We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled (GF) Programming...

to bring you a Brooklyn Moment: Manhattan Special espresso soda, made in Brooklyn since 1895.

Yes, espresso soda. In a beautiful little bottle. Look:

And look at what happens when you pour it:

Creamy goodness.

Is that not a beautiful thing? I'd forgotten how thick and creamy a head it gets, literally just like a Guinness. My gf-self misses Guinness more than pizza, so I had a visceral response to this gorgeousness. I mean, really, who wouldn't:

Look at the head on that thing!

Guinness resemblance aside, this beverage is delicious in its own right. I grew up drinking Manhattan Special, buying it from the corner store now and again. It always struck me as so grown up, the beautiful small bottle and dark thick bittersweet contents. When I was shopping at my local Key Food for pizza ingredients, I passed by a shelf of these and stopped in my tracks. Had to have it, especially at only $1.19 a bottle!

Thing is, I gave up coffee about 2 months ago and this, this is made with serious espresso. They do offer a decaf version, but I was after that childhood memory, so I went for it. As I preheated the oven for pizza, I cracked the bottle open, poured -  and have been jonesing for another one since Saturday! Will probably get the decaf next time, as it is no joke and I was jittery after drinking it. But you, you regular coffee drinker you, I'm sure you can handle it. It is delicious. It will make you happy.

If you can't find it in your area, you can order directly from family-owned Manhattan Special!

Like Meow? (A Non-Gluten-Free Moment)

I was a little late to the computer and internet parties. Sure, I recall learning about this surprisingly un-furry thing called a "mouse" late in grade school, but then there's a gap of about 5 years between that and my next memory of touching a keyboard. What? Oh, high school? Being a terrible typist in general, I hand-wrote papers until the bitter end of it, even though I went to a math and science school, which was heavy on the tech geekery. My grandparents had an old electric typewriter that I fought with; it won. I bribed friends who were good at the QWERTY to type things for me whenever I could. Otherwise, it was paper, pen and bottles of Wite-Out. My first (brief) experience with email involved a primitive DOS form (I think that's what it was called!) with a black screen and a yellow/green blinking cursor. It wasn't exactly a love affair.

I missed the AOL period completely - never IM-ed or "lol"-ed a day in my life. In fact, I didn't engage with email in a meaningful way until the late aughts and resisted Facebook (snarkily, I might add: "I'm in touch with everyone I want to be in touch with and don't want to be found by the others. Meh."). I finally relented in November 2009 and, after eating my words (hello, grade school friends! college roommate! guy I met at a party!), am now a shameless Fb fan.

All of the above is background for how, upon joining the Fb, I was stunned to find how frequently people used "lol" and its kin. I had heard of "lol", understood what it meant, made jokes about it, but... for it to still be in use in 2009 - without a shred of irony? Unthinkable. Depressing as hell. Just WRONG.

This is all background to explain how one in particular, "lmao", really confused the hell out of me. I thought: Is it like "meow"? And if so, why are people making animal noises at each other on Fb? What? Am I supposed to "woof" back?"

Finally, I looked it up and (sigh), yes, lmao at my mistake. 

The End