Adios Upstate!

For my last night in Rochester, New York we celebrated by going to one of my favorite new-ish restaurants- TRATA (a.k.a. The Restaurant at the Armory).  The Culver Road Armory was built in 1916 for the local Army National Guard, but fell out of use after WWII.  In 2012 it was totally redone to include office spaces, galleries, and this delicious restaurant.  In the renovation they kept a lot of the old brick walls and steel beams and rehabbed it with more modern touched, including a lot of hand-blown glass lamps.  

We started with a tuna bruschetta, steamed buns with slow-roasted pork belly, and tempura green beans. We ordered double of those delicious little steamed buns because there is no way to describe how heavenly they are. I'm in love.

In fact, I got so excited about those little pork belly rolls I totally forgot to take pictures for the rest of the evening.

But, needless to say, everything else was equally as good.  My mom got duck quesadillas with gruyere and creme fraiche (you can't go wrong with cheesy gooey-ness),  C.J. got the Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp which he really enjoyed despite none of us being curry people, and Dad and I split the Short Ribs.  They're braised in oatmeal stout and served over a cheddar potato cake. I replaced the broccolini that came with it with a side of mac and cheese because, if you haven't understood this yet, I'm in love with everything cheese.  The mac and cheese was crispy on top and gooey inside and had some pancetta in there for good measure.  Well worth the swap!

The next morning my mom and I went for a walk in the canal before my flight went out since the weather was still perfect (75 and sunny).  This time we parked in Bushnell's Basin so we could jump on the highway quick.  

This must be just about the perfect place to relax on a day like this.

Afternoon with Ana

While in New York I was fortunate enough to catch up with some old friends- including my very oldest friend, Ana.  Ana and I became friends in the fifth grade when we both were cheerleaders together.  We've been friends through every embarrassing childhood phase imaginable. We started a band together in middle school (we even made music videos and signed photos- it doesn't matter if you can't sing or play instruments), built stuff in her dad's garage while blasting Nelly, and then made the harsh transition to black band t-shirts and a Slipknot/Slayer concert.  We even have a shocking number of exes in common (the perks of a small town). Despite our mutual inability to stay in contact from a distance, we always manage to pick up right where we left off.

the beautiful Ana!

Given the absolutely beautiful weather we were having, we were determined to spend the maximum amount of time outside possible.  At my dad's suggestion, we went to Aladdin's Natural Eatery for lunch.  It's right on the Erie Canal in Pittsford, and they have two stories of outdoor seating, so it's basically perfect for that one-in-a-million sunny day in Rochester.

Home Sweet Home in Upstate New York

After a week in Ohio it was time to hop a plane and head back my homeland of upstate New York!

Because I was flying from small city to small city I ended up on one of those itty bitty propeller planes.

And before I knew it I was home.  My mom being the wonderful woman with a similar love for food we stopped at Wegman's on our way home.  If you don't know it, Wegman's is seriously The Best grocery store.  It was started in Rochester, and I've been going there forever.  It's so great Cher demanded to go there when she came here to perform.  It's that good.  We got all stocked up for a delicious grilled dinner to take full advantage of the warm and sunny weather- steak, girl scout potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad.  Every item was cooked on the grill and totally scrumptious.  Next time we'll have pictures, I promise!

After dinner we settled in with a glass of homemade Limoncello made by my very own Dad.  My parents went on their honeymoon to Capri, an island off of Italy.  To celebrate their 20th anniversary we all went on a mediterranean cruise that was the trip of a lifetime.  While there we fell in love with limoncello- a lemon liquor.  This year he decided to try his own hand at it, and from what I hear it's pretty simple.  And I can vouch that it is very very good.

 my petite glass