CNY

really is an amazing place to live. Yesterday Patrick and I went back up to Hamilton College and hiked again. For those of you who don't know it, Hamilton is a very old, very expensive ($47,000/year) private college in good old Clinton, NY. It is its own little world, complete with Root Glen, a series of trails that go in the woods. We went into Kirkland Glen (also up there), which is maintained by the town of Kirkland (Village of Clinton is in the town of Kirkland, got it?). The trees don't really have leaves yet, but we saw trillium and shooting stars. Then we went up a back road and hiked around on some property with a tree line where people have just dumped garbage for years, and I found a metal twin bed headboard and foot board that I'm going back to get. I just have to cut the little trees that have grown between the bars. Crazy stuff.

The yard is coming along. Noel came and cut the apple tree stumps down, and we loaded the wood. Then I took the grape arbor apart, and Patrick cut the grapes down and we hauled the stuff to the curb, which is completely full the width of my house with my tree trimmings and leaves. We can't get one post out, so if you wanna help, help. It's bent and if it's like the other one P got out, it's in the ground about six feet.

So, things are shaping up. I need a new back porch door, so I might get to go to crazy Bouckville this afternoon after the Vagina Monologues. More about Bouckville (the craziest antique center I've ever seen) later. Gotta go, time to bake brownies for V Day.
Peace and Happy Saturday

Pictureless

I didn't have a camera for so long that I guess I forget I have one now. My goal last night was to take pics of the Friday night fish fry at the Creekside Cafe and post them here with some commentary about how sweet it is that we in CNY have this tradition. Fish fry happens all year, but it really takes on significance when Lent rolls around and Catholics forsake meat on Fridays. During Lent, every restaurant, bowling alley, church and just about any building in CNY with a kitchen is cranking out this delicacy. It's battered and fried haddock served with fries and slaw, and if you're paying more than ten dollars for it, you're getting robbed. The piece of haddock you'll get is HUGE, and the fries and slaw just add to the overall deliciousness of the dish. If you ate fish fry every day, you'd probably keel over in a month.

Writing this post has reminded me of all the good eats we have here in CNY. I'll be honest, I don't eat all of these area specialties, and one of them I haven't even tried, but here they are with no descriptions:
-- riggies, either chicken or vodka
-- tomato pie
-- pusties
-- spiedies (more a western New York thing, but you can get them here too)
-- greens
Okay, dear reader now it's up to you to provide descriptions of the aforementioned dishes.

Idaho has its delicacies too, and some of them I sorely miss. If you're reading my blog from the Gem State (Clark and maybe Ginger), can you tell our readers about the following delicious dishes?
-- Indian fry tacos
-- funeral potatoes (probably more Mormon than Idahoan, but oh so delightful)
-- chokecherry syrup or jam
-- Basque sheeepherders bread (from central Idaho)
-- huckleberry syrup or jam
-- fresh trout (rainbow, cutthroat, brook, any kind really)
-- Pollo Asada (clearly not just Idahoan, but certainly not on any Mexican restaurant menus around here)
What did I forget? There are plenty of potato-related dishes, from ice cream to chocolate covered potato chips, but I've never had the urge to partake in any of those.

Well, have fun with this post. It'll make you hungry. Maybe for a garbage plate at Betty's Cafe in Marcy, NY? That's where I'm going.
Happy Saturday