First Snow of the Season!

by adam on October 29, 2011

It’s still October, and it’s snowing!

Time to dig out the winter coat, find my hat, and curse myself for not buying a SnowBlower this year!

Here’s a little video:

 

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I asked Siri to tell me a story….

by adam on October 26, 2011

I asked Siri, my (and everyone else’s)  iphone 4s personal assistant to tell me a story.

(I’m sorry for the weird quality of the photographs, I saved them via Photo Booth and then reversed the horizontal.  Apparently you can catch a screen shot, but when I tried, my Siri screen went away.)

Here’s the transcript:

 

ME: Tell Me a Story.

SIRI: “Oh, you’ve probably heard it before.”

ME: Tell Me a Story!

SIRI:  OK!
Once upon a time, in a virtual galaxy far far away, there was a young, quite intelligent agent by the name of Siri.

 

 

One beautiful day, when the air was pink and all the trees were red, her friend Eliza said, “Siri, you’re so intelligent, and so helpful- you should go work for Apple as a personal assistant.”

So she did.  And they all lived happily ever after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ME: Great story!

SIRI: Adam, I don’t understand ‘Great story.’

 

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Recipe for Chicken Fetteh

by adam on October 23, 2011

I had this great dish at the Lebanese Taberna in Silver Spring MD yesterday.  Both Stephanie and I loved it.  Went looking for recipes, and found a great one on Chowhound.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/270971

wow, you’re in luck. i never knew what this dish was called, but it was a favorite in our house. my mom learned to make it from a lebanese woman.
i just made it for the first time in years the other day.
here’s my mom’s recipe–don’t know how authentic it is, but it tastes great!

For chicken and broth:
1 chicken, whole or quartered
1/2 lemon, cut into quarters
1 Tb ground cinnamon
1 tb salt
2 cups water
1 onion with 3 cloves stuck in it
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1 large can chickpeas

in large dutch oven or stockpot, put chicken lemon quarters, ground cinnamon, and salt. Add water, onion with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Simmer until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and let cool. strain and skim broth, pour over chickpeas and cook for 15-20 minutes.

to put the dish togehter:
1 quart plain yogurt (i use labneh or the thick greek yogurt, they work best)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup mints leaves, torn
1 cup pine nuts
3 Tb butter
2 pita breads cut into 1 inch squares
1/2 a pomegranate (if available)

mix yogurt with garlic and let sit for 15 minutes. Fry pine nuts in 1 tb butter until brown. set aside
fry pita cubes in remaining butter until crisp.
skin and bone chicken meat. leave in largish chunks.

put chicken in bottom of serving dish. pour warm broth with chickpeas over it. spoon yogurt mixture on top, and then sprinkle on the pine nuts, pita, mint, and pomegranate. serve in shallow soup bowls.

anyway, hope this works for you. i’ve never seen this dish in a restaurant, but i’ve wowed many friends with it over the years.
good luck!

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Riverdale Arts Festival October 23

by adam October 7, 2011

      I’ll be performing  artistic antics on the street at the      Riverdale Arts Festival on Sunday October 23. There will also be lots of great local musicians, artists, foods, crafts, and lots of other stuff. Please check it out if you can!

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Benefit for the Harlem School of the Arts August 19 at 7 & 8:15 pm

by adam August 11, 2011

My brother and his wife are producing this event. (and my brother is choreographing some of the dances also) If you want to see an all-star cast of amazing ballet dancers, and have your money go to a great cause, check it out. Tickets are available at http://www.balletverite.com It’s $100 for each program, $250 for [...]

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Our 15 minutes of fame are almost up!

by adam April 28, 2011

Remarkably, the NY Times decided to revisit my marriage and write ANOTHER article about us and how we are progressing three years later.  (We had a VOWS article 3 years ago) I know, I know, it’s a little much, but how could we say no? The article will appear in print on Sunday May 1, [...]

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Chuck Lesnick announces candidacy for Mayor

by adam April 27, 2011

Chuck Lesnick, who has been a Democratic leader on City Council during at least the last two terms of Republican Phil Amicone‘s mayorships, has announced that he will be running for Mayor.  This doesn’t come as a surprise to nearly anyone. Chuck is a good guy (I’ve met him a couple of times and am [...]

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Parks & Recreation “Vegan Bacon”

by adam April 24, 2011

A Hilarious clip from the character Ron Swanson who visits a “Whole Foods”- like establishment for the first time. This character consistently makes me laugh.

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School Project: A Bun in the Oven

by adam April 23, 2011

  This is kind of an amazing school project– a 17 year old girl with straight A’s FAKED a pregnancy for 6 months to study how lies, rumors, and innuendoes travel around the school.  It’s a mind-boggling idea, considering that most girls at this age are so peer-pressured that they are actually GETTING pregnant rather [...]

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The Complete Adventures of Little Bear

by adam April 21, 2011

We are on a school break this week, which means that each day’s adventure is the title of every Curious George book concatenated together:  LITTLE BEAR GOES TO THE PLAYGROUND, LITTLE BEAR RIDES A TRAIN, LITTLE BEAR GOES TO A MARKET, LITTLE BEAR GOES TO THE CIRCUS, etc. etc.  I’m wearing my yellow hat, and [...]

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Please Fence Us In!

by adam April 9, 2011

We’re researching fences right now.  Our current fence is probably 70 years old, and bent in all the wrong places.  A new fence and some tasteful landscaping would really change the curb appeal of our house. The downside is we have a huge area that needs to be fenced because we’re on a corner lot.  [...]

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3 years and counting!

by adam April 5, 2011

  3 years ago we tied the knot!  It seems both like it just happened and that it’s been much longer (but in a good way) A lot has happened since then– baby, change of jobs twice, my mom passing away, and lots of other stuff too.  But the plusses far outweigh the negatives. For [...]

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Shout out to my cousin Naomi Duerr’s Truckee River Flood Project

by adam March 29, 2011

Not related to Yonkers so much, but a local shoutout to my cousin Naomi Duerr, who is the executive director of the Truckee River Flood Project, which is a 1.6 billion dollar renovation/restoration of the Truckee River with the aim to reduce flooding and manage the recreational and other developments of said river. She used [...]

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A dearth of indie coffeehouses/Starbucks in Yonkers

by adam March 24, 2011

A friend of mine on Facebook was complaining about her neighborhood in Brooklyn where there were no indie coffeehouses with non-rude service, so as a result she felt compelled to go to Starbuck’s.  Here’s what I wrote back: You are complaining because you have indie coffee shops! Here in Yonkers we would kill for some [...]

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Squirrel cuts power to 173 in Yonkers’ Park Hill neighborhood

by adam February 24, 2011

Something about the finality of the last paragraph of this news item makes me giggle. LOHUD NEWS ARTICLE Squirrel cuts power to 173 in Yonkers’ Park Hill neighborhood By Ernie Garcia • elgarcia@lohud.com • February 24, 2011 YONKERS — A squirrel left 173 Consolidated Edison customers without power in the Park Hill area of Yonkers [...]

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