There are a million ways to make chicken soup with matzo balls but this is the family recipe. It takes awhile up front to prepare, and you have to let it sit overnight, but it’s well worth it. I even got some enchiladas out of all the chicken I had left over on the first night.

Making the matzo balls was tough because I was on a conference call. There is no way to get the stuff off your hands when you’re holding a phone, and it’s hard to explain giant splashing noises every few minutes. I will have to let everyone at work know that I moonlight at a dunk tank.

This was probably the first time in my life I had homemade matzo ball soup not for a holiday with family. While no meal is the same without hilarious consequence bets and absurd stories, these things had no effect on the taste of the soup. It was probably a quieter meal though.

Recipe is below the pics for anyone interested.

Matzo ball soup

2  3½ pound chickens
10-12 full carrots, chopped
2 hearts of celery, chopped
2 medium/large onions, chopped
5 parsnips, chopped
3 turnips, chopped
4 chicken bouillon cubes
Dill

1. Wash chickens and put in a giant ass pot. Fill with water so chickens are more than covered
2. Add all chopped vegetables
3. Bring to boil, add 2 bouillon cubes, then reduce heat and simmer for two hours. With 30 minutes left, add 1-2 bouillon cubes and stir. With 10-15 minutes left, submerge the dill in the soup.
4. Remove the chickens from the pot and pull off the meat – throw away bones and skin
5. Strain the broth, then pour into containers. Add vegetables, some chicken and refrigerate.
6. The next day, skim the fat off the top off each container and save.

Matzo balls

2 tablespoons oil or 2 tablespoons skimmed fat from the soup
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup Manischewitz Matzo Meal
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons soup stock or water

Mix fat and eggs together. Mix and add Manischewitz matzo meal and salt. When well blended, add soup stock or water. Cover mixing bowl and place in refrigerator for at least twenty minutes. Using a two or three quart size pot, bring salted water to a brisk boil. Reduce flame and drop balls from above into  the slightly bubbling water. Cover pot and let cook 30-40 minutes. Have soup at room temperature, or warmer, and remove matzo balls from water to soup pot. When ready to serve, allow soup to simmer for about 5 minutes. Recipe makes about 5 matzo balls.

Unlike my other food posts, I can’t/won’t post the recipe here. It is a family secret from my grandmother and if I were to reveal it, Evan’s House of Ribs would never take off when I retire. Side note: most grandmas give you cookie or soup recipes…my mom’s mom gave us pork baby back ribs. As a Jewish grandma, she was ahead of her time. But I digress.

The ribs take almost four hours to make, so you have to be very sure that you have time and hungry co-gluttons before you begin. The end result is very worth it.

The abbreviated recipe is:

• Buy pork baby back ribs
• Cook for two hours
• Add the sauce
• Cook for two more hours
• Seek medical attention

Despite having these many times in my life (including every year for my birthday), I had never made them before. Fortunately, they came out great. They continued to be great as I ate them every day while I was snowed in. Thanks to everyone who helped with the recipe, photography, and eating (they make a good bribe to people who help you shovel).

I am thankful for a life without a single boring minute for many many years, and for all the people that made that possible. As part of my 101 in 1001 list, I have committed to doing something charitable every Thanksgiving. Today, I dropped off an obscene amount of old clothes (and sheets…sorry Mom) at the Goodwill in Astoria. Richardo also organized a group to go to the Marine Corp Toys for Tots drive. If anyone wants to join, we are going to the Times Square Toys R Us on December 18th at 2:30 PM. If you know me, you know how to reach me, otherwise, please stop following me, Internet.

As part of this holiday, I wanted to share the many people and things I am thankful for:

• I am thankful for the constant love and support of my now-enormous family, which has grown from eight cousins and some parents to a smörgåsbord of Jews and shiksas up and down the east coast (with some out west as well).
• I am thankful that many of these cousins continue to churn out babies, holding off pressure on me as long as possible.
• I am thankful for a safe and spacious place to live, 80% of which is devoted to my couch or the production/consumption of food.
• I am thankful for my health, and therefore, thankful to Tony Horton and the world famous Karen pot stirrers. I hate it…but I love it.
• I am thankful for my friends, with whom I have drank (and un-drank), gotten lost, met almost tens of women, debated, learned and laughed. It’s very cool to have most of my close friends live somewhere in the five boroughs. It’s even cooler that that people like Tyler consider Florida an acceptable place to live in one’s 20′s.
  • A special shout out to Michelle, who is always there for me, even if it’s been awhile. Although she tends to be there for me more when I offer waffles.
• I am lucky to have a job with an inspiring company that challenges me and surrounds me with incredible people. American Airlines is lucky that it’s 700 miles away, and that most of my feelings towards them represent federal crimes.
• I’m thankful that despite Facebook wasting several years of my life, I constantly reconnect with old friends. It’s pretty cool to think that even after years of not seeing people, I can talk sports with Richter and Schultz, run into Gina and Mike in Chicago, see Angelo in from Italy, or WHICH SEX AND THE CITY CHARACTER ARE YOU???? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!!!!!
• I am thankful for all of the people that serve our country at home or abroad. I am especially grateful to Colonel Waring and Mary, for tirelessly advocating for current and former soldiers, and to Admiral Landry, for instilling enough military discipline in her son to be able to handle my sister.
• I am thankful for my fraternity (Phi Kappa Psi). Despite its undergraduates occasionally giving me early onset dementia, it has introduced me to incredible people and taken me all over the country (most importantly, Cabo San Lucas and New Orleans).
• I am grateful for the feast we are going to eat tomorrow, and to Procter & Gamble, makers of Pepto-Bismol®.
• I am thankful for the Yankees. We’ll always have 2009!
• There has been a renaissance in TV over the last 7 or 8 years. West Wing, Rome, Sopranos…so many epic shows. In the last three weeks I got through 2.5 seasons of Mad Men. I also made five trips to the liquor store and am working on perfecting an old fashioned. I’m thankful that no one sells Lucky Strikes anymore.
• I’m thankful for the internet. I read a few hundred blog posts a day and never fail to learn something interesting , see a new point of view, or wonder how someone found time to mashup hilarious things from the 80′s. If you read only one thing every day, and want to know about everything in the world, read the Daily Dish.
• Along those lines, I’m thankful to everyone who has read or reads this blog. My biggest post got 208,000 hits, and I have quite a few with 6, but I just love to write, and appreciate anyone who has stopped by to read or throw in their two cents.
• Last but not least, I’m thankful to Brandon for the idea of a 101 in 1001 list, and for having a life that affords me the opportunity to even contemplate doing everything on there.

Even if the Korean Peninsula leads to the end of the world, or it turns out your relatives are imposters, I hope everyone has the chance to spend a great holiday with their loved ones (whether or not they are sane).

My solution (which is on my 101 in 1001 list) was to make a font out of my handwriting. After reviewing a few options at Lifehacker, I decided to go with YourFonts.com.

The process is very straightforward:

1. Print out a PDF template
2. Write the entire alphabet (capital and lowercase) in a bunch of specially formatted squares
3. Curse that you messed up the lowercase Z and start over
4. Get a phone call while perfecting your exclamation point
5. Scan and upload the completed document

Once the document is in their system, you get a preview to see how it looks. I decided to use Photoshop to fix up some imperfections in the document, which I highly recommend. Nothing major, but it helps remove ink trails and align the letters perfectly in the square. Once you’re happy, you can buy the font.

This site used to be free, but the standard rate here and elsewhere seems to be around $9.95 per font. Not bad for a fun project that will let me cross something off of my list. If anyone is interested, Fontifier offers a seemingly similar service at the same price. Always good to have options.

When I was all done, I installed the font (takes about 30 seconds) and wrote myself a letter in Word. Below it is in all its glory (click for a full version – where you can see what it actually looked like when it printed).

I’m not sure what I will use this for (if anything), but I’m happy with the results, and it was a fun diversion from my fantasy football team getting murdered. While my 5-game winning streak is over, at least I can now send personal handwritten notes to gloat about temporarily staying in first place.

A few friends of mine were members of The Rock gym in Astoria, and they both study Muay Thai kickboxing, so I was invited to tag along. That’s Zman on the left..who takes his kicking very seriously.

The class was intense. The temperature in the room is kept in the high 80′s, and we started with almost 30 minutes of non-stop cardio. The instructor had us cycle between jumping jacks, jump rope, running and shoulder presses with a medicine ball.

When we were done with that, everyone had lost about 5 pounds of sweat..at which point the class actually started. The muay thai technique was fairly basic – lots of front and side kicks. The teacher focused on getting everyone to strike with the right balance and momentum. I focused on kicking my friends very hard.

The teacher was a guy named Carlos (he went by Carlito, since he was about 5’3″). He really pushed everyone to the limit, which was a lot of fun for me as a beginner. There was also an Irish guy in the class who was probably 250 and kicked like he was trying to singlehandedly reverse climate change. It was fun holding the pads for him, and it was also fun needing prosthetic limbs for a few days afterward.

Although I haven’t been back since, it was definitely something I would do again. It was a great workout and I’ve always loved martial arts training.

For anyone interested, you can pay per class. The Rock is located at 22-15 31st Street in Astoria and the class appears to meet on Wednesday nights.

As an aside, while writing this article, I tried looking up famous Jewish boxers. First of all, there is actually a Wikipedia page for that. Which is hilarious. Secondly, I found a site listing the top 5 Jewish boxers of all time. This is #5:

Maxie Rosenbloom – 222 (19) – 42 – 31 – Maxie Rosenbloom was the longtime light heavyweight champion of the world, reigning from 1930 to 1934. This is despite his infamous weak punch, knocking out less than 10 percent of the men he beat.

Sigh. At least no one can take away Sandy Koufax. Here are the rest of the pictures from the class. Thanks to Jared and Zman for the invite.

My tool of the trade is the Delonghi Indoor Grill. This was one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever gotten from my dad, which is all the more remarkable because I’m Jewish and he considers himself Buddhist. It’s not the model pictured to the left but very close. They are a pain to clean but I highly recommend them.

So, I decided to make a steak rub. This recipe comes courtesy of the OChef website. I have no idea what their deal is but Google sent me their way. It’s a lot of ingredients but very easy to make and it stores well:

2 Tbsp paprika, preferably Hungarian
2 Tbsp chile powder, preferably Gebhardt
1 to 2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
2 Tbsp granulated garlic or garlic powder
2 Tbsp light or dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp dry mustard, preferably Colman’s
1 tsp ground sage
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup salt
1 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper

Mix it all together and you’re good to go. This goes very well with strip/shell steaks – for a handy cow-shaped diagram of which cut is which go here.

Everything came out great – and the Delonghi makes some mean grill marks for an indoor electric. The rub has an incredible taste – very rich flavor without being too spicy.

Here are the results of my work…slightly before they were inhaled. I do not recommend making salad or sweet potatoes on the grill.

I have made a lot of progress on my 101 list, met some great new people, and am planning some big things for the coming year. I will be posting some updates in the coming days, but in the meantime, I met the Backstreet Boys against my will.

While flying home from Chicago, our entire gate was blocked off. There was a sign that said “By entering this area you consent to being filmed by Harpo Productions”. I’m not sure how Oprah supersedes the TSA, but I suppose that’s how Chicago works.

A vaguely familiar group of guys then walked over and started wandering around. Based on my loose knowledge of 90′s pop and devoted sister, I realized it was the Backstreet Boys. They were there on behalf of Oprah to surprise their “biggest fan”, who predictably cried and screamed when she got off of the plane. As luck (?) would have it, it’s apparently airing today.

That said, if you watch, please don’t ever read this blog again.

Here’s some video of them making their dramatic surprise. More posts to come…and none of them about boy bands!

It’s 2010! Some things have stayed the same (troubling economy, two wars abroad, prominence of Lady Gaga), while others are vastly different (Umar Abdul Mutallab is definitely getting less action than he did at this time last year).

Over the next several weeks I will be ramping things back up, along with dishing out some long-saved posts and links. In the meantime, some key highlights since I last blogged:

• I Have Been Domesticated: After four years of living with a good friend and 26 years of leaving the seat up, I moved in with my girlfriend Lauren a few weeks ago. We have a great new place (still in Astoria) and we are almost done unpacking. I have an actual living room and have cooked every night so far – both things that I’ve always wanted to do. I don’t want to say that moving is expensive, but my first child is almost certainly going to Bed Bath & Beyond University.
• A New Blog Is Up: My friend Dave is a Van Buren Boy by night, but highly decorated Philly sportswriter by day. He has started up a blog with the Penn Gazette and is covering University of Pennsylvania sports regularly. He is a long-time contributor to Three Word Chant so go check his site out: http://penngazettesports.com/.
• I Worked On Several Items On My 101 in 1001 List:
  • 90. Do something charitable every Thanksgiving: I participated in a November cancer walk at Yankee Stadium with Lauren and my cousins. I probably got too much enjoyment out of it to call it charity. Some Yankee Stadium outfield dirt may or may not permanently reside on my desk.
  • 45. Talk to a Celebrity: On December 27th, I went back to see Alvin Ailey, the ballet that Lauren’s family helps sponsor. As luck would have it, we sat directly in front of Alicia Keys. She was with a few young girls (they looked like they might be cousins/nieces) and was extremely friendly. We asked her about growing up in NY, and it turns out that she went to the rival high school of Lauren’s sister. I know all of this because I spent most of the time staring and humming Empire State of Mind rather than speaking. I wondered why I wasn’t awkward meeting Bill Clinton but I was with her. Then I realized that Bill Clinton isn’t hot. Anyway, it was a pretty cool surprise to meet her, and I would have taken a photo but her bodyguard was larger than me by a factor of Jupiter.
  • 97. Send 20 Letters Through The Mail: I sent my first one today. My aunt and uncle got me a copy of Outliers when I mentioned I hadn’t read it so I sent along a thank you. In retrospect, this bullet point is a huge letdown after all of the name dropping in the last one.

Other than all that, I spent a lot of the holiday doing family things, purchasing unnecessary cooking tools, and celebrating New Years with a few friends. I will close with a sequence of events that took place that night while playing Taboo:

Bryan: He’s a guy..lots of women around. He gets a lot of ass!
Erica: The Pope?
Bryan: Hugh Hefner.

Welcome to 2010!

Thus began a very long blog post…

At the last minute, a friend of my dad’s offered us his Game 6 tickets. This would be noteworthy as is, but these happened to be Legends Seats. The Legends Seats are like the Dubai of Yankee Stadium – an opulent world unto itself. After a rainout on Saturday, I met my dad and two brothers at the Stadium and began our playoff journey.

The entire Legends process is somewhat surreal. You go through a separate entrance, where rows and rows of good looking people welcome you to the Stadium, and give you a special wristband. Then you enter a blue frosted glass hallway that can’t be seen through from the outside. The next room is the giant restaurant, which looked as nice and as showy as any restaurant in Manhattan (or Vegas). The place was huge, and was two floors full of tables and TVs.

This is the entrance to the restaurant - tunnel to freedom is on the left

Right in the middle of this enormous restaurant layout is a dark glass tunnel that seemingly leads into Middle Earth. In fact, it is a separate entrance to the field (perfect for avoiding the common man). You go down two flights of stairs, loop around, then pass through a hallway filled with all-you-can-grab candy, snacks, water and soda. Ironically, the people who had paid tens of thousands of dollars for these seats were lining every available pocket with peanut M&Ms.

We soon reentered the Stadium proper and were taken to our seats – two rows behind the visitors dugout and steps from home plate. I quickly asked my brother Brandon to hit me to ensure that this was actually happening. As soon as we sat down, a woman came over and asked if we wanted any food. Everything ballpark concession was available for free – everything from hot dogs to sausage to…sushi. The only thing that had an additional cost was alcohol. Unbelievable.

Now for the important part – the game itself. The crowd was intensely loud from the first pitch. It was the closest to the noise at the old stadium that I have heard all year. Pettitte was all business and despite scattering some hits, was dominant throughout the game. He let up a run in the 3rd but the Yankees roared back with 3 in the 4th. This was no thanks to Posada, who left 10 on base through the course of the game.

Our ridiculous seats

Now, I was in heaven just being at the game, considering that this was my second playoff game in a few weeks (and ever). Our seats only made it more enjoyable. That said, the fans where we sat were…otherworldly.

One guy behind me was a die hard, and him and I talked throughout the whole game. Other than that, we had some interesting characters:

• A guy in front of us was wearing a black leather jacket, black pants, a black hat, and dark sunglasses. He looked vaguely German and would high five me with angry determination every time something good happened. He reminded me of a certain host of Sprockets.
• A father (who looked like Madoff) had a lengthy discussion with his son over what the best kind of sushi to order would be.
• A gentleman and his wife sitting behind us were wearing sweaters and regatta jackets. In the 4th inning, the waitress came over with two red wine glasses and a bottle of Merlot.
• After the other die hard fan and I went through a few rounds of “Hip Hip – Jorge!”, the woman in front of us said to her husband, I’m enjoying this ball game but the fans should really keep it down – how can you even have a quiet conversation here?”
• During the 8th inning, when I was standing up for 2 strikes, I kept hearing mumbling behind me. Finally I turned around, and a guy with a sweater tied around his neck looked right at me and yelled, “Down in front!” I pointed out to him that of the 50,000 people at the game, 49,950 were standing, and that if he had an issue with supporting the Yankees there were some other places he could be. His response: “Down in front!”
• Random asides – we saw Barkley, Bloomberg, and Giuliani at the game. My dad and Brandon ran into Rudy in the bathroom, where he counseled everyone to “never forget” to wash their hands.

None of that mattered, though, because the Yankees were dealing, and we were six outs away from another pennant. The crowd was delirious through the last few innings, and when some poor Angels defense gave us a cushion, everyone could sense destiny. In the top of the 9th, Mo struck out Gary Matthews Jr. swinging and the stadium erupted. Here is the entire final at bat (final pitch comes at about the 2:00 mark):

My dad and brothers left, but my night was only beginning.

After staying at our seats to watch the clubhouse video and award presentations, I made my way over to the Yankee dugout. Various reporters and police officers congregated by the entrance and the fans dwindled to about 100 people.

After about 20 minutes, we heard a load roar. Oh my god – that’s Phil Coke’s music!

Phil Coke jumping up on the dugout right before I was attacked

The big lefty let out a guttural scream and jumped up on the dugout rail. He stopped in front of me, offered me his champagne, and shook all of our hands. He then dumped it all over everyone as he ran away screaming. Going to a game with my dad and brothers, watching us clinch a WS berth, and then celebrating with actual Yankee players was almost too much to enjoy. I licked the residual champagne off of my face and shirt and kept waiting.

As time went on, the rest of the bullpen came out, Jerry Hairston did a few interviews, and we got to see Peter Gammons. The fans that stayed were still fired up and went through a few bleacher creature chants that didn’t stop until the person turned around:

• PE-TER GA-MMONS (when he turned to wave, everyone screamed “Boston sucks!”)
• DA-VID CONE (wave)
• PER-FECT GAME (another Cone wave)
• WHERE IS WELLS? (Cone laughs)
• MICH-AEL KAY (disgusted look, followed by brief nod)
• Random fan to Michael Kay: “Michael Kay has enormous dog balls!”
• WHO’S YOUR DA-DDY (presumably Pedro felt a disturbance in the force)

A bunch of the players’ children then came on the field. Young Girardi, Young Cano and Young Jorge had a spirited race around the bases, with Young Girardi legging out a victory against Young Jorge (the crowd went wild). They then threw BP to each other with an inflatable ball, during which Young Cano swung at a pitch above his head, surprising no one.

At about 2:45 AM, it was finally time to go, and I slowly left the Stadium for the 4 train.

Much has been made of the negatives in baseball of late – rising ticket prices, lack of team parity, steroids, etc. This all comes in the context of a struggling country, which makes things like the Legends Seats (and the fans I described) all the more unseemly. Much like the current political climate, people got bogged down in details, arguments, and scandal.

Yes, the Yankees are a team of haves, and often face have-nots. Yes, the orgy of luxury in the suites is probably ill suited for the times we live in (and sushi and wine are always unsuited for baseball). And yes, given all of the above, baseball almost lost its way this decade.

But, none of that is what I saw on Sunday night.

Unlike other times this decade (where the team, fans and ownership took winning for granted), the fans were overjoyed. The players were overjoyed. They were also appreciative – they made numerous gestures after the game to show love to the fans.

Whether you were a casual fan or a sabermetrician, or sitting in the first or the last row, the collective euphoria of millions of New Yorkers was all that mattered when that final out landed in Posada’s glove. People were complaining about the seat disparity – but aren’t Astors and Helmsleys just as much a part of New York’s history as immigrants and commuters? This is our city and these are our fans, for better or for worse. This is the greatness of baseball.

Time will tell if the country can do the same – focus on what makes it great instead of our differences. In the meantime, though, baseball has not lost its way. I will never forget the cheering, the energy, the passion (and the alcohol I got from Phil Coke) as long as I live. I’m hoping we win it all, but either way, for me, this was one of the greatest games I have ever seen.

BOX SCORE

Ballgame over! American League Championship Series over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win!

Showing the fans love

40th AL pennant

City Bike Ride

The first big thing I did was go on a bike ride through Manhattan. After purchasing a bike this summer, I tried to ride it as much as possible. I decided to ride from my place to 59th and West End to go visit my brothers for the day. The trip was fairly straightforward – but it was kind of cool to ride all the way from Astoria to the west side. The 59th Street Bridge is vastly underrated and I had the path mostly to myself.

These pictures are all from the bridge itself – the rest of the time I was using Bond-like maneuvers to avoid cars. Other than Central Park South being unpaved at the time and a few aggressive cabs, the trip was stress free and I would definitely do it again. The trip was a little over 6 miles each way.

The one caveat about it being “stress free” was my decision to play squash for 2 hours when I got there. The next day, my legs felt like some sort of purée.

Try a New Recipe

Next item on my list was a new recipe. Lauren and I were out of options (this was before the Great Epiphany During Which Lauren Decided to Eat Meat Again) so we went with an easy seafood dish. We didn’t spend too much time making them complicated but they tasted very good. The one change I would have made would be to crisp them a little more but other than that, they came out great. Recipe and pictures below.

Maryland Crab Cakes

1 pound crabmeat, shredded
1 1/2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon ground dry mustard
1 dash hot pepper sauce

DIRECTIONS:
1.    Preheat oven broiler.
2.    Mix together crabmeat, bread crumbs, parsley, salt and pepper.
3.    Beat together egg, mayonnaise, hot sauce and mustard. Combine with other ingredients and mix well. Form into patties and place on a lightly greased broiler pan or baking sheet.
4.    Broil for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly brown.

Two kinds of crabmeat

Rice. Exciting, no?

Baking the crab cakes

Finished product. Probably could have made a more exciting plate, but they tasted good. FWIW, honey glazed carrots are awesome. And yes, that salad is pathetic, and is only there in case my mother reads this.

Brandon’s Play

Last, but certainly not least, was my brother Brandon’s play. He has been acting as long as I can remember, and has already appeared in an Andrew Lloyd Webber play and Rescue Me with Denis Leary. This summer, he enrolled in Stagedoor Manor (I would be remiss if I didn’t note that when googling it, be abundantly sure to click the the camp in upstate NY, not the self proclaimed only gay bar in Georgia).

The camp is like an acting farm system, with alumni such as Robert Downey Jr., Natalie Portman and Zach Braff. With any luck, Brandon will be out of rehab in time for Iron Man 16. Anyway, the camp put on a production of Oliver and he got the role of Oliver.

He was terrific, and it was very funny to hear my 12-year-old brother speak like a poverty stricken Londoner. Here are two incredibly low quality pictures (he’s on the left in both).

The other item of note was a celebrity connection. When Tony Randall was 72, his longtime wife died of cancer. Three years later, he remarried (she was 25 – Tony Randall FTW) and had a son and daughter. Well, that son was Brandon’s roommate at camp. He seemed like a very nice kid for the few minutes I spoke with him, and it was a random brush with celebrity considering we were deep in a Hasidic town in upstate NY.

More importantly, though, the night after I met him, I was at Lauren’s watching Family Guy with her dad. The following episode came on. Skip forward to the 1:15 mark (it takes a second to load since it may or may not be from China).

This concludes my very long catch up post.