Kay's Seattle family

At home, Kay has been surrounded by her family (Kara was in the State of Washington at this time, high in the sky on a Delta flight).  Kay enjoyed her grandsons being on the bed when she had a bit of energy, but they spent most of the time downstairs with toys.

Gareth is growing fast!  His face is very expressive.  He enjoys furrowing his brow in the cutest way.  He is content.

Yuri is clearly taller since Christmas, with beautiful hair and eyes.  I am understanding much of what he says, and it is so polite and interesting.

He enjoys conducting, as countless videos prove.  I used to do this by the hour, but did not know about the baton.  One cannot consider conducting unless there is a platform.

A Long Awaited Visit

We'd been waiting months for September 15 to arrive knowing it would bring brother Bruce to Cutchogue.    I'd asked Bruce what he would like to do and eat and he said he'd just be happy being here but might be  interesrted in a BLT with one of our tomatoes.  As the date neared a couple of tomatoes ripened, nicely coinciding with the arrival of four different smoked bacons from Oscar's Smokehouse in Rhinebeck, New York, the bread and lettuce wouldn't present any problems.  Amy had taken Thursday and Friday off so we both picked up Bruce at Laguardia and headed straight to the North Fork.  There was so much to talk about!  For breakfast Friday morning we had eggs benedict with smoked Canadian bacon which went down well.   Among other activities Amy took us on a tour along the east side of East Creek, an area known as Fisherman's Beach, then down to near the end of Nassau Point.  We walked on from where the road ended.  There were pieces of beach stairs that had come undone during the storm and lay at rest on the point along with other wood come ashore.  Further on a juvenile sand shark had beached... I'm not sure why they do that, we've seen it before.  Bruce attempted to pick it up twice and it wanted no part of it, but the third time it went docile and I took a picture of them,  cool no?

Sharkmaster

Wave action created a vein of golden sea shells in the sand which someone fashioned with beach rock into an altar or cairn of some sort.  Bruce and we added our own stones.  It's nice to affirm the thought.

The point gets a fair amount of weather so the pines on the perimeter have to

 cling to the sandy soil as best they can.

Friday afternoon a little after four Bruce and I headed over to the ice cream shop "Scoops" in the village to await the arrival of Paul on the Hampton Jitney.  Back at home we relaxed in the shade then did a small tour of the things that had changed this year around the house with a stop to sample ripe cherry tomatoes off the vine.  The evening was spent in the living room yakking away as Bruce and I shared a few hands of play money poker on line.

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When Bruce comes to visit we always enjoy some time fishing together.  We've fished down at the East Creek inlet, on the Peconic Bay, Long Island Sound, the Mattituck Inlet Breakwater and the Shinnecock Inlet on the south shore at the Atlantic Ocean, an inlet created by the 1938 hurricane.  Saturday morning I was up at five checking the day's weather forecast.  It looked to be a bit rougher than I liked to fish in our small boat so I knocked on doors and rousted everyone to fish on the Captain Bob V out of Mattituck Harbor.  The crew provides the rods, tackle and bait so all we had to do was get aboard and wait awhile for our coffee and egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches.  A troop of Boy Scouts got served first as their ride, the sister boat, Capt. Bob IV, had no galley.  Wendy was our chef.

The Usual Suspects

It was a long, windy ride out to the fishing grounds, about an hour. 

We spent most of that time in the cabin with some of our motley crew 

of thirty or so fishers.

There was one crazy guy who kept 

following us around.

We fished several different spots on the Sound, mostly the very east end of the North Fork parallel to Orient and well within sight of Plum Island.  Baits of clam belly were used to tempt porgies with limited success so most of our fishing was jigging, reeling up a lure fast then letting it sink over and over, keeping it within 15 or so feet of the bottom, this in 45 to 65 feet of water.  It worked!  The four of us did as well or better than anyone on our cruise.  We pulled in some very large feisty blue fish and had the achy arms to prove it.

Bruce and a Bucket of Blues

A crew member cleaning some of the Kreider Clan Catch on the return run.  Those are all our fish on the table plus another blue and a big striper.  Back at the house it was like Cannery Row. Amy rewashed the fillets, Paul cut them into meal size pieces and put them in quart freezer bags, I removed the air to prevent freezer burn and Bruce did the labeling.  It was some time before I realized Bruce was writing really humorous labels, one or two inspired by Dr. Zeuss.
I know I'll chuckle every time I open one!  Amy and I like to eat fish once or twice a week so we're good to go for some time to come...  Thanks brothers!

  Dark horse, Paul, snagged the largest striped bass of the trip and came in second largest fish of the day's catch.  Here a crew member is taking his picture to post on their web site.  This was the first day of good fishing (several hundred pounds) after Irene blew through and they wanted folks to know the fish were back.  Amy roasted the huge striped bass in the oven for dinner.  We have an over-sized oven but Amy had to hack the tail off with a cleaver to make it fit.  I cannot tell you how incredibly good a fresh caught bass tastes.

Son of the Midwest makes good on the salt

Here is how it looked on Captain Bob's web site.
Not bad, eh?

Visit Captain Bob's web site for more shots.  Bruce, Amy, Paul and I are in two group shots on page two:  Captain Bob

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A little while ago we ordered an area carpet for the living room.  It arrived from JFK earlier than predicted and was laying, packaged on the floor.  After Sunday breakfast Bruce and Paul helped us move all the furniture, vacuum the wood floor and padding, lay the carpet and return the furniture.  Thank you so much guys!  It would have been incredibly difficult to do by myself.

After Bruce and I returned from taking the old carpet to the recycling center we had lunch.  Here's where the BLTs came in.  Good country bread, lettuce, inch thick slices of tomatoes and Oscar's smoked stripped bacon.  That and a big bowl of fresh fruit made a meal.

We loaded the luggage into the jeep and headed back to Bayside, first dropping Paul off at the 7 Train terminus for a quicker commute to Kara's apartment.  A little later Bruce treated us to a fantastic Thai meal at Eriwhon, a place we'd normally go to only for a birthday celebration. You're the best Bruce, we really enjoyed it!

Monday, after breakfast at Jackson Hole, I dropped Bruce off at Laguardia Airport for his long flights home.  It was so very nice he could come again this year.  I have many good memories to dwell upon from the bunch of us being together.

Visiting Yuri

On Monday, October 18th, Janice and I made a one-day visit to Seattle to see Yuri and everybody else interested in seeing Yuri.  He has two teeth which are just visible when he smiles, which is often.  Turning over is no problem, nor is scooting if he has something he can use for pushing off with his legs.  He likes to be held looking outward rather than over a shoulder, which suggests a real interest in observing the action.  Alyssa was at work all day and Bill had an appointment so Paul, Kay and we got him to ourselves for a bit.  With all the activity, getting him to take a nap was out of the question.

I like this shot because it shows both Janice and Yuri are responding to the same person in the same way, even if he does not understand what is being said.  You cannot train a child to respond like this!

Quite of bit of time centers on food, partly because he is growing so well.

Yuri singing.

In the beginning, the brothers said, "Let there be coffee!" And it was good!

Each part of each day of our 2010 Brothers Reunion began with or somehow included coffee. Interestingly, aside from our traditional trip to a fabulous ice cream farm (yes, farm), we never ate out. Since we prefer to do the cooking ourselves, this draws us into the general kitchen area, which means that at least one of us will think to ask, "Anyone care for coffee?"

Paul has spent decades discerning which outfit roasts the best beans to his satisfaction, exactly what measure of beans is required for the perfect pot, how to best grind the beans, etc. I have no idea how many bags of roasted beans were consumed, but they did the trick.

Alex was the sole male uninterested in coffee that weekend. Judging from how much he slept, he could have used a cup or two, but nevertheless, he kept a watchful eye on everything.


Paul either produced each and every pot, or taught yet another brother how to use the equipment at hand.

Paul was also ever ready to refill cups as might be required. After all, when two brothers are engrossed in on-line poker, there is obviously no time to get up and make coffee. As evening approached, we usually switched to decaf.


As 17th-century Londoners discovered, sipping excellent coffee is the perfect way to keep conversation flowing.


Occasional breaks were taken so that Mark could try to convince Frank to get a new camera (". . . and, it's a tax write-off!" . . . .)


And at times, one was simply forced to wait for the next pot to be brewed . . . .


Thanks for all the coffee, Paul!

We Brothers Rolling In Dough

A decade and two weeks passed since our inaugural brothers reunion held in Springfield, Ohio in the year 2000 at the home of Paul and Kay.  This July we came full circle back to Springfield to their welcoming home for another gathering with great fun and food along with time for some of the deeper stuff.  We want to recognize that Kay was instrumental in bringing about the first reunion, an important milestone, and graciously thank her for this invitation into their home again.  We were also very thankful that you had central AC on this particular weekend of blistering heat!

Here is a compilation of photos taken by various brothers as bread, cinnamon rolls (Mom's recipe) and yes, pasta was made.

 The yeast is good.

 Bruce made sure that no mistakes were made.

Frank possibly indicating that one loaf wouldn't be enough.

Okay... so instead of one oven busting loaf Paul made three.

Warm, aromatic and lightly toasted with cereal and fresh fruit.  A great way to start the day...




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...along with a dozen eggs and a pound each of bacon and sausage.  We are growing boys.

If you want a perfectly browned sausage Bruce would be the go-to guy.

Cinnamon Rolls

What is as sweet as the first day of Spring?  That would be Mom's cinnamon roll recipe rendered to perfection by brother Evan.  All it took was one of the brothers saying, "how about some cinnamon rolls?" to get the ball rolling.  Evan remembered that he'd posted the recipe on this very blog at an earlier date  (blogs do come in handy now and again) Paul had a freezer full of an assortment of flours and the rest is history.

The evening before.

Putting the goodies on the dough (a portion was raisin-less so Bruce wouldn't have to remove the pesky things).

The first two of four plates.

A close up of the goo before baking thanks to the miracle of macro photography.

YUM!

And Then There Was Pasta

I got a free hand-crank pasta machine many years ago and never used it although I'd threatened to on several occasions.  Over the July 4th weekend friends of ours, Emily and Tony Presti, came out to the house and I talked Emily into helping me make pasta.  She said the last time she'd helped she was 12 years old.  That was when her mother discovered there was pre-made pasta in the grocery store and never made it again.  It went okay so I figured we brothers could do it just to know the process and have a greater appreciation for the boxed stuff.  Anyway it felt like 100 degrees outside and we had a whole day to clean the kitchen should things go horribly awry.

Experienced flour-men, Bruce and Paul looking on bemused as Mark gets mired in "sticky finger syndrome".   They saw it coming.

Paul to the rescue, note my fingers but hey, my shirt is clean!

The process is going well.  Each two passes through the machine we went to a thinner setting then finally ran the sheets through the cutter side opting for a linguini shape. 

 Next time we'll make the dough even drier so separation by hand won't be required as much.  The new L.L. Bean mallet came in very handy.

Evan produced a lovely fresh tomato sauce and all was well.  I hope someone has a photo of the pile of steaks that Bruce and Frank grilled on the deck (mine a perfect medium rare as requested).  Local steamed corn,  cucumber from the garden and fresh mint tea made for a great dinner, with sparkling conversation of course!

A February Visit

Ever since Kara came to town two lovely events have become a tradition, one is Kara joining us Thanksgiving weekend, the other is Paul and Kara's  visit with us my birthday weekend.  This has happened at least five years in a row.  Paul would likely have a true count.  This year the February visit was enhanced by Kay's presence!  I can't begin to tell you how much fun and warmth we experienced, hiking in freezing wind and snow (yes, that was fun too, we'd dressed for it), making lots of good food together, games in front of a fire and more.  Kay, Amy and I enjoyed doing some photo editing getting tips from the pro, Amy.  A week or so later Paul treated us to a great brunch on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in the 90s I think.  Kara recommended the spot and she'd picked well.  Then we went to Midtown to pick up tickets to see a concert at Town Hall by the Takács String Quartet.  Between getting the tickets and the concert we had a little time to kill in Times Square.  Here are a few photos...

Nick drove out in time for some games and pizza.

Brunch

Mom, I thought you might get a kick out these light fixtures, colanders!

This is a photo from Times Square with an ice heart from Valentine's Day.  The second one is a shot of the ice up close from the other side back lit by the sun.

A photo of the final bow.  I figured the concert was over anyway and I used no flash.  The concert was delightful -- thanks Paul,  more memories.