More Warm Weather This Week

Unsually warm weather for this time of year, will make a return this week. With the potential for 80 degree weather, later this week.

 For today, we will see temps in the low to mid 70s, away from the beaches. In Southern Queens and Brooklyn, a sea-breeze this afternoon, may prevent high temps from reaching 70 degrees. Tonight a backdoor cold front (a cold front coming from the east), will cause skies to cloud over and drop temps in 50s this evening than middle to upper 40s overnight. An isolated shower is also possible. Tomorrow with the light east/southeast winds, off the ocean and partly cloudy skies, high temps will only reach between 60-65 degrees.

On Tuesday night, the backdoor cold front, comes back as a warm front. This will cause winds to switch from a east/southeast direction, to a west/southwest direction. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, will have at least partial sunshine, with highs possibly reaching upper 70s to middle 80s. Especially farthest away from the beaches. Another cold front, could give us a chance of showers and t-storms sometime late Thursday or on Friday. But 90% of time, it will be dry.

I will have more updates this week, on the warmth and threat for rainfall.

Cooking Tips 101

Many years of watching cooking shows and practicing in the kitchen have led to the accumulation of many helpful tricks that you may not pick up elsewhere. Here are a few choice ones:

Cooking with oil
To check that oil has reached the right heat for cooking, splash a few drops of water into the pan. If the oil sizzles and spits, it is ready (just be careful not to burn yourself).

Marinating fish
Because of the delicate texture of some types of fish (salmon, tilapia ect...), marinating them in liquid for longer than 10-20 can make them soggy and crumble in the pan when cooking. A thick fish steak like tuna or swordfish can be marinated for significantly longer periods.

Washing strawberries
The best way to clean strawberries is to wipe them with a damp towel. They are porous by nature and will soak up a lot of liquid. If rinsed under running water and not eaten soon afterward, they can rot more quickly.

More tips will undoubtedly come, so stay tuned!

Book Review: The Castle in the Attic

 

Along with Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three, this story was instrumental in establishing my childhood love of fantasy literature. I remember my mother reading it to me, and later reading it on my own. I loved each and every page, and not just because of the story itself. The main character was someone I identified with on several levels, the most significant being his abiding love of gymnastics (a passion of mine from age 5 until age 17).

Ten-year old William Edward Lawrence has been cared for all his life by Mrs. Eleanor Phillips, an English widow who is preparing to return home at the end of the month. Having no children of her own, as a parting gift she bequeaths to William a scaled-down, fully functional stone model of a medieval castle, complete with a figure of a knight in silver armor, that has been in her family for generations. While dreading the departure of his beloved caretaker, William is given the biggest shock of his young life. At his touch, the figure of the silver knight mysteriously comes alive and reveals an incredible story: Sir Simon (the knight) was cheated of his kingdom by an evil wizard who murdered his father and turned Sir Simon into a lead statue. Eventually, using magic stolen by Sir Simon from the wizard himself, William enters the enchanted kingdom of the Silver Knight and embarks on a quest to defeat the tyrant wizard once and for all.

In addition to my personal gymnastics aspect, William was a character who was very easy to relate to. His feelings of anger, sadness, courage and even social awkwardness are things that all children go through at some time or another. In addition, what little boy doesn't enjoy stories of knights, castles and magic?

Overall, The Castle in the Attic is a touching, poignant and very human story about the joys and sorrows of growing up. You could even say that it was my very first introduction to the classic "hero's journey" archetype so important to my later storytelling interests (Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings ect... ect...). I would highly recommend this story to any child with a love of fantasy, or an adult who wants to recapture some of that sweet, literary magic they enjoyed in their own childhoods.