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  February 9, 2000 - Issue 47 - Philadelphia Edition
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Anthony's Vocabulary

Danger Mouses's vocabulary is growing. Before Christmas he knew "shoes" and cheese" for sure. He said "hi" when you came into a room. In mid January, he know and points to "mouth". "nose" and "eyes" and more. When he starts talking, we're all in trouble. Right now Grandpa understands about 90% of what Anthony wants, but pretends to understand only 35%. Anthony, being the fine young gentleman that he is, forgives his grandfathers lack of understanding and just hugs and kisses him a lot. Grandpa suspects that Anthony really understands Grandpa 100%! Got that?

All-Clad Online

Rachel never paid too much attention to the All Clad cookware when she went shopping because it was so pricey. Then, last Novemeber, while house guests at the Yang's of Newport Beach, she noticed that Marlene Yang was using lots of it. Marlene said that she was accumulating one piece at a time, always buying when a good sale was going on.

While helping to prep a couple of meals, Rachel realized that the All Clad stainless steel frying pans did not stick like the Farberware stainless steel pans Rachel had at home. A sunny-side-up egg came out beautifully... no stick! That's because while the cooking surface is stainless steel, All Clad uses aluminum for the bottom and middle layer which allow more efficient conductivity of heat. Another unique feature of this product is it has life-time warrantee. Rachel has found the perfect cookware to replace her rusty iron wok, the peeling teflon pan and the aluminum pot. February happens to be a good month to find All Clad "on sale". Rachel located a web site that incentivized her to post their website address on the Bau webpage to get a 20% discount, free shipping, and no tax . Wow, thought Rachel, but she had better ask the publisher of the Bau Family Online News first. "No big deal. Sure, go ahead" answered David.

So here's the link! The banner below comes directly from the store, so you readers who are interested in learning more about All Clad can go there. Good luck! If any of you want to get the 20% discount on non-sale items, go to www.metrokitchen.com/store/retail.html, type in baur for user's name and rachel for password and order away.

Metropolitan Kitchen

USAir Raises Prices Again

The USAir flight between Boston and Philadelphia on coach with a 21 days advance non-refundable ticket was $120 when Anthony was born...17 months ago. For the last half year, that same ticket was raised to $150. In late January, Paul tried to buy his Feb. ticket with 21 days advance notice with USAir. The price is now $179 round trip! That's a 50% increase in price in one year! Give me a break.

Well, Paul turned to priceline.com for the second month in a row and again was able to get a non-stop, round trip ticket for $120( $138 with taxes and fees). These tickets have the same restictions as the USAir tickets except one has to fly on prop planes rather than jets. For such a short flight, it makes the savings worthwhile.

Paul's Glaucoma Warning

Paul went to Dr. Anthony Fraioli for his annual eye ( actually he hadn't been in to check in 5 years) and all went well. There was a minor change in his eyeglass prescription which the doctor said Paul could change his eye glasses or not... the new one would let him see better, but not really make a significant difference.

Then Dr. Fraioli used the slit lamp to examine the cornea and the lens. No catterack for sure. The eye ball pressure was tested and the pressure on both eyes was normal. Then, Dr. Fraioli, dialated the pupils and kept looking and looking at the optic nerves. He didn't like the shiney vessels and the shaped of some the nerves. Dr. Fraioli said that there was a rare form of glaucoma ( statistically low) which occurred with normal eye pressure. He wanted my primary care physician to give a referral to him so that he could do a "gloucoma field of vision" test. Paul signed a "waiver" that he would pay in case the PCP didn't give the referral so that he could take the test right then and there.

The results of the "glaucoma field of vission" test was that there was a slight loss of peripheral vision on the right side of the right eye... very minor , but worth monitoring.... every six months according to Frailoi. If it proves to be getting worse, then treatment is probably called for. We'll see! These early diagnostic exams can really help with treatment and improve ones quality of life in the "golden years". Three month ago, sigmodoscopies, now colposcopes and field of vision test... is someone getting older?

Singapore Vegetarian Rest.

The Singapore Vegetarian Rest is located in Philadephia on Race Street between 10th and 11th in the heart of Chinatown. The Weston Food Critic wanted to try it as Heidi and Rachel are big vegetarian fans. Philadpehia's Chinatown is dingy like most Chiantowns on the East coast and the Singapore Rest. decor fits right in. We'll give them a Zaget's score of 10 on decor.

Good news on the food presentation and taste however. We ordered 7 dishes and all 7 were very good. No excellent, but all very good dishes and the entire party was pleased and satisfied. Food gets a score of 18. Service was mixed.. some rush when no rush was called for, food came out quickly and hot, and the wait staff was pleasant but not too professional.

In summary, the Singapore is the best vegetarian restaurant the Weston Food Critic has eaten at in Philadelphia. It's certainly worth a visit. Dinner for 6 adults with tax and tip was less than $14/person.

Wheel Deal

The world's largest retailer of auto tires is...? It's SAM's Wholesale Club and Wal*Mart. This past summer, we bought 4 new tires for Rachel's Taurus wagon at BJ's Wholesale Club and for $9.95 also purchased their "Wheel Deal" which gives lifetime free tire rotation, free tire repair, free mounting and dismounting, etc. To rotate tires at our auto dealer, it's $5 per tire.

This past week, we rotated the tires for the first time. No charge and quick service. So, not only did we get a very low pirce on first rate tires when we purchased, we continue to get a great deal on tire service. No onder, the big wholesale clubs are taking such a big share of the USA consumer tire market!

Anthony's Playground

Anthony has a playroom at home, he goes to the park to play and he goes to his neighbor's house to play, but he also has a playground loaded with the newest and most exciting toys of all varieties... FAO Schwartz in the King of Prussia Mall. We often take him there to play for 30 to 45 minutes. He's very familiar with the store and it's toys... it's free, it's clean and best of all, when he's done, Nanny Margie does not have to clean up a disaster area! Danger Mouse is a very messy toy room boy!

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In other news
E-Commerce Shopping
David and Kevin are big fans of shopping on the internet. Their Dad, a bit older and more conservative, still shops the old fashioned way, by going to the stores. This weekend, David told his father that he needed his assistance in Philly in 12 days. This was not enough lead time for Grandpa Paul to get his low cost 21 days in advance USAir ticket. Oh well, thought Grandpa, I'll either drive down or if the weather is bad, I'll take the train in order to save money.

Kevin to the rescue! Let's shop at Priceline.Com and see if you can get a cheap airline ticket on the dates that you want. How much are you willing to pay? Well, we bid under the USAir (21 day advance ticket)price of $148 and guess what? Yes, we got a round trip American Airlines ticket, direct with no stops on the dates desired and with taxes, about $138. Not bad! Go e-commerce!

Anna and the King
A quickie movie review is to say that this movie gets 4 1/2 stars from the Weston Movie Critic. Beautifully photographed in Siam, it stars Jody Foster as Anna who goes to Siam to be the teacher to the Kings children. Lovely story of humor, customs, diplomacy, and intrigue... combined with soid acting make this a movie you should put on your holiday viewing list.

The Green Mile
The Green Mile is a movie starring academy award winner Tom Hanks. It's the story of a prison guard on the death row cellblock of at 1935 prison who runs into a "healer" who is sentenced to death for the rape and murder of two young girls. It's almost three hours long, so by todays standards very long, make sure you are not sleepy before you go.

Mixed reviews from the Baus, Rachel gave it a "B", Paul gave it an "A".

American Bos-Phil
American Airlines has a new non-stop service between Boston and Phiadelphia... it's turns out to be American Eagle which just took over operations of Business Express or BEX. they fly 34 seat turbo props ( propellers) and the flight takes about 1 1/2 hours each way. the cost of a 21 day in advance non-refundable ticket with time limitations is $160.00. This is more than USAir's 21 in advance tickets which can be purchased over the net for $140.00 and USAir flies Boeing jets like 727's.

However, if you can pick up a cheaper seat on American Eagle on Priceline.Com... like Paul did in early January... it's still a great deal. Go Competition!

The Olive Garden Rest.
The Olive Garden chain of restaurants is getting very big and we've eaten at quite a few of them. Recently we ate at the Olive Garden on Route 9 in Framingham, Mass. for a holiday lunch. We had a party of four and the bill without alcohol was $28.00 before gratutity. The service was fast and food plentiful and very good.

The Weston Food Critics favorite lunch is the soup-n-salad. It come with flavorful bread and a bottomless soup bowl, so if you are hungary, you can get full on only $5.95. Great bargain and very good quality ( and not too fattening)

Our Zaget's point system gives them: Food,19; ambiance,18 and service 18.