Banana Soup

Home Improvement Project

2009-01-24T21:35:00.007-05:00

Our bookcases looked like a crazy person had put them away. They were shoved and stacked in all different directions. We have an old saying at work, "when in doubt...color it out" I decided to apply that theory to our bookcases at home. I guess I could have alphabetized by title or author but I don't think it would look as cool. Jordan asked "how am I going to find a book? I will have to look through the whole case" I responded by asking how he found them before. I think he like the new way. Now when he buys a book he looks at the spine and says"I know where this goes!"

We can't buy anymore books with white spines.

Aruba

2009-01-19T21:04:00.040-05:00

Jordan and I were fortunate to be able to escape one of the coldest weeks in New York. We joined his folks who had already been down there for a few days. They are huge fans of Aruba and have been going for many years. They know all the fabulous restaurants. This was our second trip to this island. Just like the last time, we rented a car and drove around sometimes going off the beaten path.

The water is so beautiful......

and clear.

Our first dinner in Aruba was at Smokey Joe's Ribs. Jordan orders a drink called the "happy tourist" and I had a "pink iguana"

This is our view from the room at the Marriott Ocean Club.

George and Jordan on the way to dinner.

So many iguanas and geckos.

Evening view of pool and palapas.

Diving pelican at a spot we like to call 'pelican beach" Not sure of the real name of the beach.

Kickin' back and relaxin'

Under the shade of the palapa

One day we went on a glass bottom boat tour. I got a little seasick.

Dutch style pancakes at Linda's Pancake House

We had the bacon and apple pancake. The perfect blend of sweet and salty.

Lots of exotic beverages served on the island. This concoction was the color of antifreeze.

My dinner at the Screaming Eagle.

My dessert. Yum

Jordan's dinner.

Jordan's dessert.

Our feathered friend.

Animal Crossing.

Funny little booth. Dushi yiu.

The beaches on this side of the island are rocky.

Coral.

I like the way this sign looks.

The historic church.

Alter in the old church.

George and Sibby at the historic church.

Can you find the iguana?

The California Lighthouse.

An antique shop. Too bad it was closed.

Somehow we ended back at Smokey Joe's for our last dinner.

Rib Mania

The special blue margarita.

So sad it is our last day.

We love Aruba!

Goober Needs a Library Card

2009-01-19T20:09:00.003-05:00

This picture has two of Jordan's favorite things. Goober and Spock.

Our honeymoon in Quebec City

2008-10-12T10:27:00.039-04:00

This is the terrific place we stayed.

The views from our suite.

This wax dude was always hanging out in the lobby. It is supposed to be Champlain.

A Quebec Goober le chat.

Quebec City is very clean.

The leaves were changing color getting better as the week went on. We took many walks in this park.

It was very breezy at times.

We loved this park. The Plains of Abraham. A very significant battle in Canadian history took place here.

At the revolving restaurant in our hotel.

Fancy salad. The food was awesome.

Hanging out at a bar in lower town. I had a European hotdog. Very yummy! Jordan had the cheese plate. (surprise ha ha) Note: beer is stronger in Canada.

This ship model was inside a very old church in the lower town. The model represents the ship that transported French soldiers to New France. On the spot were this church was built was Samuel de Champlain first residence. Quebec City celebrated its 400th year this year.

On top of the old city walls. We had just seen a rainbow.

The Montmorency falls are taller than the Niagara Falls just not as wide.

Words spelled with logs. It says Omar and Carlos.

Nature finds a way.

Roland the tour guide called this the bread place. For a small fee you get bread spread with maple butter. Bus loads shuffle through to get their slice of bread and move on to the next sight.

There were panels and panels of buttons of bus drivers.

Photos of buses. There was another section of the building that was more hockey oriented but the bus theme really carried through the place.

Basilique Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre

We saw the Copper Museum where these doors were made.

More than a million people come to this basilica every year. Many claim to have felt Saint Anne's healing powers and no longer have the need for crutches etc.

Awesome painting.

The heat in this room was intense. It was nearly 100 degrees inside.

Entertaining street musicians.

Cool building near the university.

Concealed text on fence.

Fun sign.

Mummy pole.

Very hilly.

Modern vs. Old

Slide screen.

Pom poms at a crafty corner.

Interesting public art.

My folks happened to be in town. They stayed at the famous Le Chateau Frontenac. They are standing with the hotel dog. If you are a guest you can take this guy out for walks. On this day we took an entertaining tour of the hotel.

A rainbow.

Jordan's guitar hero, Steve Howe from the group Yes.

We saw a fantastic show of this guy's music, Vieux A Toura Farka.

Ann's lunch at the art museum.

Jordan's lunch at the art museum.

Installation in the old prison portion of the art museum.

We loved Quebec!

Fun at Flushing Meadows Park

2008-10-05T11:00:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago Jordan and I had an adventure at Flushing Meadows Park. Not knowing what we were going to do that day, we got in the car and found ourselves at the Queens Museum. They were in between exhibits but we took the opportunity to look at the panorama. The panorama is a to scale duplication of Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. It was built for the Worlds Fair in 1964 and remains part of the permanent collection at the art museum. If you are ever in Queens check it out.

After our short trip to the art museum it was our intention to find the carousel and take a ride. We have ridden on the carousel in the past and it is a fun ride. However we got sidetracked as we noticed there was something happening in the park. It was the Korean Harvest Festival.

There were lots of vendors for packaged goods, banking services, trips to casinos, and kimchee. There were also some really awesome food vendors. We had terrific dumplings, some kind of traditional bread (I said it was like a Korean soft pretzel), the best corn on the cob I had all year, and some korean bbq. We didn't leave the park hungry.

It was funny because we saw lots of small dogs in the park and many were in outfits. We saw a couple of dogs being walked in a stroller.

If you can catch Korean Harvest Day next year, I highly recommend it!

Got Married!

2008-10-05T10:43:00.004-04:00

Haven't done much posting since May. I had a lot to prepare for. The big wedding event! I did many of the details myself with the help from some crafty folks--Denise, Kim and Rob. Perhaps I will post the crafty details in the future....

It was a beautiful day. September 13, 2008. I had both of my parents walk me down the "aisle"

I thought I would be super-nervous on the day but I wasn't. Of course I was very nervous on the days leading up but that is just my nature. The day went so quickly! Everyone said it would and they were right. Hoping to have more pictures soon.

So Punny I had to laugh

2008-05-18T20:19:00.003-04:00

Saw these a while back. I was walking home from work and had to stop and chuckle. I can't decide which is my favorite....I may be leaning towards "wristy business"

Memphis, Tennessee

2008-03-31T20:46:00.014-04:00

We just got back from a short trip to Memphis. We were there for the Memphis International Film Festival where Jordan's film Body/Antibody was shown. We met lots of great folks there and ate tons of health food (BBQ). The hotel where we stayed was a short walk to the theatre. When the French Quarter Hotel was built, I am sure it was a great place to stay but the years have taken their toll. Our room even had a huge jacuzzi tub but I was not tempted to use it. I won't talk about what I found under the mattress. Everyday we had to get our key card reactivated because it didn't work and staff didn't really seem that familiar with the area restaurants and could only recommended the Applebees, McDonalds or the IHOP. Luckily we stumbled upon some really awesome restaurants just by walking around. The staff was really nice though as was everyone we met in Memphis. We had one cab driver who could have been the mayor of the town. On our trip to lunch he had at least three conversations with folks in other cars- one guy he rode bikes with in grade school and hadn't seen in years.

Lobby of the French Quarter Hotel.

I liked this wallpaper in our room

This is the oldest store in Memphis.

The window displays.

This bar (Ernestine and Hazels) used to be a flop house where ladies practicing the oldest profession would peddle their wares.

A poster in the BBQ restaurant the Rendezvous

Memphis has no shortage of cool old signs

This sign is not so cool. It was posted outside a bar. I saw a similar sign in a shopping mall also.

We did make it to Graceland. Here are some highlights.

Living room with 9 foot sofa

Lamp in the jungle room

The pool room. Good luck finding the sofa

The TV room--watching 3 televisions at once--was Elvis "The Man Who Fell to Earth"

Takin' care of business in a flash

The Pink Cadillac

24K gold sink basin in the big "E"s private plane. Also, he had 24K gold plated seat belts onboard

Some of the Jumpsuits

What a tiger!

My favorite in the collection

Belt buckle detail

Cool Ad for show

Fun movie poster

A button collection

Berch in Ditmars Area

2008-03-31T18:38:00.010-04:00

Here are some of the works of Berch that can be found in the Ditmars Area in Astoria. Often he paints seasonal greetings on windows. The following image is just one example. Many shops have this same motif on their windows.

This pastural scene looks as though it could be an early work.

A shop gate makes an excellent surface to convey a bridge scene at sunset.

One of the best Greek restaurants in Astoria, Taverna Cyclades, has scenes of Greece depicted on the outside building.

A close up at the Taverna

This tropical scene has been tagged

This scene seems to depict the American dream

Berch's eagle has landed

A textured wall poses no threat to Berch's talent. This one is like a pointillist cityscape

This seems like some of Berch's more mature work. Skillful use of the medium. The wall finish must have been a dream surface to work on.

Every where I look I notice more Berch in the neighborhood. Just the other day I was on Broadway in Astoria and noticed some works. I know there is more to find in the Ditmars area and beyond the search continues.........

Easter Sunday Stroll

2008-03-24T10:20:00.008-04:00

Who is the Captain of this ship? Why is there a Captain Morgan statue outside a local hookah bar? Why not. That is why we live in an awesome neighborhood. Jordan and I took a stroll through the neighborhood on a crisp but sunny Easter Sunday. We crossed over the Grand Central Parkway to the Ditmars neighborhood where Jordan spent many years as a bachelor and where we first got to know each other. We passed McCanns pub and the Greek restaurant where we met for our first date. Memory lane.... Some things changed but alot stayed the same. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, there are a lot of great representations of the work of Berch (more Berch File and Old Signs posts to come soon). There are a lot more Japanese restaurants (we had dinner at one and it was delicious). There are some more cute restaurants and cafes. The Top Tomato fruit stand is still awesome and still open 24 hours. We wondered which neighborhood had more cool stuff going on? I don't know. Luckily 30th Ave. and Ditmars are very close to each other.

Inspirational colors/patterns

2008-03-17T18:30:00.004-04:00

I am liking these colors right now. Okay, who am I kidding? I usually gravitate towards these types of colors.

This is from a garment that is currently for sale where I work

These are some papers I picked up today.

Magic nature

2008-03-17T18:06:00.005-04:00

Saturday morning Jordan went out for milk and brought me back these beautiful tulips. The flowers were nice and tightly closed. I snipped the ends and put the tulips into a vase. Before our eyes the flowers opened up. I thought they would only last for a day. We went out and when we came home that night they had closed up again. Here it is Monday and they look just like they did when we came home on Saturday night. So pretty and magical.
This photo was taken on Saturday morning

This photo was taken Monday evening

Friday at the MOMA

2008-03-17T17:44:00.005-04:00

Friday I found out that I was able to leave work early. So what did I do? Went to MOMA and boy was it crowded. Tried to take in the new show "Design and the Elastic Mind" I couldn't spend to much time there. So many people that it was hard to move around and see the exhibits. A friend went on Saturday and said it was the same situation. I did like this piece. I guess the idea is that the plant would twine its way through the hoops and become a screen.

I also checked out the color show while I was there. I enjoyed that. I really liked the installation of the Dan Flavin piece. It was in a spot where it could really be appreciated. It confirmed to me that where the Dia Center has their Dan Flavin pieces installed is unfortunate.
I also enjoyed lunch in the cafe and this cardboard sculpture .

Star Trek Convention in NJ

2008-03-09T15:52:00.005-04:00

A young fan

A not so young fan

This weekend Jordan and I made our way to Secaucus, New Jersey for the Official Star Trek Convention. Jordan is a big fan and is in the midst of watching every single episode of the Star Trek franchise starting with the original series. He is currently up to watching The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. He alternates between the two because they were on at the same time. It will take him a long time to finish this project and he is very committed to see it through. I do admire Jordan in his ability to start a project and see it through to the end. Like the year he read one book a week or the year he watched 365 movies and kept a journal to document all the movies. He still keeps a movie journal but doesn't see as many as he used to on account of the Star Trek Project. So the convention was fun. It was pretty much what I expected. Jordan was a little disappointed that there weren't as many people in costume as the Las Vegas convention. I was surprised at how many middle aged women there were. There were alot of folks there that perpetuated the nerdy/socially awkward stereotype. And the fashions.........I forgot to make sure to wash my "I'm with illogical" t-shirt. Jordan got a lot of compliments on his t-shirt. He did warn me in advance that he was going to buy a lot of toys........... and he did.

The Second Place Winners in Costume Contest (Should have been First Place)

The Berch Files Begin Now

2008-03-06T18:47:00.006-05:00

This is a project I have been meaning to get to for a while. There is a painter who paints on shop fronts, delis, and restaurant windows. Jordan and I have always noticed his work. We saw a lot of it in Jordan's old neighborhood up on Ditmars. Berch's style is unmistakable. Jordan has seen him at work and has talked to him. I don't think he lives here in Astoria. I forget where Jordan said he lives but, he has a lot of patrons in the Ditmars area. I have spotted some examples around 30th Avenue. The Bagel Shop window pictured here is on 30th Avenue.

This Tuxedo Shop window is on Steinway Street. There are many more examples out there. Spring is just around the corner and will be a great time to scout out some Berch works. As I find them, I will post them. Maybe one day I will get to see Berch working.

I Saw the Sign....

2008-03-06T18:29:00.002-05:00

I enjoy walking around looking at signs old and new. I am particularly interested in old signs. Sometimes it is a shame to see them get torn down. I have observed many in my neighborhood and now they are gone. I try to capture them before they disappear and become a fancy cafes. There are a couple that I photographed last year and would like to find in the archives and share. The following photograph is an example of a case where an Army/Navy Store closed, took down their awning, and revealed the remnants of an old Nash's sign. I bet the sign was originally illuminated. Neon maybe? Who knows? I am glad I noticed it before it got covered again.

Shop Displays in Astoria

2008-03-06T18:11:00.004-05:00

The thing I love about living in Astoria is the variety of shops and things on display. Queens is the most ethnically diverse county in the world and the shops reflect that. By walking just a few blocks in my neighborhood you can experience so many different things. Sometimes you can be in a shop and imagine yourself transported to a different place. Walking home the other day I saw this window.

The next day the shopkeepers changed thing up.

I always thought this hosiery shop window was interesting. The backside enhancements are $49.95 Do they stick on? I imagine they would get sweaty.

Friday Date Nights

2008-03-01T22:17:00.006-05:00

The last few Fridays have been great date nights. Somehow going out on Friday makes the weekend seem longer and who doesn't love a longer weekend. So, the Friday before last, Jordan and I went to Arturo's for a nice pizza pie. Arturo's has been around for awhile and are famous for their coal oven pizza. They also have live jazz music which was great. We ordered a small pie with tomato and pepperoni. The small is very generous in size. We had left-overs that almost lasted until breakfast. (There is a midnight snacker in our neighborhood with keys to our house-so I've been told)

So this Friday Jordan took me to a really nice restaurant in Midtown. It was the Lever House Restaurant. The Lever House is a great modern building that always has interesting art installations in the lobby. The last exhibit was by British artist Damian Hirst. We had a chance to see that exhibit a few weeks ago. It is now in the process of being dismantled. I happened to notice some interesting shadows on the plastic curtains that were up on the windows.

So after snapping a few photos of shadows we were off to dinner. The interior of the Lever House Restaurant is terrific. It is described online as Mid-Century Modern. It is the type of design that Jordan is into. It was funny, as we were leaving we heard a British man say "It's like 2001 a Space Odyssey". The food was fantastic. I tried the lobster. Jordan had the porkchop. I had a decadent chocolate caramel tart with peanut icecream. Jordan had the cheese plate. I should not have had the coffee. I was up most of the night with all the sugar and caffeine. Oh well it was worth it. I wonder what next Friday night will bring?

More Photos to Share from the Archives

2008-03-01T14:35:00.016-05:00

Goober loves Jordan

Excitement At Rockefeller Center

The aftermath of cab fire

Beauty Salon--Burlington, North Carolina

Paperbag Puppet Factory--Saxapahaw, North Carolina

The folks and Joe at Shatley Springs

Health food served at Shatley Springs

Mom and Dad having fun at New River State Park

Christopher and Cassidy find treasure by the river

The pumpkin and me

Pumpkin with beret

All lit up

Jordan at the museum on his birthday

Me goofing around at work

Goober relaxes during holidays

Cassidy prepares for the party

Dad's Surprise Party

Joe's Special Margarita--all gone

Jordan and George--a winter day at Pier Village

lip sofa in ladies room at Oyster Bar

Back log of photos

2008-02-24T10:28:00.011-05:00

Been meaning to post these pictures for a while. Photos date back to early summer '07.

The old exhibits are nice but need a little dusting.

Fun frogs.

We love the Bronx Botanical Gardens

Garden Bee

Pilot Mountain

The Snappy Lunch Mt. Airy, NC

The Fried Pork Chop Sandwich at the Snappy Lunch. yum

Chang and Eng were here.

The Andy Griffith Show starring little Jordan Hoffman.

Bluegrass Guy.

Dad's Famous Salmon on the Plank.

Denise and Chris at their Central Park Wedding.

Jordan and Me at cousin Margaret's wedding

A Box of Goobers

2008-02-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Goober has a tasty name tag.

Gobble, Gobble

2007-11-22T19:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving
On the menu today: Chicken on the Throne, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing. green bean casserole, sweetpotatoes with brown sugar and pecans. Everything was delicious if I do say so myself. The stuffing was somehow spicy?? Mystery no salt seasoning was it you? or did I splash on too much Lousiana Sauce. Who knows? still good. Do we have room for homemade apple pie? with vanilla icecream? Did I mention I cooked this for just me and my love? Leftovers gone wild tomorrow.