Food Critique/ The Grand Lux Café

       The Grand Lux Café is the cherry on top of any celebration.





       Located at the Garden State Plaza, only 8 miles away from Cliffside Park, it is a perfect ideal place for any celebration on the agenda (even if it’s just an ordinary evening out).

      The Grand Lux Café offers “casual global cuisine in an elegant yet relaxed atmosphere.”

As soon as you walk into the Grand Lux Café, you are swept off your feet by the sweet smelling aroma of freshly made goods.

      The café offers a huge variety of foods; ranging from chicken wings to the chicken royal with shrimp scampi.  No matter what food you’re in the mood for (even if you’re a bit picky) there is always something on the menu that will catch your eye.

      I went Tuesday night with my family and ordered the Lemon Chicken Piccata and it was to die for!  Sautéed chicken over whole wheat pasta, covered with a creamy lemon sauce, mushrooms, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and a touch of basil, delicious!

      Overall, on a scale from 1 to 10, I would definitely rate the Grand Lux Café with a 10 for its wonderful staff, service, clean environment, and outstanding food.

      Each meal is personally made with the finest ingredients to suit each customer’s needs and delivered bit its highly trained staff. According to the chief “we have traveled around the world to find the wonderful recipes that inspire our signature “grand casual cuisine.”

     So, if you’re into the mood for fresh high quality food; that will also not break the bank, I would highly recommend the Grand Lux Café a complete must.To make a reservation or just simply look at the Grand Lux Café’s menu, click on the bottom hand link.

http://www.grandluxcafe.com/

   

Disaster/ An Unexpected Phone Call

     RING!!! Mira Lisanin was unpacking groceries when she came upon an unexpected phone call.

     It was her long time good friend Maya who was expected to come late Monday evening.  Little did Mira know that her friend was standing at the front door.

     It was early Monday morning and Mira was getting everything ready for her friend to arrive.  She washed the dishes, took out the sheets and towels for her guest to use and even bought all of the ingredients needed for her special homemade seafood pasta.

     Her husband was taking out everything from the huge walk in closet to make space for the guest while Ana (Mira’s youngest daughter) was eating her lucky charms cereal in her pjs.

 Then up came a phone call from Maya stating she was right outside!

     Chaos and catastrophe striked, as the family tried to clean up all the shoes and jackets thrown onto the couch.

     Rampages stroke as each family member ran from one side of the room to the other stuffing all the winter coats into a 5 by 5ft. closet as wild domestic elephants.

     Ana ran right into her room and put on the nearest outfit she could find, but as she got back into the living room, she accidentally knocked over her bowl of cereal.

     “Great, that’s all we needed in this disaster” Thought Mira.

      Mira quickly ran downstairs to open the door and tired to stall Maya and her family by helping them pick up their belongings in the car; as her husband tried to put away the left over remains of shoes and wipe up the spilled cereal.

      As Maya walked into the living room, Mira apologized about the mess.

     “ When didn’t expect you to come so early; we thought you were going to arrive no later than 8p.m.

      Maya began to laugh, and Mira realized what a huge scene she had made over something nearly over nothing.

Meeting/ The Board’s Decision

Board Room- Christina and many other residences in my building wait patiently for Joan Smith, the managing agent of the building to arrive. Their eyes full of eagerness over what will happen to improve the building and whether or not their maintenance bills will go up.

     Over the years, the maintenance bills have sky rocketed from excessive exterior décor; from something small as plants to large and more advanced roofing.

     Nobody knows what is going to be needed for improvement yet, but Joe (a fellow resident) has a list of complaints ready in the palms of his hands.

      Joan enters the small mellow commercial room with a broad like smile and greets each of the board members.  Then she slowly starts to begin.

     “Ok let’s get into business”, she says still with her fake smile that sends down goose bumps each time you look at it.

       Joe steps up on the plank and begins his list of complaints.

      “First and far most, our canopies are falling apart.  We need to replace them, and we need to now before another blizzard hits.”

     The jury agrees, which means its Joan’s call on the subject.  “I agree with you Joe.  The canopies do need a change in case there is another natural disaster.”

      The decision is settled, and Joe goes onto his next complaint. “I know that we are all going through a rescission and that we don’t have a high budget to begin with, but our light fixtures do need a change.  It is an easy fixer upper that can truly change the appearance of the building.”

     All seven board members stare at each other and agree that a small fixer upper will do a great job to the exterior of the building.

     Joan thinks about the two new ideas and reaches a conclusion.  The canopies are scheduled to be installed and finished, barring any issues installing the light fixtures on Tuesday December 28th, weather permitting.

      The satisfied board members march out the door, all but one, Perry. 

      “I think the two new ideas are great!  I just feel the one hour meeting was only a one on one trial against Joe and Joan.”

Disaster/ A Winter Wonderland

      Cliffside Park- Streets are closed, buses are out of service, children are out having the time of their life playing in the snow, and parents are stuck inside waiting for this disaster to be over.

     On Sunday night, Mother Nature left a winter wonderland after blizzard 2010 struck Cliffside Park, New Jersey, measuring up to 25 inches.

This unexpected surprise led hundreds of people either disappointed or overjoyed.

     For parents, it was a horrible nightmare. Many busy streets and highways were closed; for example route 17 along with many other roads.  New Jersey transit was also shut down, making transportation to work nearly impossible.

     With no transportation, many people were forced to stay at home instead of going to work and with today’s recession, many families were struck hard due to the blizzard. No work means no money for employees.

     Many people who planned out winter vacations in months in advance were also disappointed after being trapped for hours at local airports. Over 500 flights were cancelled that day at Newark Airport.  Some people had their flight cancelled at least five times before they were able to reach their destination.

   

     To make matters worse, because of the closed roads and unplowed streets, some ambulance were unable to assist people in need.  One woman died from Camden New Jersey, after she waited 40 minutes for medical attention.                                                                                                                                       

     However, not everyone was disappointed that day.  Many children were found either making a snowman, having a snowball fight, or even sledding down hill.

     Even though some children were disappointed that the blizzard happened during the holiday break instead of a normal school week, most children find it was one of the greatest filled days they had in a very long time.

   Besides, even if many parents were disappointed about not being able to attend to work, they were still given the opportunity to spend some quality time with their family; which is the most important part during a Christmas break.

    

Critique/ A Day in the Sky

 
  

     If you’re adventurous, and not afraid of heights, than watching the view on top of the Empire State Building is right for you.

     The Empire State Building has always been a center point for tourists from all over the world.  In fact, over a billion people visit the building each and every year!

     It is located between 34^th and 33^rd street between 5^th and 6^th avenue, where the legendary King Kong made his long trip up to the top of the building.

     I recently went to the Empire State Building with my family on Christmas day, but in order to reach the top you have to go through security, where everyone is asked to take off their coats and go through a metal detector.

     Followed by the security check, is a line to buy tickets.  Each ticket costs $21 for adults and $15 for children to go up onto the 86^th floor.  If you’re a dare devil and wouldn’t mind going 20 levels higher, than you can pay an additional $15 to go onto the 102^th floor.

     As soon as you receive your ticket, everyone is sent towards a long line for the first elevator up.  The line can last anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the number of visitors.

     The elevator itself is a two minute ride, but it only goes up to the 80^th floor.  Then there is a choice of either walking up the stairs for the remaining six floors, or waiting another 20 minutes for the second elevator.

     Once you reach the top, the view of Manhattan is breathtaking.  You can see for miles; from the ice rink in Bryant Park, to Edgewater in New Jersey.

     Overall, I would rate the Empire State Building a 7 out of 10 for its spectacular views.

     The only downside is the organization and the excessively long lines.  In total, there are four different lines to wait on that will come up to 3 hours (more than the actual time watching the stunning view).

     Also the line is very unorganized because in some cases people can cut the line by passing by the restrooms; since the hallway in between connects the back of the line to the front of the line (lol).

     Despite the long lines, the wait is totally worth it once you see the spectacular view.  I would definably recommend everyone to go visit the Empire State Building with their families.

If you want to reserve a ticket for the Empire State Building, or find more info click on the following link
http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/index.cfm?CFID=36673358&CFTOKEN=79697568&gclid=CJGQsJ-_nKYCFcTb4AodVRJ_mw