Rocha-chatter

Every November, a certain house in my neighborhood begins to buzz with activity. The owner of the house at the corner of Atlantic and Amsterdam starts the yearly task of putting up Christmas decorations. And they are decorations like no other.

Cars can be found parked on that street all through the holiday season, with families lingering on the sidewalk peering into this amazing yard display.

A switch kindly informs visitors when the display will be operational.

The display fills the backyard, wraps around the side of the house and spills into the front yard.

Every Christmas lawn decoration that you have ever seen has a place here.

I get a warm feeling whenever I go to see the display. These people don't have to do this. No ones makes them. No one asks them. It's a lot of work, yet every year... there it is... delighting everyone that sees it. You just know they love Christmas and to them I say "Thank You".

Labels: christmas, neighborhood

My husband and I are from Pennsylvania, so this week we will be driving down for Thanksgiving. The drive is always the same.. 390 to Route 15. Route 15 is the main road for anyone heading south through PA... and it has strange places along it... like Clyde Peelings Reptileland.

One spot that has always intrigued me is the Fry Brother's Turkey Ranch.


They serve all turkey all the time.


Turkey and Waffles, Turkey and Bisquits, Hot Turkey Sandwich. A whole lotta turkey.


Here's the thing... most people driving along Rt. 15 are on a road trip... making their way south through PA. And as delicious as it all is... tryptophan laden turkey is the last thing you want to be eating when you are driving for 6 hours. Yes, we were dumb enough to do it once, but we learned our lesson.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving (don't eat too much turkey before getting behind the wheel).

Labels: food, holiday, restaurant

Thanksgiving is around the corner. Time to start planning your turkey dinner. And while you're at it, why cook a plain ol' regular turkey? Consider having an EXTREME TURKEY!

Probably the craziest turkey out there is the TURDUCKEN. A turducken is a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey. Yep. Meat with a side of meat. I say why stop there? Stick a cornish hen inside the chicken and then stuff the whole thing inside a roast pig. Perhaps that should then be placed inside a cow. Yum.

BBQ grills are not just for burgers and hot dogs anymore. You could have a GRILLED TURKEY for Thanksgiving. Grilling your turkey will give it a nice brown skin and that yummy grilled flavor. It doesn't take as long as you would think... about 3 hours. You may want to make sure the neighbor dogs can't get in your yard.

Get your turkey and your alcohol in one fell swoop with a BEER CAN TURKEY. Placing a can of beer inside a chicken provides flavored steam to the inside of the chicken as it cooks. Sounds tasty... *hiccup*

And lastly we have the DEEP FRIED TURKEY. I actually know quite a bit about these. We have deep fried turkeys in our backyard in the snow and on the beach in the summer. There is no bad time for deep fried turkey.

You gotta have the custom deep fryer and a whole lot of peanut oil.

The turkey gets injected with marinade and then rubbed down with a spice mixture.

After about 45 minutes of oil sizzling and splattering to kingdom come, you've got yourself a delicious, moist, flavorful turkey.

No matter how you cook your turkey, you will be comatose approximately 15 minutes after consuming it.

Labels: food, holiday

The Halloween decorations are down and the candy is nearly all gone. At our house in the city we had 267 trick or treaters. That number is actually down from last year, which is surprising considering how warm it was on Halloween.

This year instead of a regular Halloween party, we had a spooky sit down dinner party with a mad scientist theme.

With October behind me I am ready for the onrush of Christmas. Hopefully with a little Thanksgiving stuck in between.

Labels: halloween

Some of my favorite foods are in season right now.

Pumpkin soup at the Coal Tower Restaurant in Shoehn Place. Sounds weird but sooo good.

Snack Jack pumpkins can be found at some pumpkin patches. The seeds are delicous roasted because they have no hull!

Really, doesn't pumpkin anything taste good? These are from Richport Bakery.

Abbotts has their pumpkin and grape custards, but you have to hurry. They will be closing for the season soon. Corn Hill Creamery is offering sweet corn ice cream. Sounds odd... but quite yummy.

'Tis the season for caramel and candy apples. If you look hard you can even find grape candy apples!

Grape juice and grape pies are a fall favorite too.

Forget about gaining weight over the holidays... I think it starts as soon as summer is over.

Labels: bakery, fall, food, restaurant

"Hey, you wanna go run around a corn field in the dark with nothing but flashlights and pieces of a map?"

"Cool! Let's go!"

Two hours later you are still stumbling around picking bits of corn stalk out of your hair.

The Amazing Maize Maze is at Longacre Farm and if you like a challenge you can attempt it at night. (more agritainment)

You usually start off with lots of energy and excitement.

It is not unlike being part of the Scooby Gang.

This is the dreaded moment. Getting left behind by the person with the last working flashlight.

Because finding your way out of a maze isn't hard enough, they hide mailboxes throughout the maze with pieces of the map inside. If you are obsessive compulsive, you cannot leave the maze until you have found ALL the pieces.

We found all the map pieces and made it out alive. After two and a half hours.

Labels: agritainment, fall

Last week I realized that two of our local museums had similiar themes.

El Santo durante un rodaje en el puerto de Acapuco, 1969. Digital inkjet print.

The George Eastman House has an exhibit of Lucha Libre! Masked Mexican Wrestlers....

...and the Memorial Art Gallery had TRANSactions: Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art.

This was too much of a coincidence for me so we had "Mexican Museum Exhibit Night" with our friends. We hit both exhibits and then when to Salenas (newly renovated) for dinner.

The Luche Libre exhibit is unlike anything I have seen at the GEH. The photographs reveal more to this sport and there are a few videos running too. While you are there you can also check out "Tease" the exhibit of burlesque dancer photographs. Ooo La La.

Transactions is a great exhibit too. I like it when there is a multi-artist exhibit, you see so much variety. Be sure to look for the big photograph of the Last Supper rendered in chocolate syrup. The artist licked it all up after the photo was taken.

I am wondering if the GEH and MAG exhibits are coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month. Either way, it makes for a fun night out.

(I would have liked to see the human bodies on display at the Rochester Museum and Science Center but that didn't quite fit with the theme.)

Labels: museum, restaurant