by Paula D.
on May 10, 2019 9:17 am in Family / Food
The week before last was non-stop. It started on Friday night. It was my friend Rob Bryn’s Birthday and the Surf Club opened just for his party. Headlining was the Ye Mighty Wave with special guests from Rob’s main band — Wild Yaks. Speaking of, they have a new album coming out on June 21st entitled Great Admirer! I’ve heard it and it’s amazing!
Opening the show was Tiffany Lyons. Did you catch The Wave article about her a few weeks ago? She sang a few songs and got everyone loose. The Club was decorated with West Indian flower garlands, it was the perfect night. Everyone was out and we danced and celebrated. My initial plan though, was to “take it easy”. I was hosting Easter Sunday and had a ton of cooking that weekend. One vodka club led to four, maybe five? Little hazy on that…
Suffice to say that on Saturday I wasn’t at my best. But I downed some coffee and powered through cook-prep. Sunday I woke up and felt a little off. I had that weird taste you get in your mouth before you get sick. I knew something was brewing but despite feeling under the weather, Easter Sunday was a great time. My penne alla vodka came out rich and creamy and my pan-seared salmon with dill cream sauce was delicious and perfectly cooked.
Monday I spent all day in bed with a fever and a terrible cough … yup, bronchitis. The next day I pulled myself out of bed, to the computer. I had two freelance projects that had to get out the door because on Tuesday, I was headed to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos, a family trip planned for my mom’s 70th birthday.
Sick as a dog, Matt and I drove to Pennsylvania not knowing what to expect. The first thing we saw beside about 50 kids running wild with bubble sticks, was a gigantic plastic forest with animated animals. The focal point was a large bear with a scary smile and moving eyes. Uptown Funk was playing. Bruno Mars. “KILL ME NOW.” I said under my breath, as I smiled at Matt and said. “It will be fun, don’t worry!” He shook his head, “You owe me big.”
After checking in, receiving our plastic wristbands and settling into our “wolf cabin”, we got the lay of the land. There were plastic moving creatures everywhere. There was an ice cream shop, pizza place, a candy shop, two very overpriced stores, glow in the dark mini-golf, a fake bowling alley, and a mining for gems activity thing. The game room was lasering out lights and CHING!! CHING!! sounds echoed the windowless halls all day long. It was like Atlantic City for kids. You saw these rugrats draining their parents wallets. They threw tantrums when they were denied MORE. Tickets were flying out of machines and what did the children buy with their winnings… lots of Fun Dip.
The main attraction at the Great Wolf lodge is an indoor water park with five different tub slides, a plastic jungle gym with buckets that the kids fill and dump on the adults passing by, a lazy river and a wave pool. There was so much chlorine in the air, your eyes burned after an hour. We gathered the water was over-chlorinated to kill the bacteria from all the kids peeing in the pools.
The only logical conclusion for surviving the madhouse was to find the bar. So, while ill with bronchitis, I proceeded to drink for three days straight. I actually ended up having a lot of fun and it was great to spend time with my nieces and nephews but I really ran myself into the ground.
I took the following weekend to rehydrate my body and recover from the bronchitis. I can’t tell you how nice it was to be home after the week long escapade. I’m learning as I get older, I need to take better care of myself. With Rockaway summer around the corner, can someone remind me to take it easy?
Recently, I’ve learned a few interesting facts about bananas. As I was enjoying a banana at my desk a few weeks ago, my co-worker Mark Hogan mentioned that apes and monkeys peel bananas the opposite way we do, from the bottom not the top. They pinch the softer bottom and it splits clean. The top stem then becomes a sturdy handle. These mammals are intelligent beings. Maybe humans have been doing it wrong all along? Give it a try next time and see what you think.
In my quest to learn about how monkeys eat bananas, I came across a Business Insider article that said in the wild monkeys don’t eat bananas?? The primates don’t live in areas where bananas naturally grow. Monkeys eat leaves, other fruits, nuts, flowers and insects in the wild. It is suspected that the book Curious George by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey published in 1941 created the “monkeys eat bananas” myth. So, while our primate cousins haven’t been peeling bananas since the dawn of time, I still bet there way is more efficient. Monkeys will do what exerts the least amount of energy and effort, so it makes sense that their way of peeling a banana is easier than ours.
The second banana revelation comes from my mother-in-law Maureen Walsh. She posted on facebook, “If you separate each individual banana from the bushel, it slows the ripening process.” Like many fruits, bananas emit ethylene gas and this gas naturally is produced by the stem. Breaking the cluster slows the gas production which is the cause of ripening. So cool, right!
Don’t’ worry though, if your too lazy or forget to break apart your bushel of bananas and they all turn brown, make banana bread. Bananas can never be too ripe for bread.
Mauren swears by this recipe and her trick for a moist bread is wrapping it in plastic wrap for three days before serving.
Banana Bread
Makes one, 9 inch bread
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed banana (2-3 very ripe large banana)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup yogurt
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a medium sized bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, and oil. Blend in the mashed bananas and vanilla. Then whisk the ingredients together and sift. It’s important that the mixture is thoroughly combined. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour to the banana batter. Lastly, stir in the yogurt until all is combined.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9×5 inch loaf pan. Bake the bread for about one hour, until a knife in the center comes out clean. If the bread begins to brown too quickly, tent it with aluminum foil after 30- 40 minutes in the oven.
Let it cool and store for three days covered tightly in plastic wrap for a very moist bread.
Recipe adapted from King Arthur’s Cookbook.
There was a paper shredder explosion in front of my house after recycling day last Thursday. It inspired me to get outside and clean up. I couldn’t pick up each tiny piece of paper so I started clearing out leaves and cutting back all the old plant debris from last year. I got the rake and shovel out. It felt so good to be in the garden! With a sweater, it was comfortable outside. After some clearing, I noticed my perennials have begun to sprout!
The Daylilies are two inches tall already! This plant is low maintenance. It tolerates many soil types including our sandy mix here in Rockaway. Do you know where the name comes from? Hemerocallis, means “beauty for a day”. The flower opens early morning and dies by nightfall, lasting only one precious day. But so many flowers appear consecutively that you’ll have a constant sunny sea of yellow from late May throughout all of June. Deadhead the old flowers to insure the best possible blooms.
After removing the wiry remains of my Nepeta Walker’s Low, I saw a half inch of purple and green pushing its way out of the earth! Walker’s Low you’ll see all around Rockaway. It’s the dark lavender-blue flowers. It looks like a small bush. Find them along the boardwalk garden beds, the 100th precinct and across the way at the library, to name a few locations. Walker’s Low is another great plant for our coastal environment. It does well in all soil types and is drought tolerant. It will bloom in late spring through late summer. Cut the plant back leaving three inches after the first bloom ends. You’ll get more flowers in a few weeks after that. The perennial is aromatic. I use it to make cold tea with lemon, it’s so refreshing on hot summer days. The plant is also a favorite for our felines. It’s commonly known as catmint and your kitty will go wild over it.
Towards the right side of the garden I saw bulbs sprouting. I was confused for a minute because I don’t have bulbs in the front yard but then I remembered my friend Josh Gallagher gave me a bag full of tulips and I planted them late last fall! We don’t know what color they’ll be but I’m looking forward to the surprise!
I spent about 2 ½ hours outside. I would have worked in the garden longer but it started to rain. There’s much more work to be down and I’m eager to get out there again. Clearing out old organics, turning the soil and adding compost to your garden beds should be taken care of now, as your perennials are waking up from winter. More importantly, If you’re going to transplant perennials or shrubs or prune trees, don’t waste a minute! After moving them to the new location, give the plants a healthy watering and they’ll do just fine.
I’m so excited its gardening season again and now they’ll be no shortage of things to write about in my column!
Previously published in The Wave.
