Points North

“If nothing else, people can tear off the cover and frame it.”—Amit Bloom, co-publisher of the Aventura Phone Book.

By Gail Graham
Columnist


The World’s First Collectible Phone Book

This could be a first for the “City of Excellence” and for the rest of the United States as well. Maybe for the rest of the world. It’s the new 2003 Aventura Phone Book, and it’s poised to become America’s first collectible telephone directory. Not because of its contents, but on account of its cover, an original work by Florida artist Romero Britto,
titled, appropriately enough, Aventura. Only 50,000 have been printed, and I’m betting they’ll go like hot cakes.

Aventura Phone Book Art Director and co-publisher Amit Bloom explained that they’d seen Romero's work and liked it. “It was fun, and colorful. So we approached him with the project, and luckily, he said yes.”  She agrees that the phone books may well become collectibles. “If nothing else, people can tear off the cover and frame it,” she said.
It took Brazilian-born neo-pop artist Romero Britto about four months to paint his vivid and vibrant interpretation of what he calls the “Aventura good life.” He says that the symbolic forms and shapes represent peace, love, harmony, brightness and infinity. The work grew naturally out of his impressions of the people and the atmosphere of Aventura. “As an artist, I feel so lucky to have been given the gift of creativity so that I may share my vision of a better world. For me, art can reflect the celebration of the simple and good things in life.” I’m told that local collectors who don’t want to tear up their phone
book will be able to purchase a copy of “Aventura” through Britto Central. Contact them at 305-531-8821 if you’re interested. Meanwhile, plans are already afoot for next year’s phone book, which my spies tell me will feature the work of another local artist.

More Grumblings from Golden Beach

Another Golden Beach informant is wondering if I knew that the town’s new Police Chief Roy Hudson, who has shocked everyone by handing in his resignation after only 6 months in the $65,000 per year position, was overheard saying that, “He was not going to let Golden Beach ruin his 30 year reputation in Law Enforcement.”  Hudson’s public explanation was a diplomatic (if unrevealing) statement that it “was a lot of small issues that make up a bigger picture.”

Golden Beach Councilman Glenn Singer was more specific. He claims that Hudson resigned because resident Neil Leff and Golden Beach Councilman Stanley Feinman constantly bombarded Hudson and the town with record requests. “It’s a nonproductive work environment,” said Singer, who also feels that Hudson deserved more compensation. Leff insists that his relationship with Hudson was a friendly one. “I
think he is ethical and I am very sorry to see him leave,” Leff said, adding that he’d never sent Hudson so much as a letter. Feinman also claims to have had a good relationship with Hudson, but adds that Hudson may have found Golden Beach’s Byzantine local politics difficult to handle. “I think he realized that working in this town is a no-win situation and he better get out,” Feinman said. My informant suggests that both Feinman and Golden Beach’s former Interim Chief of Police Robert Nieman, who was fired, might have been “on to something” about the way Mayor Addicott, Clerk Kathy Szabo, and the former Town Manager Vardalis are running things. So it will be interesting to see how Golden Beach residents vote in the referendum that asks voters whether or not the mayor’s term should be extended to four years, especially considering that Golden Beach Mayor Michael Addicott is running for re-election unopposed. 

 

All of the Pleasure, None of the Guilt

Eat your yogurt, Bulgarian mothers tell their children, and you’ll live to be a hundred. Yogurt is made from milk fermented by the action of two lactic bacilli, one of which acidifies the milk and causes the formation of lactic acid, which is very good for the digestive system, unless you happen to be allergic to milk. Yogurt appeared in Western Europe in 1542. The court physicians of Francois I (who was suffering from depression)
sent to Constantinople for the Jewish doctor who was said to have invented a magical brew of fermented sheep’s milk that was guaranteed to cure whatever ailed you and was all the rage at the Sultan's court. The doctor and his sheep came to Paris, and Francois was cured, but the sheep caught cold and died and the doctor went back to Constantinople and yogurt was forgotten until the Irish rediscovered it a few centuries later, and improved it by adding hot wine and spices to the fermented milk to make a “posset” that was imbibed after feasts. Milk on top of wine is poison, sneered the French, admitting that on the other hand, wine with milk apparently brought good health.

But that, as they say, is history. The good news is that the country's best yogurt (TCBY) is now available in Sunny Isles, which means that I no longer have to drive all the way to Aventura to enjoy this special treat. Because this isn’t just yogurt. This is fabulous, frozen, white chocolate mousse yogurt (there are other flavors, but I’ve never got past the white chocolate mousse) and a whole serving contains just 110 calories, 30 calories less than a bagel. (How do I know how many calories there are in a bagel? Because my mother tells me, every time I dare to order one. And then she orders one too, and leaves it. It’s a guilt trip worthy of Sophia Petrillo.)

The new TCBY just opened last week, at 16850 Collins Avenue, #111, Sunny
Isles. They’re also offering a range of terrific ice creams (including colorful Kid Creations like Rainbow and Cotton Candy) and Fruithead Smoothies made with natural juices or frozen yogurt. These start at a mere 300 calories and escalate all the way up to the 730 calorie Peanut Butter Fusion made of peanut butter, milk and chocolate syrup. Decadent, yes. But what a way to go. You can taste before you buy, and on Tuesdays you can have a free topping of your choice on any cup or cone. There are tasty cakes and pies to take home, as well. Heaven in a dish, cone or cup. Buy six, and you get the seventh free.  As they say at TCBY, “All of the pleasure, none of the guilt.”  

Contact me at gailgraham1@juno.com