Posts Tagged ‘Moms’

Flowers remind my mother of funerals. I remember her uttering this notion to my father many times when I was a kid. And around the holidays I recall hearing, “Well, so-and-so sent an expensive arrangement but she knows I don’t like flowers.” It’s the standard mixed bouquet in particular that generates “funeral perfume.”  The arrangement consists of dyed carnations, Madonna lily, Peruvian lily, roses, asters, and a few other fillers. The older you get, the more funerals you attend and you start to take notice of these things. And you […]

As summer comes to a close, here in Rockaway we are getting ready for the cold weather. Our bountiful garden is still producing the last of the vegetables that we all enjoyed this summer. The wonderful bright green basil has been picked and placed in freezer bags to sweeten every pot of tomato sauce we will enjoy this winter. Some of the basil has been transformed into tasty pesto, (not my favorite). With the daily picking of the tomatoes, I am able to create small batches of delicious simple tomato […]

Below are the Five Commandments of Frying. My Mother taught me these rules, her Mother taught her…. and now I share them with you. 1) Buy a deep fryer. If you’re the person who always hosts the parties (planned and unplanned) I recommend buying a deep fryer. The benefits are countless. You get an even, golden-hued fry that’s restaurant quality with a professional look. It’s fun and fast. In seconds the fish, eggplant, etc. is done.  A deep fryer eliminates the common problems of pan frying (see commandment #4). There are many models and sizes out there. Find […]

UPDATE: My cousin Diane immediately recognized this recipe when I posted it to Facebook a few weeks ago. It’s Great Grandma Florence Capobianco’s “Pizza Chena”  – an Italian Easter dish. And my Aunt Rose Marie thinks it’s her handwriting! Diane, having made this many times shared with me her suggestions for perfecting the Capobianco Pizza Chena. Purchasing pizza dough is a huge timesaver, rather than all the work involved in making the dough from scratch. Diane always par bakes the pie shell. She explains that the bottoms are hard to cook because the filling is […]

We would like to share with you our posts from this past year, that speak to Superstorm Sandy. And we want to thank you, our family, friends and neighbors who have helped us rebuild our homes and our beloved community. Sandy stories: The Music Box  A water surge and 4 feet of salty smelly sand flooded it nearly to the ceiling. We couldn’t save much. It was hard to imagine that all the “things” we had been saving would find their way to the curb and the garbage dump.  In […]

They say “you can take the girl outta Long Island but you can’t take the Long Island outta the girl”. In my case, this seems to be true. Summer is in full swing and my trips to Long Island have become more frequent. My skin color is like three shades darker, I’m saying the word “like” more, and my hot pink pedicured toes permanently live in my jewel-encrusted flip flops. My husband thinks I was spoiled growing up on Long Island. I guess the red flag went up when I […]

This is the first of our 5 part feature “Old School Foods”.  We want to explore nostalgic and forgotten foods – meals that mean something to us. For many who love food, you know food is a connection to so many memories and milestones in life. For many reasons ambrosia falls under this category. First off, it dates back to ancient Greek mythology: In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia (Greek: ἀμβροσία) is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods (or demigods), often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whomever consumed […]

What to do with pumpkins once the frost has fallen… make pumpkin bread! Every year I refuse to buy real pumpkins because they usually get funky with all the warm weather. I wait until my very nice neighbor, Kristin, is tossing out all the pumpkins she bought and I recycle them. However, this year I received a gift of three pumpkins and for purposes of this blog, I purchased a small one. You didn’t actually think I was going to peel one of those big ones, did you? First, try […]

One of the nice things about spice balls (Pomander) is the fragrance they emanate, especially near the fireplace or radiator.  And they’re so easy to make (although a little labor intensive). Look for very round navel oranges in the supermarket. What gives these decorations great fragrance is the whole cloves you insert in them.  Whole cloves aren’t cheap. If possible find ones in good plastic packaging to avoid broken cloves. If you buy cheap ones, you may end up buying twice as much as you would need of the expensive […]

This is the time of year that hydrangeas turn beautiful colors. If you like the look, go out into your garden and clip away this week. When you cut the hydrangeas make sure you cut them long enough for your vase. You can always make them smaller, taller is another thing. Take off all the leaves and place in the vase or basket you want them in permanently. Arrange the flowers and leave them to dry –  about a week to ten days. Enjoy!