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Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

food

April showered us with a busy schedule … here’s what filled our month

May 3, 2021

I thought April would fly by because the first months of this year seemed to drag. But these last 30 days were looooong. Maybe they all will be from now until summer? I don’t know. Anyway, April is over, which means I’ve got another monthly round-up for you. Here’s a summary of What We Did, What We Ate, What We Watched, and What We Read.

What We Did

Welcomed family for a visit. My parents made the trip out here for Easter, and it was so lovely to be together for the first time in seven months.

Why is taking group pictures so hard???

Because they were in town, we celebrated our daughter’s birthday (again). We had a small cake after dinner one night, and she opened presents from her visiting grandparents.

Which meant that the next day, we shopped because the girl had birthday money to spend. I remember when I started to want gift cards for my birthday and Christmas so I could pick out my own stuff, and that is the phase of life we are in now. (Side note: This was my first time out on a true shopping excursion since the pandemic. I didn’t love this kind of thing pre-pandemic and I don’t love it now. I have been training my whole life for avoiding people in public, but some people do not seem to understand the rules of avoidance. We all got through the shopping trip, though. May it not need to happen again soon.)

On Easter morning, we hiked at Shenk’s Ferry Wildflower Preserve. If you’ve been following this space for a long time, you might remember the time we drove our van to this preserve and got stuck on the way out because we took a road we shouldn’t have with the kind of vehicle we had. I was nervous to go back, but my parents were in town and they have an SUV. In preparation for the trip, we learned that the Lancaster Conservancy has since closed that questionable road and made a different parking area. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and we were just on the cusp of peak wildflower blooming. A redeeming experience for Easter morning, as it should be. 🙂

We had to look closely to find the wildflowers but once we saw them, we couldn’t un-see them.

Speaking of flowers, Phil bought some for our flowerbeds, so one afternoon my parents helped me planted flowers around the house. (We also reclaimed a spare tire as a planter.)

If I can offer the world a tiny bit of beauty, I will do it.

Track meets and lacrosse matches have taken over our lives. We went from a full schedule of practices in March to an even fuller schedule of practices, games and meets in April. It’s a bit of a whirlwind right now but we love watching our kids participate in team sports.

While my parents were here, my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday. I need to update my wardrobe, especially when it comes to work clothes, so she told me about this subscription service she’d heard about. I signed up for Nadine West while they were here, and a few days later, I opened my first envelope from the company. They sent me six items: a dress, a top, a pair of pants and three pieces of jewelry. I kept the top and pants (an outfit) and a necklace. I don’t love shopping, but I sort of love this service so far because (surprise, surprise) I don’t have to leave the house. I don’t have enough experience with it yet to know if I can recommend it to friends, but my next envelope should be arriving soon.

This is the outfit I kept.

Our virtual adventures this month took us to Albania and Miami. (Read more about those in the What We Ate and What We Watched sections.)

Taxes. We put it off this year. It didn’t take that long, but we still didn’t want to make it a priority. Still, they’re done.

Quarantine. Again! Womp-womp. This time our daughter had to stay home and do school from home. She took it like a champ, and we’re glad it’s over. For now.

One Sunday afternoon, I walked with some coworkers from my book club. After reading All the Bright Places, we decided to do something to raise awareness about mental health issues. We organized a week-long event at our school and have been raising money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for a couple of months so we participated in the virtual walk by getting together at a local park and walking for an hour. It was a beautiful day with fun company.

The shortest, oldest person in the group (me!) got to take the selfie, so this is as good as it gets!

Summer-like temperatures late in the month had us thinking gardening, so Phil bought some of the plants for the garden and we put them in the ground. This is the earliest we’ve ever planted the garden. Two days later, the temperature dropped and the wind chill neared freezing. We might have made a mistake. I’ve learned that plants are resilient, though, so fingers crossed.

Our baby plants.

What We Ate

Cheese quiche for breakfast Easter morning. I wanted to make something special, and I was pleased with how this turned out.

I love a good breakfast dish I can make the night before.

An Easter feast featuring goat stew, roasted fingerling potatoes, fried cabbage, and kalettes (they’re like a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale) with a cheesecake sampler for dessert. We snacked earlier in the day on cheese and crackers and the like.

Yes, we really had goat on Easter. Africa hasn’t left our hearts or our bellies.

“Forgotten” cookies. I made these meringue cookies because I have a lot of egg whites to use up. I thought it was going to be a disaster, but it actually turned out okay. They were a tasty snack for days.

After all the meringue-ing, these were super simple because you just leave them in a warmed oven.

Potato Musakka for our Albanian virtual adventure. Layers of sliced potato with a beef and onion mixture in between, baked with eggs and milk. Comfort food.

Creamy, eggy potatoes with beef. I would make this again just because.

Angel food cake. Because of the egg white situation. I followed a recipe that was very clear, and I was a little confused about the cooling process, but this cake turned out edible, even if it wasn’t perfect. I will try it again soon.

It wasn’t pretty but it was delicious.

Roburrito’s, a local burrito place, for our April takeout. I had a taco salad in a fried bowl that took me back to my college days when I ordered one of these once a week. Others in the family had nachos and burrito quesadillas.

Arby’s. Because we needed a quick dinner on a lacrosse night. This was my first fast-food drive-through experience of the pandemic, I think. Curly fries=yum.

Carrots. From our garden. That we planted last fall.  They were sweet and tender and got me in the mood for gardening. Phil “discovered” this harvest before he tilled the garden in preparation for our planting. (He knew they were there and took the time to dig them up. I probably would have ignored them or figured they wouldn’t be any good. I’m glad to be wrong!)

They slept all winter and still made a tasty side dish for us.

Mint milkshakes that we made with vanilla ice cream and creme de mint milk from a local dairy.

We aren’t actually sure how to make milkshakes but this turned out okay.

Frita (Cuban hamburger) for our virtual adventure. A mixture of meats for the burgers topped with a spicy ketchup and shoestring fries. Yes, it was tasty.

As good as it looks

Pierogies from a new stand at Central Market where my husband works. These are not your grocery-store frozen pierogies. Plump and delicious. He paired them with a kielbasa skillet for dinner one night.

What We Watched

Nailed It.  This is good for a laugh on a Friday night when the kids and I are winding down from the week. The new season has pairs of bakers–brothers and sister, partners, moms and daughters. It’s double the fun.

So I finished Cheer and I just can’t with the parents of some of these athletes. Cringe-y at best. And I cannot stomach the tosses that end in bone-crushing drops. It’s a compelling series but I didn’t love it like so many people did last year.

We also finished Space Force, which made me laugh SO loud and hard, and Men in Kilts, which made me want to book a flight to Scotland at the first available and safe moment.

Baseball. The Cubs are pretty terrible this year, but that doesn’t stop us from watching a game every now and then.

Call the Midwife. Lifts my spirit every single time. I finished season 7, which was a hard season but good.

Wild Flower, a documentary about a 77-year-old Albanian woman who lived her whole life unmarried so she could help her brother raise sheep and farm. This was part of our virtual adventure to the country. The documentary is subtitled, a new experience for our children as we watched.

Spider-Man: Far From Home. Thank you, Samuel L. Jackson for my new favorite movie line that includes a swear. All around, a fun movie that left me with a lot of question for the future of the Marvel universe. 

Footloose in Oxford and York with the Rixons. If you need a chill and sometimes cheesy travel documentary of interesting places in Europe, check out the Footloose series on Amazon Prime. The Oxford and York one is their newest and it was filmed last summer during the pandemic after some restrictions had lifted.

By far my favorite thing we watched in April was Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid, a comedy special on Netflix. We had a hard week and I requested a show with some good laughs. We all needed the healing power of laughs, and this fit the bill. I laughed so hard I almost choked on my dinner. And I’m still laughing just thinking about his delivery of jokes.

WandaVision. I know. We’re behind. We were catching up on Marvel movies. This Marvel-meets-Bewitched series is oddly compelling. We’ve only seen two episodes so far, but more to come.

Poldark. I still don’t love season five, but it’s only been two episodes. Maybe it will grow on me?

For our virtual adventure to Miami, we watched a couple of travel documentaries about the city. I honestly never thought I’d want to visit Miami in person but now I do.

History of Swear Words, also on Netflix. I needed some “low-brow” comedy one night when my brain couldn’t handle anything else. This delivered. I now know more than I ever wanted to about the f-word and the s-word. I can’t wait to learn more about swears!

What We Read

Truman. Will. I. Ever. Finish. This. Book? (Yes, if I read no other books, but that is not how I operate.) I have a couple hundred pages left, which in McCullough translation is probably closer to 400 regular pages.

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny. The Gamaches on vacation? In the woods of Canada? What could go wrong? Thoroughly enjoyable to see some of my favorite Three Pines characters in a different setting.

How Not to Be Afraid by Gareth Higgins. I finished this one in time for its release on April 13, and I so loved its gentle invitation to transform fear through the telling of better (truer) stories. Transforming fear doesn’t ignore that bad things happen but it asks us to look for other things happening in the world, to pause and be grateful, and to face our fears with curiosity, at times.

Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr. I finally finished it, long after the Lenten season ended. It’s a small book that packs a spiritual punch in all the best ways, and I’m grateful for its lessons.

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. One of the classes I help in is listening to this as a read-aloud, mostly for fun. I haven’t ever read it, and I am constantly impressed with middle-grade fiction’s ability to keep readers interested and turning the pages. I’m hooked and eager to find out what happens.

Evicted by Matthew Desmond. This is our next book club pick. A second time reading for me. Still as moving and shocking as the first time.

Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night by James Runcie. Short stories about the vicar-who-solves-crimes. Enjoyable.

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann. It’s described as Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games, and it is another YA book that hooked me. There are more in this series that I want to check out. Maybe this summer.

To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn. Bridgerton series number five, and they just keep getting better. If you’re sad that Regé-Jean Page won’t be returning to the Netflix series, please let me assure you that there is plenty of good Bridgerton material left for the showrunners to work with.

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. I started it just as the month was ending. Back to Three Pines for me. I can never get enough Inspector Gamache.

Our son read Slacker by Gordon Korman and is working his way through more Theodore Boone books as well as Stick Dog Takes Out Sushi.

Our daughter is on a Percy Jackson kick along with the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.

Husband started Wild Seed by Octavia Butler but had to return it to the library when it was due.

I’m sure May will be another full month for us. Check back here in June for a full round-up of our activities. In the meantime, you can see some of what we’re up to and what I’m reading on my Instagram feed.

 

Filed Under: food, gardening, home, social distancing Tagged With: books, Easter, family visit, food, hiking, life in a pandemic, monthly round up, virtual adventures

We know how to eat

June 27, 2019

Warning: Long post ahead. And it might make you hungry. Also, it’s the first of several posts about our summer vacation.

If you’ve known us for more than a few days, you’ll know that food–good food–is important to us as a family. That doesn’t change when we’re on vacation, and we had some unique food experiences in New York that I think warrant their own blog post. So, if you’re a fellow foodie, then feast your eyes on the following. And if not, then feel free to skip this post in favor of another vacation related post (which I haven’t written yet).

We have this rule on vacation. I’m not sure whose family it originated with, but in general it is this: When eating out, choose a place that is unique to the place you’re visiting (or is something you can’t eat anytime you want at home). I have some memory of my dad abiding by this rule on some vacations, and honestly this is the sort of thing that would give me some anxiety as a child. Mostly because I didn’t know what to order in an unfamiliar place and I didn’t enjoy the process of trying to choose something new. I’m a little bit better about that now.

While traveling, we try to work a balance between eating out and cooking in/packing sandwiches. While food is important to us, we cannot spend all of our vacation budget on eating out, so we make some sacrifices on the food side of things so we can have more experiences.

On this family vacation, I was really pleased with our balance.

The bulk of our vacation was spent at a rustic cabin in the Finger Lakes. “Rustic” in that it had electricity but no running water and no heat. We had a stove and a fridge and beds, as well as a flush toilet adjacent to the cabin. I know this might sound like a nightmare to some of you but it was heaven to me. Slowing down and taking more time to do the everyday ordinary tasks resets something in my soul.

Take breakfast, as an example. Each morning at the cabin, I set water to boil for coffee and added some instant granules to a tin mug. I spooned the water into the mug then waited a minute or so for the mug itself to cool down so I could drink it.

In some ways this is faster than my usual process of coffee intake, but it was a different method. We cooked eggs in some form most mornings because that’s what I need to start my day. One day, we cooked bacon in the cabin and set the smoke alarm off. It was just like cooking at home! Next time, I’d ask my husband to build a fire and do it outside. Another morning we cooked spam and ate it with our eggs. It actually tastes better than it smells. Because my husband works in produce, we packed a lot of fruit to bring with us. We had apples and nectarines and bananas to eat with breakfast or lunch. Sometimes it’s hard to eat vegetables and fruit on vacation. We wanted to do what we could to include those important food groups.

We wanted our dinners at the cabin to be over the fire as much as possible. We planned two campfire meals on our first grocery run and added a third on the last day because cooking over a fire is fun when you’re camping. The first dinner was our take on campfire packets. We divided ground beef and frozen hash browns with dry onion soup mix (because I forgot to pack an onion from our stash at home) onto squares of foil and wrapped them up. When that was done we topped them with cheese. They turned out okay.

Our son, who wasn’t excited about them in the first place, said, “It’s not the BEST thing I ever ate.” (But he ate almost all of his.) We made up for it by toasting giant marshmallows in the fire and making s’mores with peanut butter cups, caramel-filled chocolates and dark chocolates.

The next night, we roasted hot dogs over the fire and had stopped at a local grocery on our way back from an adventure to pick up a creamy salad of some kind. It was maple bacon potato salad, which sounded more interesting than it tasted. Too much maple, I think. We also ate all the hot dogs, which was too much. Two of us nearly made ourselves sick! 

The meal for the third campfire night was my husband’s decision. He and our son went to the store while my daughter and I tended the laundry at the laundromat. He was going to make me guess what the meal would be by putting the groceries away, but the kids took care of that and then our son blurted out: “we’re making quesadillas!” I was skeptical but let me tell you, it worked out beautifully. I made a Napolean Dynamite joke about “quesadillas” (pronounced with a DILL in the middle) and then changed it to “quesa-GRILL-as.” You’re welcome, and I’m coining that.

Next time, we’d do a little more pre-planning for meals to make over a fire. This was our first camping foray in more than five years and the first ever with the kids, so we weren’t as confident about our cooking abilities. Knowing we can do it and do it well makes us more sure for the next time.

If you read through all of that and aren’t bored yet, let me now tell you about the restaurants we found on our vacation.

We started our trip in Cooperstown, N.Y. and since our hotel didn’t include breakfast, we just ate a couple of breakfast bars and planned to eat at a diner that served all-day breakfast for an early lunch. Just down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum (our reason for being in Cooperstown) is a place called the Cooperstown Diner. I forgot to take a picture of the building, so click here to get an idea of how tiny this place is. We waited outside for seats to free up, and it was kind of a first-come, first-served sort of deal and the honors system among the people waiting. Apparently, there was a baseball tournament going on in town, so lots of places were extra busy. We didn’t wait long, though. I had the diner muffin, which is basically a breakfast sandwich (egg and bacon on a English muffin) with a side of home fries. The kids had cinnamon roll french toast and Texas french toast. Phil had corned beef hash. It was all tasty and filled our bellies for our afternoon at the Hall of Fame Museum.

Between Cooperstown and our cabin in the Finger Lakes, we stopped for dinner in Syracuse. My husband had heard of this place calle Dinosaur BBQ. He can’t quite remember how he stumbled on it, but we were all up for it. To be honest, the place has a dive-bar vibe, but not in a scary way, really. We waited maybe 20 minutes for a table. Phil had checked out the menu ahead of time and pretty much knew what we were going to order to share. I had a honeycrisp cider to accompany my meal, and it was DEE-LISH. Our meal included ribs, beef brisket, and pulled pork with sides of greens, baked beans, cole slaw and mac and cheese, and we started with a sampler plate that had fried green tomatoes, deviled eggs, spicy shrimp, and chicken wings.

If that sounds like a lot of food, it was, and yes, we had leftovers. We took them to the cabin and ate them with breakfast two days later. The ribs were as tasty as any I’ve eaten, and the brisket was second favorite. I’m not a big beans or fried green tomatoes fan, but I enjoyed those as well.

I should mention that our lunches while at the cabin consisted of sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies. Usually we were out on an adventure or between adventures, so we packed sandwiches to eat picnic-style or had them at the cabin. 

A lunch picnic at a park on one of the Finger Lakes.

On Wednesday we had ice cream in Interlaken, N.Y. at the Cayuga lake Creamery. (If you know us at all, you know that we also take ice cream very seriously.) This place was on the way to our adventures that day and had won some awards for its ice cream. Among the four of us we had the following flavors: red, white and blueberry; lavender; crunchy grasshopper; and mocha chocolate chunk. None of us were sorry.

Our next eating out place that same day was Ithaca Beer Co. Phil and I enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage, mostly when we’re out at a restaurant, but even if we didn’t, I would recommend local breweries as eating places while on vacation. Ithaca Beer has been around for a while. The venue itself is magical, with a large outdoor beer garden and seating area, and the food is fresh and local. The menu rotates with seasonal availability. We had a fry flight, which comes with three sauces and let me tell you, plain ketchup was not one of them. I had to fight my kids for a turn with the fries and the sauce. Pickled vegetables with a buttermilk-pistachio dip and crackers was a second starter. I had a chorizo soup and our daughter had hoisin meatballs. The guys–father and son–both had pulled pork sandwiches after our son found out they didn’t have bacon for the cheddar burger. (Kid loves his bacon.)

On Friday, we left for Niagara Falls and did our usual quick-bite breakfast before packing up and made sandwiches for the car. After walking around Niagara Falls State Park for hours, we stumbled onto Anchor Bar, which originated in Buffalo and is the home to the original buffalo wings. Anchor Bar was one place we thought we were going to miss by not going to Buffalo, but there was one right there in Niagara. Phil was pleased to learn they also had beef on weck, another local speciality we were told to try. He was able to get that and wings on the same plate.

I had buffalo chicken on a salad.

The kids both had pasta dishes that were larger than their heads. Buffalo chicken is not something I’m going to choose first, but here, it was unlike any similar chicken I’d had before. Personally, I thought the beef on weck was too salty, but I guess that’s part of its charm.

We knew going into the weekend that we were going to eat out a lot. We were back in a hotel that didn’t have a fridge and we were staying in Canada, which gave us opportunity to try some truly unique fare because we didn’t want to eat at all the overpriced places on the strip. (And yes, there’s a strip in Niagara Falls that rivals Las Vegas and Nashville, if you ask me.) I asked the locals working the desk where we could go that wouldn’t break the bank but would also give us a sense of what the locals do. The recommendations were spot on.

Saturday breakfast was at the hotel. There’s a little made-to-order restaurant on premises and we got the usual diner breakfast fare with all the Canadian kindness we could handle. For lunch, we walked across the parking lot to the second restaurant on premises, Zappi’s Pizza and Pasta Italian Eatery. We were told they were fair-priced and a mom-and-pop kind of place. (To compare, our other options were things like TGIFriday’s, Margaritaville, My Cousin Vinny’s, and the like.) The Greek salad came recommended, and it wasn’t a wrong choice. I also had the stuffed mushrooms, which tasted like pizza inside of a mushroom–yum! Sweet potato fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Phil ordered a pizza with sausage and rapini (broccoli rabe), our son had ravioli, and our daughter had Caesar salad (that’s kind of her thing). Here, our son also had C-plus orange soda. We’d never heard of it but we all took a sip and it was tasty.

Dinner was the piece de resistance to our culinary adventures. Doc Magilligan’s is an Irish pub in the middle of Niagara Falls, Canada, and its chef recently was awarded Best Irish Chef in North America. While it’s not what I would expect to eat in Canada, we were assured it was the kind of place the locals go. I’m so glad we did! Not only was the atmosphere unique and inviting, but the food was worth the extra (small) effort it took to find the place.

I’d read online that ordering a boxty was the way to go. It’s like an Irish potato pancake, sort of, only thin and stuffed with meats and veggies. I had a haddock taco trio boxty. Phil had a chicken curry boxty, which was probably my favorite of the ones I tasted. Our daughter had a reuben boxty. And our son had a slider trio that included a lamb burger. I drank a local blood orange cider. It’s this sort of thing that I love about travel–experiencing food and drink you can’t find anywhere else.

On departure day, Sunday morning, we hit up the Tim Horton’s just up the block because it’s the thing you’re supposed to do in Canada. The coffee was good and I had a breakfast egg sandwich. The Timbits (donut holes) were a big hit with the rest of the fam, too.

Although our vacation was technically over, we let the culinary curiosity take over on the way home, too. We met my parents in Toledo, Ohio, something we’ve done on the regular for years, but we had never eaten at Tony Packo’s. There’s now one near where we stop. It’s like Hungarian fast food. I had chicken paprikash over Hungarian dumplings. Our daughter had stuffed cabbage. There were hot dogs galore at the table and a variety of pickles.

After sending our children off with their grandparents, we ate pizza with our friends in their home just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, and walked to the local diner for breakfast. There, I had a spinach and tomato eggs benedict, which was different and good.

Our of necessity for time, Phil and I grabbed a sandwich from Roy Rogers on the turnpike back to Lancaster.

Years ago, when I went on my second mission trip, the trip leader was given the advice to “feed them well” because we were working on disaster relief. I feel like vacation deserves a similar principle. We “eat in” just enough to not feel bad about spending money on good quality food on other days.

And the food experiences add to the overall travel experience.

I’m curious: What’s your vacation eating style? What unique places have you discovered while traveling?

Filed Under: family, food, New York, Summer, Travel Tagged With: cooperstown n.y., eating out, finger lakes, Niagara Falls, summer vacation

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Hi. I’m Lisa, and I’m glad you’re here. If we were meeting in real life, I’d offer you something to eat or drink while we sat on the porch letting the conversation wander as it does. That’s a little bit what this space is like. We talk about books and family and travel and food and running, whatever I might encounter in world. I’m looking for the beauty in the midst of it all, even the tough stuff. (You’ll find a lot of that here, too.) Thanks for stopping by. Stay as long as you like.

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