Pranayamadonna

I really just wanted to say that. And I needed an exuse. But I have a good one. Apparently, Madonna will be able to use pranayama in helping to heal from her fractured ribs. This article that I found God knows where at this Godforsaken hour (what am I even doing UP at this hour?) quotes some doctor in the UK as saying that Madonna's yoga breathing skills will help her to stay healthy as her ribcage heals. Makes sense. See, breaking a rib or three will make it very painful for one to take deep breaths. And if one is unable to take deep breaths, one is less able to clear the lungs of phlegm (isn't there a nicer way to say that?) and bacteria that adheres to said phl...nevermind, you get the point. So, if Madonna already has the capacity for deep breathing, then she may be able to keep those lungs of hers moving enough to avert infection, in spite of the discomfort caused by the broken ribs.

I know, I know, 8 out of 11 readers surveyed said....that pranayama could be dangerous. But remember, Madonna was practicing Chakorasana...so she was apparently onto Third Series, which means that she would have been taught pranayama....I believe....

More importantly, tonight Mom and Dad were in the city to see Doubt, a play on Broadway starring stage legend, Cherry Jones. Basically, it's about a priest accused of molesting a boy, and the nun who gets involved in investigating the claim, but I think (at least according to Mom), it's more about the nature of truth, itself. Anyway, afterwards, they came over to see us - me and the boys (all three of them). Then they took Adam and me out for some sushi (The Husband wasn't hungry, and Brian was watching some sporting event on television - he is an eight-year old sports FANatic....If it even remotely resembles a sport, Brian will watch it - I'm talking everything from football to cricket to bowling...I think he'd even watch Skeleton (world's stupidest, most ridiculous...sport...if you choose to call it that...I mean, jeez, these people get into the Olympics for sleigh-riding???) if it were on TV). But I digress...

So, the four of us went out for sushi in the neighborhood, and as I sat there and watched my six-year old scarf down raw and seaweed-wrapped tuna, salmon, yellowtail and octopus, I was absolutely floored. I don't think I even heard of sushi until I was 20. At six, I think the most sophisticated cuisine I was enjoying was spaghetti and meatballs, and I am told that spaghetti was invented in China, so, there goes the authenticity of that.

No, Mom, I don't blame you for not exposing me to such culinary wonders as sushi and curry. The only ethnic restaurants I even remember existing in West Orange and Livingston were Joe Jung's (home of shrimp in lobster sauce and chicken chow mein), the Villa Diablo (home of garlic bread and chicken parm), Eppes Essen/Tabachnik's (home of the Eppie Special - a four-inch high piling of tongue and turkey and coleslaw and russian dressing on caraway rye...ah, now that is a memory...much better than my memory of lox, eggs and onions....ech...) and Mt. Fuji (home of the griddle-as-table, knife-wielding performance-artist waiters and Japanese stir-fry). Am I missing any?

Back in the day, I used to go to Shop-Rite with my parents and beg them for Pop Tarts. These days, my kids go with me to Whole Foods and beg me to pick up some Chicken Tikka Masala. But come to think of it....they beg me for Pop-tarts too...


YC