Egg Cream Soda's At Rosie's

As a kid growing up on the streets of the Lower East Side, there's one experience that I wish my kids could have had.  That experience was being served an Egg Cream soda drink from their favorite neighborhood convenience store like me and my generation had experienced.  Today there isn't any store you can walk into and buy penny candy, a box of jacks, a box of Cracker Jacks, Lays Potato Chips and paddle ball and then wash it all down with a Egg Cream soda served right from the fountain.

The Egg Creams were always served in a fancy drinking glass that were throwbacks to drinking glasses from the 1950's.  Every time you sat in Rosie's and had a drink, you always felt like you were going back in time to an earlier period in New York City history.

Rosie's is long gone from East 7th street.  But the art of making a good Egg Cream isn't gone.  The basic ingredients are still milk, seltzer and a good chocolate syrup.  There are various arguments on which ingredients that go in the glass first and which syrup that you should buy.  No matter how good or bad you made that egg cream...unless you have a nice, thick, old style glass to drink it from.

If anyone knows of any other ingredients that can be added to an Egg Cream outside of the ones above...please feel free to share.

My First Knish

My immediate family is from the South.  We are African American.  Our family palate consisted mostly of Southern country style foods, much like you see in some of today's modern Southern restaurant chains.  However, I remember having my first knish down on the Lower East Side, that my mother bought from a street vendor.  Having that knish was the first of many steps that I would take throughout my life in trying out different foods from many different cultures.

I remember that it wasn't even a whole knish.  I had to split the knish with my sister who was older than me. I'm pretty sure that it had a little mustard on it and I remember my mother looking at me, waiting to see if I even liked it.  I did.  The part that I liked the best was the skin in the corners.  It was always nice and chewy.  The bland potato stuff in the middle was only offset by the dabble of mustard.  As time went on, I eventually discovered cheese in placing cheese in a knish.  Definitely much more flavorful and interesting.

The advantage of growing up in downtown New York City was the fact that there were so many Jewish delis in the area, so you were guaranteed a pretty good knish no matter where you went.

But the genius of that whole experience was that my mother engineered that moment.  She was teaching us to try different things and to not be afraid, or confined to any one thing.  As we walked to different places along the streets, my mother was always quick to stop in and get me and my sister to try something different.  Jewish, Spanish, Asian or Caribbean food - anything was possible when it came to my mother making sure that we tried different food from different cultures.  Whether the food was bought from a store or given to us from neighbors - we tried everything.

Food sharing was a great conversation starter.  It drew people together in a conversation no matter where they were standing.  They could have been on a bus, a train, in the hallway of your building, or while shopping at the supermarket.  Of course mostly the women from that generation cooked.  But some of the men from that generation cooked too.  They usually had a specialty...like cooking on Thanksgiving or barbecuing during the 4th of July or Labor Day.

Today's generation don't know their way around a kitchen all that well.  If the food packaging doesn't say microwavable, just add water or heat and serve - these young people are lost.  They get their food starter conversation started - in a restaurant.  It's so much more impersonal at that point.  Because none of their spirit is involved in the process.  The food is being cooked by someone else in the kitchen

What is one of your favorite dishes to prepare for guests or family?  Feel free to write in and share.  :-)

Examples Of Some Of My Own First Life Lessons...In A Pinch

Here are some of my first lessons that I learned at various times when I was a kid.

1. Splinters!
When you had a foreign object stuck in your finger (a splinter for example) and it had to be removed, and you did not have access to alcohol or a hospital.  If all you had was a needle and a lighter...you could burn the tip of the needle to sterilize it and then gently pick away at the foreign object until it was removed.  No way was this minor surgical procedure highly recommended at all times.  But there were times when it was necessary to do.  Lesson learned.  Also I learned to stop picking and playing with dirty old wooden boards.

2. Devils Eggs...
I know this won't be original...but when I was a kid, I use to love eating boiled eggs.  After a while it did get boring to that egg in nothing more than a few sprinkles of salt.  That is until I went to a neighbors house and they introduced me to Devil's eggs.  It was a new and more interesting but simple way to eat a boiled egg.  Simply put...the boiled egg yolk had a splash of mayonnaise added to it.  And in some cases they would even sprinkle some seasonings on that mix of egg yolk and mayo.  Yum, yum!  Never again would I get bored with eating a boiled egg.

What Is NY Generations?

Welcome everyone!

For several months I have been contemplating creating something that represented a long lasting and positive change in everyone's everyday life.  Some of you already know me from my 6 other blogs that I have created here online.  This time - this blog is not just for entertainment.  Although I will try to blend in some entertaining elements where possible, this new blog is for actual positive and constructive interaction between people from across town, across cities, boroughs, states and countries.  My idea for this blog is as simple as this - create an opportunity where people can simply share.  To share knowledge, wisdom and vicarious experiences from one generation to the next.

All of us can remember a moment or two when we sat down with a parent, grandparent, or some other trusted caregiver who shared information with us about cooking or building or creating something from almost nothing.  As we advance forward into this new century and increasing technological world, we need to be able to pass knowledge down from one generation to the next.  That's how I came up with this idea of NY Generations.

I wanted to give us the living, a platform to share things that might NOT be in books or even part of common knowledge.  It might be something we learned from our parents, older friends or grandparents.  It could also be something that we learned as we were going along in life.  Something that was tried and tested by happenstance or good fortune.  Either way...here now is the platform to share what we've learned...with those coming up behind us.

Although I entitled this blog "NY Generations" it is in no way limited to New Yorkers.  I'm starting out with New Yorkers because that's where I live.  But I am more than happy to open the doors to people from all over the world who would like to join in. 

All you have to do is either leave a comment about something you would like to share in the comments section below.  Or you can just leave a brief email, voice mail, or KIK or Skype message.  You can see all of that information on my profile, so just click it. That's right folks, I'm using every possible form of social technology possible to bring us all closer.  That way it will be even easier to share some knowledge...from one generation to the next!