songbird's crazy world

So I was reading about subscription boxes.  It's an interesting concept.  Every month you get a box of merchandise -- accessories, cosmetics, foods, craft items, whatever.  It's like getting a gift every month. So I thought I'd give it a try.  I ordered the April Wantable box. What I liked about Wantable is that they try to gear the products in your box to your individual needs and taste.  They ask you to complete a survey - do you like sunglasses?  Earrings?  Hair accessories? Is your style classic?  Glamourous?  Rock star? Your box is then "personalized" with accessories they think you will like. My box contained earrings, bracelets, a ring and some ballerina hair ties.  I like the jewelry, but I'm not sure I'll use the hair ties.  Barretts or a headband would have been a better option for me. Definitely worth the $36 subscription price, I can't wait until next month. Here's what was in my box. ...

So the Thai food was our celebratory dinner in honor of our parents.  My mom and dad have been married 55 years. 55 years, can you imagine that?  It was a quiet evening at home, take-out food, cake from Dortoni's, nothing too elaborate.  Cozy.  Moments to relish. Of course, the old stories were told. How they were both teachers at the time.    How my dad lived on Long Island and my mom lived in the Bronx.  How they initially planned to marry in June and honeymoon in Europe.  How they chose to marry on Easter Sunday instead -- Easter was in March that year, but Passover was at the end of April -- and have a brief honeymoon in the Catskills, with the idea they'd go to Europe during the summer anyhow.  That's not how things worked out.  I was born 11 months after they got married, so no trip to Europe that summer.  They didn't get to visit Europe until my dad retired.  There are very few pictures of thei...

Lest you think it's all Asian food for me, tonight we got takeout from Jackson's. We have eaten here and/or gotten takeout several times, so we knew what to expect. The employees were pleasant when I picked up the order. Portions were large and food was tasty. But apparently we has a communications breakdown, because there were several mistakes with our order. I had the chicken Parmesan. Mauve portion of chicken breasts, breaded, fried and buried in mozzarella. The dish had been placed under the broiler and the cheese was a tad overdone. Side of rigatoni with marinara was pretty standard. The salmon dish and the chicken dish ordered by my dining companions looked good as well. Caesar salad looked and tasted fresh. Yes, we will be back. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

We did take-out from this place the other night. It was my first experience with this restaurant, and I've had very limited experience with Thai food in general. I really enjoyed our dinner. Our meal began with an assortment of appetizers and dipping sauces. We had mini spring rolls - crispy goodness with sweet orange sauce similar to Chinese duck sauce. Chicken satay -- skewers of chicken with a thick, flavorful peanut sauce. Curry samosas - triangles of fried dough stuffed with a spicy curry, a little too spicy for my taste. Next we had whole red snapper - filleted, breaded and fried, and served with a sauce similar to Chinese sweet and sour sauce. The shrimp fried rice -- only vaguely similar to Chinese or Japanese fried rice, it contained chunks of pineapple and had a very sweet taste. Ginger duck - a stir fried dish with lots of vegetables and a sweet sauce. Chicken Pad Thai - rice noodles, chicken and vegetables stir fried in a savory brown sauce. We also ord...

If you're a Long Islander, that name brings about visions of white boxes with blue writing, of cakes and pies and cookies on supermarket shelves. Specially decorated cookies or cupcakes for holidays: green icing for St. Patrick's Day, orange and chocolate sprinkles for Halloween. It's a regional bakery with a large assortment of products. Yesterday the company announced that it was closing its Bay Shore plant, which was its main site for decades, and relocating those functions to another plant. No big deal for the consumer, right? Except that it means they're also closing the factory outlet store. When I was a little girl my parents would take the drive to Bay Shore to buy cakes and etc. at the outlet. Back then we ate a lot of baked goods, there weren't a lot of supermarkets in our area, and the choices and markdowns at the outlet made it worth the time and effort to drive to Bay Shore. You'd see the boxes, with red or black slashes drawn on them...

Previously known as China City Buffet, this restaurant was recently closed and remodeled, and has reopened as Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet. The dining area of the restaurant is large and open, and can accommodate large groups of people.  The koi pond in the lobby is a nice touch.  We were a fairly large group, yet had no problem being seated even on a busy Sunday. Food offerings include both Asian and American selections.  The American selections include a complete salad bar (with peel and eat shrimp), pizza and macaroni and cheese.  Honestly, I didn't touch any of that -- I don't go to an Asian buffet to eat pizza. There were about a dozen different sushi rolls, nothing too complicated, but freshly made and tasty.  The hibachi area offers cooked to order meat/vegetable/noodle combinations. Buffet table offerings:  Most of the dishes were seafood or chicken, but there were pork and beef dishes as well.  .Spare ribs were meaty and in a tangy...

I was running some errands in East Meadow and needed lunch.  Tucked into a shopping center, this small restaurant is primarily take-out and delivery oriented, with a couple of tables in case you'd like to eat your meal there. The menu is predominantly Chinese, but they offer a nice selection of Thai dishes as well as Japanese udon noodles. My choice was a combo plate from the lunch menu -- chicken in garlic sauce with pork fried rice.  The dish was made of nice slices of white meat chicken and an assortment of vegetables, including broccoli, baby corn and pea pods.  I would have liked to have seen a little more chicken in the dish.  The garlic sauce had a nice kick to it, but was not overwhelmingly spicy.  Fried rice had a decent amount of pork in it. Definitely worth another visit the next time I'm in the area.

So I finished Mark Cohen's biography of Allan Sherman, and the library informs me that A Gift of Laughter is ready for pickup.  Getting my homework done! I spotted the first robin of spring yesterday.  The sweet little songbird was on Drew's lawn.  I have a certain affinity for robins...just because my name is Robin doesn't mean anything, does it?  :-) Of course Drew had to make a joke about robins becoming extinct if they're not careful...we have a running joke about a street in his neighborhood, Robin Lane, and every time I say how delightful that street name is, he jokes about eradicating the name... There is no questioning that Jen is Drew's daughter.  Yesterday her allergies kicked in, poor kid was sneezing so hard, I gave her my bottle of Claritin.   Drew's allergies kicked in today.  Same sneeze. I drove past the late, lamented Potter's Pub today.  That place was a big hangout for Hofstra students.  In...

Go to Walt Disney World and tweet lots of photos, especially photos showing how warm it is in Florida this time of year! Seriously, Jen and Becca had a great time at Disney.  Highlight was meeting Rapunzel in the Magic Kingdom -- the family joke is that Jen IS Rapunzel.  Biggest disappointment was that it rained the day they went to EPCOT, so they couldn't ride Test Track. Now I want to go to Disney again!

If I said the name "Allan Sherman", a few people might nod in recognition. If I added "My Son, the Folksinger", a few more people  would understand. And a few more would get it if I said "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah". I'm just a bit too young to remember Sherman's heyday as a comedian/song parodist.  I discovered one of his albums in my parents' collection when I was about 12, and then I read his autobiography, " A Gift of Laughter, " also in my parents' collection. I love his sense of humor, and his obvious pride in his Jewish identity. Drew is an even bigger fan than I am, he has many of Sherman's albums on vinyl, and many of them on CD, including one that was just released, with "all new material".  Before Sherman became a star, he used to sing his parodies at parties, just Sherman and his piano, and someone recorded a number of these songs, but they'd never been released to the public until now. Sh...

So yesterday we took the train into the city.  Very busy and crowded weekend, with tourists and day trippers getting an early start on St. Patrick's Day.  Lots of folks wearing shamrocks and the like. Our walk from Penn to Times Square was very crowded.  We saw: -- a girl, maybe 18 years old, with her hair styled like Cyndi Lauper wore it in that video for "Time After Time".  The police had just confiscated her open liquor bottle and were asking for her ID. -- a street musician playing classical music on the violin. -- a drummer in a purple velvet jacket and hat that he stole from Rooster in that old show, "Baretta". -- vendors selling food (hot dogs, pretzels, kebabs), tee shirts, art work, plastic shamrock necklaces. -- a religious group preaching their (how shall I say it?) unorthodox theology. -- costumed characters.   Lots of costumed characters.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse. SpongeBob.  Super Mario.  Batman and Spiderman....

Purim is a minor Jewish holiday, celebrating queen Esther's victory over the wicked Haman in ancient Persia.  It's a sort of Halloween mixed with Mardi Gras, celebrated with food, drink, synagogue carnivals, etc. This year Purim will be celebrated on Sunday March 16. Yesterday the synagogue sent out a funeral notice.  One of my colleagues on the Board of Trustees, a pillar of the community, and a genuinely nice guy, passed away.  It was not a surprise, he'd been very ill for well over a year, showing up at Board meetings with his oxygen tank in tow. The funeral is on Sunday.

Yesterday we revisited Minado . Hard to believe it's been so long since the last time we were here. It really is the best Asian buffet on Long Island.  There are lots of options, the food is fresh and delicious.   So many different varieties of sushi and sashimi, I felt like a kid in a candy store.  I had to try one of everything. One member of our party made a meal entirely out of the crab legs, shrimp, clams, etc.  from the seafood section.  The cooked to order Mongolian wok items were incredible.  Drew loved his steak. My one disappointment...I didn't get any beef teriyaki.  When I went to the table with all the hot foods, half of the serving dishes were empty.  I could have waited a few minutes for the dishes to be refilled, but I opted for some tempura instead.  The restaurant closes after lunch and reopens at 5 PM for dinner, and as a result, all of the food runs out and needs to be refilled at the same time.  At $...

We have a small group of friends we get together with to celebrate birthdays. Between the weather and everyone's busy schedule, we didn't get together for Drew's birthday and my birthday until this evening. Among the gifts we got -- gift cards for Olive Garden, TGIF Friday's and that hot new restaurant, Monsoon. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

So the evening began at Ben's. You know that an appreciation of good deli is in my genes, and Ben's has become a Long Island institution and a favorite place to satisfy my cravings. I'd never been to this location before. Its proximity to the Tilles Center is what drew us here. The food was excellent, the same quality I have come to expect from Ben's. Crisp cole slaw, half sour and sour pickles are placed on every table. Tonight I ordered a soup and sandwich combo. Matzo ball soup -- a clear chicken broth with thin noodles and a large, fluffy matzo ball, served with a few slices of challah and margarine, could have been a meal unto itself. Half a sandwich, rye overstuffed with hot pastrami, so large I couldn't finish it. And yes, the square knishes are finally back -- Gabila's has finally recovered from last September's fire. The food did not disappoint. The service, however. . . Nothing major went wrong, but a lot of small things added ...

Didn't we just fall back ? Honestly, Daylight Saving Time in early March? I hope this means spring is just around the corner!

So I listened to The Todd Show on WPLJ for about a week. Todd and his entourage of pop culture experts. I am sure that eventually he will hit his stride with his new format, but right now it sounds like he's trying too hard. And then on Monday, the legendary Scott Shannon took his seat at WCBS-FM. And it was like reuniting with an old friend. He sounds like he's been at WCBS since forever. I have to admit, the music variety at PLJ doesn't do it for me. I think they're calling it hot adult contemporary, with a playlist from the 1990's to today. I like it, but I don't love it. I listened to Scott and Todd, but after morning drive time I moved on to other stations. I like oldies. I like WCBS. I listen to WLTW, Lite FM. I listen to classic rock on Q104. I listen to Long Island stations -- oldies on B103, adult contemporary on WKJY and WALK-FM. I think PLJ has lost a listener. I will be interested to see how this plays out, I want to see the Arbitron ratin...

I can't believe they were able to do this -- Audrey Hepburn and Dove Chocolate It's all computer generated.  As so "Audrey".

Drew and I were supposed to get together with friends yesterday.  A nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant, with friends we've known since forever, to celebrate our recent birthdays. Except that everyone was panicked over the impending snowstorm.  Forecast said the snow would begin sometime Sunday, get worse overnight and create a disaster for the Monday morning commute. By mid-afternoon we decided to postpone.  Not worth the hassle. So of course the snow didn't happen.  At least, not here -- southern New Jersey took the hit, but we just got a dusting of snow.  Just enough to cover the grass. I shouldn't complain about it.  You don't have to shovel "a dusting" of snow, after all. But I am so sick of this weather!!!

This time it's Drew's sister. S lives with Uncle M, her father's brother. Uncle M lost his wife a few years ago, and they never had children. When he moved in with S he was healthy and vital, and still working despite having reached retirement age. Now he is 87 and in poor health. S has become his caregiver. She is not happy about it and she's doing a very poor job of it. S recently told Drew "Uncle M can't come to Becca's graduation. He will have dialysis that day." This statement was followed by a dozen reasons why S can't come to the graduation either. Really? Really? I kind of think that the medical staff over at a Good Sam, given 3 months' notice, could figure out a way for Marvin to go to graduation. S just doesn't want to put in the effort because she doesn't want to go. Sigh. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad