Egg Cream

I have been away for ten days visiting family and friends on the East Coast.  As always, my trips to New York City bring back memories that surface with the simple turn of a street corner.  This particular trip had a purpose, to hear my older son present his senior sermon to his peers and professors.  As I sat there listening, surrounded by my husband, children and family, my future daughter-in-law and my future machatunim, as well as our oldest friends, it felt as if our past, present, and future had all come together for this special moment and I could not have been prouder.  We celebrated the occasion over food and wine, enjoying each other’s company, sharing stories, laughing and crying.

Of course the entire week was filled with food: thin pizza with the crispest of crusts, frankfurters, smothered in warm sauerkraut,  with a skin that burst with your first bite, bagels with a perfect balance of exterior and interior, silky thin slivers of smoked fish, tender artichoke leaves sautéed in olive oil, warm soft knishes that look like billowing pillows, fresh cannoli, black and white cookies and delicious sticky nougat bought from a street vendor in Little Italy.  We dined at Maialino, Darna, Va Bene, Eataly, Fine and Shapiro, Barney Greengrass, Lombardi’s Pizza and Clinton Street Bakery, just to name a few.

I spent one morning walking through the Lower East Side with my youngest son, pointing out some of the places that I remembered going to with my mother.  After taking a wonderful tour of The Tenement Museum we strolled down Houston Street stopping at Yonah Schimmel for a potato knish, and then went on to Russ and Daughters to pick up lunch. We were walking out of the store when I suddenly decided that I had to have an egg cream, my favorite childhood drink.  As I stood there reaching for the soda, I remembered how thrilled I was as a young girl from The Bronx when I had an egg cream, and honestly after a memorable morning on the Lower East Side, it was still just as thrilling.

Mario Battali's Eataly

Inside the Streit's Matzoh Factory

Egg Cream

1/2 cup cold milk

1 cup plain seltzer

3  Tbsp Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup

Pour syrup into a tall glass. Add milk and seltzer to top of glass and stir vigorously with a long spoon. Drink up immediately and enjoy!

Irene