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That’s less than the nearly $34,000 the three spent in 2007.

"In 2008, there was a lot of things cut from the budget in every department, and the county executive is no exception," said Tolchin, now the deputy county executive following Schwartz’s move to the governor’s office. "Everything was looked at and everything was eliminated. We continue to do that this year."

All told, Tolchin said, the County Executive’s Office slashed $13 million in 2008, which included some travel, meals and other expenses.

"We go over the budget. We look for savings everywhere," she said.

The records were obtained through the state Freedom of Information Law and are part of a continuing review of county spending.

Spano used a county-issued American Express card in 2008 for travel, meals and hotel stays to the tune of $7,447.75, or roughly $3,000 less than in the year before.

Spano’s Business Gold Card expenses included hotel stays in Albany; Washington; Little Rock, Ark.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Niagara Falls as well as meals at Skytop Restaurant in White Plains, Black Angus in New York City and other restaurants during his travels.

The largest single charge was a $1,050 expense to ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, a California-based membership association of local governments looking to advance climate protection and sustainable development. Spano and two staff members went to New Mexico for a conference.

That was followed by a $700 registration fee for Spano and three staff members to attend a conference of the New York State Association of Counties.

Gasoline for Spano, Tolchin and Schwartz nearly matched credit-card expenses - records show they pumped $7,201 worth of gas. Spano filled his county-issued 2003 Lincoln Town Car with $3,200 of unleaded petrol, 1,208 gallons, and spent $655 on an E-ZPass for tolls.

His Republican challenger, Robert Astorino, said the expenses show Spano to be out of touch with the public.

"There’s a sense of entitlement that has creeped in over the years,"Astorino said. "I believe those costs could have been pared down."

In particular, Astorino challenged any need for Spano’s security detail.

"I don’t see a need for it. I’ve never seen a need for it," he said. "It’s a waste of money."

Tolchin said Spano’s security officers did not travel with him anywhere that required air travel, though they typically do go with him to Albany or Washington.

She said Astorino’s views were "more political rhetoric" than substantive.

"Andy Spano serves the people of Westchester County," she said. "Obviously, he has been doing a good job since he has been overwhelmingly re-elected in the past three elections."

Earlier records obtained by The Journal News included cell-phone and fuel costs, credit-card expenses and records of reimbursed expenses, which included travel costs. The more recent records include cell-phone, fuel and credit-card expenses, but not records of reimbursed costs. Tolchin said the 2008 records provided are all of Spano’s taxpayer-funded costs last year.

This review comes shortly after another one by the newspaper showed that the Westchester County Board of Legislators spent more than $41,000 on cell phones, food and travel in 2008, or about $11,000 more than it spent in 2007.

In all, taxpayers were billed for $20,929 in travel expenses in 2008, including for legislators to attend conferences in Arizona; Kansas City, Mo.; Niagara Falls; Albany; Washington; and elsewhere.

A good-government group criticized that trend, saying leaders should be setting an example by doing more "belt-tightening."

Past analysis of county board expenses revealed that Gary Kriss, a senior adviser to legislature Chairman William Ryan, spent thousands on gadgets, software and other purchases, which kicked off an investigation by the District Attorney’s Office.

Although no charges were levied over Kriss’ spending, he was charged with theft of service for using a county employee to conduct personal business.

Like many Americans, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano isn’t using his plastic as often - he cut his taxpayer-funded credit-card expenses by thousands last year.

The county executive and members of his office - then Deputy County Executive Larry Schwartz and chief adviser Susan Tolchin - spent $18,569.67 on county-issued credit-card purchases, cell phones and gas bills in 2008.

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When mortgage rates dropped to the lowest levels in almost a year, Warren Zeger seized the opportunity to slash $720 off his monthly mortgage payment by refinancing his home in Potomac, Md.

Just don’t expect him to spend the savings.

“I’d love to tell you I’m going to spend it to help prop up the economy, but we’ve tightened our belts,” said Zeger, 61, a retired attorney. “I plan on holding on to it.”

Zeger echoed homeowners The Associated Press interviewed nationwide who have taken advantage of lower rates since Nov. 25th. They planned to stuff the money they saved under the mattress or pay off bills. Refiinance activity has surged as interest rates tumbled about 1 percentage point to around 5.5 percent in response to the Federal Reserve’s plan to scoop up $600 billion of mortgage-related securities.

“We’ve had a lot homeowners waiting for some time” for this drop in rates, said Ritch Workman, co-owner of Workman Mortgage in Melbourne, Fla.

The Fed’s move was the latest in an unprecedented series of actions to help stabilize the housing and credit markets as well as the broader economy. However, pushing down mortgage rates may only have a muted effect on the economy. That’s because more than a quarter of homeowners with a mortgage can’t qualify for a new loan, and many who can are so financially stretched that little of the money they save will end up in store cash registers.

“If you’re worried about making it month to month and your mortgage is your biggest payment you’re not going out to buy a car and a lot of Christmas gifts,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication in Bethesda, Md.

Stuart Cassell in Sarasota, Fla., is putting his $80 monthly refinanse savings into his nest egg, while product development manager Subash Ramnani in Chicago is using the extra $300 a month from his refinancing to pay for graduate school. Jennifer Burke and her husband in Bel Air, Md., are saving the additional $240 a month as they wait out the recession and raise a one-year-old daughter.

Marcus Leef’s $150 monthly savings is going to daycare costs and personal savings. Leef, a consultant in Hartford County, Conn., has seen his stock portfolio plummet 40 percent, his retirement savings plunge by half and his corporate stock tumble by 60 percent this year. He’s not optimistic.

“My view is the economy is in the toilet. It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “If rates drop another point tomorrow, I’ll (refinance) again the day after.”

Those are the luckiest homeowners. Les Berman, a mortgage broker in Encino, Calif., said most borrowers contacting him have interest-only mortgages and they want to lock into a fixed-rate loan. They’re not saving any money each month if they do that; instead, they’re taking higher payments to get out of riskier loans.

“They want that security. They want to protect themselves against the future,” he said, even if it means shelling out more each month.

Other borrowers, like Eric Dudek in Grand Rapids, Mich., are waiting to see if rates drop further after hearing reports that the government is considering a proposal to lower the rate on 30-year home loans to 4.5 percent by buying more mortgage-backed securities.

“I’m thinking maybe I should hold off, you know?” said Dudek, who would use the savings from a refinancing to pay off student loans.

But he could be waiting in vain because the plan is only expected to apply to purchase loans, not refinance loans. Either way, most borrowers will need more than just lower interest rates to solve their problems.

Brokers are turning away thousands of borrowers because they just won’t qualify for a refinancing. Pava Leyrer, president of Heritage National Mortgage in Michigan, said about 40 percent of the homeowners calling her likely won’t get a refinance because of falling home values, credit issues and job loss.

Likewise, Brad Cohen, vice president of Mason Dixon Funding in Rockville, Md., said as many as two-thirds of borrowers he’s talked to don’t qualify because they owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth.

An estimated 12 million U.S. homeowners are in that situation and declining home prices only exacerbate their situations. Low interest rates won’t be enough and if they fall into default or foreclosure, that will only make the current financial crisis worse.

“There’s no plan in place to help them right now,” Cohen said.

AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

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Three banks, two in California and one in Georgia, were seized by regulators, bringing this year’s tally of closings to nine as a recession and record foreclosures extend the biggest financial crisis in more than 70 years.

County Bank of Merced, California, with deposits of $1.3 billion and assets of $1.7 billion, was shut yesterday by the state’s Department of Financial Institutions, according to an e-mailed statement from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Westamerica Bancorporation, holding company for Westamerica Bank, acquired all the assets and deposits.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed McDonough-based FirstBank Financial Services, which had $337 million in assets and $279 million in deposits as of December 31, the FDIC said in a statement. The California Department of Financial Institutions shut Culver City-based Alliance Bank, with assets of $1.14 billion and $951 million in deposits.

The FDIC was named receiver of the institutions, which will resume business as branches of the acquiring banks. Regulators seized six banks in January, the largest monthly toll since 1993, including Salt Lake City-based MagnetBank, which the FDIC closed January 30 after being unable to find a buyer. The FDIC shuttered 25 banks last year, matching the total for 2001 through 2007.

The FDIC, other US bank regulators and Congress are taking steps to help banks avoid losses as the administration of President Barack Obama readies a stimulus package that may include guarantees for toxic assets, according to people familiar with the plan.

Insurance legislation

Legislation that would more than double deposit insurance coverage and offer safeguards for banks is being considered by Congress. The House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved a measure that would raise coverage to $250,000 per depositor per bank, from $100,000.

Congress also may extend the FDIC’s line of credit with the Treasury to $100 billion from $30 billion to replenish the deposit fund. The FDIC said bank failures through 2013 may cost the fund more than the $40 billion estimated in October.

“We do expect there to be more stress on banks, which could result in an increase in commercial bank failures,” said Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan in an earlier interview. A deepening recession that adds stress may lead to “significantly more losses,” said Dugan, regulator of national banks.

The FDIC on December 16 doubled premiums it charges banks to replenish its reserves, which totaled $34.6 billion as of the third quarter. The Washington-based agency oversees 8,384 institutions with $13.6 trillion in assets.

Price tag

The latest bank failures will cost the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund a combined $452 million. The fund is supported by fees on insured banks.

Westamerica, based in San Rafael, California, acquired 39 County Bank branches. The branches with Saturday hours will open as Westamerica offices today, and the rest will open Monday as usual. Westamerica shares have declined less than 1 per cent in the past 12 months, to $48.52, as the 24-company KBW Bank Index has plummeted by almost two-thirds.

By Thomas Lindstrøm

A credit card is a form of borrowing that often involves charges. Credit terms and conditions affect your overall cost.

So it’s wise to compare terms and fees before you agree to open a credit or charge card account. The following are some important terms to consider that generally must be disclosed in credit card applications or in solicitations that require no application. You also may want to ask about these terms when you’re shopping for a card.

If you don’t understand the language, credit card offers and statements could lead you to deep debt — or at least furious frustration. For the big scoop on the fine print, here’s what these frequently used credit card terms mean.

1.Average daily balance — This is the method by which most credit cards calculate your payment due. An average daily balance is determined by adding each day’s balance and then dividing that total by the number of days in a billing cycle. The average daily balance is then multiplied by a card’s monthly periodic rate, which is calculated by dividing the annual percentage rate by 12. A card with an annual rate of 18 percent would have a monthly periodic rate of 1.5 percent. If that card had a $500 average daily balance it would yield a monthly finance charge of $7.50.

2.APR(Annual percentage rate) — A yearly rate of interest that includes fees and costs paid to acquire the loan. Lenders are required by law to disclose the APR. The rate is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan, so borrowers can compare loans.

3.Balance transfer — The process of moving an unpaid credit card debt from one issuer to another. Card issuers sometimes offer teaser rates to encourage balance transfers coming in and balance-transfer fees to discourage them from going out.

4.Cash-advance fee — A charge by the bank for using credit cards to obtain cash. This fee can be stated in terms of a flat per-transaction fee or a percentage of the amount of the cash advance. For example, the fee may be expressed as follows: “2%/$10″. This means that the cash advance fee will be the greater of 2 percent of the cash advance amount or $10.

The banks may limit the amount that can be charged to a specific dollar amount. Depending on the bank issuing the card, the cash advance fee may be deducted directly from the cash advance at the time the money is received or it may be posted to your bill as of the day you received the advance. The cost of a cash advance is also higher because there generally is no grace period. Interest accrues from the moment the money is withdrawn.

5.Card holder agreement — The written statement that gives the terms and conditions of a credit card account. The cardholder agreement is required by Federal Reserve regulations. It must include the Annual Percentage Rate, the monthly minimum payment formula, annual fee if applicable, and the cardholder’s rights in billing disputes. Changes in the cardholder agreement may be made, with written advance notice, at any time by the issuer. Rules for imposing changes vary from state to state, but the rules that apply are those of the home state of the issuing bank, not the home state of the cardholder.

6.Finance charge — The charge for using a credit card, comprised of interest costs and other fees.

7.Floor — The minimum rate possible on a variable-rate loan or line of credit, after any initial introductory rate period. For example, on a credit card with the Prime rate as its index, no matter how low the Prime rate drops, the rate on the line may never decrease below the stated rate floor.

8.Free Period — Also called a “grace period,” a free period lets you avoid finance charges by paying your balance in full before the due date. Knowing whether a card gives you a free period is especially important if you plan to pay your account in full each month. Without a free period, the card issuer may impose a finance charge from the date you use your card or from the date each transaction is posted to your account. If your card includes a free period, the issuer must mail your bill at least 14 days before the due date so you’ll have enough time to pay.

9.Minimum payment — The minimum amount a cardholder can pay to keep the account from going into default. Some card issuers will set a high minimum if they are uncertain of the cardholder’s ability to pay. Most card issuers require a minimum payment of two percent of the outstanding balance.

10.Over-the-limit fee — A fee charged for exceeding the credit limit on the card.

11.Periodic rate — The interest rate described in relation to a specific amount of time. The monthly periodic rate, for example, is the cost of credit per month; the daily periodic rate is the cost of credit per day.

12.Pre-approved — A credit card offer with “pre-approved” only means that a potential customer has passed a preliminary credit-information screening. A credit card company can spurn the customers it invited with “pre-approved” junk mail if it doesn’t like the applicant’s credit rating.

13.Secured card — A credit card that a cardholder secures with a savings deposit to ensure payment of the outstanding balance if the cardholder defaults on payments. It is used by people new to credit, or people trying to rebuild their poor credit ratings.

14.Teaser rate — Often called the introductory rate, it is the below-market interest rate offered to entice customers to switch credit cards or lenders.

15.Variable interest rate — Percentage that a borrower pays for the use of money, and which moves up or down periodically based on changes in other interest rates.

I hope this terms will help you out a little when choosing your next credit card.

Originally posted article: 15 important credit card terms to consider before buying a credit card!!

Permanent link to this post: http://blog.yourfinancelink.com/2009/01/15-important-credit-card-terms-to-consider-before-buying-a-credit-card-2/

There are several abundant types of travel insurance that you can choose when you are looking to protect your travel investment. Two of the most well known travel cover companies are Access America and Travelsafe Travel Insurance. If you are planning on traveling in the United States or wide, it is a good idea to get travel insurance to cover the cost of your trip in case something goes wrong.

Both Access America and Travelsafe Traverse Insurance offer travel insurance for someone who is traveling in a variety of different methods - by air, sea or train. Access America is more geared towards domestic traverse, although it is also used by those who are traveling out of the country. Many of the people who get Access America travel are getting it because they are going on a cruise.

Cruising along with Access America and Travelsafe Associate

Cruises are the number one reason why people get travel insurance. Cruises are subject to many mishaps, specially when due to the weather. One of the best aspects about choosing Access America as your travel insurance is that they will insure a cruise. There are exclusions when it comes to insuring the sail during hurricane season, but you can still get some type of insurance. This means that if your cruise is cancelled due to a hurricane or other act of nature, you can recoup some of your paper money.

Medical Coverage with Access America and Travelsafe Travel

Travelsafe Travel Security is a good option when you are leaving the country and are worried about medical coverage. Medical coverage is something that many people are vexed about when they visit another country that may have foods that are different than what they are used to in the United States.

Many people who are older also nettle about medical coverage when they are out of the country. By getting a policy with Travelsafe Travel Insurance, these worries are alleviated. You can get the coverage that you necessary when you choose Travelsafe and chose one of their package deals.

Looking for Package Deals?

Both Travelsafe Voyages Insurance and Access America offer package deals for travel that you can get for yourself by going online. Both of these insurance companies also pick up travel agents when it comes to selling the travel insurance. You can get the travel insurance through the agency itself when you are booking your own stumble, or you can purchase the travel insurance when you book a trip through a travel agency.

If you are looking for a good grapple with on cruise travel insurance, you may want to take a look at the packages that are available through Access America. They have reasonable sail insurance packages that will even cover acts of nature.

C I Host, a Cassiopeia Internet, Inc. brand, has announced the acquisition of its shared web hosting interests by X7 Hosting. The move allows C I Host to increase focus on core services while ensuring benefit to all customers.

C I Host will be able to further define a diverse service portfolio geared to Dedicated Server and Colocation customers and enhance existing services.

Chris Faulkner, CEO of C I Host says, “We believe that focus and specialization is a key factor for success in the hosting marketplace. Over the years, our company’s growth and operational expertise has allowed us to target mid- and large-market services and this move enables us to further specialize in these segments.”

C I Host plans to refine client services across the board. In the works are the introduction of dedicated sales and support teams to better meet the needs of customers and a host of other upgrades. C I Host’s multiple data center locations will prove a strong asset with new offerings including geographical load balancing, clustering, and other services that require geographical fault tolerance.

C I Host has been offering dedicated servers since 1999 and colocation services since 2000. The additional asset of their team’s expertise and years of experience will allow new offerings such as managed colocation services in addition to a range of dedicated server solutions.

Erin Bullock, Executive Director of Business Development remarks, “It has always been our goal to provide a superior service experience for all our clients. X7 Hosting has some great new features to offer our shared hosting customers, and focusing our service catalog exclusively on dedicated server and colocation customer needs will allow us to better serve our customers.”

The company continues to invest in research and development.

About C I Host

C I Host ( www.cihost.com ), based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, is a Web hosting, domain name registrar (DNR), and colocation service provider, operating for more than 11 years. C I Host creates business-class Web hosting solutions for the enterprise market, with the broadest portfolio of managed hosting and value-added services in the industry. C I Host is accredited by ICANN to register domain names. C I Host operates multiple data centers across the United States, with its main facility and Network Operations Center in Bedford, Texas.

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When I was just starting 6th grade I got my first job. Paperboy! Boy, was I excited. At that time I had spent a lot of time actually playing the video game Paperboy, so I knew I had what it took to get the job done. But, its just not that easy.

The StarTribune doesn’t just hand out the responsibility of informing their community’s citizenry on a daily basis to just any fool that says they’d like a shot at paper delivery greatness. Nope, I had to interview for this job. And I tell you, I was magnificent, so much so that, as you know, I got the position. Upon completion of the interview the gentleman that was to give me my first opportunity at financial freedom stood up from my dining room table, walked to the front door and with a smile and a handshake, was off into the darkness.

Moments later, I noticed that the kindly gentleman had accidentally left his pen. It was beautiful, embossed with the StarTribune logo and all. I grabbed it and ran to the front door, but he was gone. It was at that moment that I received my first lesson in advertising specialties.

Certainly at that point I was not a potential client for the Strib, but promotional advertising specialties are not just about making a sale. Logo distribution and brand recognition are an integral component to building a company and its client base. So, just to get the promotional product out there and off the shelf is an important part of the overall goal.

I think that I lost the pen sometime that week, but I’ll never forget the lesson of promotional advertising specialties that I learned from the man that gave me my first god-awful, thankless job.

Ipod Mini was first released on February 20, 2004 and it delighted many. Being a smaller edition of Apple Computer’s Ipod first generation moveable audio player, it’s variety in colors (comes with limited colors, silver, gold, blue, pink, and green) appealed to the broader market. The Ipod Mini could be operated with both Macintosh and Windows PCs.

The iPod mini’s quality was the click wheel, where four buttons were placed above the wheel. To use one of the buttons, a user had to drive the wheel edge inner over one of the labels. The click wheel system is now normally used in the fourth and fifth generation iPods and it is as well been used in the iPod nano. Above the wheel was the monochrome display, which offers the menus or information of the presently selected track. The new generation of ipods normally has a colored screen display.

The battery life of its first generation iPod mini was 8 hours, which led to some quarrel on its small duration. This problem was later solved with the second -generation models that had a battery life of 18 hours. Like the larger iPod, the iPod Mini as well supported a crowd of file formats like MP3, WAV, AIFF and other MP4 features. It maintained its perfect integration with the iTunes Music Store and the files being downloaded there. Software wise, the iPod Mini was as consistent as the innovative iPod units.

Besides if there was something high-quality to be said about this amazing iPod mini, it’s the choice it gave the consumers when getting a digital audio player. The Ipod mini struggled directly with most renowned players like Creative’s Zen Micro and the Digital Networks Rio Carbon. The smaller display was actually one line smaller than the last models, thus warning it’s on-screen track information show to title and artist only, taking the album information off.

As the Ipod family started to grow, the Ipod mini was laid to rest when Apple launched the opening of the iPod nano. The iPod mini did not then exist in the market and stopped its production. Though it looks the iPod Mini only stayed for a while, its sway as the initiate of the click wheel would always be remembered.

Rosy is a seo copywriter for site as well. She has involved herself in this field for more than 2 years. For further details related to the article you can visit the site mp3playeraccessories.net You can contact her through mail at:

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Venison is engaging, unusual and incredibly good for you. Thanks to companies like Donald Russell and Blackface, both online butchers based in Scotland, it is now incredibly quiet to place an order on the internet and have a box of steaks arrive on your doorstep a few days later. What’s more, it is better value than beef at the flash.

Steak au poivre may be a seventies cult dish, but there are reasons why dishes become cult in the first place. The creamy brazenness laced with the flavor of brandy and dark, rich-scented peppercorns feels incredibly luxurious, remarkably if you pair it with venison instead of the more usual beef. It may be a simple dish but it tastes a million dollars.

Venison au Poivre for Two

Preparation time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp each of knavish and white peppercorns

• 4 venison medallions

• 30g butter

• ? onion or 2 baby shallots

• 1/4 beef look at cube

• 100ml brandy

• 150ml water

• 75ml crème fraiche

TIP:

The secret is to take the steaks out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you cook them so that they can crop up b grow up to room temperature. Then, the only other must is to get your pan (a heavy-bottomed frying-pan is ideal) smoking hot before you even add fat to it. That way you can really sear the steak at the highest temperature practical.

Method:

Up to two hours before you are ready to eat, crush the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar and press them into the medallions. The pestle and mortar gives the peppercorns the mere texture for this dish, but if you don’t have one, put the peppercorns into a hard-wearing plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin. Leave the meat aside for the spray flavour to penetrate the meat. Pre-heat the oven to 60C and put in two plates to warm.

Five minutes before you are ready to eat, animate a large heavy-bottomed frying-pan until it is smoking hot and then add half the butter. When the butter is sizzling (the pan should now be extremely hot), add the medallions and cook on one side for 2 minutes (if the medallions are thin you could cook for less - say 90 seconds), before turning and cooking for a further 60-90 seconds.

Venison is very prefer so is best eaten rare or it tends to get dry and chewy. When eaten rare the meat is so tender that it is almost like piercing through butter. It will continue cooking in the oven while it rests so put the medallions on one of the plates whilst you make the sauce.

Add the go of the butter to the pan, turn it down to a medium heat and add the shallots and stock cube. Sweat for five minutes so that the shallots soften but do not mask before pouring in the brandy and water to de-glaze the pan. Simmer the juices rapidly for a few minutes before turning the heat unerringly down and stirring in the crème fraiche.

Simmer for a few minutes more to reduce the crème fraiche and check for seasoning Serve with a crunchy, green salad and some small, waxy potatoes that you can either roast until crisp in the oven, or steam until tender. It is savoury accompanied with some kind of jelly like rosehip, quince or redcurrant.

Spicy and sweet

Pacheco was born in Mexico City and moved to California as a teenager. His Mexican roots come through in dishes that can be quite piquant — layered with heat and spice and sometimes surprising bursts of sweetness. One night, the soup du jour was a rich, dark puree of black beans with a pronounced chile kick, topped with tortilla strips and a drizzle of cilantro oil. Grilled Caesar salad is an appealing mix of long sections of charred romaine, creamy-spicy dressing and crunchy garlic crostoni. Pacheco’s signature sesame crusted salmon is nicely cooked, combining a crispy crust and moist, pink flesh. And a green curry beurre blanc makes a tasty accompaniment. But a strawberry red onion ragu, layered between the salmon and a scoop of sticky rice, is a rather jarring, pickled-sweet contrast.

Other entrees include airline chicken breast, grilled flank steak with chimmi churrie sauce, panned seared snapper or sea bass, and grilled lamb loin with couscous.

Starters range from deep fried calamari and mini fish tacos to avocado spring rolls and a duck quesadilla.

House-made ice cream, such as cinnamon and vanilla raspberry, is a feature of the dessert menu.

Besides the usual omelets and Eggs Benedict, the Sunday brunch menu displays Latin and New Orleans influences, with shrimp and grits, huevos and chorizo, and enchiladas suizas.

Red plum sangria and a Key lime martini are among the offerings on the bar menu, along with a thoughtful selection of mostly California and South American wines.

AT A GLANCE
• Where: 913 Bernina Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-584-7275
• Signature dish: Sesame crusted salmon
• Entree prices: $17-$27
• Hours: Dinner: 5-10 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays-Thursdays; 5-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Brunch: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.
• Reservations: Yes
• Credit cards: Yes
• Online: parksedgeatl.com