Around Rochester

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.

So, right now there’s not a ton going on for me to report, but in the coming weeks there will be all kinds of goodness on the blog…stay tuned!

In the meantime…

– The Amazing Spiderman 2 movie starts filming in Rochester today through May 9. The NYPD prop police cruisers arrived in Rochester late last week. They’ll have parts of downtown closed daily while they film the car chase scenes and, of course, will be using many Rochestarians as extras in the flick. And this city is pretty jazzed about it too! Read all about it here. It’ll be nice to see familiar streets on the big screen when this film is released.

– Geva’s own Geva Comedy Improv actors provided the official video definition for the term “catwalk” for Theatre Dictionary. It’s hilarious. Check it out here! Go GCI! And check out the Theatre Dictionary here.

– Tom Hanks and his daughter mocking Toddlers & Tiaras. Awesome. Check it out here.

– This family is amazing! Every single day dad (and sometimes mom and siblings) dress up in costume to wave goodbye to their eighteen year old son when the school bus comes to pick him up in the morning. Seriously, the best!!! Check it out here. Love this family!

Happy Tuesday!

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Four of my friends and I signed up for a LivingSocial deal for a 1.5 hr aerial arts workshop. We’ll be hitting the ribbons on a Saturday morning in mid-May. Hopefully followed by a shared bottle of wine after stretching ourselves to oblivion. Because, you know, after one class I’m sure we’ll look just as amazing as the fine folks pictured above. I can’t wait. This adventure screams of amazing hilarious fun.

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Ted and I will be going in with a friend of ours to split a share of the harvest at Peacework Organic Farm through a local CSA (community supported agriculture) group. Basically, from May-November we’ll stop by the Abundance Co-Op. every Thursday evening to pick up a box of produce fresh from the farm. We don’t know what will be in the box each week – just whatever is in season in upstate NY at that time and whatever was harvested at the farm that week. In exchange, we pay a small amount of money on a monthly basis and agree to two acts of service – 1) to go out to the farm to help pick the crops or weed the gardens or whatever they need help with for four hours at least once during that six month period, and 2) to sign up for one shift at the distribution site divvying up the produce from the farm and readying all the boxed shares for other members to pick up. It helps keep a local farm family in business throughout the season, we get fresh organic seasonal spring, summer, and fall produce delivered to us every week (I love the surprise factor of never knowing what will be in the box until we pick it up!), and we get to go farming too! Win-win.

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Ted’s moving on up! He’ll arrive with the first round just before mid-May and by early June we’ll be totally moved in to our new place together in Rochester!

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My parents will be coming up to Rochester over Memorial Day weekend to visit! Perhaps we’ll tour the Finger Lakes, visit some wineries, hit up Niagara Falls, hang at the beach, stroll the parks, enjoy a festival or two, see a flick at the drive-in, show off the public market, and share some delicious eats. I can’t wait!

Indeed, I am so looking forward to May!

This weekend I found a recipe for a mean beef with broccoli, my favorite Chinese dish. It’s totally the real deal in flavor and texture, and is refreshingly simple, inexpensive, and fairly healthy to make.

Now all I need are killer recipes for bubble, fried crab rangoons, and hot and sour soup, and my bi-monthly urge for takeout just might be curbed. Maybe. But we still might have to enjoy takeout occasionally because A) it’s fun, and B) Chinese food always tastes better when it comes in those little cardboard take out boxes. No point in denying it. Truth is truth.

Speaking of delicious bubble tea, I’ve discovered the joys of White Swans Asia Cafe’s (on Clinton in the South Wedge) bubble tea with tons of sweet chewy tapioca pearls and made with fresh blended mango or honeydew melon. It’s incredible. My search is over.

I also trekked to the public market for my share of fresh produce as I do every Saturday morning and managed to capture the goodness of Martha Jane Bakery’s hot pastry pocket with tomato, basil, mozzarella, and prosciutto before I devoured it. That was no small task, I assure you.

This week’s market spoils included about four pounds of green grapes for a total of $3, $1 for a whole pound of amazing looking green beans, 6 large Cara Cara oranges for a few bucks, and some juicy ripe tomatoes – all for at least a quarter of the price I’d pay for them at Wegman’s. I still have broccoli, carrots and basil left over from last week’s market trip, so I’m thinking a big fruit salad and roasted veggie dish are in my future this week.

Also, our 6 month farm share starts in a few weeks, and it’s almost rhubarb season. Be still my heart.

Good eating and good conversation in the Roc city on Wednesday for girls night! First the Gate House for some comfort food grub with Becca followed by dessert at Get Caked with Becca and Shawnda, both at Village Gate. Food and friends are two of life’s greatest pleasures!

{The Xerox: Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, crispy chicken, lemon arugula, goat cheese, and garlic butter – this pizza was so phenomenal it was unreal! The photo hardly does it justice, but this is a pizza I will crave in the future…}

{The B. Anthony: Veggie burger with salsa fresca and sriracha mayo with a parsley mac and goat cheese…also delicious!}

{Hidden star cider wine…a treat indeed!}

{Strawberries and creme and lemon cupcakes…the cake flavors were fantastic and the frosting was incredible!}

We’re thinking Good Luck (also in Village Gate) for a colossal shared burger and some old fashioned cocktails, baking up some homemade dessert, and a few episodes of Duck Dynasty for our next girls night.

Can’t. Wait.

Interested in joining us? Speak up :) We like friends.

Friday night I plopped myself on the sofa with a large, delicious takeout box of beef with broccoli, crab rangoons, and passion fruit bubble tea from my favorite family-owned Chinese takeout joint, talked with my parents and Ted on the phone for a while, and then turned on the tube and vegged for the remainder of the evening. It was marvelous.

Saturday I hit up the farmer’s market for some farm fresh humongous carrots, broccoli, a bundle of basil, and a hot prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato and basil pastry pocket from Martha Jane’s Bakery (they are seriously the most incredible thing I’ve eaten in Rochester so far), took advantage of the beautiful weather for a run in Highland Park, drove by the beach and past what will be Ted and my new townhome together come May – our first permanent home in Rochester even though I’ve lived here for eight months already(!!!), knocked out some laundry, threw together a flavorful fresh tomato salad, and headed to the theatre for opening night festivities for The Whipping Man: a champagne toast, the incredible show (it’s a must see!), and a post-show southern comfort food reception followed by a full night’s sleep.

Sunday brought a 2+ mile run around Cobb’s Hill Reservoir in more gorgeous spring weather, mass at noon, an amazing, filling pancake (with butter and real-deal maple syrup), bacon, sausage, and orange juice brunch and good conversation with some other young adults from my parish, led a talk-back and panelist discussion for No Child at the theatre, and came home to cook some tasty homemade taquitos and salsa with the windows open, the sun shining, the birds chirping, and some mellow music playing.

It was a fantastic weekend. Here’s to more ahead! (Maybe I’ll even remember to snap a few shots next time!)

What were you up to?