A Father's Day Gift From Abbey

Being An Asian

By: Abbey Agpaoa

I am half Asian

but nobody knows

I do asian things

like paint people's toes

I eat rice all day

I am ninja by night

I am awful at driving

Samurai I fight

I love being asian

I really do

I love being asian

Do you wish you were too?

First Snow in New Jersey

Our first snow of this year...

Autumn

Fall has come to Tewksbury, NJ.

It is my favorite season.

Halloween...

Warm apple cider and pie...

Colorful foliage...

And, Thanksgiving day.

A Dinner Night in Tewksbury

We do this rarely in our township. But tonight we had a good fun dinner with a very good family friend in our town. Dinner was at Tewksbury Inn.

We have good friends in our township who are down-to-earth and not pretentious. It keeps our town very likable to out-of-town visitors. It has no pretense of exclusivity. Everyone is welcome to the activities in this township all year around, really!

It can be Google or Yahoo mapped, I think.

My Flickr....My Town

Tewksbury is having a thunder storm. Sid and Sha-sha seems to be quiet with all the the thunder and lightning.

It sounds good to me . I like rain, thunder and lightning.

In one of my Flickr photos, someone has commented on my pig roast party.

It was a message I could respond to.

A Summer Dinner in my Town

My daughter is out to summer camp in upstate New York for several weeks. We will miss her but she will have a fun time.

Since it turned out to be a pool day, sun and blue sky, my wife decided a cook out grill dinner. She invited a family friend.

We had grilled sliced rack of lamb and roasted zucchini. Drinks consisted of red wine and white sangria.

At dinner outside by the pool, mellow sound of crickets, clear blue sky with few bright stars, and at 84 degrees Fahrenheit with low humidity...dinner had the proper ambiance.

It was a country feeling but so close to greatest city in the world, Manhattan.

Pig Roast in New Jersey 07

It was a celebration of summer and family.

It was a graduation party at same time for my son who is going to Rutgers.

I was thankful for the generous efforts of my in-laws, my siblings and most of all, my dearest wife to make this event happened.

Everyone had a good time, pig roast party New Jersey style in my own way!

A Fresh Look to our Family Room

I thought our family room looks country and "homey".

In the past week, I and my wife let our daughter to decorate and refurnish our family room.

It has transformed to a fabulous outlook, fresh and chick.

It could a flat or condo in upper east side Manhattan.

We are proud of her.

It is Pig Roast Season!

Pig roast party is, I think, a summer event that family friends and relatives should celebrate.

It brings people together in a common activity of pig roeasting. It seems to be a natural event as i have experienced in the past four years.

It is a social event.

Welcome to pig roasting in my neighborhood!

I am not unique. Others have been doing it in my township.

Matt's Out-of-Town Friends

It is almost 1 o'clock am in New Jersey. Matt's out-of-town friends will be visiting the City tomorrow.

They are in the pool at this moment... about 80 degrees. It looks cold to me.

For them, they are having a good time!

Karen and I are a little bit worried about our neighbors... voices echoes well at night.

It is only for a night.

I would do the same at their age!

Let them have some fun in Tewksbury, New Jersey!

First Sight of Firefly on a Sunday Afternoon

It was cooler today in contrast from yesterday temperature, brought by a high pressure from the west. But it was cloudy due the the low pressure from north of us in the Canadian border.

I do sound like a weather person.

It was great afternoon to tend my backyard, trees and everything else without getting much sweat.

I grilled homemade burgers topped with cheddar cheese and my wife sauteed mushroom and onion for the burgers, a fine simple dinner.

At dusk, firefly flickered over the trees and bushes and a sight to enjoy. Summer is on its way for sure.

It was my simple pleasure for the day.

Vulture Culture in New Jersey

I am a naturist short of being a member of a nudist camp in nearby Somerset county.

There has been a come back of black vulture to New Jersey. They are called that way because of the dark gray featherless head in contrast to the turkey vulture whose head has that bright red color similar to a turkey head.

I have noticed this event in my daily commute.

Road kill is a common occurrence and these raptors are the natural undertakers of these carrion.

At first sight, these birds looks ugly. But, they are elegant and mellow birds.

At least in Tewksbury, a balanced ecology is coming back.

The Other Side and Most Likely the Real Side of New Jersey

We do have trees in New Jersey...indigenous trees.

An Execellent Dinner Recipe from Bon Appetit

My wife prepared dinner made of salmon fillet rubbed with sesame oil, spiced with finely chopped garlic and ground black pepper, drizzled with cooking soy sauce. Several baby bok choys covered the fish.

Wrapped the above on aluminum foil.

I fired up the grill to high heat. Transfer the wrapped fish from a flat baking sheet onto the grill. Cook for 25 minutes.

She boiled jasmine rice (milagrosa rice) with grated lemon skin, finely chopped garlic and scallion.

Dinner was served with red wine and sparkling cider for the kids.

It was fine dining at home on a Sunday afternoon.

(Bon Appetit June 2007, page 109)

A Taste of Spring and Summer To Come

It is the last day of a long holiday weekend.

WE invited a couple of friends for a cook out with homemade burgers and Jersey manufactured hot dogs. We hanged out by the pool with wine, Samuel Adams beer and some hors douevres.

It was a laid back afternoon enjoying an 80 degree weather with sun and clear blue sky.

But a taste of spring and summer to come was when I was tending and exploring my backwoods yesterday. In addition to the beautiful sounds of birds, occasional sights of deer and hopping wild rabbits, there were these voracious blood sucking mosquitoes and horse flies getting onto my skin. By the way, horse fly's proboscis can get through a regular cotton t-shirt! And also the gnats...those tiny insects that hoover your head, it can get into any unprotected human orifices.

I said to myself, welcome to the countryside of Tewksbury.

Spring Concert In My Town

My son is a member of Voorhees High School jazz band. He performed last night as the lead guitarist in the Latin music "Otra Vez". The band played also "Mambo" from "The West Side Story".

My daughter had her spring concert tonight. Her choir group sang "Defying Gravity" from the Broadway musical "Wicked".

She is also a member of the Old Turnpike School (OTS) Jazz band.

It was a pleasant evening activity for me and my wife.

A Mother's Day at Home

My wife spent most of the week in Georgia (USA) for the graduation and commissioning to Air Force of her nephew as well as wedding shower for his bride. The event was a blast for both sides of the family despite some minor untoward incidences along the way. Not unusual for a huge gathering. It is the norm.

I picked her at the Newark Liberty International Airport without any difficulties. I read and heard many horror stories about delays and chaos at the airport, but today it did not happen. Maybe, I was lucky.

On our way home, we talked more of the above. Travel on I 78 west was a zip.

Back home, she went immediately to her garden, which she missed terribly.

While tending her garden, I and my kids prepared her some appetizers for the rest of the afternoon with her favorite wine, shiraz.
'
Cooked her dinner...

Gave her our thoughtfulness after dinner and a bouquet of white roses...

It was a Mother's Day.

Lacrosse at Fairmont Park, Tewksbury, NJ

My daughter had a home game lacrosse at Fairmont Park. Home team won against Long Valley.

I met some family friends and caught-up some recent news about school and ?gossip?

It felt good to be part of the town on a crisp spring afternoon.

A Mother's Day Gift Several Years Ago

This weeping cherry was a mother's day gift four years ago, bought from Home Depot. It was a scraggly seedling at that time, but it turned out as a vibrant, lush, healthy tree. Mother's day is two weeks away, but I have to capture the essence of a weeping cherry tree. Here it is!

Mid-April Spring

It is mid April and it remains chilly in Tewksbury. Trees and plant bulbs appears hesitant to bloom. I checked out the cherry trees at Branchbrook Park, Newark and these trees were bare of their flowers. I will visit the this weekend, again. The weekend weather is predicted favorable.

Deer in the backyard...

Peeper frog sound.... a welcome tune at night. It feels and sounds healthy.

No street lights....just the sky, stars and the crescent moon.... no light pollution.

Yes!