Monthly Archives: May 2013

Saturday morning at Mendon Ponds Park…

Initially, I headed over there for a 2-mile run through the Grasslands Trail, which I looked up on both Google Maps and the park’s website map first, then drew the route into my RunKeeper app on my phone – just to be doubly sure that A) the trail actually existed, and B) I would stick to the well-marked path and not find myself lost in a swamp, tall grass, or a forest.

Enter foreshadowing.

Word of warning, the Grasslands Trail only kind of exists. As in, it starts out well labeled (a blue diamond spray painted on the occasional tree) with a clear path through the woods and the grass, and then the path just kind of goes away and so do the trees and you find yourself running through tall grass and eventually coming out on Clover Rd., where you then have to re-enter the park and pick the trail back up at a totally different entrance point and work your way back to your starting spot.

Soooo, better for leisurely nature hikes than running. Got it. But I did get my full run in (despite stopping at least nine times to consult my phone’s GPS to try to figure out where the heck I was) and both a deer and a goose stopped by within a few feet of me to say hello. Neither one seemed very concerned about my presence, just curious. It’s nice to get friendly with the wildlife every now and then!

Then I decided I would check out Devil’s Bathtub pond since it was right by the start of the Grasslands “trail,” and while I’m at it, I might as well kick off my shoes, hang out on the beach by the big pond, soak up some rays in the cool breeze, read my book for a while, and watch a group of little boys catch schools of minnows for bait and fish for rock bass. I mean, why else were Saturdays invented?

At night I met my friend Kristen for Ethiopian food (lintels and lamb) downtown, some good girl talk, and a scenic drive to get frozen yogurt in pretty, picturesque Pittsford as the sun set.

Best spring Saturday yet…lookin’ forward to more like it!

{Bottoms up!}

Immediately after work on Friday I took myself for 3.2 mile run along the canal. It helps when the weather is the essence of perfection and the views are easy on the eyes. Not bad at all.

Then I made delicious homemade baked jalapeno poppers. And boy did I need both the run and the poppers to finally end a week like last week. Amen!

Last night a friend and I walked the Best Busker Contest in downtown Rochester amid the gorgeous spring weather, listening to fabulous street musicians and sharing some good eats….a pretty wonderful combination, indeed!

We dined on tasty mac n’ cheese cups, freshly baked snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookies, food truck pulled pork and slaw tacos, and s’mores on a stick, but we sadly had to skip out on the blue velvet cake push pops, spring rolls, and the risotto balls we were looking forward to also indulging in because they were served at food places that wanted you to dine inside of their restaurant to partake in their deals – which just wasn’t going to happen when there were so many great musicians to hear and fantastic early evening weather to enjoy outside! I hope next year all the restaurants that offer special Busker Contest deals will consider having their special deal food options as “to go” instead of “dine in only” so people can actually enjoy the street music and delicious food too.

We heard fiddles, banjos, harmonicas, singers, accordions, trombones, guitars, maracas, tambourines, mini organs and more – and many of the musicians sang and played, sometimes multiple instruments too, one-man-band style. One of the performers was a songmaker – if you shouted out a topic, he improvised a song about it – music on the guitar and lyrics – right on the spot for you. He was great! They posted a list of the topics people had requested on the sidewalk, and that was pretty amusing as well – one was “I’m two days overdue, make this kid come out!” and a little boy suggested “fear of learning to ride my bicycle” while an older lady encouraged “losing my glasses all the time!” I think he could have been a cool addition to an amazing, memorable surprise marriage proposal.

All the musicians were wonderful though and it was so relaxing and joyful to hear so much great music and see such strong talent in our city. At the check in tent, we received five guitar picks, so we could place one pick in each of our top five favorite busker’s buckets to vote for them. Unfortunately, voting ended at 8 p.m. and we didn’t realize it until about 8:02 p.m., so we ran like fools through the crowds to try to get picks into the buckets of our top picks, but we were only successful with two of them. At least we have some sweet souvenir picks and know better for next year. Also, in addition to the fabulous, perfect spring weather, there was a really nice cross-section of people milling about – bearded hipster twenty-somethings with their grandmothers, moms with babies, dads with kids on their shoulders, couples, and friends of all ages and backgrounds – just enjoying Rochester together.

Totally gorgeous night! What a way to spend a Thursday! :)

On our lunch break we went for a walk in the beautiful gardens of a church downtown adjacent to the theatre…

The trees are blooming and beautiful, but they kind of smell like salmon…

Lunch hour with friends just got way more pleasant. Now we can eat lunch, play Taboo, and go for a walk among the flowers before retreating back into the recesses of our chilly yet wonderful theatre for the remainder of the day…

Yesssss.

And then I went for a run after work. It was glorious and I felt much better about my plans to meet Shawnda, Meg, and Becca at Chocolate & Vines…for dinner. Not dessert. Dinner. What you see below was my dinner. And it was perfect.

I had a flute of sparkling moscato….

We shared this magnificent cheese platter of crustinis, dried cranberries and apricots, salted nuts, gurkens, manchego, gjetost, gouda, ‘across the pond,’ and the best whole grain mustard, honey, and duck pate I’ve ever had…

And then we moved on to a dessert and a piece of chocolate for each of us, which we passed around the table so we could all taste everything, like all smart foodies do.

I had tiramisu and a piece of passion panna cotta white chocolate (to.die.for.)…

Meg had the chocolate truffle mousse and a piece of blackberry jam with crystallized ginger dark chocolate….

Becca had the cranberry saligari and a piece of coconut curry chocolate…

And Shawnda had the amaretto mascarpone and a piece of coconut dark chocolate…

If manners, reputation, and friendship were not at stake, I would have licked everyone’s plate or bowl clean…civility be damned. But I also kind of think nobody would have cared because we all pretty much had the same idea.

It was all heavenly, but my favorites were the insanely tasty gjetost cheese (a goat whey and cow’s cream cheese from Norway with “a rich caramel fudge texture”), the delicious duck liver pate (with roasted red bell peppers and port wine) that none of us could get enough of, the out-of-this-world whole grain mustard (which was crazy flavorful but not spicy), Becca’s dessert which tasted exactly like Christmas, my sinfully rich yet light tiramisu, and my truffle that was filled with soft creamy white chocolate and a sweet yet tangy orange passion panna cotta syrup that was mind-blowing.

Girls night, indeed!

Get thee to this place immediately.

Flowers at lunch, running on a spring afternoon, girlfriends, and epic nosh? I could get used to this.