Friday 5ive- November 10, 2023

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

1)  Manhattan has its first Wegmans grocery store  (there is a Wegmans in Brooklyn) and it is a stunner! The 6 train lets you out right across the street from the store so it is convienent for me to get there, although carrying groceries back can be a bit tricky. The layout is beautifully done, and they have so much product in the store. The prepared foods section has something for everyone in packaging for one, two, or more people. I picked up a chicken francese, potato au gratin, and broccoli for my dinner and it was delicious. They have a wing bar, a huge charcuterie section with packages of sliced meats of all kinds, and an amazing cheese section stocked with products from their own cheese cave, overseen by their own Cheese Cave Affineur (that is a new term for me). The edible Chocolate Tea Cup in the bakery is adorable. I will be making many more trips to Astor Place to visit Wegmans.

Chocolate Tea Cup

Charcuterie as far as the eye can see

2) The NYC Marathon was this past Sunday and it's always fun to go cheer on the runners. It's a real team building exercise for New Yorkers and something we sorely needed this year, everyone on the same side, encouraging the brave souls running through all five boroughs. I love all the clever signs, like this one below.

3) I went to a live taping of Hillary Clinton's podcast You and Me Both at Symphony Space. Her guest was Broadway legend Patti LuPone and the conversation between this two iconic women was enlightening and intelligent. Amber Ruffin- comedian, author, actress, Broadway creative (she wrote the book for Some Like It Hot and the upcoming revival of The Wiz)-hosted and joined the ladies for a funny and interesting Q&A at the end. (Who knew Amber Ruffin and Hillary Clinton were such good friends?  It makes sense though, they are both accomplished and funny people. They should auction off dinner with these two ladies for charity,) Once again it was great to be among a community of people joined together for an activity. We even got to hear Patti sing Make Someone Happy. They did. (And Patti's red shoes were to die for!)

Hillary Clinton, Patti LuPone, Amber Ruffin

4) I watched all four episodes of Netflix's All The Light We Cannot See, based on Anthony Doerr's novel of the same name. I read the book when it published in 2014, and I think they did a good job with the miniseries. It tells the story of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl in WWII who, along with her uncle and aunt, work for the French resistance using her uncle's radio to send secret coded messages to the Allies to help them defeat the Nazis. Even though I knew how the story ends, I was on the edge of my seat as director Shawn Levy rachets up the tension, especially as Marie is being stalked by a Nazi who wants something he believes she possesses. Aria Maria Loberti does a good job as Marie, as does Louis Hoffman as Werner, a reluctant Nazi soldier who has an unknowing connection to Marie. Hugh Laurie is fantastic as Uncle Etienne as well. 

5) I finally read Toni Morrison's Pulitzer prize-winning novel, Beloved. I can't believe I never read this incredible novel. It was my October Banned Book read gifted to me by my daughter-in-law, and it is a novel that everyone should read. Taking place shortly after the Civil War, former slave Sethe and her daughter Denver live in Ohio and are haunted by spirit of Sethe's dead baby Beloved. No one in town will associate with them for reasons that become apparent. Another former slave Paul shows up to stay with Sethe and Denver, and soon a young woman appears who shakes up things in the household. Sethe is traumatized by her life as a slave, and Morrison shows the reader the horrors and dangers of treating people as less than human. It is brutal and eye-opening, and heartbreaking. This book should not be banned, it should be required reading. 

Stay safe and healthy all, and we wish all of our veterans who sacrificed for our country a Happy Vaterans' Day tomorrow.

My Year By The Numbers

The year 2020 is one that is destined to be remembered by us all for a long time. We will look back on it as the year we hunkered down in our homes, trying to stay away from the Coronavirus. When my friend Dorothy and I closed and locked the door at the Book Cellar on March 12th, we did not think we would still be closed ten months later, not knowing when we will go back.

It's been ten months of trying to keep busy at our apartment in New York City- trying everyday to decide  what to make for dinner, figuring out how to order groceries on Wegmans.com and Instacart for delivery. We rented a summer home in Westchester and got grocery deliveries from Costco and DeCiccos, a beautiful family-owned grocery store.

On this look back at 2020 by the numbers, we received:

14 deliveries from Wegmans

8 deliveries from Costco (New Rochelle)

4 deliveries from DeCiccos (Pelham) 

Thank goodness we had our Peloton bike, it kept me sane and healthy, and a reason to get out of bed every morning to ride. In 2020:

I rode 2627.20 miles

Took 382 cycling classes (Yacht Rock was my favorite!)

101 Strength classes 

My favorite Peloton instructor- Jenn Sherman

I did 6 virtual bike races- (these total miles are included in the above Peloton numbers)

Summer Around the Finger Lakes- 408.2 miles (cycling around the 11 Finger Lakes- my sons joined in)

WNY Rail Trail Foliage Challenge- 269.26 (the distance of the Western Region and Finger Lakes Rail Trails)

Manhattan to Montauk- 180 miles (two friends joined in)

Run for Ruth- 87 miles

Winter Quest- The New York State Snow Belt from Niagara Falls to Albany- 300 miles

Ring of Kerry- ride around the Ring of Kerry in Ireland 124.3 miles 

My WNY Rail Trail medal and jacket

Of course I read- a LOT. My usual goal is to read 100 books, and I usually end up in the 80-85 book range. There were many days during the summer when I could read a book in a single day. This year-

137 books read

47,507 pages read

113 female authors

24 male authors

113 fiction

24 nonfiction

20 historical fiction

9 thriller/mysteries

21 romance

11 series books

3 books by Jenny Colgan

2 books by Chris Bohjalian

20 books that made multiple Best of 2020 lists

My bookshelves

Here is a link to the best ten books I read this year.

Let's hope for a better 2021, in the meantime, stay safe, socially distant, wear a mask and wash your hands until we can beat this virus with the vaccine.

Friday 5ive- March 6, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. It's been a crazy week, with Super Tuesday surprises and Covid-19 taking over the news. My Friday 5ive has none of that.

1)  Last week it was a six-pack of dogs, this week the ducks are back in the fountain of the apartment building next door. This is the earliest we have seen them back, I think the crazy bounces in temperature have them (and us) all confused. Do I wear a winter coat or a spring coat, boots or shoes?

2)  We attended my nephew's wedding in Auburn, NY Saturday, and I got to be the officiant (thank you Universal Life Church, I am available now for weddings). It was a lovely ceremony, the bride was beautiful and the reception was so much fun, with Goodtime Charlie DJ Jane Stebbins playing all the best dance music. We all boogied to Whitney, Journey, "Shout" and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", and I even managed to hold my own during the Cupid Shuffle by following the younger folks. Their cake was so pretty too- congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Short! 

3)  My friend Kelly suggested that I try a new Wegman's product- Sweet Potato Tortilla Style Chips, so when we were in Auburn we stopped at Wegman's, and I picked up a bag. They are my new obsession- so delicious and crispy, and gluten free and vegan too. They remind me of Black Bean Tortilla Chips that I like and can never find. Thanks Kelly!

4)  I got some exciting book mail this week- I won a copy of She Said, the book about the Harvey Weinstein case and written by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, from Adriana Trigiani's Facebook Live. I have been wanting to read this one, especially after reading Ronan Farrow's Catch and Kill. Book lovers should head over to Adriana Trigiani's Facebook page (here) on Tuesdays at 6pm to hear smart conversations about books with such authors as Ann Napolitano (Dear Edward), Kate Walbert (She Was Like That) and funny man Mario Cantone. Adriana also gives away lots of books during the show and it's always an enlightening and entertaining hour. Warning- it will add significantly to your To-Be-Read pile.

She Said and a bonus book win- Tender at the Bone 

5)  I'm in the middle of a new book- Chris Bohjalian's upcoming thriller The Red Lotus. Emergency room doctor Alexis travels to Vietnam with her boyfriend Austin while he does a bike tour. While out on a solo ride to visit the place where his uncle was killed in the Vietnam War and his father wounded, Austin disappears. While trying to discover what happened to him, Alexis discovers that Austin was not telling her the truth about some important things. It's such a tense, fast-paced book, I should not have started reading this at 9pm at night because I could stop reading when my eyes couldn't stay open past 12midnight. I have to get back to the story to find out what Austin was up to. The book publishes March 17th. (Warning- I do NOT like rats at all, and they play a part in this story, but I am overcoming that to finish this propulsive book.)

The Red Lotus

Have a good week, whether the temperature is 17 degrees (like it was Saturday in Auburn) or 60 degrees (like it was Wednesday in NYC).

Weekend Cooking- Roast Beef from Costco

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Every month or so, I make a trip uptown to go to Costco. I always pick up at least one of their rotisserie chicken because at $4.99 a chicken, you can't beat the price, and I can get two to three meals out of one chicken. (Crispy Chicken Wraps are my favorite.)

Last month I found another great item at Costco. In their refrigerated meat department, they have a package of fully cooked sliced beef from Cuisine Solutions. Inside are two pouches of cooked beef, in a delicious au jus. I open one pouch, pop it in the oven and 20 minutes later, I have an entree ready to go.

The beef is partially sliced and the only ingredients are beef chuck tender, kosher salt and black pepper. No caramel coloring, no preservatives, nothing else. It's so easy and the beef is tender and tasty. This time around I paired it with a homemade potato salad, fruit salad and spinach salad, and it made a simple and easy weeknight meal.

I hope Costco keeps this product in rotation. I've often discovered that when I find something I like at Costco, it disappears a few months later. If you shop at Costco, keep your eyes open for this one.

Speaking of grocery stores, the big news this week in NYC is that Wegmans is coming to Brooklyn. Everyone here went crazy with joy, there was singing and dancing in the streets, and although it will be two years before it opens, that gives me time to look for a house in Brooklyn.

Weekend Cooking- My Week in Food

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

This week's Weekend Cooking post is a review of My Week in Food.

My husband had business in Albany so we got to see our younger son who is in graduate school there. Our son took us to DiBella's Submarine Shop for lunch. Anyone who enjoys Wegman's subs knows about DiBella's. Wegmans bought DiBella's recipes and techniques when they decided to open up their own sub shops in their stores, and it was a good decision. I had the Old Fashioned and my son recommended the everything roll (like an everything bagel). That roll was the best bread I've ever had in a sandwich shop. It was definitely a hit in my book. There are 31 locations and if you run across one in your travels, I highly recommend them. Their website is here.

We had dinner with friends at Creo' Restaurant in Albany. It is a wonderfully warm restaurant, lots of wood and deep, rich colors. They have a large bar area and a huge dining room that overlooks the kitchen that runs along the back wall. We're not used to seeing such a big restaurant after eating in NYC. I had a tasty ravioli dish, with mushrooms, kale, cippolini, kale, and parmesan in a cream and truffle oil sauce. The food was good, and the company even better.

I made a Trader Joe's run last week and found a new snack that is very dangerous- Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels. They hit all of my flavor points and if you are not careful, you will look down and find that you ate almost half of the bag in one sitting. (Not that I know anything about that.) 

I attended a taping of Katie Couric's show this week with a friend, and we treated ourselves to lunch at The Porter House in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. They have a lovely $25 pre-fixe lunch, and I had a huge Caesar salad, petite filet mignon with whipped potatoes and raspberry and passionfruit sorbet, all for $25. It was a great deal, and the service was impeccable. They also have a lovely view overlooking Central Park.

We had a few good meals at home this week too. From Katie Lee Joel's The Comfort Table, I made a quick and tasty dish- Crispy Oven-Roasted Chicken With Roasted Garlic, Pancetta and Rosemary. It takes longer to type the name than make this juicy dish. The recipe is on her website here. 

Katie Lee's Crispy Oven Roasted Chicken

 Finally, on Thursday I paired an old favorite recipe- Wegman's Beer & Cheddar Cheese Soup with Bobby Flay's Chicken Milanese with Arugula Salad. My husband doesn't like arugula though, so I substituted red leaf lettuce instead. I halved the soup recipe, which sometimes doesn't translate too well, but this time it worked. Bobby made this recipe on the Today Show, so I included the video here.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Beer & Cheddar Cheese Soup recipe is here.

What was your Week in Food like? Let me know in the comments section.

Weekend Cooking- A Visit Back Home

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

My husband got a job in New York City seven years ago and so we packed up and moved from the only place I had ever lived. My family still lives in Auburn, and we go back home to visit family and friends at least twice a year.

One of my husband's favorite activities back home is planning where we will eat. He always looks forward to making a list of restaurants and getting his favorite meals.

Our home was close to Nino's Pizzeria and on the way back from baseball games, we always stopped in to get a half cheese, half pepperoni pizza and mild charbroiled wings. (Their cold turkey subs were my favorite.) We got a pizza on our first night there and even though we live in NYC, the home of amazing pizza, we still love our Nino's.

Lasca's Restaurant is probably Auburn's best-known restaurant, and people frequently come from Syracuse (30 miles east) to eat there. We love to get take-out from there; I get the Lasca's Chicken, which is two chicken breasts stuffed with ham, broccoli and Swiss cheese and covered with a cream sauce and a little spinach on the side. I get it with rice, but this time they told me they don't make rice anymore. What??? I found that strange. But still, it was mighty good, and there always leftovers for another meal.

My husband gets the Veal and Jumbo Shrimp, served in a champagne cream sauce with a baked potato, one of his all-time favorite meals. Everyone else loves the Chicken Parmigiana, and their salad with house Italian dressing is a winner. It's funny, the restaurants in Auburn all have delicious homemade house dressings.

Chicken Parm from Lasca's

Parkers Grille & Tap House is located downtown, and we would stop in for lunch on our errands when we lived in Auburn. My husband is crazy for their Combo Platter of mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, and potato skins, and I get the Beef-on-a-Weck, roast beef on a Kimmelwick bun. It's a fun place to go, and whenever we stop in, we always see someone we know.

We stayed at the new Hilton Garden Inn and met friends at the BeauVine Chop House & Wine Bar for drinks and snacks. I love that they specialize in Finger Lakes wines, there are so many wonderful wineries in the region. I highly recommend a winery tour if you ever find your way to the Finger Lakes.

I found a new Pino Grigio, Il Giardino, that I really enjoyed and will be looking for at my local wine shop. My friend suggested we share the Truffle Parmesan Fries served with Garlic Aioli and Homemade Ketchup and we shared a burger. Both were very tasty and they gave you so many fries, it was plenty to share. My son enjoyed the filet mignon he had, pronouncing it one of the best steaks he has had. We had breakfast there as well, eggs, homefries, bacon and toast and it was tasty and quickly prepared. The Hilton Garden Inn is a wonderful new addition to Auburn, and the atmosphere at the Wine Bar is relaxed and enjoyable. It the perfect place to meet up with friends and have a conversation.

And of course, I made several trips to my beloved Wegman's. How I wish we had one here in the city! We missed some of our other favorites on this trip- Michael's Restaurant, Rosalie's in Skaneatles- but we'll be back in August.

What are some of your favorite hometown restaurants and foods? Share them in the comments section below.