News Environment FoodPolls open at noon and stay open until 9 p.m.! (I’m sure our favorite Tim Russert will be on NBC starting around 10 p.m. with results).
Filed under: Elections | No Comments »
While we still haven’t forgotten they psychologically cursed our Bills way back during Bush 41’s reign, SKY and I were pulling for the underdog Giants last night. MHG was playing the part of the “New Englander.” (We all know you were born in Texas!)
SKY started off complaining the game wasn’t exciting enough. By the end of the night she was literally jumping out of her seat (scaring the whiskers off her newly re-name kitty Jinxico Furrus).
For me, the highlight of the night happened before the coin toss. SKY made Sunday dinner — pulled pork sandwiches, cold-slaw and the most AWESOME mac & cheese ever!
Don’t listen to her when she says she can’t cook!
Filed under: Sunday Dinner | No Comments »
There is nothing I like more than a great cup of coffee. On other days I might also say that about chocolate, wine, cheese, bacon, dessert in general and ocean beach. But today we’re talking about coffee.
I admit I’m a little bit of a coffee snob. Here are the top four places I force SKY to go for coffee in Rochester. (Although I promised her no more Wednesday-work nights at Boulder. On open mic night you need a drink!)
Image from Boulder Coffee Company
Normally this list would have five. But we couldn’t settle on a fifth. We considered both Spin and Spot. But for me Spin is too much of a Starbucks clone (especially for Park Avenue). It needs more authentic personality.
Spot could be good. I support their intention to reclaim the historic building. But the space seems a little rundown and cold. I also think the aesthetics (or “franchescas” as SKY prefers) are a bit 80’s theme park.
Starry Nite’s Cafe also had potential. But on a cold night, a cold room and a cold cup of coffee didn’t make SKY a fan. I will force her to back in the summer for another test.
We still have a few more places to try:
So maybe a fifth will emerge soon.
Filed under: Best of | 1 Comment »
So MHG and I are starting a large renovation project of our basement. This is actually MHG’s dream project — a basement studio. It was part of our deal when he agreed to move to Rochester. But even if you look for a house with this project in mind, I believe you can never full anticipate all of the complexities of this type of renovation. Or maybe you can and I just didn’t. Too late now.
For many, many reasons our project has ballooned to include replacing the furnace, heating ducts, water heater and electrical (the house is 108 years old and MHG is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to mechanical). We will also be cutting an escape window into the wall. (That’s about when I anticipate moving in with SKY).
But to maximize the open space of the dream studio, we’re hoping to move all the mechanical to one corner and use direct venting. Seemed reasonable to me since most new construction uses the variable speed direct-vent furnaces and tankless water heaters are getting lots of press for energy efficiency.
However, I did not anticipate the Rochester plumbing industry’s resistance to tankless or on-demand hot water heaters. Apparently I’m a smelling un-washed European who would prefer to warm my water with the heat of burning dollar bills for even suggesting that an American household could survive with this type of frivolously expensive water heater.
I really try to be as green as possible in my home. (I highly recommend the Sherwin-Williams Harmony paint and Eden Home Cleaning service.) But I am quickly realizing the inconvenient truth that I might need to give up the dream saving the planet while enjoying an endless supply hot water.But I will not give up on the direct-venting dreams! Rochester’s plumbers cannot be resistant to all new home-heating technologies.
Filed under: Home Projects | No Comments »
For those of you keeping track, here’s a quick update.YES! I did win the auction on e-bay. There should be a potential sink base on its way to my house as we speak. I didn’t realize how fun (and nerve-racking–JAY is that how its spelled) it can be on e-bay.
In the mean time, I’ve finished painting the walls. I’ve painted the ceiling, and I’ve hung the new light fixture. Don’t worry — MHG says I don’t need the electrical tape (that I finally found under the desk in my office) — that tape just makes it harder to get at the wires next time.
There’s going to be a next time???
Filed under: Home Projects | 1 Comment »
Sometimes I think my memory is a collection of stories that I just plain made-up. Maybe I’ve re-written my childhood in the way I wish it had happened. One of those cloudy memories involved birthday dinners.
As I recall it, on a few birthdays, I had the opportunity to pick the restaurant that I wanted to have dinner at. And it was just me, my mom and my dad — no one else (there were six of us). I remember it as awesome. On one of these occasions, either real or imagined, I decided I wanted to have dinner at “The Revolving Restaurant.” I don’t know if it had a different name. As far as I was concerned its name was “The Revolving Restaurant.”
Who wouldn’t have chosen this place as the location for a birthday dinner? It was a restaurant that revolved! You could dine on a pleasant meal while enjoying a birds-eye-360-degree-view of the city of Rochester.
Does anyone else wonder whatever happened to “The Revolving Restaurant?”
Is there just not a demand for revolving while eating anymore?
Or is that birds-eye-view less appealing these days?
Either way, it makes me sad.
Rochester and its environs were really cool once. In today’s Democrat and Chronicle, I learned Ontario Beach Park was once the Coney Island of western New York. And Oklahoma Beach — down the street and across the Outlet Bridge to Webster — was a “favorite place for bootleggers to unload their cargo.”
Granted that was over 100 years ago. But still, the closest thing to a rum runner I’ve seen around here has been in a glass at Marge’s. (Don’t get me wrong– I LOVE Marge’s.)
The South Wedge has given me a little hope though. The latest revitalization project on the Weider Hall is another reminder that all of the good things from Rochester’s history are not completely gone yet.
But my question still remains: Where’s a girl to go if she wants to revolve?
UPDATE: JAY found a blog post that contains recent pictures from inside the “Rotating Restaurant” and another site with a photo gallery. And JAY is also sure that this memory was hers. She claims she went there along with our father on her birthday.
Filed under: Neighborhoods, Rochestarians, South Wedge | No Comments »
There is a special bond between a girl and her half-birthday buddy. For those of you who aren’t lucky enough to have a half-birthday buddy…too bad, so sad… because my half-birthday buddy has got to be the cutest thing that ever lived.
I write about her today because I am going to see her today and I CAN’T WAIT!
JAY and I have made an agreement. I get the left side of her. She gets the right. We just want to naw on her Michelin man legs. I suggested that it would probably be a good idea to leave her with some appendages… so we are sticking to JUST her legs.
But I’ve got something JAY will never have: my half-birthday is princess RAY’s birthday and her half-birthday is my birthday! HALF-BIRTHDAY BUDDIES!! And there are some rules to being half-birthday buddies. The most important one is always bring presents!
Just admit it. When you look at her you want to scream……BEE!!!
Filed under: The Bee | No Comments »
