Cicada Ice Cream: a Once in 17-year Opportunity

You read that headline correctly: Cicada ice cream. Every 17 years the Brood X cicadas emerges to life and take over many places along the East Coast out to Ohio and Missouri for about six weeks. Their noise is deafening as they mate and bury their eggs in trees. You either complain about them for their entire short lives, or you find a way to have some fun with them.

A pizzeria in Dayton, Ohio made international news when they sold cicadas as toppings on their pizzas--eyes and all.

Planet Princeton, a local news source, is selling cicada t-shirts. Hoarders, hang onto yours for 2038 when they emerge again. You know who you are!

Friends bought chocolate-covered cicadas from a Maryland chocolate shop, making international news for their creativity. Click on the link to see the images.

The eating club at Princeton High School made dishes out of cicadas. The club was created to eat insects in a variety of ways, so this was a natural extension of what they were already doing with crickets and worms.

Then there is cicada ice cream. First The Bent Spoon collected cicadas from the yard of someone they knew had not used pesticides during the 35 years they have lived there (in other words, two life cycles for the Brood X cicada). Their version including crushing the cicadas and mixing them with dark chocolate to form chips then putting the chips in their delicious vanilla ice cream.

The Bent Spoon, which opened 17 years ago as the cicadas were last erupting, could draw on some precedence. In 2011, an ice cream shop in Missouri made a batch of cicada ice cream that sold out before it hit their display case. They used the 13-year cicadas, so if you are really curious, you only have to wait three more years, and travel to Missouri to try it. Otherwise, you have to wait until 2038 to try it at The Bent Spoon. I'm willing to bet, The Bent Spoon just used their own creativity to make the flavor as they are always inventing new flavors using locally grown ingredients.

A couple more links about The Bent Spoon's ice cream:

Their first batch

Their second batch

As for our experience, on Friday, June 18th I saw The Bent Spoon posted that their cicada ice cream would be available the next day at noon until they ran out. I told Don, who was up for the challenge. My plan was to get on line starting at 11 (one hour early), his was to get on line by 10 in order to beat the crowd. Beat the crowd he did, he was first in line (technically #73 as they started with 73 that day). Almost immediately someone joined him. She was smart -- as the sun moved so did she, sitting in the shade knitting. By 11 there were about a half a dozen people in line, include the father of one of the employees who was told no favoritism for him, he had to stand in line like everyone else.

By the time I joined him closer to 11:30, the line was about 25 people deep. A quietly festive feeling was emerging as I was encouraging passerbyers with scrunched up noses to give it a try (some took on the challenge).

A few minutes before noon staff started handing out tickets. We were told we could walk around and come back when our number was called. No one left the line, at least no one near the front. They handed out tickets for as many as they thought they could serve, and told the others they were on stand-by, or after 99 they had to replenish the machine, who knows. I wasn't grilling anyone.

People kept coming up and taking pictures and asking about why we were standing in line for so long. They were so distracting when the scooper called NUMBER 73, Don didn't realize she was talking to him. Fortunately he recovered quickly. We ordered a cup of cicada ice cream and a cup of dark chocolate rosemary ice cream in case the cicada ice cream was really bad. Each cup was $6 and contained two scoops. We then found some shade across the street and watched the fun.

I enjoyed watching people taking selfies with their ice cream. Someone was making a Tik Tok video nearby. Collectively, we embraced it as live cicadas were dive bombing around us, and singing their mating songs.

The dad of the scooper joined us. He only asked for one scoop, had we realized this was an option, we would have, too. After about the tenth serving they limited everyone to one scoop cicada, one scoop anything else. No pre-orders. No milkshakes. No pints. The dad told us they made three pans of ice cream, each one making about 20 servings. We wondered how long before they sold out. Would the dad in the yellow shirt we encouraged to join the line at noon get ice cream for him and his family? (They did.) Would the woman who showed us her ticket #82 get hers (as in 109 numbers after Don's)? (She did, too.) They stopped an hour later at #83.

What did it taste like? If I hadn't known there were bugs in the chocolate chips, I would not have tasted anything different. I know, what a disappointment! Later in the day, though, I felt like there were tiny bits of bugs in my mouth. That might have been all in my head, though.

For those less adventurous, perhaps you should try this Arlington ice cream shop's version of cicada ice cream, made from  cone on its side, chocolate ice cream, sprinkles and red candies for the eyes. No cicadas were used for these treats.

See you in 2038!

To learn more about cicadas from a more scientific perspective, check out Che's video. Che is a naturalist we met at the Lenape Village back when Ashley volunteered there each week.

What to Expect when your Dragon is Expecting

Last month we were caught off-guard when Glinda, our three-year-old female bearded dragon, started exhibiting some really odd behavior. She was super active -- which usually means she is about to poop -- and pooping nearly every day, sometimes more than once a day. After months of thinking about bromating (hibernating) it was a welcome change to see her so active, but still!

Then she started to try to dig. Really dig. Claw at the felt on the bottom of her glass tank as if her life depended on it. She was eating a lot more veggies, too, and throwing the ones she wasn't eating all around the place.

The cause of her strange behavior became obvious when a week or so while Don was cleaning her tank he noticed a bunch of odd-shaped gummy looking items in it -- about 15 in total. 

Our girl Glinda had laid eggs.

Obviously her eggs would never become baby dragons because she has not been near a male in the two years she has lived with us.

Fast-forward a month and the odd behavior was back. Poor girl!

This time we were less surprised, but still did not know how to handle the situation. We went to Dr. Google and made an appointment with her vet. The vet said to make sure she has a place to dig a tunnel, make it a combination of vermiculite and dirt, she'll know what to do.

Lowe's was out of vermiculite, so we substituted sand, and put the combination in a giant plastic tub (the one we normally use to house crickets). When it was just dirt, she tried digging, but couldn't create a tunnel. This combination did the trick. We placed the box in Don's office so he could keep an eye on her.

To us it seemed she worked on this project for days. She was determined!

After building just the right place, she put her backside into the hole, long tail and all, and wiggled those eggs out of her. Five ... ten ... fifteen? We figured once she was done we would count the eggs. Fortunately Don was able to get a picture of some of the eggs, but with all he wiggling, it was hard to get a good picture without disturbing her.

What happened next took us both by surprise ... she then filled the hole, packing the dirt in with her snout. It was hard work! We expected Glinda to just fall asleep into a well-deserved nap, instead she literally climbed the wall (or rather, the screen door).

Glinda finally did fall asleep in her tank. We gave some wax worms as a special treat for her hard work, plus a salad and some blueberries.

Some things we learned from Dr. Google:

1) Dragons can hang onto sperm for up to a year until they are ready to make eggs during egg making season.

2) Females start making eggs between ages of two and four (Glinda is three).

3) They can have more than one "clatch" in a season.

4) When bearded dragons are pregnant it is called "gravid."

5) It is important to have them checked out by a vet to make sure all of their eggs have left (we have an appointment on Monday night).

6) Dragons do not lay on a nest. They bury their eggs. The babies are on their own when they hatch and climb out of the dirt.

Hoping our vet tells us how often we should expect this to happen so we are better prepared next time.

Broadway Up Close Hamilton Tour

Tim's Broadway Up Close virtual tours have been a lifesaver during the pandemic. Tim Doolan reinvented his in-person tours and started giving them "live" via a link either through Playbill.com or on his website. After enjoying many tours from our living room, including his Broadway Beginnings tour, the Ghostlight Tour, and his Christmas in the City tour, we knew we wanted to meet him and go on an in-person tour once the pandemic seemed at a lull.

In the age of social distancing, his energy on his Zoom calls in front of his apartment's exposed brick wall made him a stand out. He not only showed us pictures (the same ones he shows on his tours) and told us lots of neat trivia, he did so while fielding odd questions in the comments making us feel as if we were together. Almost always his dog, Belasco, woke up as the tour was concluding. In his spare time he created wood items (picture frames, ornaments, etc.) to sell online until his shop opens up again this summer.

I saved his Hamilton Tour to do in person to celebrate Ashley's 19th birthday. Our tour guide was John, and not Tim. Turns out John applied for a job at Ashley's college and has taught at other schools she either toured or applied to. We had lots of good conversation topics and sidebars. Serendipitously for us, it was a private tour at the group tour rate. Unfortunately it was freezing. By freezing I mean the handwarmers they give out during their winter tours came in "handy" on our Memorial Day Weekend tour.

Unlike their other tours which start in Times Square, this one starts in the Financial District, not far from Wall Street and the World Trade Center. You can see the cobblestones that Hamilton and his friends stepped on, the narrow street where he and Burr had their law offices, and an archaeological site that explains some of the history through a glassed off section.

John showed us around the area and had us imagine what it was like in Hamilton's day. In this restaurant, Hamilton had his first government office in an upper room.

It was mighty cold and rainy that day nearly a month ago, and I did not take notes, instead I lived in the moment. I took very few pictures, and even less notes. 

At this point, Tim found us -- yes THE TIM! We chatted with him for a few minutes before he left us to give another group the same tour to a private group.

The tour culminated with Hamilton's grave at Trinity Church, and a picture because it was Selfie Sunday.

Tim concludes his virtual tours with the tagline: One day closer to Broadway -- a mantra that sums up his eternal optimism. Today, as Bruce Springsteen revives his show on Broadway, we can finally "We made it. You. Made. It. ... Broadway here we come!"

I highly recommend their tours -- both in-person and virtual!

Butterflying

The opposite of languishing seems to be butterflying. Butterflying (as I define it) is that feeling a butterfly must feel when it leaves its cocoon for the first time -- a bit hesitant at first, followed by euphoria at being free to fly. It is exhilarating.

It is also more than a bit overwhelming! Though the CDC has said those fully vaccinated no longer need to wear a mask indoors or outdoors, many cast judgmental looks or asides upset that people are not following the rules the way they are following them. Comments such as "don't go there -- only 15% of the people wear masks!" are common, and exhausting as clearly the vast majority are not wearing masks.

It is so clear that vaccines work. The vast majority of new cases are in people who did not receive a vaccine, or who is only partially vaccinated. The ones who test positive who are fully vaccinated are beyond rare (happens in .6% of cases, meaning it does not happen in 99.94% of cases). Yet, there are still those who don't believe in it.

Meanwhile, life is opening up again. Masks are not required in most (if not all) states and the numbers are still low. In New Jersey, daily recoveries are FIVE times new infections. Over 70% of adults in New Jersey have received at least one dose.

So what can we do?

Music in the Park returned this week to Lawrenceville -- huge crowds, hardly any masks.

Last week Lawrenceville Main Street held their Sumer Arts Festival -- again, very few masks.

Unlike last year, proms and graduations took place.

Bruce Springsteen's show opens tonight on Broadway, the rest of Broadway is returning in the fall.

Airplanes are full.

People are having parties and celebrations.

Presbyterian churches are starting to open their doors again (Catholic churches barely closed their doors).

We are making progress and our corner of the world feels more hopeful.

Languishing

 A year into the pandemic and a term was coined by the New York Times to describe how many of us are feeling: LANGUISHING. Many of us "feel somewhat joyless and aimless."

Ah, the relief at having a word to describe how I feel and to know I am not alone has pushed me towards a new feeling: BUTTERFLYING, as coined by a friend.

Being fully vaccinated, watching the local COVID cases drop, and getting together with friends again has led me to feel as if I am escaping from the 2020 cocoon. 

It feels nice.

Add in perfect spring weather, surrounding myself with people who have similar feelings, and I feel a cure for languishing is on the horizon.

Then I hear from a friend not as fortunate. Up in Canada friends are starting to receive the first vaccine and are being told they'll have to wait a few months for the second dose. This approach has been very successful in England. May it be just as successful in Canada.

For those of you reading this who are still languishing, hang in there. It can get better.

UPDATE: The day after I wrote this in May 2021 the CDC announced those who have been fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks! That is a huge psychological boost.

Mothers Day 10K

 

Local racing is making a comeback. 

Two years ago I ran this same 10K Mother's Day race in the rain and the mud. This year I seriously debated whether or not to run it again. I signed up for it in 2019. This past year I have kept up with running 5Ks in my neighborhood, but a 10K race is (by nature of its name) twice as far.

I was really tempted to skip it. As my day was off to the wrong foot, I was even more ready to turn around and go home. I didn't put the cap securely on my thermos, so it leaked tea all over my sneakers (which I was running too late to put on before the drive) and my gaiter, and I scraped my mirror on the Washington Crossing Bridge (I wish they would use the traffic light and make that a one way at a time bridge).

Modifications had to be made including wearing masks at the start and finish (but not during the race) and each one of us receiving our own start time too avoid clustering at the front. It is amazing how that little change messes with the psychology of running. Makes it feel as if you are running by yourself. Much less passing and jostling for place. They also did away with water stops. The plan was to have a pump with water at two places, but that was scrapped when they broke the spigot. Instead they had jugs for us to refill. As it was a cool day, I did not carry water on the route.

We were reminded that two years ago it poured during the same race, so we were ahead of the game.

The course is basically the same as their 4-mile Tomato Soup Race, but with an extra spin through the Spiral of Death. Most of the course is along the tow path.

I went into this with the game plan of running the first half, and walking the second half. By the two mile mark, though I found myself power walking. Ugh. Then running. Then walking. Without a schedule, though. Motivation was waning.

I made the turn around at a clock time of 40 minutes (a chip time of 37, still slower than normal for me). 

Mostly ahead of me (sometimes behind me) was a woman I could hear cheering for the other runners. At one point I saw her stop. There was a blue heron in her way on the path. We both stopped to take pictures. Don told me later when he sees a blue heron on a ride, he knows he is going to have a good day (self-fulfilling prophecy, perhaps?). 

The same race also had a 10 mile component (so very glad I did not sign up for that!). I noticed before the turn around that there were not too many 10K runners. I actually had a shot at getting an award. I kept a close eye on the "competition." I could not pass the woman ahead of me (turns out she was in her thirties, so not competition). Just behind me was a woman power walking with her husband. 

They provided me with the motivation I needed to scrap my initial plan and keep running!

I finished before the couple! Turns out they were in their 60s, so not really competition, but it worked nonetheless.

When I crossed the finish line (wearing my mask) the EMT ordered me to take off the mask until I caught my breath. I heard him tell others the same thing. 

At the finish line was water -- good thing given how my day started.

I stuck around for the awards ceremony and was pleased to hear my name called for third place (for my age group -- the race third place person was about half my speed).

Looking at the stats later, I beat my real competitor by three minutes. So, yes, I was third out of four.

I also learned only 87 of the 210 people who signed up for the race showed up. In two years, plans change, plus they only sent out the reminder a week ahead of the race. This past year has felt like at least five years have passed.

In the end, the heron was right: it was a good day.

Six Hundred Days Later -- Trenton Thunder

Trenton Thunder had their home opener on May 4, 2021 as the Buffalo Bisons (the AAA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) -- six hundred days after they closed the 2019 season as the Yankees AA team.

As the man in front of us said, "it is starting to feel more normal."

Starting with only able to sell 1,400 assigned seats in a stadium that has 6,150 seats (plus more people when they include standing room only), it felt empty. Last year when they hosted the high school tournament they only sold 500 seats a game, but as they were unassigned seats, people clustered together. Shh! Don't tell the Governor! Would have been hard to pull that off for the opening game since Gov. Phil Murphy was in the stands with us three sections away.

It was nice to be back.

Some notes for years from now when I can't remember this logic:

1) Last year the Yankees decided Trenton Thunder would no longer host their AA team. The "why" is murky, I believe an inadequate playing surface was mentioned, as were some other insults, followed by the usual non-excuse excuses, such as we need less minor league ballparks.

2) That left Waterfront Park (now Arm and Hammer Park) without a team.

3) Enter the Draft League -- a new league comprised of mostly post-high school students who did not make the minor leagues, but still want to hold onto their dreams of playing pro ball.

4) Waterfront Park was designated the first Draft League location.

Here is where COVID comes into play.

1) The border between Canada and the United States is still closed, meaning the Toronto Blue Jays cannot host other teams because those players cannot cross the border. Making the Blue Jays homeless.

2) The Buffalo Bisons stadium (in Buffalo, NY) planned to do major renovations this summer and were going to be homeless.

3) At the end of March it was announced the Bisons would move to Trenton. They'll be the Trenton Thunder while home, and the Buffalo Bisons while on the road.

4) The Toronto Blue Jays will continue to play in their Spring Training location in Florida while construction continues. When construction is done, they'll move to Buffalo. (I so wanted to write shuffle off to Buffalo, but didn't want to be too corny.)

5) When the border reopens, I believe Toronto will stay in Buffalo and the Bisons will continue to stay in Trenton.

Meanwhile...

1) The Draft League is still on and set to start in a couple of weeks. They still need a home, likely a local college.

2) The Draft League will be called Trenton Thunder.

3) So, on any given day this summer, there will likely be stats for two different Trenton Thunder games in two different locations with two different rosters.

Clear as mud, right?

As for the game, experts said the playing was much better at the AAA level. I noticed a couple of bonehead moves.

1) The short stop fielded the ball with the bases loaded and seemed utterly confused about what to do with it, allowing at least one run to score.

2) The pitcher was hit in the back by a line drive. Should pitchers know to keep their eyes on the ball?

Thunder won 6-1 against the Worchester Woo Sox.

Fireworks set to the lamest soundtrack ever (15 second snippets of Springsteen and Bon Jovi songs) followed the game.