My husband has been raving about the dinner we had last week at THINKGRILL. Actually, take out---this small storefront is not particularly inviting for dining in. Its Greek food--think gryos and kebabs. But what my husband went nuts over was the half lamb shoulder. For $18 he said it was better than any lamb he's had in a restaurant all year, and enough meat for two nights for him. I don't love lamb, so went with a traditional gyro and greek salad instead, which were also good.
Check them out at thinkgrillnj.com
2701 Morris Ave, Union
Showing posts with label Shout Out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shout Out. Show all posts
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Top 25 NJ restaurants
NJ Monthly has posted their list of the top 25 NJ restaurants. Our neck of the woods sports quite a few top choices, including two in Maplewood.
Here are the local winners...
Blu, Montclair
Chez Catherine, Westfield
Culinariane, Montclair (remember her from Top Chef?)
Fascino, Montclar (this is sometimes available on Restaurant.com btw)
Lorena's, Maplewood (they are expanding, since the restaurant is *tiny*)
Verjus, Maplewood
Click here to get more details about all of the restaurants
Here are the local winners...
Blu, Montclair
Chez Catherine, Westfield
Culinariane, Montclair (remember her from Top Chef?)
Fascino, Montclar (this is sometimes available on Restaurant.com btw)
Lorena's, Maplewood (they are expanding, since the restaurant is *tiny*)
Verjus, Maplewood
Click here to get more details about all of the restaurants
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
BEWARE OF COMPUTER VIRUS
An important message from the Millburn Township Schools - Please delete and DO NOT OPEN any email that may come from a millburn.org address with the heading, "An Invitation From..." The name will likely be a name you know. This is an email virus and contains malware which hijacks your entire address book and uses it to replicate and spread itself - which would be how you got it in the first place. Most important thing to remember - DO NOT OPEN this email if it comes from a millburn.org address.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Grownup Book Suggestion
Here's a book to add to your summer reading list.."People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks. It uses as inspiration what is know as the Sarajevo Haggadah , and creates a tale of this book's history over centuries. Brooks is a Pulitzer Prize winner for "March" (which is on my bedside table now) and certainly an author worth checking out.
Here's the review from Publishers Weekly.
Reading Geraldine Brooks's remarkable debut novel, Year of Wonders, or more recently March, which won the Pulitzer Prize, it would be easy to forget that she grew up in Australia and worked as a journalist. Now in her dazzling new novel, People of the Book, Brooks allows both her native land and current events to play a larger role while still continuing to mine the historical material that speaks so ardently to her imagination. Late one night in the city of Sydney, Hanna Heath, a rare book conservator, gets a phone call. The Sarajevo Haggadah, which disappeared during the siege in 1992, has been found, and Hanna has been invited by the U.N. to report on its condition. Missing documents and art works (as Dan Brown and Lev Grossman, among others, have demonstrated) are endlessly appealing, and from this inviting premise Brooks spins her story in two directions. In the present, we follow the resolutely independent Hanna through her thrilling first encounter with the beautifully illustrated codex and her discovery of the tiny signs-a white hair, an insect wing, missing clasps, a drop of salt, a wine stain-that will help her to discover its provenance. Along with the book she also meets its savior, a Muslim librarian named Karaman. Their romance offers both predictable pleasures and genuine surprises, as does the other main relationship in Hanna's life: her fraught connection with her mother. In the other strand of the narrative we learn, moving backward through time, how the codex came to be lost and found, and made. From the opening section, set in Sarajevo in 1940, to the final section, set in Seville in 1480, these narratives show Brooks writing at her very best. With equal authority she depicts the struggles of a young girl to escape the Nazis, a duel of wits between an inquisitor and a rabbi living in the Venice ghetto, and a girl's passionate relationship with her mistress in a harem. Like the illustrations in the Haggadah, each of these sections transports the reader to a fully realized, vividly peopled world. And each gives a glimpse of both the long history of anti-Semitism and of the struggle of women toward the independence that Hanna, despite her mother's lectures, tends to take for granted. Brooks is too good a novelist to belabor her political messages, but her depiction of the Haggadah bringing together Jews, Christians and Muslims could not be more timely. Her gift for storytelling, happily, is timeless. Copyright 2007 Publishers Weekly. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Here's the review from Publishers Weekly.
Reading Geraldine Brooks's remarkable debut novel, Year of Wonders, or more recently March, which won the Pulitzer Prize, it would be easy to forget that she grew up in Australia and worked as a journalist. Now in her dazzling new novel, People of the Book, Brooks allows both her native land and current events to play a larger role while still continuing to mine the historical material that speaks so ardently to her imagination. Late one night in the city of Sydney, Hanna Heath, a rare book conservator, gets a phone call. The Sarajevo Haggadah, which disappeared during the siege in 1992, has been found, and Hanna has been invited by the U.N. to report on its condition. Missing documents and art works (as Dan Brown and Lev Grossman, among others, have demonstrated) are endlessly appealing, and from this inviting premise Brooks spins her story in two directions. In the present, we follow the resolutely independent Hanna through her thrilling first encounter with the beautifully illustrated codex and her discovery of the tiny signs-a white hair, an insect wing, missing clasps, a drop of salt, a wine stain-that will help her to discover its provenance. Along with the book she also meets its savior, a Muslim librarian named Karaman. Their romance offers both predictable pleasures and genuine surprises, as does the other main relationship in Hanna's life: her fraught connection with her mother. In the other strand of the narrative we learn, moving backward through time, how the codex came to be lost and found, and made. From the opening section, set in Sarajevo in 1940, to the final section, set in Seville in 1480, these narratives show Brooks writing at her very best. With equal authority she depicts the struggles of a young girl to escape the Nazis, a duel of wits between an inquisitor and a rabbi living in the Venice ghetto, and a girl's passionate relationship with her mistress in a harem. Like the illustrations in the Haggadah, each of these sections transports the reader to a fully realized, vividly peopled world. And each gives a glimpse of both the long history of anti-Semitism and of the struggle of women toward the independence that Hanna, despite her mother's lectures, tends to take for granted. Brooks is too good a novelist to belabor her political messages, but her depiction of the Haggadah bringing together Jews, Christians and Muslims could not be more timely. Her gift for storytelling, happily, is timeless. Copyright 2007 Publishers Weekly. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Volunteer Opportunity
As I'm packing the kids up for camp and feeling overwhelmed by the errands and the bills, I came across this reminder that we've got it pretty good.
Camp Sunshine offers year-round camping opportunities for kids with chronic and life threatening diseases. They are always looking for volunteers to perform a range of tasks. What made this particularly interesting to me is the opportunity to do this with your kid...Teens age 16 and 17 can volunteer with a parent. Keeping this on my back burner, especially for my son's long spring breaks...
Monday, June 13, 2011
Millburn Farmers Market
Don't forget that the Millburn Farmers Market opens tomorrow, June 14. Can't wait to start making fresh gazpacho. I don't really know how the prices compare to anywhere else, but there is something immensely pleasurable about buying at the Farmers Market. Makes the world seems like its slowed down just a little bit.
The Clean Fifteen
Wondering if its worth buying organic vegetables and fruit? A new report published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) compiled by the USDA to identify
the "clean fifteen" - these are fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides so there's no need to waste your money on organic versions. Instead, save your money to buy oganic apples, which they found had the highest level of pesticides of any common fruit or vegetable!
Clean Fifteen 2011
the "clean fifteen" - these are fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides so there's no need to waste your money on organic versions. Instead, save your money to buy oganic apples, which they found had the highest level of pesticides of any common fruit or vegetable!
Clean Fifteen 2011
- Onions
- Sweet corn
- Pineapples
- Avocado
- Asparagus
- Sweet peas
- Mangoes
- Eggplants
- Cantaloupe (domestic)
- Kiwi
- Cabbage
- Watermelon
- Sweet potatoes
- Grapefruit
- Mushrooms
Saturday, June 11, 2011
What YOUR $5 Could Buy for the Food Bank
It's condiments season at the supermarket. Got 3 mustards and 2 bottles of buffalo wing sauce for 50 cents in total. The rest of my five dollars went to 11 boxes of pasta of various sorts, crackers, juice and 2 deodorants (they were free). I'm thinking about $25-30 dollars without sales or coupons.
Earlier this week I delivered all my bags from the month to the Food Bank at the Millburn Red Cross. Actually, it had been closer to 6 weeks and I had alot to deliver. Thanks to the boys for helping out!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Norbert in Action
Sunday night is the Tony's...to help you get ready, check out this video of local boy Norbert Leo Butz, nominated for Best Actor in a Musical (and the favorite to win). His performance in "Catch Me If You Can" was truly show-stopping...
Click here to see Norbert in action!
Click here to see Norbert in action!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
My CVS Trip Today
Scored at CVS today. Got 4 John Freida shampoos, 2 bottles of Oral-B rinse, and 2 Oral-B battery operated toothbrushes. My out-of-pocket total was $14.00 and I got $17.00 in ECBs back for my next shopping trip. Can't complain! My kids may be the only boys in the camp bunk with John Frieda salon shampoo, but who cares?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Eating with Teens in NYC
Last week's NY Times travel section had an article on teens visiting NYC. I clipped their list of teen-friendly restaurants to share...any other ideas?
Ace Hotel acehotel.com
Lupa luparestaurant.com
Motorino motorinopizza.com
Nougatime jean-georges.com
Rocking Horse Cafe rockinghorsecafe.com
Ace Hotel acehotel.com
Lupa luparestaurant.com
Motorino motorinopizza.com
Nougatime jean-georges.com
Rocking Horse Cafe rockinghorsecafe.com
Saturday, June 4, 2011
New Mexican Restaurant in Maplewood
Have you had a chance to try the new Mexican restaurant in Maplewood, Cactus Charly? I went for lunch and enjoyed it. Not the best Mexican ever, but certainly a step above the other lack of local options. We returned for dinner last Friday night and the place was packed---couldn't get seat. Doesn't hurt that there is a 20% off coupon in the little coupon book we recently got at our front door.
Check them out at 6 Highland Place, Maplewood
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Food Bank Donation
Here is last week's $5 donation to the food bank at the Millburn Red Cross. I had never been to the Pathmark on Valley Rd. in South Orange before, but some great sales they were advertising drew me in. The store itself is quite nice and stocked with a wide range of products. Pathmark is closing some stores and I think these deep discounts are a way to drive in business.
Here's what I got...
4 bottles of V-8 Fusion, 1 bottle of Sunny Delight, 3 packages of rice, 1 box of cereal, 4 boxes of pasta, 2 boxes of oatmeal, 2 cans of Hormel meat, and some dessert items. I'm estimating this was easily $40 dollars of food at regular, no coupon prices.
For my own home, we got bags of Giardelli chocolate for free after coupons. Can't be bad!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Summer Reading Suggestions for Teens
My son's school just sent us this list of suggested for summer reading for 9th-12th graders. I thought it was a great and varied list, and worth sharing! I'm hoping my son will read the Agatha Christie book (and not find it too old-fashioned).
General Fiction
Mystery
Science Fiction
Historical Fiction
Biography
Non-Fiction
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
New Rick Riordan Book Released
My younger son wants everyone to know that the latest Rick Riordan book. "Throne of Fire" has just arrived in stores. Rick Riordan is the author of the Percey Jackson series. When he finished that, he started a new series call "The kane Chronicles." The Red Pyramid was the first book in that series, and "Throne of Fire" is now book 2. I'm running to the store right now to buy it, since my son can't wait! If yours can, it would be a great book for camp.
Monday, May 2, 2011
I'm Back!
Had a great vacation in Florida and a really interesting weekend at Princeton University. Great speakers, including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Author Jodi Picoult. Way too much food, so I think South Beach Diet awaits!
Monday, April 18, 2011
A Pause
I'm taking a break from blogging to enjoy holiday and vacation time with friends and family. Wish you all the best as Spring arrives! I'll be back the start of May.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Fresh Express Bag Spinach Recall
- Distribution: Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine.
- Possible Redistribution: New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia Ohio and DC.
Food Bank Donation this week
After weeks and weeks of incredible deals at Shoprite, there wasn't much bargain hunting for the Red Cross Food Bank there this week. So instead I tried out Pathmark, which I read was having a special on cereal.
My $5 donation this week will give the Food Bank 12 boxes of cereal, 4 boxes of brownie mix, 6 cans of vegetables, taco shells and taco seasoning. The cereal at regular price was close to $5 a box. Do people actually pay that?! Yikes! Based on the pre-sale, pre-coupon prices, I figure this is about $70 worth of groceries.
All said, I still prefer my little Shoprite in Millburn for basics. Can't wait for the Farmers' Market to open soon.
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