We moved on from South Carolina, arriving in Delray Beach, FL, at the beginning of November.  All set up and settled in.  My folks arrived a few weeks later.  All has been quiet.  We had Thanksgiving at my cousin Amy’s house, about two hours north of here, and Chanukah/Christmas Week/New Years, at home, with minor festivities.

This week, I built a small handicraft, that I find quite pretty.  After a knocked over table cost us our two glass Shabbat Candlesticks, I took a nice Bamboo breadboard from the supermarket, and drilled a few holes, creating this:

New Shabbat Candle Holder

The little glass cups, and associated small candles, are called Neronim, and they are a novel way to light Shabbat Lights.  The glasses keep the candles from blowing in the breeze, the was melts to liquid quickly, and then they burn for about six hours. We like ‘em. Gonna try this rig out tonight.  Good Shabbos.

A shoutout to the Sleepy Bear campground in Lumberton, NC, who enabled two very sleepy bears to hibernate overnight. (Zzzzzzzz)

Eagleville Bridge (1858) Built by Ephraim W. Clapp. 100′ town lattice, probably the best preserved example of a double-chord town-lattice truss in the state.

Eagleville Bridge

The Shushan Bridge has been relocated and turned into a museum. Since the alternative was destruction, I’m not displeased. It says here (*):

Shushan Bridge, built by Milton Stevens. 160′ Town Lattice. Bypassed and preserved in 1962.

Shushan Covered Bridge Museum

Finally, we drove up to the Rexleigh Bridge, of which it is written*:

Rexleigh Bridge, 1874. Builder Unknown. 107′ Howe Truss. Has cast iron bearing places carrying the inscription, “R. Comins, Troy, NY”

Rexleigh Bridge

This post is called Joey’s restaurant, and it’s about Joey, and the restaurant, but Joey’s Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that’s just the name of the post, and that’s why I call the post, Joey’s Restaurant.

You can get anything you want, at Joey’s Restaurant.
You can get anything you want, at Joey’s Restaurant.
Walk right in, say hello to Dee,
just a half mile from the BQE.
You can get anything you want, at Joey’s Restaurant.

Now it all started this thanksgiving, that’s a few weeks before Thanksgiving, when my wife and I decided to go visit Joey at the Restaurant, but Joey doesn’t live in the restaurant, he lives in the apartment upstairs, with his wife, Eleanor, but no dog.

Well, the song parody breaks down at this point. The truth is, Joey has done an amazing thing at the Restaurant.

In 1919, Grandma Rose and Grandpa Guissepi Destefano bought a building at 89 Conselyea Street Brooklyn, NY 11211. The ground floor was a storefront, and the second floor had an apartment. The store has housed a candy store, a pool hall, a social club, and has been occasionally vacant. Roseann’s mother was born in that house. After Grandma died, Roseann’s Aunt Adele moved into the apartment over the then-vacant store. We visited there in 1992.

Now, after Aunt Adele passed away, her son, Joe Destefano decided to build a steak house in the building. They wanted to do high-end dinners, good wines, excellent service, and a very homey atmosphere where people would feel appreciated as customers, and want to return again and again.

Joey has come up with an outstanding and rather different menu. His recipes are imaginative, the presentation is excellent, the tastes and textures are satisfying, the service is impeccable, and the entire experience outdoes many more exclusive and expensive venues.

We had appetizers:

• Short Rib Rolls – Horseradish Creme Fraiche. Tender succulent beef, julienne carrots and chive mashed potatoes in a crisp, paper thin wrapper.
• Grilled Portobello mushroom layered with sauteed spinach, goat cheese and blue cheese.
• Mozzarella De Crustino – Mushroom Duxelle
  Fresh mozzarella breaded and sauteed until tender served on top of a blend of wild mushrooms.

We then had dinners:

• 24 oz. Rib Eye Steak -
  Our signature dry aged rib eye is enhanced with the sweet anise flavor of sauteed fennel – a fabulous compliment
  to the Rib Eye – which turns this dish into something Italian and special.
• Lamb Chops with Pistachio Nut Crust -
  Baby Rib Lamb Chops rubbed with garlic and herbs and grilled to perfection. Finished under pistachios-butter crust
  for added flavor and texture. Served with garlic mashed potatoes and carrots.
• Skirt Steak Italiano -
  Grilled Skirt Steak topped with whole grape tomatoes that are sauteed in garlic and oil. Served with DeStefano’s Home Fries and Sauteed Spinach.

For dessert, we had Italian Cheesecake, made with Ricotta cheese.

I had two glasses of St. Francis Merlot, which I enjoyed very much.

All in all, we ate, and we were very, very, impressed.

Destefano’s Dee Brooklyn Steakhouse 89 Conselyea Street Brooklyn, NY 11211 (718)384-2836

So we rented a car and began our Happy Motoring expedition.

The traveling was interesting, since I was retracing steps of old. Way back in the bowels of my youth, my parents would park our trailer in Copake, New York, and we would use it all summer as a cottage. I spent several years making the run from Long Island to Columbia County over and over.

On this trip, in order to save over $10 in tolls, and also to enjoy my travels, we eschewed the New York Thruway in favor of the Taconic State Parkway. This meant that we traveled the highways and byways of old.

I don’t have a car mount for my phone with me, nor do I have a car charger, so I couldn’t really use the GPS. Fortunately, it wasn’t needed. I knew, deep in my bones, where I was and where I was going. Down the Taconic Parkway to I-84. East to I-684. South to the Hutchinson River Parkway. Over the Bronx Whitestone Bridge. South on the Cross Island Parkway. East on the Grand Central Parkway to the Northern State. South on South Oyster Bay Road to the Days Inn, formerly the Astro Motel, across from what used to be Grumman, in Bethpage. (This is the cause for the title of the post.) I have returned so close to my teenage home that I know where to find stores, restaurants, gas stations and other resources, and amazingly, most of what I remember is still here!

We had a lovely dinner with friends, and today, after further skulking around on Long Island, we head to Greenpoint, in Brooklyn for dinner at Cousin Joey’s restaurant.

It has been, as Tom Lehrer once wrote, “just soggy with nostalgia.”

If I only had more time here.

Roseann and I are visiting them at their home in upstate New York, about 45 minutes east of Saratoga Springs, and an hour north of Albany (or so.)

It’s amazing to me how much I can learn about people that I think I know. This time, I’m struck by the eclectic set of interests that my parents hold. I want to just stay here for the rest of my life, and spend my time reading their books.

Today I’d like to take you on a visit to my parent’s office/computer room in the back of the house. Here is my mother’s desk, where I’ve been sitting to do my work.

Now the interesting thing here is the mixture of old and new. Over on the left, we have a reasonably recent, large, color laser printer from Dell, that my mom bought at a going out of business sale. Note also the massive amount of media visible in this picture. I estimate over 500 floppy disks, but I don’t think there is a floppy disk drive on line any more. CDs date from the days of DOS and Windows 3.0. The stack of cassettes are indeed music, not data. I was afraid that there was still Commodore 64 software up there. (Would you like a Commodore 64? There’s one, maybe several, in the barn.)

The box with the blue lights, to the right of the laptop, is the Hughes satellite modem.  I’m getting excellent service out of Verizon’s 3G. If they’re out of contract to Hughes, I’m suggesting they consider moving on.

That’s my laptop on the desk. My mom’s Dell laptop is hidden behind mine.

There are also a few models visible on the upper shelf. My father’s stuff is escaping to my mother’s side :)

Perhaps tomorrow, we’ll visit another section of this marvelous, strange place.

This possibility preyed heavliy on my mind, and as the middle of August approached, and I started to think about hurricane season, we decided to move. We’re now in Hudson Bend, along (and very high up above) Lake Travis. Google Maps link of where we are now.

Last week, Tropical Storm Hermine came up into the Gulf of Mexico, and Austin, as well as the rest of Travis and Williamson Counties got the brunt of the rain.  The Shady River RV Resort was completely flooded out. Trailers were destroyed.

Trailers askew after flood waters receded.

Imagine my reaction to having missed this event.

Here are some more links:  news story; some video.

My heart goes out to those who remained at the park and lost their possessions. I haven’t read that there were any injuries at the park, for which I’m thankful, although I’m informed that at there was at least one storm-related fatality across the Austin area.

I’m also saddened for the owners of the RV park. We were made most welcome at that park. I wish them the best in their recovery.

McGonigel’s is a neat Irish style pub with an excellent calendar of music. I’m glad to have happened onto it.

Steve Forbert is a folk/rock artist from the late 70s/early 80s, that has had a good long career recording and playing music. His story can be found in his Wikipedia article. Like so many artists, his career was interrupted by a dispute with his record company. I had two of his albums on vinyl, but lost touch with his music when we switched to CDs. As I told him afterwards, it’s good to re-connect.

McGonigels has a nice discounted rate with the local Courtyard by Marriott, and we’re staying here for both Friday and Saturday nights. I have some entertainments to choose from for tomorrow (Saturday) night, so it should be a good weekend.