For all these reasons and more, the last few days have been devastating for my family.  For one thing, we were fearful for our own lives.  The two days leading up to the hurricane were terrifying.  We stocked up on food and flashlights.  We secured the trampoline, removed the garbage cans and Halloween decorations from the yard, cleared the gutters and made sure we were equipped. We expected the worst and as the storm moved in and our power went out, we geared up for it.

The night of the story, our power went out pretty early.  As the winds picked up, we heard things banging around outside.  I walked by the air conditioner upstairs and the winds were so strong that it felt like the air was on.  My daughter, realizing she would have to sleep in the dark, became terrified and started crying.  Our house is surrounded by trees and we wondered about the fate of our house, as well as our own.

When we woke up the morning of the hurricane, everything was calm.  The storm had ended.  Our house wasn’t flooded, it was still standing.  We looked out the window and wondered about the rest of the world. Then we walked a few feet and found one of our neighbors’, one of my friends, homes hit hard by the storm.  Not one tree, but two, had crashed into her bedroom and left a hole in her house.  Stoically, she pronounced to me that she had been wanting new bedroom furniture and a rug and now her chance has come.  I so admired her pride and optimism.  That’s her house on the left.

But the truth is that it’s bad in NY .  It’s really bad. Massive flooding, the downed trees everywhere, the burned houses that have fallen to the ground, the Jersey Shore that has been ripped apart, flooded cars and homes, the destruction of public parks, damaged hospitals, destruction on Staten Island, Crown Heights, Fire Island, all over NJ, Toms River.  And shall we talk about NYC? The flooded subway system, power failures, tunnel, train and airport closures, evacuated residents, facades of buildings falling on the streets, flooded schools.  It’s unbelievable.

I don’t have power.  Millions of others don’t have power and everyone’s upset.  They’re all talking about what the government could have done to fix our infrastructure to avoid this mess. Do I like being without power and having the kids home all week?  NO. But I’m not blaming anyone for mother nature.  Maybe I’m too nice but after seeing the devastation that’s taken place all over my beloved city, and after seeing my friend’s house, and hearing about a neighborhood that burned down just 20 miles away in Greenwich, Connecticut, I will not complain.

We’ve spent the last few days cooped up at home.  My sister from Brooklyn came to stay and we’ve had candlelight dinners, long Scrabble games, games of Truth or Dare, cleverly made meals from all the food going off in the refrigerator and freezer, laughing at the equations of Sandy to the film “Grease”.  We’ve been staying close to the radio and Facebook, following up on all our friends and family to make sure everyone’s alright.

Halloween was canceled in our town, and you know what, none of us cared. There are trees, branches, wires all over our streets.  It’s not safe for kids to walk around in the dark.  Plus, this isn’t a time to celebrate while so many others are living in fear and going through such hard times.  That’s why I can’t blog or talk about much else this week.

Tomorrow stay tuned to find out how you can help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, whether you live nearby or not.

Let me know how you’re doing in the comments below.

Oh, and did I mention the kids?  They rank into the equation, too.  Kids ages 7 & 8 have a lot going on and a lot to keep track of, and I have to admit that I have forgotten to pick them up. But don’t we all have those MOMents?

Growing up, my mom had a business and worked from home for many years.  I have vivid memories of her boiling a big pot of coffee and taking cup after cup into her bedroom.  Her bed was covered with papers with notes and phone numbers sprawled on them.  She was an entrepreneur and wildly successful and a terrific role model in every way.  But she wasn’t organized.  Well, I correct that.  She was organized.  She could locate a specific piece of paper anytime she needed to!  But most of all, everything she needed was in her head.

So, that’s where I got it. Because for me, it’s all in my head, too. Everything I know.  But it doesn’t mean that I should follow in her footsteps.  Especially in today’s digital age.

So, when I was contacted by D&D Solutions, organizational consultants based in Westchester, for an assessment, I jumped.  Their mission is “to help you get organized and regain control, whether it be your business, your home, or your life.” I was eager to get suggestions, both offline and online, to see where my missteps are and how I can improve this very messy situation (or that’s how it was perceived in my mind).

Dana & Diane, the company’s owners, arranged a time to meet with me and showed up (on time, of course, that would not look good if organization professionals were late!) to spend an hour with me to get to know me and my work.  I showed them my company sites, my one notebook, my files (all on the computer).  Dana and Diane believe in the 80/20 rule –concentrating on and solving 20% of the issues that are impeding your success will produce 80% of your results.  This rule should serve as a daily reminder to focus the majority of your time and energy on that which is really important.  That is what I need in my life – priorities.

After getting to know me and my style, they went away and came back to me very promptly and efficiently with strategies to simplify my work life.  Their suggestions were thorough and  well thought out and I want to include a few here that I am trying to faithfully keep:

- Purchase a time tracking notebook.  I tried using an app but never updated it.  This idea seemed more efficient. I’d buy a lovely notebook and record my hours.  I have to admit that I did record my hours for the first few weeks but it has subsided.  I do plan/hope to get back to it, or maybe try that app again?  I do get paid by the hour by one client, so I need to know my hours.  That I know.

- Buy separate notebooks each project/client.  I went to Staple’s and bought some art deco notebooks and I’ve been switching between each one and bought a fancy box to put them in.  A lot of what I do is on the computer, and I use Drop Box now, but it’s good to have my notes separated, and I am using them.

- Set up an online calendar.  I was doing this before but now I’m more rigid about it and have it hooked up to my iPhone.  I get reminders about everything.  The only problem is that I don’t always check it the day or week before and events pop up on me without much notice.  I just have to get used to it, after keeping a paper calendar for so many years.

Since our meeting, I’m now using HootSuite more efficiently and other online tools to measure my social media success, and I’m taking a course to better improve my metrics skills.  I’m using apps to get better organized like Cozi and am really trying to streamline.  I’m definitely practically paper free, I only have a few files and folders, but I still like to write in my new, inspiring notebooks.  Dana & Diane gave me great suggestions for keeping a lot of what I do digital, since that is what my life and work consist of, so I’ve cleaned up spreadsheets and I’m working on the creating a digital file for each business card (by using an app! How genius is that?).

I highly recommend D&D Solutions if you’re lacking organization in your life.  Less clutter, whether it be paper or not, can slow your work performance down.  It slowed me down and I’m much more efficient now.

Of course, I am still FAR from organized.  But at least I’m making more of an effort to be that I used to.

But have I mentioned that sometimes I like to work from my bed?  (Like mother, like daughter).

Disclosure: I received a free assessment but all opinions expressed are my own.

Source: http://chinawhiteusa.com

China White is located at 578 Anderson Hill Road.  The ambiance is sleek and sophisticated, with pale tones and wall mountings and light fixtures that are seem to be an ode to China’s dining style.   They boast to using organic food, something most Chinese restaurants definitely don’t do.  The waiters are dressed in construction worker -type uniforms, dressed a lot like the guys in Disney’s “Imagination Movers”.   The walls are white, everything’s white, but that was one thing that didn’t quite work for me and I don’t think our waiter appreciated my comparison to a kid’s show.  But I do have to say that she was great – full of suggestions and knowledge about the food and what to order.

We started off the meal with delicious deep fried noodles with condiments, which are complimentary and definitely a spin on what you see in your typical Chinese restaurant.  The condiments come in small dishes. We decided to share everything so we could sample various items.  We tried the chicken and peanut spring rolls ($10), which were absolutely divine; barbecued spare ribs ($16); pan fried scallion pancakes ($7) and the most delightful Shanghai noodles I’ve ever had, cooked in “cool peanut sauce” and cucumber ($12).  They have other noodle options which we didn’t try: rice vermicelli ($14), chow fun ($16) and lo mein ($15).  They also offer crunchy vegetable and mango summer rolls ($10), sweet white shrimp ($14), egg drop soup ($6), hot and sour soup ($7), a crispy duck salad ($15), white salad with pears, tofu, cashew, choy and sherry vinaigrette and bao bao buns (chicken, roast pork or BBQ beef for $12).  And dumplings – shrimp, pork or crispy vegetable ($9-$12).

For our meal, we tried General Tso’s fish ($27), made with ginger chile-sauce which was my favorite dish.  Just watch those peppers!  Other dishes we sampled were black pepper beef ($29), tangerine beef ($32), Chef Joe’s spicy dragon chicken ($26) and Chef Joe’s spicy dragon chicken with red chiles and sugar peas ($26).  They also have wok sauteed prawns ($28), wok lobster ($39) and sesame chicken ($22).   The market fried rice with chicken, pork or shrimp ($12) is smooth and rich.  Everything has a distinct taste and flavor, and if you like Asian food, you’ll love their food.  Everything we had smelled and tasted divine.  Honestly, there were no slip-ups.

I also like the fact that there are many vegetarian options.  At the end of the meal, they provided free chai-flavored cotton candy which we all happily munched on with our tea.  They also handed us a Magic 8 Ball (instead of a fortune cookie?) which we all gladly asked questions, and squinted our eyes to read the answer in small print.  It was a nice touch, all in the vein of China and quite possibly, heroin.

I have to give my friend who found China White a round of applause.  A bonafied foodie, she always leads us right to good food in Westchester.  She led us to Alvin and Friends and now here.  Everyone in our group of six enjoyed this unique culinary experience and I have a feeling it will be a repeat for all of us.

Disclosure: I was not compensated to write this review in any way and all opinions expressed are my own.

Photo Soure: Yelp.com

A few months ago, I wrote about the exceptional new restaurant in New Rochelle, Alvin and Friends.  It literally knocked my taste buds off and changed our perception of food in Westchester.  Since then, a slew of good restaurants have opened up in Mamaroneck, the town on the other side of where we live, as well, and we have far superior dining options locally than we ever did.  We have been waiting for the same development to occur in New Rochelle.

So, last night, when my husband and I encountered a new wine bar in the area, based on the recommendation of a friend, called the Gnarley Vine Bar, I was beyond excited.  As soon as we walked in, I felt nostalgic for the Lower East Side and East Village.  The bar has that vibe and definitely brings a bit of NYC to Westchester.  It’s funny, I’ve passed by the bar a zillion times driving down Main Street, but the exterior did not call out to me to let me know about this terrific find.  I would suggest they do something about that, but from the looks of it, as there were plenty of people inside who also seemed to have stumbled upon it, many other Westchester residents have discovered this gem.

The wine choices are interesting, and not expensive.  The bartender was very happy to bring out samplings of whatever we wanted to try.  He even encouraged it.  The servings are also generous.  The menu has lovely cheese plates, delicious salads, tuna tartar, quesadillas, pizzas and other special dishes.  Everything is flavorful and really well presented.  We really impressed by the food and happy to spend a good part of our evening sampling different menu items.

We happened to know several people from Larchmont, but the community definitely is vibrant and diverse, many of whom you’d expect to bump into in downtown NYC.  We can’t wait to go back again, and I think I’ve discovered my new local hang-out.  It’s just not in my own town.

Last year I wrote about the ninth annual Westchester Jewish Film Festival at the Jacob Burns Film Center as a main feature on this blog.  I was new to the blogging world and was thrilled to have a forum to promote Jewish film programming in Westchester.  Now one year later, I am doing it again.  The Jacob Burns is about to kick off their 10th Festival, and the program looks incredible, once again. I am admittedly drawn to Jewish and Israeli themed art – whether it be actual art, theater, film or literature, and this festival is a superb celebration of Jewish and Israeli culture. The Q&A’s and receptions after the screenings are pretty fabulous.  Last year I met the incredible Ruth Gruber after a filming of a documentary about her called Ahead of Time.  She saved thousands of Jews from dying in camps during the Holocaust.  It was certainly a highlight of not just my night, but my lifetime.  She was truly engaging and inspiring.

The complete schedule of films, speakers, special events, and receptions can be viewed on the JBFC website.  It’s a terrific line-up, chock full of narrative and documentary films from around the world.

When I lived in the city, before I had kids, I lived at the Jewish Film Center at Lincoln Center.  I loved it and watched every film they ran – ask my family, they can vouch for it.  I lived 7 blocks away; it was the easiest thing to do at the time.  Now I have little kids, so I can’t see everything, but I’ll be at as much as I can.  I’m taking 40 people from my synagogue’s Sisterhood to see The Hidden Children, a drama based on the true story of the Finaly brothers, two Jewish boys who survived Nazi-occupied France under the care of a devout Catholic woman. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Dr. Elena Procario-Foley and Rabbi Noam Marans with a reception sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (the sponsors of the festival).

Little Rose - Poland

The opening night film on March 24 at 7:00 pm is Little Rose, a sexy, gripping portrait of a culture of suspicion in 1960s Poland, where everyone’s motives are unclear. It’s coined as a riveting drama in the mold of The Lives of Others.  It’s set in 1968, when the Communist party unleashed a campaign of anti-Semitism to counter the free thinking emerging in Eastern Europe.  A reception will follow the screening.

Other highlights in the series include The Human Resources Manager on March 27 followed by a Q&A with A. B. Yehoshua, the celebrated Israeli author whose novel inspired the film.  It’s a poignant black comedy about an unhappy, self-absorbed personnel manager who is forced to escort the body of a suicide-bomb victim in Israel to her Romanian home.  Yehoshua is one of my favorite authors and I can’t wait to see him in person.

Other films include Vidal Sassoon: The Movie with filmmaker Craig Teper interviewed by New York Times critic Janet Maslin on March 28th;  Grace Paley: Collected Shorts on March 28 followed by a Q&A with the film’s director LillyRivlin; and Amos Oz: The Nature of Dreams on April 7 followed by a photo exhibition and reception in the Jane Peck Gallery on the third floor of the Film Center; The Klezmatics: On Higher Ground; Norman Mailer: The American; and so many other great films and documentaries.

As an addition to the festival, they are showing a new print of Shoah to commemorate Holocaust Day on May 1st.  Clocking in at 10 hours, this cinematic epic contains no historical footage, just unprecedented testimony from survivors, eyewitnesses, and Nazi perpetrators. “I think that the film, using only images of the present, evokes the past with far more force than any historical document,” says filmmaker Claude Lanzmann—and critics and audiences around the world agree.  Seeing this documentary changed my life and was a pinnacle of my Jewish youth.  It’s important for everyone to see, and I’m proud of Jacob Burns for bringing it to Westchester.

Alex Shoumatoff

Legendary journalist, travel writer, world explorer, environmental activist — and Bedford native — Alex Shoumatoff will be the featured speaker at Westchester Land’s Trust’s Leon Levy Environmental Symposium.

The event happens Sunday, March 6^th, at 3pm, at the Bedford Village Historical Hall.  Admission is free and will be followed by an informal reception.

Mr. Shoumatoff is one of the most far-flung of environmental and travel writers.  He writes for Vanity Fair, is a former New Yorker staff writer, has authored 10 books, and his website Dispatches From a Vanishing World, dedicated to raising consciousness about disappearing species and cultures, is visited by readers from over 90 countries every month.

A graduate of Bedford’s Rippowam-Cisqua School (and later of Harvard University), Shoumatoff credits his youth in Bedford as the primary force in making him a committed, passionate conservationist.

As a young man, he was curator of the Marsh Sanctuary in Mount Kisco and taught natural history at Rippowam-Cisqua, having inherited a love of the outdoors from his father and brother.  Nicholas Shoumatoff Sr. was president of Westmoreland Sanctuary and Bedford Audubon; Nicholas Jr. was curator of the Trailside Museum at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.

Appropriately, his talk is “Westchester, Bedford and the Making of a Conservationist,” and will focus on how his youth here led to his career as a writer and activist on environmental issues.

This symposium is an annual event held in honor of the late philanthropist Leon Levy, a South Salem resident who established the Jerome Levy Foundation, which provided the majority of the funding to create the Leon Levy Preserve.

The event is free, but seating is limited, so reservations are a must!  RSVPs are being taken at:

Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/Shoumatoff

EventBrite:       http://bit.ly/ShoumatoffEB

Email:              Grace@WestchesterLandTrust.org

Disclosure: I was not compensated to promote this event.

Earlier this year in Larchmont, where I live, a new pizza place called HomeMade Pizza Company opened in one of the many vacant shops in town.  Billed as fresh and wholesome, it definitely caught my eye.  On my many visits to Red Mango for frozen yogurt across the street, my kids would beg me, saying “when are we going to the new pizza store?”  Word started to get around about it and when the buzz came my way, I felt compelled to give it a whirl.  I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about having to take the pizza home to bake.  I also didn’t understand the hype…until I tasted it for myself.  Here’s what so special about this pizza: the ingredients (there’s a choice of 45) are truly fresh, right off a farm, and you can taste the difference; they’re also healthy and more exotic than average; and the concoctions are marvelous.  You choose your toppings and they make it right before your eyes.

I ordered the Quattro Stagioni with artichokes, wild mushrooms, Kalamata olives, Fontinella cheese and fresh thyme.  Hungry yet?  I truly felt like I was in Italy, munching on the tastiest pizza ever.  It’s not thick crust, it’s not thin either.

My kids loved the Classic Cheese with mushrooms.  Hand-tossed dough, ruby red tomato sauce, and creamy part-skim mozzarella.

Other concoctions include the Fresh Herb (with Chevre cheese); the Miesian with Italian Margherita-fresh Roma tomato, roasted garlic, tons of basil and creamy Mozzarella; the Four Cheese with Asiago, Fontinella, Wisconsin Mozzarella, and Ricotta cheeses; Sausage and Carmelized Onion; Spinach Pie; BBQ Chicken; Wild Mushroom; the Georgia with Cumin-scented Santa Fe chicken, of poblano peppers and Ricotta cheese; the B.L.T.; and the Fireside which has Italian sausage, roasted red peppers and aged parmesan.  Okay, now you are really hungry, right?  Prices range from $10.95 to $15.75 for a medium size to $12.95 to $17.95 for a large size pizza.  I personally love their selection of salads to accompany the pizza.  The Big Salad, which I purchased for $7.95 included generous portions of artichokes, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, red onion, and sweet bell peppers over a bed of fresh greens.  For dessert, they offer homemade cookies that you buy raw and put in the oven and six kinds of natural ice cream.

I actually enjoyed taking the pizza home raw and ready to go into the oven.  It’s wrapped very carefully, the plastic comes right off.  There are directions on the pizza that tells you exactly how to prepare it.  I loved the way my house smelled while it was baking and it was all just very easy.

HomeMade Pizza Company began with Eric Fosse, the founder and CEO of HomeMade Pizza.  His  dream was to create a new kind of wholesome pizza and an easy way to bring friends and family together around the dinner table.  Fosse spent more than two years perfecting the crust in his home kitchen, as well as time abroad studying the fresh eating way of life born out of local European markets.

Chicago-based HomeMade Pizza Company continues its organic growth and success in cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and now New York.  They just opened their first New Jersey location in Ridgewood this past week.

To learn more about HomeMade Pizza Company, please visit www.homemadepizza.com or join them at www.facebook.com/HomeMadePizzaCo.

Now on the Culture Mom, you can enter to win a $40 Gift Card to the Homemade Pizza Company (locations in NY, NJ, Washington and DC, Minneapolis) and you can use the card at any location. Here is how to win:

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For residents in the tri-state area, my friend, Beth Feldman, is hosting a pretty terrific event next Wednesday, February 9th at 7pm.  The White Plains Library Foundation Presents “Allstate Readiness Series” Savvy Moms/Safe Teens: A Four-Part Program Series.  It’s a workshop for teens and parents that will take place at the White Plains Public Library at 100 Martine Avenue.

The first event will feature four people committed to making the world a safer place to drive. Hear first-hand about the dangers of distracted driving and get expert advice on preparing teens to be safe drivers. Make a family pledge to X the TXT! (an initiative of Allstate to put an end to texting and driving.)

Beth, founder of RoleMommy.com and editor in chief of Project You Magazine will be moderating this important event for parents and teens and the speakers include:

Emily McKhann, is co-founder of TheMotherhood.com, an award-winning web community for mothers, and co-founder of Mom Sends the Msg (momsmsg.com), a public service campaign aimed at reducing distracted driving that has involved hundreds of mom bloggers across the country. Emily a Westchester resident, and her business partner, Cooper Munroe, worked with producers of The Oprah Winfrey Show on Oprah’s “No Phone Zone”segment.

Sgt. Luis Muniz works for the Community Advocacy and Strategic Initiatives Division of the White Plains Police Department, and has been involved in the school community as a School Resource Officer and as the advisor to the Explorers, a program for high school students interested in careers in public safety.

Kim Orlando, is founder of Traveling Mom.com, the nation’s top website and blog network for traveling families. Kim is a national travel advocate for moms, and provides travel commentary for BlueSuitMom.com, MomTalkRadio, and the Jane Air Crew by Wyndham. Her site has been featured on Oprah.com, RedBook and the Wall Street Journal.

Heather Vandenberghe is a writer and public safety advocate, and the lead proponent of Elle’s Law. Elle’s Law was passed in NY State in August 2010, making it a crime to strike a pedestrian while driving recklessly. Advocacy for safer streets has become a primary focus for Vandenberghe since her daughter was struck by an SUV in the fall of 2009. Prior to this shift in focus, she had a successful career in marketing for over 15 years. Heather was recently featured in the New York Times profiling her emotional journey and her perseverance in getting Elle’s law passed.

This program is made possible by a generous grant from The Allstate Foundation to the White Plains Library Foundation. Free admission. Refreshments will be served.

Disclosure: I was not compensated to promote this event.

The play is actually produced by my neighbor, Felicia Needleman, who I recently interviewed for a future edition of Project You.

Bess Welden (actor/writer) and Nicole Chaison (writer/cartoonist) adapted the stories, drawings and characters from Chaison’s popular Hausfrau Muthah-zine (www.thehausfrau.com) into a full-length evening of theater that made its world premier at Portland Stage Company in March 2009. “The Passion of the Hausfrau” is a laugh-out-loud comedy about a mother who discovers that the roller coaster ride of raising young kids is actually the path to creating her own masterpiece. “The Passion of the Hausfrau” is the first hero’s journey (in the classic Joseph Campbell sense) from the point of view of the mother.

Welden and Chaison wanted to show that “every mother is a hero: like James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses,’ ‘The Passion of the Hausfrau’ shows the heroism in daily life. In parenting, every day is a roller coaster of passion.” The play follows the Hausfrau (which means “housewife” in German), her husband, two children and twenty other characters (all played by one actress) as she faces each challenge on The Road of Trials. Finally, like all heroes, she must plunge into the inferno and face her own demons in order to emerge victorious and ready to fulfill her creative self. Turning the classic hero myth on its head by making the central character a middle-aged mom, the play pokes fun at the mistakes parents make with an honest and irreverent humor.

Over 100 original cartoon projections help tell the story and add an engaging visual layer that illuminates the text, much like a graphic novel. The collaboration also includes an original score by composer Hans Indigo Spencer and is directed and co-written by Emmy award-winner Annette Jolles. Bess Welden performs the 80-minute piece. Random House’s Villard imprint released Chaison’s graphic novel, also called “The Passion of the Hausfrau,” in June 2009. Find out more about the novel online at www.passionofthehausfrau.com and about the play at www.thehausfrauplay.com.

The WPPAC is located on the third level of the City Center complex off Mamaroneck Avenue in downtown White Plains. Tickets are $39/$29 for Previews. There is a 10% discount on tickets for groups of 15 or more. To purchase tickets, call Ticket Fusion at 877-548-3237, visit the theatre box office or purchase the tickets online at www.wppac.com. The White Plains Performing Arts Center, a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization, based in downtown White Plains, is dedicated to the presentation and production of a full spectrum of performing arts events for the City of White Plains and its surrounding communities.

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this review nor did I receive anything in exchange for it.  All opinions expressed are my own.