Could everyone write one simple essay about something that once happened in Saltaire…that they saw or were a part of…and put it on one big website? Somebody should collect a lot of stories before we all forget. Otherwise it is like a line in “On The Beach” : The history of the war that now would never be written.” -(JO'H)

Sunday, April 14, 2013

George & Georgie


No one enjoyed a good party more than my dad George Fontanals. I don’t know what is going on in Saltaire these days but from the mid-60’s on into the early 80’s, Saltaire seemed like one big cocktail party which might or might not move on into dinner. One of George’s dinner party staples was his famed Paella.

Georgiana M Hull (Georgie) managed to get George’s recipe down on paper in her wonderful Fire Island Cookbook. The book, a collection of seafood recipes from the town’s locals, is a veritable who’s who from the Saltaire Happy Hour Set in around 1972.

click images to enlarge







I have used this recipe with pretty good results, but I would suggest a few things:
· Give yourself plenty of time. (like the entire day)
· You must track down a paella pan to accommodate the # you are feeding.
· Don’t forget the Saffron!!
---DERF

JOH adds: I can't believe George Fontanals Sr. looks so young and happy in that picture.

...Emily’s mother calls the children to breakfast. Emily is surprised at how young her mother looks. Emily cries out:
"I can’t bear it. They’re so young and beautiful. Why did they ever have to get old? I can’t look at everything hard enough. ”
Emily comes downstairs; her mother says:
“Birthday or no birthday, I want you to eat your breakfast good and slow. ”
Emily: “Oh, Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me .”
Emily turns to the Stage Manager:
“I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at
one another ”
-Our Town
Ed Note: this post originally appeared Jan 2, 2008

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes I saw the picture of George Sr - to my recollection George always seemed to be happy - I chuckled at the picture as I always remember George being fond of polo/alligator shirts and that when he wore long pants they were usually cuffed to high - he rarely wore shoes and we always wondered how rough the streets of NY and Brooklyn were on his bare soles.

Anonymous said...

I responded - Young, happy(he was in Saltaire with a drink in his hand - that's happy) and looking quite svelte. I remember the Sunday afternoon he appeared for one of Sneaky Pete's Sunday Cook-outs in the parking lot(Sneaky Pete was a gourmet cook, former rum runner, and parking lot attendant). We couldn't figure out where George had come from as he did not come over on the ferry and he was all wet - Sneaky asks him "how did you get here" George responded that he had swam from Saltaire to Bayshore. Sneaky's response was(in referring to George's girth) "You're lucky you weren't harpooned on the way over" Turns out he'd come across the bay in Larry Markus' boat.

Anonymous said...

Who is sneaky pete to talk about people's girth? He was a real fatso.

Anonymous said...

PHIL KEANE CHIPS IN FROM SEATTLE:

That picture of George Fontanals was great, at first I thought it was Joe Scanlon. I remember how fond George was of his Stingers, when I bartended the yacht club with Wally Schleinitz.

Anonymous said...

what are stingers made from?

Anonymous said...

Having gotten deathly sick one evening at the Kismet Inn from drinking Stingers with beer chasers I can confirm that the customary ingredients in a Stinger are creme d' menthe(white or green) and brandy