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Posts Tagged ‘New Jersey’

Continuing Chronicle of 2010 Blizzard

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

Last night I listened to  the wind howling and Peter complaining about the wind, the snow and life in general lol! The lamp on the porch was swinging precariously and it was too cold and too windy to go out and turn it off and besides our real concern was that it fall over and break and live electricity hit wet snow so we just unplugged it.  And the wind howled some more.  By the time I went to bed I could see a huge drift forming along the sidewalk on the side of the house and another sweeping upwards to the shed.  I thought I would open the back door and take a photo BUT the door would not open-totally blocked with snow drifts.  Comforting thought as I went to bed knowing that in case of emergency we couldn’t get out the back door.   Actually the front door was blocked too but with repeated pushing, we could get it open and thank God, we had the presence of mind to put the snow shovels on the front porch.  AND thank me that I insisted we put the salt in the house and not outside like someone else wanted to.

This is what we woke up to this Monday morning:

 

Ocean Grove, La Vie en Rose, Monday after the storm, December 27th

Monday Front Porch Drifts 9:30am

 

Ocean Grove shed, drifts up to the door, Monday, December 27

Monday Drifts Blocking the Shed

 

bird feeder, snow drifts,December 27th

Monday Backyard Bird Feeder 9:30am

 

Monday December 27th, car buried, La Vie en Rose Ocean Grove

Monday morning 9:30am

Let the shoveling begin!!!

 

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“What we have here is the failure to communicate”

Posted in BY THE WAY, Smooth or Crunchy, tagged , , , , , , on November 21, 2010| 4 Comments »

Garden State Parkway shield

Image via Wikipedia

I’m living in a world where I am omnipresent-everywhere at all times.  If you can’t reach me on my phone a/k/a house phone now a/k/a my land-line, then you can call me on my cell phone OR you can send me an email on at least two of my three email addresses OR you can text me and I will get it on my blackberry…SO why is there a problem communicating?

That was a rather loosely-connected (sorry for the pun) prologue to what really happened today.  There was a break down in communication BUT not really because I couldn’t be reached.  However, I liked writing that blurb about the absurdity of how connected we all are.

I had to make an overnight food and turkey run to New Jersey so I could pick up my turkey that I am paying $2.65 per lb for in a town that is “kinda” on the way home to New York City while my friend is paying $2.39 per lb for the same brand turkey AND if I had bought it where she did and where I did shop today I would have not had to “race” back to try and get to the City before my daughter did.  She was driving in from Boston with a baby, a baby nurse and a 2 yr. old in tow and I HAD HER KEYS! Not good!!

Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving turkey,

I'd Walk a Mile for this turkey

Here’s the break down in communication – I told my daughter that I needed to use her refrigerator on Sunday when I brought the turkey home and her freezer.  Here’s what I said, ” Will you be home on Sunday or will the key be with the doorman“?  At which point she turns around and gives me the key.  Did I think it was her only key? NO!  Today as we are trading semi-hysterical phone calls while each of us is speeding to Manhattan, she says, “You said the afternoon” – did anything I say sound like afternoon.  Someone doesn’t always listen to whole sentences.   The baby will have to be nursed, Finley will have to be fed and they will be locked out.  Ever the fixer and over-giver I come up with a plan; first I call my friend who has a key to my apartment and ask her to leave it with the  doorman – that will work.  I call Chiara back and suggest she send the car to Queens with her baby nurse so she doesn’t have to park it or park it in her garage and take a cab to my apartment with the kids.  I don’t think she appreciated my suggestion at all because she said she would just have to go to a restaurant and wait for me. Needless to say I asked at least 3 times if she thought the doorman would have a key to the apartment since it was a corporate rental.  “NO” says she and “we’ve been through this before, he doesn’t have a key”!!!

The next glitch came when we left the Orchard and because time was really of the essence, I suggested that we drive north on Rte 18 or Rte 9 and my driver thinks we should stay on Rte 34 till we hit the Garden State Parkway or the NY Thruway. Welllllll as we headed home on Rte 34 we saw a sign for the GSP and so we turned right…right into some beautiful countryside, looked like horse country BUT no Parkway.  About 20 minutes later we finally saw the entrance to the Parkway and I just knew we would never get into the City before she did. Damn it anyway!!!

I said I would call her once I was thru the tunnel and I did and guess what?? She was in her apartment – seems the doorman had a key after all (which I said I thought he would since IT WAS a corporate apartment).  But what do I know?

The other break down occurred when I tried to dash into a beauty supply store to pick up a few things and my card was declined – WHAT??!!!  I’m not even going to go into that issue – I run out of the store and to the car to get another card.  Did I mention there had been a line of people behind me in the store, oh they were thrilled. Back in the store, thrust my American Express at the girl who says, “oh we don’t take American Express”. Well, that’s that – I leave the stuff and as I run out the door, I hear the cashier calling out that she has a void!!!

 

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What’s the Most NON-TRADITIONAL Dish on Your Thanksgiving Dinner Table?

Posted in BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , on November 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

Traditional Thanksgiving meal in New England

Image via Wikipedia

It’s time to get you guys more involved in what goes on here…I mean it’s hard sometimes for me to come up with the whole post, it’s holiday time, I have to plan, shop and cook, I have a job and that means I have to be at the office and also out showing apartments…and I’ve been babysitting Finley a lot lately because Mommy and Daddy are running around Manhattan checking out schools and getting checked out themselves.  Soooo now you see why I need to you to participate, contribute and literally help me out.

I’m going to start this off but I’m warning you I don’t think I’ve had too many NON-TRADITIONAL dishes at Thanksgiving over the years.  On the other hand since  I was born as a third generation American of Italian and German heritage, ethnicity did play a role in any holiday meal. Let me think….well when I was a little girl and we would go to my Grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving, what I remember was not eating any turkey. It’s not that there wasn’t a turkey, at least I think there was, but I don’t remember eating because by the time Grandma served it I was too full.  Why? Because Grandma always served Ravioli first!!! I don’t remember if there were Meatballs and Sausages too, but I wouldn’t be surprised!

Then when I used to spend Thanksgiving dinner with my first husband’s family, there were definitely some traditional to them – NON-TRADITIONAL dishes on that table.  There were a lot of things stuffed besides the turkey;  We had Stuffed Artichokes and Stuffed Mushrooms which were stuffed with basically the same bread stuffing that was in the bird!  Now I can see some of you trying to picture this because in your house the stuffing was probably made with cubes of crouton-like bread and how do you get a cube into an artichoke leaf?  Physics dictate you can’t and you can’t!  But my mother-in-law’s stuffing basically  consisted of grated Italian bread crumbs, grated Parmesan cheese and chicken broth.  She did add a small amount of sauteed onion and celery but not enough to alter the consistency of the dressing which was pretty much porridge-like – now you see how you could mush it into the artichokes and plop it on top of the mushrooms?

Then there were several years when I spent Thanksgiving with my Aunt Marian and my cousins in New Jersey.  Dinner was fairly traditional  in  that there were Mashed Potatoes, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Creamed Onions, Turnips…and Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage. My uncle was German and hence the cabbage.

Over the last several years I’ve kept a pretty traditional Thanksgiving table with tweaking the standards and adding other vegetable sides, keeping the desserts traditional-well traditional for my family anyway.  I’m saying that because as I’m typing I realize that I often make a Pumpkin Cheesecake as well as a Pumpkin Pie. That’s a tradition I kept from my mother-in-law and it is dee-lish-us!

And now it’s your turn.  Let’s hear what NON-TRADITIONAL dishes have become a tradition at your Thanksgiving Dinner table.  You can comment or feel free to email me at pbenjaytoo@gmail.com

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Stretching the Season on a Sunny Sunday in October

Posted in BY THE WAY, Fab Fotos, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , on October 10, 2010| 3 Comments »

The angle of the sun has changed and the shadows at 1:00 in the afternoon are longer than they have been all summer.  The life guards have gone back to college, the dogs are back on the beach frolicking and chasing each other or balls or waves.  People are riding their bicycles on the once forbidden boardwalk, there is hardly anyone on the beach and most are  wearing shorts and not bathing suits – This is a Sunny Sunday in October in Ocean Grove.

 

Ocean Grove, goldenrod, sand dunes, beach, kite, October

Kite Over Goldenrod

 

photo by Lori

 

Two By the Sea Shore

 

photo by Lori

jersey shore, ocean grove, orange berries

Orange Berries on the Path to the Beach

 

 

photo by Lori

 

 

ocean grove, jersey shore, pine tree, lantern

Pine Tree on the Pathway to South Beach in Ocean Grove

 

photo by Lori

 

 

jersey shore, Ocean Grove, Sunday at the shore

Sunday at the Shore in October

 

photo by Lori

 

Red flower, Jersey shore, Ocean Grove

Red Flowers at the Shore

 

photo by Lori


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9-11 Then and Now

Posted in BY THE WAY, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , on September 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There’s no question or denying that nine years later, we have NOT forgotten but the raw wounds have healed into white scars.  I’m sure every blogger planned on writing a post about 9-11 and many started with the question; Where were you on 9-11? I know where I was; walking back from the primary polls with  my husband in the Upper East Side when a car stopped to speak to our Assemblyman and shouted out, “Did you hear? A plane hit Grand Central”.  We looked at each other and said, well that’s seems pretty crazy-how could  a plane hit a building that is much lower than the ones  surrounding  it.  When we reached the corner, I got on the bus to go to work and then I heard people talking on their cell phones-it wasn’t GCT, it was WTC!

September 11 2001, WTC, twin towers,
With The Smoke Came the Smell of Destruction

From that point on, I’m sure my story is similar to thousands of New Yorkers who were on their way to work; what to do? how to get there? I was afraid to go into the subway.  The buses were mobbed.  Two other women (strangers) and I shared a taxi to midtown.  My cell phone wouldn’t work.  From my office I called Peter, the horror unfolding.  We couldn’t get internet access to a TV station….I walked home from 55th Street along with thousands of scared, worried New Yorkers.  The Avenues were thronged with people heading north, the smell of smoke was in the air, the fear was palpable.  I had the presence of mind to get some cash out of an ATM machine before that too was impossible and I walked on.  I stopped at pay phone to tell Peter I was on my way.

That afternoon, my friend Helen and I walked to Lenox Hill Hospital to give blood – they didn’t need any;  because blood is ONLY needed for survivors!

That night, my friend Gail, and my cousin Christine stayed at our house, there were TV’s on in every room and like zombies we watched the towers fall over and over and over again, as if perhaps the next time they wouldn’t crumble.

The rest of September was spent in mourning, anxiety and fear.  The only comfort I remember was the sound of the fighter jets as they zoomed around Manhattan for several days after 9-11.  I thought, ‘we are an island, they are protecting us’.  October was worse as the New York Times began to publish a brief bio for each of the thousands of victims.  Each day there was a full-page of death; the Portraits of Grief – I remember crying on the bus on my way to work.  I was so depressed, I thought maybe I needed to go to therapy.

I purchased some photos taken by amateur photographers that horrific day and those that followed as new revelations of the wreckage became known and were recorded for posterity.  I framed the pictures, hung them in my office and gave one to each of the kids because we should never forget!

World Trade center, September 11th attack, New York City, 9-11, Twin Towers
You Can’t Believe What You Are Seeing

Nine years are a very long time and I have not forgotten.  However,  I am at peace with my memories and I keep one special victim in my heart and mind every day; Captain Timothy Stackpole, Division 11, father of 4 children, husband and hero.  He died that day along with hundreds of other  members of New York’s Bravest and New York’s Finest.  With very few exceptions (two weddings), I have worn his name and rank on my wrist for nine years.

September 11th, 9-11, New York's Bravest, WTC
Captain Timothy Stackpole

September 11th 2010: I ‘m working at a Flea Market in New Jersey, the bells toll, we are all silent for several moments while the memories of that sunny day in September flood back into our collective minds.  We have not forgotten.

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It Was Like D-DAY All Over Again

Posted in BY THE WAY, Finley Ray, Friends, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , , , on September 9, 2010| 2 Comments »

New York City skyline with Empire State Building

Image by meironke via Flickr

Of course we’re ALL too young to remember D-Day when it happened – June 6,1944, BUT you’ve seen the old war movies, you’ve heard your parent’s and grandparent’s stories about WWII-The Big One and you may have even watched Band of Brothers – the HBO series about D-Day and the invasion of Normandy.  This past Tuesday was D-Day all over again.

The general in command of a motley band  of brothers and sisters  was Chiara Clark.  She had assembled her squad earlier in the month and with consistent email reminders and one to one training she had turned us all into crack soldiers ready, willing and able to march in battle for the cause: Finley Ray MUST get into one of the chosen Nursery schools for next year.

You think I’m exaggerating about this soon-to-be executed attack on the New York Nursery School system?  Then you haven’t met General Clark!  Two days before the set date of the invasion, assignments were reviewed, personnel notified to be on ready alert. On the day before the big battle, encouraging words from our leader were sent out via email.  A few of us even received personal greetings from our esteemed commander.

We were under strict orders to man our battle stations by 0800 the morning after Labor Day.  Not one to let anything possibly interfere with the plan, General Clark personally called each combatant to make sure they were at their stations at least an hour prior to the sounding charge.  This battle plan was well thought out, success was almost assured – but as in any war zone, you never know what might foul up the works.

Not like the actual D-Day which relied heavily on man’s willingness to take risks of personal injury for the cause, this day’s battle would rely the human capacity for patience and frustration and the advanced state of modern communications technology.  The troops were in a Tri-State formation; New York, Boston and New Jersey.  Our means of keeping abreast of the various battle fronts would be thru G-mail (appropriately named).

The trumpet was sounded, the call went out and each of us in our own foxhole attacked the schools we had been assigned.  I was one of the lucky ones;  removed physically from the actual battleground of New York City, I was able to perform my duties while tucked safely away in New Jersey, far from the fray of the raging fronts all over the City.   Armed with a land line, a definite advantage in this kind of warfare and a laptop, I stepped into battle confident I would succeed.

Things went well; there were some early on victories, exalted by our leader who spread the word through the G-Mail system.  However, shortly thereafter,  battle fatigue began to set in with some of the squad.  The pent up frustration, the potential of carpal tunnel dialing finger and the sheer repetition of the dialing was beginning to fray some nerves.  A few of the soldiers resorted to name calling and derision of certain recalcitrant application offices.  The schools wouldn’t answer the calls and in some cases the lines went dead.  There was even talk of physically storming one the schools!!

General Clark tried to keep the troops in good spirits and in line, while she  remained firmly in command.  However, there were a couple of soldiers who were too smart in their subordinate roles (or at least they thought so) and eventually we had a short period of mass confusion and communications breakdown.  Not to point fingers at anyone in particular because we all know who it was that began to use the G-Mail to send out his own directives about battle fronts and assignments!

By the end of the second hour of the battle, we had lost a few soldiers but the core remained on the line so to speak and in the end we had lost St. Thomas Moore and worst of all, the 92nd St Y – which was only disappointing because we felt we never even had a chance.  So disheartening to receive an email stating the 3 year old tours were all booked up.  HOW COULD THAT BE WHEN THE PHONE WOULDN’T EVEN RING?  Well when one plan of attack doesn’t work, a good general has a back up plan and in fact she did.   Personal calls to several well-connected people were made and I’m happy to report that by the next day, we had Finley not only on a waiting list BUT ALSO within the hour, she had been given a tour date.  Wow! You know it’s who you know, don’t you?

Clearly the Tuesday after Labor Day in New York City is its own kind of special day; the day that every determined mother marshals her forces and gets  applications for the coveted few openings in a New York Nursery School.  See  Extreme Sports: Portable Cribs and New York Nursery Schools.

On Wednesday, the New York Times ran the following article:

A Frenzied First Day for Applying to Private Kindergartens

Thank God, the bun in the oven now (known as Frankie, Cessca, Franny) will be able to be among the elite corp of toddlers who gain entrance into those hallowed halls by virtue of being a sibling!

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Martha Stewart’s Tomato and Basil Pasta

Posted in Everyday Food, Marthaspeak, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, We Called It Macaroni (Pasta recipes), tagged , , , , , , , on August 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

TOMATO and BASIL PASTA

If you are wondering will I ever get off the tomato “thing” – take heart….the minute the season’s last  tomato has been picked, I will be eliminating any recipes that call for tomatoes unless they are cherry or grape tomatoes or canned!!!!  I know for some of you it’s hard to believe that ME of all people would actually stop eating tomatoes, stop cooking with fresh tomatoes BUT YES!  The ONLY REAL TOMATO is the one grown in local garden, bought at a GreenMarket in the summer or vegetable stand like the ones I frequent in New Jersey – ooohhhh I just love me some Jersey tomatoes!  We are close to the end of the season – this pasta dish makes use of that basil plant you’ve been keeping alive all summer and plucking its flower tops so it wouldn’t go to seed.

Tomato and Basil Pasta

Combine 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (I would use more peppper) in a large bowl. Toss in 1 lb. of cooked and drained short pasta.  Tear4 medium fresh tomatoes and 1 pound of burrata or mozzarella cheese and scatter over the pasta. Garnish with small basil leaves and sprinkle with pepper and crushed red pepper (optional).

It’s quick, it’s light and it’s  a SUMMER SUPPER

Martha Stewart living, basil, burrata cheese, mozzarella cheese, Jersey tomatoes
Can’t you just smell the basil?




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