JPW

I never thought that this topic would come up on eG. I spent seven years in Binghamton in school. The B-Mets ballpark is a great minor league field. Train tracks behind the outfield fence. Typical minor league entertainment between innings. My personal favorite was the kids musical chairs contest sponsored by a local plumbing supply company which meant they used toilets instead of chairs. At the far end of each foul line they have grills set up and serve decent sausages. Also, you can actually buy decent beer from Cooperstown Brewery (Nine Men Out and I can't remember the other one they carry). Spiedies = Questionable chunks of meat marinaded in a vinaigrette grilled and served on white bread. Not worth it. There used to be a good Lebanese place downtown, but I believe it has closed up. That's about it for decent ethnic food. Places your son might like. 1)Uncle Tony's downtown - best wings in the city 2) The Sports bar (downtown) - mediocre pizza, but lots of video games. 3) Theo's (down main street at the Binghamton-Johnson City line) - BBQ/Southern food. Be warned, the service can be less than gracious. For adults - 1) Name escaping me - (downtown) modern American kind of new agey place that anyone will be able to point you to even without the name about 3 blocks from ball park towards the Chenango River 2) Copper Cricket - (about a mile outside of downtown on Main St.) - more modern American 3) The Ale House (Rte 434 just west of the university) as someon has already mentioned. Mediocre eats, but a beer selection you'll be surprised to see in that cultural wasteland. HTH

don't forget beer

I think that perhaps for the first time, I am going to agree with Swankalicious. I found the cooking at Majestic to be positively mediocre the two time I went. Mrs. JPW, the good Southern girl that she is, was excited by the prospect, but disappointed by the execution. Absolutely, nothing stood out as special or different from what you can get anywhere else (compare in your head with Vidalia), especially for the prices they charge.

Agree with you. But I get it the other way. Whenever Mrs JPW asks about verboten ingredients in food, people look at her and exclaim "But you can't be pregnant!!!!" Next time I think we may have to pull out the sonogram. And then proceed to use it to inflict a dozen or so very nasty paper cuts on their fingers before stuffing their hands into a vat of tomato sauce! Simple solution is to tell the manager.

overpriced I will indeed give you. Garbage? As opposed to what? McD's? I don't eat Cosi too often, but in a pinch it'll do. Did I mention that it is not Starbucks?

The county council site has e-mail links for Duncan and all of the members. Click here THe regulation is Zoning Text Amendment 04-04

1) It's not Starbucks 2) The sandwiches that I've had there have always been acceptable. YOu can't get anything at that other coffee chain beyond scones that are more appropriate for use as door stops. 3) It's not Starbucks 4) If you go at night you can get a drink 5) It's not Starbucks 6) I think that their coffee is better than that other coffee shop. 7) It's not Starbucks 8) They don't try to shill all of their overpriced mugs/CDs/ other crap like that other coffee shop And have I mentioned that it's appealing because it isn't Starbucks?

I must encourage all to Montgomery County residents to oppose the bill currently before the county council by contacting your council member. It is, interestingly enough, primarily sponsored by both Giant and Local 400 of the SEIU, which is effectively the local chapter that covers Giant's Montgomery County workers. I'll be back when I have more time with contact addresses and numbers for council members. Our beloved County Commissioner (wannabe Governor) Doug Duncan is supporting the bill.

My lunch was limited to a small salad and some tuna from the Safeway salad bar. I didn't finish it.

As far as inspection reports go, this one ain't too bad at all. It's not like the place was dirty and the inspector shut them down. The only thing that could make me worry is the food thermometer being 13 degrees off. The rest of it is nit-picky crap that all restaurant inspectors perform. I, for one, am glad that they do it as it can be a slippery slope from relatively minor food safety violations to serious ones accompanied by a nice E Coli outbreak.

As we walked to our car, I was forced to loosen my belt as discretely as possible. Driving home I kept repeating to Mrs JPW "An Indian street food tasting menu, I'll bet you that noone else around DC outside of maybe the Indian embassy has ever had anything like this." Finally, she told me to shut up. Not only unique, but at times absolutely spectacular. My favorite dish was the "Ragda Pattice: Pan-fried spicy potato cutlets with tangy white pea curry". However, to me the most amazing part of the meal was the ability of Chef to match the Indian beverages with dishes. It was very exciting to try all of the different drinks, even if some of them were not fan favorites with the Anglo palate. A true education. 3 cheers for Monica!

So here's the update from the last class on Saturday. Unfortunately for Rachel's plan of getting to the class early, Mrs JPW's aerobics class ran a little late and we were unable to arrive early. She's toned down and made adjustments to her exercise program to account for pregnancy, but still goes to an aerobics class or two a week, jumps on the elliptical trainer once or twice and takes a pre-natal yoga class. Don't know how much longer she'll be able to keep it up, but I'm exceedingly proud of her. Breakfast snacks brought by class members were - 1 fruit salad, 1 big bag of bagels, and a few dozen Dunkin Donuts. Lunch provided by the hospital was pizza and salads. I waited until almost everyone had left to talk to the instructor. I mentioned that I was concerned about the snacks that had been brought in and mentioned that I thought that even a few seconds spent on addressing nutrition and health would probably have been helpful to us all, as there are so many open questions around the subject as you move into the end stages of pregnancy and delivery. We also wrote in a few notes on the issue in our post-class evaluation. The instructor mentioned that she used to attempt to set the stage by providing more healthful things like carrot and celery sticks for the first class' snacks, but people just didn't eat them. She also pointed out that all of the lunch pizza was gone, but that there was a fair amount of salad left. She had ordered 4 or 5 that weren't too big, and there was basically a whole one left. After reiterating that we thought even a few seconds on overall health and nutrition issues would be greatly beneficial to future couples. We thanked her and left. I don't know how much our suggestion will bring about in terms of discussion within the hospital teaching staff, but at least we brought the issue up. Thanks everyone for their comments on the issue. You've given me a lot to think about. Thanks also for your good wishes towards Mrs. JPW and Peanut as we enter the final stages. Cheers. Joe

Ain't that the f*&%ing truth!!!! Back to food, we actually quit reading any of the pregnancy books. They could drive you into an early grave. "Don't eat canned tuna or your kid will have three arms" "Don't eat (insert your own food) or your kid won't have a liver" Granted there are certainly things to avoid, but these books will just make you paranoid, ESPECIALLY that damned "What to Expect when You're Expecting". On the other hand, I did pick up a cookbook with recipes specifically designed to address the nutritional needs of pregnant women. Nothing fancy, but there are a couple of good things in there (an egg casserole for brunch, a nice flank steak marinade). I'll have to look up the name.

<spit out coffee> Now I need to call our PC people for a new keyboard!

signed, Harvey

Pickels in tuna fish!

Peanut (aka our as-of-yet unborn child) is decidely no longer peanut-sized. At this point, Peanut is more the size of a big pork tenderloin. However, "Pork Tenderloin" doesn't quite have the same ring to it for a nickname as "Peanut" does. I saw maybe half of the approx 26 people (about 12 couples and 2 signers for the deaf couple) eating the fruit salad. Our tupperware container was pretty well licked clean. It totaled 5 kiwis, 2 apples, a quart of strawberries, and about 1/2 pound of grapes. The equivalent of about 2 oranges (in wedges) was also consumed. Thinking about it this way does incline me to take a slightly different view of the eating habits of those that were there. However, all of the other stuff was gone as well. Perhaps laziness or lack of time is indeed the reason. But at some point a lack of time becomes a matter of priorities as well. My wife and I both work relatively time demanding office jobs (that I'm obviously slacking off on today) and have all the other things to do that other people do. As with the earlier poster, I did not necessarily want to bring anything, it is kind of a pain in the ass. Not that buying extra fruit and slicing it into a tupperware container took a lot of time or money, but I guess I just felt disappointed that others didn't put the same thought into it as we did. It seemed to me to be an interesting discussion piece for eG which has taught me so much. Cheers.

Yeah my wife has looked through their stuff. The level of discourse there makes a certain other food site look positively educated and civilized.

I am not of course opposed to the occasional splurge, but as in all things in life I think moderation is key. Seeing just this one instance, I don't want to rush to judgement (for that matter I try not to judge other people) but I made the assumption that the junk food was a normal thing both out of correlary evidence (a lot of the men in the class are pretty fat or just look unhealthy) and because I thought it would make for interesting discussion. Phaelon - I've already arranged an amnesty from my wife for the jazz fest - I generally eat pretty well there, but for the weekend I get to eat and drink what I want. It cost me but it'll be well worth it. I'll PM so we can meet up at SPAC.

Nothing, I believe they are signed up for Saturday. Hopefully, they'll return the favor and we'll be able to return the thanks.

Saturday lunch is provided by the hospital. I may hijack the snack sessions by bringing in a little extra something. One couple did thank us after class on Thursday for bringing in healthful stuff. JPW PS- Rachel, remind me never to get on your bad side. Your mind is absolutely devious!

Unfortunately, this class is only three sessions. 3 hours Tuesday and Thursday, 6 hours on Saturday But I will attempt to grab the instructor before class on Saturday. As well, I will follow-up in post-class evaluations/comments. I will definitely report my results here. Cheers.

No, but Mrs. JPW often proclaims with exasperation that I should be the one who is going through this! To my mind, not with the same direct relavance. Part of the theme of these classes is "healthy mom/healthy baby". Another tack for discussion that flows through my mind is the point that I'm not responsible for what others eat. However, the instructor did not exactly set a great example. As I've been in "fast-food addiction recovery", I'm trying to not become a complete health nazi. I like a chocolate chip cookie as much as the next person. But I think that the instructor missed a chance to make a positive contribution to the health of moms, dads (or other partners), AND baby. Thanks for the good wishes! Cheers.

It is on Cordell which crosses Old Georgetown Road 3 blocks north of Woodmont. If memory serves me right, the corner of Old Georgetown and Cordell has a gas station on the NW corner. (I could however be wrong)