Posts categorized as Rockaway

We recently caught up with Scott Edwards and Tim Keenan, owners of Surfside Bagels in Rockaway Beach. We chatted about Hurricane Sandy, their grand re-opening, and of course, bagels. The guys were stretched  thin the weeks after the storm.  As host to his displaced family and working at his firehouse, Tim was running in circles. Scott and his firehouse, Engine 234 were sent to Sandy-ravaged neighborhoods including the Rockaways and Brooklyn neighborhoods like Brighton Beach, leaving little time to focus on the bagel shop. But thanks to the overwhelming generosity of FrontStreet Facility Solutions, Scott and Tim were able to [...]

The familiar is slowly returning to Rockaway. The dark cold days and nights seem in the distant past. Shoots of flowers are piercing the sand covered soil with the hope of spring.  While we watched this happen, there were flickers of optimism in our hearts.  But the true sign of normalcy and familiarity came last weekend with the sounds of Mister Softee.  An ice-cream truck singing down the street may seem like an ordinary thing, yet it is a constant in all of our lives. Having spent my entire life [...]

Time is passing here in Rockaway and we are moving forward. Our neighborhood is not where it was or where we hope it could be, but it is winter and spring will bring renewal. But we need the familiar, the normal, the comforts of before Sandy. In this spirit, after Thanksgiving had come and gone in the cold, I was reminded of what was always normal for me at this time of year — pumpkin bread. Every year I would bake all through November and create delicious, spicy, tasty pumpkin [...]

“Just throw it in the basement. You never know when we could use it” We did that with things for over 30 years. It’s remarkable how, even in a large house, you find ways to fill it — and we found ways to fill our basement with food, extra clothes, things that belonged to relatives we couldn’t throw away, tools and knick knacks. We had things in there we didn’t even know we had, just happy to know they were there. And then came Sandy.  Our basement, Oct. 30 A [...]

  One of the things I missed in the weeks after Sandy — besides, heat, hot water and electricity, of course — was the ability to create a delicious meal. Mike and I were in the house for a time in the dark and cold but we still had to eat (although our appetite was diminished a bit due to stress and cold.) Our power was out, but we still had the gas stove to cook food and make coffee  All I had to do was turn the knob and [...]

In my mother’s house in Breezy Point, we thought we were pretty prepared for disaster. First aid kits, bottled water, canned food, camping gear, even desalinators, all part of our disaster survival kit. And then we stored them IN THE BASEMENT! Needless to say, we were prepared for the wrong disaster. In Breezy Point we had an outpouring of support from the surrounding communities, so between that and FEMA, food and water were on the ground pretty quickly. Which was a good thing compared to the similar disaster in New [...]

I had a great post about apple pie in the queue for today but it didn’t feel right sending it out. So many of our friends and family live in Breezy Point and Rockaway – it’s been a difficult, sad, strange week. Having said that, the folks on the peninsula are positive people – who love their community. I was in Rockaway today helping my husband’s parents clean out their basement. I heard joking and laughing on the streets, I saw people working hard, shoveling and moving debris. Others were [...]