This being my two-year anniversary writing this column, I want to thank all of you for the dozens of emails I receive each week in regard to the column. I’m glad I was able to connect with all of you, whether it brought back memories of Grossinger’s, bungalow colonies, Boro Park, the Catskills, school, camp, vacations, and just about anything else. I am truly touched at the wonderful letters of appreciation and positive feedback on many levels. more

At some point over lunch on Shabbat, the story of my husband Jerry’s first car accident came up. My sister-in-law, Shirley, while trying to catch her breath, be- cause she was laughing so hard, turned to me and said “this is you’re article for next week’s paper.” And so it is. As soon as Jerry got his license, he and his friends jumped into his dad’s car to take it for a spin. Before even making it fully out of the driveway he was smashed by a car driving down the street. more

As I sit staring out of the window on this wintery, snowy day, trying to figure out what to write about, it hits me. Skiing. Not me skiing, I don’t like doing anything I don’t have total control over, and let’s just say, in my few attempts at skiing, I didn’t have total control! But my husband Jerry has great skiing stories! more

This past week, I catered a sit-down Thanksgiving dinner for 48 for a producer from California who was in town for her son’s wedding, finalized a few party proposals, filled a few cake orders, cooked for my mom, and tried to shop for a dress to wear to a dinner. Turns out shopping was the hardest item on my list. more

Last week, my husband Jerry underwent some minor oral surgery. The surgeon advised that he eat a decent amount before since he wouldn’t really be able to chew much afterwards. By the time he got to her office he was stuffed and it reminded him of the time his first son was born, on the last day of Chanukah in December 1981. more

Technology, or IT as it’s referred to these days, as great as it is, scares some people. When I say some people, I basically mean my husband Jerry. I kid you not when I tell you he actually leaves his office on the 18th floor, heads outside and down the block in midtown to the bank to check his balance. (I can just imagine the excitement on the employee’s faces as he walks into the bank;there aren’t many people in banks these day). more

As usual I was stumped for a topic for this week’s article. Upon awakening to snow on Monday, I remembered the time I was “forced” to go white water rafting. It was 1984 and our good friend Shimmy Stein put together a white water rafting expedition to Lehigh. He had his chevra from Forest Hills (us) and his friends from everywhere else. All my friends said it would be a great experience and that I had to try it at least once. The Webers and Maels were also going and talked me into it as well. As we got close to our destination, I started to panic. I knew I was going to hate it. more

Judy Joszef is off this week, so we’re rerunning one of our many favorite Joszef columns. We were heading out to a wedding dear friends were making and I wanted to leave enough time to get there since we always get lost somehow or stuck in horrendous traffic. I hadn’t eaten all day and was looking forward to the shmorg. Lucky for me there was no traffic and we got off the highway in record time. Only problem was, the road we were supposed to merge onto was nowhere in sight. Jerry assured me it must be up ahead.“ more

Being way past deadline (as usual) for this week’s column, I was frustrated as not only was I late, I couldn’t come up with a topic to write about. Total writer’s block. And as hard as it is to come up with ideas for my column, it’s even harder to correlate them to the recipe, as you have probably noticed in the past, or you will certainly notice this week. So last night, while sitting at my computer, which by the way is from the Dark Ages, or so my kids tell me, I was close to calling my editor and admitting defeat, when while eating the fifth snack in the span of 20 minutes, I started to choke. Seems the almond I swallowed had different plans than the norm. Being home alone, I panicked a bit, but all ended well. I was a little shaken, but I had an idea for this week’s column.N more

It’s late, 2:30 am. This article is going to get to the editor late, and my Braves lost their lead and their do-or-die playoff game late in the game. I hate being late, but when I’m late, I hustle. When I worked in the city, I became so adept at making the train, no matter how late I was, that I was able to leave my house, drive a mile, find a parking spot (no easy feat!), run toward the train and across the tracks while the train was already there. All in four minutes. Of course I couldn’t catch my breath for half the train ride and I had to listen to the conductor admonish me not to run across the tracks while the gates were down (yes, I know he was right). more