Rocha-chatter

This past year I have been making an effort to be more green and live a sustainable lifestyle. I take the bus, use reusable bags, changed my lightbulbs to compact florescent bulbs, started a composter...

One of the biggest things was joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. We have a small garden in our backyard, but we were interested in what a CSA could offer.


Our CSA farm not only has organic vegetables, but they also have flowers, eggs, turkeys, grains and you can sign up for organic beef.


We chose a CSA that was close enough that we could pick up our own veggies and work there a couple days this summer. I like going to the farm and seeing where my food comes from. I also like petting the goats.


Eating locally is not a perfect solution. Obviously, not much grows in our area in the winter months, and growing food in oil heated greenhouses is not a great solution either. Also I can't imagine never having bananas or a pineapple, because it didn't grow near me.

But joining a CSA is definitely good and every little bit helps.

My friend Sarah and her mom just opened a new yarn shop. They bought the Village Yarn Shop and moved it from Midtown to East Rochester and it is now The Village Yarn and Fiber Shop. They added wool roving and spinning supplies, hence the addition of "Fiber".

Several years ago my friends and I started a group called Sit & Knit. We sat at a local Starbucks, chatted and knit things. We all had varying degrees of skill and I benefited from other's knowledge... moving from making scarves to mittens and hats. Around that time knitting had become incredibly hip.


Now Sarah is living the dream and will be surrounded by yarn and needles and knitters everyday. I am so happy for her. The shop is cozy and inviting. There is a couch where you could sit and knit to your hearts content. I am sure you will find me there often, petting the yarn and plotting out my next pair of mittens.

Labels: craft, knitting, store

I was at the Watkins Glen NASCAR race this weekend rooting for the Kodak No. 12 car and driver Ryan Newman.


A pit pass gave me the chance to see the car up close and watch all the action during the race.


I made sure to stay out of the pit crew's way. It was amazing to see them work behind the scenes.


The crew runs like a well oiled machine. I couldn't believe how fast they could get the car tires off and on. Zing, zing, zing, zing and done!

Here is a video that captures the action.

Labels: Kodak, nascar, No. 12 car, watkins glen

Summer in Rochester means festivals and festivals mean festival food. There's funnel cake, butterfly fries and cups of lemonade the size of your head.

But one of my favorite summer festival foods is more basic. Salt potatoes. Little potatoes boiled in salt and served drenched in melted butter. Oh yum!

I never had salt potatoes until I moved to Rochester, and goodness knows I'd had a lot of potatoes up until that point. A little googling and it turns out that salt potatoes are a regional dish of Central New York.

Wikipedia says.... "The Syracuse, New York area has a long history of salt production. Salt springs located around Onondaga lake were used to create consumable salt that was distributed through out the north-east via the Erie Canal. The salinated water was laid out to dry on large trays, the salt residue was then scraped up, ground, and packaged. Salt potatoes were created in the nineteenth century by Irish immigrants who worked the springs. The first packaged salt potatoes were sold in the 1960s."

I have bought the bags of potatoes that come packaged with a little bag of salt at Wegmans and made my very own salt potatoes at home... but somehow it's not the same as eating them on the street in front of a local band.

Labels: food