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Summer Reading: A Whale Of A Tale |
 August...For millions of Americans, it’s a time to head to the beach with a good book. More than 30 years ago, however, author Peter Benchley and a young filmmaker named Steven Spielberg transformed the tranquil “beach experience” by introducing readers and movie-goers to the great white killer shark in Jaws.
But before Jaws, there was another menace of the deep - Moby Dick - that captured the imagination of American readers in the 1800s.
Considered one of the great stories of the sea, Moby-Dick, was written by Herman Melville, one of our great American-born writers. In fact, Melville was born in New York City in August of 1819. He was a grandson of a Boston Tea Party participant, worked as a ship’s cabin boy and then as a harpooner living out his desire for adventure on the open sea. |
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 Has service lost its importance?
Recently, I read an article about service that was written by a restaurant industry expert. He observed that service has lost its importance in today’s society.
He lamented that “The Food Network” has programs about restaurants chefs and food only, but never about service. He mentioned that his friends, family and colleagues constantly talk about the great restaurants they’ve recently visited, but where the service was slow, inadequate, and or just plain poor.
In my 29 years in the restaurant business, I have read dozens of articles on the issue of what is more
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 Restaurants do not create health trends. They are just reacting to customers’ demands. There is definitely a growing demand for healthier food choices in restaurants. Recently, a few restaurant chains started offering meals “under 550 calories.”
In our July newsletter, I wrote about how to make healthy choices in our menu. Following those guidelines will lead to dinners that are low in calories, healthy and tasty.
The following calorie counts for the various dinners include: a tossed salad with fat free dressing, a sweet potato or mashed potatoes with light gravy, and |
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 Born on August 17, 1786, Davy Crockett was killed defending the Alamo. Which of these descriptions does not appear on his tombstone?
Answer: E. Hero
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 “Isn’t it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so we could discover them?” – Orville Wright
One famous American who was born in August was Orville Wright, brother of Wilbur Wright. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, to a family that valued and encouraged their children’s intellectual pursuits, creativity and inventiveness. As a child, Orville was fascinated by mechanics.
As a young adult, Orville became a champion bicyclist which led to him start a bicycle business, |
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 What could be more enjoyable and refreshing on a hot summer day than a large scoop of your favorite flavor ice-cream? Following this luscious taste and cooling sensation, however, you may experience a most unpleasant pain known as brain freeze or ice-cream headache. It even has a 30-letter formal name: sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. (Try pronouncing that one!)
Brain freeze is a sudden pain in your forehead that fortunately lasts only 30 to 60 seconds. This sudden pain is a result of the cold temperature of the ice-cream hitting the palate of your mouth. The quick drop |
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Local History: The Market Street Bridge |
 The Market Street Bridge, as we know it today, connects Kingston and Wilkes-Barre over the Susquehanna River and has survived two major floods since its construction in 1929. The bridge, with its four impressive granite eagles perched on top of the sidewalk archways, was designed by architects Carrere and Hastings in the early 20th century. After years of weathering, the Market Street Bridge was restored to its original beauty in 1986 as a result of extensive cleaning and reconstruction by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. |
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An American Restaurant