Mark and Lynn dig Brad's Raw Chips...

Lynn and I have enjoyed some of the Kate Chips our local health food store has stocked in the last year or so.  They are great, healthy snacks that do a good job of filling us up without piling on the calories and while having the health benefits of an alkaline oriented vegetable.  Recently, Lynn and I have tried Brad's Raw Leafy Kale which we have become partial to because of the variety of flavors and great packaging.  Among our favorites are the "Vampire Killer" (packed with potent garlic that we detected before we opened the package) and "Nasty Hot" (with strong flavors of jalapeno and red bell pepper).

Great stuff from the great state of Pennsylvania (which I think is considered local to Long Island?)

The LIC Market is great and Mark and Lynn have a new favorite waitress...

Lynn and I saw the latest Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom and afterwards were starving; we happened to be less than an hour from Manhattan and as  I had grabbed my Manhattan file and dug out a clipping of great new restaurants in Long Island City we decided to try one of the buzzed about new restaurants in LIC.  Among this group was the LIC Market whose wine bar and seeming French-Canadian style food was of particular interest to us.  So, Lynn and I set
our GPS for 22-52 44th Drive and after negotiating some heavy father's day traffic we found ourselves perched on a bar seat in the charming, compact space of LIC Market.

The warm, attractive staff made us feel completely comfortable right away.  We were particularly charmed by our smashing British waitress Laura who was attentive, engaging and recommended some great French wines from Chemins de Bassac.  My ricotta and pignoli salad was brilliant and nicely flavored with oranges and warm  roasted chicken, Lynn's mozzarella and radicchio sandwich also had a nice addition of roasted chicken.  The food was great and the atmosphere was very cool but what will hurry us back to LIC is the warm and charming Laura who we already miss.

Early summer bounty from Deer Run Farms in Brookhaven, NY