SobaAddict70

Does anyone think that the "aura" will return over time in the next ten years? For example (not that this is necessarily a bad thing), NYC will be host to the Republican presidential convention in 2004, which will bring a badly needed boost to the local economy. (Republican delegates are noted for being big spenders and "socialites", although this remains to be seen.) Also, there is the (remote) chance that the city will be selected to host the 2012 Olympics. I would say that 9/11 may have taken off the sheen of invincibility but I think that things have a way of reasserting themselves. This is after all, "the city that never sleeps"....a tired cliche but true in so many ways. SA

Potatoes: Roasted new potatoes, with rosemary, sea salt or kosher salt, and drizzled with either OO or duck fat, or as colcannon, or simply mashed with butter, light cream and/or milk. (NO ROASTED GARLIC!!!!) Honorable mention goes to cabbage and its role in a New England boiled dinner, Irish corned beef and cabbage, and Hungarian dolmades -- cabbage rolls stuffed with pork, rice, raisins, seasoned onions, paprika and other spices and cooked in a broth....among others. What's yours? SA

Just to make myself clear: I don't care who made the initial comparison -- the subtext continues to pop up in our wonderful continuing discussion. When people have made comparisons between NYC and X, they really mean between Manhattan and X. The Manhattan-centric view is a little off-putting to me. Although I currently live in Manhattan, I had resided in Queens for 10 years prior to moving into my current apartment -- so you'll forgive me when I get a little nonplussed when people continue to dismiss the rest of the city as irrelevant to any discussion at hand that involves the totality of the City. I'm sure you'd feel the same way if people thought that Shakespeare, Milton and Chaucer were all that mattered in British literature; that Dickens, Wordsworth, Keats and Woolf are irrelevant. SA

Um, this is not an attack on anything. This is an attempt on clarifying what exactly one means when one makes a statement that has no bearing whatsover on reality. I'm still waiting to hear what exactly you mean. This has nothing to do with who has more green space (which was never an issue of mine to begin with anyway, as you'll recall). SA

Next can of worms: where would you rather raise your child? Ah, I can see the missiles flying already. *gets ready to duck* SA

"Inner city Manhattan". Do you mean Harlem and Spanish Harlem? Do you mean Morningside Heights? Do you mean Washington Heights and Inwood? Do you mean the Lower East Side and Alphabet City during the 1980s? Help me out here, cuz we NYers think of the "inner city" differently. And none of our definitions are in the boro of Manhattan. Gotta love outsiders looking in, don'cha know. SA

Ok, next time, when I refer to London, I'll just mean the area around Westminster Abbey and Parliament. The rest of the city is really a figment of my imagination, just like the Bronx and Queens are irrelevant to this discussion. Whatever. SA

Why are we quibbling over something that totally ignores the historical development within the context of NYC and London? Lower Manhattan doesn't have a surfeit of green space (duh) unless you count the community gardens in the Lower East Side and the pocket parks in certain neighborhoods because historically speaking, these are neighborhoods where at one point in time, there was a disproportionally large concentration of the population living there, relative to one's social standing. Housing, in NYC terms, has always won out over green space -- you can't very well set up your living room in the middle of the forest along with the bears and raccoons, but I'd like to see someone try. We didn't have kings and queens or MPs appropriating by either royal or legislative decree large portions of land for park usage. We had bureaucrats like Robert Moses and Henry Stern. SA

*beats his head against a wall*

For the umpteenth time, MANHATTAN IS NOT THE TOTALITY OF NEW YORK CITY!!!!!! Right, whatever. Ok, I really have to do some work now. SA

We're not disputing them. We're disputing the notion that many ppl seem to have that CP is the only park worth talking about in the context of New York City parks. CP may be the largest park in Manhattan, but its not the largest park in the city (it may be the most well-known though). That honor goes to Pelham Bay Park, which according to official figures, has over 2000 acres and is clearly NOT located in Manhattan. Re Washington Square Park et al., these are not "vest pocket parks". They're full fledged parks but with a different and neighborhood feel than CP. You may think of them as vest pocket parks or open space on a square block. Clearly, residents of the Village (and other areas), thousands of NYU students and other ppl such as myself have a different opinion. SA

Yes, I was a little confused too. I'm still waiting to hear why people seem to think that Manhattan is the center of the known universe. There are four other boroughs too, you know. SA

It's funny that Bon Appetit (when I was still subscribing to that magazine) devoted not one, but two issues (over the space of five years) on what a hot new property that dining out in London had become. "Far above and away from your crusty standard meat pies and tasteless boiled vegetables" was how they put it. Then (and this is c. 1997, so things may have changed as it was about then that I stopped subscribing to BA), London was fast becoming a dining destination in much the same way that Chicago, New Orleans, SF and NYC are. I won't be making a trip to London anytime soon (at least a year) while my finances get sorted out, but it's cool to know that some things haven't changed. SA

Turning the topic back to food, one can argue that NYC is famous for at least three things, food-wise: 1. Bagels. 2. Pizza. 3. Jewish food in general (i.e., Katz's, Second Avenue Deli, Carnegie Deli) 4. Ethnic food of other stripes. (Perhaps this is less true in recent years.) 5. An overabundance of famous chefs and places. (Maybe this is less of an issue and more of an overreach.) Besides cheese and pub food, what's there about London? Teach me, somebody. I seem to remember an up and coming British chef named Gary-something from the mid 1990s, who had a penchant for spiky hair. Is he still around? SA

So are you saying that the outer boroughs are for tourists? (j/k) SA

You've forgotten Union Square Park, Madison Square Park, and Washington Square Park to name a few. Also Bryant Park. They're none of them as good as CP of course, but they each have their own charms. Flushing Meadows Corona Park -- the U.S. Open, for those of us who like tennis and such. Prospect Park -- is the CP of Brooklyn, and has the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to boot. True, city parks rely overly much on government financing for their upkeep and tend to fall by the wayside in lean times (witness the underfinancing and poor upkeep of Madison Square Park in the early 1990s, but on the whole the state of NYC parks isn't as dismal as it used to be. Pity Henry Stern's departure though.) SA

And of course, associated issues such as crime and cleanliness as well. SA

That may be a comment then on the cultural economic history in the UK as opposed to America. Seems that its more consumer-driven here, because...well, its always been that way in this country. Its been driven into us by years of tradition. And of course, there's that famous phrase, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happine$$". What does that say to Europeans (and to Londoners in particular) who strive to create a union of their own (e.g., the EU), and their own future? Will they eventually become a consumer-driven monster? Do they want to? SA

One hopes so, W. (Not to be confused with the W of my signature, by-the-by. )

Yes, but I'm applying NYC standards of living as opposed to London. In NYC dollars, $1.50 is overpriced when you consider that it was $1 10 years ago. And its soon going to be $2 with possibly less service than we already have now...along with the prospect of surlier customer service (pls don't get me started on the MTA and the subway workers (talk about overpaid and underworked -- they should have gone on strike so Bloomberg could've fined their miserable sorry behinds...every single one of them. (I'm kinda bitter when it comes to subway workers, but that's my issue.)), dirtier cars, less safe subways (you haven't been a tourist (j/k) until you've ridden in a subway car with a partially nude homeless man who vomited all over himself and was walking around with the top of his buttocks showing, and me with nowhere to go because the train was stuck in a tunnel, I was in the first car, and he was blocking the rear exit!!!), and garbled pronouncements (well, unless you're riding in the new spiffy cars, garbled for everyone else). Any other city has a CLEANER subway system by comparison (and you can't tell me that London's is dirtier because I refuse to believe it.) Its overpriced if you're living in somewhere like Bayside or Holliswood or the far reaches of Queens near the Nassau border, where you need to take a bus (!) in order to reach the terminus of the nearest subway line. Then it becomes closer to London dollars, and moreso. Its overpriced compared to Boston or San Francisco. So there. SA

A RIPE pineapple is a thing of beauty. White peaches. Mandarin oranges. Cranshaw melons. And don't get me started on berries. (mmm, berries.) SA PS. Who can forget the mighty avocado? (I need an avocado lassi right about now...)

That's only because you're a (*cough*) tourist and not a regular. Organic vegetables and the like can be had if you know where to look (Chelsea Market, the local greenmarkets, Whole Foods, etc.). Your NYC friends may feel that they're living on Madison Avenue's doormat, but you can live cheaply without breaking the bank. (Hey! Babbo on Saturday and Pakistani Tea House on Sunday...now there's a nice juxtaposition. And home cooked dinners the rest of the week, to balance things nicely. ) Indian restaurants are much better in Jackson Heights (Queens) and in certain parts of Manhattan (South Indian veggie row on East 28th Street for example; Diwan for another) than on Sixth Street. Jewel Bako (my opinion) by far for sushi. (There are others, as you've seen on the boards.) Someone else can chime in on the bagels. I thought Blue Ribbon Sushi was pretty good until I went to Sushisay. Then I went to JB (You could say its been an education). Haven't been to SY or Sushi of Gari yet, so there's probably room for improvement. Not into film as much, so can't comment. Also have never been to the Continent or Island and don't have a passport at the moment, so can't comment on that either. We do have an overpriced subway, and its going to be even more overpriced soon. (But at least its improving, and those spiffy new San Francisco style subway cars beat the pants off the graffitti horrors from back in the early 1980s). SA PS. Jason, can you pls move this post too? thx.

One of these days, he's going to have an epiphany. When I was growing up, I HATED, absolutely hated garlic/spicy flavors and didn't really get into vegetables in general. Sushi was unheard of. Hot and spicy was out. My, my, how times change... Be ready for the wake-up call. SA

No honey. (Or celery.) Someday, someone must tell me how to shrink text really really small because for the life of me, I can't figure it out. At the request of Stefany, no soup either. But there will be a spiced fruit chatni (for the cheese course). Some spreads, which I need to think about, because I want to do something other than homemade hummus or tapenade.... SA

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you, vengroff. Anyway, here's the recipe as promised: Cipollini onions EVOO Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed lightly Cloves (about 5 to 6, less if you prefer) White wine vinegar Sugar Kosher salt (a smallish pinch) Peperoncino or black peppercorns (either 1 pepper or about 10 peppercorns) 1. Peel onions. Cook them in boiling water for 3 minutes, then blanch in cold water. 2. Saute onions and garlic in EVOO; do not allow the vegetables to color. 3. Combine 3 or 4 T. water and the rest of the ingredients to the garlic and onions. You can vary the proportions of the marinade ingredients to your taste, but I prefer a ratio of sugar to vinegar on a 1:4 (tablespoons) basis. 4. Partially cover pot, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 5. Cool thoroughly. This is best if you let the onions sit for at least 1 day prior to serving. They'll also keep for up to two weeks, stored in the refrigerator, and their flavor will improve by leaps and bounds the longer they're refrigerated. Try serving these with prosciutto or gamy birds such as duck, goose, or turkey. SA