songbird's crazy world

A mysterious object, it passed by Earth in 1991. Its orbit will bring it back to our little corner of space in the summer of 2017. Scientists don't know what this object is.  The mysterious object, which is approximately 32 feet wide, was in a heliocentric orbit remarkably similar to that of Earth. It doesn't act like a typical asteroid or comet.  And scientists do not think it's a piece of our "space junk". Who knows, maybe it's an alien probe.  We don't really know who else is out there, do we?

When I was a child, my mother kept a kosher house.  Not that my parents are particularly religious, but my grandmother would never have eaten a meal in my mother's house if the food wasn't kosher.  Shellfish and pork  products never made an appearance on my mother's table. We did eat non-kosher foods when we weren't at home, of course.  But while my parents would sometimes order shrimp or clams, shellfish wasn't a big draw for us. So I managed to live well into adulthood before I ever encountered a raw oyster. It was Christmas time, and I was at a business lunch at a very nice NYC restaurant.  We'd all ordered steaks, and our host ordered a variety of shellfish to be shared among the guests.  Including raw oysters. I'm always eager to try new foods (within reason), so when I was encouraged to take an oyster, I did.  I looked at the oyster.  It seemed innocuous enough.  They told me "You eat the oyster whole.  Just lift it up ...

How could I not include the Stones?

There's a bit of space junk headed towards Earth. It will enter the atmosphere on November 13 and hit the Indian Ocean. Little is known about this piece of junk, except that it is most definitely man-made. Until recently it was orbiting beyond the moon. Now it's headed here. It's been labeled ‘WT1190F’. Hence the nickname, WTF.

Vegetarian.   Kosher.  Shelf stable. It's Wild Garden hummus. I'd never heard of Wild Garden until I spotted a Snack Pack To Go in the supermarket. Had to try it, of course.  I bought two varieties, traditional hummus with pita chips and traditional hummus with veggie chips. When you open the box you find a bag of chips and a tube ... yes, a squeeze tube ... of hummus. Both containers are very portable and easy to open. The pita chips were crisp and flavorful.  But then, it's easy to do chips. The hummus?  A thick paste, thicker than traditional refrigerated brands.  A bit bland, could have used more garlic. It's shelf stable, but must be refrigerated after opening. You squeeze a ribbon of hummus onto a chip and you're all set.  I ran out of hummus before I ran out of chips, which was disappointing. Overall it was a satisfying snack in convenient packaging.  Certainly worth buying again.

You know I love a good diner. We recently found ourselves in Staten Island, and wound up at Mike's Unicorn Diner for a late lunch/early dinner. We were a large group, and called ahead to make sure we could be accommodated. The table was ready when we arrived. Service was friendly and efficient. Food was hot and fresh, portions were generous. I was pleased with the variety of the menu, lots of options available. I really enjoyed the sautéed mushrooms and onions on my burger. I don't visit Staten Island often, but it's nice to know I can get a decent burger or sandwich when I'm there.  - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

So tonight was the full moon, a super moon, the last of the season. Alas, not a blood moon, but you can't expect an eclipse every month. But we've been told that the Earth will have a close encounter with an asteroid on Halloween. There's speculation it's a comet in disguise. And then, there's Comet Lovejoy. The 'happy hour" comet. No, really. It's leaving a trail of alcohol and sugar behind as it journeys through the solar system. The equivalent of 500 bottles of wine per second. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No, I don't usually do tutorials, but I have been known to share a few recipes. Like my cocktail meatballs.   My pasta salad.   And my caprese salad. Truth of the matter is, I don't do much cooking.  I'm a decent cook, not fantastic, but my sisters are all much better at it than I am.   And I'm proud to say that Jen knows how to make a great taco.  Still, I enjoy cooking.  And I like trying new things. Maybe it's time to try a stir fry....

I was up before dawn this morning, headed to synagogue, when I saw it. A rare convergence of Venus, Jupiter and Mars in the eastern sky. Until the end of this week the three planets can be seen grouped together inside a five degree diameter circle, in an astral phenomenon known as a “planetary trio.” It was bright, the planets were glowing. I am hoping to see it again, the planets are supposed to stay in alignment until November 3.

Time for some Halloween fun!!! We like haunted houses. You walk through scary/gory scenes out of a horror movie, while costumed performers tease and taunt you. It's all fantasy, and it's fun. This year our search for spooky fun took us back to the Bayville Scream Park. http://www.bayvillescreampark.com/foodbeverage.htm In the warm summer months, the Bayville Adventure Park offers bumper boats, miniature golf, rock climbing and similar fun activities for children. But on cool October nights, the park is transformed. Five haunted attractions, each with its own theme and backstory. You can buy tickets for all five, or for as many of the attractions as you like. There's also an option for "speed pass", which gives you the ability to skip waiting in line. The park opens at 7:00 PM, but the time each attraction opens are staggered. The night we were there, the "Evil Woods" attraction didn't open until 8:30, which was very frustrating. ...

I'm not shy about telling you that yes, I do eat fast food, and yes, I like it. When you walk into a fast food restaurant, you  have certain expectations: standardized menu, quick service, and a clean place to eat.  The Arby's menu is a bit different from other chains.  They serve roast beef, chicken, ham...but no burgers.    Sandwiches are tasty, not greasy.  The Arby's sauce and the horsey sauce ar a nice touch. Sides are a bit different, too  -- including potato cakes and curly fries.  that's why we like Arby's. This location is always fairly busy.  Service is quick and efficient, food is hot, restaurant is kept clean. the dining area is relatively small but we've never had a problem finding a table.   The parking lot is a bit small, too, but again, we've never had an issue. They have a bell near the door, you're supposed to ring it on the way out if you were satisfied with the experience. The bell is rin...

 Shea Stadium, September 9, 1969.  During a game between division rivals the NY Mets and the Chicago Cubs, a black cat walked behind the Cubs' on-deck circle.  Baseball players being a superstitious lot, they blamed the cat on the Cubs' downfall and the Mets ultimate World Series victory. This time they didn't need a black cat, Murphy's law was enough.  It starts with the curse of the billy goat, placed on the Chicago Cubs in 1945 when Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis was asked to leave a World Series game against the Detroit Tigers at the Cubs' home ballpark of Wrigley Field because the odor of his pet goat named Murphy was bothering other fans.  He was outraged and declared, "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more," which has been interpreted to mean that there would never be another World Series game won at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, or appeared in one since 1945. In 1908, the last time they won the Wor...

So we are settling back into the routine, the new normal.   My father was the focal point of activity in our house, his illness requiring so much hands-on attention, and now that the funeral and shiva period are over, we are all trying to fill in that gap. So I'm dragging myself out of bed in the morning to go say Kaddish.  If I cannot manage getting up in the morning, I'll try to make the evening service.  I am finding that the ritual of prayer is soothing.  I'm worried about the family, of course.  My mother has always been the strong, silent type, hard to read her emotions.  And with her dementia advancing...well, I don't know what she's thinking.  We never leave her home alone, someone is always with her. Felice and Andrea...well, they were the most involved in my father's  day-to-day care.  They seem to be ok, for now.  The other night they went out shopping, a little retail therapy,  something they haven't done in a...

The theme song of my 9th grade dinner dance.

So my original plan was to participate in the Eastern Long Island Walk at Dowling College and work as a volunteer at the Jones Beach Walk. Didn't turn out that way.  The day of the walk at Dowling College was gray, rainy and miserable.  I hadn't done any fundraising.  And I just couldn't bring myself to go. And while I sent in an application to work in the registration tent, as I did last year, I never got a response.  I've been walking at Jones Beach, on and off, for months now.  So I decided I'd do the walk at the Making Strides event. The forecast called for unseasonably cold but clear and dry weather.  Since I absolutely had to wear my new pink hoodie, I made sure to wear several layers under it to stay warm.  When I got to the beach around 8:15 or so,  parking field 5  was already full, and everyone was being directed to park at field 6 or field 4.  I opted for field 4, and then had to walk back to field 5 to  vi...

Ah, sweet memories: And the update: They're taking a 2-0 series lead to Chicago tonight.  Hey Cubs fans, keep this in mind:  the goat's name was Murphy!!!!!

And we were shown a lot of love. You sit shiva for seven days after the funeral. Friends and family come by to pay their respects to the deceased and to offer condolences to the family. And they bring food. Lots of food. Not just cookies and cake. Whole meals. My waistline may never recover. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Every culture, every society, has its rituals for honoring the dead and comforting the mourners. We find comfort from the traditions, comfort from the community. Jewish tradition identifies a "mourner" as the spouse, parent, child or sibling of the deceased. Others may be saddened by the death, but they are not "mourners". After the funeral, the mourners sit shiva for seven days. It is a period of deep mourning, where friends and family come by to pay respects and offer condolences. Mourning continues until 30 days after the burial. But if you are mourning a parent, your period of mourning lasts for an entire year. The rituals of mourning include the recitation of the Kaddish. During the daily or Sabbath service, the Rabbi will ask the mourners to rise and recite the prayer in memory of their loved ones. A minyan -- a quorum of 10 -- is required in order for this prayer to be recited. The first time I said Kaddish for my father was at the funeral. ...

Wow, just wow   Look at that band in an iconic pose. There's Freddy Mercury, with long hair and weird eyeliner, wearing a shiny Qiana shirt.  Listen to the guitar riffs, listen to the harmonies.  This song is a true classic. .

My father, of blessed memory, loved everything about cooking.  He'd watch all the cooking shows on TV, shows like "The Barefoot Contessa".  He had an extensive collection of cookbooks, he loved buying food magazines and reading the recipes. When he retired in 1989, he signed up for a Chinese cooking class.  He bought a wok and drove to Flushing to buy authentic ingredients. And then he learned to roll sushi, long before most of us had ever heard of it.  In the last year of his life, as his appetite wained and he grew so thin, we could always manage to get him to eat if we brought him sushi.  We called him "the sushi monster". But his signature dish ...  soup.  A dish that adorned our table for every Jewish holiday, and frequently "just because". Real, made-from-scratch chicken soup.    You start with a whole chicken, cut in quarters. Vegetables -- onion, celery, carrots, parsnip.  Herbs.  Kosher salt.  The aroma perme...

It's back!!!!  And so good.  This was once my "go-to" diner.   And then, sadly, the quality went downhill.  With so many really good diners on Long Island, there's no reason to accept mediocrity.  So we found other places. But I've been hearing good things about this diner lately, so on a recent Sunday afternoon, I decided to give it a try.  And I'm glad I did.  Décor is clean, bright and modern.  Wait staff wear crisp black uniforms.  Service is friendly and efficient.  Menu is extensive but not overwhelming.  Scrambled eggs were light and fluffy.  French fries were hot and crisp.  Cranberry Pecan Salad (an interesting mix  of tomato, cucumber, dried cranberries, candied pecans and  gorgonzola cheese, and I added chicken) was huge, with a generous serving of creamy salad dressing on the side.  Next time I might try a burger, they have some interesting and unusual options (a Jack Dan...

There's be no Rocktober without the Beatles.  I actually learned how to play this one on the piano, it was a welcome change of pace from the simple child-friendly songs my teacher favored.

The kitchen was never my mother's "happy place".  She was a decent cook, but she did it out of necessity, not enjoyment.  She was very happy to relinquish that task to my father after he retired, he truly enjoyed being in the kitchen. Of course my sisters and I learned how to cook.  You have to be able to provide for yourself, and if you can derive some enjoyment from it ... I'm not sure what was the first thing I ever cooked, but I think it was eggs.  Don't remember if it was scrambled eggs or sunny side up.    Both are fairly easy, after all.  Very hard for a young teenager to ruin.  Hard boiled are easy enough, too. After that, it was pasta.  My mother served a lot of spaghetti, it's easy to cook and feeds a small crowd.   You make a simple meat sauce and you've got a meal.  And that simple meat sauce is similar to chili, which you can serve over rice.  Another crowd pleaser. And when you have a gas grill...

Summer 1974, and I was 14 years old. My family was logging a lot of time in the car, traveling from our home on Long Island to ... Well, we had relatives in New Jersey, and there was that vacation in Virginia. Our travels took us on routes where we would see the NYC skyline. Including the nascent Twin Towers. So of course I remember Phillippe Petit, and his famous (illegal) high wire walk between the towers. I haven't had the chance to see the documentary, "Man on Wire", though now that I've seen the Zemeckis retelling, I may try to find a copy. Yes, I liked "The Walk". Told as a "caper" or "heist" movie, the story follows Petit from his first encounter with the high wire, to his first sight of the World Trade Center towers in a magazine, and then to acquiring "accomplices" for his "coup". Hoseph Gordon-Levitt is amazing as Petit.  High energy, funny, entertaining. I loved seeing all the methods Petit an...

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, http://ramblinwitham.blogspot.com/ The author (Alana) is taking classes on learning how to prevent falls. One of the exercises she describes is walking, similar to what you'd do on a tightrope or a balance beam. She inadvertently brought back memories of what was then my worst nightmare. The Munich Olympics were held in August and September 1972. The Games were marred by the shooting of Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village, but were also noted for extraordinary performance by numerous athletes, including the legendary Mark Spitz, and a tiny Soviet gymnast named Olga Korbut. She won several gold medals, including one for balance beam, and would be named ABC's Athlete of the Year. September 1972 was also when I started 7th grade, my very first year of junior high. In elementary school, the entire class would head to the gym for physical education (how the boys hated square dancing!), but in junior high we were segregated by...

The young soldier, in full dress uniform, saluted the flag-draped coffin. A second soldier, slightly older, raised his bugle to his lips. The sad, stark notes of "Taps" wafted over the cemetery. The song over, the two members of the honor guard folded the flag with military precision into a neat triangle for presentation to the next of kin. When the young soldier handed the flag to my mother, I started to cry. Earlier that morning we'd gathered at the funeral home. The funeral director usher us -my mother, sisters and daughters- into the chapel so that we could fulfill the legal requirement of identifying the body, and to give us a few moments to say goodbye. And there was my father, dressed in the J. Crew outfit my sister had chosen for him, a yarmulke on his head, the tallit the Rabbi gave us draped around his shoulders. Then back to the family room. Hugs and tears as family and friends arrived. Another private moment before the service as each of the immediate ...

The news from my father's doctors is not good. And I am so sick of visiting that hospital.

I think I am falling in love with this chain all over again.  Soups, salads, sandwiches, pastries...a nice change of pace from fast food, lots of options for healthy eating as well as indulgence. This summer I ate  a lot of strawberry poppyseed chicken salad.  But that salad disappeared from the menu right after Labor Day.  One of their "fall" items is a Turkey, Cheddar and Apple sandwich.  On the website they suggest pairing this sandwich with Autumn Squash Soup.  I wasn't interested in squash that day, so I opted for the standard creamy tomato soup instead.  The apple is shredded, it was almost like a sweet cole slaw without dressing.  Added a nice balance to the cheddar and a nice crunch to the sandwich.  Definitely worth ordering again.

I've written before about my love of Greek and Middle Eastern foods.  Words like "falafel", "pita", "tsatziki" and "souvlaki" excite my taste buds.  And yes, I am a huge fan of "hummus", a classic spread made from chick peas.  I was in the canned goods aisle, picking up some Bumble Bee tuna (I like their singe serve tuna  salad and cracker combo), when I spotted this: Hummus in a can?  That doesn't need refrigeration?  That's as portable as the single serve tuna salad? I guess it's worth a try. So I bought it. It's...ok.  Not great, but a decent snack.  The texture of the hummus is a bit runny, and it could use a little more garlic.  The wheat crackers, the same crackers used in other Bumble Bee snacks, are ok, too -- a bit hard, a bit bland.  I'd prefer a toasted pita chip.  My biggest issue was the ratio of hummus to cracker.  I put what I consider a normal amount of hummus on each cracker, a...

I first heard the word in the mid 1970's, as Top 40 AM stations were giving way to the cooler sounds of FM rock.    One of the local FM stations ran promotions all during the month of October, and called their promotions "Rocktober". These days the term, along with the music it celebrates, have become the province of "classic rock" stations. To celebrate Rocktober, at  various times throughout the month, I'll post some of my favorite classic rock songs. Let's start with this one by Foreigner:

On Sunday I realized that  I'd only been to a park once in the entire month of September.  And I really, really missed it.  I mean, Leslie Sansone and Fitness Blender provide fine indoor workouts, but walking in a park doesn't just exercise my body, it enriches my soul.  Life has been too hectic these past few weeks to find the time for a stroll along the boardwalk, but I was hopeful....  And then I looked at the weather forecast -- gray and rainy expected all week long.  So disappointing. And then it was Wednesday, and as I walked out of the office at 5:00....sunshine!  So unexpected, but...I figured if I drove straight to the beach, I'd have an hour to walk on the boardwalk before the park closed.  Summer is over, the crowds have gone home, but there were a significant number of people on the boardwalk. Sunken Meadow is a North Shore park,on Long Island Sound,  not a barrier beach like Jones Beach.  The boardwalk separates t...

The October theme: This month, we're dishing on our favourite foods, sharing recipes (and the stories behind their creation), and reflecting on what we used to eat as kids. We're also looking at what dish we used to dread eating, and whether it's still our least favourite food. A month devoted to food?  Sounds interesting.  Count me in.