lia

At work I always swipe and chew on several parsley stems while they're being prepped. Then later on i see another prep cook squeezing the chopped parsley, in a towel, directly into the trash. What a waste, I always want to run and get a glass to save the juice.

Just bought a box of Otter Pops last week at Rite Aid, and i'd never heard of them before, only knew of Flav-r-Ice (or some such spelling.) Speaking of Flying Saucers, has anyone here tried the low fat lookalike brand? I think the brand name is Silhouette, dunno, definitely something with an S. I'm intrigued, but not enough to buy a carton.

i LOVE the paninoteca but my favorite sandwich is the one with the prosciutto, arugula and parmigiana (or romano?) cheese. i always get either a Junior's cheesecake or a Little Pie Co. swiss apple pie and i've been known to scarf down a few Jamaican Meat Patties.

oh that sounds wonderful. Years ago, a cook at a restaurant where i used to work whipped up an avocado mousse. just avocado, heavy cream and sugar. beautiful pale pale green. I was reticent about tasting it (my first encounter with avocado as a sweet) but it was dangerously delicious. Don't remember his the cook's name or his ethnicity, but I'm thinking Dominican.

Love batidos and i'm grateful for the numerous cuban restaurants in my neighborhood where i can indulge in Papaya whenever i feel like it. when i first read this thread last week, (and oh, how i thank you all ) i of course had to indulge in a nice thick malt. the Haagen Dasz nearby closed recently (to make room for ANOTHER Starbucks and a Vitamin Shoppe [across the street from a GNC...]) and i wasn't really keen on getting a malt from Baskin Robbins, so i hit the supermarket for a jar of malt powder and ice cream. Had to settle for Carnation, which is fine, but the ice cream aisle made me laugh. do you have any idea how long it took me to find plain chocolate and vanilla? it's ridiculous. finally i found a couple of sad lonely looking pints of Ben and Jerry's....but that brand was literally the ONLY one that had the plain flavors in all of Gristede's. In normal ice cream that is. oh there was plenty of vanilla and chocolate soy, no carb, low sugar, lite, low fat, frozen yogurt...blah blah....but regular plain old ice cream? I had to dig. deeply. oh, and the malt was really really good. used Skim Plus milk, i like that texture, icier. not too rich.

Might this be a re-naming and re-packaging of Pom Poms, the movie theater Milk Dud ripoff??

yep, I was big on the Coffee Mate thing. I could eat a whole jar in a sitting. That and packets of powdered Dream Whip. and instant iced tea mix. and (this is embarrassing) i LOVED the plain white Kaopectate. i tried a dog biscuit once and found it quite tasty. apparently i also ate an ant once as a child because according to my mother i wanted it to tickle my back, but i have no memory of this.

Many a fun time was had at the Peppermint Lounge circa 82/83. (another child of the 80's). The Ritz was also a winner. I saw Todd Rundgren at Webster Hall (aka the old Ritz) last week, first time i'd been there since the 80's...massive deja vu. The concert room is completely redone, but very nicely decorated and the sound is great too.

Danceteria and the Peppermint Lounge (hey, i'm a child of the 80's) Most recently, Tobacco Road on w.41st. best bands. Bottom Line had great burgers/fries.

Have you read MFK Fisher, A Life in Letters? It gets into that subject matter in a bit more detail. I think it's time to re-read. And speaking of re-reading, I don't think a year goes by that i don't read the two Home Cooking books by Laurie Colwin. I discovered her too late. I was reading the books (bought both at the same time) and noticed that she mentioned several restaurants and other locations in my neighborhood. I looked her up in the phone book and lo and behold, she lived two blocks away from me. I read her obituary in the NY Times the following week.

then you should go immediately and get a several scoops of zabaglione. or coconut. or strawberry. i'm serious.

no?? geeze, i feel old. they had great poppy seed muffins. I loved a restaurant called the Sumptuary on Third Ave around 28th. Now that i think of it, i can't remember one dish i had there, but Former Spouse and i used to eat there all the time in '90-'92 when we lived in that neighborhood.

That's a very good point, but looking at it from both sides, I still would prefer the smaller change, simply because it's just a bit more convenient for the customer. after all, they don't HAVE to leave anything more than they want.

I'm a manager and while I never ask 'the question' if i pick up a check, I do the same...announce that i'll be right back with the change. OT, i learned a customer found the phrase "are you still working on that?" offensive. I agreed, and now i get the staff to say, "are you ready to have that cleared?" and (ha) then THEY usually say, 'no thanks, still working on it.' back to tipping, while 'the question' never bothered me either, i'm usually annoyed at restaurants' seeming refusal to give back small change in ones. I pay for a $13 lunch with a twenty....why do you bring me back a five and two ones? Yeah, i actually planned on leaving you THREE.....you didn't really think you were getting the five, did you??

Corned beef hash (the canned kind, almost burnt), with fried eggs and hash browns, NOT home fries. OR challah french toast with bananas and maple syrup. I ate this stuff for the first and last time on a trip to the South in '97. In atlanta we hit a place called the Silver Skillet every morning and i DIE thinking about the red eye gravy and the biscuits with sausage gravy....and the ham. we can't get ham like that in NY...oh it was so good. and i'm anxiously awaiting my trip to New Orleans next month so i can once again gain a huge amount of weight spending ridiculous amounts of time at Cafe du Monde. yeah, that wins.

Finally had one today. I found the shell intriguing, as i couldn't really tell two separate elements, it was very tasty. The cream was rich and not too sweet, but like some other posters upthread i would have preferred a stronger vanilla flavor.

I've never been to El Quijote, but i enjoy Francisco's Centro Vasco across the street. I'm a fan of the zarzuela, and everytime i've gone, a dinner companion will order lobster, and they always love it, broiled or steamed.

In addition to Eden's manager being a racist, he's also apparently pretty stupid, but those two qualities tend to go hand in hand.... I don't know, perhaps i'm over paranoid, but if i was going to deny a reservation for a private room to two people, then shortly after have two OTHER people just happen to request the room for the SAME DAY, i might think something's up. guess he didn't. ok, march 6 is a saturday night, but still.

In foodservice industry magazines the last couple of months or so, there's been an ad for bacon (no memory of brand) WITH A SCENT STRIP. but it's nasty. like liquid smoke on paper, nothing bacon-y about it. ...yet....everytime i see it, i pull the strip open and yes...i smell it.

Sunday 3/14/04, about 7:10 pm, LOOONG line out the door, about halfway down the block. I didn't wait. maybe tomorrow. Was it in the newspapers today?

Speaking of Kool Aid, do you ever catch an old 70's version of the commercial on Unwrapped or something where the big ass pitcher with the bright orange polyester slacks smashes through the bowling alley wall? We kids put up with some scary commercials back then.

What?? is it bad? I haven't been there in years and years but it was ssoooo goood....

are there tables in Melampo or is it strictly takeout?

NYC. and thanks for the backup itch22, I was all ready to apologize for not doing the proper research before posting an extemporaneous opinion....

never noticed 'non freshness' from the amsterdam location, but the food's usually ordered in soon after they open. i work in a restaurant near there, and my mostly ecuadorean and dominican wait and busstaff eat from there regularly. i'm partial to the papaya batido and the mofongo (I love that word.)