Category Archives: ART

Birthday Celebration

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“Life should be lived with a smile on your face
and no one does a better job
of putting one on my face than you.”
Happy Birthday!


  • Number One Son

Shortly after our Thanksgiving dinner together, I asked my son what his plans were for his upcoming birthday. He planned to spend his birthday with his girlfriend and wanted to spend the following day with me to celebrate.

In a normal year, I would take my son out for a birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants have closed due to the pandemic. I offered to cook and bake whatever his heart desired.

He had never had Beef Wellington nor my famous family recipe of noodle kugel.  He also wanted me to make his favorite dessert I make, Chocolate Mousse. So, with that request, having never made Beef Wellington before, I had time to learn how to make this classic traditional English comfort food.

I spent hours watching YouTube videos of dozens of chefs from around the World share their techniques for Beef Wellington. Taking notes and making a long list of ingredients required, I spent one day just shopping at a half a dozen stores for all the ingredients for my son’s special birthday dinner.

The recipe I ended up using was Gordon Ramsay’s, which seemed to be the most popular among Michelin star chefs. The few changes I made to Ramsay’s recipe is, refrigerating the prepared beef tenderloin a day before rolling it up in the puff pastry. I also cooked it almost 40 minutes because the tenderloin I had bought was 2.5 pounds and required more time in the oven.

Here are some photos from my son’s birthday celebration:

  • Preparing Beef Wellington after wrapping in puff pastry
  • Egg yoke washed and salted top of Beef Wellington with fresh ground Himalayan salt
  • Beef Wellington fresh out of the oven
  • Noodle Kugel Cooking
  • Noodle Kugel right out of the oven
  • Candied Carrots with sautéed Shallots
  • Bon appétit
  • JRs Famous Classic Chocolate Mousse

Shine On

Looks Can Be Deceiving

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“It’s not what you look at, it’s what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau


On my daily walks along the Esplanade there’s a house that has a fairy garden with tiny figurines. One of the figurines has one of Henry David Thoreau’s famous quotes, “It’s not what you look at, it’s what you see.” This quote points out the difference between the senses and perception.

Our senses give us information and facts but does not always allow us to perceive or experience the item our eyes see. For example, I might see a tree as a plant with stem, and branches and leaves. But, what I might perceive is a natural beauty that represents thousands of years of evolution or the hand of a higher power at work. I might look at a painting and view a canvas with brightly painted colors and brush strokes. But, what I see is a mastery of beauty, passion or a story that touches my mind and my heart.

I think what Thoreau was telling us was to not only view the world around us from a sensory input means, but more importantly to see beyond the shapes, colors, and lighting to the inner meaning and beauty contained in the world around us. Thoreau wants us to understand that it is often the unseen or the perceived that is far more important than the seen or input from our eyes. We should take in the world around us with our mind’s eye rather than just our physical eye.

Our awareness of the objects around us is informed and fine-tuned by any number of factors—our strength and energy levels, our sense of confidence, our fears and desires. Being human means seeing the world through your own constantly shifting lens because as we all know, looks can be deceiving. 

Shine On

Funny at Any Age

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“Keeping an active mind
has been vital to my survival,
as has been maintaining
a sense of humor.”
Stephen Hawking

I’ve always been a sucker for anyone with a sense of humor.

I grew up watching the Three Stooges, Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, W. C. Fields, Judy Holiday, Abbott and Costello, Danny Kaye, Red Skelton, I Love Lucy, Looney Tunes, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, and Martin and Lewis.

In my teens I was a huge fan of sitcoms, musical comedies, and comedians such as Steve Martin, David Steinberg, Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, The Smothers Brothers, Carol Burnett, Flip Wilson, Dick Cavett, Don Rickles, Robert Klein, Albert Brooks, Dudley Moore, Soupy Sales, Steve Allen, Rich Little, Johnny Carson, and Woody Allan just to mention a few.

In my 20’s through my 50’s the comedians and the type of humor I’m drawn to are not much different from the one’s I enjoyed in my youth. Some of my favorites are thankfully still alive today.

I still enjoy a good joke, a great sitcom and a romantic comedy. There are a lot of great comedians around today. My taste in humor hasn’t changed much over the years. Funny is funny at any age.

Shine On

Right and Wrong

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“All mine!” Yertle cried.
“Oh, the things I now rule!
I’m the king of a cow!
And I’m the king of a mule!
I’m the king of a house!
And, what’s more, beyond that.
I’m the king of a blueberry bush and a cat!
I’m Yertle the Turtle!
Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!”
Yertle the Turtle



If you follow my blog, you know I’m a fan of Dr. Seuss. His stories are not only entertaining but also teach morality.

Recently I read a thesis on Dr. Seuss written by a young woman. She wrote about how Dr. Seuss stories always have a political theme and because of this, his stories are not suitable to read to young children. She believes that young children are not smart enough to understand these political themes.

This young college student obviously does not have children. Unfortunately, because I don’t know how to contact this woman, I am unable to tell her how wrong she is.

When my son was very young I would read to him Yertle the Turtle, his favorite bedtime story. Before he could walk, he would crawl over to his bookcase in his room and drag this large green book to me. With little talking he could do, he would ask me to read this story. Up until he was two or three years of age, I must have read this book to my son well over 100s of times.

Yertle the Turtle made such an impact on my son, that I believe his values, his political beliefs and his compassion for the difference between right and wrong are due to this simple story, Yertle the Turtle.

If you are a young parent, and you wish to teach your child about standing up for their self, about compassion for every living thing, bullying, and yes a little about politics and power, then you should be reading this book to your child.

Yertle the Turtle and all of Dr. Seuss books are not just entertaining to read out loud, but they are a great way to teach our children the difference between right and wrong.

Shine On