Month: July 2015 (Page 2 of 4)
From The Kolacky Capital of the World comes the 81st annual Kolacky Festival in Montgomery, Minnesota! First held in 1929 when … what’s that? What’s a kolacky? We quote the festival website: “A kolacky is a small dinner roll-like pastry which is folded, enclosing filling in the center. The most common fillings include prune, poppyseed, apricot, apple, blueberry and raspberry.” They come from the Czech Republic or, to be more accurate, Bohemia, which is what that region of Europe was called when Montgomery was settled by Czechs in the mid-1800s. It’s been over 150 years and they have not forgotten! Continue reading
HAPPY NATIONAL TAPIOCA PUDDING DAY!
Woody’s Towne Cafe, Allentown NJ
REVIEW
Breakfast out for us has, for years, meant Mastoris Diner in Bordentown. We’ve moved on from Mastoris and now do our morning dining out at Daphne’s of Robbinsville and another choice breakfast spot nearby: Woody’s Towne Cafe in Allentown (that’s the small town in New Jersey, not the city in PA). Continue reading
HAPPY NATIONAL GRAND MARNIER DAY!
HAPPY NATIONAL FRENCH FRIES DAY!
An Interview with Richard Graeter of Graeter’s Ice Cream
Richard Graeter, fourth generation owner of Graeter’s Ice Cream of Ohio, was recently interviewed by gothamist. He discusses their unique French pot, small batch method of producing their ice cream. They also get into Graeter’s NYC presence. Pints are available in Manhattan grocery stores, and they receive more mail orders from New York City than from any other place in the country, but… there are no plans to open a scoop shop on NYC streets in the near future. Richard sees that as a potential project for the next generation of Graeters.
HAPPY NATIONAL PECAN PIE DAY!
Delaware State Fair, Harrington DE, July 23rd through August 1st
Delaware used to hold the first state fair of summer until California jumped ahead of them by two weeks. So what is now the 2nd state fair of the season will begin on Thursday, July 23rd and will continue through Saturday, August 1st. If a Livestock Extravaganza (July 28th), the Dairy Goat Milking Contest (July 29th), harness racing (July 30th), or a Chickin Pickin’ Contest (July 25th) is your kind of fun (it’s ours!), start making plans now. Continue reading
Trattoria Ponterotto, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
The Story of Macon GA’s Nu-Way Weiners
Sidney’s Salons is a series of talks and walking tours related to the history of Macon, Georgia. On July 14th, they will host Ed Grisamore, author of There Is More Than One Way to Spell Wiener: The Story of Nu-Way at the Sidney Lanier Cottage House Museum. Reception is at 5:30 p.m. and the talk is from 6 until 7 p.m. Nu-Way weiners will be served! For more information, see the Historic Macon website.
HAPPY NATIONAL BLUEBERRY MUFFIN DAY!
The 68th Grand Lake Buffalo BBQ, held since 1947, this year takes place Saturday and Sunday, July 18th and 19th. On Saturday, the day begins at 7 a.m. with the Rotary pancake breakfast in the park, to be followed by a 5K run. Then, from noon until it runs out, farm-raised buffalo with all the fixin’s will be served at the lakefront. There’ll be entertainment, too: lots of music, beer and spirits, and plenty of activities for kids. Continue reading
McPartlan’s Corner, Amherst NY
REVIEW
Western New York often seems to have more in common with the upper Midwest than with downstate New York. For instance, walk into almost any restaurant on a Friday night and, regardless of the sort of food the eatery normally serves, you’ll probably find a dining room filled with people eating fish fry, just like in Wisconsin. Local wisdom says that it’s difficult to find a bad fish fry in the Buffalo area. That might be true, but it’s also true that if you value fresh, not frozen, fish, then there are choices to be made. Continue reading
Shake Shack Colonizes NL East
It began in 2009 with Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. When the stadium opened, Shake Shack was there, and it instantly became a huge hit. In 2011, Shake Shack traveled down I-95 to Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. where, despite its New York origins, the Shackburger and Nats fans have become fast friends. Latest word is that, when the Atlanta Braves open in the new SunTrust Park in 2017, Shake Shack will be there for the first pitch. At least, that’s what they’re hoping for, as the two parties are still in negotiations. All that’s left in the National League East would be Philadelphia and Miami. There are already Shake Shacks in both cities but our money is on Marlins Park, as Citizens Bank Park just added Wayback Burgers this year.
HAPPY NATIONAL PINA COLADA DAY!
Apple Pie Jamboree, Pateros WA, July 17th through 19th 2015
The Apple Pie Jamboree began in 1947 as way to raise money for the local hospital. The festival continued in fits and starts over the years – the next Jamboree was held in 1950 but stopped after the ’57 party. It wasn’t until 1969 that the festivities took hold for good in Pateros. Those early years featured raffles of refrigerators and an 800-pound steer. In a scene foreshadowing a classic episode of a ’70s sitcom, one year live chickens were tossed off the roofs of local buildings! Yes, much has changed over the years but the apple pie remains. Continue reading
Wonder Seafood, Edison NJ
REVIEW
We have nothing against modern, chefly dim sum restaurants, any more than we object to fancy-pants chefs’ takes on Italian cuisine, say, or beachside cuisine. We often enjoy the upscale, pricier stuff made from carefully sourced ingredients, artfully plated. But sometimes we want a perfect plate of simple, homey lasagna, or an overflowing basket of fried belly clams with o-rings. Or, more to the matter at hand, old-school dim sum served from rolling carts in a frantic, bustling, hyperventilating weekend morning scene. And there are none in the North Jersey area (and few, for that matter, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, across the river) the equal of Edison’s Wonder Seafood. Continue reading
As controversy and scandal continues to swirl around Bill Cosby, organizations and groups have been rushing to sever their ties to the entertainer — Disney is the latest example, as they recently removed a Cosby statue from their Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando. Yet Ben’s Chili Bowl of Washington, D.C. has not turned their back on Bill Cosby and appear unlikely to do so. Why is that? Tim Carman has written an interesting story on that subject, exploring the relationship between the two that goes much deeper than business. There are issues of family, loyalty, and morality at play, and the Ali family, longtime owners of Ben’s, has never shown an inclination to put their restaurant ahead of their sense of right and wrong. Read the full story here.
HAPPY NATIONAL SUGAR COOKIE DAY!
