I just moved back to Long Island from Philly. I worked at an Aquarium Supercenter which got its roots from Big Als. I'm dying to find a comparable place in the area. I checked out Total Aquariums in Lynbrook and was disappointed with the size and product stock. The livestock was pretty nice however, a large variety but crammed in a very small space. Parrots of the World in Rockville Centre has a decent selection but their tanks always seem to have some sort of disease process flowing throughout the system. Plus, the kids they have working their don't seem to know much. The manager and the owner of the store are very knowledgeable however... you just have to catch them instead of the kids in the back. So basically I'm looking for a place in Nassau County (or a place in Suffolk that packs with 02 and is worth the gas money). Also, are there any places around here that sell live food such as Black Worms or Brine Shrimp? I haven't found any yet. Thanks a million... My fish thank you too!

I still had lots of food in the house, but DH told me to go ahead and stock up since he'll probably be on the road for 5-6 weeks this time and the immediate future of our para-transit sytem is iffy at best right now due to budget cuts. (We won't know its fate until March 19. On the 22nd, we'll either have it or it's immediately gone.) So, hey, I'm no dummy. I stocked up. Trader Joes - greek yogurt eggs Cheddar cheese bacon almonds frozen haibut frozen green beans frozen mixed veggies frozen mixed peppers frozen naan butter canned diced tomatos quinoa mustard Regular Grocery Store bread Tortillas raisins black beans lentils canned tuna (my lucky day - albacore at .79 a can!) 5# chicken breasts (on sale at .99 a pound!) 2# pork bag of baking potaotes 2 cucumbers 3 onions 2 gree peppers # asparagas quart strawberries 1/2 gal milk canned mixed fruit # bananas # mushrooms garlic limes flour olive oil freezer bags pinto beans # coffee 2 boxes tea bags On the clearance shelf, we found organic pommegranate juice, V8, cherry juice and peanuts for $1.00 eash. The store isn't going to carry them anymore. So we got two each of those. And I had coupons for two free bottles of laundry soap that expire at the end of the month, so I got those now. Total - too much. OTOH, I'm set for another 4-5 weeks except highly perishable items like lettuce or milk. (Althogh I have some canned milk if I really need it.) That doesn't include the things we get for DH to take on the road as I consider his road supplies separate from my grocery budget.

My favorite restaurant supply store find is my measuring scoops. I gave a set to Diana in the my favorite things swap - you can see a picture on that thread. Restaurant supply stores are good for getting substantial stainless steel measuring cups and spoons instead of the wimpy aluminum ones that bend or dent. Or the big thin spatulas that can be used for tasks like lifting a layer of cake after you have split it horizontally to add fillings. In addition to what others have mentioned, they often have the cake pans with straight sides instead of sloped which is nice when making layer cakes. Around here there are two kinds - the ones that sell mainly food with a bit of equipment and the ones that sell mainly equipment - everything from utensils to major appliances. Smart and Final and Cash and Carry are the food kind - they are under the same ownership but Cash and Carry is bigger with more specialized food. For example, our Smart and Final has a few kinds of Torani syrup but the Cash and Carry has the full line plus some other lines of flavoring syrups. The equipment ones aren't all equal either. The area that has Cash and Carry has about 3 of the non-food restaurant supply stores. One carries nicer more varied stuff than the other two. But all have at least the basics like the stainless steel sheet pans, good cooling racks and lots of utensils. All the ones around here are open to the public. You don't have to be a restaurant or have a tax ID. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to thread with picture of the scoops

Corners are always difficult. Blum makes those cool corner drawers like plllog. however, a little wedge of 2 triangles are wasted to the left and right of the drawers, which i could not afford to lose... Magic corner (I think is the name) does not. There are other pullout corner devices that do wastes less time and the contents are pulled out. These do not have folding corner doors that lazy susans have. The problem with lazy susan is that the opening is small to get things in and out of the spot. Lasy susans require that the corners have hinged doors. I did not like these very well in my old kitchen. Currently, I installed pullout type of corner peanuts. This way, I have a place to store oversized things which do not fit into drawers. I have all lower drawers. pullout peanuts: http://69.50.210.69/~ezeedemo/surrealdesigns/wp-content/uploads/image/inolemans.jpg I really wanted the magic corner but my cabinet maker would NOT warrantee the product. It is not their usual thing that they offer because they were not sure that hardware would last if you really load them up! (my cabinets come with lifetime warantee) When I visit Ikea, I always check out their corner hardware, i have seen them "falling" apart at times which tells me that they may not hold up to abuse.... magic corner: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kSKKkpitL._SL500_AA300_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nicefurnishings.com/b/Blinds/Chrome_Blind_Corner_Organizer_Pullout_Unit_for_Kitchen_Base_Blind_Cabinet_B001ROS8Y8.htm&usg=__w4sIT08NPqf5eJ0bt9cGD8I1HYw=&h=300&w=300&sz=24&hl=en&start=28&sig2=HUO18TAhy7fWYey6i3SOYQ&tbnid=F5rxj__9DVsVsM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&ei=GldcTM3DCZCisQPvwPHbDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcorner%2Bpullout%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS337%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1 lazysusan http://www.ajdesigncompany.com/images/kd/lazys2.jpg