All photos by Laine Doss

Delta flight 84 preparing for takeoff.

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, my parents had a strange Sunday afternoon custom.

We'd get all dressed up, go over to JFK airport and hang out for a while in the International Departures Terminal. My parents would pick a fantasy flight..sometimes Barcelona, sometimes Rome, sometimes Tel Aviv. They would talk to people and watch the airplanes, while I sank into some chair slightly mortified. Then we would go back to Canarsie and eat Italian Food at Genovese House or Anna Napoli.

The days of lurking around airport departure gates to kill time have long since gone, but I just rediscovered a lot of childhood memories at Anthony's Runway 84.

I haven't been to Anthony's Runway 84 in a while and, with all the new, shiny restaurants opening on a nearly daily basis, sometimes it's easy to pass over a restaurant that's been around for 30 years or so. But, on this Saturday evening, my husband suggested having a meal at the bar of this plane-centric restaurant.

Anthony's Runway 84 bar is straight out of a Brooklyn movie set -- complete with patrons from central casting. Behold the women with big teased hair, animal print dresses, and extremely large jewels. The men wear button down shirts with cufflinks. Everyone appears to be having a great time, laughing, drinking, and eating Flintstone-sized platters of pasta and sausage.

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Kim Rothstein (left) isn't going to like prison food.

The food Kim Rothstein might get in prison will be far different from what she and Ponzi schemer husband Scott Rothstein enjoyed while living fat off money taken from clients of his law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler.

In early February, she pleaded guilty on a conspiracy charge to commit money laundering. In late 2012, it was revealed that she hid more than $1 million worth of jewelry from the government, including a 12.08-carat diamond ring worth $450,000.

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Hostess

Hostess Twinkies: Childhood snack in danger of extinction.

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For 364 days of the year, Harrison Street in Hollywood is almost eerily quiet, the lone trophy wife jogging down the Royal Palm-lined streets, the occasional Mercedes zooming toward the beach. But Halloween night, this street is crawling. With seven-year-olds. 

Somehow, word got out: this is where the candy is. 

In the olden days, kids went out trick-or-treating wherever the hell they lived. If you lived on a farm, you trekked over to your cousin's house in the suburbs for the night. If you lived in a small town, you came up with two costumes, making the rounds in your first outfit and going back out later in your second. You were happy to get some butterscotch and a couple of chick tracts. (I'm lying; you weren't happy. What kind of psycho terrifies children with these?)   

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telegraph.co.uk

A big of pot calling the kettle black, no?

The British newspaper The Telegraph has a slideshow up today mocking the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, California. The slideshow is titled "Only In America".

As you can probably guess, it features image after image of deep-fried American specialties such as deep fried Oreos, deep-fried Snickers, deep-fried Kool-Aid balls, and even deep-fried corruptions of healthy foods like avocado.

Now, we know that there is a bit of trolling going on here on the part of the Telegraph. There are also plenty of Brits in the comments defending our lardy ways and pointing out that this was a county fair, after all.

But still, what the hell, England? Seriously? You're one to talk. We thought we were in this overweight, first-world nation thing together. We were going to ask you to join Weight Watchers with us and be our diet buddy. Is this about our break-up? Eng, come on, that is so two centuries ago. We both agreed, we're better off as friends.
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Urban Outfitters

Would you want your teen wearing this?

Carrying everything from cheap dorm rugs and lamps in animal prints and neon colors to books on how to play beer pong, it's no secret that Urban Outfitters caters to teens and college students.

Recently, the shop, which has come under fire in the past for selling T-shirts that have been deemed offensive by several ethnic groups, is now being chastised by several groups, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for selling T-shirts that promote drinking, according to an article in Yahoo Shine.

The shirts, available online and at the Urban Outfitters in Palm Beach Gardens (11701 Lake Victoria Gardens), come in different styles and sayings, including I Vote for Vodka; I Vote for Jack, Jim, and Jose; I Drink You're Cute; USA Drinking Team; and our favorite -- Misery Loves Alcohol.

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JasmineJay via Twitter

Prince Harry - topless (and bottomless) in Vegas.

It seems the royal family is a little miffed over Prince Harry's Las Vegas escapades.

The youngest child of Prince Charles and the much-beloved Princess Diana was up to a little mischief in Las Vegas when TMZ posted pictures of his highness butt naked after playing a rousing (and revealing) game of strip billiards with friends and some random chicks in his suite.

We say hip hip cheerio (or whatever Brits say) to the young prince, who clearly knows how to party. 

We're not sure why the royal family is taken aback by Harry's playful antics. After all, no one goes to Las Vegas to spend time in an Ashram, and the British are quite fond of showing off their sausage, or bangers as they're most appropriately nicknamed.

In fact, in honor of Harry and his much-photographed banger, we're providing you with a handy guide to English sausage. It's up to you to provide your own buns.

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Chick-fil-A via Facebook

Chick-fil-A is in the midst of a culture war.

Chick-fil-A, the company best-known for fried-chicken sandwiches, petitioning cows, and Christian values, has been in the news lately.

First, Dan Cathy, son of S. Truett Cathy (who founded the company), was quoted as saying, "We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that" in a July 16 interview with the Baptist Press.

Celebrities ranging from Sarah Palin and the Muppets got involved in the evolving culture war that Chick-fil-A is in the center off -- with Palin on the pro-chick side and the Muppets on the other. (Mike Huckabee is calling on people to support the company by eating at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, August 1).

Then, in an unrelated incident, the company's top PR executive died suddenly a few days ago. Don Perry, who worked for the company for nearly 29 years, was reported as having a fatal heart attack. Before he died, Perry tried to smooth over the tension building by promising to "leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."

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naotakem via Flickr Creative Commons

Sorry, you won't find Robin Leach on your next visit to The Mermaid Bar.

When thinking about Neiman Marcus, a few things come to mind -- tanorexic MILFs, elderly women dripping in diamonds, and that gorgeous, cherry-colored Marc Jacobs bag that I would sell my soul for. Recently, a friend suggested that I join her for a bite to eat at the famed department store's café, The Little Mermaid Bar, a place where the word lunch is used exclusively as a verb. For some reason, the idea of a midday meal at Neiman Marcus, aside from being a bizarre choice, made me uncomfortable.

Some will argue that my discomfort is due to my lack of class, pedigree, or couth -- all of which is true but beside the point. After verifying that the café  served beer and wine, I agreed to go, preparing myself for a pretentious wait staff, uptight atmosphere, and bland, over-priced food. What I found when I arrived was startling.

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Tricia Woolfenden

Tanzy (iPic Entertainment) mixologist Adam Seger sets up shop in the restaurant's herb garden.

Food writers (and the food obsessed) tend to get exasperated with food trends more quickly than the general public. After logging hours tasting, salivating over, and deconstructing the happenings in the culinary world, it's only logical that this segment of the population (and its brethren) would be the first to tire of whatever gastronomic whims are presently enjoying a "moment." Are we being cantankerous spoil sports or is it right to poo-poo any concept that seems to grip the nation in its burger-bar/cupcake/bourbon-bar clutches? There is one trend that I beg anyone to tire of: fresh herbs in everything.

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