Oy, for the love of cellphones … Roasted celery root!

What in the world did we do before cell phones? Wait, I think I actually recall. We would make plans and have to stick to them!

If we made up to meet our friends, we had to be there on time. Of course there were instances when we would be standing there for over half an hour without a friend in sight. Did I have the wrong location? Should I walk a block or two to a pay phone and call her house to see if she left? What if I walked to the pay phone and then I missed her?

We actually were able to sit at a dinner table, whether at home or at a restaurant and have a normal conversation.

I admit I’m guilty of checking my messages and sometimes responding to them, but seriously, kids today text their friends who are sitting at the table with them. Guess it’s a new way to talk about their friends right in front of them. In Israel, when Jerry and I took my daughter and 20 of her friends out for dinner, Jerry turned to a girl and asked why almost all of the girls were so quiet; she responded that they were all busy texting each other.

In the old days, kids were more patient. If we called someone and they weren’t home we would leave a message and wait for a call back. Hmmm, wonder if our parents used to say “what did we do before answering machines?” Today, if you get a text, email, call, or tweet, and don’t respond immediately, friends and followers might think you’re dead.

We also used to memorize all our friend’s phone numbers back then, a skill that seems to horrify kids today. These days, kids have “contacts,” and pity the person who loses their contacts, pictures and texts and doesn’t have them backed up. I admit, I had a meltdown at the Apple store when the tech told me my cell was crashing and I couldn’t save my info on iCloud.

The truth is, cell phones have enhanced our ability to react and aid others in times of an emergency, unless you happen to forget it at home that one time — like a few weeks ago when my husband missed two trains one morning when I said I’d drive him to Valley Stream.

On the way to pick him up, my car sounded like it had a flat. There I was in my nightgown, furry slippers and no cell phone, when I heard what sounded like an explosion under my car. OMG, I don’t have a cell phone and I’m in my nightgown.

Sitting in the middle of the road, I noticed a service station down the block. I drove two miles an hour and crawled into the station. They just needed the key to the tire lock. He asked me to check my trunk as I had a lot of boxes in there for an upcoming party I was catering. How I would have loved to call my daughter to bring me a jacket and shoes. At that moment I realized how attached I was to my cell phone, how I wished I wasn’t, yet how convenient having one was.

There are a select few who would love to do without cell phones if they had the choice, Jerry being one of them. He loves not being able to be reached all the time. He thinks of them as an intrusion on his privacy because he loves his space. However, it often causes me great concern when I need to reach him and I can’t.

Sometimes I discovered it’s better not to reach him, like the time he was in Oregon, the same time three hikers died on Mount Hood in a blizzard and it was reported that they would not be able to be taken off the mountain till after the ice thawed in the spring. I called him and he answered right away sounding out of breath, “What are you doing that you’re out of breath” I asked. He replied “I’m snowshoeing on Mt. Hood. There was a blizzard the other day and now the mountain is spectacular.”

I can’t tell you what I replied.

So whether you control your cell phone or your cell phone controls you, I bring you an easy recipe for roasted CELery root, an alternative to roasted potatoes.

Roasted celery root

Ingredients:

5-1/3 lbs about 34 celery roots

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2-2/3 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Trim and peel celery root and cut into 1-inch pieces

In a large pan, toss celery root with oil and salt and roast in middle of oven 30 minutes

Stir celery root and reduce temperature to 375°F

Bake for an additional hour, stirring one more time

Judy Joszef is a pastry and personal chef as well as a party planner. She spent 18 years as a pastry chef before launching her current business, Soiree. She can be reached at judy.soiree@gmail.com