songbird's crazy world

Loved this place the first time we tried it, so of course we had to go back. Once again we had the rodizio.  Loved every juicy bite of the meat, enjoyed the sides. But what really impressed me:  dessert I seldom eat dessert, but since others at the table chose to order . . . I tried something called natas-do-ceu, which the menu translates as "Heavenly Whites" but is more commonly known as "heavenly cream".  And aptly named.  This incredible concoction was served in a parfait glass.  The scrumptious white cream --the waiter said it was heavy cream whipped with egg whites -- was layered with cookie crumbs and I think there may have been a touch of cinnamon.  Light and sweet but not cloying, a perfect ending after such a robust meat meal.

Last week Drew's sister  invited us to her union's annual holiday party.  Drew knows a lot of his sister's friends, so the conversation was relaxed and comfortable. We were talking about Social Security, and how those of us working now are paying the benefits of current recipients, and how our benefits will be paid for by our children, And one of the women said something about "the kids today don't really work." How lucky I am to be able to brag on my kids, who want to work hard and who are lucky enough to find appropriate jobs. Jen, of course, has always known she wants to work with children.  She has always worked with kids -- day camp jobs, volunteering with Jump Start, work study as a teaching assistant in an elementary school, then a full time job as a teaching assistant in a nursery school, and now a paraprofessional in an elementary school. When she finally finishes her Master's and gets her teaching credentials, she will have logged many ho...

So last week, during the observation of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, I loved seeing the newspaper reprints.  The Daily News, Newsday, everyone did a reprint of their 11/23/63 editions. And I found something interesting on the CBS News website. Two interesting items, actually. First was the website's coverage of Kennedy's death.  They live-streamed the 1963 broadcast in real time. In this post-CNN world, we are used to 24 hour coverage of the news.  And when something horrible happens, like 9/11 or Dandy Hook, we know that our TV networks will drop everything and stay with the story.  And they know how to cover such a story. Watching parts of the CBS broadcast from 50 years ago...they knew they had to be on the air, but it looked like they were inventing the media as they went along.  Cronkite in the news room instead of at his anchor desk so that he could receive and read printed bulletins as they came off the wire.  Telephones r...

Nora   has nominated me for a Liebster Award.     As I understand it, I am now supposed to answer a few personal questions, then choose other blogs I wish to honor, and give them a set of questions to answer.  here are the questions Nora posed, and my answers. 1) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Hard to answer.  I'm from Long Island, I'd love to live in Manhattan.  But I can also see myself in Florida.  I've never been to Israel, but I think living in Tel Aviv would be interesting.  London could be fun.  Lots of places ... 2) What is one think you miss about being a kid? The feeling that no matter what happened, my parents could make everything all right again. 3) Who is your favorite actor or actress?  Tom Hanks. 4) What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? Not to worry about what other people think, just do what makes you happy. 4) Are there any foods you’ve never ha...

Happy Hanukkah!  Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday.  The fourth Thursday of November.  A day of parades, football, family gatherings and turkey.    Pilgrims and Indians.  The unofficial start of the holiday season. Hanukkah, a minor Jewish holiday, a festival of freedom (Definition of a Jewish holiday:  they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat.)  Candles in the menorah, latkes, dreidels, jelly donuts, presents, family gatherings.  Judah Maccabee and the miracle of the oil. Hanukkah is an 8 day holiday beginning on the 25th day of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar.  Because the Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar, Hanukkah can begin as early as the last week of November or as late  as the end of December, or any time in between. In 2013, on November 28, the first day of Hanukkah and the American holiday of Thanksgiving will coincide for only the second time since Thanksgiving was declared ...

I heard a familiar voice on the radio the other day, one I had not heard in a long time, promoting a new off-Broadway play . . It was the 1980's, and talk radio was becoming popular. And on Sunday nights  -- late, late on Sunday nights -- there was a show.  Sexually Speaking with Dr. Ruth Westheimer.  A little old lady, a Jewish mother with a hauntingly familiar accent,  was dispensing sexual advice.  Well, of course we sniggered.  But then, we listened.  And we learned. We heard her on the radio, we saw her on tv.  Only 4'7", she was warm, friendly, humorous, willing to poke fun at her own image.  A very recognizable personality throughout the 80's and 90's. But it wasn't until later, when she was promoting her book on grandparenting, and I heard her being interviewed on the radio . . .I heard her talking about her grandchildren with the delight any Jewish grandmother has, and then she said something chilling:  "Hitler didn't want...

When the phone rings in the wee hours of the morning, it's never good news.  We think, "Who on earth is calling me at this hour?  It better be important!" We think, somewhat facetiously, "who died?" And then comes the realization that someone did, in actuality, pass away. Drew's father died Monday night. It was not unexpected.  Emil was 90 years old and in very poor health.  Monday evening Drew told me: "The nursing home says my father has a bad fever.  I think this time it may be the end. They wanted to know whether I want a DNR. . . " So when my phone rang in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, it wasn't really a surprise.  Drew sounded shaken nonetheless.  He felt lost.  Should he go to work or stay home? I told him, "Stay home.  You have to tell your sister, you have to tell your uncles, you have to make final arrangements." What I was thinking:  "You need to process this loss, you have to deal with your feelings, you ...

Hate, hate, hate speaker phones. The most over-used, obnoxious gadget in the office. I never used to have a problem with them. I mean, if you're driving in the car and you need to carry on a conversation, a speaker phone is a useful device.  Eyes on the road.  Both hands on the wheel.  It's great. In your own home, no problem at all.  Let's say there are two of you at home, and the landline  phone rings. And both of you want to talk to the caller.  Using the speaker phone might be a better option than one of you picking up the extension in the next room. Not to mention, picking up the extension in the next room isn't an option if you're using a cell phone. Speaking of cell phones . . . I don't run into this frequently,  but if you're in Starbucks or at a restaurant or on the train --or any public place where your cell phone conversation should be soft, hushed, so that you don't disturb the people around you -- using the speaker phone is not...

Every now and then, you just want to spend a Saturday night playing board games and catching up with the stuff you DVR'd.  That's the kind of night for take-out. Smokin' Al's, to be precise. For us, this restaurant is strictly a take-out place.  The restaurant is very small, the wait for a table intolerably long.  But the food. . .we have other BBQ restaurants closer to home, but we drive 20 minutes to Al's and 20 minutes home, with the car smelling like BBQ . . . We place our dinner orders on line.  Makes it very convenient. They offer choices, lots of choices.    Different types of ribs, different barbecue sauces, from sweet to spicy.  Pulled pork, brisket, chicken. We both ordered babyback ribs with Al's original sauce.  Sauce was tangy but not spicy hot.  Meat was tender but not "fall off the bone".  Heaven. Sides dishes -- we both ordered garlic mashed potatoes.  A little heavy on the garlic, and a bit too thic...

If it seems like I've been lost in let's rememb er . . . Yeah, I know, I've been focusing on the 70's a lot lately. But I am trying to figure out how the dark-haired rebel whose music enchanted me has become the bearded, distinguished, professorial gentleman whose music still delights me . Well, we all have a face that we hide away forever, and we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone . . .   The music, the cover art. I can see the album covers in my head.   I played the vinyl on the stereo in my basement.  The cassette tapes and my portable cassette player found a home in my dorm room.  I listened late at night, through headphones. . . I've got the ol d man's car, I've got a jazz guitar, I've got a tab at Zanzibar . . .  Funny, I never fell in love with him, never put a picture of him on my wall, never imagined myself married to him.  Didn't scream when he was on TV.   He was no teen idol. He was better. Wh...

I never read any of the books, but I loved the first Hunger Games movie.  And really looked forward to this second installment. And was satisfied with the results.  It's not as good as the first movie, but does set up the third movie quite nicely -- interesting cliffhanger ending (No, I won't spoil it for you). All the elements are there -- dystopian society, huge gap between the haves and have-nots, sick competition, the seeds of rebellion. Makes for an interesting movie.

I used to really like holidays. Now they leave me stressed. When Drew and I were married and the girls were little, we'd spend all of the holidays with my parents.  Drew's parents lived in Florida, so we had no need to juggle, to split our time between his family and mine. When we divorced, the children split their holidays, spending some with me and some with him.  And it was ALWAYS contentious.   And now?  Now it's a delicate negotiation. And right now I am ready to scream.  Because no one talks to me, no one tells me what's going on. My assumption was that Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house would be in the evening, as it has been every year.  So when Drew said he wanted ti make Thanksgiving at his house at 2:00 in the afternoon,  I thought: "Great.  The girls and I can lunch at Drew's and dine at my parents'.  Works out nicely." After all, that's what we did two years ago.  (Last year Drew was recovering from surger...

My mother tells me that I was watching TV when it happened, that I saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald. I have no memory of the shooting, or, for that matter, of anything to do with the assassination of JFK.  At least, no contemporaneous memories of the weekend it actually happened.  I was only three years old at the time, and the significance of what I'd witnessed was so far over my head as to be invisible. (I have some vague recollections of Bobby Kennedy's funeral, some 5 years later, but that's for another day.) For years everyone would ask each other, "Where were you when Kennedy was killed?"  People just a few years older than I would tell stories of tearful teachers at school.  No crying teachers for me, I was home playing with my dolls. The most significant news story of the early 1960's, and I have no memory of it.  But yet, I know all the details.  I've seen the TV news clips, I've read about that day in Dallas in fact and in...

With all the restaurant reviews I have published of late, you would think I never eat at home anymore. You'd be wrong. I don't do much cooking anymore -- my sister F seems to have taken over my mother's kitchen -- but it has become my job to do the grocery shopping.  Yes, somehow it has become my responsibility to feed 8 people and two cats.  Ostensibly I was just shoping for nyself and my daughters, but . . . Well, not all the shopping.  My mom buys a number of things in Costco, and my sister H picks up a few items in Trader Joe's, Target or CVS. But the bulk of our food supply comes from Shoprite. H usually makes up the list and emails it to me.  I shop with my tablet in my hand, checking the list as I make my way through the store. My first stop is the deli kiosk.  The kiosk is really just a computer screen.  You place an order from the items offered, and when you come back to the deli counter your order is waiting for you in the refrigerator....

As I've mentioned before, I am genetically programmed to crave Jewish deli.  It is the soul food of my people. So when Drew suggested we grab a bite at Pastrami Plus, I was out the door and in the car before he finished buttoning his coat. Pastrami Plus is a very unpretentious place.  As in, it's a hole in the wall.  A deli counter, a handful of tables and a few ancient posters on the walls.  To be honest, most folks order take-out. We usually do take out, too, but on this particular night we chose to dine in. Service here is . .  . well, the young lady who was serving customers at the counter also waits tables, so don't expect white glove service, but she was pleasant and got the job done. Be advised, the restaurant is "kosher style", not strictly kosher, but you'd never know the difference unless you saw the occasional cheeseburger leave the grill.  (Yes, that was the sound of a dozen generations of Jewish bubbies rolling over in their graves.) Our m...

So last Sunday we took the train into the city for an afternoon/evening of theater and dining. From the abundance of pedestrians wheeling suitcases in the vicinity of Penn Station, it's clear that tourist season has begun.  It only gets more crowded from now until the end of December. We walked up 7th Avenue towards our destination, the Cort Theater.  Along the way we stopped at a couple of food carts -- I wanted a pretzel and Drew wanted a hot dog.  Lots of business on the street these days -- food carts, guys selling t-shirts, scarves and hats, handbags, lithographs of the city, caricatures drawn while you wait...In Times Square you also see costumed characters.  All sorts of cartoon characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Woody and Buzz from Toy Story, and today we even saw Minions!  Also saw the Statute of Liberty, "Elvis" and the famed "Naked Cowboy".  Even saw a couple of mean-looking aliens ready to take over the galaxy. Our destination,...

I used to come here often, and loved it.  But I hadn't been back in years.  Then a friend suggested a get-together at Gasho, and we were on our way. If you've been reading this blog awhile, you know I really enjoy Benihana.  Teppanyaki cooking appeals to me.  Throughout our evening at Gasho, I could not help but compare the two restaurants -- and Benihana won easily. Let's start with the physical surroundings.  Small, cramped parking lot.  Unlit walkways from the parking lot to the restaurant's front door.   Cramped, overcrowded dining room.  And despite all the teppanyaki grills in use, the room was cold! At Benihana, all of the grill tables seat 12, so unless you are a very large party, you will be sharing with others.  I like that Gasho has some smaller tables available, as a party of six we had a table to ourselves. That, unfortunately, was the highlight of the evening. I won't say anything was truly awful, just that it ...

Applebees is one of the better chains, I usually enjoy my meal here. Went there a few weeks ago, and as always, a nice dinner.  We started with house salad.  A nice mixture of greens and grape tomatoes, topped with croutons and shredded cheese.  Drew had bleu cheese dressing, I had honey mustard.  They have a variety of dressings.  But strangely no Russian or Thousand Island. Drew ordered a steak -- no surprise there.  This time he chose "marsala" -- the steak was topped with mushrooms in a wine sauce.  It was served with a side of rice.  When he ordered, the waitress told him the steak was served with mashed potatoes, but since he liked the rice . . . I ordered a very decadent dish, four cheese macaroni and cheese topped with honey pepper chicken tenders.  The chicken tenders were excellent, juicy chicken in a sweet and savory batter. The mac and cheese -- curly pasta in a smooth, mild cheese sauce.   The dish is finished wit...

Yes, we love movies.  Big Important Movies vying for an Oscar.  Classic movies we've seen 1,000 times.  Blockbusters that are mindless and fun.  Musicals.  Cartoons.  Movies. And so after seeing the very serious "12 Years A Slave",   the next film to entertain us was "Thor: The Dark World", yet another Marvel Comics production.  another slice of Stan Lee's genius. Stop here if you don't want to read any spoilers. I'm even going to discuss the "Easter Eggs". Yes, there are TWO Easter Eggs.  Considering that's been Marvel's habit of late, you can't really say you're surprised. So the movie alternates between the grandiose, Shakespearean world of  Asgard and modern London.  In Thor's realm, the evil Malekith and the Dark Elves seek to destroy Asgard and all of the other realms, including Earth.  Somehow Jane Foster of Earth literally gets sucked into this situation and must be rescued by Thor.  Thor must...

Easily one of the most famous pizza restaurants in the city, John's sits in the heart of the Theater District.  It's located in a beautiful building that once housed a church.  Make sure to look up at the domed ceiling. The place caters to a theater-going crowd, and tends to be crowded just before and after shows.  We went on a Thursday evening around 8:30.  We were a large party but were seated almost immediately. The menu offers a variety of Italian dishes.  Garlic bread served as an appetizer was very pungent and topped with gooey mozarella.  A salad "for two" was easily shared by four.  I've always liked the pizza rolls, but was disappointed that this appetizer was not served until the entrees were on the table.  Chicken parm was adequate but not outstanding -- the cheese on top were overly-browned, almost to the point of being burnt. The specialty here is pizza.  Thin crust, brick oven pizza.  Served hot, crispy and deliciou...

Spring forward, fall back. We all know the saying.  It's how we implement Daylight Saving Time. Every spring we move the clock ahead one hour so that we have an "extra" hour of daylight in the evening.  In the fall we return to standard time. We're on standard time now.  I've spent the better part of the last two weeks trying to get used to the time change.  Instead of going to work in the dark, I'm now leaving the office by moonlight.   So I got to thinking about it... Daylight Saving Time has been in use in some parts of the world since WW I.  It was used effectively during WW II.  It's been a common practice in most of the United States since the 1950's and 1960's.  Traditionally we moved ahead during the last weekend in April, and moved back to standard time at the end of October.  In 1986 that was changed to the first weekend in April.  In 2007 it was changed again -- we observe Daylight Saving Time from the second weekend i...

Scary new from the Philippines.  A typhoon the likes of which had never been seen before.  Over 10,000 dead.  3million homeless. I heard one of the newscasters say "This is a thousand times worse than anything we saw during Hurricane Sandy."  I cannot imagine such devastation and destruction.    Sandy was enough to boggle the mind...something much larger than Sandy must have felt like the end of the world. New York being rich in diversity, in the past I have had friends of Philippine descent, though we've lost touch...My company has a major center of operations in Manila, and I feel for my colleagues on the other side of the globe.  That's as close as I come to having someone in the Philippines these days.  Still, my heart goes out to the people whose lives have been turned upside down. In the overall scheme of things, what my family went through during Sandy was merely uncomfortable and inconvenient.  Downed trees, no electricity f...

It's raining today. It rained on this day 45 years ago, too. November 12, 1968.  It was a Tuesday.  My very first day in a new school.  We had moved into our new home the previous Friday, November 8.  The school was just a short walk from our home.   I was in third grade, and used to the rhythms of the school in our old neighborhood.  That school had been very traditional, but my new school (I would learn) was more progressive and innovative.  It very quickly became my home. I remember all my teachers.  My favorite was Mrs. L, who brought lots of small animals to class for us to take care of. I remember being in the play in 3rd grade.  Singing in the chorus.  Taking viola lessons. Field Day on the athletic field at the top of the hill.  The Halloween parade.  Riding on the bus to the high school to visit the planetarium.  Square dancing in the gym. I graduated from elementary school at the end of sixth grade, and...

Once again it is Veteran's Day. Today I salute the men and women who served in Vietnam.   The Vietnam War dominated the news when I was growing up.  So did the anti-war movement.  The soldiers returning from that ill-advised war were treated like pariahs, ignored, hidden away.  Until 1985, so many years after the war ended, when the Vietnam vets were given a ticker tape parade on Broadway, down the Canyon of Heroes.  It was one of the first ticker tape parades I saw up close and personal. The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial opened in Washington DC in 1996.  I've seen the Wall a few times.  So stark in its beauty, so moving.  Two small statutes accompany the display, one of the soldiers, another of the nurses who served in the field hospitals.  Here are some of my photos:

Now, that's a hard question. I love a lot of movies, from a variety of genres. I even took a film class in high school, which gave me the opportunity to earn class credit for watching movies. Can you believe how lucky I was? I'm not nearly as much of an expert as Drew is -- he makes it his business to buy DVD's of so many current movies every Tuesday, and he's got several editions of Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide If you hold a trivia contest based on movies, past and present, odds are that Drew can win the contest. So which would I choose? The Wizard of Oz ? It would be fun to live in Munchkinland or the Emerald City, not nearly as much fun in the dark forests ("Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" or encounter the Wicked Witch of the West. Another favorite is Casablanca . Exotic locale, stylish clothes, intrigue and mystery. Maybe one of the Star Trek movies? Exploring the galaxy with Captain Kirk or Captain Picard? Or maybe I could be s...

How could I tell you the birth story of my older daughter but not share my younger daughter's story as well? Three people in a one bedroom apartment, even when one of those people is an infant, is not exactly the most comfortable situation.  So when Jen was a few months old, we started looking for a larger place.  We wanted to stay in the neighborhood, because my aunts were providing us with childcare. Eventually we found a two bedroom apartment, four blocks away from our current apartment.  Closer to the subway but a tad bit further from my aunts and grandmother. I remember when we looked at the apartment, I was impressed with the size of the second bedroom.  I told Drew "We could easily fit two children in here."   How prophetic those words turned out to be. (I interrupt myself here to talk about the weekend we moved.  It was May and Jen was 6 months old.  We planned to move out of the old apartment on a Friday.  The realtor was hop...

Jen is still celebrating her "birth month" -- one day of partying on the anniversary of her birth wasn't sufficient, I guess. The day she was born is a day I will treasure in my memory forever. Though I've wished her a "happy birthday" many times in this blog, I don't think I've ever told her birth story. I guess now, while I'm still waxing nostalgic for my little girl, is a good time to tell that story. Drew and I were living in a one bedroom apartment in Queens at the time. It was a neighborhood I knew well, because my grandmother and my Aunt Eileen and Aunt Bernice had been living in that neighborhood for decades. We had recently moved to Queens from our first apartment together, in Brooklyn -- me, Drew, our beagle Molly and a black cat I named Magical Mr. Mistofeles (hey, it was the 80's, after all, and Cats looked like it would run on Broadway forever) but who we usually called "Misty" ("there's the name that th...

Today is Jen's 23rd birthday. Please pardon my nostalgia, I am missing my little girl, and wondering how she got to be a grown up so soon.  I am proud of the woman she has become, but ... Jen's 4th birthday, 1994.  We asked her what she wanted, and the answer was always the same:  Dr. Barbie, a Barbie doll in a blue dress and a lab coat, with a stethoscope around her neck.  On her birthday, she got exactly what she wanted.  She was so happy!!! And then she said..."I want...something else." And yes, she did get other presents. Happy birthday to my firstborn.

Definitely an Oscar contender. It's a very intense movie, based on a true story. Solomon is a "free black", a gentleman living in Saratoga, NY in the 1840's, with his wife and children.    His ordinary life is disrupted when he is kidnapped, sold into slavery and sent to the Deep South.  The dignity of his ordinary life is contrasted with the degradation of slavery.  The slaves are treated as something less than human, even by "good" masters.  Solomon winds up on a plantation where the owner is an alcoholic and his wife is bitter and disillusioned, and their slaves are used as part of their family  psychodrama. The violence is raw and disturbing. There is an ever-present sense of despair and hopelessness. There were moments when the story line dragged a bit, but overall the movie is captivating and compelling.  Definitely a "must see" .

I do!  I do! I had several of these beauties when I was a kid. The full sized version was 3 inches tall, but I also remember winning a bunch of mini trolls, maybe 1/2 inch tall,  at school carnivals. I loved their colorful hair. 

As this is the second straight month I have participated in NaBloPoMo, I (hopefully) have pulled in a few more readers. Welcome to my soap opera life! I am known around the internet as "songbird".  I am a woman "of a certain age" (as people would have said in more genteel times).  In my life I have played many roles.  these days I am playing the roles of career woman, mother,  girlfriend, daughter, sister... I've been blogging since October 2008.  Occasionally I go back and read old posts, and see how my life has changed over these last five years. My career does not define me...or does it?  When I graduated from law school 30 years ago, I had visions in my head of becoming a hot-shot trial attorney.  That didn't happen, and I'm glad.  Because I like having a real life beyond my office.  I work for an insurance company these days.  The work is interesting and challenging, but when I walk out the door at 5:00 I leave the caseload ...