Steel Kaleidoscopes

Ice Cubes

Was there a better chocolate than Ice Cubes as a 12-year-old?

I know when you get older it's more appropriate to nibble Lindt and Godiva, but there was that small capsule in time when Ice Cubes was the guilty pleasure, a chocolate treat that was irresistible as a point-of-purchase snack.

They would stare at you on the counter top as you were buying a Grape Big Buddy and a Yoo-Hoo, gleaming like the golden ticket inside a Willy Wonka bar.

In the early '70s, Ice Cubes cost 2 cents. It was a penny more than a Fireball, but they really did melt in your mouth and that magic square was worth the extra spend.

Heck, a dime bought you five.

Ice Cubes.

Nostalgic chocolate.

This is Nuts

There's a new dining concept called Dinner in the Sky, which recently debuted in Orlando, Fla.

Twenty-two guests are hoisted by a crane 165 feet into the sky and served dinner by a chef and two helpers.

There's even a piano player (top photo) to set the mood.

Not sure how they handle bathroom requests.

Crazy.

Chocolate Cookie

One of the best cookies in the world can be found in upstate New York — at St. Andrew's Cafe at the Culinary Institute of America.

There are chocolate cookies and there are chocolate cookies.

This one blew kisses at me from behind the glass, effectively inciting a dreamlike trance as I reached for my wallet to buy the cookie.

The chocolate cookie was almost as big as my hand, and had the texture of both a brownie and chocolate cake. Biting into it, there was a splurge of chocolate mousse.

Clearly, this could have sufficed for lunch as it was too substantial for dessert.

And I used to think Ring Dings were a treat.

Amazing Meals

This is the time of year to eat good food and drink fine wine.

We're doing it.

Sunday's menu was stone crab with Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon and Zenato Valpolicella .

Monday we had grilled sirloin steak with Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon.

Last night we had prime rib with Montoya Cabernet Sauvignon and Cambria Pinot Noir.

Tonight it's dinner out at Tomato, one of Naple's finest restaurants and a unique wine experience.

And tomorrow night, after hitting the links in 80-degree temps, it's lobster, spaghetti with lobster sauce and Stag's Leap Chardonnay (a white will be a nice change).

And I'll avoid the scale for a while.

Absinthe

Absinthe is back in Boston.

Absinthe has effectively been banned in the United States since 1912, but earlier this year two absinthes made with grand wormwood, Lucid and another called Kubler, were allowed into the U.S. market and they began arriving in Boston bars and liquor stores about a month ago.

Legend has it that absinthe promotes creativity, much like the hollow viral marketing of LSD in the '60s. Writer Ernest Hemingway and artist Vincent Van Gogh were known to indulge in the sticky drink. Currently, actor Johnny Depp and singer Marilyn Manson say they enjoy an occasional sip.

Interesting that absinthe is making a comeback, with several publications describing it as the new martini.

Looks and sounds a little scary for my taste.

I'll stick to a glass of Petite Sirah, thank you.

Who's Paying for this Research?

Nutty stat of the day:

According to a Middlebury College economics professor, women will stand in line for 20 seconds longer than men for a cup of coffee.

The survey was conducted at eight Boston-area coffee shops and 295 transactions were observed.

Odd.

Lunches and Dinners, Post-Thanksgiving

Shredded white meat turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce (x4).

A side of stuffing (x2).

Mashed potatoes and gravy (x2).

Warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream (x4).

The endless meal.

Suezero.com

I actually thought this was a clever marketing scheme by Coca-Cola but it turns out to be a nutty ambulance-chasing lawyer.

Do we really suffer from taste confusion?

Bugaboo Creek's Boo-Boo

When you're a parent, you need restaurants that get your kids excited.

Bugaboo Creek does that for my toddler.

It's too bad poor customer service will put a large window of time between us before we return.

There's a Bugaboo Creek in Framingham, Mass., that has been a treat for us. The food is pretty good but most important, there's a talking moose, wooden ducks that turn their heads and a fish that flips its fins on the wall.

When you're with a 2-year-old, it doesn't get much better than this.

Unless you have no wait service.

After beating the Sunday lunch crowd and getting seated, we look over the menu and make our decisions. Macaroni and cheese for Chloe and the chicken platter for me. I break out the coloring book (if you want to eat in a restaurant with a toddler, an activity bag is essential).

We wait. Chloe talks about the talking moose. We watch the lunch throng come in. A few couples are seated. A large group of a dozen is seated near us, the wait staff scurrying to pull tables together.

We continue to wait.

A waitress approaches the table of 12 and starts taking their orders.

For us, we've now been seated for 15 minutes and haven't even had a waitress glance at our table. When you're with a 2-year-old, it's important to order quickly as every minute could be the difference between lunch as usual or an emotional meltdown.

Finally, I get up and ask a waitress if we can get a waitress. She says she'll check, then disappears.

After a few more minutes, we put the coloring book and crayons away and get up to leave. The waitress comes over and says "Manuel will be right over to take your order."

It's too late.

When I go to a restaurant, I expect good service. I don't appreciate being forgotten. Especially with a 2-year-old.

We leave and head across the street to Papa Gino's, where we're eating our lunch within a few minutes.

There's no talking moose, but at least we're wiping tomato sauce off our chins.

Foster's

So we had some friends over last weekend and they brought a Foster's.

Talk about retro.

The last time I had a can of Foster's I was a teen-ager (the drinking age was 18) and we were getting ready for a Rush concert. I remember liking it because it was a big can of beer, like an oil can.

It's funny how there are still props that can take you right back to the '70s.