packet magazine november 2014

PMfineliving.com November2014

$3.95

The Giving SpiritHow volunteers at area churches are helping others

Lunch is on HimFrank Porcaro cooks for all

“Let Us Cater Your Holiday Parties!”

CATERING

Montgomery, NJ 08558

609-924-0262www.tigerstalenj.com

� | Packet Magazine | November �014

November 2014 contents

20 A Sense of Volunteerism: Operation Shoebox sends packages to the troops

26 Come One, Come All: Friday lunch with Frank Porcaro

35 A Coaching Lifer: Princeton men’s basketball coach Mitch Henderson has his team ready for a new season.

On the Cover: Members of Trinity Church in Princeton are getting ready for a season of giving. See Page 22 for Bernadette Suski-Harding’s report on how area churches are helping the needy at this time of year. Pictured from left: Father Paul Jeanes, Reilly Sharpe, Bill Vogt, Judy Sharpe and Ann Zultner.

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35

26

pmfineliving.com | �

4 | Packet Magazine | November �014

07 What’s New: The latest and the greatest

10 What’s in Store: Visiting Cranbury

19 Favorite Things: Gifts to be thankful for

38 On the Block: For an active life

41 Good Taste: Pan-roasted vegetables

44 On the Vine: Pairings for the holiday

47 Social Scene: Out on the town

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47

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contents

pmfineliving.com | �

07 What’s New: The latest and the greatest

10 What’s in Store: Visiting Cranbury

19 Favorite Things: Gifts to be thankful for

38 On the Block: For an active life

41 Good Taste: Pan-roasted vegetables

44 On the Vine: Pairings for the holiday

47 Social Scene: Out on the town

� | Packet Magazine | November �014

JAMES B. KILGOREPresident and Publisher

CALhOun J. KILLEEn JR.Editor

CORRInE MuLFORDMagazine Manager

AnThOnY STOECKERTManaging Editor

Contributing WritersFAITh BAhADuRIAn

KEITh LORIA

SALLY STAnG

BERnADETTE SuSKI-hARDInG

STEPhAnIE VACCARO

PATRICK WALSh

nICOLE M. WELLS

PhIL MCAuLIFFEStaff Photographer

JOE KAnASKA MInERVA TRInIDAD

Art & Design

LET uS KnOW! Packet Magazine welcomes your

feedback, suggestions and story ideas about notable

people and places, trendy hot spots and upcoming

events happening in the Princeton area.

Contact us:

E-mail: [email protected]

Mail: �00 Witherspoon St., Princeton, nJ 08�40

Telephone: 609-874-21�9

© 2014 the Princeton Packet Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published by Packet Media Group

�00 Witherspoon St.

Princeton, nJ 08�40

To advertise: 609-874-219�

pmfineliving.com

pmfineliving.com | 7

What’s NewRead all about the area’s latest happenings

By Keith Loria

New gift shop Lili B’s is offering gifts and accessories for any occasion.

A Personal Touch

For 19 years, Saul and Jerri Wendroff owned and operated a Hallmark Store in Hillsborough, but the couple decided that running the 8,000-square-foot business was a little too much and decided to make a change.

This October, the husband-and-wife team opened Lili B’s in Skillman. Located in the Village Shoppes at Montgomery, 1378 Route 206, it is designed to be a destination for gifts and accessories.

“We always had a lot of customers come from Montgomery and it’s that same kind of country-quaint town that we are used to in Hillsborough,” Ms. Wendroff says. “We have a 2,000-square-foot, beautiful store, created in a soft environment so customers can relax.”

8 | Packet Magazine | november 2014

At its heart, Lili B’s is a boutique offering women’s brands such as Vera Bradley, Spartina, Brighton and many small handmade lines.

“Chavez for Charity is one of the lines that not only makes you happy to wear it but helps a charity,” Ms. Wendroff says. “We also have Papyrus greeting cards, and American-made gifts.”

The store is planning a grand opening celebration in November, but invites customers to come in any time.

“I think it’s a great place for customers to come in and take their time looking through cards, fabulous candles and ‘happen upon’ gifts,” she says. “We’re all about personal service and want people to know there’s an alternative to the big box stores.”

Boutique adds jackets

For the past seven years, KiKi D’s, located in the New Village Shopping Center on Route 206 in Montgomery, has been the area’s source for top-of-the-line dresses and accessories. This fall, the store has added vests and jackets to its boutique.

“We’re a special occasion dress shop so we have formal wear and party dresses and, in addition, we have sportswear,” says owner Mary Hagemann. “We carried little novel vests and jackets before, but this year is the first time we have some cold- weather coats for more of the colder months type of clothing.”

Well known for its mother-of-the-bride-or-groom gowns, dresses for the bar/bat mitzvah, sweet 16, prom and all sorts of formal occasions, Ms. Hagemann says the decision was made to add jackets and coats because customers have been asking about them, and the fall tends to be a slower season.

“With the vests, scarfs and gloves we always carry, the coats seem to be a great addition,” she says. “As the weather is

SweetGrass in Hopewell is bringing southern cooking to our area.

KiKi D’s in Montgomery is now offering cold-weather coats to its customers.

getting cooler, the smarter shoppers are out early to get the best selection. Now, it’s not just the novelty jackets we have, but a larger selection for them to choose from.”

A Taste of Charleston

Although Chef Sarah Gresko is originally from the Central Jersey area, she did her culinary training in Charleston and perfected the southern style of cooking. In October, she brought a South Carolina-influenced menu to the area, opening up SweetGrass at 9B E. Broad St. in Hopewell.

Chef Gresko’s bold American cuisine menu focuses on quality seasonal ingredients artfully paired to make them shine.

“It’s about southern flair, everything from shrimp and grits to fried chicken,” says Cutler Bernard, the restaurant’s manager. “We’re sourcing what we can locally. We expect our menu to change four to five times a year based on what we can get.”

With 46 indoor seats that open up to an additional 20 outdoor seats set on a private and inviting outdoor patio, the young and tastefully designed space is perfect for food artistry.

“We looked around for a long time to find a place that had the charm and ambiance desired,” Mr. Bernard says. “It’s just beautiful. The whole backdrop to the restaurant is this huge, hand-cut stone wall and all these great paintings of Charleston hang on the walls.”

SweetGrass serves dinner Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5-9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5-10 p.m. Lunch will be served Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For a complete menu, visit sweetgrassrestaurant.com. For reservations, call 609-333-8912.


609-396-8878

Lunch & Dinner Packages AvailableReserve your Holiday Party

511 Lalor Street • Hamilton Township

Major credit cards accepted. Open 7 Days a Week

(Off of Route 129 and Route 1) 10 minutes from Princeton

$10.00 OFFany check

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The Finest Cuisine of Spain and PortugalSPANISH RESTAURANT


What’s In StoreWhere to buy and what to buy

By nicole M. WellsPhotos by Phil McAuliffe

Rockwellian Charm A look at what makes Cranbury the destination

for autumn and holiday shopping

A visit to Cranbury’s Main Street offers shopping, dining and more.

tanding to the side of Route 130, just past Dey Road, a nar-row green sign with white lettering points the way to a slight right that eases off the southbound side of the highway.

Making the turn, the NASCAR-fast pace characteristic of New Jersey driving slows, while the seemingly ceaseless barrage of highway signs gives way to a leafy canopy of mature trees, turned out in their seasonal best.

As the sky stretches from its celestial seat to meet the edge of a field at the horizon, another drop in speed, this time to a mere 25 mph, signals your arrival in the heart of Cranbury.

Driving along North Main Street, marked as much by new-er development as by historic homes (and remodeled historic homes), you can’t help but feel the reverberations of the past echoing down through the years and into the present.

Neutral-toned clapboard houses, some flanked by wide, expan-sive porches, and hung with sparkling multi-paned windows, sit adjacent and across from one another, separated by the occa-sional white picket fence. Looking at them, you get the sense that the original 18th- and 19th-century owners might come around the corner at any minute.

S


As the downtown area comes into sight, there’s no need to fumble for your change purse or wallet, while simultaneously hunting for a parking spot. On-street parking lines both sides of the street, with nary a meter in sight.

So having parallel-parked your way into a spot — or circled round until finding one you could simply pull into — you can wander the brick-lined sidewalks at your leisure, free from the chains of two-hour parking.

If scavenging for antiques is your idea of time well spent, David Wells, proprietor of David Wells Antiques (55 N. Main St., 609-655-0085), probably has just that cu-riosity piece you’ve been looking for. Like stepping backward through a kaleido-scope, the shop is a knickknack collector’s heaven, with an assortment of merchan-dise that’s bound to have something for everyone.

“We sell a little bit of everything,” Mr. Wells says, standing next to a 140-year-old dollhouse. “Some things are true an-tiques and then there’s things like mili-tary collectibles and cups and saucers. All kinds of things.”

A former Marlboro art teacher, Mr. Wells says he has been at his Cranbury location for 19 years, having started the business before he retired from teaching. “Most of our business is gifts,” he says. “We do gifts and I’m very proud to say that with our Christmas gifts, we don’t get any returns.”

In addition to the uniquely eclectic mix of things he purveys, Mr. Wells said that he provides a level of service not often found in retail today: gift wrapping.

“I don’t do very much very well,” he says, “but I am an excellent gift wrapper. I don’t care if it’s (worth) $5 or 500, that gift’s going to look like 500.”

Using various papers and ribbons, Mr. Wells says he tries to make each gift that he wraps as special as possible.

He says he will even gift wrap items not purchased at his store, as long as a dona-tion is made to an animal charity.

Now in its seventh season, Gil & Bert’s Ice Cream (69 N. Main St., www.gi-landbertsicecream.com; 609-203-6931) is warming to a new idea. Instead of shutter-ing the window during the colder months and re-opening in April, owner Christine Ondocin says that this year she’s going to be offering a little respite from the chill of winter.

“I’m going to open up and sell hotdogs

from January through March,” she says. “We’re also going to have hot chocolate with vanilla or chocolate ice cream in it.”

Gil & Bert’s will be offering a selection of hot dogs to appeal to different tastes, Ms. Ondocin says, with vegan and beef hot dogs and bratwurst on the menu. “We’re going to give it a try,” she says. “Everybody seems very receptive to it.” So expect the spot to re-open in January for its inaugural winter run.

A block or two down the street, Charmed by Claire (33 N. Main St., www.charmedbyclaire.net; 609-409-6077) of-fers women of all ages luxury brands such as Brighton, Pandora, Vera Bradley and Alex and Ani, side by side with local artisan-made jewelry that can’t be found anywhere else.

“That’s what’s near and dear to my heart,” owner Claire Morris says of the craft jewelry. “Knowing how hard they (the artisans) work, it feels so good when it sells.”

A proponent of the “Shop Local” move-ment, Ms. Morris said that the key to her 12 years of success in Cranbury lies in the women of her staff

“What makes Charmed by Claire really special are the gals that work with me,” she says.

Ms. Morris says she and her staff try to make every customer’s shopping experi-ence at Charmed by Claire memorable by providing exceptional customer service and attention to detail.

Quite aware of the ease with which her customers could find some of her product lines in other stores, Ms. Morris says she

Bibliophiles will discover a haven at Cranbury Bookworm.

The Cranbury Inn offers classic American fare in a classic setting.

Cranbury welcomes visitors for shopping and dining.

1� | Packet Magazine | November �014

aims to give them the personalized at-tention that is so often missing from the chain or big box stores.

“People just want to feel special,” she says.

The aroma of well-worn pages and long-since-dried ink permeates the air as you walk into the cozy, well-stocked nook that is The Cranbury Bookworm (79 N. Main St., www.cranburybookworm.com; 609-655-1063).

Well-stocked might be a bit of an un-derstatement for the used book shop, which moved from a sprawling Victorian mansion into a turn-of-the-century for-mer general store in 2013; a casual glance around reveals every square inch of space maximized and bursting with a patch-work of titles, stacked up to the rafters.

Store owner Andrew Feldman says that the Bookworm provides Cranbury and neighboring communities with another option when it comes to finding great reads.

“Labyrinth is great,” he said, referring to the aptly-named Nassau Street store in Princeton, “but Princetonians should know that they have more than one area book shop at their disposal.”

Catering to resellers, collectors and the casual reader, The Cranbury Bookworm offers a selection ranging from antiquar-ian books and non-fiction to classics, cookbooks and children’s books.

“Our merchandise is carefully selected and constantly refreshed,” Mr. Feldman says. “The majority is acquired from local estate purchases.”

A town fixture since 1974, the Book-worm carries both hardcovers and pa-perbacks, with the majority being priced between 50 cents and $8.

Specializing in finding new closets for gently used women’s clothing items and accessories, Twice Is Nice Consignment Shoppe (60 N. Main St., www.consignatt-wiceisnice.com; 609-395-0545) has been a part of the downtown scene for about two and a half years.

Owner Debbie Eisenbrey says she built the store on warm, welcoming smiles and old-fashioned customer service.

“One thing we do here, is we help people put outfits together,” Ms. Eisenbrey says. “So if you have an event coming up, you would come in and we would help you dress for that particular event.”

Standing in front of racks packed with the latest in women’s fashions, Ms. Eisen-brey says she and her staff aren’t about to let a woman walk out in something un-flattering for the sake of a sale. “We tell the truth,” she says. “We’re so honest. If it doesn’t look good, we’re like, ‘No! Get it off!’”

Merchandise is rotated every 60 days to keep it fresh, Ms. Eisenbrey says, and that has some customers coming in every week to see what’s new to the store.

“I have customers as far (away) as Vir-ginia and Washington, D.C.,” she says. “I have some customers from Maine who have to come and visit whenever they’re passing through.”

Their angular frames gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight, the bicycles at Knapp’s Cyclery (34 N. Main St., www.knappscyclery.com; 609-393-1122) beck-on aspiring eco-travelers and weekend cycling enthusiasts alike into the rub-ber-perfumed store, commanded by pairs of handlebars and interwoven wheel spokes.

Joe Kratovil, who has worked at Knapp’s

David Wells Antiques is a knicknack collector’s heaven.

for three years, said that the company decided to expand into Cranbury about three years ago, from their flagship store in Lawrenceville.

“This community is very bicycle-friend-ly and interested in bikes,” he says. “They (had) no shop in the immediate area.”

Mr. Kratovil says that people will often come in to check out the selection and make mental notes for a future visit but that everyone is always friendly and nice to talk to.

“It’s always a pleasure to have people come in,” he says.

With the Cranbury School being locat-ed in the downtown area, many students choose to ride, instead of walk, to school, Mr. Kratovil notes. “So there’s a big focus on kid’s bikes,” he says. “During the holi-day season people are largely focused on the kids and we have a great selection of kid’s bikes so we have people coming in for those.”

He adds that he frequently sees students riding Knapp’s bikes to and from school. And customers also can bring their bikes to Knapp’s for on-site repairs.

After a long day of hoofing it around town, the wood-burning fireplace and genial charm of The Cranbury Inn (21

Same window where you’ve gotten the best Ice Cream, now enjoy the best Dog!

Opening January 2-March 31, 2015

69 North Main StreetCranbury, NJ

609-203-6931

G&B DogsVeggie Dogs

Beef DogsAND Bratwurst

pmfineliving.com | 1�

Charmed by Claire is packed with great gift ideas.

Gil & Bert’s will re-open in January, selling a variety of hot dogs, including

vegan dogs and bratwurst.

Dr. DENNIS J. WHITED.M.D.

• Cosmetic Dentistry

• Porcelain Veneers

• Impression Free Restorative Dentistry w/aid of CAD-CAM Dentistry

• Computer Assisted Implant Placement

• Cone Beam CT Technology 1/50th Radiation of a Medical CT

• University of Penn Graduate with 30 Years Experience

41 North Main Street, Cranbury, NJ609-395-0764

www.CranburyDental.com

S. Main St., www.thecranburyinn.com; 609-655-5595) invite you to rest your feet and unwind over traditional American fare and spirits.

Along with his wife, Gay, innkeeper Tom Ingegneri has been slaking the thirst and feeding the hunger of patrons for nearly 23 years.

Sitting at a 1750s-style bar (which was designed for much shorter people), Mr. Ingegneri points out the deed for the property hanging on the wall, which was issued by King George III in 1765.

“It’s got a very good historic nature,” he says of the inn. “It’s got a great history.”

That history began for the Ingegneris in 1992, when they purchased the business, but The Cranbury Inn’s history dates back to the mid 1700s, when taverns sprang up in Colonial America to supply travelers with food and drink, fresh horses and a place to spend the night.

“What’s beautiful about being in this town is it’s historic in nature, so as a re-sult you have all those great feelings of history,” Mr. Ingegneri said. “And you do feel them.”

Cranbury may not have the sprawling malls of suburbia or the cosmopolitan flair of the big city, but it has a Rock-wellian charm all its own, he says.

Though his personal style is decidedly contemporary, the inn has shaped and molded him over the years, so that when he’s there, he slides right into the groove and embraces the history, he says.

“If you just go to its traditional, roman-tic nature, it’s a success,” he says. “Why fight it?”

If you, your dog, of both of you find yourselves in need of a relaxing spa day, there’s Studio 43 Hair Design (43 N. Main St., www.studio43hairdesign.com; 609-

655-0043) for you, and Pawz & Clawz Grooming (62 N. Main St., pawzand-clawzgrooming.com; 609-619-3790) for your four-legged friend. Finding yourself waiting for your pooch’s shaggy coat to finish drying? A manicure or pedicure to complete your day of pampering is only a few steps away at Tracy Nails (70 N. Main, 609-662-4459).

For a classic American diner experi-ence, complete with home-style cook-ing and a family-friendly atmosphere, Teddy’s Restaurant (49 N. Main St., www.teddyscranbury.com; 609-655-3120) is the place to try. Family-owned for more than 40 years, this Cranbury mainstay is conveniently open for breakfast (served all day), lunch or dinner.

Don’t have time for a sit-down meal or looking for something to nosh on the run? Cranbury Bagel Barn’s (64 N. Main St., 609-655-5855) menu promises to have something to whet your appetite as you grab it and go. If your travel needs include arriving in style, Cranbury Lim-ousine Service (cranburylimo.com; 609-954-3020) is available 24 hours a day, with chauffeur-driven and stretch limousines and executive sedans to get you where you need to be.


Special Advertising Section

SENIOR RESOURCE GUIDE

SeniOR LiVinGWelcome to Packet Magazine’s special advertising section devoted to

senior living.

Seniors are a vibrant part of our community and are more active than ever. They exercise, take on hobbies, care for their homes and volunteer for their communities. This special advertising section has information

you need about living opportunities in the greater Princeton area. it highlights home for the 50-and-over crowd, independent living and

assisted living facilities, and elder legal services. it’s a resource you are sure to value all year long.


Call us to set up a no-obligation interview to learn more about our support options for you or your loved ones:

Providing assistance for your specific needs, including:•Assistance to Special Needs Individuals•Personal Care Assistance•Transport to Doctor Visits

Some client feedback about our staff:

“Conscientious in every way...Experience and Knowledge were especially valuable to help manage my diabetes...Trustworthy, professional and honest...Provided me excellent service.”

ProfeSSional, reliable StaffFlexible Service Options: Hourly • Daily • Long-Term

The best in the Region for Non-Medical Home Health Care

Hands and HandsHome Care

•Grocery Shopping•House Cleaning•House Sitting•Live-In Care

609.638.1449handsandhands.com

61 Maplewood AvenueCranbury, NJ

NJ Department of HealthRated Outstanding Survey History

• Family Owned and Operated Since 1960• Family Atmosphere• Warm, Friendly and Caring Staff• Most Convenient Facility to the Monroe Township Active Adult Community

We are dedicated to making everymoment of every day as

comfortable and worry-freeas possible for our residents.

Located across from Foxmoor Shopping Center1150 Washington Boulevard

Robbinsville, NJ 08691

609-371-7007www.rosehillassistedliving.com


MERWICKCare & Rehabilation Center

Rehabilitation therapyprovided by Kessler.Core.

The Luxor Pavilion at MERWICK

The Right Teamfor Your Recovery

100 Plainsboro Road • Plainsboro, NJ 08536 • 609-759-6000 • FAX 609-759-6006windsorhealthcare.org

The Luxor Pavilion at Merwick provides a full range of complex medical and rehabilitative sub-acute services. Our physician-directed interdisciplinary clinical team develops and designs an individualized plan of care to meet each patient’s specific needs. Patients and family are integral parts of the road to recovery.

• Medical and surgical recovery• Physical and occupational therapy• Speech therapy• Orthopedic care• Cardiac care• IV therapy

Our range of services includes:• Wound care management• Tracheostomy care• Amputee recovery• Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN)• Hospice/end-of-life care

•An estimated 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer’sdisease. The number of Americans with Alzheimer’shas more than doubled since 1980.

•The number of Amercians with Alzheimer’s diseasewill continue to grow—by 2050 the number ofindividuals with Alzheimer’s could range from 11.3million to 16 million.

•Half of all nursing home residents have Alzheimers’diease or a related disorder.

•A person with Alzheimer’s diease will live an averageof eight years and as many as 20 years or more fromthe onset of symptoms.

•The average cost for nursing home care is over$50,000 per year but can exceed $70,000.

“Dad Couldn’tRemember

How ToGet Home”

65 South Main Street, Pennington, NJ 08534609.818.0068 (p) | 609.818.0075 (f)

www.jerseyestateplanning.com | www.medinalawgroup.com

Call today for a complimentary consultation:609-818-0068

609.448.7036

Call our admissions team today to schedule a tour!

THE GARDENS AT MONROE189 Applegarth Road, Monroe, NJ 08831 | www.thegardensatmonroe.com

• Post-Hospitalization Rehabilitation

• Personalized Goal-Oriented Treatment

• Physical Therapy • Occupational Therapy • Speech Therapy• 24-hour Nursing Staff • Certified Dietician• Long Term Care • Respite Care • Hospice & Palliative Care• Medicare, Medicaid and

most insurances accepted

Our mission is suppOrting Our customer’s desire to look good and feel good with great hair solutions.

609-249-4811

igful Thinking will serve a growing market

for a simple and highly personalized approach

to non medical, non surgical hair augmentation

solutions for those driven by fun, fashion,

convenience or medical hair loss.

igful Thinking offers the largest selection

of quality and realistic wigs, hairpieces, hair

extensions (clip on), wig styling products and

accessories for the most discriminating buyer.

As a two-time breast cancer survivor, I’ve used

my skills and knowledge in creating a haven

where all your needs will be met.

igful Thinking also offers custom hair pieces

for men and women, a specialty service.

1905 Route 33-Hamilton


You’ll Feel Right at home at anY oF ouR SenioR CommunitieS!

modeRate inCome management Co., inC.

“Solutions to your property management issues”P.o. Box 3709 • Princeton, nJ 08543

609-989-8500

EWING INDEPENDENT LIVING

1015 Whitehead Road ExtEwing, NJ 08638

609-883-8500One bedroom/one bath & two bedroom/two bath acces-sible apartments. Too many amenities to list—please come by or call for a brochure!

*Income limits apply*

ALVIN E. GERSHEN APARTMENTS

1655 Klockner RoadHamilton, NJ 08619

609-890-9401

POND RUN HOUSING

9 Lamont Ave.Hamilton, NJ 08619

609-890-9400

•One bedroom & studioapartments

•Adult community 62 and older•Located close to shopping,

restaurants, bus line & HamiltonTrain station

•24 hour emergency maintenance•Computer access center on site•Social programming•On site laundry facilities•Income restrictions apply

•One bedroom & studio apart-ments

•62 and older community•Convenient to shopping, restau-

rants, bus line & Hamilton TrainStation

•24 hour emergency maintenance•Heat, A/C and hot water included

in rent•On site social programming•Income restrictions apply

• Rehabilitation (Speech/Physical/Occupational Therapy) 7-days per week

• Respite Care• Secured Alzheimer’s Unit• Assisted Living Memory Care Unit• Sub-Acute Rehabilitation• Long-Term Care

Pavilions at Forrestal Sub-Acute Rehabilitation / Long Term Care / Assisted Living

24 hour Nursing Care / Spacious Rooms Ride Provide Transportation

CALL TODAY FOR A TOUR609-987-1221

Deanna Mellon, Admissions Director, ext 3065000 Windrow Drive Princeton NJ 08540

Atrium Health & Senior Livingwww.atriumhealthusa.com


SENIOR LIVING RESOURCE GUIDE

Alvine E. Gershen Apartments1655 Klockner RoadHamilton609-890-9401

Clare’s Corner’s201 Crosswick St.Bordentownwww.cisnj.com

Elms of Cranbury61 Maplewood AveCranbury609-395-0641

Ewing Independent Living1015 Whitehead Road extensionewing609-883-8500

The Gardens at Monroe189 Applegarth RoadMonroe609-448-7036www.thegardensatmonroe.com

Hands and HandsServicing All of Central Jerseyewing609-638-1449www.handsandhands.com

Moderate IncomeManagement Co., Inc.Senior Living FacilitiesPrinceton609-989-8500

Merwick Care & Rehabilitation Center100 Plainsboro RoadPlainsboro609-759-6000www.windsorhealthcare.org/merwick

Pavilions at Forrestal5000 Windrow Drive Princetonwww.atriumhealthusa.com

Pond Run Housing9 Lamont Ave.Hamilton609-890-9400Princeton Care Center728 Bunn DrivePrinceton609-853-0169www.princetoncarecenternj.com

Rose Hill Assisted Living1150 Washington Blvd,Robbinsville, nJ 08691609-371-7007

Wigful Thinking1905 Route 33Hamilton609-807-2045

Elder Law AttorneyMedina Law Group65 S. Main St., Pennington;241 Forsgate Drive, Suite 104,Monroe609-818-0068www.jerseyestateplanning.com


Favorite ThingsHey, where’d you get that?

By Sally Stang

Things to be Thankful For

The skilled artists represented by Ten Thousand Villages have a lot to be thank-ful for, all year round. The company has partnered with some extremely talented artisans for home decor, jewelry, sculpture, baskets, toys, and musical instruments, setting up cottage industries in 38 coun-tries. Everything is handmade! Whenever I walk in their doors at Princeton Shop-ping Center, I am impressed by the level of quality and the reasonable prices. This charming “tree of life” bedspread is mir-rorwork hand embroidery, an ancient, painstaking process of embedding tiny mirrors with embroidery stitches. Ten Thousand Villages is a founding mem-ber of the World Fair Trade Organization which strives to create long term buying relationships and pays decent living wages to disadvantaged artisans.

A lot of things changed when I bought a cell phone. Gloves became my enemy! Every time the phone rang, I would be gnawing the gloves off my hand to swipe the darn screen. Same problem whenever I needed to use the phone outside to take a photo. Mittens are even worse and those “half finger” gloves, although charming in a Dickensian way, are fairly useless in keeping the digits warm. Here is a neat alternative — an arm warmer that is sort of like a sleeve for your sleeve — a sleeve extender that covers the hands and arm up to the elbow. Can be pulled down over the hands (there is a thumbhole too) or rolled up. Made in Columbia by Baabaazuzu, these are non-matching, and made from remnant sweater materials. Soft fleece on the inside, wool on the outside. You can find these at the Farmhouse Store, which takes pride in representing unique arti-sans and using reclaimed materials.

Pass the badger, please

Spread the wealth Swipe this!

Plates: $8 eachWest Elm at MarketFair3533 Route 1, Princeton 609-799-8010;westelm.com

Price: $195.00Ten Thousand Villages 301 N. HarrisonPrinceton Shopping Center609-683-4464;tenthousandvillages.com

Price: $45.99The Farmhouse Store 43 Hullfish Street, Princeton609-688-0777facebook.com/thefarmhousestore

It’s that time of year when we gather together with our beloved families to sit down at lavishly decorated tables, laden with fine china and fine food. We count our blessings, are thankful for what we are about to receive… and then look out! Here come the usual arguments about sports and politics and boring stories from Aunt Lulu or Uncle BoBo and complaining about all the calories in the food we are eating. Personally, I’d rather be sitting at the kiddie table where there is laughing and playing with the food and feeding the turnips to the dog. We kids are just waiting for dessert! At 8.5 inches, these dapper, nattily dressed, forest critters are perfect for dessert (or children’s portion meals). There’s badger and boar, blue jay and rooster, fox and rabbit — all designed by Rachel Ko-zlowski. And dishwasher safe, too!

�0 | Packet Magazine | November �014

A sense ofvolunteerism

Operation Shoebox nJ sends goodsand support to troops overseas

By Nicole M. Wells

areful not to jostle the scaffolding of boxes framing the perimeter, Dorrie Guarniero leads the way

through the trenches of foodstuffs and personal care items, to a back room near-ly swallowed up in jambalaya-ed bounty.

Sitting around a boardroom-style conference table, one half awash with trial-sized soap packets, Ms. Guarniero and Operation Shoebox NJ founder Rod Hirsch resemble two overgrown trick-or-treaters, girded by a Halloween-esque trawling of the best houses in town.

“You can see you’re surrounded by candy,” Mr. Hirsch says. “My wife has

become the candymiester. When all this candy comes in, she sits here and basical-ly tries to get it organized and separated and whatnot.”

This time of year, Operation Shoebox, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, relies on area dentists’ candy buy-back programs, as well as 18 Walgreens stores to supply the candy it ships to service personnel overseas, according to Mr. Hirsch.

Despite being the most visible items in the room, soap packets and candy are far from the only things the organization collects, packs and sends to military per-sonnel abroad.

Mr. Hirsch leaves the room momen-tarily and returns with a compact card-board box, the Operation Shoebox logo emblazoned across the side.

“This is typical of what we send over,” he says, pulling the flaps apart. “I write a letter that goes into every box that ex-plains a little bit about the program. We have what we call ‘hero cards’ and kids color them up and we put these inside the boxes.”

“Some of them are works of art,” Ms. Guarniero says.

Two boxes of Girl Scout cookies, a bag of various food items and assorted

These Marines in Afghanistan are excited to receive their care packages.


toiletries complete each care package the organization assembles.

After 30 years with The Home News Tribune, Mr. Hirsch left as managing edi-tor to start up a new paper in Somerville called The Reporter.

“Editorially we were very successful but that was the only thing that worked,” he said. “It had no marketing budget.”

His response was to create Operation Shoebox NJ in 2005, as a marketing de-vice for The Reporter.

“Frankly, the survival of the newspaper was at stake from day one,” he says, “so I did everything that I could to get the pa-per out there into the community and to try to get the community involved with us.”

But although the organization began as a way to raise awareness about a fledgling paper, its roots go back to 1969 and Mr. Hirsch’s Eagle Scout days.

“I had a lot of friends who were in Viet-nam,” he says, “and to get your Eagle badge you had to come up with a commu-nity service project. So this was my proj-ect: sending care packages overseas to the guys in Vietnam.”

Today, Operation Shoebox harvests the products it packs in a number of ways, Mr. Hirsch says. Volunteers spend time out in front of supermarkets, soliciting product and cash donations; corporate sponsors, such as Johnson & Johnson, enlist the help of employees in providing and pack-

ing products and churches, schools and community civic organizations donate their time and resources.

The organization also works with the Somerset Patriots baseball team to raise awareness and puts on a gift basket din-ner auction as a fundraiser once a year.

At about 10:30 a.m., the building’s qui-etude is broken by the sounds of students from the Morris-Union Jointure Com-mission in Warren.

“These are all autistic kids,” Mr. Hirsch says. “They come in here and I have them do piecework. Right now they’re doing this – ripping these soap packets apart. But they’ll bundle letters with rubber bands, they’ll bag socks.”

The work the students do is not nec-essarily work that needs to be done but rather work that Operation Shoebox cre-ates for them as an enrichment experi-ence, Mr. Hirsch says. The students come down every day for an hour to get them out of the school environment for a little while.

While the volunteers who come out to pack the boxes and help with the day to day operations run the gamut in age, a large percentage of them are military vet-erans, Mr. Hirsch says, adding he thinks that’s the result of several factors, but that the treatment of veterans returning from Vietnam has a lot to do with it.

“It was just disgraceful,” Mr. Hirsch said, of the way service personnel were

treated once they returned home. “I think for them (veterans), this is like a salve, to make everything right.”

Ms. Guarniero says many seniors get involved as well, with Mr. Hirsch adding that’s a result of the sense of volunteerism they were embedded with at an early age.

“Fortunately my generation grew up where volunteerism and giving back was something that was encouraged,” he says. “I think that’s something that you carry with you your entire life.”

Different causes appeal to different peo-ple for different reasons, he says.

For Ms. Guarniero, volunteering with Operation Shoebox began when her son entered the Marine Corps.

“I’ve been with Operation Shoebox eight years,” she says. “I’m not as active now as I (once) was. I was (previously) more physi-cally active. It’s a lot of lifting and hauling and stacking and sorting.”

Not having to go to work every day and the absence of a set schedule has opened up a lot of possibilities, she says.

“When I retired, I never knew that such good times were going to be in front of me and I never knew I would make so many new friends,” she said. “Mostly through volunteering.”

Photos and artwork, cards and banners plaster the walls and throng the hallways of the nondescript little building just off Route 206, testament to Operation Shoe-box NJ’s unofficial pledge to remember not to forget.

“The thing is, we’re not there to give them the boxes,” Mr. Hirsch said. “So this is our reward: when we see this kind of stuff, we know that they got them and we know that they’re happy.”

Medical staff members at an Afghanistan field hospital open their care packages from Operation Shoebox.

Operation Shoebox volunteers prepare boxes for shipment at the Manville VFW.

�� | Packet Magazine | November �014

or the six days before Christmas, at three loca-tions in Princeton’s downtown, about 100 mem-bers of Princeton United Methodist Church

will take turns standing alongside the Salvation Army’s iconic red kettles, ringing bells and collecting donations for the area’s needy.

For some, it’s an ongoing family tradition that in-cludes bundled children in tow.

The Rev. Jana Purkis-Brash, the pastor at Princeton United Methodist, mentions this as just one example of her congregants’ commitment to helping the needy. Another is the Wednesday evening community meal, hosted year round.

“Last year, Christmas and New Year’s Day fell on Wednesday. There was no way our volunteers would cancel that meal just because it was a holiday,” the Rev. Purkis-Brash says. “They were so committed to reaching out to people who wouldn’t otherwise have a meal that they partnered with The Jewish Center and had plenty of volunteers, from both groups, for both meals.”

There are many similar examples of outreach that benefit needy residents living in Princeton and sur-rounding communities.

And while all of these organizations provide servic-es and other support (such as help paying the rent or the utility bill), as the holiday season approaches and thoughts turn to giving thanks and buying gifts, ef-forts are certainly ramped up.

By Bernadette Suski-Harding

The GivingSeasonArea churches are always helping the needy, but the holidays are a special time for volunteering

F

Amalya Megerman (front), from Teaneck, and Susan Davelman, from Hillsborough, serve up plates of hot food during a dinner service

held by United Methodist Church.

Families sharing a meal during a community meal, held each Wednesday by Princeton United Methodist Church.

Photo by Rebecca Nowalski


Here is what local churches and community organizations are doing this holiday season:

Trinity Church 33 Mercer St, Princeton

On Thanksgiving morning, more than 1,400 runners will take part in the seventh annual Turkey Trot, which last year raised more than $30,000.

One of several outreach traditions at Trinity, other programs include a rummage sale, which after 47 years raises about $60,000 between spring and fall sales. The church also hosts a free choral event the Sunday after Christmas at University Cha-pel at Princeton University, which raises about $5,000 in col-lected offerings.

Beneficiaries of the money collected vary from event to event, but can include the Crisis Ministry, Housing Initiatives of Princ-eton, Urban Promise of Trenton and Trenton Children’s Chorus, Foundation Cristosal in El Salvador, the Global Aids Interfaith Alliance (GAIA) in Malawi and the Chaplaincy Program at Princeton Medical Center.

The hunger fund raises about $10,000 each year for the Tren-ton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), Mercer Street Friends, Episcopal Relief Development (ERD) and Bread for the World, with about half that amount coming from pay-as-you-wish donations at the monthly One Table Café dinner, which serves a hot dinner, do-nated by a local restaurant, on the third Friday of each month to as many as 120 participants.

And finally, for Christmas, Trinity hosts an event called An-

gel Tree. Two Christmas trees are decorated with angel cutouts, on which are written a child’s name and gift wish. Parishioners choose one or more tags, and help to fulfill the wishes of Tren-ton-area boys and girls.

A lot happens here, and when I mention that to the Rev. Paul Jeanes III, Trinity’s pastor, he explains that outreach is at the core of his church’s beliefs.

“We’re not here for ourselves,” he says. “We are here to reach out and do everything we can to make the world a better place. Our faith, our scriptures, call us to do that, to care for everyone, regarding of whether they’re atheist or Christian, regardless of where they live.

“We have this big church in the center of town, with a big stee-ple,” the Rev. Jeanes said. “It doesn’t matter to me if people come in (to worship with us), but when they drive by on Mercer Street, I want people to think, ‘There’s Trinity Church, they do good things.’ We need to be here as a beacon of something good.”

Mt. Pisgah African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church170 Witherspoon St.

A message the Rev. Dr. Deborah Brooks, pastor at Mt. Pisgah, stresses with her church’s members is that outreach is ongoing, and that people have needs year round.

But she is grateful that people seem to want to “give more at holidays, because it’s a joyful season.”

Each weekday throughout the year, the church hosts a program for senior citizens (funded by the Mercer County Department of Aging), during which volunteers provide the seniors with lunch

Families sharing a meal during a community meal, held each Wednesday by Princeton United Methodist Church.

Photo by Rebecca Nowalski

�4 | Packet Magazine | November �014

and opportunities for exercise.Other outreach programs include a

Bible study youth fellowship at Read-ing Circle, one of Princeton’s four public housing developments, and monthly vis-its to Merwick Care and Rehab Center in Plainsboro.

“We also go to the homes of those we know of in our church and our commu-nity, to talk and sing and pray with them,” the Rev. Brooks says.

For the holidays, though, the Rev. Brooks’ members will donate money and food items for contribution to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen and local families and senior citizens.

“We’re not a wealthy congregation, but we like to do what we can for somebody else,” the Rev. Brooks says. “We’re always happy to do for those who are less fortu-nate than we are at this time. People get joy from that.”

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton50 Cherry Hill Road

This congregation kicked off its holiday giving season with a Halloween party for children at the East Trenton Community Center, followed by a turkey collection for

the Crisis Ministry Food Bank.But the outreach is year round, accord-

ing to Lorraine Shiarappa, director of Lifespan Religious Education, and in-cludes contributions to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, and a monthly prayer shawl ministry of needle workers who gather to make blankets, shawls, mittens and scarves for people who are ill or in need.

Even the youngsters get involved, Ms. Shiarappa said. “Each Sunday school class, over the course of the year, is responsible for serving a Sunday brunch after our ser-vice. There is a freewill offering collected for the meal, and the class decides which charitable organization they would like to support with the funds they collect. In the past, they have chosen HomeFront, Habitat for Humanity and SAVE animal shelter.”

Part of what drives the membership, Ms. Shiarappa, is that “the inherent dig-nity and worth of all human beings, and justice, equity and compassion in our re-lationship to one another, are part of our basic principles, so it is woven into our spirituality to work toward social jus-tice and to care for one another and our planet.”

Princeton United Methodist Church173 Laurel Circle

The Salvation Army kettles aren’t the only holiday outreach that the Rev. Jana Purkis-Brash’s parishioners are passion-ate about. Other efforts include a congre-gation-wide gift giving to children living in Camden; and a Christmas card alter-native that encourages members to forego sending cards and encourages donations to social groups instead.

“My congregants are really committed to Christmas being more than just gift giving to each other. They feel it’s very important, because they have so much, to give to those who don’t have as much,” the pastor says. “There’s a real level of com-mitment and a passion to making Christ-mas be more than just about them and what their families enjoy. There’s also an understanding that as disciples of Christ, it’s important for us to return to others some of the blessings we’ve received from God.”

During the rest of the year, teens and adults spend a week each summer vol-unteering with the Appalachian Service Project to “make houses warmer, safer and drier. We have adults who take vaca-

Ann Zultner puts donated food items into the church’s “Little Red Wagon” This helps people in the outreach program.

Photo by Mark Czajkowski


tion time to be able to do that,” she says.And, the newest outreach effort is

Threads of Hope at Chambers United Methodist Church in Trenton. Open one Saturday each month and staffed by vol-unteers, Threads of Hope is a place where the needy can “shop” for free.

St. Paul Roman Catholic Church214 Nassau St.

To Mary Agnes Procaccino and Ray Wadsworth, one of the most gratifying things about the work the St. Vincent De-Paul Society does is this: It helps people in need, regardless of creed, and when it comes to people in need, there are plenty right here in Princeton.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a reli-gion or whatever, and we don’t care if you’re legal or illegal, we don’t ask,” says Mrs. Procaccino, the society’s president. “We’ve helped people of all ages, probably more younger than older, with the rent and utility bills.”

“We really go out to help people with rent before they’re evicted,” says Mr. Wad-sworth, the society’s vice president. “We call the landlord to intervene or pay part of the rent so they don’t get evicted. We try to help out wherever we can, even with

foreclosures. We’ll get involved with the bank, and tell them ‘This person is really trying to pay the mortgage, and working hard to get a job.”

Mrs. Procaccino recalls one time when a single mother needed assistance: “She had a sofa and a crib. We got her a bed and some other furniture, and it was like we gave her $1 million. It makes you feel good to help them.”

For Thanksgiving, the society provides a dozen or so local families with turkey and all the trimmings to prepare at home. Every other year, coats are collected and handed out. (This is an off year.) In the spring, the society hosts the Pennies for the Poor fundraiser, and asks parishio-ners to leave their loose change in an ice chest in the church’s vestibule. And year round, food for the needy is collected ev-ery Sunday at mass.

“People don’t realize how many people in Princeton need help,” Mr. Wadsworth said. “We have a middle class and a lower class too who need help with bills and clothing. We buy gift cards for ShopRite so they can go out and buy the food they want. It’s really eye opening.”

Princeton YWCA59 Paul Robeson Place

When the most recent class was gradu-ated at the YWCA’s bilingual nursery school, its members represented 13 coun-tries and six languages (Spanish, Chinese, French, Russian, Arabic and Polish.) Fifty five percent of them lived in Princeton, 15 percent in Hamilton, and the rest in Tren-ton, Ewing, Lawrence and Hopewell.

“We have two neighborhoods — one that’s wealthy, one that’s not,” says Nancy Faherty, director of development. “We have a great need, especially in bilingual nursery school, where 70 percent of the kids are living at federal poverty level.”

Those aren’t the only numbers helping to illustrate the need. In the last fiscal year, from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, 938 children attended summer camp, 2,711 learned to swim and 258 took to the stage as budding ballerinas.

All of these programs are funded by donations made to the Y’s annual appeal, which begins at Thanksgiving and runs through the end of the year. “That’s when we get the lion’s share of support to our annual fund, which helps us with gener-ating operating expenses and scholarship funding,” Ms. Faherty says.

Barbara Ruano and Morgane O’Connell helped organize coats that were sold as part ofTrinity Church’s fall rummage sale.

Photo by Mark Czajkowski

�� | Packet Magazine | November �014

Come One, Come All

Frank Porcaro picks grapes from the vineyard in his Princeton home.

Every Friday, Frank Porcaro cooks lunch for family and friendsBy Bernadette Suski-Harding | Photos by Rebecca nowalski


he first time it happened, Frank Porcaro was in his living room, which doubles as his tailor shop,

checking the fit of a Princeton police officer’s uniform.

The officer, there on his lunch break and no doubt standing ten-hut still as Mr. Porcaro looked him over, noticed an aroma wafting in from the kitchen.

His “Hey Frank, what’s cooking?” was met with an invitation to lunch.

The next week, the officer brought some friends, and the week after that, as word began to spread, others began to join in, among them doctors and nurses, politicians and lawyers, and friends visiting friends.

In the 25 or so years since, lunch at Frank’s on Fridays has become an institution.

Long before The Olive Garden pro-fessed, “When you’re here, you’re family,” Mr. Porcaro lived it.

Lunch and laughterThe day I visit, invited by a woman

Mr. Porcaro had met only once before when another friend brought her to lunch, I am welcomed like a long-lost friend and fed to near bursting.

On the stove, a stock-sized pot of pasta e

T fagioli, made from scratch that morning, shares space with a pan filled with sweet Italian sausages (from Conte’s Pizza) sautéed with green bell peppers. Bowls and utensils are nearby, so I help myself, as does everyone else.

When I join the other diners — two doctors, a nurse, three cops, a visiting author, my friend and her friend, the family lawyer, and an eye doctor’s wife and daughter — on the screened-in back porch, where a poster of Marlon Brando as the Godfather gazes down on us all, I step into a conversation that is both new and ongoing, a continuation, no doubt, of conversations that have occurred many times before.

These people know each other, and have for years, and they take me right in. Their demeanors don’t change when I tell them why I’m here. I am their host’s guest, and that is enough.

The conversations — many of them simultaneous and some of them in Italian — cover a wide range of topics. The college student killed recently by a bear while hiking with friends in north Hunterdon County. The longtime lunch participant who became a judge and reluctantly recused himself from the Friday lunches because it wouldn’t be right to fraternize with officers who’ll

appear in his courtroom someday.

The woman who discovers, much to her joy, that’s she’s just met the wife of her cherished eye doctor. There’s laughter, and a sharing of stories, and later, when the eye doctor’s wife leaves, the woman says “Oh, mamma mia! The wife of my eye doctor!” Someone chimes in, “You can meet everyone here.”

And there are stories to hear, such as the adventures of a hometown boy, visiting this weekend to attend a high school reunion, who tells stories of his days as a

From left: Frank Porcaro with his guests, Dr. Anthony Vasselli, Dr. Alexander Vukasin, and Dr. David Goldfarb.

Mr. Porcaro, proudly displaying a squash he grew in his garden.


cop, first in Princeton and then in Vegas. Now retired, he’s found success as an actor and the author of non-fiction books.

There’s laughter, a lot of it, and the shorthand that comes from being with old friends. When I close my eyes, it’s like every loud gathering I’ve ever had with my Polish-American family.

Instantly, I feel at home.

An American dreamDessert, when it’s served, is simple:

Figs and grapes plucked fresh from Mr. Porcaro’s garden, and tiramisu prepared by his wife, Palma.

As the lunch hour comes to a close, people begin to leave, some to return to work, some to meet with other friends,

some to shop and run errands.

That’s when I return to the front of the house with Mr. Porcaro, to the living room/tailor shop. At one end, a large, flat-screen TV is tuned to an Italian-language news station; at the other end are an old-fashioned Singer sewing machine, and two racks filled with customers’ clothes. A computer-printed sign, on a simple sheet of 8x11 paper, is taped to the front door. ‘Frank Porcaro, Tailor,’ it reads; one side says ‘Open,’ the other side says ‘Closed.’ A piece of tape secures it to the window.

Mr. Porcaro came to the U.S., from Benevento, Italy, as a young man. He had only five years of formal schooling, but in Italy in the 1950s, that was enough to become a cop, he tells me. “Not anymore!” says his wife as she loads the dishwasher.

Mr. Porcaro speaks with an accent, and at times I find myself concentrating hard to understand. But he doesn’t mind when I repeat things, to make sure I’ve understood, and the conversation moves along nicely.

When Frank’s second youngest child, Gennaro (Gerry to his friends), arrives at home, he’s disappointed because he was delayed at work. There’s plenty of food left, but it was the lunch crowd he was hoping to see. Gerry, 29, is third in a lineup that begins with Cristina, 39, and includes Maria, 34, and Rita, 27.

Mr. Porcaro inspects figs, which were dessert and a gift to take home on the day the author had lunch at his house.

He grew up at these lunches, shy at first, as his parents encouraged him to “Sit, sit, eat, eat.” He found his voice and joined in the conversations, which almost always touched on politics, when he felt old enough to have an opinion.

Gerry and I are chatting about what it’s like to grow up with parents who are immigrants when he looks up, toward the front door, and a smile spreads slowly across his face. An old friend from childhood, home for a wedding, is standing there, a bottle of red wine in hand. He’s come to thank Mr. Porcaro for repairing a jacket that was tailored, badly, in Chicago. Now, he says, the jacket fits perfectly.

A garden divineLater, when Mr. Porcaro’s cell phone

rings (the ring tone is Italian opera) and another client beckons, Gerry shows me around the garden. I don’t realize it yet, but I’m about to have one of the most pleasant garden walks ever. A table near the back porch is covered with bug-eating plants.

There are Italian fig trees that have been there since before his parents bought the house, which survive New Jersey’s sometimes harsh winters only because of the care the Porcaros take with them: the trees’ limbs are tied down, covered with old carpeting and tarp, and weighted with stones.

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Peppers from the garden make their way into many meals Mr. Porcaro cooks for his guests.

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display of cottage garden flowers (zinnias, cosmos, daisies) and old English roses. It’s Gerry’s contribution to the yard, and it’s beautiful.

I’m startled when a couple of ducks wander by, headed for a small inflated swimming pool where they like to splash. Behind a fence, about 20 chickens peck at plates filled with vegetables and feed. Bunnies live in a shed in the corner. (“We have 20 now,” Gerry tells me, “and sometimes it gets up to about 40, and all the Italians around here say ‘Oh! You have extra rabbits,’ and then suddenly we’re back down to two. Guess we’d better put them back together!”)

Finally, because we’ve saved the best for last, we reach the vegetable garden, which spans the length of the yard and at different times of the season includes pumpkins,

Mr. Porcaro cooked up sausage and peppers for his guests during one of his recent Friday lunches.

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tomatoes, peppers, kale, zucchini, broccoli rabe, tomatoes, arugula, salad greens and grapes. It’s a family affair, Gerry tells me, with his father starting many of the plants from seed, and everyone else helping with the fertilizing, weeding, harvesting and canning.

There are also nut trees: hazelnut and chestnut; a walnut tree was lost to Hurricane Sandy.

After he’s finished his call, Mr Porcaro joins us in the yard, shoos Gerry away and tells me everything is organic. There are no chemicals here, and occasionally a vegetable

might have a blemish, but to Mr. Porcaro’s mind, these imperfections are OK.

This garden, these chickens and rabbits and ducks, the bounty he shares with friends — they are all, Mr. Porcaro believes, evidence of his connection with God. He’s deeply religious, and feels honored to have dreamt, twice, of Jesus Christ.

I feel honored too, to have been welcomed into his home, fed as if I were family, and sent home with a bag of figs and an invitation to come back, any Friday, with my own family in tow.

Palma Porcaro picks tomatoes to be used for sauce, which is jarred and stored for lunches held at the couple’s home.

�0 | Packet Magazine | november 2014

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A Coaching LiferMitch henderson is getting Princeton’s men’s basketball team

ready for a new seasonBy Philip Sean Curran | Photos by Mark Czajkowski

Courtesy of the Princeton Athletic Department

Mitch Henderson will be back on the sidelines of Jadwin Gymnasium, beginning with a game against Rider on Nov. 14.


is name is Mitch Henderson, the man who carries the weight of expectations on his shoulders.

On Nov. 14, he will walk onto the floor of Jadwin Gymnasium to begin his fourth season as the head coach of the Princeton University men’s basketball team. He is by his own admission a coaching lifer, someone who picked a career in which success or failure is based on how well a group of young men — most not old enough to legally buy a beer — perform on a basketball court.

“I find college basketball coaching to be… a test of sort of everything. You’ve got to be good with your players, you’ve got to be good with recruiting, managing the program, teaching,” Mr. Henderson says. “It’s a never-ending evolving of yourself. I’ve made a thousand mistakes. I’m sure I’ll make some more, but you try to learn.”

In a pair of shorts, T-shirt and sneakers, he looks athletic enough to still run up and down a basketball court. Having just turned 39 in August, he “rarely” plays anymore.

“It’s just not the same on the body. The bounce back factor is a lot slower.”

Today, he is the married father of two, someone who just as easily might be spotted in Princeton buying coffee at Small World Coffee, having breakfast at PJ’s Pancake House or riding the Dinky.

Like the good point guard he was in college, Mr. Henderson is quick to throw assists around. Of his wife, Ashley, he says: “I wouldn’t be able to be doing this if it wasn’t for her. She’s the main reason this is all happening, really. She’s a big part of what we’re doing.”

Basketball is the marquee sport at the university, a place with a tradition of winning in the eight-team Ivy League conference.

To appreciate the past success, all a visitor to Jadwin has to do is to look up at the rafters to see the banners hanging above the court. The banners list the years the school has gone to the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament and other accomplishments.

As a four-year starter at Princeton from 1994 to 1998, Mr. Henderson helped the team reach the NCAA tournament three times. He has yet to do so as the head coach, the job he has held since 2011 after replacing former teammate Sydney Johnson.

H “I hate losing just as much as anybody,” he says. “And I don’t think I’ve gotten better at it.”

Mr. Henderson did not lose much as a player, an athlete juggling the dual responsibilities of coursework at one of the nation’s most academically rigorous universities. He knows well what his players go through.

“I think it’s a gift, because what it forces you to do is to manage your time well,” says Mr. Henderson, who still makes out his schedule for the week every Sunday night just like he did as a student.

“We try to impress upon the guys on the team that this is a balance. This is Princeton. We expect you to be great. When you’re up on campus, you’re

great. When you come down here, you’re great.”

After graduating in 1998, he tried his hand at professional basketball, but after a brief stint with the Atlanta Hawks and a year overseas, it was time to think about what to with the rest of his life.

“It wasn’t like I had a 10-year pro career. Reality set in,” he says.

But if he could not play on the court anymore, he would at least stay connected to the game on the sidelines. Former Princeton coach Bill Carmody, who had replaced legendary coach Pete Carril in 1996, brought him on to his coaching staff at Northwestern University starting in 2000.

“He reached out and gave me the

Princeton basketball has a long tradition, and Mr. Henderson wants to build on that tradition this season.


opportunity to be a young assistant,” Mr. Henderson says. “Coaching kind of made sense.”

He spent 11 seasons at Northwestern before his alma mater hired him to be its head coach.

Basketball at Princeton has a long tradition. Bill Bradley and a cast of others going to the Final Four in 1965 was the all-time moment. During the tenure of Mr. Carril, the school went to the NCAA tournament 11 times and won 13 conference titles between 1967 and 1996.

The Ivy League, once dominated by Princeton and Penn, has changed in the past decade. Mr. Henderson says the players are better, and the coaching is fantastic.

“This isn’t your old Ivy League. This is not the same league that I came in,” he says. “I think it’s a combination of things. There’s more information out there for kids. What the Ivy League schools have to offer to a student athlete is very attractive to a family.”

For a moment, Mr. Henderson is back home in Indiana, playing defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament in the Hoosier Dome in March 1996. The 43-41 Tigers’ victory is considered one of the all-time upsets in tournament history.

Mr. Henderson is getting ready for his fourth season as head coach of the

Princeton men’s basketball team.

“I don’t remember much about the game. I can remember plays. But I remember the feeling of playing with my friends. Those were my buddies,” he says. “There’s a lot of pride in that when you’re playing for everybody and you’re part of something that’s bigger than yourself.”

It’s a feeling he wants his players to experience. “I had that. It was great. Now, I want to create those things for them.”

He has yet to taste that kind of success as a head coach. Last season, Mr. Henderson had his best record in terms of wins and loses, 21-9, of his three years at Princeton. It might have been one of his more frustrating seasons, too, more like three seasons combined into one.

The team won 11 of its first 13 games, including road victories at in-state rival Rutgers and Penn State. So when the Tigers took the court in Philadelphia to play Penn on Jan. 11, who could have expected what would happen next?

Four straight losses to start the conference schedule effectively ended any hopes of going to the NCAA tournament. The team righted the ship toward the end of the season, but the mid-season slump proved costly.

“We had a really difficult three weeks, really difficult,” Mr. Henderson says. “We lost our way a little bit defensively. We were turning the ball over a lot.”

This year, the team begins play at home Nov. 14 against Rider, the start of a regular season that will include road trips, winter nights in Ithaca, New York, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the usual amount of successes and disappointments. Such is the life of a coaching lifer.

“It’s challenging and humbling,” he says. “Every day I walk into this gym, I’m thankful.”

For information on the Princeton men’s basketball 2014-15 season, including schedules and ticket information, go to www.goprincetontigers.com.

Mr. Henderson played his college years for the legendary Pete Carril.

Courtesy of the Princeton Athletic Department


For an Active and Fulfilling Life

On The BlockBuying... selling... just looking

By Stephanie Vaccaro

bout 10 years ago when George and Rena Frasciello found the property located at 119 Crescent Way in Monroe Township, it was a blank canvas. “We just happened upon this area, Monroe Township, not by design but because I was looking at the time,” Mrs. Frasciello said, having looked at a number of the developments in Monroe.

A Monroe home offers comfort and communityfor over-�� buyers

Address: 119 Crescent Way, Monroe $479,950

Agent: Marilyn KleineRA Levinson Realtors, MonroePhone: 609-655-5535Cell: 732-887-5666email: [email protected]

The patio is the perfect spot for grilling and relaxing.

This Monroe home offers fine and active living for buyers 50 and over.


Although the couple had raised their children in Princeton Junction from 1974 to 1990, they had spent the previous decade and a half living in Yardley, Pennsylvania. When Mr. Frasciello decided to start a business in Kenilworth, he soon found the commute to be taxing. After two years, they decided to return to the area and happened upon what was then a new development, so new that the developers didn’t even have models up. The loca-tion was a perfect fit for the couple because of its proximity to the New Jersey Turnpike.

Because they got in on the ground floor of the new develop-ment, named Encore, the Frasciellos were able to make design decisions down to the flooring and cabinets. What they ended up creating was a spacious, light-filled home well-suited to life

post-55 and entertaining and hosting family.“They had a design studio,” Mrs. Frasciello says. “We chose all

of the features in the house, from floors to cabinets to tile, car-peting, so you really did have many, many choices... The house that we chose is called The Overture. It’s the largest house in Encore. It’s three bedrooms and three full baths. It’s got a loft, which has the third bedroom.”

The extension they chose made their home the largest in the development.“We extended the living space as much as we could,” Mrs. Frasciello says. “They did let you push out the fam-ily room and kitchen so that the extension makes it the largest that it can be in the development. We have a paver patio in the back. We had landscaping done on the front and the back of the house.”

The home has a library, equipped with Surround Sound. “I love the library because this is where I spend my life,” Mr. Frasciello says, noting that he’s active in various businesses.

“One of the features we like about it, why we bought this house, is the fact that it has a loft,” Mr. Frasciello says. The loft has space where Mrs. Frasciello’s office is located, as well as a bedroom, bathroom and living spaces. The layout offers privacy for guests. There also is an exercise room upstairs.

The communityBut the appeal of Encore was more than brick and mortar.

What has really made their experience there so positive was the community. “In hindsight, it was the best move we ever made because we made so many new friends, and there are so many activities going on here that we’re continuously busy and enjoy-ing life to a greater extent than we would if we had just lived in a regular home in a normal development,” Mr. Frasciello says.

Avid tennis players, Mr. and Mrs. Frasciello were visited by a neighbor on their first day in the home, and asked if they played the game. They quickly became involved, and have become in-volved in a number of tennis activities.

Activities are a big part of what The Encore offers. From clubs and groups to Color Wars, an annual series of sporting competi-

The kitchen offers convenience and style.

The loft offers a third bedroom, and privacy for guests.

Inside SRES Designationif you’re a senior you know that your housing needs have evolved

over the stages of your life. You may find value in seeking out a real-tor who has the Seniors Real estate Specialist (SReS) designation.

The SReS designation is given to realtors who complete a course offered by the Center for Specialized ReALTOR (CSRe) of the na-tional Association of ReALTORS. The course focuses on the specific needs of buyers 50 and older. Those needs include retirement in-come; housing; trends in the over-50 population; how to build cli-entele among that age group; and counseling strategies to assist their clients.

Benefits to members

Realtors who pursue this designation are privy to a number of benefits. Via a two-day training program,Realtors can learn to ap-proach seniors with more of an attitude of counseling them versus selling to them as they gain a deeper appreciation for their needs. SReS has customizable marketing tools for its members to use, as well as newsletters, marketing letters and scripts for approach-ing this demographic. Participation offers a better understanding of the tax laws, probate and estate planning. it also helps distinguish them from their competitors and affords members opportunity for networking.

Benefits to consumers

Consumers who seek out Realtors with this designation potential-ly have a greater chance of connecting with a Realtor who under-stands their needs and can better serve them. Ultimately, if Realtors really undertake their training with a spirit of service, they’ll be able to walk their clients through the home-buying process and provide all of the best resources to this population.


tions that are reminiscent of summer camp, life there is filled with ways to get involved.

This past September, 180 people competed in Color Wars. The competition ends with a gathering offering food and live music. “Most of these people went to camp when they were kids,” Mr. Frasciello says. “They divided the camp into two teams, a red team and a blue team. And they competed against each other in various sports like bowling, tennis, shuffleboard and bocce.”

The clubhouse is equipped with a number of rooms for groups wanting to play poker, canasta, and mah-jongg, as well as ping-pong and shuffleboard. There also are a number of clubs that residents can participate in.

But the Frasciellos have decided that it’s time to downsize. They currently divide their time between New Jersey and Florida. Maintaining two homes and traveling back and forth between them is less desirable than it once was, and with their children’s families spread out over three states, none of which are New Jer-sey, they’ve decided to sell and live year-round in Florida.

They think the ideal buyers are a couple who are physically active and will benefit from living in a place like Encore. Mr. and Mrs. Frasciello said at present there are 397 homes in the development. “It’s probably one of the smaller developments in the whole area,” Mrs. Frasciello says.

“The social part of these 55-and-over communities is really, really an attraction,” Mr. Frasciello said.

And, of course, the home itself is a selling point. “It’s a beauti-ful house when you walk in, it really is,” Mrs. Frasciello said.

For more information, go to www.sres.org.

The master bedroom offers comfort and a view.

The family room is the perfect spot for relaxation.


Good TasteThe finer side of dining

By Faith Bahadurian

The Joys of Pan-Roasted Vegetables

The author made this roasted vegetable medley of broccoli, carrots, parsnips and spring onions.

orking enough vegetables into your diet can be a chal-lenge if you are, at heart, a “protein at the center of the plate” kind of person. For me, that means the rest

of the meal tends to be of secondary interest, and not something I want to spend a lot of time preparing. However, plain steamed or microwaved vegetables can be dull, so I am always looking for ways to give them more “interest,” without a big effort.

Enter the joys of pan-roasting in the oven. With minimal prep and mostly unattended cooking, this has been a lifesaver, one that’s turned me into a proselytizer. It’s an easy way to prepare two or more vegetables at a time, like fennel and zucchini or car-rots and parsnips, and then eat them all week. At Thanksgiving, once the turkey is out of the oven, you can slide in a couple of trays of vegetables and they’ll cook in about the time it takes to make the gravy.

The trend of roasted asparagus first alerted me to the possi-bilities. What could be easier than just laying them on a shallow baking sheet, drizzling with olive oil and sprinkling with sea salt, then sliding them into a hot oven for 15 minutes? Roasted cauliflower with whole garlic cloves was another wake-up call, and then I started roasting the pre-cut butternut squash that had appeared on the market, often with sage leaves. Those take about 30 minutes. Halved cherry tomatoes (or fat slices of big ones) become sweet and succulent when doused with olive oil, herbs, and slivers of garlic and roasted at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Roasted vegetables can be eaten as is, but can also be put to use in other dishes, such as in soups and pastas, or atop flatbreads. It’s easy to let loose with whatever creative combination appeals to you, and it’s a fine way to use up vegetables languishing in

Adding flavor without a big effort

Photo by Faith Bahadurian


your crisper. I often keep seasonings neutral, since that gives me more flexibility down the road when I use leftovers.

The high heat concentrates flavor and caramelizes natural sugars, so be sure the vegetables get brown around the edges. I recently thought to add thinly sliced lemon, peel and all, in with some fennel and zucchini, and the slightly charred result was outstanding. Thickly sliced or wedged onion, which turns sweet when caramelized, is another tasty add-in, especially with squash or cruciferous vegetables.

Try to trim your vegetables into pieces that will cook in the same amount of time. They will shrink while cooking, so don’t make the pieces too small. Turn them about two-thirds of the way though roasting, testing for doneness with a granny fork or sharp knife tip. If you notice some pieces getting done before others, just remove them with tongs, leaving the rest to finish. Since zucchini is watery, it needed to stay in longer than the fen-nel before it browned on the edges.

I like to have the pieces “honor” the original shape of the vege-table, so I cut carrots and parsnips across the middle, then halve or quarter the three-to-four-inch sections lengthwise. I slice fen-nel to show off its pretty lyre shape. Broccoli and cauliflower are best as florets, of course.

The basic recipe below from Ina Garten via the Food Network, can serve as a template for most vegetables you might want to roast. My next experiment will likely be on wedges of turnips and kohlrabi or beets — and let’s not forget brussels sprouts.

On a late summer trip to eat Taiwanese food at Lin’s Palace in Morristown, the personable Mr. Lin sent me home with a large bitter melon gourd from his garden. I found a recipe for roasting it online, so don’t be afraid to try this technique on ethnic veg-etables too, after a trip to the Asian, Indian, or Hispanic market. Just Google “roasted (whatever)” and you will likely see plenty of recipes. Roasted chayote anyone?

I also include a recipe for briam, Greek-style roasted vegetables that make a one-dish vegetarian meal that’s sort of like a baked ratatouille. After seeing it on the menu at Labebe Mediterra-nean Restaurant in North Brunswick, I found a recipe in Cook-ing to Share, a beautiful Greek cookbook by Athens-based chef Alexandra Stratou. It’s a highly personal account of the foods she grew up with, and she reinforced my first thought about this dish — how good it would be with a chunk of feta cheese (and, I suspect, a hunk of country bread for the juices).

If I keep this up, who knows, maybe I’ll be able to move those vegetables to the center of my plate.

Adapted from Ina Garten on foodnetwork.com.

This is a good “template” recipe for whatever vegetables you want to use yourself. If you use this combination in other dishes, use the parsley, which is somewhat more “ flexible” than dill. — F.B.

2 pounds parsnips, peeled1 pound carrots, unpeeled3 tablespoons good olive oil1 tablespoon kosher salt1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper2 tablespoons minced fresh dill or parsley Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. If the vegetables are very

thick, cut them in half lengthwise. Slice each diagonally in 1-inch-thick slices, or quarter fattest sections lengthwise. Place the cut vegetables on a sheet pan. Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss well. Roast for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the vegetables, tossing occasionally, until the parsnips and carrots are just tender. Sprinkle with dill or parsley and serve hot.

Adapted from http://kirantarun.com. Note: I left the pretty peel on because I’d been served it that way

at Lin’s Palace in a stir-fry. I thought the seeds in mine (they’re red!) looked mature, so I removed them. I also soaked my slices for 20 minutes in cold water, to mitigate the bitterness, then drained and dried them before tossing with the spices and oil. — F.B.

Roasted Carrots andParsnips

This recipe for oven-baked vegetables, or briam, was adapted from Alexandra Stratou’s Cooking to Share.

Photo by Ioanna Roufopoulou

Oven-CrispedBitter Gourd


but gently jostle them to make sure the oil and water seep in all through the layers. Some versions skip the sugar, but with winter tomatoes, you might need it. F.B.

2 small potatoes2 green bell peppers1 large eggplant1 leek2 tomatoes1 onion, sliced into half moons2 cloves garlic, peeled1/2 bunch parsley, choppedOlive oilSalt and pepper1 tablespoon sugar1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional) Optional feta cheese for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dice the potatoes, peppers, eggplant, leek and tomatoes to roughly the same size, about 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a large roasting pan. Combine with the on-ion, whole garlic cloves, parsley and a generous amount of olive oil, about 1/3 cup. Toss to coat vegetables, and season with salt, pepper and sugar, and the chili flakes if using. Pour in about 3/4 cup of water.

Bake in the oven for 75 minutes. The vegetables should take on a lovely dark color and some should even stick to the edges of the dish. Ensure there’s no water, only oil, left in the pan before taking it out of the oven.

2 medium bitter gourds1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder1/2 teaspoon chili powder1/2 teaspoon garam masala1/2 lemon, juiced1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil Using a peeler, peel away the hard outer skin of bitter gourds.

Wash and pat dry with paper towels. Slice and discard the ends. Scoop out and discard the seeds if desired.

Slice into 1/2-inch rounds (or crescents) and put them in a non-reactive bowl. (Soak in water 20-30 minutes, then drain and dry, if desired.) Toss all the seasonings and the lemon and oil with the slices and allow to sit for 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 425 degrees.

Spread out the slices on a baking sheet. Do not overcrowd. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden crisp. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before serving.

Adapted from Cooking To Share, Alexandra Stratou (2014).Serves 4-5.

Note: Some versions include zucchini, and sometimes a table-spoon or two of tomato paste mixed into the water before adding to baking dish. I’ve also seen a layered version, based on length of cooking time needed, with potatoes on the bottom and toma-toes on top. In that case, don’t mix up the vegetables in the pan,

Oven-Baked Vegetables (Briam)


On the VinePouring and pairing wines near and far

By Patrick Walsh

Wine Pairings for the HolidaysExperts from local wine stores share suggestions

to help make your holiday meal special

hanksgiving draws nigh, bringing its annual abundance of food and family... and wine-pairing problems. I offer the advice that any good wine salesperson would give: drink what you like and make choosing for your guests as easy as possible. That said, I still want to put thoughtful hosts somewhere in the

ballpark as to what to pour. As I’ve done before, I canvassed Princeton’s wine shops for their favorites, asking them to suggest two whites and two reds with one inexpensive/party pour and one deluxe selection per category.


Let’s start with white wines.For an inexpensive, homegrown white,

Jill Sasso, wine buyer at CoolVines (21 Spring St., Princeton, 609-924-0039, www.coolvines.com) recommends the 2013 Walnut City Pinot Gris from Wil-lamette Valley, Oregon at $18 per bottle.

As she describes it, “this mineral-driven Pinot Gris is light, elegant, and versatile enough to be a cocktail wine while watch-ing football but will satisfy all your white-wine lovers at the dinner table.”

To take things up a notch she sug-gests 2011 Monastero Suore Cistercensi Coenobium Lazio Bianco at $25. Yes, that’s a mouthful, but so is the wine. Made by nuns in Italy’s Lazio region, this white blends Trebbiano and fragrant Malvasia grapes. The result: a crisp wine full of pears, quince, cinnamon, and mineral flavors. Put just a light chill on this dry wine and enjoy!

For a party pour and textbook ac-companiment to the big bird, Stephnie Beaudry, wines sales manager of The Princeton Corkscrew wine shop (49 Hul-fish St., 609-430-1200, www.princeton-corkscrew.com), suggests 2010 Domaine Bott Frerés Riesling Tradition at $18.50 per bottle. Its delicate honeysuckle notes

on the nose give way to ripe peach fruit, piercing acidity, and strong minerality on the palate.

Ms. Beaudry’s deluxe selection is a Bor-deaux blanc from one of the region’s best white wine producers, the 2011 Chateau Carbonnieux Pessac-Leognan, for $49. As Ms. Beaudry describes, “it’s a blend of 70 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 30 percent Semillon that’s tastefully done in oak, with vanilla and citrus notes — there’s nothing on a Thanksgiving Day plate this wine can’t handle!”

And now to red wines...Once again, CoolVines’ Ms. Sasso of-

fers an appropriately native selection, the 2012 Old Parcel Zinfandel at $15. Old

Parcel sources fruit from environmen-tally responsible growers with old-vine vineyards in California’s Central Val-ley. Full-bodied and packed with black fruit, this is an all-American choice for Thanksgiving.

Her notch-up red is another classic Thanksgiving pour. The 2011 Domaine des Billards Saint-Amour, at $20.50, is a “Cru” Beaujolais from one of ten villag-es granted this status due to their supe-rior, more concentrated wines. “Billard’s

Saint-Amour has notes of kirsch and earth,” Sasso explains, “perfect for turkey and if you happen to have vegetarians at the table they’ll be thankful too!”

The Corkscrew’s Stephnie Beaudry likes Cru Beaujolais too, the 2012 Domaine Chaintreuil Fleurie “La Madone” for $18. Describing it, Ms. Beaudry enthuses, “the wine has beautiful bright red fruits — think cranberries — as well as low tan-nins, low alcohol, subtle spice, and pleas-ant earthy flavors.” That sounds like an ideal turkey and fixings quaffer to me!

For her luxury selection, Ms. Beaudry turns to nearby Beaune, Burgundy and the 2011 Dubreuil-Fontaine Montrev-enots 1er Cru at $49. We’re talking 100 percent opulent Pinot Noir. She char-acterizes the Montrevenots as “a firmly structured Pinot that delivers dark berry fruit and floral hints on the nose followed by an intense mineral-driven palate with hints of black tea and dark fruit.” She also recommends opening this beauty at least an hour before dinner and decanting if possible.

With its savory and sweet components, the traditional Thanksgiving plate pres-ents some real wine pairing challenges. With all the things you’ll have going on that day, making the wine choices both crowd-pleasing and simple will greatly enhance everyone’s experience. So let the people with a passion for wine make that part easy, so you can focus on the food, family, and fun!

The 2010 Domaine Bott Frerés Riesling Tradition has delicate honeysuckle notes that give way to ripe peach fruit, piercing

acidity, and strong minerality.

The 2012 Domaine Chaintreuil Fleurie“La Madone” has all the elements needed to

make it a perfect complement for aturkey dinner.


The Facts Behind Eczema

Health

Atopic dermatitis, more commonly known as eczema, is a chronic, recurring, itchy rash that usually develops during early infancy and childhood. In many cases there is a family history of eczema, asthma, or allergies. Ec-zema can be very mild, some slight scaly patches on the infant’s face and/or trunk, or it can present as weep-ing, oozing patches involving the arms or legs or even a larger body surface area.

Fortunately, most cases of eczema resolve by the age of 10. However, about 10 to 15 percent of cases con-tinue into adulthood, although less common eczema can start in adulthood.

It is important to differentiate eczema from psoriasis, fungus infections, and other less common skin disorders, in order to know the prognosis and proper therapy.

Because the skin in eczema is “spongiotic”, it does not have the same barrier function of normal skin, hence it’s more susceptible to staphylococcus aureus infections. In addition, the itching associated with eczema can be profound, resulting in intense scratching that also can cause skin infections. The first approach, if possible, is to treat the skin without medicines.

Excellent skin care remains extremely important. Being gentle with the skin is very important.

Lukewarm baths with Aveeno (oatmeal power) can soothe the skin, or if the skin is infected, putting 2 to 3 caps (not cups) of chlorine liquid bleach can be an alter-native to antibiotic pills in the treatment of infected skin. Pat dry gently. Immediately applying moisturizers can help hydrate the skin. Frequent applications of moistur-izers during the day may be necessary.

Therapeutically topical corticosteroids remain the first line therapy for eczema. Antihistamines are the first line ther-apy for itching. It is very important to eliminate the itching because the itch-scratch cycle perpetuates eczema into a more chronic state. There are various strengths of topical steroids ranging from class 1 (strongest) to class 6 (weakest). Prolonged use of the stronger topical steroids is not recommended for more than two weeks at a time, and not to be used on face, axilla, groin, or under the breast because they can result in thinning of the skin: i.e. stretch marks.

Topical calcineurin inhibitors do not act as quickly as topical corticosteroids, however they do not cause skin thinning, so they can be used on more sensitive areas. Antihistamines such as hydroxyzine (prescription) or Benadryl are effective in decreasing itch, but they can produce sedation.

Most people respond to the above therapeutic modali-ties but for those who do not, increasing increments of ultra-violet B light is a sage treatment. Some may re-quire systemic corticosteroids either orally or by injec-tion. Although symptomatically helpful, this treatment is not recommended on a frequent basis because it can exacerbate high blood pressure, diabetes, and/or peptic ulcer disease.

Fortunately there are new medications in develop-ment that may help those who have not benefited from conventional therapy. — By Jerry Bagel, MD

If you would like to be treated by a Board Certified Der-matologist and/or participate in a clinical trial, please call Windsor Dermatology, Sunny Holman 609-443-4500 ext. 1400.


Social ScenePacket Magazine goes out on the town

Story by Philip Sean CurranPhotos by Phil McAuliffe

Dressed Up and Ready to Go

Liz Caloza, Claudia Lopez, Paula Flory and Olga Berrio. Ms. Flory is the director for the Breast Cancer Recovery Center.

crowd of nearly 390 people gathered Oct.10 at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village in Plainsboro for the 10th annual fundraiser to support

the Breast Cancer Resource Center at the YWCA Princeton.

A fashion show to support breast cancer research


“It’s really such an easy fundraiser. Everybody wants to get in-volved,” said Joanne McGann, YWCA events manager. “This is a fundraiser, but it’s also a celebration. It’s a celebration of these women, of what they’ve been through.”

The evening included a dinner followed by a fashion show in which 15 breast cancer survivors modeled clothes on loan from Lord & Taylor, the title sponsor of the event.

“You feel absolutely like a rock star for the night,” said fund-raiser co-chairwoman Jodi Inverso, a breast cancer survivor who has modeled in the show.

The evening was expected to raise at least $60,000 to support the center, started in 1972. The center provides fitness and well-ness program, gives away 500 wigs each year and provides coun-seling and other things.

“I know first-hand how amazing the programs are. And they are for all women,” said Paula Flory, director of the center. “It’s for women of all walks of life, women of every socio-economic status.”

“I have a network of family and friends in this community. But someone who doesn’t have that, the Breast Cancer Resource Center is an invaluable place to go, to make friends, to be con-nected with women who have gone through this illness...,” said Susan Carril, a breast cancer survivor who turned to the center for help.

The folks behind a fashion fundraiser to support the Breast Cancer Resource Center at the YMCA Princeton have some fun prior to the show.

Judy Hutton, CEO of YWCA Princeton.

Visit us to see why over 70% of our business comes from referrals...neighbors, friends, relatives, colleagues. We think you will love us too! Why? We love what we do...we love beautiful things and we love our clients. We are a locally owned independent furniture and design store. At Luxe Home Company, we have worked hard to put together a unique and beautiful mix of furniture, accessories, and rugs in our store. We love to mix modern with traditional, rustic and refined, warm and cool tones... If you are bored by seeing the same items at all the national chains and big box stores, then you should visit us. We believe that you should not have to settle with your home. At Luxe Home Company, we think your home is personal...so everything we do is to offer you choices and to guide you with professional design advice. Visit us...take your time, soak in the inspirations. Let us help you in our store or in your own home.

126 Village Blvd. Princeton, NJ 08540 • 609-987-2600 • www.luxehomecompany.com

LUXE HOMECOMPANY

packet magazine november 2014

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