Summer on the Road

Since April I have ben on the road a bit. Some for work some for pleasure. This summer has been filled with a lot of things going on. Here is an update.

For work I have taken two road trips. I was in Erie PA to help transition a new store. I went for 3 days. Erie, Pa is like most of the rust belt. A struggling city. We stayed about 15 minutes from the store in a very popular shopping area. We did a littler site seeing while at the store.

Also for work I went to Geneva-On-The-Lake in Ohio. It is located between Cleveland & Erie PA. It is a summer destination. We went here for our Regional meeting. It was a beautiful place. One of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Other then work we also got to walk around a bit & played a friendly game of volleyball. Considering I traveled for work it was fun. I enjoy the other people I work with which helps. The store I manage won a few awards for our performance. I also got a gift card to go along with the award. I ended up giving that away to someone.

Both of of these trips included  night in Buffalo before heading out. I spent hung out with  Co-worker/friend before we hit the road for work. Traveling for work with a friend makes it much easier on those drives.

 






In addition to traveling for work I have been on the road for some fun. I took a trip to Atlanta to spend time with my godson and my little pumpkin. Of course I got to spend time with my mother. I didn't do much but hang out and relax. I spent most of my time spoiling my little pumpkin. I pretty much did whatever she wanted and bought her everything she wanted. That is what uncles are for.

I have also done a lot of local traveling and entertainment. It started with a visit from a Bermudian ;). I picked her up in Syracuse and we spent the weekend just relaxing and hanging out. I also spent time with some local friends. We went to the Seneca Park Zoo. It was the first time I went. It was fun hanging out with little G and his parents.

More recently I have been doing a ton of driving. My friend who just finished law school in the UK has come back to this side of the world to his home city of Toronto. We decided to meet up and continue or travels as we did in the UK. After picking him up in Niagara (after forcing him to walk over the Rainbow bridge) we headed to Buffalo. We met up with a college friend and my other friend. The same one from work & he also has a sister in UK/Nephew in UK I met up with and my Toronto friend met also. We went to Anchor Bar, home of the original wing. After checking in to our Buffalo hotel we spent the rest of the night on Chippewa (Street with a strip of bars). After having a few drinks and checking out a few bars we grabbed some pizza. Across the street a fight broke out & that ended our night so we walked back to our hotel.

The next day we went to the Niagara Fashion outlet in which Mr. Mark decided to pass over a great Polo deal (Polo Every thang). We crossed over the bridge into Canada and headed to Syyno's apartment in Burlington (another college friend). We hung out around that way before heading to Toronto for some fun.

We got a hotel downtown so we can party without having to worry about driving. We met up with our Toronto friend's friends at a nearby club for a little partying. Let me just leave it at this: 10/11 girls to 4 guys. Yeah, I won't speak about the happenings of that night. Only that the bartender sucked. Watered down drinks and bad service as this place. She would take her own tip out of our change or over charge us for drinks. The only down part of the night. We finished the night with a walk around the city and laughing the night away thanks to Syyno.

That ended that weekend. I dropped my to friends off in Toronto & Burlington. Since it was a Canadian holiday I ran into a bunch of traffic on my way home.

This weekend was followed by another Mark & Arnoldo World tour celebration style weekend. Some how this weekend came together to include: Regine (Brick City), Natasja (Roc), Mark (Toronto) and Me (Roc). These people haven't seen each other in years. After a missed bus, forgotten passport, a delayed bus & an unscheduled pick up in Buffalo we started the weekend.

First things first. My younger sister had her second baby Sky this same weekend. So Pumpkin2 has been born. Now I am going to have to get a second job between Pumpkin 1 & 2. O'well, back to the regular scheduled program (future post coming soon). 

I can't even put into words the events of the weekend. It was a little bit of sleeping some drinking, a ton of dancing, signing,  joking and YouTube watching. I haven't laughed so hard in years. Nothing about the weekend was serious. I manage to complete a book (The Pact) while drinking, designated driving, having a garbage plate (dumpster plate lol), Karaoke, Omelets, Curry Chicken, Go Kart racing, Dinosaurs BBQ, Spades, a lot of YouTube videos, a bloody toe, a few slaps of a sandal, a girl named Danielle, Ontario Beach, Abbotts Ice Cream, another missed bus, Canadian Currency jokes, watching tennis, more Spades. If that doesn't make any sense that is because it doesn't and I am sure I missed as least 10 things. Just take a look at the pictures.

 

Between these two weekends was the 4th of July. I had a BBQ with a few of my Rochester people on the 3rd. It was a nice relaxing night with some good food. On the forth we chilled at my place and went swimming. That was fun. I watched the fireworks on tv. The only other thing this summer is my kickball team. I am on two teams. Both teams are kind of bad but it is still really fun to play. I will blog about that at the end of the season.  

Bucket list

So I decided to create a bucket list and go right to work at it. I have completed one item on the list so far. To complete a half marathon. I ended up doing the half marathon a day after I decided to actually run it. Obviously I didn't train for it but considering I did good. I finished in the low 500's of the race. This was by far the hardest race I ever completed. If I ever decide to do another one I will be training for it.

I also stated a second item on my bucket list which is to parachute. The day I went it was raining so I didn't get a chance to actually complete the jump. I am still working on it.

The rest of the current list:
Motorcycle License
Gun License
Bungee Jump
Golf
Though Mudder

New recipe & restaurant review

Hey all! I tried a few. We recipes since my last post. One was from a coworker. It is an original ( can't find it online). She called it a poor man's burger. It is really just a baked open face burger. You season the ground meat as you would normally. You set the oven to 350. Put a few slices of bread on a baking pan. Take the burgers & put them on each slice of bread & bake it. I added BBQ sauce on the top of one & cheese on the others 5 minutes before being finished. Bake for 25-40 minutes depending how well you like your burgers cooked.

This was a cool twist to a regular dish. It wasn't to much different from just making a burger & putting it on a slice of bread. The big difference was really in the bread. Toasted on the bottom & a little moist on the burger side.

I also have got to try Three new restaurants in Rochester. A Mexican, Dominican & pub style restaurant. All three are locally owned.

3 Latino Restaurant
This place is a Dominican place. The food was great. I had beef with rice & beans. I also ordered a side of Plantains. This is the best spanish place I have had since I moved here. Food was authentic not commercialized Spanish food. The portion size was large for its price. I got the "medium" plate & had enough for two meals. The restaurant itself is not very fancy & the inside looks a little worn. The service was quick.

The place is hidden & only Dominicans were eating there when I went. Would highly recommend this place.Check it out: 211 W Ridge Rd Rochester NY

The filling Station
This one was a little far from where I live but I went here to meet with a few friends for dinner. The place was recommended to us. It had the typical pub type of food. I got wings, a "plate" & a beer. One of the people I was with got the fish fry & said it was good. The price & the food was average.

What made this place unique was it was in a converted house & not on a typical commercial road. It also had friendly staff, great atmosphere, lots of big screens & a dart board. The place seemed to be one of those places with a lot of regulars like everyone knew each other. It was also relatively quiet in the place for a Friday. This isn't a place I would go out of my way to go to but if I was on that side of tow. Would stop in. So if you are in Webster NY & looking for some food here you go: 1839 Ridge Road, Webster, NY 14580


Itacate
The third place is a Mexican restaurant that just opened up down the street. I heard a few things about it so I checked it out. I went for lunch to see what the talk was about. When I walked in the guy at the counter was REAL friendly. He explained the menu & offered a taste sample of the special. He also gave me a recommendation based on what I mentioned I liked. I ended up getting a burrito. They had home made salsa & toppings. They also offered other authentic Mexican food. The price was comparable to Moes or Chipotle except they offered more things. The food was ok.

The place is a little funny because it is located inside a gas station (Arrow Mart) & all the signs including the menu board are hand made. I would rather drive the extra to go to my local favorite Johns tex mex if I was craving a burrito. I would eat here again if I wanted something fast that wasn't pizza or chinese. Try it for yourself: 4179 Buffalo Road Rochester, NY

New recipes

As part of my move I Wanted to try a series of new things. One was new recipes. One a week is the goal. Not necessarily new food just things I haven't made before. I have tried 3 since I started. All relatively conservative as far as food I would eat.

I have been collecting recipes from people to try. I haven't dared to venture off to new foods yet but it is quickly approaching that time. Here are the items I have made so far.

1. Taco Salad- this was simple & quick. It even came out better then I thought. As I often like to do I change the recipe slightly, leaving out the salad dressing.

2. Fried Ravioli w/ marinara sauce- this was something I never tried but close to something I have eaten a bunch of. This was also a simple recipe. The seasons with bread crumbs made awesome dish. I didn't make the sauce homemade but will have to try next time. Although it was yummy It had more of an appetizer feel to it but was filling and could work as a meal with a side (some sort of bread?).

3. Sweet & sour chicken w/ rice - this is a dish I would normally pick up from a Chinese restaurant. This was the most complicated of the three. It required some frying, baking & making a sauce. I never really have made a sauce totally from scratch before so I was a little concerned. According to a few people who tried it the meal came out pretty close to the take-out you would get. Since I used brown rice instead of the white rice it did add a little twist.

I will continue to post more updates on my new food journey. I plan on trying some new foods soon. I will also post the recipes going forward.

Aparment Before & After

The apartment still needs some work. I just realized the before video is not very good. I hope you enjoyed the tour.