The Write Angle: Chocolate Chip Mint, Wet Paint, and Pepperoni Pizza

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Chocolate Chip Mint, Wet Paint, and Pepperoni Pizza

Approximately a half century ago, a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop opened up in my old neighborhood of Kingsbridge. Affectionately known to many of us as “31 Flavors,” it featured such classics as French Vanilla, Rocky Road, and Orange Sherbet. As a youth more inclined to stick with the basics—chocolate or vanilla—I remember liking their Chocolate Chip Mint, now called Mint Chocolate Chip. Baskin-Robbins, I see, is a global concern in the new century, an ice cream giant that lays claim to merchandising the first ever ice cream cake. I liked Baskin-Robbins ice cream all right, but then I liked the now defunct Sealtest brand as well. As a kid my ice cream bar was quite low.

As a sentimental softie, Carvel ice cream—also with a shop in the neighborhood—was my preferred parlor. Through changing times and faces, the neighborhood Baskin-Robbins somehow survived for four decades before closing its doors. Its packaged product can now be purchased in an area Dunkin’ Donuts. Surprisingly, the Carvel location is still operating, but it’s a shadow of its former quality—in my humble opinion—with smaller portions at not-so-small prices.

If the last two years are indicators: February in my neck of the woods is “A Train by Any Other Name Is a Bus” month. Or is it “A Bus by Any Other Name Is a Train” month.

The stores that best manage to adapt and survive changing times and changing neighborhoods are—without question—liquor stores.

"Where do you come from. Where do you go?"

I played many variations of tag as a youth, including my personal favorite: freeze tag. But I am happy to report, I never "tagged" another's property.

In portions of the Bronx—8.7 miles worth—Interstate 87 is the Major Deegan Expressway, an unpleasant thoroughfare and frequently a traffic nightmare. Looking on the bright side, however, it's not the Cross-Bronx Expressway.

If this is what my discarded coffee grinds, orange peels, and soiled paper towels are becoming, organic recycling is well worth the effort. And a sure sign of spring, too.

But I almost forgot: It's still February...

The first order of business is naming the business...

I'm more at ease in close proximity of a train that is a bus than a training bus...

When I'm feeling thirsty, a quencher "created by volcanoes" doesn't typically come to mind...

Through the years, I've encountered many "Wet Paint" signs in subway stations and at subway entrances. Rarely have I resisted the temptation to see for myself if indeed the paint was wet. So far I've come up dry every time.