Let Us Start The Year, With A Step Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        If I had told what I am about to relate yesterday, I would have reached the even number of 740 posts.  But my mind was racing yesterday, and I simply forgot.  However, since the topic was New Year's related, and today is New Year's Day, the story can still stand to be told!

                        But let me backtrack for a moment. Last night, Monsieur and I went to a New Years Eve party at his delightful and glamorous friend, Ellen .  Now, Ellen may be glamorous, but I cannot speak for the rest.  A real meshungah  group of people!  The cuisine was a disgrace--dried roasted chicken, broccoli florets, peas and corn!  Plus a fruit salad and a Junior;s cheesecake pie--the last being the best part of the meal, actually!!!!  All this for $40????????  Oh, honey, come on!  But we did watch the ball drop, and we did toast the New Year in with champagne, so a good time was had by all!    

                      What a difference though, on TV.  Ryan Seacrest and Carson Daly???? Personally, I would rather have seen Tyne!!!!!!!  Or, better yet, Tim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Things have never been the same since the departure of Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians, and now Dick Clark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                       Now, back to the story I wanted to tell here, especially apt, as last evening was the 30th anniversary of its occurrence.

                         It was the final day of 1982, going into 1983.  I was still living with my father in Highland Park, New Jersey,  only I had the place to myself, because my father was spending the Winter in Florida in the condo he had then recently bought.

                         So I was on my own.  As I recall, I went into the city to see a movie. I cannot remember now which film.  But I do recall I wanted to get out of the city, and go back to Jersey, have a nice meal somewhere, and then spend a quiet evening at home, watching the ball drop, and then going to bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                           Now, at that time, in Highland Park, on the north side of Raritan Avenue, somewhere between North Fourth and Fifth Avenues, was a great deli called Tabatchnick's!  The family who ran it, in all likelihood, did not have that name, but everyone referred to them as the Tabatchnick's!!!!!  It was as good as any of the delis in Manhattan, only, of course, the prices were cheaper!!!!!!!!!!!

                            I decided my New Year's Eve meal would be there.  And it was wonderful; I can still recall what I had--a turkey and corned beef combo, potato salad, coal slaw, and cheesecake and coffee.
I was  still in my twenties, darling, with a burning metabolism, so I could then eat like this, with no problem.  Today, I wouldn't even try!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             The place was packed.  I was there, between, I think, 6 and 7 PM.  Mrs. Tabatchnick and her two children--a boy about 17, his sister about 16--were working and talking behind the counter. And the place was full of people talking, too.  It was a small space.

                               Eventually, the Tabatchnicks' talk turned to arguing.  What it amounted to was that the boy wanted to go into New York City for the whole Times Square-New Year's thing, and his mother was dead set against it.  The daughter kept trying to calm them both down.

                                Suddenly, things, reached a fever pitch, and Mrs. Tabatchnick said, plainly and distinctly to her son, "Listen, if I find out you went into New York tonight, YOUR ball is gonna drop!"

                                 There was a clanking of silverware being put down on tables.  The room became silent, and everyone looked in the family's direction.  After a couple of seconds, the daughter turned to her mother, and said, "Well, Ma, they heard THAT!!!!!!!!!!"

                                    I always think of this every New Years Eve.  The deli is long gone, but I wonder about that mother (is she still alive??) and those children (did they beat a hasty retreat from her, and Highland Park?????).

                                    The moral of the story, darlings!!!!!!!  Make sure all your balls are firmly in place!!!!!!!!!!!!!