Taste of New York

We have enjoyed tasting New York through our travels.  Not too long ago, we had pizza at New York Pizzeria.  New York pizza is different than most pizzas.  The crust is very thin and the toppings are similar to what we are used to.  However, the slices are huge and you can roll them up into a wrap.  That's kind of fun, but then the grease drips down your wrist and onto your arm.  That is not too appetizing.  So we would give a thumbs down on New York pizza.  It may just be that the best pizza place we have ever been to for pizza is Perron's Pizzaria.  Once you have had the opportunity to make your own pizza and cook it in a homemade pizza oven by the two best chefs, (Josh Perron and Durg Perron) you are just too spoiled.  A big thumbs up for Perron's Pizzaria.  We sure have missed our pizza parties.  We have heard that there have been a lot of parties this summer in the "Diner."

Another New York unique food are "hots."  What are hots?  They are hot dogs, but not just your run of the mill hot dogs.  These are special HOT dogs.  And sometimes they are really HOT.  We stopped at a "Hots" stand one day on our way home from Sauders, the store Elder Perron cannot get enough of.  Everyone said this was the best HOT's place.  The Morgan's and the Johnson's (from Portland, Oregon) were with us.  We all tried a variation of the "hots."  They were a little too hot for some and not hot enough for others.  I liked them, but just with ketchup and mustard, not the hot sauce they put on them.  You can order them plain, so we have had hots several times at the "Chill and Grill" in Palmyra.  Therein, is another great place to eat.  And when you order ice cream there, you better be hungry.  The kid's cones are huge!  I don't know how they make any money on ice cream.

When we first arrived in New York state, in a snow storm, no less, we went to Jamestown for lunch.  We found a little place called Tim Horton's which is a café and bake shop.  This is a Canadian franchise founded by Miles G. "Tim" Horton, who played in the National Hockey League from 1949 until his death in a car accident in 1974.  This franchise spread rapidly and eventually overtook McDonalds as Canada's largest food service operator.  We ate chili and had hot chocolate.  It was a cold day!  The best chili and hot chocolate I have ever had!  Seriously!  Throughout our travels in New York we see lots of Dunkin' Donuts, at least one in every town, as are the $ stores, and a few Tim Horton's. However, there are Tim Horton's in every town surrounding Palmyra, just not one in Palmyra.  You can imagine my excitement when I saw advertised on their window that they had iced hot chocolate.  Iced Hot Chocolate?  I had to try it.  It is wonderful.  Elder Perron said he could make it, so we bought a can of Horton's Hot Chocolate Mix and we have tried it at home, but I have to say Tim does it better!  When Elder Perron's cousins Lowell and Claudia Johnson and their friends, Diana and Greg Zemp were here, we went there for lunch one day during our sightseeing travels and discovered they have wonderful breakfast sandwiches and lunch sandwiches.  Elder Perron has done the comparative test between Dunkin' Donuts and Tim Horton's Boston Cream Donuts and Tim won again!  We have had the McDonalds McMuffin and Tim Horton's egg, saugsage and cheese roll and once again, Tim does it better.  I tell everyone to try Tim Horton's iced hot chocolate.  No complaints yet and many are hooked!

There is a little restaurant in a strip mall in Egypt called Sak's.  It is a Thai restaurant in Egypt.  (Just making fun of the Thai in Egypt).  From the looks of the mall, you would not think this restaurant wouldn't be up to much, but the minute you walk in, you are in another world.  The atmosphere there is very Thai and elegant and calming.  We went with our friends, the Morgan's one day for lunch. The sister missionaries had recommended it.  We weren't disappointed.  It was delicious.  We decided we should go again and everyone order something different and then we could ask for separate plates and try all the foods.  When Lowell and Claudia and Diana and Greg were here, that's what we did.  We loved the food, except for one.  Elder Perron ordered a dish with squid?  I would not recommend that.  I always order the Thai Padi.  Can't ever go wrong there.  Love it!

We serve in the temple with a couple who have the exact shift schedule as we do.  They are the only ones.  So every Wednesday we go to dinner with them.  We love the Yellow Mills Diner.  It's good ole home cooked food.  They always have specials which include soup and salad and main entrée.  By the time we get there, we are starved so we need extra food!  Not really, but that's how we justify all that food!  We sit in the section where we have become friends with our waitress.  She is awesome.  I think she likes us too, because she is always getting the cook to do something special for us.  One evening when the Henderson's and the Perron's were having dinner, a group of 6 people came into the restaurant.  The Henderson's thought they might have seen them before.  And as the people were leaving, they stopped to talk to the Henderson's.  They were from North Carolina, where the Henderson's are from.  They and the Henderson's are all in the Raleigh North Carolina Temple district and that's how the Henderson's knew them.  One of the men had the strongest North Carolina accent and reminded Elder Perron and I of my uncle, Albert Nance who was born and raised, lived and died in North Carolina.  We could have listened to him talk all night!  I love accents!  As we were waiting for our bill, our sweet waitress, Therese, said that our bill had been taken care of.  She wouldn't tell us who paid, but we knew it was the "other North Carolinans."  How awesome was that?

Last Wednesday, we and the Henderson's ventured out to Otto's Tomatoes in Victor.  It is an Italian Restaurant and we give a thumbs up on this one.  It is elegant dining and delicious food.  I had the chicken, broccoli fettuccine.  Elder Perron had the seafood macaroni and cheese.  We both loved our meals. The problem was, we kept eating and the portion never seemed to get smaller.  We took ours home with us, and had some for lunch and still haven't been able to eat it all.  Reminds me of the loaves of bread and fishes in the New Testament or Elijah's promise to the widow of Zarephath that she would not run out of flour or oil.  (I only know about Elijah and the widow because I teach gospel doctrine at the Lowville Branch.  That is a really big stretch for me, but I am loving it.) The food never seems to never end!  May be a blessing we are receiving!

We had a crazy busy week last week.  Our family motto has always been, "When we work, we work hard.  When we play, we play hard!"  And boy did we!  We were very busy in the temple all week.  Thursday is our day off and so the Morgan's, Reynolds (from SLC) and Elder Perron and I drove to Sodus Point which is a picturesque little village on the shore of Lake Ontario.   As you drive through, there are sailboats docked everywhere.  We walked out to the end of the pier to the lighthouse.  The wind was blowing like crazy and the water was jumping the pier, making it pretty exciting.  It was so beautiful there.  I love being near the water.

Near Sodus Point is a State Park where the Chimney Bluffs are.  So we hiked to the Chimney Bluffs or part way for some of us.  It was through a great little forest and the trail was really fun.  The Chimney Bluffs are rock formations and they are very unusual.  So glad we got to see them.  As we were hiking down, there was another couple who are temple missionaries, the Nordfeldt's (from Idaho Falls, Idaho) hiking up.  We decided to meet for lunch/dinner at the Skipper's Landing on the shore of Lake Ontario.  We ate overlooking more of Lake Ontario.  So here are 4 temple missionary couples having a meal together and laughing and having a great time.  When it came time to get the bill, there was none.  Brother Reynolds had paid for all of us.  We told him that is not right.  He said, "whenever we go anywhere, we go with the Morgan's or the Perron's and you never let us help with gas."  Such a nice thing to do!

Returning to Palmyra, we stopped at a Farmer's Market in Wolcott.  We bought peppers and corn and onions and lettuce.  We have been eating the peppers, and onions in our omelets and we ate the fresh corn when we got home.  There is nothing like fresh corn (picked in the morning) for dinner.  And there are lots and lots of corn fields here.  Last stop was Mr. Cooley's Ice Cream.  It is some of the best homemade ice cream ever.  There are ice cream shops everywhere because there are a lot of dairies in New York.  We got our ice cream and sat in a screened gazebo and really enjoyed our time outside.  Made me miss the "Diner" even more!     

On Saturday, we went to Alexandria Bay, a town on the shores of the St. Lawrence River with the Bushman's (from Oklahoma).  We boarded a tour boat and traveled down the river.  This area is famous for the 1,000 islands.  There are more than 1,000 islands, but it's easier to say the Thousand Islands rather than the 1,864 Islands!  We sat on the top deck, got sun and wind burned and really enjoyed passing by the islands.  One island was so small, it had only one house on it and the house took up most of the island.  But just think, you could say, "I live on an island that I own!"  Canada borders one side of the St. Lawrence and the US on the other.  That's interesting in itself.  We stopped at the Singer Castle on Dark Island. The original name of the Castle was Dark Island Castle and was later changed to Singer Castle, named Singer because the original owner who built it was the president of the Singer Corporation.  All through the Castle are old singer sewing machines.  The Castle was completed in 1905.  The design of the castle came from Sir Walter Scott's book "Woodstock."  The castle is complete with hidden passages, one in about every room.  The main floor was for entertaining, the second floor was for the servants to keep any eye on the entertaining happening on the main floor.  If a servant saw a guest was in need of any thing, the servant would buzz the kitchen or pantry through an intercom system and another servant would provide the needed refreshment.  Throughout the main floor were mirrors, vents and portraits. Through these, the servants would "spy" on the guests.  Mr. Bourne, who had the castle built did not want servants hovering over his guests so this was the solution.  There were telephones in every room.  They were not for calling to places outside the castle but for calling from room to room on extensions. 

You have heard of Thousand Island Dressing.  It got it's name because  a woman, May Irwin, who tasted a dressing, somewhere on the St. Lawrence River, thought the chopped vegetables in it, looked like the Thousand Islands.  When we returned to shore, we had lunch at Riley's Restaurant on the River and I had a Reuben sandwich which had Thousand Island Dressing on it!  When in the Thousand Islands, eat Thousand Island Dressing. Right?

I must admit, the best New York bread is baked right here in our kitchen.  Elder Perron has become quite the baker. He is branching out into new things, muffins for one.  He makes the best pumpkin muffins, apple muffins, and poppy seed muffins.  His bread is still making lots of people happy.  He is getting ready to start making cookies and pies.  There is no end to his baking talents.

So we leave you as Elder Perron is finding more recipes, as I stumble through typing this blog, as we prepare to serve our shift at the temple, and join the Henderson's for dinner in Canandaigua at a Mexican Restaurant to get another taste of New York.  Until next time.......much love,