egg cream

I'm heading down the shore this weekend and I'm thinking back fondly upon one of my first (and only) restaurant gigs: the summer I spent slinging pancakes at La Maison Internationale des Pancakes. Located on Route 37 in Toms River, rumor has it that it was the busiest IHOP in the country at the time!

(Yes, I am a rock star.)

The job offered me the opportunity to make a few bona fide New Jersey friends (fellow servers, not cooks -- as many who have worked in the restaurant industry can attest, the kitchen doesn't always want to pal around with those in the front of the house). I made enough cash to often hop a bus up to The Big City and pretend I was a local. Though I missed my boyfriend terribly (sniffle, sob), who was himself working a kitchen job at a Yellowstone National Park resort, it was a good time. This particular gig was also where I took a lesson in egg creams.

A customer ordered (off the menu, i might add) an egg cream to drink one afternoon. I was puzzled.

Egg cream?

And it's a drink?

Like, you drink it?

Like, um, (gag) eggs and cream?

Nope. Apparently, it's a piece of New York's culinary history with no eggs required. Instead, it's made only with chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer, and the debate over the name's origin continues.

I did make a few more egg creams in my time down the shore, but never actually tried one myself -- and even though I now permanently reside in The Big City, I still haven't had one. Can you believe that?

Damn if one doesn't sound good right now.

(I mean, you have heard about the 115 degree heat index up here, right?)

lychees

Apparently, I cannot get enough heat in my life.

I'm reading this, had two spicy Bloodys at yesterday's brunch, was pouring this on my tofu last night, am marinating some tempeh right now in a green curry concoction, and ate one of these from the dumpling house today -- and now cannot stop thinking about how I need to get my hands on a big jar of kimchi!

(That kimchi sandwich, by the way, was unreal: so delicious, and so ridiculously cheap. Highly recommended.)

Today's outing was to, among other destinations, the South Street Seaport, where A., N., and I did our best pirate wench impressions. We also picked up some candy and wasabi snacks in Chinatown on our way.

Now, off to dream of Sriracha -- and those beautiful lychees sold on the street near Confuscious Plaza.