Creative Storage Solutions

What do you do when you need to store spices in the kitchen?  If you are Ja-Ja, you look around to see what you have that can be recycled to suit your purpose.   In this case, an old medicine cabinet was just the thing - and fit into the wall so well.

Note the clever use of the outside to display photos of the Grandkids - Ja-Ja is so proud of them!

Nice Thoughts from a Niece

_{I have a very “old” friend ….. something not to be taken lightly…}

_{Gingerly approaching the famous category of  women- of-a- certain-age,, an old friend often reminds me ,   “We go back the better part of six decades, you and me”.   I cherish a tiny, (also “old”) black and white photo to support this fact.  My uncle, John appears on his knees, offering a white dove to the seemingly fragile little girl in the photo that is myself.  A propitious gesture and omen, no doubt you’ll agree.   Uncle Dunkle,  as I first called him, introduced me to my first pony: a ride  around the kitchen on a broom before I could walk.   He continued to appear at all significant events ranging from the many catholic rites of passage of my childhood to the many holidays we shared at table with the Polish babka, stories and laughter.}

_{But thank God for my personal memory bank which needs no photos to support the facts.  This bank never runs short of memories to “cash in” for a laugh, a tear or a comment.  There, safely within the vault, John and his brothers, are still clad in striped shirts, handsome, strapping and capable of all things physical.  In those same memories which never fade, they often return to our childhood home in Mahwah. NJ.   We abandoned the stately home nearly fifty years ago, but yes, every season thereafter, alongside my father, they return if I open the memory bank vault.  I spy them now: crawling through an attic window, hanging a TV antenna from the roof, putting up the winter storm sash, taking down the summer screens, lifting rocks out for the new grass, carrying slate in for the new patio, even turning over my mother’s victory garden, but never turning down a ham sandwich.}

_{(I know because I was the poodle-skirt clad server of those sandwiches in the fifties.  “My mother says you will have to eat the ham sandwiches on the train back to Bayonne if you do not hurry,” I chided.  We all knew my mother, Selene, was a force of her own to be reckoned with,)}

_{The one constant is the joke they never tire of:  “Next time, who will dig out the boulder….yes, boulder….. wedged in the basement floor!  The entire three story brick English tutor home in Cragmere Park had been built around that boulder rather than remove it but the joke, earned John the nickname “Digger”.  The name stuck over the years and put a smile on the face of my father, Gramps, each and every time he accessed the same memory vault.}

_{(I know because countless telephone calls back and forth during my dad’s final days, began the same way, “Digger?  Is this you?  How ah  ya?)}

_{In more recent times, John and his able-bodied family made expeditions in a van with living quarters for six.   Of course, they had re-conditioned it themselves.  Following I-95 and I 40 to an endless To DO List of new projects, they arrived en masse at my door in Maiden, NC. in 1987.   “Those are some fancy horses, you got there, Kid,” John mused, “and this is beautiful country and all, but I’m just tellin ya,  you got a lotta work to do.  And, how much do YOU know about horses and farms, anyway?”   We, the assembled ten in total…. kept our heads down,  knowing there was more to come., as John is a man of many opinions and a voice which can surprise like the blast of a fire siren.   But  rather gently and simply he added, “Circumstances dictate all decisions.” Next thing we knew, everyone had a job and the wash pits for the horses were built.} 

_{(I know because I was the rolled-up shirt-clad server who doled out the ham sandwiches, according to tradition.”}

_{Now-a-days when I telephone the residence of “babka and bolts”, I am more than lucky if I can catch the eighty-something year old Polish American for a chat.  He’s certainly not cat-napping in his easy chair, waiting for old friends to call.  After all, he and my mother, Selene, were cut from the same mold.   But my “Otha Motha”, his more than lovely and loving wife covers for her partner.  “He’s workin’ on a project in the basement.”   Why am I not surprised?  Still, I wish he would learn one thing…..a nap is not a crime!   -  niece, and cousin, Mary Ellen.} 

Everything is Possible..if you can WELD

Need a bracket?  Weld one up!  Need a stand?  Ditto!

 Here is a stand for a couple of heating pumps custom  designed and welded by Ja-Ja:

Best Chrusciki Recipe of all Time

Here it is - for all you Polish Epicures, the original, fantabulous, best of all time recipe for Chrusciki::

12 Egg Yolks
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch of salt
1 shot of rye whiskey

Beat egg yolks until golden colored.  Add sugar, sour cream and salt.  Then add flour, mixing until a ball forms.  Mix whiskey in at this time.

Separate a small fist sized ball of dough and roll very thin on a well-floured surface.  Cut dough into 4" to 5" diamond shapes, making a slit in the middle.  Pull one corner through the slit, and fry in a deep skillet of hot crisco oil.  Remove from oil when golden but not browned, drain.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.  Enjoy!

Chrusciki is my Life!

That's right, Chrusciki is life, and Life is Chrusciki.  Here's how we make it:

The Big Cheese himself

Start with some egg yolks, flour, and such,

Measure very carefully,

Now it's getting doughy...

Don't forget the most important ingredient!

Roll out the dough very thin....

Twist and Shout

Famous Frying Fun, Batman!

The Master at Work

The delicious finished product.  Outstanding!

Chrusciki Making is not for the Faint of Heart

Ja-Ja learned to make that Polish Delicacy called Chrusciki from his mother, using a recipe that goes back hundreds of years - to the old country.  Babci (Ja-Ja's mum) brought the recipe with her as a 12-year old immigrant from Wormza, Poland, to preserve the tradition of baking that she had come to know and love as a girl.

What is Chrusciki, you ask?  A pastry made from dough rolled thin, twisted just right, then fried in oil until tender brown and flaky.  Doused with powdered sugar, it is a treat for the senses, and one of the most-beloved foods of Eastern Europe.

It is said that Karol Wojtyla, otherwise known as Pope John Paul II, used this same recipe in his family..

Symbol of Civilization

That's right, man is not truly civilized unless there is ice for his single malt scotch.  And in keeping with his self-reliant streak, Ja-Ja maintains that the only way to remain civilized in the midst of the societal breakdown that was Hurricane Sandy was to run the generator and keep the fridge cold.

Here's to you, Champion Generators!  May you live long and prosper!

Make a little money...

In his spare time, Ja-Ja likes to collect scrap metal to sell for a little profit.  When he scrounges wire, he strips off the insulated coating, and then sells the wire for copper or aluminum scrap.

Workshop Views

Over a lifetime of thrift, Ja-Ja collected an impressive array of fasteners - nuts, bolts, screws, nails, straps, hangers, latches, hinges and more.  Electrical connectors, wire, sockets, and special purpose parts of all types were categorized and labeled, then sorted into an appropriate container - all recycled, of course.

A frequent response to any of my family's home-repair needs was:  "Let;s see what Ja-Ja has in inventory (in his workshop).

Waste Not, Want Not

One of Ja-Ja's favorite sayings from the old country is:  "Waste Not, Want Not".   Ja-Ja was "green" before the environmentalists even coined the term.  When he added an addition to his house, Ja-Ja used as much recycled material as he could scrounge - for free.  That means straightening bent nails - by the hundreds!