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Cait's Plate: Pasta de Pasta - The place to indulge your pasta cravings

photo credit: Cait Malilay Pasta de Pasta, located at 192 1st Ave., is a new restaurant that opened in East Village last June. If you're a pasta lover and you're looking for a reasonably priced dish, then this is the place for you. You can get a fresh in-house pasta for as low as $9.90. I heard about this place on Instagram and I knew I just had to try it for myself. Customers are given the option of their sauce and any additional toppings. If you've seen other posts, what probably caught your attention is that it's only $9.90, but that only goes for the simple Fettuccine Alfredo. It is, however, made in a parmesan wheel cheese.  If you get Fettucine pasta noodles with any other sauce, it will be extra. The restaurant is very inviting and there is a window where you can witness the magic that goes into making it.   photo credit: Cait Malilay I'll be honest, the first time that I went there, the pasta was hot, but the noodles were a little sticky. My second visit was
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Cait's Plate: Conwell Coffee Hall...Can we just toast to this aesthetic toast?

Conwell Coffee Hall, located at 6 Hanover Street, is a coffee shop and eatery in Life and Trust, a performing arts center.  photo credit: Cait Malilay From the moment I walked through the revolving door and up those steps, I was immersed back in time to the 1920s. I was greeted by a large art deco painting. photo credit: Cait Malilay I take a look at the menu and see the typical cafe assortment of coffee and teas, but wait...there's a whole section labeled "TOASTS?" Count me in! Being a California native, of course I'm going to order the avocado toast.  My mom orders the crab toast. Now...the beverage of choice. Since it's afternoon, we decide to go with something light, a cappuccino.  We are given a number and to our left, we see the seating area.  In the back there's leather couches and coffee tables. Spread out are rows of tables, so we see that we are going to be sitting pretty close knit with other groups. When we're trying to find a spot to sit, a ge

New York Times bestselling author Dustin Thao celebrates the release of the paperback version of "You've Reached Sam" with booktuber Jack Edwards

  New York Times bestselling author Dustin Thao (left) celebrates the release of the paperback version of "You've Reached Sam" with his first ever book tour with booktuber Jack Edwards (right).   photo credit: Cait Malilay BROOKLYN, Ny. — New York Times bestselling author Dustin Thao celebrated the release of the paperback version of "You've Reached Sam," on July 2 with a Q+A hosted by booktuber Jack Edwards, at Barnes and Noble, located at 194 Atlantic Ave.  This was Thao's first ever in person book event in the U.S. "It's sort of about getting a second chance to speak with someone you've loved and lost," he said. The 2021 young adult fiction book centers on 17-year-old Julie, whose life falls apart when she loses her best friend and boyfriend Sam. She calls his cell phone one more time just to listen to his voicemail, but to her surprise, he picks up on the other line. When asked about the inspiration behind "You've Reached

Book review of 'CONSENT': A reclamation of one's #MeToo story

photo credit: Cait Malilay ***TRIGGER WARNING:** This book contains descriptions of physical and emotional abuse, and pedophilia.  Consent is a powerful and raw 2020 memoir written by Vanessa Springora. Written 3 years after the launch of the #MeToo Movement, the 285-page novel recounts her experience as a 14-year-old in a relationship with an older man, a well-respected writer, who Springora only refers to as "G." Springora first encountered Gabriel Matzneff, 50, at a dinner party that was full of literary intellectuals.  She writes that her mother, who works in publishing, mistakenly thinks that he is interested in her, but no. Her mother is far from his type. He prefers teenagers and even younger, some as young as eleven. Didn't she know that? After all, that's what his works are all about. He admits his sexual experiences in the writings that are published by the company her mother works for.  "A father, conspicuous only by his absence, who left an unfathomab

Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy (Part I) Review: Knowledge leads to power, but not necessarily justice

photo credit: Cait Malilay "Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure the small piece of land on which they were crowded together, by paving the ground with stones, scraping away every vestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, and filling the air with the smoke of naphtha and coal, still spring was spring, even in the town." - (Tolstoy 5) "Resurrection" was Leo Tolstoy's last written novel published in 1899. Told in the third person perspective, the book centers on a nobleman named Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, whose values are tested when he by chance reconnects with someone from his past, someone he once loved and betrayed. The book's first chapter has strong similarities to that of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" with its opening passages of a prison and society focused on the fate of a fallen woman.  We are introduced to Maslova, also known as "Katusha," who i

ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES: Rockland Love Stories: Max and Niquette

Max Vales (left) sits with his wife, Niquette Vales (right), of 56 years at Ramapo Activity Senior Center. photo credit: Aileen Miller, Manager of Ramapo Senior Activity Center Max and Niquette Vales have been married for 56 years. It's all thanks to her brother. He went to a picnic, where he met the music-loving guy. “That same day when my brother got home, he bought a guitar and tried to play. Then one day, Max stopped by my house,” she said. “They were talking, playing guitar and I passed by to go out and he saw me. I saw him too…and then I left.” From when their eyes first met, he kept returning every day, every afternoon. Read full article here.

ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES: Haverstraw suspects arrested for attempted murder

Three suspects from Haverstraw were arrested on Wednesday for attempted murder, Haverstraw Police officials say. The victim was in the area of 17 West Broad St. on Feb. 3 at 10 p.m. when he was approached and attacked by two men and one teenager, according to Capt. John Gould Jr. Two suspects were identified as Said Diaz, 19, David Ramirez, 18. The other suspect, 17, allegedly drew a knife and attempted to stab the victim multiple times. The victim’s large puffer style jacket weakened the impact, but he still suffered multiple cuts around the torso. His wallet in his pocket also protected him from one of the stabbing attempts. The 17-year-old was arraigned in Rockland County Youth as part of the Superior Court and remanded to Rockland County Correctional Facility, where he was charged with Attempted Murder, Attempted Gang Assault, Menacing and Attempted Assault each in the second degree as well as Assault in the third degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the fourth degree. Dia