The above are photos from Thursday’s snowpocalypse. Between Wednesday evening and Friday morning we got 2 ft. of snow and enjoyed balmy subzero windchills with plenty of icy wind and blowing snow that reduced visibility to about a quarter mile, closed roadways, and caused NY to declare a state of emergency. Clearly, this was excellent. I also decided that I should just stay inside, in my thermal pjs and under the covers, until June – except, obviously, for such activities as building snowmen, sledding, ice skating, and snowtubing.
In other news, last Sunday we were finally able to try out a locally-owned pizza joint we’d heard good things about and had been meaning to try for a while. 2 Ton Tony’s is an independent, family-owned, local pizza shop in Irondequoit. Last Monday they just celebrated their 4th year in business and every year around Christmas they do a free (yes, completely free) ‘Thank You’ lunch for the community. They advertise it on their Facebook page, set up a bunch of tables, and cook up a buffet of all kinds of delicious eats, including their pizza, and invite the community in for a free lunch and some fellowship. Really cool, right? Just doing something to give back to the community – and that’s pretty much what I love the most about local, family-owned businesses. Before they opened up the buffet, the owner Tony and his lovely wife (newlyweds) gave a really heartfelt speech about what this business has meant to them and how grateful they are for the community support. He mentioned that he knows nearly all his customers by name and regards them all as friends, and that it’s our duty, as a community, to celebrate with each other and support each other when the going gets tough. Ted and I were both so impressed with Tony’s attitude and genuine compassion toward his community and his customers, as well as his willingness to open his doors once a year and, of course, the really delicious food, that we’d be more than happy to order from him regularly! We often agree that, for all the reasons above and more, we’d so much rather shop local and support a wonderful, delicious, friendly, community-oriented small business than support a chain. Tony’s elderly 4th grade teacher and her husband even showed up to support him at the lunch, which was really awesome!
He had a clam pizza and a margherita pizza that were both really delicious (I don’t think the clam pizza is a menu item yet though), and his toppings include some of my favorite goodies like artichokes and white garlic pizza sauce. Also, he makes jalapeno poppers, which this Texas girl is especially appreciative of! If you’re in the Irondequoit area, off Titus and Hudson, you should definitely give 2 Ton Tony’s a try!
And because this blog post hasn’t been hop-scotchy enough, I’m also going to go ahead and throw out my nominations for my favorite movies of 2013 – not necessarily because they had the most incredible cinematography or best special effects or anything, but just because they were really enjoyable films that told a great story. My picks are:
1. Frozen
2. Savings Mr. Banks
3. Philomena
Hopefully you were able to catch all three, but if not, I’m pretty sure they’re still in theatres. So brave Winter Storm 2014, pick up a pie at your favorite local pizza place (or try a new one!), and catch these wonderful flicks before they disappear! Hope you had a lovely weekend!
