This or That

[MisterCairo]

Filled - custard/cream (Boston creme my favourite).

No dunk of the donut.


Sprinkles or plain icing?

 

[vitanola]

Plain icing, if I have to choose. No icing at all would be my preference.

Koláče ("Kolacky") or Pączki ("Pawnchki" or "Puunchky")?

 

[Fading Fast]

Okay, so I wanted to get this thread moving again and I had know idea of what the heck those terms were - but after a brief Google search, I'm going for the more doughnut like Puunchky over the more fruit-filled pastry like Kolacky, but I think I'd enjoy both.

Good Humor's Toasted Almond bar or Strawberry Shortcake bar

 

[Trenchfriend]

Second.

Yummy sweet coffee with cheesecake or yummy sweet girl?

 

[vitanola]

Okay, so I wanted to get this thread moving again and I had know idea of what the heck those terms were - but after a brief Google search, I'm going for the more doughnut like Puunchky over the more fruit-filled pastry like Kolacky, but I think I'd enjoy both.

Good Humor's Toasted Almond bar or Strawberry Shortcake bar

You live in the Old Neighborhood, Yorkville, and don't know from Koláče? My! How things have changed. My mother grew up across the street from PS 158, and by great grandparents apartment was over on 73rd and first, back in the says when English was seldom spoken in the neighborhood. Even into the 1990's there were strong remnants of the immigrant culture.

 

[vitanola]

or yummy sweet girl?

With or without cheesecake?

 

[Trenchfriend]

With or without cheesecake?

Without.

 

[Fading Fast]

You live in the Old Neighborhood, Yorkville, and don't know from Koláče? My! How things have changed. My mother grew up across the street from PS 158, and by great grandparents apartment was over on 73rd and first, back in the says when English was seldom spoken in the neighborhood. Even into the 1990's there were strong remnants of the immigrant culture.

In the '70s - I grew up in NJ, but started coming to NYC as a high school kid in the '70s - Yorkville still had a very German feel to it. When in Yorkville, I used to buy a cake for my German neighbor called a Schwartzwalden Kirsch Torte (a Black Forest cake) at a bakery called Cafe Geiger (she was older, and didn't get into NYC anymore, but loved the cake).

While there, I discovered a cake called Beinenstich (Bee Sting cake - sweet dough, caramelized almond exterior, custard filling) that I loved (and buy today the rare times I see it) along with many other German desserts, but I don't remember encountering the pastries you mentioned. It was great fun to walk around Yorktown then and just take in the German atmosphere.

As you noted, some of that atmosphere still existed into the '90s, but now there are only a very few German stores still left (I frequent Glaser bakery and Schaller and Weber [German food store]) - but there is, effectively, no German vibe to the neighborhood anymore.

And now, back to Trenchfriend's "This or That:"
Yummy sweet coffee with cheesecake or yummy sweet girl? (apparently, without cheesecake)

 

[vitanola]

Without.

I would prefer to have my cheesecake and eat it too!

Now, as for radios and phonographs, do you prefer a console:

Or a "Wall-type cabinet"?

S

 

[MisterCairo]

Console.

AM or FM?

 

[2jakes]

FM

 

[Fading Fast]

Definitely the one on the right.

TV on in the background or radio on in the background (when you are doing something that requires 50% of your attention and you want the noise and / or picture to keep you company)?

 

[LizzieMaine]

A radio is always on in my house, for me when I'm there and for my cat when I'm not. I get antsy without it. So does the cat.

Old-time radio or current-time radio?

 

[Fading Fast]

A radio is always on in my house, for me when I'm there and for my cat when I'm not. I get antsy without it. So does the cat.

Old-time radio or current-time radio?

Old, and you can define old as anything from 1970s backwards and maybe even the '80s as it's been the last twenty or so years - in particular, once the internet went mainstream - that even the small amount of soul left in radio was killed. But of course, the Golden Era - which I only know through recordings, books on the era, etc., sounds like heaven (and I know all the crass commercial stuff was there as well, but good stuff too). Heck, NYC is down to one (!) classic music radio station and it had to move to "B" status (smaller broadcast range) several years back just to survive.

Incredible modern hi-fi speakers or the sonorous sound of a well-made 1940s radio with one speaker?

 

[GHT]

Nothing like a bit of old fashion, 1940's crackle coming out of a Bakelite speaker.
Maple syrup or Manuka honey?

 

[Fading Fast]

Manuka Honey - Those bees work so hard, how can't I vote for them.

Apartment of free-standing house?

 

[Trenchfriend]

Rental-flat.

Coffee or grain-coffee?

 

[2jakes]

I would prefer ground coffee.


Color or b&w?

 

[Fading Fast]

One of the great paradoxes for me is that B&W photography and B&W film have more impact and seems more real in that they capture a cleaner image than color, which, logically should be (and I'm sure for many is) a better reflection of reality.

Michael Douglas or Kirk Douglas?

 

[vitanola]

"Incredible modern hi-fi speakers or the sonorous sound of a well-made 1940s radio with one speaker?"

Well made 1930's radio with three speakers:

Actually I prefer an Orthophonic Victrola.

"Michael Douglas or Kirk Douglas?"

Kirk


Small town or big city?