ECM1231

***BE FOREWARNED. GROSS PHOTO BELOW. Well, we came home from our mt home a little while ago to find that the aforementioned black crowned night heron is no more. He/she was dead in our driveway. 😞 Although I'm not a bird lover, it still was sad to see. I don't know if the babies have flown the coop, but there still was a disgusting mess of bird poop. I erased the dead bird from the photo.

🤮

We're currently at our mountain vacation home, trying to beat the heat, but it's actually cooler at home (according to a weather app) than it is here. After dinner we went to a nearby campground that has a general store and they allow non- guests to make purchases. There's a little window from which they sell ice cream, so we went to get some and sit by their manmade lake. My husband's extended family would gather there in the Fall for a reunion weekend. Anyway, there's a little enclosure where 3 male peacocks reside. They sure make a racket! Well, the birds are allowed to roam freely and I started to get agitated noticing how close one was getting to me. My mobility is not great, so running away was not an option. Fortunately, he didn't approach so I didn't have to use my cane to shoo him away.

I thought she said she was designing playgrounds? I loved house #1 the best as the views were stunning. The windiness was crazy! I'd have to keep my long hair tied up.

I've never heard of cowbirds. I've been afraid of most birds since I was a small child and watched Hitchcock's The Birds. I have no idea why my mom let me watch it, but I've been more or less petrified of birds ever since. I've been known to cross the street to avoid coming into contact with pigeons. So no, I'll never be one to put up a bird feeder in my yard. About 2 weeks ago or so my son and his family were visiting. My DIL noticed a rather large nest high up in the trees and she identified the birds as black crowned night herons. She said they are fairly rare in this part, but I couldn't find any info on that. The tree limb where the nest hangs is right over our driveway. They are pooping all over the driveway and I've not seen anything like it in all my life. I mean it's huge splotches everywhere. So, so gross. My husband washed our cars twice and finally we gave up and parked the cars on the street. My car is newer, bought in 2022 and I hate to put the car out on the street, but the bird poop was just horrific. I have no idea when these birds are going to fly the coop, but I hope it's soon.

That's my favorite Wendy's salad, too, @annzeepark914.

What's Cookout? Is it a fast-food chain? I never get the meal deal b/c we don't drink soda and I'll usually buy a medium sized fry to share b/c I'm not all that crazy about fries. The other day I went to the BK drive in and got their special Whopper Jr deal. 2 Junior Whoppers for 5 bucks. I was starving and ate both, and so did my husband. The fries were awful as I had forgotten that BK fries generally are awful. I much prefer McDonald's fries. As far as chains go, I do like Wendy's. Their salads are very tasty.

An article about Hannah from my local newspaper today: "She made it to the final six on Food Network's Italian-cooking competition “Ciao House” before her elimination Sunday. But Montauk private chef Hanna Haar says it ain’t over till it’s over. “I have more shows in the works coming out, so keep your eyes peeled on Food Network,” Haar, 29, who has run kitchens at Lake Grove’s Le Vin and at The Montauk Beach House, says by phone two days later. “And I would say stay tuned to 'Ciao House' because it definitely gets more interesting. There might be some exciting things happening next weekend. So I'll say that much,” she teases. The show, in which 12 chefs prepare dishes in competition while living together in a villa in Italy’s Puglia region, awards its winner a culinary education from Italian masters billed as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Sunday's episode was down to Haar; Ivan Barros, of Los Angeles; Austin Cobb, of Playa Grande, Costa Rica; Devan Cunningham, of Phoenix; Phuoc Vo, of Tampa, Florida; and Stikxz Williams, of Queens. (Haar's elimination episode will be rebroadcast Wednesday at 2 p.m.). Broken into two teams of three in the episode, each team in turn prepared a three-course dinner for chefs Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabe Bertaccini and the three other contestants. Haar worked with Vo and “capo” (team leader) Barros, who, noting her experience as a pastry chef, assigned her dessert. He liked her suggestion of a grape and bergamot gelato with a garnish of roasted grapes. But the judges felt the grapes weren’t roasted enough and that the cream and fruit blend in the gelato had not fully mixed. With fault also found with the other two courses, Barros’ team lost the challenge and had to choose someone to leave. Complaining that Haar worked her dessert independently and did not feel like part of the team, Barros and Vo voted to eliminate her. “I really thought I was doing my team a favor by handling one entire course on my own and giving them one less thing to worry about,” says Haar, who was born in Bethpage and raised in Islandia. “If they needed help with the other dishes, they could have asked me and I would've done my best to help them. … I kept saying. ‘I have hands,’ which is kitchen talk for having free hands. … But three chefs working on one dish sometimes is too many cooks in the kitchen, as we like to say.” Haar for each episode has held a viewing party at Montauk’s Inlet Seafood, owned by local fishermen. Continuing to work for private clients, she says she is writing a “Kitchen Confidential” type of book and has “a few international culinary residencies this winter” on her plate. As well, “I’m going to be producing my own culinary series on my social channels.” Competing on “Ciao House” was “just a phenomenal experience,” Haar says. “It taught me to cook intuitively, to use all my senses. It taught me cooking competitively. It's taught me to look back to move forward. It taught me about myself as a person and as a chef.” She adds, “All the chefs were really talented, so to be able to make it that far undefeated, including being capo twice and winning those rounds, I feel good. It was a good run.” Montauk chef eliminated on Food Network's 'Ciao House' - Newsday

Yep.

Is it weird that there's a Trader Joe's at the far end of town and I never, ever go? Like maybe twice a year. Their parking lot is always full. The staff is lovely and very attentive, but I just find them very limited as far as being a grocery store and I don't feel like popping in and spending money on specialty items that I just don't need. Their eggs and dairy are pretty cheap, but I don't feel like making a special trip just for that. They have or used to have a brand of vegetarian sausage links that I'd buy for my son that were very good and very inexpensive, but he's married now and on his own. Their meat isn't cheap, nor is their produce. They do have nice greeting cards and fresh flowers.

Beautiful post, @Notabug. And I'm sorry about the loss of your nephew at such a young age.

I don't feel bad for him as I thought he was obnoxious and I don't believe all his talk about the "bro love" he has for some of his fellow male contestant chefs, either. Look at how fast he turned on Phuoc! His team's pizzas were awful. Apparently, his dough balls were too large and besides the crusts being so badly charred, the pies themselves were uneven in thickness. I was shocked that he thought they were okay to serve to not only the guests, but the judges themselves. I thought the judges were too kind in their critique of his team's cooking.

Too funny. My grandsons are 3 and 10 months old and look nothing alike. Both were C- sections and my son was present at each birth. My son and DIL are brunettes, as are all their family members, and their eldest son is blonde as can be. There's no mistaking that he's his Mama's, as he looks just like her. Grandson #2 is brunette but to me he doesn't resemble either parent, although he does have his dad's cleft in his chin. Both boys have their dad's gorgeous eyelashes. Grandson #1 appears to have a double set! I'm pooped. My son's family came in for a family wedding a week ago Saturday. My DIL left on Wednesday with the baby to attend a family function back in Texas and returned Sunday. My son works remotely. My husband and I were in charge of babysitting the 3 year-old while my son was working. When they come from upstate to visit, they also bring the dog and the cat. They finally left at 7:30 pm last night. I welcomed the silence. 😂

Seriously,my mind was blown by that episode. How could those "shacks" have cost so much? Sometimes I wonder if these foreigners are getting bamboozled.

I'm wondering if this is a Midwest custom. I'm in my 60s and don't ever remember this being done in the metro NY area. I'm Roman Catholic, and we would attend a wake for the deceased in a funeral home. People would bring sympathy cards or Mass cards. Mass cards are cards where you make a donation, and a Mass is said for the deceased. Or if you were very close to the deceased, you'd send a floral arrangement. After 3 days and nights of being waked, there would be a funeral Mass in church the next morning, followed by the burial. Anyone close enough who came to the burial, would be invited back to a restaurant for a luncheon. Sometimes, the repast was in a home, as was my mom's repast. My lovely in-laws graciously put together cold cut platters in my dad's home, while we were at the funeral. Only as an adult have I heard about bringing food to the grieving family. I've done this with friends and of course in Jewish households they sit shiva and those who come to pay respects are the ones who bring the food. When the USA was attacked on 9/11/2001, the phones were down for a long time. My in-laws were in their vacation home in PA and calls could not get through. The bridges were closed, too, and they couldn't get home. I sat in my home, and nobody called. My husband's 1st born, age 22, perished in his 100th floor office of the North Tower. My husband's baby brother didn't call us for 2 weeks. 2 weeks! EFF that shit about not knowing what to say. It's not that hard. At the time I was working as a substitute teacher in the local middle school and had made friends with many of the staff. I was shocked to receive a phone call from one of the staff who was the 'hall patrol lady", for want of a better word. She wanted to know if she could stop by with food. When she got here, she apologized profusely that it was not hot food, but rather cold cuts from the deli. Cold cut platters. Enough to feed an army. I cried. And then I cried again when my husband's first cousin, whom he was not particularly close to, dropped by with homemade baked ziti. That was it. No phone calls asking if we needed anything. We had a memorial service 6 weeks later in one of the boroughs b/c my stepson lived with his mom and stepdad and half-siblings in Brooklyn. I will say that the church was packed. It was a rainy day, and the overflow was in the balcony, and in the vestibule. My husband's work buddies came out in droves, along with most of his relatives, and some of my cousins, my 2 aunts, and some mutual friends we had. Even my husband's union president attended. We didn't have a wake, as no body was recovered. But it did hurt. Even my baby sister, who is the only sibling I have, didn't really do much. Yes, she attended and sent a Mass card, but I just didn't feel like that was enough. I didn't feel much support. The year prior to that fateful day, our youngest was stricken with some weird blood disorder, that came out of nowhere. One day healthy as a horse, and the next day, fighting for his life. It was touch and go for a while and the summer of 2000 was a nightmare. While he did get some hospital visits from aunts and uncles, it was more like once or twice. And he was hospitalized about 6 weeks total. I had a 14 y.o. at home, who was on his own, as I was spending all my time in the hospital. It would have been nice for my BIL and SIL, who live just 10 blocks away, to maybe offer to invite my son for dinner. Or even bring a casserole for my husband and me to heat up. But nope. I got no support. I'm sorry for the depressing turn this post has taken, but some painful memories are coming up. It really is important to reach out and the grieved really do appreciate any kind words or deeds done.

I miss my mother-in-law. My own mom died when I was 30 and my son had just turned 2. My MIL was in my life longer than my mom. She died of Covid in February 2021 at almost 91 years of age. Anyway, we talked on the phone weekly. We'd have marathon conversations... I mean at least 2 hours long! IDK what we talked about so much, but what really was remarkable was that she had 1 daughter and 3 sons, and she never talked to any of them as long as she did talk with me. One time we were at some repast after a funeral service, and we were seated at the table with her first cousins. One of her cousins mentioned something about her own DIL and how they weren't that close. My MIL piped in and told everyone about our marathon phone conversations. Her cousin was shocked and said, "Cathy calls you?" and my MIL responded that yes, we talk all of the time. It's funny b/c sometimes my husband will tell me a family story and I will tell him the ending and he'll ask how I knew. I tell him that those stories were just some of the things his mom and I talked about all those years. Gosh, she was a peach. I have 2 daughters-in-law of my own. They don't call and one hardly ever even answers my text messages. Don't get me started. LOL The other one is a bit more loving, and she does answer texts in a timely manner. But this generation doesn't know from phone conversations.

Sounds like you're recovering very well. What a good mom!

* Shrug... I enjoyed Savoring Paris, but then again, I'm easily pleased. And I always enjoy Bethany Joy Lenz!

Story of my life.

^^^ I was watching the 2nd showing and fell asleep, but hearing their large budget got me thinking. It's never mentioned on the show if the buyers are buying the homes outright, or taking out a mortgage. A 2 million dollar win obviously is a lot, but how much would they really net after taxes? 800K + is an expensive home. If they plunked it all down, there wouldn't be much of their lottery win left. Maybe they do get a mortgage. Idk. I'd probably invest and buy a cheaper home. 4400 SQ ft is a lot of home for 2 people. My comments refer to all the winners,not just this couple.

My favorite niece on my husband's side is getting married today. The wedding venue is a winery on the east end of Long Island. I'm excited because I have never been to any of our wineries, although we have visited the east end several times. It's definitely chillier there than here, but the temperature should reach 76° at the time of the ceremony. It's dropping to the 60s, quickly though, so I need to bring a sweater.

She chose #2.

Yep. He was trying to keep his cool, but you could see he was exasperated. 280K for essentially a shack? No running water? Not even a makeshift kitchen. No refrigerator? I wish we'd seen if Justine had done anything to the inside of the house. It was interesting to learn about the U.S. military bases that had been built three during WW II.

Those figs on top of that delicious looking bread pudding!!!! O M G!!! Drool! Great job, Styx. Hannah annoys me, which pains me to say as a fellow Long Islander, but her team deserved that win, imo. Devan really is an inventive chef! I love how he incorporates his Southern roots into whatever the challenge is. Dev can leave any minute now.

Is that related to gabba gool? Man, I'm really craving some pastry right now. I've been off carbs all week,so all this talk about pastry is making me crave it even more.