Tuesday, April 6, 2010

A visit with my grandparents

My grandparents don't live in the same city as me. Or even the same state. So a visit to their house has always been a big deal. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly out to New Jersey to visit them and my uncle for a long weekend.

It was a much need, really good trip. It had been over two years since the last time I saw them. During my last visit, my grandpa was sick in the hospital most of the time. This time he was much healthier and happier. My sweet grandma cried when she saw me. The coolest thing was seeing my grandpa walk. Five years ago or so, he had to get one of his legs amputated due to diabetes complications. I never thought I'd see him walk ago and felt for his loss of independence and dependency on the wheelchair and my uncle. Especially after seeing him sick and week two years ago, the thought of him walking just didn't even enter my mind as a possibility. But my grandpa is stubborn and preservers. He can't walk far, but he has his prosthetic leg he can strap on and use a walker to get down the hall and back. It was inspiring to see what he could do. It's taken a long time for him to get this far. But he's done it.

The really fun part of the trip was going to Carlo's Bake Shop. It's the bakery that is the scene of the reality TV show, The Cake Boss. My grandparents and uncle probably thought I was crazy for wanting pastries from the bakery that had a line out the door and down the block. But we had driven 45 minutes to get there, so I didn't want to make the trip a waste. So I waited in line. The wait was totally worthwhile! I bought a bunch of cannollis, a lobster tail and some cookies to bring home to Dave. I love spoiling my grandparents with cannollis, because they ALWAYS spoiled me and my sister with cannollis every time we saw them. They would even bring them to Minnesota on the airplane. These days, since they're both diabetic, they don't get sweet treats too often, so I love going to the bakery and bringing them our special treat. The only sad thing was that my Grandma didn't remember eating hers. Her memory is going and thought we were teasing her when talking about the cannollis she ate. But I know she enjoyed it while she was eating it.

I took a couple of pictures at Carlo's Bake Shop. I really didn't think I'd see any people on the show at the bakery. I figured that they probably only work these days when the show is filming. I have no idea if that is true or not, but they were actually filming the day I went to the bakery. So all the main people on the show were there. Mauro, Stretch, Mary and Buddy! (Note: I had to look at the Web site to figure out who was who. Haha). Anyway, here are my pics! Enjoy!

Here's the front of the bakery. 

They filmed me in line....so who knows, I may be in a future episode of The Cake Boss. Look for the girl who is taking a picture of the cameraman with her cell phone.

Here's Buddy!!! He even paused on the stairs so I could take the picture. Hardly anyone else even noticed!

Here's the lobster tail. It's a flaky pastry filled with a creamy filling. I saw it on the show and wanted to try it! It was so yummy.

J.B.

2 comments:

  1. I am glad you posted a picture of the lobster tail. I do not watch Cake Boss and was thinking to myself- you are buying lobster at a bakery?! Now it makes sense!

    It is good you had a chance to visit with your grandparents!

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  2. I love that show! was the lobster claw as good as they always make it sound?

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