This is not a joke, nor is it some story that I made up! This story has been on-going in our little local newspaper. I thought my readers would enjoy it. Here is last week’s installment, typed word for word from the article in the West Milford Messenger.

WEST MILFORD-The cow that won’t go home is still on the run in the woods of West Milford. As of 10:00 a.m. Thursday, the escaped bovine is still free and roaming the dense forested areas evading the best attempts to locate and apprehend her.

Bodacious Bovine, as she is now called, is starting to make quite a name for herself as growing numbers of searches are made to recapture her.

On May 6 two dozen cows were brought down from Monticello, N.Y., to West Milford Equestrian Center to participate in a roping event. Twenty-three of those animals went back home happy, but one must have liked the look of the town because she leapt a fence. Ella Mae Battipaglia, co-owner of the equestrian center said. “We just can’t catch her.”

There have been numerous sightings of the cow near Union Valley, Gould, and Echo Lake Roads with suggestions that the animal is gaining weight in its free and meandering walk in the woods. It also appears to be adopting nocturnal instincts. “She’s only coming out at night,” said Battipaglia, “Even though we’ve had many sightings of the cow, she is too deep into the forest for us to get to her.”

She is blackish-brown with a large number zero around her neck.

With no apparent wish to be reunited with its owner on the cow’s part, a team of riders and cattle dogs were called in on Tuesday. Jay Rubin, of the Monticello farm the cow formerly called home, organized the search party but so far they have been unable to pin her down.

A new approach might be in the works. “We might have to set up more of a capture plan,” said Battipaglia, “Maybe using containment rather than actually catching her.”

Further rescue attempts were planned for Thursday afternoon and Battipaglia said, “She is starting to appear closer to the equestrian center so that is a good sign.” Moosic to the ears of those pursuing her.

And, in yesterday’s paper the headline reads:

ELUSIVE COW EVADES CAPTURE: Hot on the Trail
Sightings of the elusive cow roaming around West Milford roll in like reports of Bigfoot, but so far she remains on the loose.

The black cow that escaped from a pen during a May 6 event at the West Milford Equestrian Center has drawn the attention of media outlets and county authorities.

The heifer, which the Equestrian Center rented from a New York livestock supplier, was to be used in an equestrian penning competition. Not wanting to be told where to go, she escaped into spring air and has been roaming free and feasting on greenery for over a month.

Mounted on horses, employees of Echo Lake Stables led by a mounted deputy from the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department led a search on the afternoon of Thursday, May 31, until daylight gave the cow ample cover and the search was called off. The cow was not spotted.

“Just after we loaded the last horse in, she popped out,” Echo Lake Stables co-owner Kathy Leaver said. “And we covered quite a bit of territory (on May 31).”

Stable employees and volunteers who board their horses at the facility have been joining in the search two or three times a week, Leaver said, whenever police alert John Macellaro, the mounted deputy and stable’s other owner, to a sighting.

The cow was seen on Friday morning, drawing workers at the Equestrian Center out on foot armed with a tranquilizer gun that would make her drowsy enough to get her tied up.

NBC’s New York affiliate Channel 4 was also interested and joined the searchers last week.

“She’s tough,” Frank Battipaglia, owner of the equestrian center said last week. “But we’re trying to catch her.” Battipaglia said the bovine was also spotted on Union Valley Road on Memorial Day and then the next day, but no one was able to get close enough to restrain it.

Despite rumors circulating around the township that the cow’s journey had come to a tragic ending, as of Monday, June 11, the cow was still alive and had not been caught, as far as police and staff at the equestrian center knew.

As a matter of fact, she might have made a friend, Ella Mae Battipaglia, owner, said. Police called the equestrian center on Friday, June 8 to let staffers know that there had been another spotting. When Frank Battipaglia, owner, saw the cow, he spotted it running with a bear, Ella Mae said, and neither was chasing the other. When the two were aware that they had been spotted, they diverted and disappeared, she said. “It’s weird.”

Anyone who spots the black cow is asked to contact the West Milford Equestrian Center.

—End of newspaper article.—

Oh dear. Can cows mate with bears? Bruno, you bad boy! Are you leading this poor cow astray??

Sam and eBay take a snooze in the sun room.
Thanks to husband Rick for the title of this photo.

Both Rick and I love to cook. This past Saturday we did something really enjoyable. We went to a cooking demonstration by Giuliano Bugialli, a world-famous Italian chef in case you haven’t heard of him. He has written many cookbooks, such as The Fine Art of Italian Cooking, and also hosts cooking school vacations in his native Italy. Did we go into NYC to see him? No, amazingly enough, he was at a tiny little cooking school/kitchen supply store right down the street from where Rick works called Adventures in Cooking. We understood that he’s been coming there for years, so he must be a friend of the family or something because why would a famous chef come to Wayne, NJ?

Over the next three hours we watched him bring together a four course luncheon, which of course we got to enjoy after the demonstration. Here is the menu:

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Focaccia alle Cipolle
(Onion Focaccia)

Pennette al Sugo di Braciola
(Pennette with “Braciola” Sauce)

Involtini di Verza alla Pommarola
(Mozzarella Bundles with Pommarola Sauce)

La Torta di Mandorle di Capri
(Almond/Chocolate Torte)

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Professional chefs are amazing to watch. How they juggle all four courses on-going at the same time is a mystery to me. Of course he did have help, and as one of his three kitchen assistants quipped “don’t attempt these dishes unelss you have at least 4 assistants.” Amen. They washed and dried as the pots, pans, dishes, etc. were dirtied, fetched tools, measured out ingredients and were kept busy scurrying to and fro.

I took some short videos to try and capture the essence of the demo. If you’ve never been to a cooking demonstration before, there is a mirror mounted above the work space area so everyone can see the food being prepared. Quite a bit of this video is shot looking into that mirror.

Kneading the focaccia dough:

He joked, rolled his eyes when the assistants needed gentle scolding for not stirring the sauce, and was very entertaining. You had to listen closely when he spoke because of his heavy Italian accent.

Both of the tomato based sauces were interesting. One was very simple with whole plum tomatoes which were topped with chopped vegetables. The vegetables cooked on top of the tomatoes; not stirred in! Just shake the pan once in a while to keep the tomatoes from burning, thus allowing the vegetables to steam for a lighter sauce. Once done (in about one hour) everything got put through a food mill. Delicious! The other sauce had braciola (pounded top round of beef spread with a parsley/parmesan paste, then rolled up and tied) at the base of the sauce with tomatoes and beef broth. This sauce went over the pasta and was very different from the first sauce; much heartier due to cooking the meat in the sauce.

In this video you can see the sauces bubbling on the stove, a bowl with the chocolate mixture for the dessert, and the preparation of the mozzarella bundles all going on at the same time.

It was obvious that he had quite a following of groupies in the audience that had attended his classes in Italy as he seemed to know quite a few of them. I was beginning to feel a little envious when he told one of the women that he had arranged for them to attend the opera on their visit. It sounds like fun to me. Cooking classes, good food and wine, visits to various places; a perfect combination!

The food was delicious, but the best part was the dessert. Sheer ambrosia! A flourless cake made from a “paste” of ground almonds, walnuts and sugar (which forms a flour of sorts) and chocolate, topped with whipped cream and a crumble of sugared orange rind. I think I could have eaten the whole cake! I got halfway through my piece before I remembered to take a photo ...

And, of course we remembered to take our cookbooks for an autograph. A very well spent Saturday afternoon indeed.

I know, I don’t particularly like caterpillars either, but this brightly attired one was on the bird bath when I went to change the water out. The different colored spots, blue and red on its back and yellow on the side were fascinating to me. Is it going to be a butterfly or a moth? Will it have the same color of spots on its wings?

I glide through the water trying not to make a sound. I do a few “dolphin rolls” and they make me dizzy. Which way is up? When doing the side stroke one ear is submerged in water and all I can hear is my breathing and the sound of my body making its way through the water. Peace and contentment. Who would have thought a pool could add so much dimension to one’s life?

Tiki torches glowing; fireflies twinkling in the grass. Naked as a jay bird with no one to see, I swim until my body is sated. To bed ... and sleep ... good night!