365-5 | Peaches Prattlings

{July 2, 2017} What a day! What a party! What a guy!

Let’s just say, he is totally worth it! I think I did it right!

PSM is turning 50 next week, so a celebration is on order! We had been dating a few months when we started talking about his next big birthday. I asked him what he wanted and without hesitation, he said ‘a clambake from Woodmans’. Ok, that is pretty specific, anything else?

Well, since I asked…Clambake from Woodmans, Fudgy the Whale ice cream cake from Carvel, ice crem sandwiches, a beach, coles slaw, corn on the cob, lobster, potato salad. There you go.

So, I started with a save the date July 1, 2016, with a fabulous and cheesy poem, something I have a knack for. A few months ago, I sent out the evite, with another cute and cheesy poem and the responses started coming in.

Then all of a sudden it was May 2017, time to get cracking! I was looking for a place to have the clambake in Massachussettes and the place I found, Winter Island Park in Salem, Ma, it was perfect. Guess what the beach was called? Waikiki Beach, go figure!

Place, check. It was a great space, wide open, they set up the tables and chairs and even provided the grill! It was perfect. The restrooms were a short walk away and the beach, just past that. Everyone brought bathing suits and towels and enjoyed the beach for at least a few minutes.

Food, check. I ordered the clam bake from Woodman’s, very helpful staff. A few Costco runs for the folks who don’t eat seafood and the sides and chips, watermelons. Some folks brought stuff and the one person I asked to make anything…his auntie L, she makes this awesome cucumber and onion salad, it’s marinated in somethig fabulous and she made plenty, even left overs for me!

Beverages, check. A clambake on the beach really needs a keg of beer, instead of trying to get different cases, a keg of Bud Light. And it’s a good beach beer. One snag, they wouldn’t take my credit card over the phone, what? Ok, two snags, they would not sell a keg to someone with an out of state license. Huh? Ok, so, I asked PSM to stop by with his aunt and uncle to pick up the keg, I felt bad asking him to have to do anything for his own party, but he was agreeable. And it worked out perfectly! They arrived while we were completing the transaction. We would have taken it, but if you could have seen how packed the vehicles were! I should have gotten an SUV! And I forgot to take pictures!

On to the venue…

Help unloading the car, check! Help setting up, check. One advantage of people showing up on time or at least before you, they help carry stuff! GES and I had a Dirty Dancing moment “I carried the watermelon”. The pavillion looked great! ACS and the girls had put up some decorations, streamers and the birthday banners.

The last thing to do to decorate…fill the piatas [I know they are pinatas, but MGS calls them piatas, so that’s what they are!] I had a great idea a few months ago…the 5 was filled with candy for the kids and the 0 was filled with nips, those little bottles of alcohol! let’s just say it was difficult to tell who the kids and adults were when their respective piatas broke!

People arrived all afternoon, the grill got fired up and people started playing hackeysack, frisbee, futball, playing on the playground, go down to the beach, talking, laughing and basically fawning over my fella, it’s his day! His friends and family were so thrilled to be together to celebrate his birthday and to see him! It’s been a few months since he’s been back on the mainland in Boston.

Food, check. SM, PSM’s brother put on his grill master hat and heated up the charcoal, about fourty minutes later there were burgers, dogs, veggie burgers, buns, all ready to go. Time to unleash the clambake. Lobsters, steamers, corn, chowder, chicken, coleslawy, melted butter, we had it all. Everyone dug in, adults, kids, all ages. some of them even wore lobster bibs!

There was more eating, drinking, music, merry making. So much fun.

Piata time! The kids went first, MGS was first, of course! Three kids later, they were all very happy. Grown ups next. PSM took one good swing and hooch for everyone!

Cake, check. PSM had very fond memories of Tom Carvel and his ice cream stores and that voice! And what he asked for, Fudgie the Whale, one of the Carvel signature ice cream cakes. And ice cream sandwiches. I found a place on Staten Island for dry ice and dad was fabulous to pick it up on Thursday, Fudgie the Whale and flying saucers and transported them, to LaLa’s, then to GES’ on Friday. The amazing thing…between the dry ice and ice and ice packs, that cake stayed in the same shape until this afternoon! It was soup when I served it, but it made it in one piece! Thank you dad!

Speech, check. Yes,PSM was the centre of attention, his favorite thing! I said a few words before the piata, about him and thanking everyone for being there to help celebrate this awesome man, and then we sang happy birthday, it was perfect.

After food, cake, piata and song, there was more hanging out, talking, beach, games, then all of a sudden it was about 5:30/6pm and we were all getting hungry again, so fire up that grill and it didn’t take too long, the brickets were still warm. So, about 7:30pm, it was another round of food, good,less to take home!

Oh, there was another snag with the beer…the first tap stopped working, someone went to get another, that didn’t work. Third time, someone came to get the keg and brought us a few cases of beer. When we packed up, some folks got parting gifts!

By now, it was almost 9pm, everyone who was still there helped clean up, fold chairs and throw away trash and pack the cars. A lot of thank yous and goodbye hugs. Then it was over…GES and i took the coolers back to Woodmans and headed home.

I have to tell you, it was a great day. The location was perfect, the weather, wow, perfect! The food, perfect, the guests, perfect. Everyone said they had a great time and it really felt it. Only one or two people couldn’t make it, but everyone that was there was just right, it made me so very happy to see everyone and how much they love and like PSM and how happy he was by everyone that was there.

I can’t wait to show you his last present, I gave it to him when we got back to GES’ tonight, but I’ll show you on his birthday.

Thank you to everyone who made my fellas day grand. I love you all.

{June 29, 2017} A bonus night!

Tuesday is DLP, Wednesday is WIS. That’s the way it is and the way it works.

This week has been extra special! An extra day with WIS, with her friend, if you recall on Sunday and two extra days with DLP. My life is full!

Sunday dinner with DLP, Tuesday movies in the park with JM and tonight, Thursday, last minute movie!

We were both in the office late, my class ended and I was getting some additional work done and DLP messaged “movie?” Definitely! What were you thinking? First option was D3, as in Dispicible Me 3, but i said nay- nay! I’m going with my girls this weekend. I promised!

We decided on Pirates of the Caribbean and off we went. The movies are always cold, so as we passed the Disney store, we went in and I got a picnic blanket. Hey, a blanket is a blanket and it came in handy, not just in the movies, but when we were leaving it was raining, so under the blanket I went, toasty and dry! And now, we have a blanket for the next movie in the park!

We both really enjoyed the movie, I thought it was better than the last one for sure! We laughed, cringed, laughed, laughed and laughed. Yup, that’s about it!

{June 29, 2017} An adventure and a new vegan restaurant, wow!

So… life is an adventure and I live it every day!

Today’s adventure is brought to you by the letters y, u and m!

It started with a restaurant suggestion, Ambitabul, vegan Korean, great! Korean vegan, who knew! http://amitabulvegan.com/

Then it was get an Uber to the restaurant. GPS said 1.18 hours, ok, that works. Almost every time we meet for dinner it can take an hour or more, so no problem.

I get in the car and the Uber driver says Libertyville? I say sure, sounds good. I have no idea about the names of cities in Chicago but I should say the areas of Chicago or Illinois, as it were. So I don’t know if you remember one of my first classes way back when with this project I gave the address to the driver didn’t say the name of this city and ended up at a vacant lot and when I said this doesn’t look like, I name the city, he said that’s a suburb of Chicago! Whoops.

So on this point, lesson learned make sure you know where you’re going! So back to our story… we are driving, driving, driving, highway, getting farther away from Chicago, I ask, where are you taking me?!

We are getting close to our supposed destination, I double check the address…um… my driver, a fabulous woman named Keele, I’ll talk about her in a minute, she says, I know that area, that’s near where my parents live… back towards Chicago!

I finally call WIS, and I am laughing hysterically, so is Keele, and rightfully so! I tell her what happened and I’m not sure if she stopped breathing laughing so hard! I’m just glad Keele didn’t drip breathing from laughing so hard! None of us peed in our pants, so I think that’s a bonus!

WIS graciously agreed to wait for me, so glad she did! Turn around and away we went!

Now, back to my fabulous driver and new bff, Keele! It’s amazing how you can know someone two minutes and you’ve known each other’s lives. By the time we parted company, we covered dating, marriage, dating websites, Vegas, families, travel, work, um, what’s left?

When we finally got to the restaurant and parted ways with my new bestie, she would have been a perfect fit for the evening! Maybe next time!

Now… on to dinner, oh my! I started with date tea, wow! That’s all I have to say! We asked for the recipe, the only way were getting it is when the owner retires and writes a cookbook… not for at least 15 years, what? Ok, we just have to go back! The tea was made by boiling fermented dates, it was sweet, no sugar added!! It was like drinking liquid dates, wow!

I started with veggie dumplings, light, crisp on the edges, fabulous. I could have just eaten that, but I was hungry. I had soup with veggies and noodles, they did have a soup with the dumplings, next time! WIS had a noodle dish with a little kick.

We finished with ice cream and a red bean cake. We saved room for it! Truly wonderful! Even the names of the dishes were clever, 9 Ways to Nirvana Noodle Soup, fun!

We closed the place down. I took my leftover soup, we went for a drive, looking for a good place for an Uber to pick me up and saw some really cute places around Chicago.

Uber to the hotel, my driver was very thankful for my leftover soup. I have to say, lovely man, but not the same as Keele. I hope you have the pleasure of her company one day!

{June 27, 2017} Movies in the Park

One of my favorite things about summer… Movies in the Park.

I’m sure most cities have this, you go to a local park, sometimes a parking lot, maybe in a mall, and they have a giant screen they project movies on.

People bring picnic or snacks, anywhere from a bag of popcorn, sandwiches to some folks going all out, tables and chairs, wine, cheese, apperizers, full meals. It’s what you make of it.

Tonight, DLP and I joined JM, another coworker, or I joined them, they have done this together before.

The movie this week is Julie & Julia. This is based on two books and true stories. Paul Childs letters to his brother and Julie Powell’s auto biography, about how she decided to cook all of Julia Childs’ receipes, 524 in 365 days! It was quite the undertaking.

I loved this movie the first time I saw it and nothing changed. It was fun hanging out and doing something a little different.

Bon appetit!

{June 27, 2017} Lessons Learned in Amsterdam

It was a great trip. Great to be with family, exploring a new country, learning a lot.

I believe I mentioned that our apartment was in the Red Light District of Amsterdam. That part of Amsterdam, it’s difficult not to be in the red light district comma but there are areas that are a little more intense than others.

‘A red-light district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc. are found. Areas in many big cities around the world have acquired an international reputation as red-light districts.’ When you mention Amsterdam, that’s what a lot of people think of. Well, that and weed.

The term red-light district originates from the red lights that were used as signs of brothels.

Author Paul Wellman suggests that this and other terms associated with the American Old West originated in Dodge City, Kansas, home to a well-known prostitution district during the 19th century, which included the Red Light House saloon. This theory has never been proven.

The other thing very popular and prevalent in Amsterdam is the freedom to smoke marijuana just about anywhere. And they do. Every time you walk by a coffee house, undoubtedly there are people smoking weed, or if you just walk by a stoop, a park, it doesn’t matter somebody is smoking. And living in the US you forget how many people outside the US smoke cigarettes.

All that being said, now how do you explain things like this two kids, who don’t exactly understand the fact that it’s legal and it’s common practice.

GES explained to EJS on the first day that it was legal to smoke marijuana and that it was a choice, like drinking is a choice.

EJS really didn’t like the smell of either cigarette or marajuana and she was covering her nose with her shirt we told her that was rude, and she shouldn’t cover her face like that all the time. So I came up with a way to do it a little more politely, and it’s something I do now, which is to crook my finger and put it under my nose on my upper lip as if I’m thinking, “we’re thinking we’re thinking”, if you could see us looks pretty funny but, she did it she didn’t it was not as obvious. And if we were walking together I would tell her when the smoke was gone.

The next concept to explain, I’m sure you figured out, is the red light district. Not an easy thing to explain to a 10 year old who is full of questions. But after a few days I think I came with up with something and she agreed. I said to her “EJS, you know when you walk by a toy start in a mall, and you look in the window and you see something that you want?” She said yes, I said well then it’s the same concept it’s just a different type of toy store for adults. She said oh, with a bit of recognition and I said ‘is that a good of good enough explanation? Yup. I said are we done? yes.

I hope the lessons learned have helped!

{June 25, 2017} Travel day… back in the US

I so want to sing Back in the USSR!

GES and I ended up talking last night until about 2am, um, we have to get up in a few hours, have to get to the airport!

Still got up, showered and luckily GES and ACS got up before I left, ACS carried my bag down the three flights of stairs!

I was going to walk to Central Station, only about a nine minute walk, but the rain changed that decision. Taxi to the station, train to the airport, but not directly. Hmm.. all week they have had technical difficulties with the tracks and we did the same thing I had to do when I arrived and when we went to Madurodam, change trains.

I get to the airport with plenty of time, or so I thought! Getting through Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, oh my!

There were two places that my priority status got me through sections easily, the rest…It was a cluster at passport screening, then an almost thirty minute walk to my gate. I had been hoping to get something for breakfast, not a chance! I didn’t realize how far the gate was, so I had enough time to get an extra battery and a package of mints and chips.

I got to the gate, pulled off for extra screening, oh goody. Finally got on the b plane, sat next to a nice guy going home after two weeks in Amsterdam for work.

Easy flight, back in Chicago after eight hours. Love Global Entry, so simple! Got my luggage, taxi to the hotel, finally found my luggage, got to my room, did my expenses and decided it was time for food.

I went to one of my favorite places, got take out and decided to chill and stay up until at least 10pm, to readjust to being in this time zone. I thought this was a very good plan.

I had to laugh, I passed a coffee shop and all I smelled was coffee! That might take some adjustment! Ah.. back to reality.

{June 24, 2017} Amsterdam…Day Seven

Last day? What? I just got here! Well, it’s a busy day so let’s get started!

Breakfast at dad ahe LaLa’s hotel, then tickets purchssed and off to our first activity. Ever since EJS’ first Uber ride, I created an Uber monster! Now she wants to order an Uber pedi-cab!

We started our adventure at The Heineken Experience. It was great! And we know how I feel about beer!

There was invention, taking chances, history, innovation, recognition, experimenting, excellence, family and so much more.

We learned about the brewing and cooking process and that it takes about 28 days to beer! And that the foam actually protects the bubbles. I tasted it the wrong way and the right way, didn’t get any better! Ha ha.

We saw the stables, all of the horses are named after current and former owners and family members. One of the cooler parts of the tour was an interactive experience where you get to ‘be the beer ‘. You get to feel what it’s like to be the barely, when it gets wet, the mixture gets heated, shaken. A lot of fun, EJS’ favorite part.

We even got to bottle our own beers in the end! Can’t show you mine yet! Everything made it safely!

After a nice lunch, we walked to the Museum Quarter, listened to some music and met the rest of the family. GES, ACS, MGS and EJS went on a canal cruise and dad and LaLa and I headed across the courtyard to The Van Gogh Museum.

What an experience! I so love his work! The few pictures here are the ones snapped before being told no photos.

It’s interesting, I’m so used to his older self portraits, especially the ones after he cuts off his ear, his earlier self portraits were so moving, intense, there was so much promise and hope in his eyes. I wish I could have taken more photos to share with you.

There were a few that were ‘out of the norm’, the Japanese influence, skulls, I loved the one of the skull with the cigarette, it tickled me, dad even got me a t-shirt!

I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go, truly wonderful. I have to thank my parents for instilling in me an appreciation and love of art.

After the museum we met up with the family for some playground time, then on to a Dutch restaurant for dinner, a walk and head our respective hotel/apartments to pack, tomorrow we all fly back to reality.

What a week its been. I’m so glad I got to spend it with my family.

{June 22, 2017} Amsterdam…Day Six

What a day! Lots to do, let’s get started!

Today was all about being joodse, Jewish. We started in the Jewish Quarter at the Portuguese Jewish Synagogue.

The Portuguese Synagogue, also known as the Esnoga or Snoge, is a late 17th-century Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam, completed in 1675. The Amsterdam Sephardic community was one of the largest and richest Jewish communities in Europe during the Dutch Golden Age, and their very large synagogue reflected this.
We toured the catacombs, which housed texts, torahs, gowns, crowns and pointers.

The gowns cover the Torah when it is closed and not in use, the crowns cover the finials, the ‘bars’ used to roll the Torah, the crowns have been referred to as the ‘bridegroom of the law’ and the pointers, which come in different designs, traditionally a finger, which is pointing, keeping your place as you read from the Torah.

Next was a trip into the synagogue sanctuary itself.

The inscription above the entrance is from Psalm 5:8: “In the abundance of Thy lovingkindness will I come into Thy house”.

This is a simple synagogue. Large in size, but simple in decoration. Very different from the synagogue in Hungary, not sure if you remember those images.

The women sit upstairs, there is a separate entrance towards the back of the synagogue outside.

When Amsterdam started to become more and more populated with Jews, it became common for people to refer to it as the “New Jerusalem.” This nickname developed because of the Jewish life that Amsterdam was beginning to become fulfilled with.

Next, we toured the rest of the complex. We saw the Boardroom, hats of the members of each delegate, the head rabbis throughout the life of the synagogue and Jewish community. We were able to tour different areas of what makes the synagogue and Jewish community run.

The mikvah, this is the ritual bath for women, the winter synagogue, a sukkah, this is the structure built during the time of Sukkot, it is made of natural materials and will often have a thatched roof so you can see the sky when eating and give thanks.

Next it was time for a bit of lunch at a nice out door cafe then back to the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish Museum. The ticket was clever, one ticket with for tabs for the four places to visit. I really didn’t like calling them atttactions.

The Jewish Museum was a mixture of paintings by Jewish artists, not depicting any Jewish themes I’m particular, just their work. There were historical pieces, some not easy to look at.

I found it interesting that the doors would only open when the previous door closed, this was at two of the locations.

After the Jewish Museum, went to the Holocaust Memorial and Museum. These were both difficult places to visit, but so important.

The museum had artifacts and stories of those who had perished in the camps. Some of the items were given to friends to hold until they came home and as you can imagine, none of these were ever returned as so many thousands and millions of items like them.

The one picture that I took was a quote from the poem, Peace by Leo Vroman: “Come tonight with that refrain about the ending of all war, sing it a hundred times or more and every time I’ll cry again”.

Across the street was the memorial, incredbly sobering. The tributes are powerful and seeing your family name sends chills down your body. I went behind the memorial to look at some photographs and it was as if the cats were keeping watch over something sacred.

If I tell you we had had enough somber moments, I hope you believe me. Touching, heartbreaking, tough, but necessary. If we forget, we risk repeating.

We started to walk back to dad ahs LaLa’s hotel and drip, drop, call an Uber! Good thing because about 10 minutes after we got back, the sky opened up. The gods were bowling some strikes!

Finally, what do Jews do after temple, normally on Friday nights? Chinese food! We went to The Sea Palace and were very pleasantly surprised! The Asian food in Amsterdam has been fabulous!

After dinner, dessert and a pedi-cab ride, how much more fun can we have? I tell ya!

One more day! The adventure continues! See you tomorrow!

{June 21, 2017} Amsterdam…Day 5

Today, not many photos, the big thing today…The Anne Frank House.

My day started with a chuckle because my honey, PSM, called me at 622am local time, no worries, I had been awake for over an hour, but when I mentioned what time it was, he felt terrible! I laughed because they other day we said, this is great, we are exactly 12 hours apart, so no math required, only to put an AM or PM behind the numbers and it’s worked out quite well. But when he works those too long days, brain goes out the door! So, we’ve been talking on his way to work, while I’m on my way to dinner! Ah…dating, traveling, time zones…

ACS, EJS and I walked over to dad and LaLa’s hotel for breakfast then to was a short detour while ACS went back to the hotel for something. Eventually we made our way to the Anne Frank House. This is a place you definitely need a ticket for and it was the first thing LaLa got before our trip, they really recommend getting tickets a few months in advance and they were right!

What a sobering experience. There is no furniture in the house, just photos and explanations of who and what. You saw the people they lived with, the few rooms they had, the door with the bookcase that hid the entrance to their hiding place, this is what EJS found most interesting about the house.

The stairways were narrow, the floors creaked and you really got a sense of just what it could have been like and how you might have tried to imagine if you could have handled it. The windows were covered, just think about it, you can’t speak, make a sound, look out of a window for two years.

There were a few messages of hope throughout the house. In her room, you could see the photos of movie stars and cutouts from magazines that she had taped to the walls, to give her a little normalcy in what only could have been an insane situation.

Anne doesn’t just keep a diary during her time in the Secret Annex. She also writes short stories and collects her favourite sentences by other writers in a notebook. Anne hopes for her diary to be published as a novel after the war. That’s why she starts rewriting it. But Anne never manages to finish it. She’s discovered and arrested before she completes her work.
Her father is the one to publish her diary and after reading it, discovering her true feelings about and things, says something very telling that I’m sure many people feel about their children, we don’t truly know them.

One of the things I remember ACS saying when he went the first time was how difficult it was for him as the father of a young girl. I can totally understand that statement as I am sure so many of us do.

The statement that impacted me most was something Emma Thompson said in a speech at the Anne Frank House in 2006: The only thing we have to remember is: all her would-haves are our real possibilities. All her would-haves are our opportunities. And the book’s a flame, a torch, we can light our own candles and take them and illuminate our hearts with the incandescence of her spirit.

Just wow.

After the Anne Frank House, we went to lunch on a canal, go figure! We had so much to discuss.

We walked after that, back to Central Station where we took a canal cruise, not as good as the one the other day, but we learned a few things.

Then it was on to dinner at a fantastic Thai restaurant near the apartment, a stroll back to the hotel for dad and LaLa, apartment for the rest of us.

What does tomorrow hold? I can’t wait to find out!

{June 20, 2017} Amsterdam…Day 4

Madurodam. That’s it, Madurodam.

What a place! An entire city built of miniatures! I’m not taller than much, so pretty cool! Dad had been there about 47 years ago, it’s built up a little since then. For EJS, LaLa and I, it was a first.

It was a train and then a tram trip to get there. A first for EJS, some great experiences and firsts have been had!

It was opened in 1952, each item featured are 1:25 scale replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, historical cities and large developments.

The buildings, trees, cars, people, all created with such fabulous detail. When you take pictures from certain angles, toy can’t tell its not “life size” until you see a person or baby stroller go by.

Madurodam was named after George Maduro, a Jewish law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. In 1946, Maduro was posthumously awarded the Medal of Knight Fourth class of the Military Order of William, the highest and oldest military decoration in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for the valor he had demonstrated in the Battle of the Netherlands against German troops.

This was a tribute started by his parents and the entirety of net proceeds from the park go towards various charities in the Netherlands.

Back to Amsterdam, regroup, dinner and rest… tomorrow is another adventure!

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