A Lovely Little Saturday

This Saturday Peter & I made a vow to be productive... despite using our Groupon at Solera Wine Bar & splitting a nice bottle of red wine the night before. There may have been additional drinking on Friday, but I'll withhold the details surrounding our escapades.

Anyway, Saturday morning we headed out to the Rochester Public Market. While Peter & I are big fans of Farmer's Markets, we are less enthused about the public market. Peter doesn't like that such a large quantity of the food being sold is not local. Florida oranges & pineapples and California avocados kinda defeat the purpose of a public market. Oh, and Peter hates all the carts & strollers everywhere! Regardless, our South Wedge Farmer's Market doesn't start for a few weeks , and our Highland Farmer's Market was complicated last week due to the Lilac Festival traffic diversion. Thus, we took the plunge & headed out to the public market.

Peter really wanted locally grown asparagus & I really wanted fresh flowers. We were able to find both, along with some apples, and a few herbs to replace the ones that didn't make it through the winter.

We also finally got to stop at the famous Juan & Maria's Empananda Stop! It was very exciting. We'd heard so many great things about them & even though we already knew where we wanted to go for lunch, we decided to indulge & split a beef & onion empanada first. Definitely worth the stop, and far superior to my pathetic attempt at empanadas.

Following the public market Peter & I ventured to Swan Market. Now, I had never heard of this establishment, but when Peter saw a Groupon for it, he told me to buy it. So, we headed off for some German fare in the middle of a Rochester area that I did not recognize.

Authentic German food

We split a sausage plate & a sampler plate. I was a little wary at first, but the fact that this place smelled just like I remember my grandma & grandpa's house smelling reassured me. (Yes, I am Polish, not German, but sausage & grease are universal smells). The food was wonderful... along with the German beer we washed it down with... all before 12 noon. We then headed home to enjoy our public market purchases... starting with my flowers!

I have a bit of a thing about having fresh flowers in the house... especially in gloomy weather. I just love fresh flowers! They make me happy! I was excited when I found the flower people with pretty bouquets for $8 and with that purchase you get 6 daisies (one of my favorites!). They definitely made me happy on such a cold & rainy weekend!

My bouquet of flowers...





and my pretty FREE daisies...

For dinner we had our locally grown asparagus wrapped in bacon- of course. We also ate our last good steak from our cow, and I prepared some quinoa. It was my first attempt at quinoa & I think it turned out alright. At least Peter & I enjoyed it. I added garlic & thyme & chives from our garden.

The picture doesn't really do it justice, but here's our meal... and no, my bacon is not burnt, that's just how I like it!

We ate strawberries & whipped cream (ie Cool Whip) for dessert & opened up some champagne for the hell of it!

We're so classy

There was no Home Depot or Olive Garden involved, but it was a nice little Saturday!

An Avocado Update

As many of you know, I've been trying to grow an avocado. My husband has little hope I can succeed. I, however am confident I can attain this goal.

When we last left the avocado saga I was starting round 2. Well, my friends, it's one month later & progress has been made!

This first picture doesn't look like much, but continue on down to see the new life that has emerged!

My little avocado setup

Is that a crack I see?!

Why, that is a crack in my seed!

Closer inspection

Roots?!

It's alive!!!

10 Year Reunion

Some of my best college buddies got together for a little dinner tonight. Our WNY numbers are dwindling since most have moved away, but it's nice when friends come back to visit!

Vegas

This past weekend we headed to Vegas for a 4 day get away with friends! Here are some hilights that were captured.

Peter trying to call shenanigans on Mike's "carry on"

$105 I've had lying around for 2.5 years since our last Vegas trip

Flight to Vegas

Of course I made Peter get in a picture with this stone iguana at the Vegas airport

Limo ride to the hotel

Limo ride to the hotel

On Friday some of us rented a car & headed out into the 95 degree desert for a little hike. First we stopped at the Hoover Dam.

Mike & I were excited about the dam

Dam water

More dam

It was a little bit different than the last time Peter & I were here. They finally completed the bridge they've been working on that's supposed to help with dam traffic. You can see what it used to look like here!

Post bridge

Then, we took a hike. A hot hike. It's called the Liberty Bell Arch Hike. It's only about 5 mile round trip, but we stopped around 1.5 miles in & made it a 3 mile trip. The heat & sun just made it too exhausting for some of us. It was really pretty though.

We stayed at the Imperial Palace. Not the nicest hotel on the strip, but definitely an awesome location. We were pretty happy with our room & view.

View of Caesar's from our balcony

View of the IP from our balcony

On the strip

Dinner at Jaleo in our private room

Potato chip wrapped chorizo

Chocolate cake & cortado for dessert

And just a few night views to end our time here in Vegas...

Most of the partyin', shoppin' & gamblin' were not captured, so use your imagination for that stuff! Fun time