There is something very special about the first year of life. All of the milestones, memories, and love all seem to explode onto this new being in our lives. Thus celebrating the completion of this first year should be grand- whatever you decide to do. For my family it is always a big party with many loved ones invited to celebrate this special occasion. As such we arrive at our destination, my baby cousin’s first birthday. This blog isn’t really about her birthday but rather the venue it brought me to. I had not planned on doing anything but visiting and enjoying the company of my family, some in town for just a short visit. But after being there for about thirty minutes and realizing how many things I had opinions on, I decided I had no choice a blog had to be written. The venue, Stonebridge Country Club, is on the Eastern end of Long Island and doubles as a golf and country club. When we pulled up there were some very attractive men driving nice cars goin...

Roll-n-Roaster (RnR) is not just a cherished treasure in the heart of Brooklyn. It is known far and wide as a place where you must patronize anytime you are in fifty-mile proximity. I know plenty of people who can back me up. For now let’s go with Anthony Bourdain: http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/anthony-bourdain/video/brooklyn-s-roll-n-roaster As a local I can eat here whenever I want. I am spoiled by the luxury of what I call “upper class fast food” meaning that it is essentially burgers and fries but much better than you would get let’s say at McDonalds. Plus the real show stoppers here are the homemade roast beef sandwiches and the cheese. Oh that cheese and they seriously will put it on anything that you please. Since I am there so often there isn’t usually anything new for me to report after my blog last year ( http://thequeenoff-ckingeverything.blogspot.com/2015/08/for-cheez-on-anything-you-pleez-roll-n.html ). However this summer, for the first in ...

I consider myself a pretty creative person. I am a writer, photographer, researcher, party planner, and travel agent, just to name a few of my unofficial titles. This is why I am always so busy in my personal life. There is always something to plan to do, accomplish and share. Never mind all of my family and friends who take advantage, I mean need my services. If I ever started charging them I would become a millionaire in an instant. So if I know you and you have received some of this special treatment from me without receiving an invoice count yourself lucky. Despite my talents I do not think i could ever be an inventor.  During the normal course of my week I was reading my New York Times and Cosmopolitan magazine. I was stunned to find two articles about Margaret Crane, an inventor who has not gotten nearly enough attention. Her invention as you can see from the title was the home pregnancy test. It is now a $40 million industry but without Ms. Crane there would be no...

Once upon a time Philadelphia was our nation’s capital. It is where our founding fathers creating the documents that formed our more perfect union. Some of the best places to visit nowadays are those halls, homes, and buildings where they once walked. While you are there you will be getting hungry taking in all of that history, believe me I know! (See links below.) When it comes to eating in Philly, cheese steaks are at the foremost of our minds. But when I am in Philly I like to eat the ice cream at Franklin Fountain and hit many of the stalls at Reading Terminal Market. I especially like the fresh donuts from Beiler’s Bakery. But I am not here to talk about those. Federal Donuts has been a popular institution since it opened in 2011. Most days there are still lines out the door. To get what you want you need to be the first few on line. Despite my desire to try one I hadn’t planned a trip revolving around that yet. Fate, as it always does, intervened and I go...

There aren’t many things that I need consistently to start my morning off right but coffee is for sure one of them. No matter where I am in the world or what time I wake up a proper cup of coffee is necessary for my migraine brain and the physical safety of those around me. Coffee isn’t simply a cup of Joe to me. I cannot buy Folder’s (I assume they still make this) off the self in a grocery store and claim “it is the best part about waking up”.  Gladly my father no longer does either. Actually his habit was worse. I grew up seeing cans of “Chock Full of O’Nuts” on my kitchen counter. I am scarred from that yellow can. In its place there are now similar yellow colored cans but at least they say “Café du Monde”. I don’t know what it is exactly about the French that draws me into their web but I am hooked. I love the food, the country, the people, and even their bulldogs. Something about my soul is inexplicably French and I am proud of it. So it ...

Oh how I love a self-imposed chip challenge! I even love “making” my friends do it. Well in this case one friend tried three bags of chips. It was suppose to be four bags but one got lost…lost in my stomach. But in my defense they were all different kinds and they were the small bags, you know the ones filled mostly with air? It doesn’t matter anyways. I was proud that I was able to control myself from going back to the store tonight to pick up a large bag of my favorite new chip flavor Greek Tzatziki. The last time I did a taste challenge was back in March during Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” ( http://thequeenoff-ckingeverything.blogspot.com/2016/03/for-chips-worthy-of-challenge.html ) annual contest for the best new flavors. It was the first time I did my own private taste test to share with the world. Who knew I would be back at it again so soon? In honor of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lay’s has decided to take that inspiration and turn it into f...

Every so often I do something I have done a thousand times before ( http://thequeenoff-ckingeverything.blogspot.com/2013/08/for-gigi-my-inspiration-in-breaking.html ) when it suddenly occurs to me that I really don’t know why. There are just so many minutes of our days that are performed out of habit and because it is a “normal” part of our culture. But as a sociologist I know better than to take those rituals for granted. Today this is the one I have chosen to tackle. In a world where reality television reigns supreme I find it fascinating that we still perform these tasks in hopes of obtaining good luck. Even without religion present there is always hopefulness. During my research I found a lot of sites that said the same thing but with no real reasons of how these traditions got started. From what I can figure they boil down to wishes we hope to come true, as there probably isn’t anyone who wouldn’t like a dream or two granted. Let’s start with candles. The Ancient ...