Indian Cliffs Hike Tomorrow Sat., July 2nd 9 AM for SR Days

View of the Split Rock Reservoir Looking South from Indian Cliffs

Attention Smoke Rise Hikers! We are leading a group to the Indian Cliffs as a part of the 4th of July Weekend SR Days celebration.  Don't miss the most beautiful and one of the easiest local hikes in our own backyard! We are gathering tomorrow at 9 AM at the end of Beechwood Lane, west of Red Oak Lane, where there is room to park your car right next to the trail head for our hike.

Take a look at the posts in the SR and K Blog for previous trips to the Indian Cliffs overlook. Bring your camera. You may want bug-spray and a bottle of water. Do wear sturdy shoes for hiking. It's a fairly easy trek and we should be back well before noon.

See you there!

Ted, Christine and Emma

Applying the Chef George Spicy Asian Glaze Recipe - 2nd Part of 4

Now we get to the good part -- actually making and eating the food after applying the Chef George Spicy Asian Glaze!

Ribs Glazed and Ready to Serve

Part 1 gave us Chef George's recipe for the Spicy Asian Glaze of BBQ Sauce, and Part 2, this part shows the use of the recipe on a rack of St. Louis cut pork spare ribs.

Ribs with Dry Rub after 24 hours in the Refrigerator

SR Inn Spicy Asian Glaze

2 Cups Hoisin Sauce
2 TBSP Freshly Chopped Ginger
1 TBSP Freshly Chopped Garlic
¼ Cup Soy Sauce
¼ Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/8 Cup Honey
4 TBSP Chile Paste (Easily found in most Asian Markets)
1 TBSP Vegetable Oil

Sauté garlic and ginger in oil. Add chili paste, then soy sauce followed by the rice wine vinegar, honey and Hoisin sauce and bring to a boil. This is a great for grilled chicken, pork or your favor fish such as salmon.

OK, I cheated here -- I did not saute the garlic and ginger or bring the whole thing to a boil. I just mixed it all up and tasted it -- tasted great! -- and relied on the fact that when basting the meat, the sauce would get cooked! So, there!

The Spicy Asian Glaze I have used on Pork Spare Ribs, which I found on sale at Stop and Shop, but BJ's almost always has them at a great price. I like to give the ribs a dry rub 24 hours before grilling or baking them, which adds a lot to the flavor of the finished dish and manages to get into the meat of the rib a bit better than just the glaze alone.

Here are 2 very basic Dry Rub Recipes that are fine for this purpose:

Sweet Dry Rub for Ribs

6   tablespoons brown sugar

3   tablespoons paprika

3   tablespoons salt

3   tablespoons ground black pepper

2   teaspoon garlic powder

2   teaspoon mustard powder

Spicy Dry Rub for Ribs

6   tablespoons paprika
3   tablespoons salt
3   teaspoons ground black pepper
2   teaspoon garlic powder2   teaspoons onion powder
1  teaspoon (or more) cayenne pepper

optional -- add the dried and ground pepper of your choice, e.g., Chipotle peppers --dried and smoked jalapeno peppers, and/or ancho peppers -- tastes like spicy raisins


or, you could add your Hot Sauce of Choice -- I like my own Habanero Gold!

Lightly coat both sides of the ribs with the Sweet Dry Rub  and add the Chipotle and Ancho pepper if you wish, and place on a sheet pan in the fridge over night.

The ribs I have here are trimmed in a "St Louis" cut which means they are more uniform and look more like Baby Back ribs -- which will cut down on the cooking time a bit -- and by the way, you could just as well be using Baby Backs for this recipe.

The next day, if you are that patient, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and bake the ribs for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until there is 1/4" of bone showing at ends.

Then begin basting the ribs with the SAG every 10 minutes or so, 3 times until you have a nice coating.

And then you are done!

Bon appetit again!

~Ted

Photo credits: Me -- my ribs, my shots

Social Media Series at Kinnelon Library

Images courtesy Fasticon.com

Have you received your copy of the July/August/September 2011 issue of Kinnelon Public Library's Bookmarks? Check out the inside front cover. It describes my Social Media Presentation Series at the Kinnelon Library.

It's a three part series taking place July 6, 13 and 20th starting at 7pm. The topic? My very favorite: social media.

If you'd like to attend, please call the Kinnelon Library at 973-838-1321. I'd love to see you there!

Here's the official description:

Join Kinnelon resident and author of the Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog, Christine B. Whittemore, as she leads you through a multi-part social media marketing presentation series.

This presentation series will place social media marketing into perspective for those wanting to use the tools of social media to promote themselves and/or their businesses and raise their professional profile online. With more and more customers and companies beginning online when they search for resources, it matters to be found online.

The first session will put social media into context. Subsequent sessions will examine specific social networking platforms and address audience questions. Participants are invited to submit their specific questions to the presenter ahead of time.

July 6 -- Part I: Overview

• What is social media
• Why it matters
• The major tools
• Social Media code of behavior

July 13 -- Part II & III: LinkedIn & Blogging

• Basics
• Advanced
• Case studies

July 20 -- Part IV & V: Facebook & Twitter

• Basics
• Advanced
• Case Studies

Christine B. Whittemore is Chief Simplifier of Simple Marketing Now LLC, a marketing communications consultancy that helps organizations better connect with customers through social media and content marketing.

Part I on July 6th will be the most formal of the sessions. The next two will be interactive workshops during which you can bring your laptops to follow along [Note: the Kinnelon Library offers free WiFi.].

If you have specific questions, feel free to forward them to me in the comments or via email at cbwhittemore@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing you at the Kinnelon Library!

Summer Recipes from the Smoke Rise Inn and Chef George Spicy Asian Glaze and Mango Cucumber Salsa -- 1st Part of 4

We have 2 more great summer recipes for the home kitchen from Chef George Tavolara to share with all of you -- a Spicy Asian Glaze or BBQ Sauce and a Mango Cucumber Salsa -- both great for the upcoming 4th of July Holiday or anytime in warmer weather.

This post begins a 4 part series of articles, the first and the 3rd of which release the recipe, and the 2nd and 4th with my execution of them. Did that come out wrong? I mean, I am going to make the recipes!

SR Inn Spicy Asian Glaze

2 Cups Hoisin Sauce
2 TBSP Freshly Chopped Ginger
1 TBSP Freshly Chopped Garlic
¼ Cup Soy Sauce
¼ Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
1/8 Cup Honey
4 TBSP Chile Paste (Easily found in most Asian Markets)
1 TBSP Vegetable Oil

Sauté garlic and ginger in oil. Add chili paste, then soy sauce followed by the rice wine vinegar, honey and Hoisin sauce and bring to a boil. This is a great for grilled chicken, pork or your favor fish such as salmon.

This is a pretty easy recipe to follow, even for me, and I expect to have good results to show -- actually I cheated, and I already have good results to show based on the impartial judgment of Emma and Christine -- which I will post in a few days.

Our thanks to Chef George and the Smoke Rise Inn.

Bon Appetit,

~Ted Whittemore

Sign Up For the Smoke Rise Inn eNewsletter

Were you aware that the Smoke Rise Inn  publishes an eNewsletter that you can subscribe to?

It comes out weekly and highlights the latest happenings at Kinnelon's Smoke Rise Village Inn.

For example, the Smoke Rise Inn is conducting the first annual Facebook / Village Inn Lunch Special Contest... Here's an excerpt from the eNewsletter:

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk into a restaurant and see a dish that you created on the menu for all to enjoy? Well, the Inn is looking to its loyal Facebook friends to contribute what they feel are their most creative and delicious sandwich, pizza or grilled cheese recipes so we can do just that.

...Continuing throughout the summer, the Inn will select one entry per week to be featured as a special at lunch. Each week’s entry will be judged based on creativity, originality and units sold. The overall winner will receive a $50 gift certificate in addition to having their item added as a permanent fixture on our Fall Lunch menu.

To be eligible to enter you must be a fan of the Smoke Rise Village Inn Facebook page. Please email your recipe to the Inn’s General Manager at randy@smokeriseinn.com to be considered. Our panel of judges will make one selection per week with our first week’s entry being featured on June 7th."

Yum!

The eNewsletter also mentions something I've been dying to do... Alfresco Dining in that magical patio space off of the Smoke Rise Inn ballroom. You can have lunch or dinner, or simply enjoy a cocktail [and your new-found menu fame!].

If you'd like to receive the eNewsletter, look for the sign up form when you next go to the Smoke Rise Inn or simply email Randy Polo and let him know you'd like to receive it.

Enjoy!

Kinnelon Little Critter File -- What Are They???

This spring at Emma's bus stop, actually in the the culvert pool next to the stop, which feeds the bog and the stream that runs along Sleepy Hollow, we found an odd orange swarming mass of some type of, well, larvae, I guess.

Farthest Away

Medium distance

Close-up

At first we all thought they were rust, or brick dust, because of the bright color, but we could see on closer examination that they had legs and were moving, and actively. Their bodies were elongated and perhaps 1/8" or a little longer, with waving appendages.

They remained for about 5 days or so at the bottom of that pool and then dwindled rapidly over the course of a couple of days, finally to disappear.

What are they???

If they hadn't been somewhat sausage-like, I might have thought they were water mites, and if they had been a little more elongated I might think them to be midge larvae, which can both be orange, small, and present in the spring water runoff. But now, we do not know.

Does anyone?

They are pretty cool, though, and I'm sorry I did not scoop some up into a jar and take a look under a microscope. I did mean to. Ah, well ...

Yours in curiosity,

Ted and Emma


Photo Credit: Grace Mougalian

Kinnelon's Eileen Gelenter: Our Living Treasure

Eileen Gelenter - 2011 Poetry Contest

Kinnelon is a rich community thanks to Eileen Gelenter, our Living Treasure.

We know her best for her intense participation in the Kinnelon Library annual children's poetry contest when she brings to life the joys of words, poems and lyrics. Most recently, Eileen treated the 2011 Poetry Recitation participants and audience to a performance of  "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", to illustrate that song lyrics are poetry.

If you've not taken part in the poetry contest, you may have met Eileen at the yearly Kinnelon Conserves Earth Day Celebration where she delights children as "Red the Tender Clown". [See 4th Annual Kinnelon Conserves Earth Day.]

There's more - much more - as I discovered thanks to Ariana Cohn from Kinnelon Patch who reported that Eileen Gelenter was a Woman to Be Honored As 'Living Treasure' given her more than 40 years of service to the Kinnelon community "teaching several programs at the Kinnelon Public Library, helping found the Jewish Congregation of Kinnelon, entertaining children as "Red the Tender Clown," and more."

The more is documented in Kinnelon's Gelenter Honored As Living Treasure, a 8.59 minute Patch video of Roberta Lane describing why she had nominated her friend, Eileen Gelenter, as a Living Treasure. Even former mayor, Glenn Sisco, weighs in. Note how firetrucks come up!

I bet many readers have their own stories to share about Eileen!

Eileen Gelenter Sings 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'

Here is my very short video clip of Eileen making her point about poems and song lyrics [sadly, I didn't get my Flipcam ready quickly enough to capture the full performance] titled Kinnelon's Eileen Gelenter, Our Living Treasure:



Thank you, Eileen, for all that you do for the Kinnelon community and our children. You make us very rich!

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