, Billy has in fact changed the game. So why is he so disenchanted? I’m not positive but he was consistent in his quest to win the big one here in his home town. There are many camera shots of Billy as a young Little League player wearing the green tee shirt of the Oakland A’s. He failed dismally as the baseball great, so many scouts thought he was to be so perhaps he had something to prove to himself and Oakland. And then factor in the daughter who does not want him to leave California and move far away from her. It’s hard to leave home and in the end he doesn’t.
The acting was terrific in this movie; Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the bullet-headed, big gut manager was convincing. The character actors who played the various scouts and coaches sitting around the table were remarkably true to life and hardly seemed like actors, they were so natural.
One last word about Pitt. Sometimes when a star is a star and on screen, all you can really see is the star. Very few transcend their celebrity and embody a character so well that you stop seeing the actor and see only the character. Meryl Streep is an excellent example and Brad Pitt as Billy Beane is another.
* Props to the Director who worked with the technical department – at the end of the movie, the players slowly disappear or rather are erased.
Related articles
Rate this:
Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books | Tagged Billy Beane, Boston Red Sox, Brad Pitt, Descendents, Forrest Gump, General manager, Iron Lady, Moneyball, Oakland, Oakland Athletics, Tom Hanks | 1 Comment »