Come on Irene

I’ve got nothing to report.
The parade last weekend was just OK. Same shit different parade route. The rest of the weekend was quiet.

Work has been busy since i’ve been no less than 2 people in my office since last Thursday, and will be until after Labor Day.

I didn’t feel the earthquake the other day, that either means the building I am in at work is pretty safe or the shaking bypassed us.

Up next is Irene. Let’s she what she has to offer.

Bizzy, Bizzy, Bizzy….

I’m normally not one to push iPhone apps onto people but if you don’t have the Bizzy App, RUN don’t walk back your Itunes and download it now.

I am always up for trying new places and love to look for ways to share my experiences. This app is different from others as instead of Checking IN places you Check OUT of them after you have been there. Along with the places you have checked out, it recommends other places for you to try. Connect with your Twitter and Facebook friends to see where they are eating too!

Along with places that help me eat, I love places that give you free stuff just for being you! I came home today to a package of a fancy new t-shirt, some stickers, and a couple  buttons (one of which I will turn into a magnet to hang on my wall at work).

Quadruple F

Food, Fun, Friends, and Full Moon!

This past weekend the hubby and I had the fortune to spend it with some good friends. Nothing beats a weekend away to a fabulous lake house to relax. Words can’t really describe it so I will let the pictures speaks for themselves.

Picking up the Pieces

It’s been a week, to say the least.

And the title of this post actually has a few meanings. Since we were away last weekend, I decided to extend my mini vacation and not rush back into work on Monday.

What I thought was going to be a nice lazy day floating in the pool turned into a Monster of a day. First thing in the morning I went to get the rental car vacuumed and a quick trip to Costco for a couple things. I got home and decided it would be nice to float in the pool. It was actually lovely floating there for the hour I got to float, because all of a sudden the dark clouds started rolling in, and I was fine with that, until the thunder started.

So I rolled off my floaty thing, grabbed my towel, iPhone, and radio off the pool deck and headed for the house. No sooner did I get all cleaned up and under cover than the rain started, and then the wind picked up, fine I can deal with that. What scared the bejeezus out of me was the loud thump thump thumping I heard next. That’s right here comes the moth ball size hail bouncing off the picnic table.

The wind was so strong, it knocked over half of a tree in the empty lot next door to us, and a little further down the street another tree fell across the road. After the hail stopped, and the rain stopped, and started again, and stopped, I went outside to pick up the pieces of limb that fell in the yard.

Little did I know, that wasn’t the only storm brewing. So while I was in the house with the pups staying dry, one of my coworkers called to tell me what was happening at the office.

This always happens when I am out of the office. There was a Departmental Meeting where it was announced that they were going to be “right sizing” our department and there would be “re-engineering” (gotta love those buzz word). As it stood there were 2 people within  my dept who were let-go. Flash forward to Thursday and a 3rd person was added to the list (this person had been on vacation until then which is why they waited).

So the week at work was filled with a bit of drama and chaos. I was thankful when Friday at 2pm rolled around as I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Quick parade Friday night (which I found out we won Best Sr Musical Unit, which wasn’t difficult as we were 1 of 4 bands there). Saturday was the usual errands, and the 2 dogs we were dogsitting were picked up in the afternoon. We are down to 3 from 5 for the next 2 weeks, the foster dog has a new home she will be going to sometime soon. Sunday was the laziest day we have had in a while. I did a bit of vacuuming and some laundry, played Little Big Planet on the PS3, and pretty much vegged around. Hell it was so lazy I never even bothered to get dressed.

So now it is Monday and we begin the week of picking up the pieces of the colleagues who are leaving next week. I have already been informed that I will be inheriting one of the sales reps the person leaving was supporting. I wish they added in that I had to go visit the sales rep in person, he works from home in San Francisco.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out….stay tuned.

 

Alsatian for me

I’ll recap the rest of the day later on but I just had to post the pictures from the fabulous lunch we had today.

Before I let the pictures speak for themselves here is a little background about the place we ate Dano’s Heuriger on Seneca

What is a Heuriger?:
In Austria, heurigers are an integral part of Viennese life. Friends gather to enjoy the casual atmosphere, to drink new wine from mugs and to share hearty, satisfying heuriger food served family-style. Dano’s on Seneca recreates this atmosphere in a beautiful new building designed by architect Andrea Simitch. With spectacular views of Seneca lake, the rotating menu features Viennese spreads and artisanal breads, salads, roasted and smoked meats, vegetable dishes, homemade sausages, fresh seafood, homemade pickles and preserves as well as Viennese pastries.


So in the midst of all the wine tasting we have been doing we figured we needed some lunch too. This place sits right in the of the wineries we were visiting, and quite a few places had their menu displayed. I called ahead to be sure they would allow the dogs on their beautiful back deck, they did and actually enjoy having 4 legged visitors.

While we were eating all the luscious food you will see below, the chef himself Dano came out to chat with us and the other tables quite a few times. Thankfully it wasn’t a very busy lunch or else he would have been missed in the kitchen.

Now on to the food. The Hubby and I decided on ordering a few small things to share as is the customer of Heurigers.

The Main Menu

The Main Meat, on the top Hungarian Smoked Sausage on the Bottom Bratwurst.

I love anything pickled and the Housemade Pickle Plate on the specials menu Immediately caught my attention.

It had 2 types of pickles along with pickled Mushrooms and Pickled Scallions

Knodel. A ball of Dressing Cooked in Duck Fat and served Au Jus

Braised Sauerkraut and Bacon. By Far the BEST I have ever had.

This was what the Hubby ordered. A locally made Goat Cheese with a Blue Mold on the outside, on top of a Fig Compote

with Roasted red peppers and olive tapenade.

The place was just beautiful, the food fantastic, the waitstaff knowledgeable, dog friendly, the view of Seneca Lake from the deck is amazing. Whether for lunch or dinner, RUN don’t walk to this great place.

Alsatian for me

I’ll recap the rest of the day later on but I just had to post the pictures from the fabulous lunch we had today.

Before I let the pictures speak for themselves here is a little background about the place we ate Dano’s Heuriger on Seneca

What is a Heuriger?:
In Austria, heurigers are an integral part of Viennese life. Friends gather to enjoy the casual atmosphere, to drink new wine from mugs and to share hearty, satisfying heuriger food served family-style. Dano’s on Seneca recreates this atmosphere in a beautiful new building designed by architect Andrea Simitch. With spectacular views of Seneca lake, the rotating menu features Viennese spreads and artisanal breads, salads, roasted and smoked meats, vegetable dishes, homemade sausages, fresh seafood, homemade pickles and preserves as well as Viennese pastries.


So in the midst of all the wine tasting we have been doing we figured we needed some lunch too. This place sits right in the of the wineries we were visiting, and quite a few places had their menu displayed. I called ahead to be sure they would allow the dogs on their beautiful back deck, they did and actually enjoy having 4 legged visitors.

While we were eating all the luscious food you will see below, the chef himself Dano came out to chat with us and the other tables quite a few times. Thankfully it wasn’t a very busy lunch or else he would have been missed in the kitchen.

Now on to the food. The Hubby and I decided on ordering a few small things to share as is the customer of Heurigers.

The Main Menu

The Main Meat, on the top Hungarian Smoked Sausage on the Bottom Bratwurst.

I love anything pickled and the Housemade Pickle Plate on the specials menu Immediately caught my attention.

It had 2 types of pickles along with pickled Mushrooms and Pickled Scallions

Knodel. A ball of Dressing Cooked in Duck Fat and served Au Jus

Braised Sauerkraut and Bacon. By Far the BEST I have ever had.

This was what the Hubby ordered. A locally made Goat Cheese with a Blue Mold on the outside, on top of a Fig Compote

with Roasted red peppers and olive tapenade.

The place was just beautiful, the food fantastic, the waitstaff knowledgeable, dog friendly, the view of Seneca Lake from the deck is amazing. Whether for lunch or dinner, RUN don’t walk to this great place.

 

It’s Wine O’clock

And the big Greyhound Wine Tour Weekend has begun.

Thursday was our travel day, and after a rocky start of changing rental cars due to low tire pressure, we finally got on the road. Fortunately we were able to trade the white Ford Flex for a Silver Ford Flex because we packed everything in there perfectly and it was just enough room for us, our stuff, and the puppies. about 4 hours later we arrived in Ithaca and thankfully were able to check into the hotel and get the pups out of the car.

We had just enough time for a quick rest for us and the puppies before we hopped back in the car to head over the hills to the welcome reception at one of the wineries. They had a nice little spread of appetizers and were selling wine and wine Slushies. I had 1 of each of the 2 flavors available, that says alot since I am not normally a fan of red wine.

This is the Brambleberry Slushie and was DELISH!

After the reception we headed back to the motel, fed the puppies, then headed out for a nice quick Thai Dinner.

Friday morning we got up and went and grabbed breakfast from this cute local place up near the Cornell Campus that we found last year and fell in love with. I had the omelet of the day, and the hubby had the Brie stuffed French Toast. The best part was the power of social networking, the Hubby and I both got a free coffee just for checking in on Foursquare.

We were slightly worried about what the day might bring as it had started raining right before we left for breakfast. Well a little rain wasn’t going to stop us so we packed up the dogs and headed out for the wineries. There are quite a few participating wineries, so we decided to start on the West Side of Seneca Lake and hit the few there we were interested in. In total we hit 3 before lunch. Once of them was one we loved last year and wanted to be sure we got back to this year.

After a quick lunch from Mr. Chicken, back into the car we went and set course for the host winery to check out the happenings and vendors there. We took a quick stroll through the vendor tent and then went in search of some wine to bring back to the room to have with some cheese. We hit 2 more wineries Friday afternoon to bring the total to 5.

Our last stop on Friday also happened to be the same winery that held the welcome reception. We did a tasting there and ended buying a few bottles to take home and 2 to enjoy Friday night before dinner. We stopped at a cute roadside produce market, grabbed some cheese and some cherries and drove on back to the motel.

A lovely glass of wine, some nice cheese in the outdoors was had and then off we went to dinner. Now we are back in the room resting in the air conditioning waiting to do it all over again on Saturday……