For Great Pizza Pies in West Hartford, Look no Further Than Park Lane Pizza

Updated August 2022

 

                                                                                          

Aahh....A lovely pizza pie from Park Lane Pizza in West Hartford. 

For some people, the crust of a pizza is the most important part of the pie. Other people judge pizzas by the flavor of the sauce, while still others consider the cheese to be a pie's most crucial ingredient.

Through the decades, I've eaten a few completely excellent pizzas, many, many average pies, as well as some downright pathetic and/or perilous pizzas. For more than 40 years, I've been enjoying the great food from Park Lane, and I think their Italian-style food is just as good as the food at higher-priced, upscale eateries.

While I do appreciate the various components of pizza pies, it's the sauce that's most important to my tastebuds. The pleasing Greek-style pizza sauce at Park Lane has been making my tastebuds happy for a long time. Having tried lots of local pizza pies, I still haven't found another sauce as good as Park Lane's

The pizza in the accompanying photo is one that I picked-up at Park Lane recently.  As you can see, this pizzeria still does a "square-cut" on its larger pies.

From its familiar location at the corner of Park Road and South Quaker Lane in West Hartford, the kitchen at Park Lane Pizza regularly produces some of the finest pies you'll find in the local area.

Since the 1970s, I've tried a lot of different foods from Park Lane Pizza, and have rarely been disappointed. The interior and exterior of the pizza restaurant look essentially the same as they did in the 1970s, and each upholstered booth has its own little working jukebox.

It's almost worth visiting Park Lane just to check out the mini jukeboxes at each booth. Because I've only been picking-up to-go orders there since the health pandemic began, I haven't looked closely at the jukeboxes in quite a while. The last I knew, they operated on Quarters, but the price-per-play might have gone up.

Also since the 1970s, I've been fond of little MG automobiles, and one of Park Lane Pizza's owners also owns a forest-green MG convertible, which he's parked in front of the restaurant almost every day, for years.

Seeing that MG up-close on a fairly regular basis, was definitely a factor in my purchasing a Mazda Miata.

Driving a Miata with the top down is the closest I've found to riding a motorcycle. You're only a few inches off the ground. On a regular basis, I still stop to look up-close at the MG when I enter Park Lane Pizza. 

Park Lane serves small, medium and large-sized pizzas, and 15 types of awesome grinders, or subs. These include ham, eggplant, turkey, sausage, tuna fish, pastami and meatball. 

If you're a salad fan, Park Lane has a tossed house salad, Greek salad and Chef salad, as well as chicken and tuna salad plates. There are cheese calzones on the menu, and appetizers such as mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers and Buffalo wings.

The various dinners served at Park Lane Pizza are all expertly prepared and delicious. In addition to staples such as pasta with meatballs, Park Lane serves manicotti, lasgna, chicken Parmigiana,  meatballs & peppers and sausage & peppers. Dinner portions are large, and prices are competitive.

 

Thank you, Prospect Foreign Car Service in West Hartford.

One of the first things I did after purchasing my 2004 Mazda Miata several years ago was to contact AAA about obtaining member coverage. The membership benefit that I was most interested in obtaining is the car battery service that they offer.

The Miata currently has a dead battery, and that's been the case every winter since I've owned it. It has never seen snow, and I'm paying for a garage and AAA service. If AAA was really a proactive, customer-oriented company, maybe they could figure out a way to stock batteries for early-2000s Miatas. There are still plenty of them out there. '

A few years ago, AAA came out to jump-start the Miata for Spring, and the driver/technician reminded me that the battery was pretty much in need of replacement. Shortly thereafter, I had a new battery put in by the local Mazda dealer.

 It so happened that the Miata was due for the required, recurring emissions testing. Off I went to Prospect Foreign Auto Repair to see if they could do the testing. When I talked to the friendly and knowlegeable owner, Franco, he informed me that I would have to put approximately 100 miles on the car before it would be ready to go through emissione testing.

Thank God, the Miata passed emissions. After having a new battery installed, the car's computer ? had to be reset by driving it for roughly 100 miles. If the computer does not reset, the vehicle probably won't pass emissions.

 Now, in 2022, the battery that was replaced a few years ago also had to be replaced. Right away, I called Prospect Foreign Auto, and they were very helpful. Even though it can be hard to find a battery for that year Miata, they said they could get it "no problem." I was given a good estimate for the total cost of the job, and was asked when it would be convenient for me to have the work done.

There are Basements and Garages Filled With Toilet Paper Across the U.S.A.

Updated in September 2022

With its reputation of being the land of abundance, and having what's been assumed to be a vast supply chain, the United States should not be experiencing shortages of toilet paper and paper towels.

Even if paper good manufacturers may be operating with smaller workforces due to the horrible COVID 19 virus, it seems likely that the U.S. government would have the resources to produce and/or obtain massive amounts of tissue paper.

When I was shopping at Big Y supermarket in West Hartford recently, a middle-aged man sailed past me with a shopping cart filled entirely with rolls of toilet paper. The limited selection of paper that was  in-stock consisted of only multi-packs of 12 rolls or more.

With the hoarder's mentality that's been displayed throughout America during this health crisis, I can't help but think that there are basements, garages, closets and attics everywhere filled with packages of toilet paper.

In a 2020 article from the North Carolina State University College of Natural Resources News, there is data from Georgia-Pacific that reveals that the typical American household utilizes more than 400 rolls of toilet paper every year.

At the time, Georgia-Pacific estimated that with many more people working at home,the use of toilet paper would increase by approximately 40 percent.

There are plenty of references to people hoarding large amounts of toilet paper, all over the Internet. On Twitter, there are tons of tweets devoted to toilet paper-hoarding, and some are pretty amusing.

One woman who works in a grocery store tweeted about a woman customer who yelled at her because the store was sold out of toilet paper. The customer, she says, accused her of hoarding all of the paper for herself, in the store's back room.

A man on Twitter called his huge stockpile of toilet paper a form of insurance, and another referred to a neighbor who has 500 rolls of toilet paper in his garage.

According to the BBC News, a 2020 armed robbery in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong involved the theft of 600 rolls of toilet paper. In that robbery, three men armed with knives threatened a delivery person, then they took the 600 toilet paper rolls, with an estimated value of more than $130 U.S. dollars.

On the amazon.com website, I recently discovered a 1,000-piece toilet paper-hoarding, jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle measures 27"x 19," and the puzzle image is of at least a dozen rolls of TP assembled close-together. With a listed price of $19.99 on Amazon, this fun puzzle would be a great gift for any hoarder in your life.

Supermarkets and pharmacies everywhere are now offering consumers another paper option. The introduction of bamboo toilet paper to American retailers is helping to offset the huge demand on traditional toilet paper supplies.

B.B. King & U2 - When Love Comes To Town - CLIP

In April 1989, when it was announced that Irish rock band U2 was recording a new song with legendary blues artist B.B. King, many people, myself included, were surprised.

 Although both U2 and B.B. King were already highly accomplished in the rock and blues fields, respectively, the pairing of the two acts at first seemed somewhat incongruous to lots of music fans.

Powerful, moving, melodic and joyous are just some of the words I can use to describe "When Love Comes to Town." With a pounding backbeat, driving bass line and top-rate vocals, this song is definitely my favorite U2 song.

Through the years, B.B. King has collaborated many of the rock music world's most well-known artists. In 1971, the B.B. King in London album was released. On that album, he worked with Ringo Starr, Steve Marriott, Alexis Korner and lots of other prominent musicians.

In 2005, the B.B. King & Friends: 80 album was released. The album features collaborations with a large number of popular musicians from a host of genres. 

Take a listen to the phenomenal rendition of "Rock This House" that B.B. King recorded with Elton John and his band in Las Vegas. B.B.'s energetic vocals and precision guitar-playing are well-matched by Elton John's high-energy, rocked-out piano-playing. 

When B.B. King and Joe Cocker teamed-up on a song named "Dangerous Mood," the result is a rowdy and energetic, yet sophisticatedly-written blues song. Mr. King and Eric Clapton perform a blazing rendition of "The Thrill is Gone" on the "80" album, and the version of "There Must be a Better World Somewhere" that B.B. and Gloria Estefan perform is soulful, sultry and outstanding.  

Wayne's World?

For several years now, I've been purchasing and eating different varieties of Utz potato chips. On a fairly regular basis, Utz introduces new varieties of chips. A couple of weeks ago, I acquired these two new styles of Utz chips at a store in Hartford, but I haven't seen them anywhere since then.

The Smokin' Sweet chips have a great flavor, but their kettle texture makes them very hard and crispy.

The fried dill pickle potato chips are not bad, but definitely unusual. I'll bet they would make a good combination with tuna salad sandwiches. These chips make me think of "Wayne's World," and someone baked with the munchies eating a whole bag at a time. Having seen WW numerous times, the fried dill pickle chips seem like a product that Wayne and Garth would embrace.

For Consistently Outstanding Donuts, the Bakery at Big Y, Bishops Corner-West Hartford is the place to go.

Do you ever become bored with the same old, unidentifiable-fruit jelly that inhabits your jelly donuts?

Last night, I acquired three donut specimens from Big Y at Bishops Corner. Their lemon-filled, and apple-filled powdered sugar, JELLY DONUTS were as mellowly-sweet as ever, and the chocolate frosted,/multi-colored shot variety was, like always, highly satisfying.

Here is a delicious, apple JELLY DONUT from Big Y, Bishops Corner, West Hartford. These ample orbs are lightly dusted with confectioner's sugar, and stuffed with a not-too-sweet apple filling.

For several decades now, I've been trying donuts from different spots across Connecticut, and the ones served at Big Y are consistently the best I've found.

As opposed to other major supermarket chains who sell only pre-made donuts, at Big Y, the donuts are made fresh every day. In addition to their wonderful donuts, Big Y also regularly The bakery at the Bishops Corner Big Y is, in my opinion, one of the best bakeries in the local area. If they don't have exactly what you're looking for on hand, there's a good chance they'll custom-make it for you.

A special, free-standing donut and muffin case with see-through windows is in place close to the bakery counter. Normally, there are glazed and chocolate frosted donuts in the case, as well as mixed berry, apple and lemon-filled donuts. Sometimes, Big Y has their delicious blueberry jelly donuts in-stock, as well as old-fashioned and cinnamon-sugar varieties.

An ample supply of cellophane paper pieces are on hand, for grabbing the donuts you want out of the case. Another excellent feature is the self-serve supply of waxed paper bags for holding the donuts and  muffins.

Also, a thumbs-up to the Bishops Corner Big Y bakery for the jelly donut that I got there recently. The donut  contained a lightly-sweet jelly that looked like a hybrid of blueberry and blackberry. The flavor of the jelly donut, though, tasted like an combination of blackberry and apple.

Even though the donuts at Big Y are larger, better-tasting and less-greasy than those served at a famous donut chain, but they're also less-expensive. Go figure. 

 

While I'm unsure of the regular price of Big Y's donuts, the price on my receipt read $0.99c each. Whether you have a casual relationship with donuts, or you're a real afficianado of the sweet treats, the incredible fresh donuts from Big Y in-store bakeries are worth making a special trip for.  

Hubba Hubba.

What a Relief

Updated in August 2022

This is a three-foot by two-foot, wood and plaster of Paris 'Relief'' that adorns the lobby of my landlord's office. Previously, it was all white, and in the newer photo, it is still in the under-painting phase. Unfortunately, I don't know who originally constructed the relief, nor how old it is, but it sure is interesting and lots of fun to paint. Altogether, I'll probably spend about a month working on it, when I'm not working on other jobs.

Well, the painting of the plaster of Paris relief took approximately seven and a-half weeks to complete. The project involved a lot of under-painting, and I've learned about some of the intricacies involved with painting three-dimensional objects.

The relief was painted on my apartment floor, with big plastic tarps spread underneath and around it. As seen in the above photo, more than 20 tubes of paints were hanging-out on a tarp on my floor for weeks.