Happy Halloween!

Ric hates Halloween and horror movies. Ever since he watched “The Ring” he fears VCR tapes.

Happy Halloween! I’m pretty excited as this is the first Halloween in our new house. We have no idea what to expect for Trick or Treaters in terms of how many we will see. This is a tough Holiday for me because I love candy, and I have been candy-free for over a month now. This year we tried to go the route of picking up candy that I don’t actually like. We picked up “Dots”, “Toostie Pops”, and “Marvel Comic Dips” (basically fun-dip). There will still be and urge for me to eat these things, I’m not going to lie. But I’ll stay strong. Its sort of like the equivalent of a smoker that has run out of cigarettes, and has no money to buy them, so he/she picks through the ash tray for some gross nub to suck out whatever nicotine that remains…but not as gross.
Over the weekend we managed to get our sun room (now declared a reading room) about 90% finished. I totally love the room so far. Its relaxing. Last night I spent the last two hours hanging out in there under a blanket, with a glass of wine, reading. I know that for some reason that description makes me sound like a woman, but try to look at it like I’m a man that enjoys wine, that was reading and was cold. The room is great. We have some things left that we still want to do in there like building a bookshelf, and some decorating tasks, but its pretty close to being finished.

We moved the rug from the guest room into this room. We now need a new rug for the guest room.

This table needs trinkets.

We found this 50’s couch a the thrift store for 50 bucks. It was in amazing shape.

Nicole is going to sand down the wood and re-stain it darker. This couch is awesome.

Tomorrow I will have a full report on the outcome of the Trick or Treaters!

October 31, 2011 0

I am fatigued.

This whole week and weekend has been non-stop and I am beat. I could not keep up with updates but I kept taking pictures so I can catch up on here.
On Thursday we went to the Museum Night that they were doing here in Buffalo for preservation week. For $25.00 a ticket, you could get access to all of the Museums, plus a rare sneak peak of the first floor of the Richardson Complex. This building used to be an old mental hospital. Its architecturally stunning and extremely eerie. It is also closed to the public normally because it is slowly being restored. They promoted a free trolley that was running so that people wouldn’t have to drive to them with one of the stops right down the street from our house. It seemed like a great idea. The weather was pretty terrible. Cold, high winds and rain are a terrible combination. We roughed it and walked down to the stop with some friends of ours. The trolley was supposed to pick us up at 6:30pm. When we arrived, the sign at the stop said 7:00pm. Already slightly annoyed, we went for some coffee and killed some time, returning at seven. We then stood in the rain and wind for a half hour, and there was still no trolley. Now extremely annoyed, we walked back to our house to get the car totally soaked. By the time we arrived, there were like two hours left to enjoy all of the museums. I just wanted to get into a warm bed at this point. All I really wanted to see was the Richardson Complex. The art museum I have seen before. Like most museums, the paintings were impressive while the “modern art” was pure shit. Modern art is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is people explaining modern art to other people. I could rant for days on this topic but I won’t. The trolley service was supposed to transfer people between museums also, but the rate at which it was coming to pick people up was awful. We decided to walk to the Richardson Complex.

Our friends Molly and Pat came along with us to enjoy the nice weather.


Nicole and I standing in line at the Richardson Complex. They could only allow 150 people in at a time due to the fact that it is still not completely safe to be in.

The woodwork in this building was incredible. Everything was larger than life.

The doors where all like 12 feet tall, solid wood.

This was inside one of the rooms in the ward.

Getting to see the inside of this building almost made the trip worth it. But not quite. The trolley fiasco was obnoxious especially combined with the terrible weather. When we got home I passed right out.

October 23, 2011 0

Vera Pizzeria is Magnificent.

Over the summer, Nicole and I went with my family to San Francisco to visit my sister. My favorite place that we visited while vacationing there was called The Alembic Bar. What made this place special was that they made top notch old school cocktails, and they did them correctly. You didn’t have some “Joe Schmoe” bartender with average skills behind the bar, you had a true professional. One of my favorite drinks is a Sazerac, a drink that up until now was impossible to get here in the city of Buffalo. I say “up until now” because that has finally changed. “Vera Pizzeria” has brought old school cocktails and impressive pizza to the Elmwood Avenue area.
We arrived to the restaurant at about 7:30. It was a full house, but nothing so uncomfortable that we couldn’t wait. We were given a wait time of about 20 minutes. That was no problem for me because I was focused on getting to that bar. The cocktail list was impressive offering a wide variety of drinks and a variety of different whiskey. I didn’t see the Sazerac and was starting to get bummed out, but we decided to ask just for the hell of it. The bartender (who all wear vests and sport mustaches) confidently said he made them and was almost excited to do so. He had all of the essential ingredients including the Sazerac Rye Whiskey and the Peychaud’s Bitters. He made a generous sized cocktail (almost doubled the size of the Sazerac I had in San Francisco) with one big ice cube in the glass. It was perfection, and all while giving me the history of the drink. I couldn’t have been more happy.


Earning my trust before making the Sazerac with a few key ingredients. P.s. I tipped more than one dollar, contrary to what that stray bill on the bar makes it seem like.

Splendid.

We were seated a bit earlier than the estimated time and pleasantly, we had great seat by the window. While we waited, instead of the standard bread basket being placed on our table, we were happily surprised with a bowl of Greek olives.

The Sazerac makes another appearance. Clearly I’m obsessed.

The selection of pizza was fantastic. With all of the pizza competition in the area, you really have to be one step ahead and offer something truly special. Vera Pizzeria did just that. It was difficult to choose, so Nicole, our friend Kristina, and I each ordered a different pizza so that we could try them all. Nicole ordered the Porchetta Pizza which was red wine braised pork shoulder, oil cured olives, fresh herbs, and Fontina cheese. This pizza was superb. The pork was cooked perfectly, so incredibly tender and juicy. I was jealous of her dish.

Porchetta

Kristina ordered the House Made Sausage Pizza which was a San Marzano Tomato Sauce with house made Italian sausage, Fennel, and shaved Parmesan. It was fresh, very tasty, and slowly grew increasingly spicy with every bite.

House Made Sausage

I ordered the Fig Jam and Prosciutto pizza which consisted of Bosc Pears, Arugula, Truffle Oil, Fig Jam and Prosciutto. It was the perfect blend of flavors ending with the sweet, but not overly so, flavors of the Fig Jam. It was different and exciting.

Fig Jam and Prosciutto

This was exactly was Buffalo was missing and now we have it. Top notch pizza, classic cocktails made by professionals, and a great atmosphere – “Vera Pizzeria” is a class act. Bravo.

October 3, 2011 0

Restaurant Review: Sonoma Grille

Thursday night Nicole and I met with some friends for some dinner. We usually pick the places to go so this time we had them pick. They chose “Sonoma Grille” on Main St. out in Snyder, NY outside of the city. I’ll be honest, I’m a snob when it comes to food. I really wasn’t looking forward to eating here at all. From their completely awful website that makes it look like their target crowd is 80+ years old, to mediocre reviews on Urbanspoon, there was nothing that really appealed to me about this place.
Nicole and I arrived before our friends. We figured it was going to be the type of atmosphere where jeans and a t-shirt would have looked a little out of place, and it was. This place was definitely not for younger people, or at least it didn’t seem that way. It had an “old” feeling to it, and I don’t mean “old” as in historical, “old” like elderly. There was a smoking area outside which was sort of gross and out of touch with society, mainly because it’s near the main entrance which I thought was illegal, but apparently not. The inside of the place smelled like the sort of perfume that I last smelled inside of a church. I wanted to turn and run, but I thought to myself, “This could make for a fun review.”

We were seated and minutes after, our friends had arrived. My friend Pat clearly had no idea what type of place it was as he strolled in wearing his green army coat, scruffy face, “Maui” t-shirt, and fedora. It was amusing and he clearly realized that he selected the wrong outfit. The restaurant staff was a little…bizarre. Pat and I both made reference to the fact that our server reminded us of someone from the “Adams family.” It bordered on uncomfortable at times, but at least he was attentive and our water glasses were never empty.
The menu was pretty ordinary with a few “different” items that saved it from being completely drab. Nicole and I decided to just order two smaller things and share. We started off with the “Ahi Tuna Salad” which was a piece of tuna seared rare over micro greens with mango and avocado salsa, with a spicy soy dressing. After everything I said about this place so far, this almost completely made it worth it. This dish was almost top notch. The fish was delicious, cooked to perfection on the outside, rare as can be on the inside, and accompanied with the greens and fruit, this made for a refreshing experience. We both loved this and I was impressed.

Ahi Tuna Salad

Our second small dish arrived and it was just a simple Grilled White Pizza with roasted garlic, artichokes and sun dried tomato. It was a simple dish that did was it was supposed to do. It wasn’t mind blowing and it wasn’t mediocre, it was exactly what it said it was.

Grilled White Pizza

Patrick ordered a chicken pot pie, which looked like a giant round hot pocket. He said that he liked it. His wife, Molly, ordered a pork dish. I’m pretty sure it was a pork tenderloin. She said that it was good also, but I wasn’t impressed by its appearance.

Pot Pie

Pork Tenderloin

The meal ended with our friends getting a Pumpkin Spice Creme Brulee which Molly loved and Pat barely touched. Nicole ordered just a coffee and me, a light Sambuca.
So I admit, I was harsh in my opinions of this place in the beginning. In reality, we will probably never eat there again, not because of the food, but mainly because it’s nowhere near where we live really and we are spoiled by the high quality, inventive restaurants located in our neighborhood. The atmosphere is not for me and its definitely not a place to bring a date unless she is 75. Seeing past all of these elements, the food was decent which made it a pleasant experience.

October 1, 2011 0

Restaurant Review: Black Rock Kitchen & Bar

    Great food is something that the city of Buffalo is known for. We have the biggest food festival in the U.S. and an unbelievable amount of great restaurants to choose from. It seems like every month there are new places opening up each putting their own spin on creating something different. The bar has been set high for quality. The slowly rebounding Black Rock area has had their first injection of something fresh and cool, that being the “Black Rock Kitchen & Bar”. The reviews have been pretty good so we figured we would give it a try.
    The inside of the restaurant is artsy and hip as I expected. We arrived around 6pm and the place was just about full already for dinner. We pulled into the lot across the street where they had a sign for parking however, a man standing in the rain with an umbrella was directing people out of the lot saying that the bar next door was calling and towing cars. It wasn’t too much of an inconvenience though, I was able to locate a spot down the street. The crowd was insanely diverse. Old people, young people, middle aged people-there was definitely a universal interest in this place. It was very dark so it was difficult to get any decent pictures. The menu was very different. There were a lot of things that I had never seen before like “Roasted Marrow Bones” and “Fois Gras French Toast”.
   We sat down and ordered our drinks. I went with the Southern Tier Pumking, which is the best pumpkin beer that I have ever tasted. Nicole ordered a glass of wine.

For an appetizer, we went with “Fried Mushroom Goat Cheese Wonton” served with a truffle mayo. We didn’t have to wait long for anything we ordered. This appetizer was cooked to perfection in terms of the level of crispy from the deep dry. Unfortunately it lacked any flavor. I could barely taste any goat cheese or mushroom (two ingredients that should have definite flavor). Nicole didn’t mind them but to me it was like I was just eating the shell of a wonton and dipping it in mayo. I was not impressed at all.

$9.00

For entrees, I ordered the Duck Leg BLT and Nicole ordered the Roasted Pork Enchiladas. My sandwich looked impressive and I was pretty excited to eat it. The fries were a little soggy and pathetic, almost looking like they came from the bottom of an Arby’s curly fries container. The sandwich was satisfactory, but barely. The duck was a little dry and didn’t taste like much of anything. I honestly could have just ordered a regular BLT and would have tasted the same. This definitely looked better than it tasted.

Nicole’s enchiladas were probably the best out of all the food we ordered. They didn’t look like much but they were indeed the best of the bunch. The pork was cooked nicely and the Poblano sauce it was dressed in was tasty, but again, nothing special especially for $12.00.

The Black Rock Kitchen & Bar was sadly overrated and overpriced. In a city full of great food, I would not recommend this based on my first visit. The amount of good reviews the place has received will probably make me give it another chance, but I can definitely state that our visit disappointing.

September 27, 2011 0

Beer Review: Southern Tier Harvest Ale

It’s that time of year when breweries release their Autumn beers. I decided to go ahead and try the Southern Tier Harvest Ale. This brewery is hit or miss with me. Some things they do well, other things they don’t. The Southern Tier Harvest Ale fails at being a decent Autumn beer. The appearance of this beer is deceiving. The beer pours nicely with a nice Auburn color and creates a nice head that lasts. The problem I had with this beer is that it lacks flavor. I found that the level of carbonation was good but there was no balance. With very little aroma, I think that the reason this beer falls short is because it is simply too light.

Rating: 4/10
ABV: 6.70

September 24, 2011 0

The Guest Room

Our guest room is just about finished. We are just waiting to put the bamboo in for the floor. This room was in bad shape when we first moved in. There was drywall that looked like it was cut by a blind man, cracks in the wall, terrible molding with missing pieces, and outlets in the wall that were too close to the floor and not secured to anything. It was pretty amazing. Nicole and I wrecked shop in this room, tearing off all the gross molding, painting, patching, etc. We wanted this to be a great room for family/friends to stay if they came to visit. Here is how it looks so far (try to ignore the bad hardwood, that will be fixed soon):

This was molding that Nicole and I created using two types of wood. A lot of the molding we saw at Home Depot was ugly and very expensive. This was an inexpensive way to get the effect we were going for.

We replaced the cheesy wall lights that were in this room with a classier model. I had to install little switches on these due to the fact that there was no wall switch in the room for them.

This is a rug that Nicole picked out on Overstock. The colors go well in the room but it ended up being smaller than we wanted it to be. It will work in there for now.

This lamp and night stand where treasures found at our local thrift store. The night stand was in rough shape but Nicole restoration skills, this looks brand new. The light worked perfectly and with a new shade from Target, it looks fantastic.

Brand new sheets and comforter set along with repainting the headboard a dark bronze brought this old bed to life.

September 23, 2011 0

Huge weekend!

This weekend was huge. Friday our contractor finished the work, The kitchen and the bathroom are now finished. It feels like Nicole and I had a roommate move out. All of the tools, the chaos, the filth, is gone. The house is finally all ours and we love it. Saturday my dad came down and helped hang some drywall. It was the second time he has come to visit me in buffalo in like 9 years, but it went fine and wasn’t awkward at all. It probably helped that we had work to do together in the house which created less awkward moments, but when it was done it seemed like he wanted to help out with more so I think we may see more than 1 visit a decade from now on. I learned a lot about drywall which is good because I am awful at it.

Getting ready to hang the Bill’s Screen TV

Hanging some drywall. There’s a few more pictures but they were not very flattering. With our new kitchen being in, its time to eat healthy. Also, whats my butt doing here?

Saturday night I went to pick up something from the jewelry store and then came home to propose to Nicole. Alright, it wasn’t that random. Nicole and I have been talking about it for a while and have been looking at rings. She doesn’t ever wear jewelry so looking for a ring was challenging. Nothing about anything we do is traditional, but that’s how we are, and I love it. We picked out rings together Friday because we ended up finding one that she really liked. She also said I would still have to ask her and that she wasn’t going to wear it until I did. So Saturday night I went to pick up the rings. For weeks I had been thinking about it. You always see dudes doing extreme things to propose, often involving public displays which Nicole and I find to be obnoxious. I wanted to create a t-shirt with us on it, and in Italian would say: “Mi vuoi sposare.” I designed the shirt when she wasn’t home and planned on mailing it to her in an anonymous package. Unfortunately, the image of us looked like it was part of a Rorschach test. So she would end of receiving a shirt with something written in a foreign language on it, and weird random ink blots trying to resemble an image. All of this coming from an anonymous sender. That wouldn’t be too creepy would it? So i decided not to. So Saturday night I left to go pick up the rings. I stopped over to her mom’s house to get permission which turned into a much expected awkward moment, but hilarious in hindsight. I walked into the house, and said “Hello.” Her mother walked over to the door while Nicole’s sister Amanda came down stairs with little Jake (her son/Nicole’s nephew) and sat on the landing, staring at me. So there I stand, with the two dogs running around screaming and barking, with Amanda, Jake and her mom staring at me wondering why I have arrived at 7:30pm by myself. I didn’t want to ask her mom to speak in private, because that would have made it even more odd, so I just looked her in the eyes and asked her for her permission to marry her daughter. She looked at me with a completely emotionless expression, and said, “No.” We then just stood there looking at each other for a few moments and finally that emotionless face turned into a genuine smile and she told me that her and Nicole’s dad both give me their blessing. Amanda and Jake said that they liked having me around. So with the blessing from the new additions of my family, I left to go pick up the rings!
Once I had the rings in my hands, and saw how great they came out, I couldn’t wait. I have been in love with her for a long time, and every day I love her more. We never fight, and we love spending time with each other. Never have I felt so connected to a person like I feel with her. I drove home rehearsing the lines that I wanted to say to her in Italian, trying to get it just right so that I didn’t sound unnatural. That was going to be impossible, so I had to just make sure I could say it the best I could.
I pulled up to the house, took a deep breath, and walked through the front door. Nicole was in her pajamas on the couch with a big towel in her hair watching TV. I walked over to her and got down on one knee, only i was behind the couch and it didn’t register to her what I was doing. I, of course, was too nervous to understand that she couldn’t see me on one knee and had no idea what I was doing. She was watching “Date Night” and awful movie with Steve Carell and the volume was up higher than usual making it difficult to speak in a normal voice. We looked at each other oddly for a moment when I said, “Can you turn the volume down, I’m trying to talk to you.”. She turned down the volume on the TV while laughing at me, still not really registering what it was I was trying to do. I just looked totally weird crouching down behind the couch with a look of confusion on my face. I said to her, “Ti amo sempre. Mi vuoi sposare?”. What she said right after that moment was sort of a blur because I think I was overloading mentally. I believe she smiled and said, “ohh…thanks”. I realized that I had to follow up in English, so I said, “That means, will you marry me?”. She said “yes” and then let me know that she sort of understood “Ti amo sempre” (I love you always), but had no idea what else I had said. I put the ring on her finger and followed the happiest moment of my life to date with a kiss and phone calls to our family. My mom was incoherent because she was crying so hard.

The animals are really excited.

So the entire process of getting engaged was not how I imagined, but a lot more memorable because of it, and I’d have it no other way. We don’t plan on having a huge wedding, just immediate family and a few close friends and some dinner. Nicole and I don’t like big productions, and would prefer to spend money on other things, like our planned trip to Italy in June.

I will have more entries this week on a regular basis. With the work in the house being completed, I’ll have more time to do some entries. Lots of things to talk about! Go Bills!!

September 19, 2011 0

Restaurant Review: Cole’s Restaurant

Buffalo has really started to gain a reputation for having great beer. It is becoming common to see more and more restaurants carrying excellent beer, continuously changing kegs as they are kicked, and exchanging them for other excellent beers. Its something that I love about this city. This weekend Nicole and I went to Cole’s for dinner. This wasn’t the first time we have eaten there, but I hadn’t done a review on it yet for my blog. So Saturday we decided to head down for some dinner. One thing Cole’s has been consistent with is carrying amazing beer. The owner of Cole’s also owns the Blue Monk and keeps the beer selection different at both places. While the Blue Monk is mostly Belgian Beers (which are not my thing), Cole’s carry’s more of a variety, and for me, a decent selection of different IPA.

Even more great choices in bottles.

Lost Coast Indica IPA from California for me and the North Coast Bro Thelonious for Nicole.

We arrived at around 6:30 pm on a Saturday night. It was busy but we still didn’t have to wait for a table or anything. The dining room is split in half, one side has an open front that goes out onto the Elmwood strip, while the other side is super dark and pub-like. The hostess tried sitting us in the dark section but we had to insist on sitting on the other side or else I wouldn’t have been able to take any pictures. It was not a problem at all, and in minutes we were sitting in the other section. They had done some remodeling since the last time we had eaten there. One thing we noticed were the bizarre lights along the wall of creepy monkeys reading books (or maybe they were supposed to be menus?).


A little disturbing…

For an appetizer we had ordered chicken, jalapeno, and cream cheese Wonton in some sort of sweet chili sauce. The concept of this dish was pretty awesome, but it fell short on substance and in the end, you were left with a fried shell that was overcooked and too crispy, with little filling.

For dinner I had ordered a Black and Blue burger. I’m not sure why I ordered this. I was in the mood for a burger, but every time I actually eat a burger, I don’t enjoy it much. Don’t get me wrong, this burger was good. The burger itself was super thick, almost to the point where I couldn’t fit it in my mouth (insert “Thats what she said” joke). It was cooked to the temperature that I had requested and the fries were perfect also.

Nicole was in the mood for a Reuben and that is what she ordered. Her Reuben looked pretty awesome and I have to admit, I was jealous. I should have ordered that also. You can’t beat a good Reuben. She was happy with her selection.

Another decent visit to Cole’s with some good quick food and beer. If you are new to the area and are reading this, I suggest a visit. For new students that have just moved to the area going to Buffalo State, its right down the street from school on Elmwood. Here are a few other pictures of the interior.

Salute!

September 12, 2011 0

Excited for the Weekend!

I can’t wait for this week to be over. I have a boat load of stuff to do this weekend and hardly any room to breathe, but I like it…..I think…so far. Our contractor thinks he will be finished with everything by the end of next week. The new counter is set to go in around Wednesday and I’ll be able too cook again and share my pizza recipes.
Saturday, Nicole and I need to spend the day making sure that we don’t have pealing paint on any of our windows, so it will be an entire day of doing that. There can’t be pealing paint when the inspector comes. We just want to be able to cook again like normal people and have a bathroom sink again!
Sunday is going to be awesome. I am a Bills fan. I’m not a Bills fan that cries about how bad we are and puts them down all the time. Every season is a new shot in my eyes and this season is no different. I like what they have done with the defense and the QB that I pushed for to be the starter from the beginning is starting. Sunday will be a day of football and food and I cannot wait.

I’ll have a new restaurant review this weekend. We want to go out to eat tomorrow so I should have something new to share. Once this house stuff ends, I should be able to get back to the normal posting on here, beers, food, and shirts!

September 9, 2011 0

Category: buffalo