Proud to be in the Photography exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show! #philadelphiaflowershow

Philadelphia Flower Show 

Photography Contest Finalist

I'm proud to announce that one of my photographs got selected as a finalist in the 2020 Philadelphia Flower Show, Riviera Holiday, photography exhibit and competition. My photo shows a sunset that I shot in the South Jersey Wetlands. I'm not going to post it here. You can see it at the Flower Show. My entry is in Class 194 - Cirque du Soleil. The news of my photo being selected for the PHS photo contest could not have come at a better time.

This good news came in the midst of a completely horrible experience with my 88-year old mom going in the hospital for a pain in her leg on New Years Day, which morphed into a recommendation to send her to hospice.

The problem with her leg turned out to be nothing, but her hospital stay was a complete nightmare. Long story short, she nearly died before her God given time, going eight days without being fed food as they tried to find something wrong with her. Horrible, severe malnutrition followed. Actually, I'm still not recovered from the ordeal.

Today marks 37 days from Mom's midnight ride out of the hospital under a full moon to a rehab center. Here we are now celebrating a sunset! Like life itself, we take sunrises and sunsets for granted.

I'm thankful Mom is alive, happy and comfortable and here to share in the joy and happiness of me being in the Flower Show photography exhibit! Every day is a blessing.

Stop by the PHS photography exhibit to check out my photo along with all the other winners. Last years exhibitors were great.

See you at the show!

Diana Wind
Blog post and photo Copyright(C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@@InspiraHN Program this Friday #Fall Apple #dessert: Crisp, Cobbler or Crumble? #GardenCuizine @EatRightNJ @FCPDPG

Apple Dessert
Crisp? Cobbler or Crumble?
Good Source Fiber and Vitamin C

What's the difference between an Apple Crisp, Apple Cobbler or Apple Crumble? Come find out and join us this Friday at Inspira Health Network's Senior Health Program that includes a catered lunch and guest speaker, who is guess who?... yours truly! I'm looking forward to it and will be joined by three dietetic interns.  

Serves 15
Cranberry Apple Crisp
Ingredients
12 Gala Apples
3 cups cranberries
12 graham cracker squares
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cups margarine, melted 
 
Cooking demo featuring Diana Wind, RDN presented to Inspira Health Network Senior Health Program 

Putting it all together

1. In a plastic baggie, use a rolling pin or your hands and crush the graham crackers to desired texture.
2. Peel, core and slice apples and place on bottom of 9 " x 13" baking dish. Add cranberries and combine.
3. Mix dry ingredients together, then add the melted butter. Combine.
4. Spoon the crumbs over the fruit and bake at 350 deg F. for 45-60 minutes.

Recipe compliments of Inspira 2016 Dietetic Interns
GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Apple Crisp: 1/15 of recipe: about 130g
Good Source: Dietary Fiber and Vitamin C
Calories: 241; Total Fat 7g (10% DV); Saturated Fat 2g (9% DV); Trans Fat 0; Cholesterol 0; Sodium 126 mg (5% DV); total Carbohydrates 45 g; Dietary Fiber 4g (15% DV); Net Carbs: 41 CHO (about 3 Carb servings); Vitamin A (9% DV); Vitamin C (13% DV); Thiamin ~0.1mg (~10%DV)
Related Links
What's the Difference between a Crisp, Cobbler or Crumble?
Photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Healthy Lifestyle * Senior Activity * Life Story Writing * Share Memories @NIAGo4Life @AmerGeriatrics #GardenCuizine

Salottolo Family Memories

by Junetta Salottolo Mehl

Mom's vignettes are posted as we get them from her. At 80 years old she has learned to use a computer! We've encouraged her to type her memories into a Word document. Her ongoing project has been to sort through old boxes of photographs and tell us about them. I encourage you to do the same with the elders in your family. Life story writing is a great activity for seniors. Buona lettura

post 3: A New Member of the Family

In the latter part of my fourth year, my mother decorated a bassinet. It was made of wicker and had four big wheels. She decorated it with white satin ribbon and bows. I had never seen anything like it. Then I remember she went away. A few days later my father took me to see her. But there was some commotion about whether I could go in. I got the feeling that I shouldn’t be there. But somehow my dad snuck me upstairs and I remember seeing this baby with big, big eyes. 

That was my introduction to my brother, Alexander. We call him Al, for short. I don't remember ever seeing my mother because my dad took me back down to the lobby of the hospital just as fast as he took me up to my mother’s room. And I’ll never forget those big brown eyes! 

Photos: Alexander's first Holy Communion. And Al home at Briggs Ave., Bronx, NY

Related Links
Eating Well As You Get Older

Healthy Aging: Keeping Mentally Fit
Maintain Your Brain - FREE AARP Online Games

Healthy Lifestyle * Healthy Seniors * Life Story Writing * Sort through Family Photos

Salottolo Family Memories
by Junetta Salottolo Mehl

Mom's vignettes are posted as we get them from her. She types her memories on her computer. Harry scans her photo(s). Then I blog her story without any alteration to the content. Truly a family affair. I encourage you to do the same with your family or special friends. Life story writing is a great activity for seniors. Buona lettura

post 2: During This Same Period

During this same period I would accompany my mother and grandmother on trips to visit Aunt Anna and Uncle Joe (Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Zingales) at their home in Cranford, NJ. Uncle Joe was my mother’s brother. These trips were such fun because we had to take a ferry from Cortlandt Street in New York City across the Hudson River to New Jersey. I loved the ferry ride. (This was probably the start of my love of boats and boating that I have enjoyed all my life.) Then we’d catch a Jersey Central train to Cranford.

Once in Cranford, I was like the city mouse visiting the country mouse. I would have such a great time. I’d play with my cousin Tom, who was a year older than I. The back yard was huge with a creek at the far end. During the winter it would freeze over and we could go ice skating, if I was lucky enough to be visiting during a cold spell. During summer visits I’d mow the lawn with one of those old fashioned mowers – the kind with the cutting blades rotating between two wheels. Aunt Anna always thought I was crazy. But I loved it. Uncle Joe, the doctor, gave me my first eye examination, which led to my wearing glasses forever after.

Photograph: Tommy, Junetta, Granddad Zingales (my Great Granddad) and Joey

Healthy Seniors: Scan Old Photos * Write Stories * Share Memories @NIAGo4Life #GardenCuizine

Italian Family Memories

Mom's Vignettes

The senior citizens in your life may enjoy sorting through old photos and writing about their past memories as an activity. Junetta Salottolo-Mehl, now the eldest in our family at 80 years old, has a wealth of knowledge about growing up as an Italian in New York City. As you may know, I've been prodding her about her recollections of foods from her childhood and what it was like growing up. Italians have long been big on fresh garden-grown foods and cooking. 

Unfortunately, dear Mom can't remember many food or garden stories...(sigh)...but whatever she would like to share, I'll be posting here on GardenCuizine in hopes of inspiring other seniors. Mom's boxes are packed full of photographs of people that only she can identify. Using today's modern technology, we've been scanning the pictures into the computer for her so she can share and enjoy them.

Senior activities enhance well being by stimulating the body, mind and soul. Sharing stories, writing, sorting through old photos can be fun and sometimes sad, when we remember those who are no longer with us.

Post 1: I Can Remember

More of Mom's vignettes will soon be posted; she has written several now - stay tuned.

Related Links:  Best Way to Preserve Old Photos
Senior Activities for Mind and Body 
Seniors
Benefits of Eating Well
Physical Activity for Older Adults
Go4Life

Native New Yorker, Italian Food, Gardens and Family Memories...

Salottolo Family Memories 

by Junetta Salottolo Mehl

post 1: I Can Remember
Mom's short stories will be posted as I get them from her. She will be celebrating her 80th birthday June 11, 2011. Now that she is retired, we all thought it would be nice if she started to share family memories and stories of food, fun and special times. Mom (Junetta) has had to wipe away many-a-tear as she routes through her treasure box of beloved photographs to pick the ones she wants to share most with you. Mom will be typing her memories on her computer and I will be blogging them without any alteration to her content. Buona lettura 

I can remember, as early as seven years of age, visiting my grandparents at 2753 Briggs Avenue, Bronx, NY. My grandmother, Nonna, would beat the yolk of two or three eggs, mix this with sugar and it was a delicious treat that I would have every time we visited. My grandfather, Nonno, would usually talk with the men in Italian. And Nonna would talk to the women in Italian. But the funny thing was that, when they spoke to me, they would speak in English.

My grandparents' home was a three-story row home. I think my father's cousin, Babe, lived on the third floor (before she married). No one ever went up there. It was out-of-bounds. There was a basement which was accessible from an inside door in the pantry. And there was a back yard with a garden that Aunt Sally, my father's sister, took care of. I loved that back yard. It was my first introduction to gardening and that interest has stayed with me my whole life. Thank you Aunt Sally. You were a good teacher!


The garden was as wide as the house was wide with row homes on either side. If you stood in the yard with the house behind you and looked up, you'd see an eight or ten-story apartment building. That's why that little garden was like a 'Garden of Eden' right in the middle of the Bronx.


A few relatives of my grandparents lived on Valentines Avenue which was within walking distance. I especially remember one elderly woman who was called Zia. Once in a while we'd visit her apartment. However, if you kept on walking past Zia's house, you'd come to Fordham Road. This was a major shopping area anchored by the department store called 'Uptown, it's Alexanders.' I visited this store many times with Aunt Sally and /or her sister, Aunt Mary.

Related Links

The Salottolo Family

Photographs: Top picture is my grandmother, Phyllis Salottolo, with mom - her first child - Junetta Josephina Maria. The picture was taken in the backyard garden at Briggs Ave.

Second photo is Junetta, taken from the back porch at Briggs Ave.

Nutrition Education and Art Activity for National Nutrition Month

Nutrition Education and Art Activity

for National Nutrition Month

     The American Dietetic Association presents National Nutrition Month every March to increase awareness on the importance of eating right. This year's 'Eat Right with Color' theme focuses on eating from a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables to reap the health benefits of important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Eating colorful fruits and vegetables provides your body with a variety of nutrients that helps in maintaining a healthy body weight and reduces the risk of diet-related chronic diseases. This GardenCuizine^TM nutrition month project is fun for all ages, especially seniors and children. 

Teaching Nutrition Lesson

• Prepare a short introduction and nutrition education lesson plan
• Design 3 or more masters for coloring pages using simple outlines of fruits and vegetables; include a line for the individual to sign their name; you may wish to include the name of the facility or school
• Make several copies of each master coloring page according to how many participants you expect to attend
• Art supplies may include, but are not limited to: paint brushes, containers to hold the paint brushes (fill a few of the containers with a little bit of water to dip the brushes), cutting board, chefs knife, artist painter pallet's, red cabbage, plastic baggies, paper plates, napkins
• Fruit and vegetable snack such as oranges and baby carrots
• For coloring: fresh radish bunches, fresh spinach leaves, dried turmeric powder, beet powder and Açai fruit powder 
• Wash all the produce and allow to dry before using
• Sprinkle a few pinches of the dry powders in the pallets divided evenly among the group
• Slice the oranges into wedges and explain they are for snacking. I tried using oranges for coloring and the pigments don't rub off easy - they are best used as a snack. 
• Divide the produce evenly among the paper plates (several participants can share a plate)

Activity Highlights

• Talk about your sample foods and their nutrients
• Highlight a few of the antioxidant pigments found in the foods such as: beta carotene and lycopene
• Keep coming back to the main points: 

Different color foods contain different nutrients, which is why it is important to eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables every day. 

 
Eating from a variety of colorful fruits reduces the risk of diet-related chronic diseases.

Eating from a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables helps people of all ages maintain a healthy body weight.

 

• Thinly slice the red cabbage in front of your audience. Place 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon of water in each baggie. Do as many baggies as you desire. Seal them tight and pass around for volunteers to gently squish and squeeze. As they are squeezing, explain that anthocyanin pigments are what make the water color purple. Snip a small piece of the edge of the baggie and allow the nutrient-rich purple liquid to drip out into a clear container. Show this around the room so everyone can get a close-up look.

Coloring with Natural Plant Pigments

• Have the participants stack up several spinach leaves and roll them into a tight "paint brush". The natural green chlorophyll pigments will rub off when rubbed on the coloring page. Participants can experiment using radish greens too.
• Fresh radishes can be picked off the greens and hand held like a crayon and used to color, the natural red pigments will rub off onto the coloring sheet.
• Brushes can be dipped in water and mixed with the powdered fruits and veggies to make a natural pigment watercolor. Avoid using too much water or the color will be too weak.

Experiment and Have Fun!

Thank you to my Dietetic Internship director: Maria Basche, MS, RD South Jersey Healthcare for making this opportunity possible for me and to my preceptor: Diane Griffith, MS, RD and the staff and residents at Cumberland Manor Nursing Home

Related Links
Eating Fruits and Vegetables: Why Color Matters  
The Cook's Garden Nutrition
What Color is Your Food?
Blog Article and Photographs Copyright © 2011 D.Wind. All rights reserved.