world of words

wonder | wander | women are enjoying being in a writing class together. After over a decade of on going classes with writing teacher and author, John McCaffrey - we can finally attend them together on Zoom. 

NYC & Hudson River - Hoboken NJ

Formed our first year in Hoboken, New Jersey - 24 February 2010, where the local middle school was offering some continuing education evening classes. We signed up for a fiction writing class where we met what would be our decade long tightly knit gang. 

John McCaffrey - novelist, columnist, writing teacher

Sadly, the next year Hoboken was low on funds and killed the program. We prevailed on John to continue and moved our venue to the local Symposia Bookstore along the main drag on Washington Street. Through the years we kept to our core group with some new folks showing up once in a while. 

Turning Point, Hoboken NJ

If ever there was an ideal place for brunch, it is at Turning Point.

Serving breakfast, brunch and lunch every day of the week, their specialty is serving everything fresh and from scratch.

At their Hoboken, New Jersey venue there is the added treat of a grand view of the Hudson River and New York City across the water.

barrio fiesta easter

It's never too early in the year to enjoy some bone licking good barbeque. Summer is the height of the season - when backyards send of wafting scents to tantalize us on our neighborhood walkabouts. 

their local branch in Hoboken

For our Easter feast this year, we went with Myron Mixon's Pitmaster Barbeque from close by Hoboken, New Jersey. Going whole hog with Myron's award-winning competition recipes of the best sourced meats cooked in custom built smokers. 

half rack of baby back ribs

flipping out in Little Manila - Jersey City NJ

For those of you who have been following us for a while now and have read our regular stream of posts on New York City NY and Union City NJ, it's become obvious that these neighborhoods are our regular Stateside haunts.

But with Mahala visiting my little barrio for the first time, we decided to widen our range and reach. One day we agreed to meet a writer friend of ours in Jersey City for lunch and coffee.

We used to meet in Hoboken but with all the detours from the viaduct under construction, we decided to meet in her neck of the woods instead.

Although we had a wonderful buffet lunch in an East Indian restaurant neither of us had ever eaten at [Rasoi] - it turned out that the true treat for us was the Filipino [Pinoy] community in her neighborhood.

eating away

In times of trouble wonder | wander | women fortify ourselves with hearty home cooked meals we enjoy. When the weather is too hot or we are too lazy to cook for ourselves, we are lucky to live where they are a mere order away. 

grilled hamachi kama yaki

Summertime is the best season to indulge in fiestas from the grill. Seafood and veggies are our all-time faves. Tender juicy goodness to bite into and fill our bellies. Comfort food for our souls. 

grace & gratitude

A great people traveled from the north and west. For many, many years they moved across the land, leaving settlements in rich river valleys as others moved on. Reaching the eastern edge of the country, some of these people settled on the river later renamed the Delaware. 

Others moved north and settled in the valley of a river where the waters, like those in their original homeland, were never still. They named this river Mahicannituck and called themselves the muh-he-con-neok, the people of the waters that are never still…

Henrik Hudson Entering New York Harbor by Edward Moran

Chronicled by late-1700s Mohican historian Hendrick Aupaumut, tells the story of the people who truly discovered America, including the river valley in which we now live. 

The names of the river and valley were usurped by a man named Hudson, whose people came from the east and nearly obliterated a history that stretches back perhaps 13,000 years.