Things to do over the next few months

http://www.buffalohomecoming.com/

Buffalo Homecoming 2008 (www.BuffaloHomecoming.com) is a celebration of the best of Buffalo for those who are here because they want to be, and for those who are not in Buffalo, but wish they were... It's about keeping our best and brightest here and bringing back those who have left but wish they were here -- if only for a fabulous long weekend in June! From eating out to a Career Fair to an immense Block Party and Reunion to a fabulous Sunday Brunch...this event is the best way to fall in love with Buffalo -- for some, all over again!

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http://www.niagarawinetrail.org

May 10 & 11: Wine Trail Blossoms (Mother’s Day)

$20 gets you a free wine glass, free tastings, and a potted herb at each winery!

Here's a list of the herbs that will be available at each winery!

Arrowhead---Hardy Lavender
Chiappone---Italian Oregano
Eveningside---Sweet Marjoram
Freedom Run---Cinnamon Basil
Honeymoon Trail---Garlic Chives
Leonard Oakes---Chocolate Mint
Niagara Landing---French Tarragon
Schulze Winery---Tricolor Sage
Spring Lake---English Thyme
Vizcarra Vineyards---Cilantro
Warm Lake Estate---Tuscan Blue Rosemary
Marjim Manor---Spicy Bush Basil

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http://www.shopeasternhills.com/calendar.html

Sweet Taste of WNY Saturday, June 7 · 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. - Eastern Hills Mall

Sweet Taste of WNY is a special event benefiting Roswell Park Cancer Institute where area families will be able to sample delicious desserts from many different local restaurants. The day will also feature celebrity autograph signings, dessert cooking demonstrations, FREE giveaways and prizes, musical entertainment and "Sweet Deals" from mall retailers.

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http://www.senecalakewine.com/jc/content/view/114/131/

Riesling to Visit Passport - Seneca Lake Wineries

Our region is known for literally some of the world's finest Rieslings. Now in its third year, the Passport is a terrific value. Armed with this little booklet, the Passport enables wine enthusiasts to enjoy a free flight of wines at each of the participating wineries, many of which may include a sample of Riesling. (As we get closer to the passport sale date, wineries and maps will be provided.)

Here is how it works: First of all, starting winery points are not assigned for this passport program - YOU MAY START WHERE YOU LIKE! With the purchase of this passport, visit any of the participating wineries, receive a free** flight of wines at each winery, and please make sure they stamp or mark the appropriate space in your Riesling to Visit Passport. At the end, provided you have visited at predetermined number of wineries by the end of the summer, follow the instructions in your passport and return it to our office to be entered in a prize drawing for the "Ultimate Cruisin' Weekend 2009!". Also take advantage of the opportunities from our accommodations and other businesses listed in the passport.

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http://www.polfunfest.com/

6th Annual Polish Heritage Festival

Fri. May 30 to Sun. Jun 1 2008

Fri. 4pm-12am, Sat. 12pm-12am, Sun. 10am-9pm

Guinness World Record Fish Fry Attempt! Continuous Polish & country music, dancing, and dancers! 4 Patty Waszak "The Polish Princess" Shows! Polish bands - Lenny Gomulka & Chicago Push, Jerry Darlak & the Touch! Country band - 90 WEST! Great Polish- American Czarnina Duck Race! Polish & American food, wine, and beer!

ADMISSION:
Friday:
FREE Admission
Help us break the Guinness World Record!
$9.00 Fish Fry Dinner
Click Here to order yours now!

SERIOUSLY.....GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR FISH FRY....YOU HAVE TO GO.



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Outdoor Arts & Craft Show and Taste of West Seneca

Sat. Jul 12 to Sun. Jul 13 2008

9 to 5

Outdoor Arts and Crafts show sponsored by the West Seneca Kiwanis with local restaurants featuring a "taste" of their menu.

West Seneca Town Hall

Union Road, West Seneca 14224

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www.stjohnmaron.org

Western New York Lebanese Festival

Fri. Jul 25 to Sun. Jul 27 2008

Fri 5-11; Sat 2-11; Sun 12-6

10th Annual Lebanese Festival Live entertainment and dance performances; traditional Lebanese food; games of chance and raffles for adults; children's games h/c access

St. John Maron Church

2040 Wehrle Drive, Williamsville 14221

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http://www.eanycc.com/sidewalk.asp

East Aurora Street & Sidewalk Sale

Sat. Jul 26 2008

Saturday, 9-4pm

Pet Connection Programs Inc will be at the East Aurora Street & Sidewalk Sale on Saturday, July 26, 2008 from 9-4pm. Chinese auction and we will be selling home grown peas and beans. Shelter animals will be there to greet you. All proceeds benefit the animals at the shelter. h/c access

East Aurora

Main Street, East Aurora 14052

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AND OF COURSE....

http://www.tasteofbuffalo.com/

Come Celebrate the 25th annual Taste of Buffalo!

The 2008 Taste of Buffalo will be held on July 12th and 13th, 2008. The Taste of Buffalo is one of the nation's largest food festivals and attracts more than 450,000 people annually to the event--and is fun by the forkful.

The Taste features some of the region's best restaurants serving some of the most enjoyable foods the area has to offer. Looking forward to seeing you at our 25th Birthday Celebration on July 12th and 13th in downtown Buffalo.




And of course there are many, MANY more things to do around here. I don't think any of us really realize how much there really is.

China......yuck

Awhile back I decided to stop buying things from China. Little did I realize how hard it would be, especially when you're on a super tight budget. I eventually had to loosen my total ban, and now I just try to be conscious about where things come from.

Why ban things from China? Well, it started for me with the dog food scare of a year ago. That, of course, got my attention. I found out that standards for manufacturing all sorts of edible and non edible things are shockingly low. So I kept reading.

Here are a few of the things I learned.

- 16 of 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China.
- The government recently gave massive tax incentives to a chemical processing plant to build it one mile from a farm.
- There are villages in china where the cancer rate is 50 TIMES greater than average.
- Two new coal burning power plants open EVERY WEEK.
- China recently surpassed the US in production of Carbon dioxide pollution. This may not seem so shocking at first, but when you taken into account the fact that 10 years ago scientists calculated that if China continued at it's then current rate of growth it would take 50 years to surpass the US, it becomes much scarier.

There are small glimmers of hope. The State Environmental Protection Administration in China is still operating, although severely under funded. And there has been a large number of peasant protests in the last few years, so many so that the government has taken notice and began to consider the protests and riots when making decisions. And new laws are being passes to make fines more severe for not adhering to existing environmental standards.

The United States is definitely not setting a wonderful example. But I just think we all should be aware of these things, so we can make informed decisions.

A few links to my friends

Here are a few other blogs for you to check out when you're so bored you're actually reading my blog:

billygart.blogspot.com/
-Bill Gallagher's art site

sickjerseybro.blogspot.com
- Ryan Caprio. I don't have to say more, do I.

scottithicus.blogspot.com
- Scott Cielewich: Ex-boyfriend extraordinaire.

VIRGIN FEST!!

So I want to go to Virgin Fest. It's in Toronto, Sept 6 and 7. I'm not sure yet if I can go or not, but even if I can't, I figured I'd let all of you know about it so you can go and have fun in my place in case I can't.

I was listening to Oasis in the car on the way to work today, and I was thinking about how I have never seen them live and that that is wrong in so many ways. Then I hear that they're headlining Virgin Fest on Sept 7. It was like fate I tell you.

http://virginfestival.ca/toronto/

Cool Gadget of the week

Over 15 billion alkaline batteries are made and thrown away every year, wasting resources, CO2 and creating toxic landfill.

These USBCELL AA batteries can be recharged easily and conveniently from the USB port on any computer! It makes them ideal for use in computer or gaming accessories, and they're also great for using when you're traveling.

Rechargeable hundreds of times over. No cables or chargers required! Just pull the cap off the battery and plug straight into your computer's USB port.

USBCELL batteries can be used in any device that uses standard AA batteries. Wireless mice, MP3 players, cameras.

Try the USBCELL batteries today, you'll save money and help to save the environment!

Ideal uses: wireless mice, game controllers, mp3 players, electric toothbrushes... use your imagination!


(from www.terrapass.com......a really cool website in general....go there now.)

see more funny graphs

Our trip to cleveland was great. The hangover is still subsiding, but that's ok. Here are my two fav pics from the evening:

I bought a $35 bottle of Argentinian Malbec. I think that's the most I ever spent on a bottle of wine. :-) It was good though. Tyler bought icewine from Ohio, also great. The latest issue of Food and Wine magazine has a section on the best American wines under $15... if you're interested, pick it up!

CLEVELAND!!!

I am headed to Cleveland tomorrow with Tyler. I am very excited, even though I generally dislike Cleveland. To me, there are 3 amazing things about Cleveland. 1. The West Side Market (http://www.westsidemarket.com) 2. Tommy's Restaurant, (http://tommyscoventry.com/) and 3. Carrie and Alex.

food stand that has the BEST enchiladas and shrimp If you have even a small appreciation for food and cooking, you have to go to the West Side Market. It's like what the Broadway Market should be. It's worth the 3 hour drive. It's a HUGE building filled with every kind of food you can think of. Seriously, think of a food. Something odd. Yup, they have it. And you can spend $20 and have enough produce for a month. There's this one Mexican stand that has the best enchiladas and shrimp ceviche.
Then, while you're there, go to Tommy's, which is no where near the market, but also worth it. There are things on the menu there that I never would have guessed I would have liked (um, peanut butter grilled cheese, anyone?) but everything is delicious. It caters to vegan/vegetarian, but there's meats as well.

And Carrie and Alex, well, you have to know them I guess. ;-)

My disapointing after work meal.

So I usually come home from work famished. Which generally then leads to cooking something that I should not be eating and hour before I go to bed. Spaghetti, mac and cheese, tacos, you get the point. But tonight I decided to make the box of rice and red curry I bought from the big new target on Transit road in that West Seneca/Depew/Lancaster/Cheektowaga area. That place rocks. Lots more food than you'd find at your older Target. And when I saw this boxed meal I thought it sounded good. I LOVE curries. And if there was a way to make it quicker and easier at 1:00am, that's even better.

So I bought the Archer Farms Jasmine Rice with Red Curry sauce.

Not good.

I cooked it according to the directions, and added shredded chicken from the fridge.

Ew.

The rice was gummy and the sauce tasted like it was made by someone from Milwaukee who has never seen or tasted curry, but made curry from what he thought sounded like what should be in it.

So back to spaghetti, mac and cheese and tacos.

Here's my recipe for really really good and easy mac and cheese. It's enough for like 3 big servings.

3/4 box of any kind of short pasta you like
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 1/4 grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 can condensed Cheddar cheese soup (campbells)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 egg, beaten

Cook the pasta until almost done, but not quite.

In a saucepan, mix butter, milk, and grated cheese. Mix over medium heat till it melts. Add sour cream, cheese soup, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Turn off heat and add egg while mixing continuously. Add pasta and mix. Pour into casserole dish. Sprinkle seasoned bread crumbs on the top if you like that sort of thing. (I generally don't.) Bake in a 350 degree oven about 10-15 min until bubbly.

Super easy, especially if you buy already grated cheese. But be sure to buy sharp or extra sharp shredded cheddar.


Oh, and the best mac and cheese I've had at a restaurant: Fat Bobs.

Clean my hood

Spring Cleanup in the Elmwood Village!

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Spring has sprung and that means its time to give Elmwood Avenue a clean sweep!

Please join your neighbors on Saturday, April 19^th for the Elmwood Village Association's Annual Spring Cleanup. We’ll meet at 10:00am at the Elmwood Village Association office located at 890 Elmwood Avenue and proceed to pick up litter, sweep sidewalks and rake tree beds in small groups from Forest Avenue to Allentown. We'll provide garbage bags and plastic gloves to volunteers. We ask that you please bring your own broom or rake to this event. This is a fun and simple way to give back to your community and enjoy the wonderful spring weather.

If you’re planning on attending please contact Elmwood Village Executive Director, Justin Azzarella, at justin@elmwoodvillage.org to rsvp or for additional information.

I just found a really cool site about buffalo. Go visit. Now. DO IT.

http://www.blockclubonline.com/

DOGS DOGS DOGS

I am very exc ited about spring being here. We went to the dog park today for the first time of the season. For anyone who wants info on the park or directions, go to http://www.buffola.wnymedia.net/





And here are some pics of my two lunatics just cuz you should see them.















And if anyone reading this knows/sees Tyler in the near future, it's his b-day on Tuesday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!