Food on the Beach: Not just lobster rolls

Head east on July 16th for the first annual Dan's Taste of Two Forks. Over 40 restaurants from the Hamptons and the North Fork, plus over a dozen local wineries and food purveyors, will all be at Sayre Park, Bridgehampton.

Marcus Sammuelsson (Red Rooster Harlem) hosts and Good Day NY co-anchor Rosanna Scotto )whose family owns FRESCO by Scotto is Master of Ceremonies.

Babette's serves both meat and plenty of vegetarian and vegan options at its East Hampton restaurant, so check it out for vegetarian tastes. Southfork Kitchen specializes in sustainable seafood restaurant and local produce; it even has its own garden. One of the North Fork restaurants, Noah’s, serves lobster rolls and small plates.

It won’t all be healthy eating; newlywed Dylan Lauren will have a Dylan's Candy Bar table.

The event benefits East End food pantries through Have a Heart Community Trust. Buy tickets online.

Airline Passengers: family travel complaints

I am sometimes known as a complainer, but I only complain when I think it is warranted.

When my daughter flew home from Israel with her Hebrew school class, they were not allowed to bring water on the plane (i.e, fill their water bottles after security). But the overworked flight attendants either ignored a the group of teens or figured they didn’t deserve good service. My daughter literally had nothing to drink on the LOOONG flight to JFK and arrived thoroughly dehydrated.

hen I complained to Delta, they stepped up to the plate. Not only did they offer me $100 credit, but they extended this to everyone in her group.

My point is that if you speak up, you can often get results.

That is why taking the Airline Passenger Experience Association survey is a good idea. How can airlines improve their service if they don’t know you are unhappy in the first place? The survey cover travel experience, from check-in and food, to in-flight entertainment and cabin ambiance.

And if you go over to TravelingMom and take the survey through their link, you are entered to win an iPad2!

Ordering Dinner in NYC

Even with central air, it is often just too hot to cook in summer in NYC. I make a lot of salads, and just recreated a sushi sandwich, based on one from ‘snice.

If we still want to eat in our garden, we resort to take out.
Allmenus.com allows us to clean out our drawers and throw away all those battered menus. The site has dozens of restaurants in my area, with menus, reviews and specials – a free soup or extra discount.

And if you follow allmenus on twitter (@allmenus) you can score extra discounts.
Allmenus has thousands of restaurants in over 200 cities, so it is also a great resource when you are traveling and can't find a restaurant.

For locals if you comment below, you can win a $20 gift certificate from Signpost, good for any Allmenus NYC restaurant.

Sushi sandwich (for one):
¼ avocado
3-4 strips spicy nori (I used Annie Chun’s)
3-4 slices firm tofu
1 multigrain wrap
Spread wrap with avocado. Lay nori on top, then tofu. Roll, slice in half and eat.
You can add sliced cucumber, pickled ginger and more wasabi.