November?

Wow, how is it November already? It's supposed to hit freezing tonight in the suburbs of NYC.

So, if I'm correct, there are no Bryant events this week. How did that happen? Don't worry though, next week there are four . . . any guesses?

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a great fall recipe devised by my chef-in-residence, Arthur. It's very forgiving, so just use the following as a guide.

Warm Fall Potato Salad with Greens

Boil 1-1 1/4 lbs small potatoes until tender (we used a bag of baby ones from Trader Joe's).

Make the vinaigrette while the potatoes are cooking, :

• 6 - 8 T extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of one lemon, more if lemon is not particularly juicy (can substitute red wine vinegar)
• 1 tsp French Dijon mustard (more to taste)
• salt & pepper

For the salad, combine:

• Boiled potatoes
• 4 oz crumbled feta
• 8 - 10 Greek olives
• 3 T finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 - 3 handfuls of any fresh green (I used arugula but baby spinach would be great.)

Toss with vinaigrette & serve with a piece of grilled chicken or fish and a nice red wine like Montepulciano.

You can also add (we didn't):

• 3 - 4 chopped green onions
• 1 T rinsed capers
• 2 T finely chopped mint

What is your favorite fall food? Bon appetit!

Plus One Equals FIVE!

Congratulations are in order to Michael, Erin, Jacqueline & Abigail (and Aunt Barbara & Uncle Don) who will welcome a new (grand) baby this spring!

M & E --
Send me a picture of all the lovely Vermillion gals!

Everyone else (all three of my followers) --
What do you say -- will it be a third double X chromosone for Michael and Erin???

September 27

Hey Cousin Steven --

Happy Birthday!

What's new with you? Write in and leave a comment to let us know what you did for your birthday. We hope it was a great day!

Three!

It just so happens there are two special birthdays today: Lisa & Jeff

and a wedding anniversary tomorrow: Robin & Paul -- So,

Happy Birthday & Happy Anniversary!

We wish you many more years full of good health and happiness!
What are you all doing to celebrate? What's on the menu for dinner?

Aunt Marylee!

A very Happy Birthday! to our first aunt (and my godmother) Marylee!

We hope you have a great day with celebrating at work and home. We wish you a year filled with happiness, good health, and kisses from your grand babies. See you soon!

Cub Scout Cousin

If you're craving some tasty treats, why not help Cousin Jake support his local Cub Scout Pack? This is a great fundraiser where for each purchases between $6 and $35 goes directly to support local scouting. As always, there's more than just popcorn! Don't those chocolate covered pretzels look taaaaaaasty!! Maybe we should serve up a bowl at the Christmas party?!

I checked out the pdf attachment that Andy sent and the options seemed pretty healthy -- the products contain no trans fats, are low in sodium, and are made with canola oil. Did you know that canola oil is lower in saturated fat than other oils and is very high in healthy unsaturated fats?! It's also a good source of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. These acids are important to ingest because the body doesn't produce them.

If you plan on buying popcorn at the grocery store this winter, save your self a trip and buy this healthier option. This would also make a good neighbor or teacher holiday gift!

Jake needs your orders by the first week of November to ensure that the snacks will arrive in time for the holidays.

Lyme Disease

George & Paulette shared some interesting advice / info from their doctors on Lyme Disease this week. While we haven't seen any deer ticks around Queens lately (NYC prefers bed bugs, thank you very much), I thought I would re-post the info here:

1. Because the deer tick needs only four hours to pass LD bacteria, it's a good idea to treat all deer ticks as LD carriers.
2. Call your doctor for proactive treatment in the event that you remove a deer tick.
3. If you're treated within the first three days of infection, you should only need two days of antibiotic treatment.
4. If initially left untreated, you will need two weeks of treatment.
5. Untreated LD can be debilitating and can require long bouts of treatment.
6. You may never experience the common bulls eye rash.
7. Blood tests may be inconclusive and / or may never show "positive" results for LD.

Also, for whatever reason, some physicians are hesitant to recognize LD, especially when blood tests don't provide proof of infection.

Did you know that LD has surpassed both AIDS & TB as the fastest growing infectious disease in the country? For more information, check out this very informative radio segment about the disease:
http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2008/jul/01/the-lyme-disease-epidemic/

http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2010/sep/03/please-explain-lyme-disease/

Or, there is a fairly new documentary about LD called "Under My Skin"
http://www.underourskin.com/

You can view a trailer for the film on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxWgSOXLVqw

Ooops!

Happy (belated) Birthday to Uncles Greg & Ed!

I hope you had a swell day with lots of birthday cake and ice cream.

Here's to many more!

Registering for the Blog

I mentioned before that, in order to leave comments on the Bryant blog, you have to register. In order to do this, you must have a Google Account. If you have a Gmail email, this will be easy (use the same log in). If you don't, however, it's no big deal. You need to look for and complete this prompt:

Don't have a Google Account? Create an account now.

You can do this using your current email address. There should not be a need to create a new email. Let me know if you think of any other trick or if you run into trouble.

Good luck,
Janene

Bon appetit, etc.

I haven't yet figured out how you can all write in on the blog (other than leaving comments), but if you email me with your contributions, I'll be happy to do same-day postings. You can also add your contributions by becoming a registered member of the blog and by leaving a comment. This is fairly easy to do, so please ask me (or someone tech savvy) for assistance if you run into trouble.

For now, let's start with everyone's favorite . . . food! I know it's early, so take some time to think about it. When you've decided what you'd like to bring, let me know and I'll add it to the grid. If I forgot a category, I'm happy to add it.

Hot Food:
Quiche (Janene)

Cold Food:

Desserts:

Beverages:

Supplies:

Decorations / Music:

Miscellaneous:

Bryant Blogger

Hi family! I thought we would try something new this season. Let's see if we can post information regarding the annual Bryant Christmas party using a web log (blog). Ideally this system will avoid excessive email traffic and will allow us to coordinate the party's details in a central location. In terms of online security: this blog is not "searchable" via the Internet, so strangers should not be lurking. We'll keep details (like the the party's address) private and share them the old-fashioned way. (Wow, who knew that email was old fashioned?!?) Make sure you save the blog's address in your favorites so you can access it whenever you'd like.

A couple of details: You should be able to subscribe to the blog's feed via email. Also, I'd like everybody to be able to post freely. Feel free to weigh in on this topic if you have any technical expertise (ahem, Jake!). I tried to keep the graphics simple so that people with slower Internet connections can have easy access too. Please take the time to register for the blog. If you are a registered member, you can leave comments to the various posts/discussions that other registered members can read.

A couple of rules: Once we figure out how this works, feel free to post anything you think would be of interest to the Bryants. This may include holiday concerts, school events, inspirational quotes, gift draws rules, free furniture, food lists, etc. Please remain courteous and diplomatic at all times. Private issues should be addressed, well, privately. A good rule of thumb is to never post anything online that you wouldn't say to a person's face!

I hope this works! If we like it, we can keep it going for the year!

Have a great day everyone!

Christmas Party

That was easy . . . the annual Bryant Christmas Party is scheduled for Saturday, December 18, 2010. The venue will be the same as last year, so if you have any questions or need directions, talk to Doug and Lisa. The online discussion was nearly unanimous and we thank Lisa for reserving the lodge so early.

Doug & Lisa, would you be so kind as to let everyone know how we can contribute financially to covering the expense of the lodge.