Two Hours in Ocean city

Before things turned sour on Saturday, we had a good time in Ocean City, New Jersey.  I'd never been to the Jersey Shore before, not being fond of beaches much less the eponymous tv show.  We were going to spend Saturday at the boardwalk before Sunday's big competition, where we've spent most Memorial Days in the last several years.

I have only been to one other boardwalk, the one at Coney Island, where I enjoyed the sea otters at the Aquarium and the hot dogs and waffle fries at Nathan's.  Otherwise, it was kinda grimy.  But Mama and the Bud had been to O.C. two years ago for competition, when I'd stayed home with feverish Sis, and enjoyed themselves; they wanted to share it with us.

I knew to take it easy, doctor's orders on clear liquids only and not too much walking.  I had a pina colada Polish water ice which was mostly sugar and delicious.  And took many breaks--we also only walked two blocks!  It was delightful.  The beach was crowded but not packed, as was the boardwalk, with its nice wide wooden walkway and line of quirky shops.  There was Johnson's popcorn, Manco & Manco pizza (with a long line), Shriver's fudge and taffy, Freilinger's fudge and taffy, softserve ice cream place, Polish water ice place, Taylor pork roll place, curly fries place, the kite place.  And we stopped off to browse through many of them.  The candy places were such fun--bins of taffy, cases of fudge, assorted colorful lollipops, and tubs of "penny" candy.  Plus all manner of knicknacks, mostly beach based.  Sis and I got henna from one of the shops, little mandala-like designs on our hands.  And Bud got a set of nine-chain like rope tricks, which he demonstrated on the beach. 

Candy presses

Then we played putt-putt.  Lots of putt-putt places to choose from--Congo, pirate, medieval, haunted.  Bud chose Congo's Lost City, which was quick and fun.  And then he got a hole-in-one on the last "free game" hole and won a game!  Which they went straight to play while I sat and admired the water, the kites, the sky, the beach . . . and then the abdominal pain hit and our little excursion took a bad turn.  Still, it was fun while it lasted and I'd like to go back.

Next year for Memorial Day . . . .

Happy Independence Day!

We're in our living room watching "A Capitol Fourth" with Sutton Foster, Christopher Jackson (of Hamilton), and others, and will later flip back and forth with the Macy's fireworks on NBC--our traditional July 4th activities!

We're not much for celebrating (being too cynical for most jingoistic patriotism--especially this election year!--and too averse to hot weather to for beaches and barbecue), but this year saw us do more than usual.  On Saturday, we attended a wonderful lakeside picnic at the summer home of one of Bud's kung fu buddies.  There was a lot of tasty food--pasta salad, baked ziti, roasted corn, my Tex-Mex chocolate sheet cake, lasagna, various catered Indian curries and dishes, a fresh fruit salad (complete with cored and halved cherries!), this great couscous salad with pine nuts and dried fruits (I hope to get this recipe later), etc etc etc--and we all had our fill.

I talked with various other guests--two women owned horses and compared notes with Sis, one couple had a new 10-week-old baby, others went to a private school that Mama and I have our eyes on, one dad had left our kung fu school a couple of years ago and had stories to tell.  A nice group.

Best of all, the kids got to hang out with some of the older kids (from 14-18 years old.)  They went swimming in the lake together, playing on the standing paddle boards and the water trampoline.  The kids were like fish!  And, while there were life jackets to be had, they didn't need them.  Mama and I sat on the dock in the shade watching them, the ducks (Mr. and Mrs. Mallard), the Canada geese, the Red-Shouldered hawk screeching overhead most of the day, the various birds flitting back and forth, and the sun glinting off of the green water while the trees swayed in the light breeze.  It was a beautiful day.  Later, the kids made music together inside, each showing off various piano pieces and singing karaoke together.  Then they hung out upstairs, exploring the nooks and crannies of the old house.

After the party, we stopped for ice cream at our favorite local place.  The lines were long, but it was worth the wait.  Black raspberry.  Coffee.  Cherry Vanilla.  Toasted Almond.  A chocolate milkshake. Mmmmmmm!

Then we went to play putt-putt!  It was a lovely little course surrounded by shrubs and a stream.  It wasn't kitschy, just some good old fun.  We were pretty wiped after that, grabbing some burgers on the way home that night.

On Sunday, Mama and the kids went to NYC for dim sum with the grandparents, while I went to lunch to celebrate the birthday of Mama Teacher.  Then, we spent the evening together watching "The Great British Bake-off."

Today, we celebrated Mama's birthday belatedly by going to see Finding Dory at the fancy theater with the reserved and big reclining seats.  It was a cute film--especially those otters and the two whales.

Which brings us full circle to the 4th of July tv shows right now, while real fireworks are going off in yards around town.

Happy Independence Day!

And may we continue to be the land of the free . . . . with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.


-=-=-=-=-
And so we finished more of our list in one weekend:

1. Putt-putt golf
2. Celebrate 4th of July--we've been invited to a picnic.
3. Celebrate Mama's birthday--we're doing it this coming weekend!

And let's add to the movie list 

    4.  See Finding Dory

-=-=-=-=-=-

From “ Field of Greens” cookbook:

Couscous Salad with Apricots, Pine Nuts and Ginger

1 cup instant couscous

1/2 cup water

1 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoon vinegar (I usually use some kind of fruity vinegar, but basically anything works)

8 dried apricots thinly sliced

2 tablespoons dried raisin, cherries, currents, cranberries (whatever you have around)

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Salt

1/2 cup finely diced red onion

2 Tablespoon pine nuts

Pour couscous into small mixing bowl.  Mix water, orange juice, olive oil and vinegar in saucepan and bring to boil.  Stir in dried fruit, ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; immediately pour over couscous and then cover bowl and let sit for 20 minutes.

Bring small pt of water to boil and drop in red onion for 15 seconds.  Drain.

When couscous is ready, fluff it with fork and then add pine nuts and onion.

36 Hours in WMass

Spring Break 2016 is nearly over for us.  Today is the last day before school and we're home, playing videogames, lazing around, and enjoying a beautiful spring day.  From the couch.  Because the last day and a half were pretty packed with activities.

On Friday morning, we slept in, packed, and left for Northampton in the western corner of Massachusetts. It's a pretty and pretty easy drive north and would have been even prettier in almost any other season--spring isn't really here yet, so there's barely grass and the trees are still mainly skeletal brown.  At least there's no dirty snow anywhere.  And it's warm enough to go without a jacket in the sun.

Because of the timing, the first thing we did in this college town (home to Smith) was eat.  In fact, we ate somewhere the kids and I had eaten before--at Sylvester's, a breakfast and lunch place in an older building on one of the main drags.  It's where Gommie and I had gone with the kids and our minister many, many years ago, in 2009, when Mama was in Thailand.  Of course, the kids didn't remember it.  But it was as good as last time--clam chowder, chicken caesar salad, Irish eggs benedict (with corned beef hash), Cubano sandwich, and a bacon cheeseburger on a brioche.  And a delicious hot chocolate that Sis really enjoyed.  I hadn't realized last time that the building housed the original manufacturer of graham crackers, Dr. Sylvester Graham.  But I didn't notice any extra graham-y-ness on the menu.

The kids and I strolled the street as Mama drove a few blocks to the Hotel Northampton, a 1920s mainstay that is now an Historic Hotel of America.  We stopped at a yarn store and picked up a few skeins for a scarf.  And a felted wool sheep for Mama.  There was also a Newbury Comics store, but we didn't have time to stop because we had a few things to do before our big evening activity.

Rice Paper

Blue Morpho

Glass Wing

We went first to Magic Wings, which is a butterfly-arium--thousands of butterflies in a rainforest-like garden inside.  It was lovely, the largest one we've ever seen (including AMNH, Bronx Zoo, Norwalk Aquarium, Boston science museum.)  I do like being surrounded by butterflies.  And I "met" a few new ones--the lovely white wings with black detailing of the Rice Paper and the completely transparent and surprising wings of the Glass Wing.  There were also gorgeous Blue Morphos that flit around in indigo and violet luminescence.  But they rarely land and keep their wings open but for a split second.  So they are really hard to photograph.  And I tried.  Sis and Mama had more luck, even found a few sunning their wings open.  So, in the end, I did manage a few glorious photos.  None really landed on us this time, though, which disappoints Bud, but since they didn't land on any of us, it was ok.


Then we kicked off the warm-weather family putt-putt golf season!  And we started it with some actual time on the driving range.  Who knew hitting a ball with a driver could be so hard?  I don't think we were making contact more than 50% of the time!  But it was fun.  Putt putt was better, though, more our speed (and by "our," I mean "their"--I just watch.)  We had the course almost completely to ourselves and had fun comparing strokes to par.  I'd say they were mostly at par.  Sis even got two holes-in-one!

And then it was time to go to our Owl Prowl at a nature center in Canton, CT.  We got there early, but Mama had to rush out for flashlights (the lady on the phone had said not to bring anything; the leader of the group said we needed them.)  She missed our first foray outside, when we visited the habitats of the rescued owls and then actually saw at a distance of about 20 yards the silhouette of a Barred Owl in a tree.  We watched for a few minutes before it flew off.  Mama got back in time to hear the presentation on North American owls and we definitely needed the flashlights in the dark woods behind the center.  Our leader has perfected the Barred Owl call, something akin to "who cooks for you?" he said.  And one of the center's rescued Barred Owls responded (the leader could recognize the owl Harry's slightly warped call.)  But then a symphony arose as at least one wild owl if not more joined Harry in song.  Gorgeous.  And you could still hear it deep into the woods as we saw where some owls used to nest in an old sycamore and then went into the meadow and looked at the stars, still hearing some of the symphony back and forth.  Really quite magical.


It was late by the time we left and so we grabbed fast food and headed back to our hotel, having a good night's sleep before the east-facing windows brightened the room (worst room-darkening curtains ever.)  We had a leisurely continental breakfast downstairs--some pretty good glazed cinnamon bear claws--and eventually left the hotel for our Saturday's big activity:  Patriot's Day celebration and programming at Historic Deerfield.  We had never been to the house museums that make up Historic Deerfield, thinking they were rather dry house museum tours focusing on obscure genealogies and decorative arts, but there were many other things going on to mark the anniversary of the "shot heard round the world" at Lexington and Concord. We made "liberty" tea bags with mint and lemon balm, talked to a docent about powder horn carving (which I compared to scrimshaw and was vehemently corrected.  I still say the crafts are similar--they're both carving on bone), and had a very lively interaction with the docents doing the cooking demo, who both discussed making drinking chocolate and then actually demonstrated how they made a coal bed for a baking kettle and put hot coals on the lid!  Really very interesting, even though I'd heard it described a dozen times.  Then we visited just one house because, indeed, we were right--a dry-as-dirt PAID docent droning on about clocks and wallpaper and portraits to ten-year-olds. Mercy, if I were the education director . . . .  We rushed off to the encampment where Sis enjoyed seeing a weapons demo on horseback--Mama and I learned about the efficacy of a sharp steel blade back by an 800 lb horse and a 200 lb man with gear--as the re-enactor said, he doesn't even have to exert much effort to be deadly (we laughed about how he decapitated that bad ol' Tory Watermelon in his demo!  I think you had to be there.)  I liked seeing the women cooking cornbread and beef stew outside.  And I LOVE the fife and drum music played by the Nathan Hale Ancient Fife and Drum Corps.  We also enjoyed our wagon ride up and down the preserved street, enjoying all the 18th-century houses.

And lunch was good, too!  We had a very tasty repast at Champney's in the Deerfield Inn, with French onion soup, chowder, a charcuterie, fish and chips, fried calamari, and poutine with maple pulled pork.  Mmm, mmm good.  While we were eating, the re-enactor rider from Lexington arrived announcing the beginning of hostilities at Lexington and Concord and General Gage's maneuvers.  The kids and I watched from the porch of the inn as the rider encouraged the captain to call up the local militia and then everyone marched off.  But instead of going to war, we went back to lunch.


Winding up our trip, we stopped at Richardson's for some ice cream (mmmm, purple cow and burnt-sugar and butter, which tastes like maple) and chocolates.  And we went to Webs, the largest yarn store in the country, which I had shopped online (at yarn.com) but didn't know was in Northampton!  Ooooh, what a place!  So many wonderful colors and textures.  So much temptation.  I chose a few skeins to make mandalas but didn't have an exact project in mind to go buying a dozen skeins.  I did learn about their line of Valley yarns, in all the different weights and lovely colors.  I'll be dreaming of things to make with those (I even took some photos so I could remember which weights I liked.)

Lastly, we stopped for Tibetan food at our favorite restaurant halfway home.  We got there just at 5 and so didn't have to wait as we usually do.  Another great meal:  mango dhara drinks, iced chai, avocado potato salad, spicy noodles (Thukpa Dhrangmo), chicken with noodles and veg (Gyathuk Ngopa), dumpling soup (Mokthuk), fried dumplings (Sha Momo), fried bread (Bhaklep), steamed bread (Tingmo), and vinegary slaw (Dhang-tsel.)  So, so good.  And the perfect end to another great 36 hour vacation!

At least we have today to ease into the work week tomorrow . . . .

Memorial Day Memories

We did our annual pilgrimage to Philadelphia this weekend, both for sightseeing and Bud's kung fu tournament.  But it wasn't our usual trip--we didn't go to Ben Franklin's print shop or even the Visitor's Center.  And we never go to the Liberty Bell because the lines are too long.

Upon arrival, we did go to our favorite NPS Independence gift shop, which has moved but still has the soap I pick up every year.  Then we headed to our all-time favorite Philly eatery, and one of our favorites anywhere:  City Tavern, the real colonial American restaurant in the historic building run by Taste of History host Chef Walter Staib.  As usual, we loved it--raspberry shrub, sweet potato biscuits, anadama bread, Sally Lunn bread, pepperpot soup, salmagundi platter, chicken pot pie, lobster pot pie, mushroom toast.  YUM!!  And this year, our waitress was an historian and shared extra information about how the lobster pot pie was the most authentic period dish and was even served after the defeat of the Hessians at Trenton!

Better yet, we shared the meal and much of our afternoon with some longtime friends of ours from Philadelphia, whom we don't get to see often.  They met us at City Tavern and then strolled around downtown with us for awhile.  We visited two new-to-us locations--Shane Confectionery and Franklin Fountain, which I'd read about in the recent American Spirit magazine (thanks, Gommie!)  One is an old-fashioned candy store, with shelves of glistening, colored confections and jars of tasty offerings.  We chose chocolates, caramels, cherry sourballs, lychee candies, lavender lollipops, violet "mints," and teaberry gum.  Next door, and owned by the same people, is the old-fashioned soda fountain.  No ordinary historical remake of plain old milkshakes and sundaes, this place has homemade sodas syrups plus real phosphates and citric acids dispensed from droppers--you see the pharmacy connection right away.  We had black raspberry ice cream and then four fancy sodas:  a Ladies' Choice, with peach ice cream in raspberry soda, with cream; a War Admiral, with ginger, milk, and rose-flavorings (my favorite); the Japanese thirst killer, with Orgeat Almond syrup, grape soda, and angostura bitters (Bud and Mama's favorite); and finally, a fizzy Roman Punch, with lemon, orange, grapefruit, and bergamot.  Delicious!!  I know these will become permanent fixtures on our Philly tour.

After saying goodbye to our friends, we headed for a self-guided tour of the US Mint, at Sis's request.  She has been increasingly interested in coins but only seemed mildly interested in how they were made; it didn't help that the factory wasn't in production, it being a holiday and weekend.  Still, she got some official sleeves for her coins and was happy about that.

Then we went to play putt-putt.  Yep, it's becoming a family thing.  This one was the course at Franklin Square, complete with mini-symbols of Philadelphia, including the Liberty Bell, Elfret's Alley, Independence Hall, the Ben Franklin Bridge, various sports teams, the art museum, the LOVE sculpture, and the Chinatown gate.  So cute.  The course itself was pretty predictable, with no moving parts, and VERY crowded.  Still, a nice time.  And we liked riding the carousel, too.

That evening we had Philly cheesesteaks from Tony Luke's, which several people recommended.  I'm not a huge cheesesteak fan, unsurprisingly, but it was a good bite of local color.  We finished the evening with a swim in the hotel pool.

The next day was kung fu competition, Bud' fourth, I believe.  He competed in three forms--staff, broadsword, and tong bei, a kind of hand form (we previously called it "slappy form" because he slaps his legs repeatedly.)  And he won gold in all three!  We were very proud of him, but it was a long day.  He waited almost five hours for his first event, which was supposed to be in the morning, and then it was at the exact same time as his afternoon event.  Literally, as he stepped on to the mat for his hand form, they called him up for his staff form.  He did two forms in five minutes, running in between!  I don't know how he did it, pure adrenaline.  A very exciting five minutes, after a very long wait.  He's broadsword was an hour or so later, icing on the cake at that point.

We all celebrated with dinner at Iron Hill brewery, our traditional post-competition dinner.  (Can you tell we are creatures of habit?)  French fries with garlic-rosemary mayonnaise, mushroom soup, Caesar salad, fish and chips, more French fries, mussels, seafood stew, hamburgers, chicken pot pie with mashed potatoes,  apple crisp, maple pecan bourbon ice cream, and oatmeal cake.  WHEW!  We left well-fortified for the long drive home, choosing to wake up in our own beds the next morning.  We made good time, saw a beautiful sunset over the rest area near the Meadowlands, and were greeted noisily by some happy cats.

LI Adventure

It was an extremely busy weekend.  After Friday night at Sis's gymnastics performance--yay, Sis, on floor routine and trampoline!!!--we had family pictures with Ma, Gong, and Goo taken on Saturday to commemorate Goo's graduation from medical school.

And on Sunday morning, we headed to Long Island for that graduation, taking the ferry across for the first time.  We started our visit with a trip to Old Bethpage Village Restoration, which Mama fondly remembers from her third-grade field trip--there were stick candies and birch beer!!  And this time she shared those with our kiddos!  I loved wandering amid the old buildings including inns, general stores, and farmhouses, especially with the purple irises and bluebells.  Mama loved the newborn lambs, who "baa"-ed at us repeatedly.  Sis practiced her hoop skills and got pretty good. Bud liked the stick candy, of course.

   

Sis hones her hoop skills.

That evening, we met up with the family for a celebratory dinner at famed NY steakhouse, Peter Luger's.  It was quite the meal:  steak (of course, but I can't recall which kinds), a nice filet of sole for me, creamed spinach, German potatoes, iceberg wedge with blue cheese, Caesar salad, tomatoes and onions with their special tangy tomato sauce, and then cheesecake, apple strudel, key lime pie, and a hot fudge sundae with tons of "schlag," or whipped cream, for dessert.  I also had a too-strong "German" coffee with kirsch.  Mercy, that was a big meal.  

We worked off dinner with putt-putt golf!!  The kids had never played and the rest of us hadn't played in years.  And what a course it was, somewhere near Westbury, with animatronic pirates and other special effects set pieces.  We had the course to ourselves (who else plays putt putt at 7 pm on a Sunday night??) and had a jolly time.  Everybody even got a hole in one each!  Though, there were lots of holes where the players just missed as the ball spun around the cup or where they were several shots above par.  That's when we teased Goo that he'd need to practice his golf game now that he was a doctor.  As we played (well, I watched), there was a beautiful sunset over the Sound.

Monday morning was the graduation ceremony, good enough as those things go, best because it was Goo's med school graduation.  Yep, he's Dr. Goo now!  We are all very proud of him, especially because of the challenges and his persistence.  We picked up some flowers for Ma and Gong after the ceremony but before the reception; Sis even chose the peony that graced the center.

And then we played more putt putt!  This was a classic course, complete with windmill and lighthouse.  And just as much fun as the night before.

We took the late ferry home, after picking up picnic supplies, including sandwich makings, grapes, chips, cookies, and then grabbing yet more food at the dock--chowder from the Steamroom Seafood and ice cream and fudge from the Frigate.  It was a beautiful, though very windy, evening, with a stunning sunset behind some isolated storm clouds.  A great end to a great weekend.