Spring Garden Cleanup

After our April meeting and ice cream, We had a cleanup, planting, reseeding and mulching to improve the look of our front yard. A great time was had by all as we worked with mother nature.

City Kitchen

Bob Orem from City Kitchen spoke to us about his company, and how he came to be the owner of a corporate catering company in Camden.

Bob started as a teacher in the Philadelphia city schools, his students were those who had prior criminal offenses. After that, he opened a coffee house in Philadelphia. After an offer to sell his coffee house business, he started his catering business. He set it up to cater corporate events, so he would only work weekdays and have the weekends off.

After telling us how he set up and runs his business, he gave us a demonstration on making saltimbocca.  For our menu, he used chicken and told us the list of ingredients so we could do the same for our wives. It is a fast, easy and very good tasting main course.

After the demonstration, Bob gave us a sample tasting. It was enjoyed by all.

1.     chicken/veal/pork

a.      place a slice of prosciutto on top

b.     Cover and tap with a hammer or mallet

2.     Sprinkle on some ground sage

3.     Dip in flour and drop into a buttered pan

4.     Cook until caramelized on the edges

5.     While the meat is cooking,

a.      smash some garlic cloves

6.     When the meat is done,

a.      Remove the meat

b.     place the garlic in the pan with some sweet red wine

c.      cook until the sauce is hot

d.     Pour  hot sauce over the meat (use a knife to hold back the garlic )

e.      Garnish with Italian parsley and serve

Trip to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty

Our trip started on a bright sunny day,

and as we happily boarded our luxury bus we all were full of excitement to see these historic places.
Then, without prior planning, as we were about to depart, the driver noticed a small fuel leak from the tank overflow. After a quick inspection, in which our driver was sprayed with diesel fuel, we had a larger leak and the police, fire company and EMTs were called and we got to witness a hazardous spill clean up.( Note the beginning of the evidence of the spill in the photo above.)

But,  our intrepid leader and organizer, Bill Brown, was in control and we departed quickly and were soon on our way. The driver made up most of the time and we arrived at Liberty Park, just a few minute after our planned arrive time. Liberty Park is on the site of the former Central NJ Railway Terminal. What an added bonus...

We pass a memorial and a had a first view of Manhattan and the river. The clouds and mist added a eire look to our surroundings. It did keep the sunburns away.

The inside of the terminal Gave us a taste of the terminal's past

We walked as fast as we could, but missed the departure of the planned ferry. So we had some time to go through the security checks and get some pictures of the views surrounding us. We could see Ellis Island and the Statue off in the mist. And we could see the lower parts of the buildings in Manhattan. When the clouds shifted we could get a glimpse of the top of the World Trade Tower.

In a short while the ferry returned and we were boarding to our trip to Ellis Island.

We were off to our first stop, Ellis Island!!!

We were free to explore where people came ashore, the processing halls and the areas to search for family members who came through Ellis Island. Then it was on to the Statue of Liberty.

Our visits to both islands gave a taste for what is there and the desire to come back and take a day to visit each. Great trip, Bill.

From there we went back to the bus for our trip to the Town and Country for our meal and then home.

The meals were wonderful and plentiful. everyone left with a second meal.

 Dessert was a real treat....

Thanks again, Bill Brown for putting this together.

Samaritan Hospice - Christine Cortie

Christine spoke to us about hospice and the other options available from Samaritan.

Samaritan has been around since 1980. They are a non-profit organization that provides service in our 5 county area.

The do not deny anyone service for inability to pay.

They provide palliative care, end of life care and grief support.

We learned that Hospice is available to anyone with less than six months to live. Once hospice is started for a person, all curative treatment must stop.



Happy Bagpiper - Thom Moore

Today, we had a visit from the Happy Bagpiper, Thom Moore.

Thom told us about how he became interested in bagpipes and playing them. Part of his interest was in the history and types of bagpipes.

 We did not know that there are many more types of bagpipes than the most familiar to us, the Great Highlands Bagpipe (GHB).  There are seven Celtic regions (not just Ireland and Scotland and they have their versions.

Two that are shown here are Spain :

And Italy:

We also learned about the general structure of the bagpipe and the GHB:

Then were learned about the history of the GHB pipes and how they came to be used with  military functions long after they were used for more social functions, including waking up the Lairds and and Chiefs:

The music has a total of 9 notes and can be a march tempo or a much slower tempo.

And of course, we all enjoyed the demonstrations of the music:

Click below to listen to the music:

Eclipse Brewing - Chris Mattern

Chris Mattern of Eclipse Brewing in Merchantville told us about how he started his business. Eclipse Brewing is a micro brewery. Which means many taps and small kegs.

Mark Heston, introduced Chris and acted as the barmaid as we sampled some of the current product from Eclipse Brewing.

 






Chris told us about his search for a location and the chain of events that led him to his current location in Merchantville.

He also described how he get the flavors in his beers.

The flavors we tasted were a coconut, an apricot and a citrus beer. They were all great. He invited us all to stop by any Thursday through Sunday to see the brewery and take a tour.

He can't serve food, but the local merchants have developed menus to go with a growler that you can take out.