My Lifelong Love-A-Fair

Years before my first ever trip to Walt Disney World, I spent the day at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, NY. And then we went back the next year. And the year after that.

Maybe. I can't say for sure that we went every year, but I know my grandparents and my dad loved it, so I'm sure we did. One year, we even ventured to Syracuse for the NY State Fair. I don't remember that, either. But I vividly remember the photo of me, holding my blankie, at the top of the giant slide before I went sliding down. And if I can easily dig it out, I will add it here. I know I have it somewhere.

I had the most incredible childhood. And the fair reminds me of that. When I'm at the fair, everything is right with the world.

My grandma would pack a picnic lunch and I would spend the morning begging to do the kid things while my dad and grandparents would want to walk through the buildings. We did it all. Riding rides. Playing games. I remember loving the rubber ducky game where you paid your quarter, and selected a ducky as it went swimming by. We would ride the tram. We would eat our picnic lunch and I would beg for one of the ice cream cones that had two sections for ice cream, was covered in chocolate, and dipped in peanuts. They called it a "walking sundae". I'm quite positive one year I won a goldfish. We would try to get on the local news station who had a booth set up. "We're (hold up four fingers) FOUR Buffalo!" And then we'd do it all over again until it was time to go home.

My memories from when I was younger are all jumbled together. I don't know what happened first, I don't remember all the food options (aside from those ice cream cones), and I don't even remember if we went to see the animals. But they were some of the best days of my life. When I didn't really want summer to end. When I didn't realize I was too hot. When the lazy, hazy days seemed to linger forever. When I didn't want to go home, but probably fell sound asleep on the drive home.

My grandma enjoyed the flowers (which was also a common them at Walt Disney World), and my grandpa loved the Indian Village. We would watch their dances and learn to love their culture, which for those who don't know is a big deal in Western New York.

Eventually, we moved away for a couple years. But we were still close enough to visit and one year, my dad took me and at least one of my brothers and a whole carful of the neighborhood kids to spend the day at the fair. We each had a couple dollars to play games or buy souvenirs. We were there all day and had a blast.

Every year, the fair had new things and I remember one year they introduced some type of ride that flipped you upside down. My grandma and I joked about riding it together, but I'm fairly certain no such event ever occurred!

Finally we moved back home, but not for long. My dad was transferred to a tiny little town in Pennsylvania in the middle of my sophomore year of high school. They had a county fair, but it was nothing like MY Erie County Fair (although that was probably the first place I ever had a blooming onion, so there's that.) Every year, we would come home for the fair. That was when Jim Kelly first started playing for the Bills and we started being really good. The local affiliated radio station gave out all kinds of Bills themed stuff, so I would travel back to Steelers country with Bills stickers, water bottles, and football cards. Thank goodness for the fair!

I was planning on going to college to be a teacher (which I did, although I don't currently teach.) Because of that, I loved the education building. It wasn't terribly popular with the kids though, as the fair pretty much marked the end of summer. So it's no surprise that the education building is no longer a thing at the Erie County Fair! But there are still lots of educational opportunities... they're just cleverly disguised as fun ;)

After finally coming back home one last time, I haven't missed the fair in at least fifteen years. The fair is the first place I ever had sweet potato fries, and for the longest time that was the ONLY place I could find them. These days, I avoid the rides like the plague, but I still enjoy seeing their bright colors spinning through the sky. I enjoy walking several miles a day. I spend an inordinate amount of time in the animal barns, wishing I had a goat. I eat food that's delicious, albeit not exactly healthy.

This year, I went four out of the twelve days. I saw a baby calf be born (finally!). I cried petting a horse. I almost cried when, for the fifth time, my number wasn't called to bottle feed a baby calf. I fed butterflies. I watched cooking demonstrations, I considered dropping six hundred dollars on a blender, I actively avoided talking to people about Direct TV. I spent a good twenty minutes chatting with a volunteer in the Heritage and History Center (which, for someone who doesn't like talking to people is pretty impressive). I saw my former neighbor's award-winning oil painting. I learned that Disney produced a WWII propaganda film to buy War Bonds, staring Donald Duck.

People still pack picnic lunches. They actually set them down on picnic tables and walk away for hours at a time! You can still get a walking sundae AND a walking taco. The Indian village is still there. Last year I bought a dreamcatcher that hangs on a bulletin board near my bed. You can still be "FOUR" Buffalo and get on TV. With the technology that has changed in the forty years (ish) that I've been going, you can now get a text message when a baby calf is about to be born. You can get your ketchup delivered to you by a robot.

The fair is still the same as it's always been, and it's still new every year. And, if you spend enough time in the Creative Arts Building, you'll even get a little bit of Disney!

It IS a Small World, After All

Welcome to my refurbished blog! I went back and forth between several different names and I think this is just about perfect. I love going places, doing things, talking about them. I would say I have wanderlust, which is partially true. For starters, I like to wander. Ha. And I crave new experiences and would much rather go to a museum than hang out on the beach. The only reason I'm not really a card-carrying member of the travel club is that I actually hate the process of traveling. Quite the conundrum. But I still have adventures. They just tend to be kind of close to home!

My first post on my updated blog was actually inspired by something that happened just last night that gave me an idea that I might run with. Or I might not. You never know... my mind likes to wander, too ;)

I actually DID travel this weekend. I took a little road tripe to Pittsburgh, which is a bit over three hours away from Buffalo. The reason for this particular trip was two-fold. I spent the majority of the day at the Pittsburgh Zoo and then headed to PNC Park to see my Chicago Cubs take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm happy to say I wasn't the only Cubs fan there. I was actually surrounded by them. Sitting behind me was a dad and his two kids, all cheering for the Cubbies. After a foul ball wound up hitting the little boy (he was fine and quite happy about it), I discovered that in this crowd of close to 40,000 people these fans were also from Buffalo!

I pondered this on my way home and it reminded me of my recent trip to Disney. I encountered three different people during my trip who were from towns close to me:

I met up with some friends at the Grand Floridian for afternoon tea. Our waitress was from Latrobe, Pennsylvania which isn't too far from where we all met.

My first day in the parks, I went to Hollywood Studios. I got there before the park opened and the Cast Member who was preventing everyone from running toward Toy Story Mania was from Buffalo. (A suburb, actually, but his name tag said "Buffalo".) We chatted for a while about Buffalo foods before the park officially opened.

On my Magic Kingdom day, I headed immediately for Peter Pan's Flight where I was greeted by a Cast Member who was literally from the suburb I live in! His name was Stan and he lived not too far from me when he still lived in the area. We took a selfie and I thought it was a great way to start the day.

I'm so glad I took that selfie and remembered Stan's name. And I will definitely include this information in the Disney photo book I'm working on. But then I thought it might be cool to take it a step further and I think my next trip to The World will include a new project! I'm going to make an autograph book titled "It's a Small World" and have the Cast Members who are from my town autograph my book! Maybe I'll even carry something with me from Buffalo to give to them. (My Hollywood Studios encounter DID ask me why I didn't bring him a pizza!) I think that would be a fun memento to look back on and see just how small our world really is!

A Mysterious Light

Last night was one of my favorite days of the year -- Star Wars Night at the ballpark! My Buffalo Bisons have been doing this for the past seven years and each year it gets better and better. It actually started out as one of several "movie" nights that the team hosted and the popularity has increased exponentially and the last two years (possibly more) have sold out before game day!

I went a couple times with my mom and the last three years I've gone with friends. The gates always open early because the North Ridge Star Wars fan club are there in character. There is an assortment of original trilogy, prequel trilogy and expanded universe characters as well as characters unique to this chapter of the fan club. They will pose for pictures and last year I got a great picture with me and my friend's daughter hanging out with Chewbacca and R2D2. Unfortunately, the lines were SO LONG this year that we didn't get any character pictures. Moving through the concourse was extremely difficult because of the sheer number of people milling about.

The players wear special Star Wars jerseys each year that are then autographed and raffled off for charity; this year it was the American Heart Association (can't remember if that's what it always is, or if it changes). Starting in the fifth inning and continuing every half inning, a special Star Wars movie unfolds on the big screen scoreboard. It takes place at the ballpark and includes the Bisons mascots, etc. The story concludes after the game is over... on the field with an epic lightsaber battle!

There are always other fun little touches that go on throughout the game:

The grounds crew usually has some fun on the field:

One of the characters throws out the first pitch:

Instead of showing each player's picture on the scoreboard, a villain is shown for the opposing team and one of the heroes is shown for the Bisons. The box score will also show the opposing team as "Sith":

Darth Vader will lead everyone in singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame":

There are also lightsabers for sale during the game and once the game is over, the lights get turned out and everyone waves their lightsabers around. After the on-field battle, there is a fireworks display.

I wasn't able to get a good picture, but the moon was out through most of the game and it looked an awful lot like the Death Star! Unfortunately, the Force was not strong with our team last night as we lost to the Sith. But it was an amazing time and I can't wait to go back next year!

The Best There Ever Was

In case you didn't know it, I am a self-proclaimed entertainment junkie. I love movies, music, sports, television, books and, of course, celebrities. When you can take two of those things and combine them together, it makes it even better.

For the past eight years, Buffalo has been home to the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival (BNFF). I've always been intrigued by it, but never actually attended. That all changed this year when the event organizers announced that they would be premiering a documentary entitled "The Natural: The Best There Ever Was".

I adore sports movies. All of them. And "The Natural" holds a very special place in my heart, since it was filmed in Buffalo! That's right... Robert Redford, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey... all came to Buffalo over thirty years ago to film this gem of a movie. Buffalo was chosen as the location for the film because of our architecture and the fact that we had an actual baseball field for them to use.

The documentary was directed by Bill Cowell, who founded the BNFF. It's a celebration of the filming of the movie. He interviewed a lot of major players from the movie including the actors I mentioned above as well as director Barry Levinson, producer Mark Johnson, and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Randy Newman scored the movie and he was interviewed as well. In addition, several of the local Buffalonians who appeared as extras in the movie were interviewed for the documentary.

It was incredible hearing these famous people talking about how wonderful Buffalo was to them and how much they enjoyed their time here. The movie was filmed during a time when chicken wings were not yet popular, and most the actors commented on trying them here for the first time!

In attendance at the premier and also debuting his directorial debut at the festival was Barry Kivel, who played Pat McGee in the movie. He has been in a lot of TV shows including Scrubs, Murphy Brown, and Judging Amy as well as parts in Crocodile Dundee and One Fine Day. Barry was awarded a star on the Buffalo Walk of Fame.

This was an awesome way to spend a Friday evening and I will definitely attend the festival again in the future!

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

Happy Thanksgiving, blogosphere!

I've been doing the "attitude of gratitude" challenge on Facebook.... every day I post something I'm thankful for. Some days it was profound, other days it was goofy (yes, I AM thankful for the entertainment industry, thankyouverymuch)... and on the days I had to get needles stuck in me, it was a struggle. Not because I wasn't thankful for anything, but because typing it out just felt so fake. But yes, I am incredibly blessed. My favorite day was the one where I said I was thankful that I had a family that I missed instead of one I didn't want to be around. And I've said that many times since they moved away, and it keeps me going when I'm feeling down!

Right now, I'm just sitting here... reading trip reports on the Disney message board and watching it snow. It's a very light, beautiful snow. Most of what we got yesterday is melted, which makes me sad. Because LOOK at this:

How do you not look at that and just see beauty?

Speaking of snow, I just got back from seeing Frozen. I am so completely mesmerized by it! I wanted to stay and watch it again. I've been looking forward to it for some time now and it was well worth the wait. I just feel all warm and fuzzy, which is pretty impressive considering the name of the movie. *grin*

Next Saturday, I'm signed up for a 5K called the "Holly Jolly 5K". We all get to wear Santa hats! Hooray! Of course, I will once again be walking... not running. And who knows what the weather will be like. But I'm excited for it. Should be a good time, mainly because I needed the push from myself to just go out and LIVE.

I've had my moments since the diagnosis where I feel like I'm just spinning in circles, afraid to do anything. I feel like such a fraud when my friends call me strong. I definitely don't feel strong. I feel like I want to close my eyes, sleep really well, and then when I wake up it will all have been a dream nightmare. I mean, seriously. An entire season of Dallas was able to be wiped out that way! Is it really too much to ask? I'm really good at sleeping!

The title of this post is from the song "Let it Go", which is from my new second-favorite Disney movie. Hmm... I wonder what that could be? *giggle* Idina Menzel sang it beautifully in the movie, and I really like Demi Lovato's version as well. I don't necessarily agree with all the lyrics, but I try very hard to just embrace the "let it go" mentality. I can't change what I can't change. And that applies to more than just a chronic illness. It applies to life in general.

And to quote my favorite marketing slogan ever...

{Life is a special occasion}

Tastes Like Chicken

Yesterday a couple friends and I headed out in the sweltering heat to enjoy the yumminess at Taste of Buffalo. It's ToB's 30th birthday, and it's the largest two day food festival in the country. This is the fourth year I've gone and we had a blast. And, of course, I don't have a single picture to share. Go me.

I complained about the heat, but honestly last year was even worse... we spent half of our food coupons on bottles of water! And I made the grievous mistake of trying Danny's Chicken Wing Soup. Now don't get me wrong. The soup is delicious. But hot sauce on an 85º day just makes you feel like you're in deep fried hell. This year we were smart and brought in our own bottles of water and stayed away from the Frank's Red Hot!

I'm trying to remember everything we had. We shared each other's food, which made it all the more fun. My friends are seafood fans, so several of their choices involved that but I did try most of the other stuff that didn't swim in the ocean.

We had jerk chicken, Ahi tuna nachos, pulled pork, ribs, spring rolls, creme brulee, rice pudding, a couple different soups, and some other stuff that I don't remember. But two things really stood out to me.

Macaroni and cheese is one of my absolute favorite foods, and I readily admit that the stuff in the blue box is easily my favorite. I know, I KNOW. What can I say? It reminds me of my childhood. So one of the items I tried was Memphis Mac and Cheese... mac & cheese mixed with pulled pork. Two of my favorite things! It was pretty good; I liked the little bit of sweetness the pulled pork added. After I had already eaten my mac and cheese, one of my friends tried another restaurant's offering, and it was the absolute BEST macaroni and cheese I've ever had. And it may have been one of the best things I've ever eaten. I'm a simple girl, really.

My absolute favorite thing was the Beef on Weck Ravioli from Indian Falls Log Cabin. If you've never been to Buffalo you probably have no idea what I'm referring to. But beef on weck is a Buffalo specialty. Here is a good write-up! The quick explanation is that it's a roast beef sandwich on a kimmelweck roll, which is just a roll topped with pretzel salt and caraway seeds. The ravioli had the caraway seeds, which made it perfect! Unique and delicious, and I'm so glad I tried it! (Strangely, I don't see this offered on their actual menu.)

As I was driving home, I heard a local radio station mention ToB... they said it tastes like chicken. Hilarious on several different levels. Such a fun time. Hanging out with friends and eating delicious food. What more could anyone ask for?!

They Go Together...

Like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong

Yeah. I totally just copied and pasted that, because I had no idea what the actual verse was. So hopefully the Google search was accurate. But if not, you get the picture.

Macaroni and cheese
Peanut butter and jelly
Peanut butter and chocolate
Peanut butter and just about anything!

I love it when two things I love combine together to create one amazing thing. Like baseball and Star Wars! You weren't expecting that, were ya?? Saturday night was the annual Star Wars Night at Coca-Cola Field and I'm happy to say that I was part of the sold-out crowd who had a great time enjoying all the festivities!

Unfortunately, my camera battery died and all I have to show are some less-than-stellar cell phone pictures that aren't even worth sharing. But the Buffalo Bisons always do an amazing job with this event. Costumed characters are walking around throughout the game, happy to pose for pictures. Darth Vader, surrounded by his entourage, throws out the first pitch. When players come up to bat, the standard headshot of each player is replaced by a "good guy" from Star Wars. When the visiting team is batting, their faces are replaced by Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, Darth Maul, Boba Fett... so cool.

Each year, the Bisons players wear a specially-designed Star Wars jersey. After the game, the jerseys are signed by the respective players and some lucky fans get to take home an amazing keepsake. I bought a ticket (the proceeds benefit the American Heart Association) but didn't win. Boo. The Force was not with me.

The Bisons staff put a lot of work into a very creative six-part mini-movie revolving around SW and the ball club. During innings, a new episode is shown and at the end of the game the whole thing is concluded live on the infield, complete with an intense lightsaber battle. Finally, the lights are turned off and everyone turns on their own lightsabers. The evening ends with a fireworks display.

Who Says You Can't Buy Happiness?

I saw a poster on Pinterest the other day that said "some people are so poor that all they have is money". It's a sentiment I whole-heartedly agree with. If you don't have the happiness deep within your being already, money and things aren't going to make it magically appear. If you aren't already happy, you can't whip out the credit card and buy it. But I think simple pleasures can increase your happiness. And if you're sad (which I don't think is the opposite of happy; unhappy is the opposite of happy), buying something you'd like to see, eat, play with, wear, etc can perk you up.

We have a local newspaper here called Artvoice. It's a free weekly paper and it's a mix of local events, restaurants, and other random Buffalosity with a substantial dose of political talk thrown in. I tend to skip right over the politics and read about the local events that are going on. I generally don't actually participate in these events, mind you. But it's nice to have options. As I was skimming through a copy the other day, I almost missed this awesome little ad.

Obviously, I wanted to go ASAP. I figured it would be a good weekend excursion. Williamsville is a little suburb about twenty minutes from me. I had been there before when I was volunteering for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, but never really WENT there... never just parked the car and walked up and down Main Street. I have absolutely no idea why. I honestly had no plans of doing that today, either. Until I got there. What a beautiful town. I can't wait to back. There was even a farmer's market on one of the side streets and the place is simply charming. My kind of town. I was almost giddy to discover that there is a Ten Thousand Villages right there in the middle of Main Street. I discovered this awesome little fair trade store when I was in Niagara-on-the-Lake last year and it will come in very handy at Christmas time! Apparently I need to get out more. Who knows what else I'm missing out on?!

TeaLefs is just the cutest little shop. There is a wall with cute little clocks that the owner refers to as her "Happy Wall", which just makes me smile. There are boxed teas, tea pots, and over 200 loose teas that you can sniff to your heart's content. I usually prefer loose tea to bagged, but bagged tea is just so convenient. The best part for me was that you can actually buy a single ounce, which is something I wish Teavana would allow. There was a hot and an iced tea available to sample and I tried the iced Atlantico Lime, which was very refreshing. TeaLeafs also offers a punch card, so of course I'll have to go back. Even the logo is adorable.

At some point during the past week when I was making my plans to visit this new little gem, the lightbulb went off. I remembered that the olive oil store has a location right near there. Turns out the tea store and the olive oil store are right across the street from each other. Now, for those who are scratching your head and thinking "huh?!", olive oil stores are a glorious thing. We actually have two different companies in Western New York: D'Avolio and Prima Oliva. I've been to both; they're very similar and I honestly don't have a preference. You walk in and there are these vats (for lack of a better word) with all these different olive oils and balsamic vinegars... and on the counters are containers with little cubed pieces of bread. And you walk around and sample the oils and vinegars using the bread and at some point you think you are in heaven. The alcohol drinkers can keep their wine-tastings. Give me an olive oil tasting and you'll be my best friend.

Today, I went to D'Avolio. They have several locations throughout WNY (as does Prima Oliva) and this particular location also happens to have a little kitchen. They serve lunch every day and you have your choice of salad, sandwich, pizza, or soup and you have options for each. I created a salad with turkey, almonds, cucumbers, mandarin oranges, and manchego cheese. They had several olive oil and vinegar pairings to choose from and I went with the Blood Orange-infused olive oil and Sicilian Lemon white balsamic vinegar. Delicious. It wasn't until I got home that I remembered that I wanted to pick out a nice citrusy olive oil to use in one of the numerous olive oil cake recipes I've seen on Pinterest. Guess I'll have to go back. What a shame.

Look at all the {happiness} I bought!:

Grapefruit Balsamic Vinegar, which will go great with salads

Chocolate Mint bagged tea (I love those little wooden tea boxes)

Creme Au Caramel Rooibos

Cinnamon green tea

Lemon Shortbread Cookies

{The most important thing is to enjoy your life... to be happy... it's all that matters}
Audrey Hepburn

The Nerdy Girl 5K

Since January, I've been faithfully either going to the gym or going for walks around my neighborhood. At the gym, I alternate between the treadmill and the stationery bike. I've always enjoyed walking, but running and I do NOT get along. Even in high school when we were supposed to run a mile for the President's Fitness Test (or whatever is was), I always walked. A couple years ago, I tried very had to take up running. I read all about the Couch-to-5K program and for three solid months I tried my hardest to get past the first level. It never happened. So, walking it is. I've been steadily lowering my average pace per mile (thank you, Nike chip thingy) and I'm excited to do the Color Run (ahem, Walk) with some friends in August. (You can buy those fabulous little 0.0 stickers here)

For the past three years, I've walked in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge through my company. This year, I wasn't able to participate and it turns out that I'm actually kind of grateful, because it rained all day. Walking 3.1 miles in the rain would be bad enough. But then you have to factor in finding a place to park (which usually winds up being in a different zip code), walking to the picnic area to meet up with your friends, waiting for the race to start.... by the time the walkers actually start the race, you've already been waiting around for at least an hour. In the rain? No thanks. (Yes, I'm made of sugar. Yes, I WILL melt.)

But I was still disappointed, so I decided that I was still going to walk a 5K. I just wasn't going to pay an entrance fee or get a tshirt or a number. What I was going to get was the ability to open my front door and start my walk! So I logged on to mapmywalk.com and plotted a very easy 5K course that I could complete without ever having to get into my car.

Do you remember the episode of Big Bang Theory where Leonard was telling Penny about how he and Sheldon became roomies? After Leonard passed Sheldon's version of the Kobayashi Maru, Sheldon presented Leonard with a welcome packet that included, among other things, an apartment flag. That is something I would totally do... the welcome packet, the flag, the multiple choice tests. Well, if I ever decided to have a roommate. Which I would never do. That is actually something that surprises me about my beloved Mr. Cooper. [Just an aside... I have a Sheldon bobblehead that sits on my computer monitor. As I'm typing, Sheldon is nodding his head as if he remembers that episode. *grin*]

I did bring that up for a reason... after I mapped out my route, I decided that simply mapping it and walking it wasn't enough. I HAD to name it! So I dubbed my 5K the "Nerdy Girl 5K". Doesn't that make it so much more entertaining? Like it's a real thing?

And guess what? I came in first place!! Ahhh, the beauty of making up your own stuff. (Yes, I also came in dead last. But where's the fun in focusing on that?!)

I'm quite proud of myself. Sheldon would be proud, too. Okay, maybe not; he hates the outdoors. Obi Wan would be proud. The Force is strong in this one.

Someone should make me a tshirt.

A Double Dose of Triple D

Have I mentioned that I love food?? And the Food Network?

When I visited my family in San Antonio back in October, one of the things I really wanted to do was go to a restaurant that had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I find this niftly little app/website called TV Food Maps that lets you search by foodie show, location, etc.

I found a barbecue place called Bun'n'Barrel and luckily my brother was able to figure out how to get there; driving aimlessly around a city I had just been robbed in didn't sound like fun to me*. We stopped for lunch on our way back from a visit to the San Antonio Zoo. I had a melt-in-your-mouth brisket sandwich and some deliciously crispy onion rings. We also tried their "Thai Spicy BBQ Sauce" which had a great flavor and packed quite a bit of heat. I was able to bring home one of their take-out menus as a souvenir, which made me happier than necessary. Although we didn't do this, you could park your car and have the waitress bring your food out to you like the old-fashioned car hops used to do. I'm happy to say that I'm too young to remember such things and that Happy Days is my only point of reference to this. Of course, that does make me old enough to actually remember Happy Days...

(*That's right... less than an hour after landing in San Antonio, our cars were broken into. I had almost $500 worth of stuff stolen. Welcome to Texas.)

Just last week, I got a nice surprise when some friends decided to go out to dinner after work. Now, Western New York is a fairly large area and I admittedly am only familiar with my little neck of the woods. So when the suggestion was made to go to a burger place in the opposite direction of where I live, I can honestly say that it wouldn't have been my first choice. I'm not generally a burger person and I couldn't pass for someone who enjoys driving if my life depended on it. The fact that I misunerstood the ridiculously easy directions didn't help.

Grovers Bar and Grill does not have it's own website, but it's received some pretty good reviews on yelp and it was named "Best Burger" in the Best of Buffalo Poll done by Artvoice. According to my internet research, the restaurant sits on Grover Cleveland's old hunting camp.

So, we're sitting in our little booth looking at the menu and the first thing I noticed was the words "cheeseburger soup". My friends had been here before, and one of them told me it was good so I immediately knew I'd be ordering that. It was SO good and reminded me of my sister's sausage dip recipe, which I will be sharing below. I decided to forego an actual burger and ordered a grilled ham and cheese on rye. Common, but delicious. And HUGE. I wound up taking half of it home with me.

It wasn't until we had already been served that one of my friends mentioned that it had been on DDD. And that's when I noticed that we were sitting directly under the "Guy Ate Here" sign! So, I guess the lesson is that driving half an hour out of the way can produce some delicious results.

And since we're on the subject, Food Network Star (Guy Fieri's launching pad!) starts tonight. And just this morning, less than ten hours before the new season starts, I found out that one of the contestants is a former Buffalonian! Her name is Nikki Dinki and you can check out her blog right here!

Super-Easy Sausage Dip

16 ounces Velveeta

Bulk pork sausage

jar of salsa

Cube the Velveeta and throw it in the crockpot on low to start melting. Brown the pork sausage. Drain. Add the sausage and salsa to the crockpot. Heat on low until melted. Serve with tortilla chips.

First Snow

I woke up at the obnoxious hour of 6am this morning and actually got out of bed. Normally I would just try to fall back asleep but I've been sleeping way too much. So I got up, surfed for recipes (because I clearly don't have enough) and eventually decided to go to the gym.

I got home from my workout and not too long after that I looked out the window just in time to see the snow start falling.

Beautiful.

I just love it. On my way to the laundry room I snapped a picture and then played around with it a little bit.

It's been lightly snowing all day. As I posted on Facebook, I just hope the animals wandering around outside have a warm hiding place to escape to. You know, since I can't adopt them all.

Which I totally plan on doing if I ever win the lottery.

Having Fun @ Work

A couple months ago, I met a friend for lunch and she presented me with two baggies of cookies. They were essentially the same cookie, but she made them with two different recipes and was trying to figure out which one she liked best. So she let me judge. (They were both delicious!)

Well, that got my little mind working and I decided that it would fun to have a cookie contest at work! Now, I work with some pretty awesome people and we have a lot of fun. I wasn't sure if anyone would really want to play along, but it turns out that we had a blast.

We had eight people who baked, and I let everyone taste and pick their favorite. I was the only one who knew which person baked which cookie, so I didn't judge and I'm kind of glad because they were all delicious!

This is the ballot I made:

(That cute little chocolate chip cookie is courtesy of the Sugar Coma dingbat font.)

I wanted to make something slightly unique that I hadn't made for my coworkers before. So I found this awesome recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies on Pinterest:

Source: seaweedandsassafras.com via Sue on Pinterest

They were really good with a little bit of heat! This was such a fun way to break up the week a little bit.