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Community Guide

October, 2004 

Jersey Food - October, 2004

With the fast pace of our everyday lives, most of us find we have a need to visit an eatery that provides take-out food.  More often than not, the choices vary little, pretty good food - kind of boring.  If you are tired of the "same old - same old" - then you should visit David Alan's Market Place in East Hanover.

Located on an off-shoot road between westbound Route 10 and southbound Ridgedale Avenue, David Alan's has the feel of an old-time country store.  As you look around, you're immediately struck by how fresh all of the food looks.  It's clear from all of the activity that nothing sits around too long.  Nor do the customers - there is plenty of staff and they're extremely efficient.

The sandwiches are large and varied.  Although you can order your favorite standard sandwich if you like, some interesting twists make for fare that is off the beaten path.  The delicious "Midtown" for $6.95 offers fresh (and I do mean fresh) mozzarella, roasted peppers, mesclun, arugula dressing on French bread.   Another interesting and quite tasty sandwich is the "Empire State" for $7.95 which is a balsamic London broil, grilled onions and horseradish cream on an onion roll.  For the salad lovers there is a mouth-watering on called simply "Fresh Mesclun" for $6.95.  This dish includes sun dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, caramelized pecans and crumpled bleu cheese.

Whatever your taste buds are yearning for, it's a pretty sure bet that you will find it at David Alan's Market Place.  For those who would rather not take their food with them, there is an area toward the rear of the store (away from the hubbub) where you can be seated at comfortable tables.  Eat-in or take-out, this is a place to try.

David Alan's Market Place - 6A Littell Rd., East Hanover, New Jersey Tel. 973-884-4041

New Jersey Traffic Innovations: Traffic Circle, Jug Handle, Jersey Barrier, Cloverleaf, Granting Public Funds For Public Road Construction, First Road-Sheet Pavement In Newark & First Public Road Act Formed Which Produced A Road From Piscataway To Middletown

Jersey Treasure - October, 2004

Harvest In New Jersey

Everyone in New Jersey is most certainly looking forward to the month of October and all it's pretty colors.  October is a bountiful Jersey Treasure with the fall harvest underway.  Our diverse landscape is home to more than just high-tech companies, sporting venues and architecture; it's still home even today to rich fertile farmland.  With open space laws in place and communities setting aside working farms, we will most assuredly be able to enjoy the fall harvest here in New Jersey for many years to come. 

Many farms have gone a step further as times have changed by creating an environment where people can come in and pick-there-own fruits, vegetables and pumpkins.  Many of these types of progressive farms offer hay rides as well.  It may be a sign of the economic times as working farms strive to maximize the most expensive acreage in the US, but this evolution for the New Jersey farmer has created a wonderful treasure of education, adventure and enjoyment.

The fall here in New Jersey offers some very pretty jersey drives and what better stop on one of these cool crisp days then a trip with the family to pick your own pumpkins and whatever else is in season.  Getting off our busy highways even for just a little while will most certainly relax the most stressed out as you get back to nature if only for a few hours.

Pick Your Own Farms
Northern New Jersey
Melickstown farm - Pick Your Own
Central New Jersey
Schaefer Farms Fall Family Fun
Eastern Central New Jersey
Battleview Orchards - Pick Your Own
Southern New Jersey
Johnson's Corner - Pick Your Own

Harvest In New Jersey  - At Your Local Jersey Farm

Jersey Spin Factoid: Baseball fans love this time of year as the World Series approaches.  The first World Series broadcast came from WJZ radio in Newark in 1921.  Baseball was born in New Jersey as well, in 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Get Your Own Born In Jersey T-Shirt!

Calling All Authors: Have a great Jersey Story?  Want to see your story on Jersey Spin?  Just email it to us here and if we like it we will make arrangements to purchase it from you!  New Jersey native Michele DePersio Bradley had her great story of growing up in Vailsburg featured here.  We hope to hear from all the authors out there!  Send us your original unpublished story here. 

It is nothing short of amazing that traffic moves at all here in New Jersey but it does so and surprisingly well during non-peak times, especially when one considers that it is the most densely populated State.  Of course, talking to someone caught in traffic at peak-times could produce some negative sentiment to say the least.  There are some tough commutes in New Jersey  and even the toughest in the country which is, not surprisingly, the daily New Jersey to NYC commute by car.  When not traveling at rush-hour, things move pretty well most of the time, but of course many roads are always crowded and we are used to that fact of life.  

People from New Jersey have a sixth sense when it comes to navigating the roadways here, and what looks impossible to the untrained eye is at the least usually manageable to a local.  Locals know when to use the roads and when to just hang-out and wait it out.  Those who aren't up to a long tough ride to the shore during the summer for example will opt to stay off the Parkway during those crowded times or opt for a workaround route if they have to travel.  All in all, and with all things considered, it's really an achievement of modern civil engineering and planning that our roads move so many people so well.  Having said all those nice things about our roads and the miracle we can get around here at all is the good news, but like every story there are two sides.  Also included for everyone's driving pleasure or displeasure, depending on what route you are on, are some surprises and some downright stupid and quite inane rituals drivers endure in certain areas.. 

For our driving pleasure, for example, are the rapidly aging road signs along major highways nicely hung for easy view on traffic lights.  These signs were great in their heyday, but many are now faded and unreadable so if the road you seek is marked by one of these signs you may just drive right on by.  Jersey Drivers are used to crowded roads and are probably more experienced drivers because of it, but no amount of experience can surmount exits that aren't built yet.  Yes, it's true, that in this great State with all its riches you can't get off the northbound side of The Garden State Parkway and onto route 78 heading west.  Both of these roads have been around for quite some time, so where is the exit?  If your answer to that is "What exit?" you would be half right because while there is a direct way onto the eastbound lane, everyone must get on it even if your intent is to go west.  It's always fun for a Jersey Driver to have to drive in the opposite direction then turn around to change highways.  

New Jersey has always been the mother of invention in moving traffic better.  The traffic circle was invented here as a way to quickly route cars onto different roads.  Being a State of firsts usually means that as we progress things become obsolete.  The traffic circle is disappearing from the New Jersey highway landscape and that's the good news but in one unfortunate spot in Somerville, New Jersey, it was only half taken out which is an odd thing even by New Jersey standards.  All roads used to converge at the Somerville Circle, and now some do and some don't.  This situation is quite lame as motorists using some roads drive right through this congested area right over the circle and others must still endure the maze of a traditional circle underneath with an overpass on top.

Many outside New Jersey complain about traveling here and I'm quite sure that many from Jersey complain about the conditions in other states, all subjectively depending on day, mood and route.  One thing that isn't subjective is that New Jersey Highways move people and a great deal of them everyday and that's something in a place that is so crowded.