April 10, 2020

This Friday would have been a day where we would do tasks getting ready for Easter and stopping somewhere nice for lunch. Instead, Colleen went to stores and I kept her company on the phone.

It is hard to keep life semi-normal, Colleen went looking for things for Easter. I imagine many parents were doing the same. Colleen believes in not telling the children and keeping things as normal as possible. I always felt that children need to know when something is wrong because I think they can sense it and their imagination might be worse than reality. Not knowing is often more fearful than knowing. That is why this disease is scary to us. There is so much we don’t know. For one thing, why do some get so sick, while others have very few symptoms. I like to listen to the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. He tells the facts and explains why things need to be the way they are. I’m sure he has saved many lives. He, also, gives you hope in the end. I want to thank him for his leadership in this crisis. I want to thank our Governor Murphy for his leadership too. The Governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been working together to form a strategy to keep us safe.

Most importantly, I want to thank the nurses and doctors who are at the front lines. We are sitting in our homes hiding from an enemy, while they bravely face it every day. I can only imagine the nightmare that they live day after day. They see the worse of this disease. The fear of not only for themselves but for their families. Their children, their spouses can be put at risk. I don’t think I would be capable of it. Thank you so very much, each and everyone of you. You all deserve a medal. I hope when this is over, you will get well- deserved recognition for your efforts. A nurse and doctor day?

April 3, 2020

Still practicing social distancing, so we played on the phone and computer again. We were joined again, by the lovely Val.

As much as it pains me to say this, Colleen was the clear winner of all games. She won 3 games of Fibbage and 2 games of Draw Something. Val one game of Fibbage and one of Draw Something. I won two games of Draw Something. During the games, I discovered that Val and I sort of cancel each other out. We often came up with the same answer and often fooled each other. Hmmm….I need to rethink my strategy so I can come out VICTORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Insert evil laugh here).

I feel like I haven’t addressed the elephant in the room. Colleen would say leave that elephant right there. She is very happy to have an elephant anywhere nearby:) The coronavirus…..my thoughts. First I think you had to realize it was bad when China closed a whole city, dragged people off the streets, welded people into their homes and built a hospital in 7 days. The virus itself is a great unknown, there isn’t a lot of facts on the virus but theories as the scientists study it. From what I understand, we aren’t sure how it is spread. What we do know is that it spreads like wildfire. All we can do is try and remain safe. Hopefully the time we get to spend with those in our immediate families brings us closer together. Stay safe and healthy.

March 27, 2020

This Friday we practiced social distancing again and played Fibbage again and Drawful 2. Val joined us.

We played Fibbage at which I lost every game :(. We played three games. Val and Colleen both tied once and they each won a game. Sigh….I guess I’m just not a good fibber. (Please don’t look at last week’s game). We played Drawful, where they give each person a different crazy title to draw. My first one was Coma party. Then when everyone is done with their masterpiece, your drawing, and your competitors will come up on the screen one at a time. When it’s your drawing, you do nothing but watch. When it’s someone else’s you first have to make up a title for the artwork you are looking at. After you made up your title and your opponents made up theirs, the titles will show up on the screen plus the real title. You try to guess which is the real title. As you can tell by the amazing likeness of Val that I was bound to win at least one game, which I did! As did Val and Colleen, boooo! I won only one game out of all that was played, but more importantly, I did win some fun memories and much laughter. That is what matters more, especially now.

March 20, 2020

This Friday we practiced social distancing. We played together on the phone and internet.

We used our phones to communicate and play Fibbage and Yahtzee. With fibbage, the game gives fill in the blank and you put in an answer that you think the other person or persons would pick. After everyone makes their answer, the game will show you the answers plus the real answer. I tried to lure Colleen in with the elephant answer, but she didn’t fall for it :(. She countered with a bunny answer, I was tempted but I knew better. I won!!! Best 2 out of 3 games. Sadness then struck, when we played Yahtzee. Colleen won the best 2 out of 3 games:(. Even if we didn’t get to leave the house, it was still a nice break to stop thinking about the Corona Virus and remember that fun can still be had even in bad times.

March 13, 2020

This is not Friday Funday. With the virus spreading, we both stayed home. Better not to take chances, hopefully, this will be over soon. I told the story of how we met, now I will tell the story of how we became friends.

We met through our daughters, who became friends. We live close to Great Adventure, maybe an half hour away. In the summer we would meet at the fountain at 1 p.m. While our daughters would go on rides, we would talk. At the time, I did not know Colleen would become a lifelong friend. We found we both had trouble with weight (who doesn’t, I know some people can’t keep it on and they take great joy in telling you). So we ditched our daughters and I would meet her at her house and we would go for walks. As we talked we became closer, and soon Friday meetings began at my house. We would go for walks to the restaurants near my house and return to watch TV and play video games. There was one problem, Colleen walks ridiculously fast and I had a hard time keeping up. So I had to come up with a solution. I made the plan to insist to pay for lunch and she could repay me by carrying the lunch home. Holding lunches and not spilling or keeping them upright did the trick.:)

I hope this pandemic ends soon, we can go back to our lives. It’s funny how the life we thought may have needed improvement, now becomes the life we want desperately back.

March 6, 2020

Is it wrong to have seafood and then visit an aquarium? Somehow I feel guilty, ……sorry I ate your relative? This Friday, we went to Spike’s Fish Market and Jenkinsons Aquarium in Point Pleasant. Later we went to Battleview Farm market in Manalapan.

Spike’s feels like this is where the locals go. There is no deep fried seafood and there is no heat, so go bundled up if its cold out, but they do have good home cooked meals.

Lobster Chowder
We both had a bowl of the Lobster Chowder. It had big chunks of vegetables that were crisp tender. Colleen doesn’t like her vegetables like that, but I do. I thought it was very good.

Monk Fish
Colleen had the special of the day. It came with home fried potatoes and Cole slaw. She really liked the potatoes.

Stuffed Shrimp
I had the lunch portion of the stuffed shrimp. It was really good!

This fish wanted his picture taken in the worst way. He kept coming to the glass.

Battleview
It was closed for about a month and I wanted to see what was new. They redecorated, added some country touches to the walls.

There has been a movement to ban plastics. Even if you recycle, only a small portion of it gets recycled. While at the aquarium I learned about gyres, the ocean currents tend to run certain patterns across the world. When plastics are dumped into the ocean they will follow these currents. Plastic is not biodegradable, it just gets smaller. These smaller pieces are called microplastics. There are areas where these plastics gather and become garbage patches. The largest is between the United States and Japan, which is around an area of 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles). We cannot be sure what the effect is from these garbage dumps. I can only imagine that it will not be good. I know people are often worried about daily life and have little left for the future. So I will appeal to those daily needs, I find reusable bags make life much easier. They don’t rip. You can carry more, making fewer trips to the car. I always have a supply in my trunk. That way I don’t have to remember to bring them. Just to get rid of plastic bags I know isn’t enough, but I feel it would be a good start.

February 28, 2020

This Friday we went to the Pour House in Tinton Falls, Monmouth Museum at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, and Shop Rite in Jackson. Busy busy 🙂

Spinach Artichoke Soup
We both had the soup of the day, Spinach Artichoke Soup. It was good but I wish they would have chopped the artichoke leaves.

Crab Meltaways
We had this next. It really did melt in your mouth. It was delicious.

Crab Cakes
We both had the crab cakes lunch special which came with soup. We both had the mashed potatoes instead of French fries. They were excellent and looked so cute. Neither one of us liked the Remoulde sauce on the crab cakes, it just wasn’t tasty. The crab cakes were good and the Cole slaw was ok.

These are some of the Juried Art Show participants. Colleen really liked the Can’t Seem to Measure Up photo. The one I really liked didn’t photograph well. It looked like shiny rocks from afar but when you got close you could see that is was photos cut and folded. It was very creative.

Delicious Orchards has many vegetables and fruits. When I need something for a recipe that I can’t find in the supermarket or other farm stands, I can often find here.

When we went to Shop Rite in Jackson, they had the shopping carts with this gadget that you needed to put a quarter into “rent” the cart. I was not happy. There are so many problems I can see with this. If you have young children, you don’t want to be fiddling with shopping carts while your child is left unattended. What if you don’t have a quarter? Many people use credit and debit cards. Now businesses have the self-checkouts and are getting rid of the cart people. Businesses just seem to care about their profits. There is little concern with customer service. I think one of the reasons that people are so loyal to Apple products is their customer service. Other companies need to learn from this. With people buying more things online, how about welcoming us instead of inconveniencing us. People who shop in stores often buy more than they came for. Instead of saving a couple of dollars not hiring a cart person, how about offering us free coffee or some other perk?

February 21, 2020

This Friday, we were delighted to have Colleen’s mom join us. Her mom is so cute!!! We went to the Spanish Tavern in Mountainside. After we went to the Christmas Tree Shop, where I got some new (victims), cough cough….I mean plants. I know my picture is going to be posted at all nurseries, as a Plant Murderer. There was a lady who was kind enough to give me her coupon and saved me ten dollars! Thank you!

Pea Beef Noodle Soup
A man goes around gives everyone a bowl soup. It is really good with many complex flavors. We all loved it.

Day Boat Scallops Spanish Tavern Style
We shared our meal. This was excellent!

Paellla Valencia
We shared this, too. This was my first time having Paella, it was really good!! I’m pretty sure this restaurant will make our top ten this year. From the outside you would not guess what was inside. The service, the food and the decor are excellent. Really, we couldn’t ask for anything more.

If you read this blog, you may have noticed we have an obsession with soup. For many years, if you asked if I wanted soup, I would’ve said no. I thought of it as water with salt and some noodles. It wasn’t until I tasted the Soupman’s (of Seinfeld fame) vegetable soup, that I became a fan. In our nearby mall, the Soupman had opened a soup stand. He was expanding his soup across the state. The first time I tried the soup it was love at first bite. I would get the vegetable soup and half a sandwich with homemade lemonade and Lindt chocolate. He converted me into a soup fan. I introduced Colleen to the vegetable soup and soon she was a fan too. The recession hit and soon many of his soup stores closed. There was one last in our area in Red Bank. It just so happened that on Wednesdays my daughter and Colleen’s daughter had classes in the area. Every Wednesday night we would meet and the owner would have the vegetable soup waiting for us! I loved the little Brussels sprouts and the broth was so full of flavor. YUM! Sadly that restaurant has closed too. Now I feel like I’m on the search for something as delicious or even better. I guess you can say I’m a soup junkie. 🙂

February 14, 2020

This Friday we went to a chocolate store Michel Cluizel and Oceanos both in West Berlin. We, also went to the container store.

We got delicious chocolate. They have tours of the chocolate factory. You need groups of ten, but the woman who worked there was very nice and put us on a list for Fridays and we get to tag along with another group. So, hopefully we get to tour the factory and sample many more chocolates 🙂

Lobster Bisque
We both had some Lobster Bisque, it was not the best and not the worst. Our waitress was excellent, we couldn’t expect much better. The food though was good but was lacking that something to make it excellent. Some spices, maybe.

Seafood Pot Pie
Colleen had the pot pie, she said it was very good and enjoyed all the fresh vegetables in it.

Single Crab Cake
I had the single crab cake with mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini. The crab cake was mostly crab with very little bread crumbs, which is fine but could’ve used maybe some red pepper or something for a little more flavor.

We saw this cute car in front of a restaurant while waiting at a light.

I wonder if romance is dead. I personally hate going out to eat on Valentine’s day, I always feel crowded and rushed. It doesn’t feel romantic to me. Some people don’t believe in it, that everyday should be Valentine’s day. You need that day, we get caught up in the day to day grind and it is needed to step back and say, “yes you are special to me”. Today people often meet on an app. I miss the romantic stories of how couples met. There seems to be little expectation of romance. I wonder if this is a healthier attitude. Even it is so, it makes me sad. I guess I read to many fairy tales growing up.

February 7, 2020

This Friday we went to 618 in Freehold and Monmouth County Board of Elections. I got to visit Colleen’s house, while we waited for the squirrel man 🙂 A squirrel has invaded Colleen’s house, this is no ordinary squirrel I don’t think, he has been able to elude the trap for two weeks now.

Granny’s Meatballs
We shared the meatball appetizer. These are the best meatballs I’ve ever had, they are so light and delicious. The meatballs placed number 7 on Colleen’s list from last year.

Short Rib Ravioli
We both had the Ravioli, it is my favorite meal. Colleen though doesn’t like the mushrooms. It placed number one of my favorite dishes I had last year.

Apparently I am over 200 years old, I must say I look very good for my age 🙂 We took a trip to the board of elections because the last two years I voted it had my birthday as 1800. The people at the polling place told me not to worry, but I think that would come up as a red flag and my vote wouldn’t count. So we went to fix it.

At 618 there was a tribute for Stephanie Parze, a local girl who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. She went missing on October 30, after she went out with her parents. Her ex was the prime suspect, he had a history of violence towards women. The police took him in for child pornography charges and he spent a couple of days in jail. After he was released he hung himself and left a suicide note. He said he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail. Many people helped to look for her, but it was months later when two boys walking to work found her. He dumped her by side of the highway like she was trash. My heart breaks for her parents, it is every parent’s worst nightmare. A couple of days after she was found, I was driving and it was a cloudy day. There were a couple of breaks in the sky and one was bright blue in the shape of a heart. I wonder if that was Stephanie telling everyone thank you for the love and she is in a better place.