Milford, PA

Whenever visiting the inlaws, we try and drive to Milford, about an hour away. It's a quaint little town chock full of wonderful little stores. Of course, one of my favs has to do with food. (grin)

We came upon Fretta's several years ago and the family has been going there ever since. The hub's mom's family owned a little Italian store quite like this while she was growing up in Jersey City. It has all the essential Italian gourmand necessities and quite a few great home made foods, including the best meatballs around. I am one of those gringos completely unable to make meatballs without them turning into patties. Go figure. If we all congregate to the inlaws' in the summer, it is up to each of us to cook dinner one night. Uh huh, you got it. The hub and kid make their Italian sauce and I buy the meatballs and delicious hand made sausage here. Heaven on earth, I tell ya. Since we were celebrating Ukie Christmas, we didn't need a thing from here. The kid was disappointed though that they didn't have any sfogliatelle, one of our favorite Italian delicacies. It's a flaky pastry filled with orange flavored ricotta. Another piece of Heaven on earth. In fact, they didn't' have any pastries. Hmmmm. (Not that we needed any.)

Here's a couple other nice buildings in the small town. The white house on the left is the community house. Take a look at this gorgeous railing and staircase in one of the antique stores. What I would do to move that thing to my house--not that mine could even handle the enormity of it!

Here we are heading back across the Delaware River to New York.

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!

Just back from NY where we all (the hub's side of the family) gathered for Ukrainian Christmas (or Little Christmas, as the hub's Italian mother calls it). We left Lake Louise on Thursday and flew into NYC. The teenager met up with us there and then we made our way further upstate to the hub's parent's house.

Ukrainian Christmas falls on January 7th and it's another big feast up there. Although more time and effort is spent on Ukrainian Easter, Christmas is just as special. Over the years, as we've moved further south (and the inlaws further north), it has become harder to make it up to celebrate every occasion. For the past two years, though, the boys have had the week after Christmas off which makes it possible to enjoy Ukie Christmas with everyone.

We all (four out of the five siblings with spouses and kids--14 of us) gather at Grammy and grandpa's house (the hub's parents) who live in the Catskill Mountains of NY, about two hours outside NYC. Their house is by a beautiful lake; which this year was completely thawed. There was no snow and it was actually in the 70s(ƒ) yesterday! Amazing. It's normally in the teens or colder this time of year! Look at how green.

Grammy and grandpa hide "little" gifts for all the kids; and each one has to find theirs hidden in the downstairs. Here's Uncle G holding up one of the boys in order to reach a goody and one of the girls on the "hunt!" They always have such a fun time, and it's over lickety split! The kid received some "power"balloonss that you blow up and let loose so they fly around the room with quite an obscene noise--good for boys, not so good for dogs.

Here's my SIL's doggies, Ruby and ZuZu. Ruby has made Miss November in a special pit bull calendar this year. Even Rachel Ray suggested it for a Christmas gift (all proceeds go to the shelter) on her Christmas special. These two are the sweetest dogs you will ever meet.

And, of course, what would one of my posts be without food? You wonder why I'm so fat??? Look at all this wonderful Ukrainian food! Now you know why!

Grandpa's kitchen, in all its glory.

Ann's famous Salad, the only part that's healthy!

Holubtsi (stuffed cabbage)

Kyshka (links stuffed with pork and kasha or rice)


Kovbasa (smoked and fresh sausage)

Pyrohy (dumplings stuffed with potatoes and cheese)

Shinka (pork roast stuffed with fresh garlic cloves)

Rugelach and Bow Ties (or Angel Wings)

Goodbye to NY, once again.

It's always a treat seeing everyone; and I forget how much I miss being with them. Although it's hard saying goodbye to them, it's always good to get home. Home, sweet home. Awwwwww.

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's Official

I suppose it's now official; I'm a blogger. I've passed my Blog address on to a few select (and I do mean select!) friends and family. I wouldn't want ALL of them knowing this much about my life! (Lord forbid!)

First of all, let me thank my friend and sister-in-law Ann for my new found addiction (good addiction, I think). Ann has a wonderful food blog she began writing a couple of years ago. When she started, I don't think I even knew what a blog was. I came home from New York and tried my hand since our trip (Super Bowl Sunday) was such a pleasure. Well, the bug didn't bite and I forgot all about blogs and blogging.

While we were in NY this last time, late at night, the teenager goes ravaging through the fridge of the grandparents for something to eat--you know, always hungry. Everyone was gathered around the TV and I was sitting at the table crocheting. My bad, because he comes up with a raw onion and proceeds to eat it. Yowza. I knew he liked onions, but not this much. Ew. I think most will agree, the smell of raw onions isn't high on the list of pleasant aromas. After a few bellowing blows my way, we began our usual "stop it.....waaaaaaaa....smack smack." Yes, my friends, my teenage son has picked up where my brothers left off. If there is a way to irritate me, he's going to do it. Of course, we broke up the calm of the house and Ann tells me that she has just put a post up about some onion rolls she had made. This post tells about how her father (grandpa) and brother (Uncle Tom) love to eat raw onions. Gee, I guess there's an onion gene out there.

Of course, when I got home, I had to look up Ann's blog and catch up on this onion tradition. YUM.

And so, this is how my blogging journey began.

Thanks Ann! We love you!!!

Since I don't know how to post links, this will have to suffice: www.grannyanny.blogspot.com
Enjoy!

ANOTHER YEAR--UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS/NYC

Well, I kinda gave up on blogging when NO ONE read my blog. Isn't that the point? But, low and behold, a sole, kind stranger ran against mine and actually read it and left me a note. And it looks like he left a note in every one elses blog too. Too funn; but it did get me interested again. This is how it works, eh? Thanks anyway Juicy Fruit for pulling me back in. I think this 2006 will be a wonderful year! Yea!

The family and I just returned from our annual trip up North. Yes, the same one where we traveled LAST year (unbelievable) on Super Bowl Sunday.

The kids were off school the week after New Year's for the first time in many, so we were actually able to be in New York for Ukrainian Christmas (Jan. 7). Since my oldest son, 16, usually gets to take a friend with us, the hub and I decided the 12 year old may enjoy some company this time. He decided on his next-door neighbor friend who is 11. He's an aspiring actor; so we thought this would be a great adventure for him. We added a short stay in the city--gotta love NYC after Christmas, if you can't make it before.....take advantage of all the sales!!

We left on Tuesday, and since the tickets were free because the hub travels the world so much, we had to connect through Cincinnati. No biggy. We ate a leisurely lunch and headed to our gate about an hour before departure. DELAYED two hours!! Major yuk. I happened to glance over across the hall to see the earlier flight to Newark, destined to leave when we first arrived, was still there and boarding. Leaping across the hall, I ran up to the desk and asked if there were five seats available. Our lucky day. How's that for a New Year's beginning! Although, we all were scrambled across the jet in different seats, we arrived in Newark just at sunset. The hub and teenager decided to stay back to grab the luggage that was coming in a couple of hours, so the kids and I jumped in a taxi and headed East to the Big Apple. What a joy it is to watch a newby in New York arriving for the first time. The city looks kinda small from across the Hudson, but once you ascend from a tunnel (or descend from a bridge) and enter the little world within itself, you can see the real size and power of all the buildings and people. Of course, the Empire State Building being the most beautiful, it is one of the first ones you see. And, it still had the red and green lights at the top lit for Christmas. I knew it was going to be a wonderful trip for all.

We were staying at the Essex House at Central Park South. It has good location and is an absolutely gorgeous old deco hotel. We had stayed there before, but this time we upgraded to a St. Regis suite which gave us more room for three kids. When you enter the hotel, you feel transformed. It's just that lovely. There are bellhops at every turn to help with any need. No real need to hit the concierge. Our room was on the 38th floor. 

We faced the city with a view of Central Park the right. In front of us was the CNN building and the new Time/Warner towers were straight in front of us. Needless to say, the view was great and the kids felt they had been lifted up to the clouds.

The hub called a short time later to say that our "original" flight had been cancelled and they were headed in to the city. Our luggage would be delivered to the hotel when it arrived. Joy. Who needs to freshen up after traveling all day? Oh well. I've learned over the years to let these things go. They are out of your control; and hey, we made it. No worries.

My teenage son's girlfriend and her family were in the city, amazingly enough; so we had made plans to have dinner with them. We had frequented the kid-famous "Jekyll and Hyde Club" several times and thought everyone would get a kick out of it. It's one of those NYC "theme" restaurants. It's in an old building, dressed up in all the hauntings you can take. A lot of fun for the kids and grownups alike. It took forever to get a table, guess since there were 8 of us. Had to wait on little Inez's birthday party to end........c'mon kid, hurry it up! After waiting for an hour, I guess, we finally were seated. Let me just add, you really don't go to J&H Club for the food. So, we all chose our basic burgers and salads. The kids are able to "purchase" one of those really tall (like two feet!) glasses that they can take home with them. So, of course, they did. After sitting and talking for a bit, my 12 year old lets out a shriek and pushes his glass away. "There's a ROACH in my glass." Well, were WERE in a haunted house type deal, sooooo I thought maybe it wasn't real. Unfortunately, it was. Major YUK. "How to put a damper on Dinner in one word--ROACH!" Geesh. The waiter was very non-chalant about it. "You are in NY," he said. Lovely. That's the way to play up your city! haha. The company was nice, and we went on to have a nice time, but I doubt I will ever frequent that place again. Ew.

We walked back to the hotel and said our goodnites to the girlfriend. Since we didn't have any p.j.s to sleep in, I had to run around the corner to get a couple of men's Tshirts at Duane Reeds, the local pharmacy in New York. How fun is it to walk around the city late at night and see everyone up and about? Lots! I love it. And how much MORE fun is it to stop off at the local whiskey joint (Whiskey Park) to have a couple of nightcaps before heading off to bed? Most excellent!! Awww, to be in the city again. Sigh. (P.S. I found a bottle of musk oil straight from the 70s! I hadn't seen this type of musk since early 1980. My mom is a die-hard musk wearer, so I was tickled pink when I came upon that at Duane's. Only in NY!)

It was also a joy to enter the Essex House and be greeted by the doorman, the bellman, the elevator man......and so on. Felt like Greta Garbo in her heyday. (Hey, we can all fantasize, right?!!)

The room windows open in the Essex House (most NYC windows don't), so it was nice to fall asleep to the cool air and sounds of the hustle and bustle of a city alive. We all had no problems falling asleep. Gotta love life.

FLY ON SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

I've decided that since returning from a trip to upstate New York this past week, Super Bowl Sunday is absolutely the best day to fly in the United States.

Since my inlaws decided to enjoy their "golden years" in the Catskills over six years ago, it has become a dreaded ordeal in the travel department--my travel department, that is--to travel North.

We formerly resided in Northern Virginia, just outside D.C. Not too bad of a drive when they lived just outside of NYC, about four hours. Even that was doable with young children. The move upstate added a 2-3 hour drive to our several-time-a-year, plus some, road trips. To make our visits even more difficult, we decided to move to Nashville three years ago. This makes the drive impossible, of course, for a short stay. Needless to say, we see our New York family less and less as traveling becomes more and more an aggressive hobby, shall we say.

Anyway, my family--consisting of my husband and two sons, 15 and 11--began our mini trip on Friday at 10 a.m.--a VERY late Ukrainian Christmas celebration. We "mosied" to our cute little airport here in Nashville with all our Christmas presents in tow (all carryon, of course, in order to annoy our teenage son), checked in with time to sit and have a leisurely meal at the airport's grill. Since we pre-printed our boarding passes online before leaving the house (due to my eleven-year old's insistence of holding an "A" boarding pass to make sure we all can sit together (I can't even imagine where he gets that from--grin), we enjoyed this remarkable non-pressured snack.

The flight up, including a major layover in Baltimore, was uneventful. Full as usual, I did manage to seat the family members together as best I could in the 3/3 seats. I'm the one waiting in front of the cattle run in line "A" in order to accomplish this feat. Would sure love to get my hands on one of those bright colored pre-boarding passes you wear around your neck!

We enjoyed seeing everyone. Four-out-of-five siblings were there to celebrate the "Southern" Ukrainian Christmas they have come to know since it gets later and later each year as we keep moving South. All the little cousins ran amuck, enjoying the snow ball fights with the big kids (brothers Bob (hub), Tom and Steve and sister Ann). Of course, my kids just enjoy the snow, period!

Now, finally, to the point of traveling on Super Bowl Sunday! Phew, Guess you were wondering if I would ever get to this. Sorry, this is my first go at this blogging thing, and I have been editing this for several months, due to the usual winter illnesses and then spring and now summer. So...... We arrive in Albany. Very nice airport, completely empty. We sat and watched the first half of the superbowl (one word or two?) and then board out plane. (BTW, I was totally pissed when I JUST missed Sir Paul! Oh well.) There were all of 15 people on the entire flight back to Nashville! My teenage son had a row, my 11 year old had a row and my husband and I decided to get a little ANKs time (adults, no kids). We both fell asleep, as did the kids, I think; and the next thing we knew, we are landing in Nashville. This was a flashback to when flying was a joy. No hassles, no meltdowns, just getting from point A to point B as it all was planned.

So, there, my first blog, that took over four months to post. Was it even worth writing? Perhaps next time, I'll continue with my train of thought.....haha. Think I lost it somewhere a couple of months ago! So solly.