A visit from Boston

My best friend, Stephani, and her boyfriend (now my friend) Trevor, came in on Wednesday to visit me from Boston. Well, South Hamilton to be exact. I first met Steph four years ago when on a retreat to Buena Vista, Colorado. From that point on, I had a feeling that she and I would be friends for a very long time. Here we are four, though we joke it feels more like five, years later and we are still enjoying each others' company. Trevor met Steph last September, then just a couple months later they started dating. This weekend is the official "meet one of my besties" kind, but in person. I first met Trevor compliments of Gchat through Gmail, in which Steph introduced me to him. He is one great fellow.

Since he likes good food, as well as good beer, I have been doing what I can to introduce him to some local Rochester places, including Han Noodle Bar , which is what we had for lunch today. One of my favorite places to go for tacos is a place called Dorado on Park Ave. Not only do they have great fish tacos, they have super delicious margaritas, often made with fresh fruit, daily. That day's choices consisted of pineapple, strawberry, or mango. A bit on the pricey side, but definitely worth it. Another food experience that is a must in Rochester is garbage plates, which normally I would take them to Nick Tahou's but since we didn't want to drive that far in the awesome winter weather, I took them to Mark's Texas Hots instead. Below is an image of them with their garbage plates, Trevor definitely left satisfied. They also went on an excursion to Buffalo to the Anchor Bar, and Canada for Niagara Falls.



Overall it's been a really great time!

Han Noodle Bar

Every once in a while I think about how fun it would be to go to different restaurants and write reviews of their food. I love food, there's no getting around that. Lately I have been craving Chinese food, and per the suggestion of my buddy Stephen, I went to Han Noodle Bar off of Monroe and Oxford. When you walk into this place, you will be seated by the waitress at any one of the tables in its minimalistic style interior. As I looked over the menu that was handed me, I realized that I was familiar with some of the listings, and there was also plenty I was not as familiar with. My first experience there was with my friend Meg, where we both got something we were familiar with. They have excellent crab rangoon, egg drop soup, and entrees such as LoMein and General Tao's Chicken. On my second visit, I went with Stephen. As promised to the owner that when I came back I would try something different from the menu I went with a roast pork broth noodle bowl. This consisted of broth, rice noodles, bok choy, topped with pieces of roast pork. Stephen got the same thing only with mushrooms instead of pork, and ordered us some jasmine tea and egg rolls. When you order tea they serve it in a large tea pot, so that you can enjoy tea throughout the meal. I recommend going to Han and trying anything from the menu, it was well worth it and the cost is very reasonable. Meg and I ate for about $25: crab rangoon, egg drop soup, LoMein, and General Tao's. Stephen and I at for about $20 which included: Crab rangoon, egg rolls, jasmine tea, and two broth bowls. Not too shabby. Below are some images I took of the food that we ate.


Chopsticks & tea are essential to enjoying a good meal.


Egg Rolls that were amazing and fresh!


Broth Bowl with Roast Pork

A Great Celebration!

Meg turned 23 about a week ago, and on her day of birth we celebrated! The day started off with a coffee date at Boulder with her and Jackie. When we got to Boulder I ordered Meg and I a sugar-free vanilla chai with soy milk and a shot of espresso. As I type this out I realized how much I've become the very thing I got annoyed with being a barista. The extra long orders that make me sound spoiled, but let's be honest I am. ha ha ha! No, not really! I just happen to have worked in the coffee business for so long, that I know what I really like. Seriously, if you haven't tried a dirty chai, you have to!

I really enjoy spending time with Jackie and Meg. WE had a chance to catch up, joke around, and just enjoy each others' presence.

After we left, Meg and I went on to make some delicious s'more bars, and just relaxed at my house. Our day ended together as we had a game night at Ben's and just continued to enjoy the company of friends.

Engagement!

About a month ago I had the opportunity and pleasure of taking some engagement pictures for friends of mine. I love taking pictures of people, especially those in love. As most people in Rochester know, winter equals lots of snow but this particular day was sunny and wonderful for taking pictures! Nate and Janelle are super fun people, and willing and open to any suggestions to places in which to take their engagement shots. We started at Mt. Hope Cemetery. For those of you outside Rochester, you may be thinking it's kind of morbid to take a couple to a cemetery for their engagement photos, but it's actually a very beautiful place with old church buildings. We then headed to Boulder Coffee Co. to warm up our bodies and try some casual, relaxed pics. We then ventured over to the Highland Diner for some vintage style pics, and finally ended up by my house in which Nate decided to make some snow angels. Below you will find a few of my favorites from the time I spent with them. Enjoy with me in celebrating their engagement.


Mt. Hope Cemetery


Mt. Hope Cemetery


Boulder Coffee Co.


Highland Park Diner


Snow toss!

Weekends

My weeks have been pretty laid back this last month and a half as I have worked on finding a job. I start up my job next week, which I'm really looking forward to, but for now it's been good. What I have really loved, however, has been my weekends. Maybe it's the fact that before I came back from Christmas in KC, my weekends consisted of homework and that's about it. Social life wasn't even in my vocabulary during student teaching, so I feel like I've finally got some life back. Over the last few weekends I have had some great moments with some great people. I wrote about one of those moments the other day, the lazy Saturday. Below I'm going to post some photos of my favorite moments from the last couple of weekends.


Celebrated James Birthday


Out with Katie to our Secret Place


Community time at Ben's


Valentine's Day Outlet


Late night meal at Mark's Texas Hots


UFC Fight Night with the fellas


Super Bowl Party!

Getting tea

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours at Starry Nites Cafe enjoying a cup of tea. If you go to coffee houses and cafes regularly I think you would understand what I'm about to say. Whether it's going only or with a friend, they have this atmosphere that requires deep thought. I have a habit of pulling out my journal and writing a few thoughts down when sitting in a cafe, which is what I started out doing. Then it called to me, the City magazine's crossword puzzle. Now before you make any assumptions about crossword puzzles, influenced by your success or failure at them, I actually approached this one with anticipation. If you were sitting in Starry Nites with me, you may have noticed that I used a pen when filling out the crossword. This is not, however, an indicator on how good I am, but rather from the fact that I almost never have a pencil on me. The filling began and as I filled in section by section, I was feeling incredibly confident. Then it happened, the one thing I dread about crossword puzzles, the clue I think I know the answer to ends up being something completely different and I have to rewrite letters over the ones I had written before. As you can see by the picture below that this then sent me on a spree of missed clues and rewrites. Overall it was a great time, regardless of my inability to actually complete the thing. I love getting tea, a good book or conversation, or just trying to conquer a crossword puzzle.

Cats

Meet Simba! This is my friend Ben's cat. The other day I went to his house for the first time, and usually I ask people if they have animals. Not because I'm terrified or scared of them, but because I am allergic to them. He has two cats, and I had no idea. The problem with it all is that I happen to be a fan of cats. I want to pet them, hold them, and just love them but I can't. Luckily my roommate came to the rescue by bringing me some antihistamines so that I could enjoy the evening's events. Simba is a very large, very hairy cat, so it was a huge favor that Dani brought the drugs when she did. It ended up being a very fun evening where we hung out, ate pizza, and watched "Dan in Real Life". The night ended for me, after watching an intense game of Mafia, with the beginnings of an allergic reaction to the cats. So I sadly bid farewell to the gang and headed home to bed. The next morning I woke up with a puffy eye that was as red as cherries, and a stuffy nose. Overall it was worth it. I mean just look at him!



Muzzie is Ben's other cat, he's not camera ready so there aren't any good pics of him. I do find it interesting that cats tend to find the person in the room that can't pet them and then rub up against them, as kind of a taunt. Muzzie is trying to get the very last of whatever is in his fish bowl. It was a great and precious moment. The question is then, why do I love the things I can't even love on? Hopefully with heavy allergy meds, next time I'm over there I can enjoy them a bit longer. :D