Focused at Fifty

My Dad, Robert Haynes & Carl Chew, Sr (& the Chew's tan van!) circa late 70's While making this salad, I thought about summer BBQs with good friends and family way back in the late 70's and early 80's.   My family was close with two other families from our home town of Wenonah. Mom and Dad bought our house from the Gardler family who lived there prior to us, and who then bought a farm down in Swedesboro, NJ. They in turn, introduced us to the Chew family whom also lived in town. The ages of the kids ranged in the beginning with the youngest ones, the Chew kids, to the late teens of the Gardler kids with myself, brother, and sister falling somewhere in the middle. Each year we would spend Memorial Day, July 4 th , and Labor Day BBQing at each other's homes.  The Haynes' would host Memorial Day, Jane and Carl Chew would host July 4 th (the parade in Wenonah was and still is legendary), and Anne and Rich Gardler would host Labor Day at the Farm...

For those of you which have not seen me freak out, shuffle about despondently, or mutter to myself over the course of this last week, "Where can it be, where can it be, where can it be", I have lost my cell phone. I am hoping it is just misplaced. I am now resigned to the fact that I may never find it. But an amazing thing happened this past week ... I survived. I also learned a little about myself in the process. Cell phones, none of which are mine since mine is LOST!!!!!! I was getting ready to go down to Philly to see my sister Sheryl for her birthday celebration and had just texted her if she needed me to pick up anything. Her response was no, she was in the store. OK, I texted, I'm leaving now. I packed up the car and in the span of 10 minutes, I lost myself phone, simple as that. You could say I just misplaced it but oh no, baby, it has gone waaaay beyond that! With the car all packed, I tore everything apart, went through every bag, the entire car, th...

I washed a load of laundry the other night which resulted in accidentally huffing bleach. Mixed with a recently downed shot of whiskey, it actually wasn't that bad. Thank G-d the hot water heater is next to the washer and dryer or I would have face-planted right into the cat's litter box on the floor.  Argh! Permanent coffee stain. My bleach inhalation occurred while doing a load of whites. The next day, I was wearing to work a freshly laundered and bleached blue pinstriped white button down. That's when I saw the permanent coffee stain on my sleeve! No amount of bleach could save this shirt. Well that's just GREAT! I exclaimed out loud in my office. My favorite shirt quickly became the shirt "most likely end of in the trash" as soon as I got home.  SO much for freshly laundered and bleached. The little incident reminded me of the great schmear incident of Jim Thorpe, PA, back about 5 years ago. I quickly scanned my blog posts and realized I hadn't...

Ready to  mix! Ambrosia is a traditional American fruit salad which is thought to have originated in the early 19th century. There are so many variations of this salad across our country. You can add fruit cocktail, grapes, bananas, pecans, whipped cream instead of sour cream, yogurt, honey, as well as other ingredients. The list goes on and on. None of which included the special secret ingredient I copied down from my cousin Helen's recipe. This Ambrosia recipe is from my father's cousin, Helen Haynes Dreiske. Helen and her husband, Gordon, farmed the Haynes/Dreiske "family" ranch in tiny Keldron, South Dakota (population 11). We visited them on trips out West each summer.  As with most large families, there were often BBQs, dinners, and picnics with lots of food and drink. This is one recipe of several that Helen always made and then gave my mother Abby during our visits. Helen and Gordon have since passed on but I am happy to include her recipes in my blog. ...

Please watch this slick, hip video. This concept is incredible:  To have roads set with solar panels which will spur the creation of a new industry allowing our country to move towards a self sustaining future away from oil, natural gas, and coal.  I watched this video several weeks ago and wanted to share my thoughts and concerns. I would love to see it happen but I feel it would take such large scale investment by the government. It would create thousands of jobs but the initial investment would have to be incredible. And although it is a great idea, it gives no specifics in terms of start up costs or total costs on the large scale. One has to remember though that most of the great inventions started small through prototypes by someone with an idea, passion, resilience, determination, and focus. I am concerned though, with the resulting future effect on the construction and infrastructure industry.  Yes, we would be crea...

A nice cut of meat! Marinade used was Lawry's Steak & Chop This blog post is not so much about one specific recipe as it is a memory of a favorite family meal. London Broil was a special "staple" within my family. We had it at least once a month. Mom and Dad rarely bought steak but they did treat us to London Broil. Mom would season it up and pop it into the oven. I remember Dad taking it out, letting it rest, and then slicing it up on our large wooden cutting board with the longest knife we owned. He would slice it so very thin, the more tasty rarer pieces in the center. We three kids would fight for the crunchy charred ends. Sometimes, he would sneak us a piece before we sat down to eat.  YUM! Came out perfect! I use several different approaches to seasoning my London Broil. At the very least, you should always salt and pepper the meat to enhance the flavor. Sometimes I use a homemade or store bought seas...

Ingredients are ready! My Mom's pasta sauce could not be beat. Unfortunately she did not create a recipe card for it, but every time she made it, it came out incredible. It was always a favorite requested by us kids for special occasions like our birthdays. And like a truly good pasta sauce, the spaghetti leftovers were even better the next day. I remember waking up on a Saturday morning as a teenager with my brother Adam and sneaking a spaghetti breakfast.  I have tried to replicate my Mom's sauce and it comes out good but never seems to be like hers. I just don't have a jar of "made with Mom's love" lyin' around! Just waitin' for the oven to heat up. We always had a loaf of crusty bread with the pasta. She would heat it up in the oven, then slice it up, plop it in a wicker basket covered with a cloth napkin and onto the table it went. Mom found THIS particular recipe in her later years and swore by it as an easy tasty recipe for Parmesan br...