Haven’t stepped foot in Central Park for almost a decade. Used to go there almost daily when I lived on the Upper West Side, and my boy was small. We both loved the Park. But once I moved downtown, it seemed like quite a trek. To be honest, as any Manhattanite will tell you, if you live below 23rd street, you think twice about going uptown, unless you absolutely have to. Same for visiting friends, even close friends. If you live on the West side, and they live on the East, you have to think twice. Oh, do we have to go all the way over THERE??!! I know they’re our BEST friends, and Ron did donate his kidney to you, but still………whine, whine, whine.

You know what I’m talking about!

We ended up spending more time along the Hudson, Battery Park, Madison Square Park...all very nice, but they're not Central Park!

Anyway, went to the Park yesterday, and it all came back to me. Sitting in Sheep Meadow on a blanket, with my son when he was just an infant, lying on my back and holding him up in the air, watching him smile at me. Trying to teach him to ride a bike on the beautiful wide concourse that ends in that big space in front of the bandshell. Yesterday that space was jammed with kids and quite a few fully grown people, showing off their mad skills on skateboards.

I promise this blog will not turn into Kaity’s Cookbook, but there has been a lot of interest so far in two recipes I have posted, Pearl Balls and Ants Climbing a Tree. And young Nash, a frequent visitor to my blog, was curious about what made Chinese fried rice and lo mein ‘soooooooooo good,’ as he put it!

So, I think today I will share with you a really easy recipe that my mother taught me when I was a teenager and it’s always a big hit. If you think your restaurant’s lo mein is good, Nash, and I’m sure it is, give MY recipe a try. The only hard part is all the chopping. As is usually the case with Chinese dishes.

First a little story and background. All my recipes have a personal story.

We had a tiny kitchen when I was growing up in D.C. We had finally moved out of the broken-down apartment building we shared with mice and roaches, into a nicer neighborhood, and our first house. It was very small, but it was relatively vermin-free! The kitchen in the old apartment building, however, was almost twice the size of the one in our new place.

This is something that's been bothering me for some time. I thought about it again today, as I was going through my morning ablutions. Those 1-800 numbers that are now on just about everything you buy these days, including things you've been using since you were a child. Like shampoo. Or toothpaste. They invite you to call their 1-800 number with any questions. What possible questions could one have about SHAMPOO?

Today was spring cleaning day! Yes, I know, spring cleaning should be done in the SPRING, but excuse me, I’ve been BUSY! So I’m a little behind the eight-ball this year. To be perfectly honest, there have been years past when I’ve never gotten around to it, and you do NOT want to know what my closets looked like then!

So, here I am, dragging heavy woolens and coats out of the closets, so I can start hanging up my lighter, spring and summer wear.

Okay, it’s my turn to talk about Twitter. Jim wrote an excellent blog on the topic last week, and it occurred to me that this was something I actually addressed back in May. But in a half-baked way.

Am I being obtuse? What I mean is, in my blog of May 11th, “To Tweet Or Not to Tweet, Is THAT the Question?” I began to discuss my feelings about this peculiar thing called Twitter. But, as is my wont, I meandered off into something completely different. Please read that blog first, before you continue with this one. You will NOT be sorry. For a number of reasons, the foremost being it’s quite entertaining, if I say so myself! And this blog jumps off from that one, perfectly!

Don’t worry. I’ll wait for you until you come back. (picture thumb-twiddling here)

Me, at the beach, doing yoga. Yep, it's a sight only made possible through Photoshop. (Don't you love it!)

I have never done yoga, though I have been talking about trying it for quite some time now. So a few days ago, a good friend, I guess to shut me up and get me started, gave me a yoga tape by the master Rodney Yee, a yoga mat to do the yoga ON, a strap for stretching….you know, the works.

I love it all. It looks nice on my living room floor in front of the television. And Rodney Yee is breathtakingly fit.

But here’s the thing. Having a yoga tape does not a yoga practitioner make. Not when it’s me. I put in the tape, and sure enough, before you can say “Reclining Cobbler” you will find me SITTING there, contentedly, glued to the vision of Mr. Yee contorting his gorgeous body into interesting positions on some lovely beach in Hawaii. But do I get down on the mat and start doing yoga with him. No.

Let’s do another recipe, shall we? The weekend’s coming up and many of you seem interested in family recipes I have to share. Since it’s getting warmer, I was thinking about what my mother used to make for us that helped cool us down. And which did not require turning on the stove or oven. At least not for very long.

We grew up without air conditioning in our old apartment and believe me, Washington DC summers are brutal. Just imagine the hottest, muggiest day you can. That is what DC summers are all about.

I remember my mother would put these tightly woven thin bamboo mats on our beds. They came from China. The idea was that the bamboo would keep us cooler, and separate our sweaty little bodies from our sweat- soaked sheets. They didn’t work.

The story that I report on in tonight’s newscast began with a blog comment. I do read the comments on all my blogs, and this one touched me right away. It was from a guy named Paul Blum, posted on my blog of May 15th, Response to Readers Comments.

It was a plea for help for his ailing wife, Eva, who will not live much longer if she doesn’t get a bone marrow transplant. She is Asian, and it is harder to find a match for minorities who need transplants for a variety of reasons.

Got this catalogue in the mail the other day. It didn’t make me grumble like the AARP magazine did when it first arrived. But it did give me pause. It’s called As We Change. And of course, my first reaction to that was….Change?! Who’s changing??? Wrong address.

But it’s actually a very useful catalog with all kinds of interesting stuff, aimed at the perceived needs of the, shall we say, mature woman. At first glance, it’s selling mostly women’s clothing, with lots of things that cinch, and control and tighten….like a giant rubber band disguised as a bathing suit. Things that will make you look younger, trimmer, slimmer, younger….did I mention, younger?

Another Friday, another recipe! Oh boy, I am going to get it from my pal Jim, tonight on the news. He keeps teasing me that my blog is turning into a Kaity’s Cookbook. My response is, first of all, what would be wrong with that? I love to eat, I love to cook, and my dear readers seem to like these recipes from my mom. And secondly, just concentrate on your own blog, my friend, and we’ll all get along just fine. : )

I was thinking, as we slog our way through this miserable, soggy June, why not share a lovely COOL DESSERT? Easy to make, and yummy. Would I give you anything that WASN”T yummy?

Been asked to address the graduating class of a fine high school in Manhattan, Lower East Side Preparatory. Nearly 96 percent of the students are from various parts of China, and most have been in the United States for less than 3 years. Yet nearly all of them are going on to higher education.

I’m struggling over what to tell these young people. Should I be telling them about how different the world is today than when I was in their position? But they already know that. They don’t need me to tell them the obvious.

Hard to believe it’s Friday already. As I commented on my blog earlier this week, I had a wonderful time with the graduates of the class of 2009 from Lower East Side Preparatory High School. Amazing kids, who have achieved so much in such a short time. The majority of the senior class from various parts of China, in New York for less than four years, and most are moving onto four-year colleges. Barnard, George Washington, Georgetown, NYU, CUNY, SUNY, just to name a few!