Let Him Eat Pie

I was in Scotts Corners Market today and ran into a friend carrying a slice of cherry pie in a plastic container. I asked what he was doing with that delicious-looking piece o'pie and he said, "I'm eating it for lunch ... with a big cup of coffee." 

I love that!! What is wrong with me that I would never have a piece of pie for lunch!?!??

I think we all need to forget the starch/protein/vegetable commitment and go solely for the pie. (My birthday is on Monday ... this will be my new vow.)

Cat En Guarde

Pete Seeger, Icon of American Folk Music (1919-2014)

When I was about 3-years old, my parents took my brother, sister and me to a Pete Seeger concert at a Friend's meeting house in Pennsylvania. I remember so clearly listening to his music as he sat on a rocking chair on the front porch, lit by a single bulb, and strummed his banjo. As we all sat huddled on a blanket, it was a memorable chilly October evening of my childhood, made all the more richer by his message of peace and goodness.

“The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known," Seeger said in 1994.

President Obama released a statement following Seeger’s passing that read, “Once called ‘America’s tuning fork,’ Pete Seeger believed deeply in the power of song. But more importantly, he believed in the power of community – to stand up for what’s right, speak out against what’s wrong, and move this country closer to the America he knew we could be. Over the years, Pete used his voice – and his hammer – to strike blows for worker’s rights and civil rights; world peace and environmental conservation. And he always invited us to sing along. For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger.”

You Can't Have Your Cake

                                                            Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud
 
Yesterday I heard NEW YORKER writer Adam Gopnik interview Judith Jones, senior editor at Knopf (and champion of Julia Child's cookbook that no other publisher would touch, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking.") Gropnik said that his grandfather's dying words were profound: "You can't have your cake and eat it, too. What does that even mean?" 

Good question, n'est-ce pas?

Elder Parents & Life in the 90s: Let's Ask Craigslist

A friend has fiercely independent nonagenarian parents. His 98-year old father is the caregiver to his 92-year old mother, but now (according to their children, not them) he could use a hand with cooking and driving. So their devoted offspring got together and posted an ad on Craigslist: "Needed: Live-in aide/driver for elderly couple."

Tasks would include dressing, daily walks, and of course, the potential caregiver would have to have impeccable references, a good driving record, the ability to merge right in and work for a couple married 71 years (no easy feat), availability to sleep over and oversee a daily housekeeper.

The Craigslist ad went unanswered until yesterday, when a single and priceless response came it. Read on ...

"Hi, I have a very bizarre idea, and I'm a little embarrassed answering this ad, because it proposes a strange idea even to myself. If you would like to meet or call me, let me know.  (Local references can vouch for my legitimacy.)

 "I live in Westchester (N.Y.) and have parents who live in Syracuse (upstate N.Y.); dad is 92, (still drives) and mom is 87. They are just beginning to think they are OLD.  (In your ad, when you say "elderly," how old are your parents, by the way?)

"My 58-year old sister, who has a Masters Degree in special ed, lives 10 miles from my parents in Syracuse. Her job status is in flux at the moment, so she could move to Westchester, too.

"I was trolling Craigslist under part-time jobs, looking for something to do because I am bored ... my youngest is in college and I don't work.  My parents missed watching my kids grow up, so I'd love if they lived nearby.

"How big is your parents' home? How many bathrooms does it have? Could it accommodate an additional three people living there?

"My mom loves to cook; her blintzes are the best, her cookies (she still uses real butter) are addictive, but her brisket is only so-so. My dad is a World War II vet.

"Please consider having my sister move in to be the person who technically sleeps overnight, but could my parents move in, too? They could do the cooking, companionship, some driving, etc. We can figure out the money situation if this works out.

"My sister and parents haven't actually lived together in 40 years ... and I'm wondering if they could even do it. Or would they be interested in doing it? In any event, would your parents want their home 'invaded' by my family?

"Thank you for your consideration.

Signed,
Another Person With an Elder Parent Dilemma Situation"

It didn't take long for my friend and his siblings to make their decision: having another family move into their elderly parents' home would not make life in the 90's easier. Especially if the 87-year old mother from Syracuse can't even make a good brisket ... although, admit it ... those blintzes are tempting.

Sound like an interesting proposal? Feel free to take first dibs.

In the meantime, we can't help but embrace the Craigslist responder for her straight-out-there-moxie to get her sister and parents back together. Under someone else's roof.

Even if the references are impeccable.

The Wonderful Artwork of Pamela Kogen

                                                                              "Blue Dress" by Pamela Kogen

"Blue Dress," a new rendering by my sister, Pamela Kogen, has a richness and whimsy that I adore.

This weekend, Pamela's latest work will be featured at a pop-up gallery in Princeton called "Our House Your House."

Lift the winter blues and check it out:

January 25 - February 15, 2014
Palmer Square
711 Avery Place (across from The Arts Council at the corner of Witherspoon)
Princeton, New Jersey

HUFFPOST: "Costco: Bonding With a Box Store"

The person serving mini-tacos samples showed complete politesse when I circled back for the fifth time. My love for box stores was sealed. Who knew Costco could be so inspiring?

Click here for my HuffPost, otherwise, read on ...

                  Costco: Bonding with a Box Store

While driving the back roads of Connecticut recently, I noticed my car was hydroplaning on muddy surfaces. This indicated a few things. Either:

1. I’m a lousy driver
2. Mud is the new ice
3. I’m driving too fast
4. I need new tires.

Bingo. Serve it up on #4. After many exciting miles of wear from my house to the supermarket to the tailor, and the cleaner, my tires were bald.

Selecting new ones was an interesting process, mostly because I don’t know squat about tires. With research and guidance, I landed on the ones with optimum all-weather traction that create a solid tread block for an exceptional combination of handling, steering, comfort and tread wear. Oh yeah, and not to forget the importance of sidewall durability

The order was placed. I received a call that the new tires were in the shop. Be there at noon. Convenient enough.

“We’ll call you when the car is ready,” said the mechanic when I dropped it off.

What to do sans wheels? The age-old question.

I wandered into the neighboring Costco, the big box store that I usually tear through with fortitude and focus as I troll the aisle for the usual. (Paper towels, cleaning stuff, etc.)

It was strange not be in a rush and to truly embrace the magnitude of excess that the store exudes. Gigundanormous everything. And here I had a bulk of time until the car was ready. We were the perfect match.

“I’ll just shop a little until they call me,” I thought.

So I wandered the aisles for two hours with an acute sense of purpose and direction at first (it’s so empowering to know where the frozen pineapple is) and then re-tracked... especially when there was a good freebie. The person serving mini-tacos samples showed complete politesse when I circled back for the fifth time.

Hours passed, I was stuffed and the shopping cart was spilling over. I tried calling the garage to see if my car was ready but there was no pick up.

“Maybe they’re too busy working on my car,” I thought. (I’m striving to be positive in the New Year.)

I returned to the Vitamix demonstration on aisle 12. It’s a cool “blending system” that will totally crush anything else you’ve ever tried in a blender. With turbo-force, you can have soups, smoothies and juices, butters, purées and sauces within seconds. Did you know there’s a whole book with more than 300 recipes? I sampled at least 10 of them during my Costco tenure this afternoon. Hot taco soup, apple banana ice cream. The blender is amazing!!!

Finally, I broke free from the hypnotism of the in-store demo and headed to the checkout line. Item by item I emptied my shopping cart. Buyers’ remorse began settling in, and I hadn’t even left the store.

“Sorry. We forgot to call you when the car was ready,” the tire guy said as I stood there with a splash of Cold Nectarine Dessert Soup on my jacket and an obvious Costco bonanza behind me. “We finished about an hour ago.”

He went on to explain that the new tires had a five-year warranty. By this time, I felt like I had used up half of it.

As I drove away, I torqued into reverse and gave a quick glance into the rearview mirror. The backseat looked like a bodega. Amongst the many (many) items, I was stuck with enough cereal to get us through 2014, five pounds of Brussels sprouts, two crates of Clementines, a colossal-sized bag of fresh spinach, a jar of mustard big enough to feed my town and a gigantic wedge of Gorgonzola. I found self-solace knowing that at least I had shown restraint by not purchasing the $500 blender.

The other small grace was that my car had revived buoyancy. It’s called “new tires.” They were the purchase that would go the distance ... that and the memory of spending an afternoon at Costco and bonding with a box store.

Squirrel Appreciation Day: Party On!

No way!!! You didn't miss Squirrel Appreciation Day this year, did you? I'm thankful for many things and my list runneth over, but I've never thought squirrels could be counted among them. Until now.

In the event this special day passed you by, get out the party poppers and read on ...

Here's my new Huffington Post: "Squirrel Appreciation Day: Don't Miss Celebrating!" 
(Click here).

                                     

Nature , Green News , Animal Behavior , Humor , Lifestyle , Squirrel Appreciation Day , Squirrel-Appreciation , Weird Holidays , Green News

Outrageous Bombogenesis Hits the Northeast

The polar vortex is back with bitterly cold air settling southward from the Arctic. As a snowstorm bears down on the northeast, the winter weather term bombogenesis has come to the forefront.

The impacts of a bombogenesis can include rapidly strengthening winds and high precipitation rates, as well as thundersnow.

Currently, we have about 9-inches of snow, with more to come.

Here is the view from my window:







                           *








* No, the image isn't missing. We are currently experiencing a complete white-out.

Closer Than Springtime Are You

From a galactic perspective, we are currently in the midst of a waning gibbous moon. Springtime is out there in the universe, but close at hand at Ikea.

The grass is always greener ...

                                                                                   Rug display at Ikea

A Gift to Yourself

Be present. Be present. Be present.Be present. BE PRESENT. Be present. 
Be present. Be present. Be present. Be present. Be present.
Be present.Be present. Be present.Be present. BE PRESENT.
Be present.Be present.  BE PRESENT. Be present. Be present. Be present. 
Be present. Be present. Be present.Be present. BE PRESENT. Be present. 
Be present. Be present. Be present. Be present. Be present.Be present.
Be present. Be present.Be present. BE PRESENT. Be present. Be present. 
Be present. Be present. Be present. Be present.Be present. Be present. 
Be present.Be present. BE PRESENT. Be present. 

Be present. 

Radish Relish

Have you ever had a dream that completely and utterly makes your day ... and even days thereafter?

Last night I dreamed that I had a little 4-year old boy (my son is now 25) squirming and laughing in my arms. He was soft-skinned and roly-poly. As I snuggled him, I said, "I'm going to relish you like a little radish!"

What would we do without the magic of our imagination?

Booziness at the Golden Globes

The first-ever Golden Globes signature cocktail? "Moët Golden Night" -- a lushy medley of Moët Impérial, cardamom simple syrup and pear brandy, garnished with three pieces of fanned pear slices. Love it.

But there was 100% proof that things got too loopy, and a bit sloppy, throughout the awards program.  Let's start with Jacqueline Bisset  ... not only did she look drunk, but it looks like she missed her hair appointment. (Click here if you missed her awkward acceptance speech for the TV miniseries called, appropriately enough, Dancing on the Edge.)

Later, Emma Thompson trotted onstage barefoot clutching a martini in one hand and her Christian Louboutin heels in the other. She proceeded to toss the shoes above her head, and then whooped into a slurry speech.

Followed by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and their duo-Golden cocktail goblets and inebriated posturing.

By the end of the show, this viewer had the whirlies.

In the Know With: Cate Blanchett (Blon-SHAY??)

Cate Blanchett, who wows the crowd with her title role in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, is in the States this week for awards season.

On her character in Blue Jasmine
"I think, I hope, what I brought out in Woody's screenplay is that she's utterly constructed. I mean, the references that are made to her teen years, you know — she's changed her name. She's estranged from her biological beginnings, you know — to avoid thinking of what? The chasm, I think, that has always existed, [which] she's filled with her husband, her social network, her clothes that she buys. And I think a lot of people said, 'Well, why should we feel anything for her?' But I tried to find a connection to that universal problem that so many of us feel — who am I, without all the trappings of our lives?"

Playing the character of "Blue (née "Jeanette," but "Blue" is so much more romantic in fragrance) Jasmine," Blanchett says, "This was a part to swing a cat in."

She does so with meowingly painful buoyancy, wit and grace.

On the FYI front: if you talk about Miss Blanchett before/during or after the Golden Globes this Sunday night (January 12 at 8 p.m. on NBC) ... her name is not pronounced "Blan-CHETT".

The pronunciation she prefers is "BLAN-chitt".

(It's like when people call Ralph Lauren Ralph "Lor-RENN".  It's "LOR-ren" like the girl's name "Lauren.")

What's your bet that Cate Blanchett will take "Best Actress"?  Raise your hands high.

Nice Ice

7-degrees in Connecticut. Crystals on my window.

Dangers of the Polar Vortex: Don't Lick Flag Poles

It is so frikking cold that my hands are blue on the keyboard. The circuit of electricity on one wall flipped off and, with that, bye-bye small space heater. Brrrr.

The L.A. Times featured a polar vortex story today about a girl in New Hampshire who tempted mother nature by licking the flag pole in her front yard. She called the dare "nerve-wracking," especially when her tongue got stuck and she couldn't exactly enunciate a call for help.

Is this detached jet-stream-gone-rogue from the North Pole making everyone crazy? Was the brutality of winter mocking the stupidity of this kid?

Lesson Learned in the first week of the New Year:
Touching your tongue to a flag pole when it is polar frigid cold weather is a very bad idea.

Going Gluten

With the children home for the holidays, we've had to tailor the menus for gluten-free and lactose-free. Now that everyone is back in their places in NYC and Honolulu, husband and I can get back on the trash track.

Tonight I made a gluten dinner. Lots of gluten.

Followed by ice cream for dessert. With real whipped cream. Lots of it.

It's good to be back to normal again.

Two Days In ... How's Your New Year So Far?

Now that we're two days into the New Year, it's as good a time as any to take a look at how 2014 is going. I like to try and nip things in the butt, so if it's not going straight-forward in the last 48-hours, right this second is the perfect time to make any corrections. Don't even wait for January 3.
From my desk, the trajectory is looking good:

- Thrilled about the imminent snowstorm. Shoveler (not me) and snow blower are ready to go.
- Daughter is still here on-leave from Teach For America. Returns to Oahu this weekend, so we're embracing every minute of her time stateside.
- I lost my new leather glove. Then I found it in the driveway.
- According to an article in today's NYTIMES, car sales for Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Jaquar and Mercedes are up. Reports an automotive consultant with Robb Report, a lifestyle magazine for wealthy readers, "Luxury is not a dirty word anymore." (Great. I'll take an extra-long bubble bath tonight and will not feel guilty when I re-fill the tub with hot water and bubbles.)
- Organized my office for new projects that start next week.

And this is just the beginning.

How is your New Year going? Want to share tips with our readers on how to make the most out of Day #3, 2014?