Hi, every Friday my friend Colleen and I, Doreen, try to go on a new adventure in the state of New Jersey. We try to find new restaurants and things to try. You are welcome to come along.
This Friday we played Keep Talking. We are on the 6th level, the bombs are getting harder. We had 1 minute and 20 seconds to defuse the bomb. So….ready, BOOM! Ready..BOOM! Ready….BOOM! For hours, this continued and finally, we diffused it. I don’t have high hopes of reaching the end.
I know other generations have gone through far worse than the coronavirus, but I can’t help but think about all that we are missing. This Groundhog’s Day of never-ending sameness, where months have mixed into one. I know in my mind it will end. My soul, however, yearns for a real Friday where we get to explore and try new things.
This Friday we played Keep Talking again. I have my sports drink ready, let’s go face some bombs:) First hour same bomb from last week, drink from my bottle, stretch, ready for a bomb… BOOM! Second hour same bomb, stretch, ready for bomb…….BOOM! Third hour same bomb, we have made some progress but we only got to the end part once. We cut out unnecessary words. Stretch, drink coffee, blink because I haven’t blinked in two hours,(blink and you miss a dot or a dash) ………..BOOM! Fourth hour, Me: Colleen you want to try a different bomb, there are other ones. Colleen: No we can do this. Me: Okay. Fifth hour same bomb, stretch, blink, ready for bomb….YEAH! WE DID IT!
I would’ve given up two hours ago. I would’ve been frustrated and started making more mistakes and being done with it, but Colleen kept me calm. She said we could do it and we did! It’s funny how people can have an impact on you. Someone else might have made me more agitated and it would’ve been hopeless. You think that you are you and no one can change that, but people have an influence on your life. Even if you don’t want to admit it. They can bring out the best in you or the worst. It’s best to surround yourself with those that bring out the best and stay away from those that harm.
I saw Colleen, she does exist! She isn’t a voice in my head. We went for a walk by her house, social distancing. After we went to Battleview, in separate cars. Fresh strawberries and peas are in season. YUM! We both went home to our houses and played Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. We managed to get past the venting part. We did well. I hope we don’t come across any bombs in real life. We may think we can defuse them 🙂
My dinner date has left me:(. Every night I would watch Andrew Cuomo while having dinner. I like that he told what was going on and the facts. I miss the days when the news just told you the facts and you had no bias. Bias can be subtle too. If two candidates, one Republican and one Democrat both got booed and the news reports only one of the candidates got booed, that is bias. I want the news to tell me what is going on, with no embellishments. I can make up my mind. I don’t want to be told what to think.
“L” capital L for me, the loser :(. This week Colleen and I were joined by Colleen’s daughters Val and Caroline. I lost many games. Val and Caroline tied for first place. Colleen was second and I came in last….sigh. We played Fibbage, Trivia Murder Party, Earwax, Drawful and a new game Tee. K.O.. Tee K.O. is a fun game, where each person draws three pictures and then you write as many slogans as you can in the time allowed. Then you have to choose from three drawings of the players and three slogans. You put the t-shirt you like the best together and everyone votes on which one they like the best. It was more fun than I thought it would be.
I don’t know what to write about, so much is going in the world. I don’t know what direction the world is heading. Hopefully, all this works out in the end.
This Friday, Val, Caroline, Colleen and I played Art Thief. I searched high and low for this game because I know Tina would want a review. In the first part of the game you have to break into a museum. Then two of you are given a famous piece of art to try and copy, the other two vote on which piece of art is better. The winner is the one with the most money at the end. I won!!! I might as well win because I made this game up. Happy Birthday Tina! An early present because jealousy is the best according to you.
This is what happened, this is what we did this Friday. Colleen needed boxes to move Caroline out of her dorm. She thought she would be able to just go to the store and pick some up. I guess that normal shipments of things were put on the back burner. I was a co-pilot virtually, I would look up different Targets searching for the boxes. They either had the lids or not the boxes or the boxes and not the lids. She managed to get three boxes. Then after she gave up looking, we played Keep Talking and Nobody Blows Up. We managed to do the bomb that only gave you three minutes, I had my doubts if we could do it. We are getting much better at this game.
Jealousy is not a good trait. Life is full of choices, you have to realize that to have one thing you sacrifice another. We can’t have it all. We tend to look to see if measure up, by where others are. Sometimes, you should stop and say to yourself I’m happy where I am now and be grateful for what you do have.
Applause….oh thank you………applause…………..thank you………….applause…………please you’re embarrassing me. It finally happened, I won! I won four games! We practiced social distancing again. This Friday, Colleen and I had the pleasure of Val and Caroline joining us. Colleen won two games and Val won once. Val would’ve won more but we kept getting disconnected. We played Trivia Murder Party, where you are asked random trivia questions. The object is to escape the room with your life. We played Quiplash, where you make up a name for various subjects. Then the names you made up go up against each other and everyone else votes for their favorites. We played Bididiots, where they give you a subject and you draw a picture. After, you bid on various drawings. You have no idea of the value of the art, but you’re are given an idea of the value of three pieces of art. The object of the game is to have the most money at the end. We played Fibbage too. It was lots of fun. 🙂
We are starting to reopen. I hope people don’t think the virus magically disappeared and are still taking precautions. I live on a semi-main road and when the state first shut down almost every night the ambulances would go by. It was eerie, the quiet with just the sound of an ambulance. It felt like a scene from a movie. I don’t want to go back to that. This virus is like Russian Roulette, you never can be sure of who will die from it. We just don’t know enough yet.
This Friday again we had the pleasure of Colleen’s mom, Helen, with us. Today we went to Charlie Brown’s Steak House. Charlie Brown’s has a chain of restaurants in New Jersey.
Charlie Brown’s in Hightstown.
Charlie Brown’s has an extensive salad bar. I didn’t take pictures of the whole salad bar, but this is a good sampling of the variety.
This is our creations of salads. As you can see, the possibilities are endless. It is one of the best salad bars we go to.
Salmon Colleen and her mom, both had the add on salmon with the salad bar. They said it was good. Coconut Shrimp I had the add on Coconut Shrimp. It was fine, it reminded me of the coconut shrimp you can get at Sam’s club. I don’t think you should expect great seafood when you come to a steakhouse. Just like you can’t expect great steak at a seafood restaurant.
Topic of discussion
Actually this is an old topic, one we have discussed many times in raising our children. I wish when you have your child they could take a DNA sample and give you a manual. The self-help books that authors write, may work with your child. What works with one child, doesn’t work with another. Some children need constant prodding, while others will crumble under the pressure. You think that your child is a little you, what you needed as a child you will give to your child. It rarely works out that way. I don’t think there are any easy answers to raising children.
OPA!!! This Friday we went to the Greek Festival in Piscataway. We had the pleasure of having Colleen’s mom with us. She is so sweet and adorable. She has a way of making everyone feel like they are important.
The smell coming up to the festival is intoxicating!This menu is from last year, we try to go every year since Colleen introduced me to it. We go on Fridays but on the weekend it has more of a festival feel with dancers, etc.Greek Salad The salad has a light dressing but it is very wet, sort of like a light pickle. The feta cheese help cut through the dressing and gives a nice balance to it.Tiropites Crisp phyllo with cheese. It is really good.Gyro I am not sure how they make gyro meat, it might be interesting to find out. This gyro was made with a combination of lamb and beef with spices and roasted on a spit. I love the tzatiki sauce so creamy and refreshing. Colleen says it’s the best gyro meat she has ever had! Combination Platter Colleen thought the Mousaka was yummy, especially the topping, so light and fluffy! The Spanakopita was enjoyed by Colleen’s mom. She’s feeling extra strong now because she ate her spinach 🙂 The Pastitsio was a surprise of yumminess! Colleen really enjoys bechamel sauce and its made exceptionally well at the Greek Festival.Pork Souvlaki
Galaktoboureko Crisp phyllo dough with a drizzle of honey and filled with a custard. I had this dessert at a different festival it was not as good. This is delicious!!!
Some say the best thing about being American is freedom, that can be debatable. I really think it’s the food. We have people coming from all over the world and they bring their food with them! I feel like we are spoiled that way. I, also, think it’s why we have trouble with our weight. Soo much good food from so many different nations. Food brings people together. OPA!
This Friday we celebrated Colleen’s “28” birthday. I cannot emphasize this enough Colleen LOVES LOVES elephants. So we went to the movies and saw Dumbo. We awed at Dumbo and rooted for the bad guys to get their due.
I, also, want to mention the father I saw with two toddlers. They kept leaving during the movie, I think he took them out of the theater when the movie may have been too frightening for them. He’s a good dad.
Sometimes I wonder if it would be possible to have an elephant of your own. Many animals are in zoos and with evolution being what it is, could they become domestic losing their wild instinct? Elephants are used to having vast expanses of land being confined in a much smaller space, will they soon become smaller. That being said, can one day you have a small elephant in your backyard?
We had flatbread at the movies, it was surprisingly good!
Buffalo Chicken Flatbread
Barbecue Chicken Flatbread
Later, that night we went to Heirloom Kitchen. This was my first time trying fine dining, I would say that it is an experience. Same as going to a concert is an experience for music lovers, this is for food. Our meal took two hours and I got to try many flavors that I never had before.
We started with an amuse- bouche. That is a bite supposed to whet your appetite. I forgot to take a picture. I think the waitress said it was smoked kohlrabi with cashews. I never had kohlrabi before and I wonder if I could make it because it was really good.
We both had the ribs for the first course. So tender, the meat just fell off the bone. I really liked the “slaw”, it helped to cut the richness of the meat. Colleen had the halibut. I think she really enjoyed it. She said the zucchini was especially good.I had the gnocchi. The gnocchi were so light and the pesto was so good! I enjoyed the pea tendrils, I did not know you could eat pea tendrils, but I did not like the thicker stalks. The crispy potato skins left me wanting more. I was searching for more of them. So yummy!The birthday girl had the Masala Chai Cake to go. She is so good. They brought it out though with a candle for her.I had the Bamboo Rice Pudding. Colleen got her dessert to go, I was not so good. I ate my dessert and it was yummy! I’m not sure what the herb is, but it was tasty. To the left is a meringue cookie, and under is citrus. It added sweetness and richness.
We received a mint with the bill. It was yummy.
The chef of Heirloom kitchen is David Viana. He was a James Beard semi-finalist and contestant on Top Chef, Kentucky. The differences that I noticed between fine dining and the average restaurant are there is no hurry to get you out. Good food takes time and everything is made fresh to order. There is no salt and pepper on the table. It is more an experience than getting just something to eat.
Friday is Funday 
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