Macy's Parade

<<Didn't I drive through Scotch Plains yesterday?
  Not unless you got seriously lost. We're about 15 miles west of any place you might have gone. It's nice here, but it ain't Hoboken.

If I gave him directions back to Tennessee...he'd be in Scotch Plains. I like Scotch Plains.

I think I was seriously lost  off I-78, trying to find a Shell Shation.  Geat trip, but I hope we're not so high-profiled in the future.

With 2000 miles of ground travel and the schedule...you must all be throughly exhausted.

Gas was really expensive up there.  $4.09 on Manhattan,  $2.87  at he neighborhood store in Tennessee .    I like Nashville. Getting from Broadway to Lincoln Tunnel took two hours,

No hot fish here...either. Forget about finding a biscuit.

All in the biscuit protection program.

After the parade, the students all went out to Far Rockaway, to cheer up the far Rockaway victims and rescuers I loved watching the students . The politicians made me wish  I had a jar of "Anti-Monkey-Butt-Itching "powder.
 
Lessons in life"!. You politicians had nothing to do with it.  It was our fine band of giving students that made this happen.

What a fine and giving group they are...

http://www.tennessean.com...01/311220080/1969/NEWS

Oh, I didn't realize you were driving back. Yeah, if you were on I-78 you saw a sign for Sctoch Plains, which is a couple miles south of there.
Surprised gas is only $2.87 a gallon in TN. I always thought NJ and TX battled it out for lowest prices, and it's about $3.40 here.
 
Rule #1 for driving from NJ to Manhattan: Gas Up in NJ.
Rule #2: Don't drive into Manhattan.
 

Amen to Rule #1

They make you pump the gas yourself...over there.

Rule #3. Park the damned truck, and meet CCinNJ for lunch!  Sorry about the lunch-hour crushes to come, but that's the ONLY way I'll ever go back there.!!
 
PP

Amen to that!

We walked the walk Sugar...and Scotch Plains is only like a block west of Fiore's!!

Oh...and you're welcome here...anytime!

Penske is going to hate me.  A jar turned over on the way back, and now the truck smells Pickleliscious!

I don't have any photos, and wouldn't know how to load them if I had.  CCinNJ took our few pics, and perhaps can work them in the narrative.   The hotel concierge  got me onto the light rail system. At the end of the line, all I had to do was wait a while and look completely lost.  CC found me, and we headed for Fiore's.   Hoboken is still doing a lot of heavy cleaning, but coming along fine.
   CC pointed out some sort of tv famous bakery, where people stood in line to take photos.  I never heard of it.
 
I've never been in a place like Fiore's before. I was thinking in terms of Katz's or Carnegie.  This place is very small, I didn't see any seating at all.
 
As I waited in a short line, I heard the daily special was already out, so never did find out whether CC's pom poms carried the day.

I arrived with a big hug...and a smile!

"Welcome to <<<Hoboken>>> Birthplace of Baseball and Frank Sinatra"

"Yes Frank Sinatra. I'm not so sure about Baseball"

But later in the day...Steve saw the light on "Elysian Island"

Elysian Island is a narrow concrete divider with a marker...right in the middle of a busy street of fast traffic.

There he shouts "Oh Oh Baseball Baseball" as if one was headed our way...95 miles an hour.

So I think hit the deck...but the deck is like a NASCAR track.

I didn't think for a second...Roadfood sent you to take care of me.

These Pom poms stop traffic.
I'll post pictures this afternoon.

Maybe slowly...like Roadfood water torture!

CC, did you get a shot of the old man wearing the plaid shirt, who was behind the counter at Giorgio's?  I know you took one of the counter, itself.

You were wearing a plaid shirt?

"Mr. Giorgio"...

http://www.hobokenmuseum..../117-giorgio-castiello

Wearing a plaid shirt...years ago!


Oh...the lady he was waiting on...was so ready to give me a lecture as if I was 8 years old! She was just waiting for me to arrive...with happiness.

I get special sprinkles! I get special sprinkles!

She was waiting for me.

I wish the Pilsener Haus was open during the day.

They have done a spectacular job with the Biergarten...and made a sore thumb of an ugly warehouse into a <<<Hoboken>>> destination.

That would have also provided a brief respite from what can easily be the "Italian overdose"

What is your expert opinion on the beer selections?

http://www.pilsenerhaus.com/

<<<Hoboken>>> The Birthplace of Baseball...
 

 
Meanwhile back at Fiore's...the fresh mozzarella makes a move...
 

 
 
 
 

My Fiore sandwich consisted of roll, salami, mutz, smoked peppers, oil and balsamic vinegar.  Each component did its part, but the bread holding it all together was the difference maker from other sandwiches that week. I carried it around in a bag all evening, and it was still just what it needed to be, when crunch time came. How do they do that?

Lookin' real good!  I had a friend who used to live across from the Elysian Fields median and when she showed it to me I darn near fell to my knees from my excitement!  That sandwich sounds so good, PP.  Great bread is the foundation of any magnificent sandwich.  When Tony Luke's used to have a place on 9th Ave. near 42nd Street, I used to get a Roast Pork with provolone, broccoli rabe and extra "juice" and that bad boy whould hold up on the subway ride home and for the next half hour as I ate it.  Even that last crust of bread, the one with the knobby end, would still be crispy. 

Billyboy...it would be a fun place for a webcam! Welcome...to "Elysian Island" 
 
The bread. Marone! Dom's Bakery Grand is another <<<Hoboken>>>  Roadfood institution...a few short blocks from Fiore's. Magnificent bread...and people. 
 
http://www.esquire.com/bl...ry-grand-review-060110
 

 
One of the many special things about Fiore's is if there was a scent devoted to authentic Italian Deli...the formula would be created at Fiore's. 
 
Fiore's is filled with many luxurious sandwich accessories....
 

 

 
 

 
 
 

Steve...if you bring the Pickle Licious Penske back we can park it Downtown...and go have lunch. There will be a big long bidding line to rent it within a few hours!

That would be brilliant!Ten bucks to rent a place to sit and enjoy your lunch. Free pickles!

A fortune awaits!

Pickle Licious Pickle Licious...we need 5 gallons of pickle juice to spill in Penske. Pronto!

After I returned to Harmon Meadows, I found a place called "Bagels-n-More."  It was decent enough, but after the introduction CC had given me, it didn't really measure.   Next morning, the parents buses dropped us at 72nd & Broadway, right in front of Gray's Papaya.   I loved the dog, with kraut, onions and mustard; hated the drink.

My apologies to the rest of the New York City Metropolitan area Roadfood...for being up at-bat...and clearing the bases...with a home run.

It couldn't happen to a nicer girl.

You get a very nice snappy hot dog at Gray's Papaya. The drinks are an acquired taste. But other than a PATH train ticket to <<<Hoboken>>> for Roadfood it's one of the best deals in town....at that price.

During the visit Steve decided to take on the <<<Hoboken>>> Challenge...
 

 
The challenge consists of...
 
1 - bone-in (aged) Pio Tosini Prosciutto di Parma
1 - 1 lb. fresh mozzarella baseball
1 - gallon of Manhattan Special
 
Could he do it...to finally win me the precious secret zeppole recipe?
 
Stay tuned...
 
* He better do it...because that's like $500 right there...if not.