Weekend in Rockland County

[magid]

I got back this evening from a weekend-plus in upstate NY (Rockland County). Highlights included:
family stories, lots of history (and seeing known things from another point of view)
getting to know a relative better
personal shopperage
hummingbirds (hearing the hum of hovering, even), interesting insect life, and a woodchuck
seeing a bit of Monsey
late nights (ok, far too late), plus political coverage
sitting on the covered part of the deck in the first rain of the storm
being able to help out with a bit of computer savvy (I am so not a technical person, but it was enough :-)
meal assembly together
bialys!

Comments

[gilana]

My grandparents lived in Monsey. Not the most exciting town. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Perhaps not... but very easy to be kosher there...

[gingicat]

Sounds like fun. How's the cousin?

[magid.livejournal.com]

The cousin is quite well :-).

[(Anonymous)]

Hummingbirds are amazing.

Bialys!

Welcome back.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hummingbirds are also aggressive; I hadn't known that before either.

I still don't understand why bagels are so pervasive and bialys are special to metro NYC and a few other places (nor why onion pockets, which are apparently also called "Miami onion rolls," are relatively rare as well. I tend to prefer either of them to a bagel.).

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Aggressive in what way? I didn't know that either.

I prefer bialys too. Though it might be nice to have them more widely available, I would hate to see poor imitations of them proliferate, as has happened with bagels.

Perhaps you could try baking bialys? Also, the Beacon Street Star tends to have bialys -- from Brooklyn, I think.

Miami onion rolls? I haven't heard that term. My mother used to bake onion board.

[magid.livejournal.com]

They tended to go for each other near the feeders. And it wasn't about there being enough feeders, either.

I agree, bad almost-bialys would be worse. I shall have to go to NYC more :-). I've never tried making them. Perhaps after the chagim... (I almost never make it to the Beacon St. Star; this might be a reason to go!)

Onion board is yummy, one of my dad's favorites. Onion rolls are just a roll with onions on top, while onion pockets/Miami onion rolls (no clue why they're called that in NY) are rolls with a swirl of onions (and usually some poppy seed) inside. Very yummy.