Jerk!

I'm a big fan of the old fashioned. When I was little I loved Victorian everything-- the clothes, the shoes, the history. I even talked my mom into subscribing to Victoria magazine (yes-- it did exist) so I could relish in days gone by. I loved Anne of Green Gables and wished upon wished that I could wear those beautiful dresses with puff sleeves (oh, and marry Gilbert Blythe of course). Old movies (Garbo, Bacall, Hepburn, Grant, Bogart-- you name it, I loved them) I'd watch with my grandmother. I loved the 50s-- the music, the poodle skirts (I had several that my mom made for Halloween but I decided I loved them so much that I would wear them to school... oh, yes. Purple plaid poodle skirt with a white Hawaiian-print shirt. I think there's a photo of me at Disneyland in that gem of an outfit).

So imagine my delight to have read this article in the NYT this morning. The emergence of old fashioned soda shops and even better, soda jerks? Score! I LOVE me a chocolate egg cream (How can you not? A drink that contains neither egg nor cream?), and would faithfully order one, regardless of time of day or what I was eating, if I spied it on a menu. Not that they were prolific. I had to do some serious hunting in my NYC days to find one (of course my favorite Eisenberg's has them). Ice cream sodas, egg creams, REAL cherry, vanilla or chocolate cokes? Yummmm!! If I still lived in NYC, I would totally be heading to the Brooklyn Farmacy and Soda Fountain for a potato head sundae: vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, caramel sauce, whipped cream and North Fork potato chip wedges. Awww-yeah. (Plus-- love the name. It's a play on fact that the building used to be a real pharmacy and the locally sourced products that he uses in his recipes-- hence FARM. The owner even kept some of the crazy old stuff that was in there-- like ointment tins from the 40s and anti psychotic drugs from the 70s to display alongside his wares and, well, ice cream, I guess.) I love that these emerging soda shops are sourcing local products and making their own concoctions-- from syrups to ice cream. What a great thing for sustainability-- not to mention a totally fresh and delectable gastro-experience.

If only one would open in England. Although we'd probably have to introduce the concept first. I had a "coke float" at a restaurant the other day... because it was there, of course. It was a summer special, apparently. Special it was but for all the wrong reasons. That, my friends, is another blog post altogether.

********ORGANIZATION UPDATE*************

You may have noticed that my organizing frenzy has extended to my blog-- if you peruse the right hand menu, you'll see some organizing additions such as a search box (which I'm not convinced really works) and labels (like my recipes or food pics? check out food/foodie/recipes. can't get enough of my randomness? check out warblings; want to check out the latest home disaster/makeover? Well, you get my drift). I'm not quite finished going back through and cleaning up labels (5 years of blogging... while I'm hardly a consistent blogger, there still are A LOT of entries), but soon it will all be labeled and yours for the finding.

PLUS! I've added "reactions" to each post under comments... so, feel free to react! (or suggest other reactions to add-- you can customize!) :)