Around Rochester

Cider & Company haven’t gotten much screen time lately, so here is little girl in all her crayfish glory and a few of her fishy friends/potential meals. She’s so cool!

Tuesday was our April potluck at work. This month’s theme was “four”. Every contribution needed to be four ingredients – no more, no less. Salt and pepper did not count; everything else did. It was a fun challenge and everything was completely delicious. It’s kind of surprising how many tasty dishes you can create with only four ingredients. Next month’s May potluck (or, perhaps more appropriately, “cooking and dining with theatre people”) theme is even more challenging, I can’t wait to share the theme and results with you!

On Tuesday, April 23rd (which was the 450th anniversary of the master storyteller Shakespeare’s birthday!), I gave away 30 totally free copies of the books “Code Name Verity” and “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” to light and non-readers in Rochester, NY as part of World Book Night 2014. I was thrilled to be selected as a giver this year for this fantastic organization so that I could share my love of reading and the incredible power of great stories with people who might not otherwise read regularly. I gave out my books at the Amtrak train station, Greyhound bus station, and several laundromats. I truly hope the recipients of these books enjoy them and that it makes a difference to them!

It’s finally drive-in season again!!!

Our first drive-in double feature of the year…Rio 2 and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

Both excellent, by the way.

Better yet? I won us 2 free passes! :)

What’s better than the drive-in? FREE drive-in – that’s what.

{Ted even found some kids to play football with!}

Also (not at the drive-in)…

{Scoping out the coasters at Seabreeze Amusement Park on Lake Ontario…we plan to visit when it’s open this summer}

{Feedin’ ducks}

Happy Spring!

This past weekend was glorious! SO wonderful and relaxing and glorious! It was sunny for the first time in….months? I even garnered a smidge of a sunburn on my forehead and nose (which I am not proud of because it means I wasn’t wearing sunscreen like I – and everyone else – should, but it also means that there was sun!).

On Thursday I was able to work from home, writing a few pages for The Odd Couple Discovery Guide I am working on. Work from home days are the best because they’re generally distraction-free, so I get a lot more writing done than I would be able to at work, and I get to have a mid-afternoon Cold Stone milkshake date with Ted. See? The best.

Thursday evening my friend Becca and I went to see a production of Spamalot at a local high school that was wonderfully choreographed by a friend of ours. It’s a silly, fun, satirical musical, so we enjoyed that, and they totally handed out free box dinners that we got to eat…in our seats! Theatre sacrilege! But it was kind of awesome. Following the show, we went to Becca’s house – where we were joined by our friend Shawnda – to help Becca eat a whole plate full of insanely delicious fancy cheeses and drink wine that needed finishing. We are nothing if not good, helpful friends. Needless to say, this was a winner of a Thursday night.

After work on Friday Ted and I met our friends Chelsea and Andrew for dinner at Aladdin’s – a Mediterranean eatery in town (my red pepper linguine with pistachios and broccoli in goat cheese sauce was divine), and then we all joined my friends Becca, Sarah, and a few other Geva friends at a performance of our world premiere production of Informed Consent. It was amazing! We all loved the show and enjoyed the emotional roller coaster ride with plenty of tears and laughter. This was the show we recorded our origin stories and a few songs for on the day of the blizzard last month, so it was really cool picking out my own voice in the show! After the performance, Chelsea, Andrew, Sarah, Ted and I dropped by a local pub for a few hours of fun, conversation, blueberry beer, and greasy pub pizza (um, Ted). Truly, a great night out with great friends and great entertainment!

{These are not Ted’s glasses; he and Andrew traded specs for a bit to see what they looked like in each other’s frames. The conclusion? Not bad!}

Saturday morning we mosied our way over to the public market for the world’s most incredible breakfast sandwiches and a walk through the stalls to see what produce and treats the farmers had in stock this week. We also hit up a few hardware stores on our hunt for necessary items for some DIY household projects we’re getting started on. Saturday was supposed to be the Opening Day for the Rochester Red Wings minor league baseball game against the Buffalo Bison – to which we had tickets – but they postponed until Sunday afternoon due to “inclement weather” (it was, in fact, beautiful out. A little cold and pretty windy, but still sunny and beautiful). So instead of a baseball game, we picked up two free sour dill pickles in a pouch (basically, if you haven’t downloaded the 7-Eleven app for your phone, you’re missing out on some awesome weekly freebies…like my classic childhood favorite – pickle in a pouch!), bundled up in our windbreakers, and headed down to the Durand Eastman Beach at Lake Ontario for a nippy walk along the beach, through the marshlands, and up a secluded hill with a pretty stone wall and fantastic view. We saw hardly another sole on our walk and it was like having the whole world to ourselves. After enjoying an afternoon in the great outdoors, we went to a nearby wine store to check out some chocolate wines we’ve been eyeing up (I found cat wine!!), stopped by church for Saturday evening mass, picked up some frozen jalapeno poppers in an attempt to tame my wicked cravings for some beloved Texas eats like fresh jalapeno poppers, red-hot Cheetos, sour pickle salt, Blue Bell ice cream, and Sweet Leaf tea (all of which is nowhere to be found in upstate New York, by the way), and then we headed home for the night so Ted could watch the Wisconsin Badgers play in their championship basketball game  (sadly, they lost), and so I could spend an hour and a half soaking in a hot bubble bath while drinking an amazing chocolate strawberry wine Ted found last week. Another excellent, relaxing day for the books!

{This wine? You gotta try it! It’s divine!}

On Sunday morning we luxuriously slept in sans alarms of any kind, deep-cleaned Cider’s tank (a gross two-person job, I assure you), then went for a leisurely brunch at the historic Donuts Delites, where we feasted on amazing donuts (Bavarian cream for me and sour cream glazed for Ted), an order of tater tots, and a breakfast plate of eggs, sausage, hash browns, and toast. It was totally great – wonderful old-fashioned, nostalgic 1950s atmosphere, friendly folks, and awesome food! We had a lovely window view, and it was just so relaxing and wonderful eating a slow breakfast while watching neighborhood dogs and their owners, passing by the window on their first nice walk since November…their coats shining in the sun and the pups eagerly yanking their owners along, excited to explore the next new thing along the sidewalk. The weather on Sunday was simply stunning! It was in the high 50s with a light breeze and oh-so-sunny! A perfect day for a postponed opening day baseball game! Geva has Red Wings season tickets for the staff to use, and they’re great seats, right up front! The game ended up being 13 innings long and the Red Wings lost, but I had the most amazing time just sitting in the warm sun (which has been absent since last November, if you’re wondering why I’m so obsessed with the sun lately) beside my hubby, enjoying the game, chowing on a basket of fully loaded nachos the size of my face, and collecting discarded extras of the opening day cowbells they handed out – for which I have crafty plans! Really, it was a fantastic afternoon! Before the game we had parked downtown by the stadium and had some time to kill so we walked across the bridge in front of High Falls to check out the waterfall. We looked down and saw a family of 4 deer basking in the sun and a funny pheasant pacing back and forth along the fence like a jail-bird – perhaps forgetting he could simply fly out of the enclosure? Growing up in Texas, deer in our yard were the norm, but it feels so strange to see deer in the middle of downtown Rochester. Regardless, they were gorgeous and seemed to be enjoying the day – same as us. On the way home Ted grabbed a sub sandwich for dinner and I grabbed a soothing bowl of FroYo and some clementines to snack on if I got hungry since I’d already so gluttonously stuffed myself with nachos and was still pretty full. We settled in on the couch for a few episodes of Parenthood and went to bed early.

{I cannot even believe a trough of nachos this enormous was only $6.75, at a ballpark!}

Add in the news of a dear friend’s engagement and two more friends baby announcements and you can totally see what I mean by best weekend ever, right? It’s pretty rainy and busy this week, but I’m already looking forward to some more sunshine and fun in the weekend ahead!

Here’s hoping your weekend was just as grand!

So, it blizzarded “a little” last Wednesday. On Tuesday it was a glorious 50 degrees and sunny, and less than 24 hours later we were battling 40 mph winds and 20 inches of snow. I know I already mentioned this, but I thought there might be some Texans out there who would enjoy the view:

{Ahh, snow drifts! There is actually a front stoop and steps in this picture, but you’d never guess if you didn’t know}

{The wind wasn’t messing around}

{Somewhere under the snow, there were cars}

{Ted eventually found them}

With a bunch of training sessions and auditions and such going on at work lately, my schedule has been a little funky. I needed to be at the theatre all day Saturday for several events, so I took Friday as my Saturday – leaving Thursday night as my Friday night. On a whim, Ted suggested we adventure it up with a date to the indoor trampoline park that I so adore, followed by dinner at a new restaurant we had a gift certificate to try. It takes very little convincing for me to be on board with anything that contains the words “trampoline” or “food”. So we spent an hour bouncing like kangaroos and flipping like coins at the indoor trampoline park. Ted was partial to slamming the everloving daylights out of people on the trampoline dodgeball court (he’s sly and skilled and crafty and vicious!) and catching some serious air on the trampoline basketball court, while I’ve become quite the expert at unattractively fishing myself out from the cushy clutches of the middle of a deep foam pit after a series of flips and entirely ungraceful swan dives from an overhead trampoline and working on perfecting my, now stellar, mid-air straddle leap and, still less than stellar, flips where I actually land on my feet. It was so fun! We had an amazing time! And got such an awesome workout! There’s definitely nothing quite like an hour at a trampoline park to remind you what it feels like to be utterly exhausted. If SkyZone weren’t 20 minutes from home and we were rich, I’d definitely sign up for their fitness classes!

{Thanks for the date night mom & dad!}

To compensate for that excellent workout, we celebrated with gourmet burgers and seasoned fries, which were absolutely delicious, from Blu Bar & Grille. I also loved their classy meets funky atmosphere and their interior decorating scheme. I finished the night soaking in a steaming bubble bath with Little Women, our next book club read.

Since Friday was my Saturday, I snoozed til 9:30 then lollygagged around in bed until 10:30 when I finally crawled out from beneath the cozy comfort of my covers and fluffy pillows to cook up some eggs and a smoothie for breakfast. Ted needed to spend a few hours at the high school where he’s designing and mixing sound and mics for their upcoming production of Anything Goes, so I took it easy at home and caught up on some odds and ends while he was at rehearsal. Around mid-afternoon we met at Cold Stone Creamery for a happy hour milkshake date. Ted did a black cherry frozen yogurt malt, and I got a tangerine sorbet creamscicle milkshake (a mix of tangerine sorbet and sweet cream ice cream) – it was magical. And now that you know that Cold Stone offers a milkshake happy hour every Monday-Friday from open til 5 p.m., you’ll be in just as much trouble as we are. You’re welcome.

Friday night I baked up a tasty lemon parsley panko-crusted salmon with salad and carrots, and for dessert, in honor of National Pi Day, we defrosted and baked two miniature single-serving pie jars (strawberry rhubarb and apple cranberry) that I’d made over Thanksgiving and frozen.

Saturday Ted and I both had to work at our respective theatres all day, but after work I met my lovely friend Kristen for another dinner date at Aja Noodle (again – we can’t help it, we love that place! *and we had another coupon*) to catch up on some Asian noodles, life, girl talk, and her Bikram Yoga March Madness challenge to raise awareness for SMA. I am so proud of this girl! Dinner was relaxing and delicious and wonderful, and I am so grateful to have such an incredible core group of awesome lady friends in Rochester! Following dinner we met Ted at Geva for the evening performance of Eric Coble’s play, Stranded on Earth, in our Nextstage space, which I was really intrigued by and quite enjoyed! The scenic design – with the under-lit platform and sand was so unique, and the story was simply beautiful and emotional and artistic and thought-provoking. It’s one of those shows I’d love to see again – you watch it the first time for story and basic understand, and the second time to catch all the gems you missed the first time and to connect the dots.

On Sunday I finally dragged Ted to the open house of a flipped house in Webster that I have been ogling for weeks now. I’m not sure why I’m so in love with this house considering that we are in absolutely no position to buy a house right now, no matter what the cost…and it just isn’t happening. But the house has the four things I want the most in a home: a great bathtub, beautiful kitchen, a lovely backyard and deck, and recent structural and cosmetic renovations. Plus, it was bought last May for $26,000 and is now on the market for just over $100,000…so they obviously flipped it and I was just so darn curious to see what all they did to it…and to see more of the rooms (basement, etc.) that they didn’t have pictures of on the realty website. We arrived at the house….to a giant “sold” sign. How dare they have the audacity to sell a house I’ve been silently stalking for a month to someone else who could probably actually afford it!? I moped for about 4.5 seconds before getting a hold of myself and moving on. Ah well.

And if you’ve made it all this way and are still reading…first of all: Congratulations! And Thank you! And secondly, if you have just 10 seconds more to spare, we would be so appreciative if you could follow this link to submit a vote for Ted Rhyner. He is a Top 10 Finalist out of thousands of entries to win a trip to the 2014 CMA Festival in Nashville – and he’d love to go! We also wouldn’t object if you’re feeling extra generous and awesome and would like to email or Facebook your family and friends this link and ask them to vote for Ted as well. Thank you!

Thursday night happy hour at The Daily Refresher with a dozen friends from book club:

{Shawnda and I each had a Velveteen – American harvest, pear nectar, elderflower, cardamom syrup, and lemon} As a side note, dim gastro-lounge lighting makes for great atmosphere, but not so great pictures.

Saturday night we attended the opening night festivities of John Cariani’s new play Last Gas at Geva, including the private prologue, champagne toast, afterglow reception, and – of course – the show, with Becca, Meg, Shawnda, and Chris. The show was magical and we had a great time. I would highly recommend everyone go see it! Clearly, I did not take any photos to share, but Geva’s excellent photographer who shoots all our pro pics did, and you can view the gallery here, if you’re interested.

Annnnnd, on Sunday, Cider learned how to escape from her tank. Ted caught her crawling all the way up the heater that hangs from the top of her tank, emerging from the waterfall in front of the filter, lifting the filter lid, and peeling aside the thick layer of black gaff tape we’d put over the tiny little opening she squeezed through (to prevent her from escaping, obviously). She crawled up ON TOP of the tank, checked out the world for a minute, then – on her own – crawled back into her tank the same way she got out, and swam back down the bottom. This is a FISH we’re talking about. Unbelievable. Clearly, we have a whole new set of problems on our hands. Caught red handed (or orange clawed). Ted snapped this pic quickly before putting the phone down to be on stand by in case she fell off the top of the tank.

She’s nothing if not clever.

On Sunday we also watched Now You See Me, which is a crazy cool movie, Monday we took down all our Christmas decorations, and Tuesday night Shawnda, Becca and I headed to The Little for a girls night showing of August: Osage County, which was a pretty faithful adaptation of the Tracy Letts play, and even though I knew the story, it continued to surprise me at every turn.

Hope your weekend was wonderful and relaxing!

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!