Chinese food take out

In Boston Chinese food take out is huge especially on the North shore of town. Everyone and I mean everyone as long as I can remember orders Chinese food for New years eve. It is a phenomenon! if you go outside of Boston and tell people this they think you are crazy! but these Chinese joints are making a bundle on this holiday. They actually are so busy during this day that they have special menus that you order from and in some cases you need to place your order a few days in advance.

It's a crazy but tasty tradition that I really love Any other local traditions out there when it comes to food?

Oh Pizza pizza where are you?

OK am I old school or just being picky? but what happened to pizza? I mean when I grew up pizza was made by hard working people usually with there family by there side with names like Vinny, Tony, Frankie and Sal, you get the picture. Pizza was primarily cooked in those big steel double Decker ovens with pizza stones inside unless they had an old coal oven or one of those huge rotating stone ovens that I remember at Santarpio's pizza in East Boston, Ma.. You would watch these guys work the dough, sauce and top the pizza's with such speed and accuracy it was amazing. then the way they slide that pizza pie in the oven and move it around to just the right spot to cook evenly. It really was an art form and I know it is still alive but it is threathen big time now. Recently all I have been seeing pop up all over are those conveyor belt pizza shops. It just ain't right. Take little Caesars Pizza for instance, they are becoming the McDonald's of the pizza world. They actually offer pizza hot and ready and at only 5 bucks a pie people are flocking to them on the week nights for cheap eats. The pizza is awful and it sits under a heat lamp until someone drives up to the drive thru window to pick it up. And they are cooked with zero skill in one of those high tech. conveyor belt ovens, all they care about unfortunately is the cash and not their product. It really takes away from the art of pizza making and the true taste of homemade dough and sauce which varied from pizza shop to pizza shop and from neighborhood to neighborhood back in the day. Look at Pizza Hut the self proclaimed America's favorite pizza, God awful stuff but still they make millions. What's going on in America when big chains with less quality pizza are winning the fight for hard earned consumer dollars and putting Mom and pop pizza shops out of business. What's next? Pasta? oh yeah Pizza Hut is trying to make a play in that market as well. I say forgetabout it! we need to get Tony the pizza maker back and open up a pizza academy to teach all the pizza shop entrepreneurs the real basics of pizza making and the true taste, texture and love that the old timers put into every slice. How hard could it really be to make a great chain pizza when they have all the dollars to back them up? Support your local pizza shop and demand better pizza. Who's your favorite Pizzeria?