Usually the Chemex is my office go-to for a jolt, but it comes in handy for keeping flowers on the right side of mortality until I can get them home.

Father’s Day Toy Show

Yesterday I took the boys to the Father’s Day Toy Show in Mullica Hill, NJ. It’s a nice switch from the usual shows we’ve gone to, as it’s outside. Sure, it was a little hot in the sun, but almost all of the vendors are in shaded pavillions.

This show is one of many put on my ToyShows.org. I got to wondering about the first show I ever took them to, and it only took me a few moments in Photos on my iPhone to find out: It was in Mount Laurel, NJ, on January 11th, 2011. That particular show really stands out in my mind for a few reasons. I’m sure part of the reason was that it was also my first show; I’d never been to anything like that. I remember being utterly awed at the volume of tables out with stuff on display, and the amount of stuff on display. We walked all around one large room in a hotel conference space, only to realize there was another large room full of tables. It was really big, at least as I recall it.

Subsequent shows were never quite as large as that one, at least in my mind, although there were plenty of good ones. They seem to have settled, for the most part, at the Nur Shrine Center in New Castle, Delaware. These shows have a fair bit of the things the boys like to collect (fairly modern, highly articulated action figures from a variety of manufacturers), but skew now towards antiques and other items. This makes them somewhat less likely to result in big "scores," but that does happen.

Increasingly, the boys really like NJ Collectors Con, which is always in Cherry Hill, always very good, albeit pricey to get into. Another favorite is the toy show that FarPoint Toys hosts on Memorial Day weekend, called "It’s a Toy Show," after their original retail location in Richland, NJ, which was called "It’s a Toy Store!" This was one of their favorite haunts (and mine) for a long time until the boys had generally found most of the older toys they might want, and it became easier to find new toys on Amazon and other online retailers.

Here’s this week’s list of things to check out:

1. Amarena Cherries: We’ve tried Luxardo, Starlino, and now Amarena. They are the least good, but plenty good, for cocktails and desserts. The juice is thinner than the other cherries, and they have more of a confection taste than a plummy, jammy taste.
2. Toy Shows: I’ve been taking the boys to toy shows operated by Richard D’Amico for years now. They are a menagerie of current collectibles (think Marvel, DC, GI Joe, and Transformers), but lots of other kitschy items that you might see for the first time, or recall from your childhood. I’d never buy the vintage stuff, but I do like taking pictures of it.
3. Hanger Steak: We used to be able to get hanger steak at our local butcher easily, but the supply has dried up. I like it so much that I made a website about how to prepare it. My dad got six steaks from Pat LaFrieda for fathers day and I cooked them via sous vide for four hours at 130 degrees before grilling them off. They were great.

I risk spoiling Sunday Serial but hey.

I was at our weekly guitar lesson last Thursday and working on this song while my son tuned up, and our teacher perked up, hearing the riff. He pulled together a quick tab and we ran through the song a couple of times. I listened to the song a bit more closely in the intervening days and got hooked on the lyrics. They are a good example of limerence at its finest:

Getting hard to sleep, blood is in my dreams
Love is killing me, tryin’ to figure it out
Nothing better to do when I’m stuck on you
I’m still in here tryin’ to figure it out

Figure It Out

Whew. I got a few pair.

Feeling Hot: The Definitive Men’s Summer Fashion Guide For 2024

Whew. I got a few pair.

Feeling Hot: The Definitive Men’s Summer Fashion Guide For 2024

@the_leighton_show

Anybody remember this one? It’s that time again #mulching #funny #husband #mulch #yardwork

♬ original sound – The Leighton Show

I was pretty sure that’s what I was doing to myself Sunday.

Finished up the can of Starlino Hotel cherries. Trying these Amarena cherries tonight 🍸

Sunday Serial: BBB method, Fresh Clean Threads, and Local Joints
Here’s this week’s list of things to check out.

1. BBB Method: We bought a pool back in 2011, and one of the concerns I had, outside of the cost of the pool itself, was the cost and trouble of maintaining the water. I in short order found what was then called the BBB Method; BBB stands for bleach, borax, and baking soda. With this method, outside of a few other problems or considerations, you can maintain your pool using three things you can find at any Walmart or grocery store. It works. Cheaply.

1. Fresh Clean Threads: I’ve been buying t-shirts from this website for years. I don’t have any that fit right now, so I ordered a three-pack of bright tees today, size small. They hold up well to repeated washings, and have a more bespoke fit than your average tee.

2. Local joints: Somewhere in the late 90s, my parents stared dining out in joints more swanky than I was used to as a child. Especially in Philly, there was a world of new cuisine available for the adventurous eater. Being able to tag along, I developed a sniffing attitude towards local favorites, places I’d been dining at for the first two decades of my life. Kids and other welcome limitations caused us to shrink our dining radius some, and while we still nip out for an adventure from time to time, dining locally revealed to me the delights of local favorites. Places nearby like the Maplewood, 5 Points, and Olympia haven’t changed appreciably in appearance or offerings, but are still, happily, very good places at which to dine.

This tree is on the side of our house; it reliably bears nice sweet mulberries every spring. The groundhogs like it. I do too. Joe still wanders out there once in a while and eats them off the tree.

1. Autohotkey: Autohotkey is a keyboard macro utility; if you use TextExpander or Keyboard Maestro on the Mac, you have a good idea about what this app is about. I found it way back in the day when I had a Gateway at work and wanted to set up something like TextExpander. It’s a more manual affair, setting up Autohotkey, but it’s an interesting experiment and a bit more technical to get set up. It also seems considerably more flexible. I just use it for text expansion.
2. Sazerac Rye: Rhonda picked up a bottle of this at the local liquor store; they didn’t have our current favorite, Rittenhouse. I’m always up to try something new, and I was curious about this one. I think I’ve had it in a Sazerac in Atlantic City. It’s got a bit more heat than Rittenhouse, despite only being 90 proof. Makes a fine Manhattan, though.
3. Franklinville Inn: I wrote about this today already, but I’m dropping it in the list. Worth a visit for sure. And my yelp review is up.