Me and the Blue Skies

On my way home from work today, my mother told me that her friend, Rita, was in the hospital. (Yes, I talk to my mom during my drive home from work every day and yes, I use a bluetooth so it’s all hands free.) Anyway, she was pretty upset because Rita has been her buddy ever since my stepdad, Al, passed away. They go to the senior center where all the old guys hoot and holler at them. (That’s because they’re the hotties of the geriatric group.) The go to the casinos. They go shopping. They have dinner together.  And now that is all in jeopardy.

My mom having a cocktail on Mother's Day

My mother is not sure but Rita is probably in her late 70′s early 80′s, although she looks much younger. Unfortunately, the rest of her knows how old she really is. And today, her heart was beating too fast and they took her to the hospital. The doctors say she has a very weak heart. My mother has her own aches and pain, but at least her heart is strong. She’s 73.

My mom has had her share of watching friends pass away. Al was almost 20 years older than her. They retired to Florida in 1979 and lived there for over 26 years. Most of their friends were closer to Al’s age – couples who they went out with, a group of guys who played the band at the local watering hole on the beach, and the couples from the “lodge”. One by one, they all passed away. One of their friends died right on their front law. He fell over, turned blue and despite his wife’s efforts to resuscitate him, he died – just a few steps from my mom. (more…)

It's Preston-Cow with his FREE Chicken Combo Meal. Chick-fil-A Rocks!

That’s right. Today only (7/9/10) Chick-fil-A is giving out free combo meals to all customers who come in dressed as cows from head-t0-toe.  Even those who don’t come in completely dressed as a cow can get a free gift just by wearing a cow hat or cow sign.  And Chick-fil-A really owes it to those cows.  According to their website, the “Eat More Chicken” campaign using cows started as a single billboard way back in 1985.  Today, the cows are everywhere from billboards to radio to TV.  Chick-fil-A owes these award-winning cows big time and they sure paid them back today.

I work in marketing and I love great marketing campaigns and clever advertisements.  No one can deny that after 25 years and still going strong, the “Eat More Chicken” cow campaign is a true American classic.  Of course, it helps to have a great food product backing up this great ad campaign.  And Chick-fil-A delivers there as well.  If you remember my Top 5 Best and Worst Chicken Sandwiches, you would know that the Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich came in at #2 on my Best List. (And only because it had more sodium than the #1 pick. It’s actually #1 with me in taste.) (more…)

Trendy, Upscale, & Urban, Chicago Style…

Hello from Chicago. I am in the windy city on business. I know I’ve said before that I would not mix business with my blog, but as long as I don’t say where I work and why I’m here, then I’m safe.  Since Chicago has so many wonderful restaurants, how could I not resist blogging about some of them?

Image stolen from www.anthroblogs.org

Before I start, I’d like to say a few words about Chicago. Chicago is the perpetual construction city. It’s always under construction somewhere in Chicago. The winters are so long and brutal here that the city spends most of its time digging and plowing its way out of the snow or repairing all the damage caused by all the digging and plowing.  Even with all the construction, it’s an amazing city.

As I was walking home from dinner, it started to rain. Not a heavy rain, a slow droplet type of rain that seemed to want to take its time. Just like Chicagoians. Never stressed; never rushed; never overdone. As I walked, I passed by many eateries and cocktail bars. Chicagoians (Chicagoites? Who knows?) love cocktail bars. These slightly trendy, somewhat expensive, and comfortably urban water holes were filled with slightly trendy, somewhat wealthy, and oh-so-comfortably urban people sipping pomegranate melon martinis and home-made limoncello.

Ah I love Chicago. (more…)

In An Itty-Bitty Space

I had promised Linda that I would take her to Village Whiskey to have a foie gras burger for her birthday, which was during Easter weekend. Unfortunately, Linda had her pseudo-heart attack which actually turned out to be a combo stress/panic attack coupled with extreme fibermyalgia pain. The hospital stay, however, lasted the whole weekend. This spoiled her plans of lunch with her children and me, dinner at Village Whiskey with me, and then a lobster Easter dinner down in Cape May with her son. So when we were in Philly last week for the Rittenhouse festival and we were only a couple of blocks from the Village Whiskey, I decided it was time for Linda’s birthday foie gras burger.

Before I go any further, I want you all to know that I’ve been to Garces’ other restaurants, Amada, Tinto, Chifa, Distrito, and Mercat a la Planxa (Chicago), and have had nothing but rave reviews. I also have never eaten foie gras nor had I ever planned to eat it. To me, foie gras falls into the mistreated animal category (like veal), so I just went without it. Plus, it’s really easy to go without something that is super expensive. Give up caviar? No problem. Stop eating American Cheese? I fall apart. (more…)

Newly Reopened Cantina Dishes Up a Tasty Brunch

I was lucky enough to go to the Tortilla Press Cantina, Collingswood’s Tortilla Press’s sister restaurant in Pennsauken, a few times before it had shut down.  Extended construction on the roads around the cantina made it near impossible to get to the restaurant and a decision was made to close its doors.  Well the construction is over and the roads are clear, so they recently decided to reopen the doors and give it another shot.

My nephew Michael and his girlfriend, Laura

I’ve always loved the ala cart brunch over at the Tortilla Press in Collingswood so when I go the email blast about the Mother’s Day buffet brunch at both locations, I knew it would be a hit with my mom.  I’ve been dying to get to the cantina since it reopened. My daughter and her fiancée have been going there for karaoke and having a really good time. So I made reservations for the Mother’s Day buffet brunch at the cantina for me, my mom, my sister, my nephew and his girlfriend. (more…)

Casona Serves Up Cuban Fair and Nouveau Latin Cuisine

Linda and I have eaten at Casona in Collingswood several times, and I’ve blogged about our experiences there. We’ve had mixed experiences with both the food and the service, especially the service, and I rated Casona as a hit or miss restaurant.  Well that did not sit very well with owner, Mark Infantado.  Mark told us that he put his heart and soul into the restaurant. He was displeased and concerned over our less than stellar experiences at his establishment. To his credit, he didn’t rant and rave about what I wrote, he took action to correct the problems.  He replaced his front of the house manager with a new, experienced manager who was going to retrain his staff to provide a higher level of service. And to put his money where his mouth is, he offered us 50% off our meal if we came in and gave it another shot.

Casona's atmosphere is warm and inviting.

Well who am I to give up such a generous offer? But before we get started, regardless of whether I got a discount or not, my review would be based strictly upon our dining experience. Besides, we generally liked the food at Casona and were certainly willing to give the retrained staff another try.  We gave them a few months to work out the kinks and showed up this past Sunday hungry for great food and great service. Fortunately, Casona delivered on all levels this time… (more…)

The New KFC Double Down Takes on Chicken Sandwiches And Leaves the Bun at Home

I was listening to a radio station this morning on the way to work and the d- jays were talking about the new KFC Double Down bun-less chicken sandwich.  They had gone to their local KFC to try the sandwich and had recorded their reactions.  For those of you who haven’t heard about this new gastronomical delight, it’s 2 boneless white meat chicken filets (grilled or original recipe), 2 pieces of bacon, 2 slices of Monterey jack and pepper cheese, and the Colonel’s sauce, whatever the hell that is.  But NO BUN!

There were two guys and one gal doing the test taste. The two guys are you typical man-guys who think everything tastes better when you fry it and add bacon and cheese. The gal, on the other hand, is into fresh, organic foods and shops at Whole Foods.  But she had agreed (or rather was coerced) to at least take a bite of the sandwich.

The guys dug right in, grunting and groaning.  They were enjoying every bite and basically described it as amazingly delicious and surprisingly not greasy.  The gal relented and took her bite.  Her honest response was that all she could taste was salt. She did not want another bite however, you could hear the two guys eagerly woofing down the remaining bits of their bun-free sandwiches.

As a person on a low sodium diet, I could certainly relate to the gal.  Since I no longer use salt when I cook or on my plate, my awareness to salt has increased immensely.  Foods I once thought weren’t salty, suddenly are now very salty. I wondered if I would feel the same about the Double Down.  I also wondered how much sodium was in this semi-sandwich, so I did a bit of checking on it… (more…)

And I Helped…

Out of Sight…Out of Murder opened last week at the Woodbury Sketch Club Players, and I helped.  That’s right folks. I was the assistant director.  My job was to assist director John Blackwell where ever it was possible including being on book during rehearsal, feeding actors their lines, reading lines when actors missed rehearsals, and working with the various actors to help them develop their characters. I had a wonderful time performing my duties but it was pretty easy when you’re working with a talented director like John–not to mention the talented cast he was able to assemble.

Is she dead...or thinking?

Now if you know anything about actors and acting, then you’ll know that the “current” show is always the “best” show with the “best” cast and all that jazz.  So I always take it with a little grain of salt when someone tells me they are in the best show they’ve ever done or are working with the best cast they’ve ever worked with.  And now I’m saying it and I’m not even in the cast… (more…)

Birds of a Feather…

My blog suffered a bit due to neglect during the past couple of months. I regret that slightly, but life had kind of taken over for a while, consuming a good portion of my time. I had been busy with a play (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and was focusing on creating a realistic patient for the show.  I believe I succeeded and received some very heart-warming praise from both audience and cast members alike.  Many people told me it was the best performance I had given to date.  Maybe I’m tooting my horn just a little too much but it sure made feel proud of my work and my efforts.  It’s a wonderful feeling when you give it your all and receive recognition for those actions as well.

In addition to working on the play, I had to deal with the craziness of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my daughter and her fiance buying their first home in the middle of all that.  Add in rehearsals and practicing for the play and I barely knew which end was up.  Lastly, my very close friend, Linda, was moving into Heather’s old bedroom at the end of January.

Now Linda and I are very close friends.  She doesn’t like me blabbing about her personal life–she prefers to do that on her own. Anyway, I am not revealing any deep secrets when I tell you that she’s been out of work for over a year.  She could no longer afford her apartment and continue to pay the extensive amount of bills she had amassed over the past couple of years.  She was working a second job and barely keeping up with her bills.  Living a lifestyle that she felt she deserved but really couldn’t afford disastrously caught up with her when she lost her job. Of course, she lost the second job with weeks of losing her main job… (more…)

Thai Basil Serves Up A Bounty of Flavors and Textures at Prices That Please

I’ve been a fan of Thai food ever since I ate at a Thai restaurant in Chicago on a business trip many moons ago.  Prior to that, I was always afraid of Thai food because I hated curry ever since I accidentally ate curried goat at one of those Philly Fun Day Festivals that the city used to hold in the late 80s. Blah.  But a co-worker set me straight about curry. There’s more than one curry and each has its of unique flavor.  There’s red, green, yellow, Panang, Massaman, & Khing. My favorite is the green curry.

Linda has had moderate experience with Thai and has always wanted to broaden her horizons.  I’ve been eying up Thai Basil in Collingswood for some time now so when Linda didn’t want to cook dinner tonight, I decided we should give it a whirl. And we sure were glad we did.

Collingswood has become THE place for foodies and hungry diners alike and Thai Basil is a perfect addition. The decor is warm and inviting, filled with earth tones and dark wood. Tables line one side of the restaurant with unique booths that alternate between square and round on the right. A large mirror helps to make the restaurant seem larger than it is… (more…)