Tag / Food

by Greg

Big Fun Food Day

For a little while now our friend Leah and I have been trying to plan a time for she and Scott and Jen & I to have a fun food extravaganza as a sort of “last hurrah” before they move to Maryland. Many obstacles have delayed the outing, and even made it seem impossible. But yesterday… we finally made it happen!! It was tons of fun! And tons of FOOD!

I shall henceforth refer it to as the Big Fun Food Day. 🙂

See, it all started with an idea in my head. We thought it would be fun to get babysitters for all our kids and go out on a “double date” with Scott & Leah before they leave, and I was trying to think of a fun place that they like to make it extra special. Well, the first one that came to mind is one that Leah likes, but Scott… hates. 🙂 (Funnier still, I also am a fan, but Jen is really not.) So, that wouldn’t work… unless…

I thought we could try a “progressive dinner” style outing. Leah and I could eat our fill at the Indian buffet, and then we’d go straight to a place that Scott (& Jen) like to eat. I ran the idea by Jen, and she thought it was fun, and then by Leah, and she too thought it a fun plan… She ran it by Scott, who added his consent and then Leah added Coldstone to the mix for dessert! Ha! Three places in one outing! Fun stuff!

After a few failed attempts at finding a day that worked for all (schedule conflicts) and then finding willing babysitters for our four and their three kids, we finally made it work yesterday!

It all started at about 12:45pm or so. We met up at Willowbrook where we dropped our van and carpooled with them in their (very tiny!) car to the India House buffet. (Photo below… Jen took it, so … she’s not in it.) 🙂

India House Buffet in Victor, NY

We had a crazy waiter here named Dave. He hit it off with Scott as they are both UFC (Ultimate Fight Challenge?) fans. He also introduced himself as Ravi and said he hates Indian food, music, and Indian people. That was awesome. 🙂 (We learned that the first thing he said was always false.) 🙂

The food was awesome, and as I didn’t plan on eating Indian food again for quite some time… I ate… three plates full. 🙂

I was full.

Carrabba's in Henrietta, NY

Next we decided to head to a town about 20 minutes west where Scott’s favorite restaurant resides. We had never been, so I made sure to sample some stuff, but MAN there was VERY little room for the samples! Scott & Jen feasted here. Leah did “sample” as well, of course… 🙂

Funny story was… we got out there about 2:40 or so… and they didn’t open till three!! So we went to Land’s End next door for a bathroom for the pregnant lady and some clothes shopping for Leah (and Jen enjoyed looking at the kids stuff as well) 🙂

Our waiter at Carrabba’s was very good as well. And strangely reminded us of a friend of ours (all of us). They have different names though, so we think they are different people… 🙂

Coldstone Creamery in Pittsford, NY

It was super late when we left Carrabba’s (we were having a great time!) so we didn’t get to stay and eat at Coldstone, but we did swing by there on the way home, and three of us got SMALL ice creams. 🙂 (Actually, Leah got a medium sized one…) 🙂

It was fantastic, but at that point, there was very little room for any more food, no matter how good it was! 🙂

We finally got back to our kids at 6pm, and once we collected them and all their stuff, we went over to the Vs house for a little extra hang out (and our kids all got to see each other and play then, too). That actually ended with Jen making a quick run to McDonald’s to round out the Big Fun Food Day (at least for the kids) with some burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and a snack wrap or two. 🙂

It was certainly a memory, and a great, big, fun, day of food! 🙂

More photos here.

by Greg

Anyone Feeling Generous?

Big Train ChaiI have officially come to the end of my chai supply. I’m pretty sure I have mentioned it here before, but many of you who know me in person have frequently heard me herald the greatness of this warm beverage. My favorite brand so far is Big Train chai. (Pictured to the right.) They have some great deals at Amazon.com, but with a stack of bills waiting to be paid… I’m going to hold off on the purchase for now.

So I just thought I would offer you the opportunity to be super (cali-fragi) generous and send a little chai my way… (all you need to do is click the photo of chai…….) 😉

Anyone feeling generous? 🙂

by Greg

National Hot Tea Month

Teapot
I learned from my wife last night that January is national hot tea month. Now, I am known to have a cup or two a day… I am a fan of many kinds. (Big Train Chai is another favorite drink!) But with it being National Tea Month and all… I suppose I shall have to have a bit more. 🙂

Care to join me for some tea?

(That’s our awesome brown tea kettle in the photo by the way!)

by Greg

Christmas Report II

When I was trying to think of what I needed to do today, I also remembered the past few days that have been. It seemed like today might be the first kinda normal day in a while. (Which, strangely makes it feel like Monday, maybe Tuesday…)

It’s been quite a week! I’m sure it was for you as well. I think maybe we have an extra piece with Ian’s birthday being on Christmas day. Because of that there are a few more celebration days for Ian in there. Like, we did our annual Birthday Burger at Red Robin sometime last week for his birthday. Balloons, singing, and all. It was awesome! Then the fun started again this past week… maybe on Saturday.

Saturday was the day we were singing at Wal-Mart. That shouldn’t have been as eventful as it was, but after getting there and getting everything set up, I realized I had no guitar picks. And then we found out that Wal-Mart did not either! So, we went on a bit of a scavenger hunt, finally picking some up (pun intended) at a local music store. Then, to top it all off, after about an hour of singing – which was super fun! – I broke a guitar string. While that used to be commonplace, I am pretty sure that’s the first time I have done that in most of TWO YEARS! Crazy!

After the string broke, we packed up and did a little last minute Christmas & birthday shopping there at Wal-Mart and a couple other stores. It was nice, just me and Jen. 🙂

When we got back home, we did a few more things then packed up the troops for a trip to Victor. We actually went to the mall area on the Saturday before Christmas!! (We really needed an ink cartridge, and that’s the closest office store…) After we picked that up, we stopped by our friends’ house and hung out for a little while with them. Had some hot cocoa and fresh-baked Christmas cookies! 🙂

Sunday morning brought a visit from some other friends. They were dropping their girls off so that they could go to the Bills/Giants game over in Buffalo! (They bought our tickets from us, a nice Christmas present for our friend the Giants fan. Unfortunately, turned out to be a little TOO nice!!) We kept their girls all day, and had a blast! The evening ended with a visit from John Dupra for a recording of the Buffalo Bills Review, and then some good Christmas cookies from our friends. 🙂

Christmas Eve started later than I thought it would. We slept in a bit, then tried to decide what to do. We were going to make some Christmas gifts (food) for friends and drop them off, but then after talking with them, decided to wait on that. But then in talking with our football ticket friends, ended up deciding to bring Christmas dinner over to their house to share with them the next day. So, in between making Christmas cookies for Santa, Christmas Eve also involved baking bread and making a lasagna to bake the next day!

That evening we went to Willowbrook to see friends (and family!) we haven’t seen for a while – some of them a LONG while! That was nice, and was followed by a stop at another family’s house for a late night Christmas Eve party! Was nice to hang out with them for a couple hours. We stayed longer than we wanted to, but that was due to caring for one of our friends’ sick kids. Long story. Long night. 🙂 We didn’t get home, and get the kids in bed, until midnight!

We weren’t totally done with Christmas and Birthday preparations by Midnight, so… we were both up till 2am. For me, that’s fine… for Jen? Not so fine. Christmas morning came a little too soon for her. Even though it wasn’t till 9am. 🙂

Christmas Day was no less crazy. Once we got up, I took a quick shower, and then we all headed downstairs to find some presents left by Santa (alongside the ones we had already put under the tree) and our stockings full of goodies! The kids were fun to watch. 🙂 After unwrapping all the fun presents, we headed into the kitchen to make a big French Toast breakfast for Ian’s birthday! (His request.)

After breakfast, we headed back to the family room for Ian to open his birthday presents. (Yes, he gets LOTS of presents on Dec 25th, and the week before and after that!) We didn’t have a cake, so I stuck a candle in a giant navel orange, and we sang for Ian using that. Fun stuff. 🙂

After Ian’s birthday celebrating, we packed up pretty quickly, and took our big Christmas lunch over to our friends’ house to celebrate and eat with them. Spent about two hours or so there. They may be moving soon, so we’re enjoying all the time we can get with them. Will be strange if we are not living in the same town…

We packed up after lunch with our friends and headed out to Buffalo to visit with Jen’s family. Got there around 4:30 or so and got right to eating! (Yes, you’re right… that IS a lot of eating…) It was a great meal, and a fun time with Jen’s family. Her oldest brother and family were not there, but there were plenty of people to go around and we had a great time giving and receiving gifts… and eating taco dip! (One of my favorites…) 🙂

We left around 8:30 or so, putting us back home at 10pm. We were BEAT from the past three days. Jen was exhausted for sure. The kids were pooped. Most slept the whole way home. But not Kirsten. She sang Christmas songs with Dad most of the time. 🙂 SO CUTE!!!

But we weren’t done.

Wednesday morning was very busy for me! I did sleep in, but once I got up I was on the phone, IM, and e-mailing. Plenty of Boxing Day business I guess! I was also making bread because some other friends were coming over for a late lunch/early dinner. And the best part? They were bringing lasagna! Funny. I made/brought lasagna for some other friends, and then we had different friends do the same for us! Give and you shall receive. Or something like that. 🙂

We had a great time with them, and enjoyed all the good food. The really funny part was they came at around 3:30, and with the short days and all, when our friends left at 6pm, it felt like bedtime. BUT IT CERTAINLY WAS NOT! So, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves 🙂 The kids helped clean up, then watched some movies with Mom while Dad spent about TWO HOURS catching up on our finances! Crazy!

That brings us to today. And actually… it has been a pretty normal day so far. 🙂

A great, fun, fabulous Christmas and Ian’s birthday in 2007. Hope yours was as well!

by Greg

Chickens

We had dinner with some friends tonight who are back from Mozambique where they have been missionaries for quite a long while. It was a great night of good food and just enjoying time together.

Speaking of food, the conversation turned to food at one point. We began talking about how you make a nice grilled chicken salad in Mozambique. It’s not as easy as just going to the grocery store.

“First you have to kill the chicken!” said our African friend, to which we all laughed. She continued, “Oh, but first, you have to catch the chicken!!!” We laughed even harder.

Without missing a beat, her husband – the more seasoned veteran of life in Africa chimed in, “First… you have to find the chicken.”

At that point I just lost it and said, “THAT is going on my blog tonight!”

So far in life, I have not had to FIND my food. 🙂

by Greg

It’s Fun To Pretend

We made our own Chill & Grill!Yesterday was the last day of the season for our most favoritist ice cream spot, Chill & Grill. (You may have heard me mention them a time or two…)

We have been increasing our visits over the last week or so, just to make sure we get in our fill for the winter shut down season. It’s been fun. Even met up with some friends there Saturday night (first timers!) and sat out in 60 degree weather at night eating ice cream! (I loved it, but everyone else was a bit chilly!) 🙂

Well, the plan was to go up Sunday evening, just before close (which was 9pm) and get a final bit of ice cream for the season. We were even to be joined by a couple different families, but one by one… they decided they could not come. So, when it was just us, I decided I would call just to make sure that they were still open.

Good thing I did.

They ran out of ice cream, and CLOSED by 7pm!!! 🙁

As you can imagine, this was heartbreaking to the children, who had been looking forward to ending our day – and the Chill & Grill season – with a last bit of ice cream. It was pretty heart-breaking for Dad, too!

So, that’s when I decided we could just pretend! I set up our little bench at the doorway from our kitchen to our dining room, and made up a little sign which I stuck to the wall next to the door, and pretended to be Chill & Grill! The kids played right along and we all had a great time ordering, serving, and EATING ice cream! Even used the (HUGE) Chill & Grill portions! (I had to finish most of the kids’ ice cream…)

I think Ian said something like, “It’s amazing what you can do with some paper, and a marker, and a little tape!” He’s right! It’s fun to pretend, and we had a grand time doing it last night!

Might just do it again! 🙂

by Greg

Changing Seasons

Chill & Grill!Fall has begun, and that means that we’re coming to the very end of the ice cream season. It’s been a good one. Many visits from the Chis. My Dad has been up several times for ice cream. Friends from all over the region have met us there – including a surprise visit from our friends the Towners one night! – and we of course did our annual concert there with our friends in the band Sound Mind.

It’s been a good year.

But now, this Sunday (Sep 30)… Chill & Grill will be closing for the season. 🙁 🙁

We’ll be heading up there for sure on Sunday, and maybe tomorrow night as well. Been fitting in a few more ice cream trips this week, knowing it will be closing again for 5 months or so. Too bad. I would still get ice cream in the winter…

🙂

If you’re a fan, come out today or tomorrow and grab the last remnants of the ice cream! (Flavor selection is rather slim these days!) We’ll be there Sunday for sure!

Also, be sure to check out the Chill & Grill Fan Page I created on Facebook!

Looking forward to Sunday, and already looking forward to next season!

I do love me some ice cream… 🙂

by Greg

The Streak Has Ended

As you may recall, I spent every day of national ice cream month (July) eating ice cream! Well, that carried over to August… and even into September! But, with a busy day at the Bills game yesterday, and no ice cream in the fridge last night… the streak ended at 70 days. I fully expect to begin another one sometime soon. But for now, the streak has ended. Just thought I should let you know. 🙂

by Greg

Ice Cream Record Books?

I have noticed recently that my 31 straight days of ice cream in the month of July was not really that hard to do. Without really trying, I have added now 19 more days to that total (and maybe a few more from before!)

On July 4th I told some friends that I wanted to eat ice cream every day for National Ice Cream Month (July) and one friend was incredulous that I had already had ice cream four days in a row. “I’ve never done that!” said he.

I now officially have more than a dozen times over. 🙂

I’ll let you know when I miss a day.

by Greg

Blueberry Hill

Isn’t there a song about blueberry hill? I know it was the name of the hill behind the main part of Mountainview Christian Camp where I have spent several weeks of several summers of my life. But tonight, though there weren’t really any noticeable hills… I’d say we visited THE blueberry hill!

We’re in Clarence at the moment, visiting with Jen’s mom & dad. The kids love visits to Grandma & Grandpa’s and this time, Mom & Dad stayed too! 🙂 We went to the Bills game last night – it was a blast, read about it here – and then today we played football, visited with some friends, saw another friend off on a trip to Africa, played more football, and then took a trip down to East Otto, NY to Burdick’s Blueberries.

The experience begins by heading as far into the middle of nowhere as you possibly can. Then, once you’re there, you “check in” by weighing your blueberry containers before they are filled… whereupon you are whisked away in a giant blue pickup truck (further into the middle of nowhere) to your row of blueberry bushes. The help walk you to a specific spot and tell you to begin picking here and go that direction, making sure to strip off all the ripe berries.

(Blueberry picking is serious business!) 🙂

We had a blast! Picked (and ATE!) blueberries for about an hour I’d say! When we got there, one branch of one of our assigned bushes had bent to the ground – perfect for Julia!!! And our little Julia LOVES fruit!!! So, she stood there and picked and ate blueberries – at least 2 or 3 dozen – for the first 20 minutes or so while we picked elsewhere. Too cute!

After the big blueberry fest was over, we rode the blue pickup back to the home base and weighed in. We had almost 20 POUNDS of blueberries!!! Ha! That’s a LOT of blueberries!!! They taste great, and we’re going to be having lots of great blueberry-related foods for a while. I guess they freeze pretty well, too.

So, after we left the super fun blueberry place, we shared a meal at Ponderosa together. That used to be a more frequent outing for the Walker clan, but I think size and grandkids growing up have been factors in making it a much more rare – and special – occasion. We had a very nice meal (still full now!) and then came back home.

Tomorrow we spend the day at the fair. Jen’s dad is preaching there in the morning, and we’re hoping to get some fun in either before it rains, or in between the rain drops. Wish us luck. (It’s looking pretty rainy…)

Much more to come here at GregsHead.net. I’m wishing I had wireless internet… 🙂 BUT, I am typing this blog from my in-laws’ computer (a Windows computer) using Safari! It looks amazing! It’s almost… almost close to what I would see on my Mac! Now that’s impressive!!

Until after the crazy weekend…