Bellvale Farms Creamery

Lizzie and I have a Memorial Day tradition of renting a car, driving upstate and seeing a drive-in movie. We have made BBQ food part of the tradition as well. The reason BBQ is part of the tradition is that one year we literally could not find any on our drive. Even with Yelp and Google on our side we had no luck. So BBQ became part of the official planning. Bellvale Farms Creamery has now become part of the tradition as well. Its only a 15 minute drive to the drive-in movie theater in Warwick as well.

The top photo is the view from right outside of the ice cream shop.

Bellvale Farms Creamery
1390 New York 17A
Warwick, NY 10990

"free" breakfast

If you don't count the blood sweat and tears (literally), this breakfast was free. I met up with Liz part-way through a week of training and she insisted on me ordering room service breakfast. It was very expensive, but with someone else paying it was worth it.

What? A blog post?

Yes, this is a blog post. No, you are not dreaming or hallucinating. No need to pinch yourself to see if you are awake.

In Washington DC Liz took me to a restaurant called Good Stuff Eatery. Quite simply, it was delicious. I got the "SPIKE’S SUNNYSIDE" burger with: dairy fresh cheese, applewood bacon a farm fresh fried egg on a brioche bun with good stuff sauce. This may not be a good idea to say, considering how much we love Shake Shack in NYC, but Good Stuff Eatery is tastier. It really is. Liz was shocked I could shift my loyalty so quickly. For the record, the verdict is still out for Liz. She is a diehard shack burger and black-and-white shake fan.

Tartine (San Francisco)

It has been a fun and busy fall. It's my slow time at work so we have taken advantage of that by going away on some relaxing vacations! And since Mark and I love good food we always enjoy checking out new restaurants when we travel. So needless to say there has been some amazing food lately. And let's just also say that we are looking in to gym memberships as a result.  

One of our favorite finds was Tartine bakery in San Francisco. Oh my - it was good. We went twice. (We were only there for two days.) Not only was everything delicious (which it obviously was) it was a fun place to hang out and we made some friends and enjoyed chatting leisurely as only New Yorkers on vacation can do.

Procession of the Ghouls

Halloween? Long overdue...yes. But, as I wish I had snapped back to my high school Spanish teacher the only day I walked in late, "más vale tarde que nunca" (better late than never). Too bad I didn't remember that vocabulary phrase quick enough in 9th grade. Oh well.

Halloween weekend we went to The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine for the Procession of the Ghouls. Prior to the procession, they showed the 1925 version of the Phantom of the Opera accompanied by a live organ performance. The film was actually quite creepy. The ghouls were fun to watch from a distance but when they got up close they were scary. I remember one in particular. Liz even screamed he got so close to us.

The Cathedral is quite amazing. Liz and I did a Crypt Crawl tour a year ago and loved it as well. Happy Halloween...or better yet, Happy Thanksgiving!

Celebrity Sightings

I always complain about being the only person who never sees famous people in New York. Everyone has their celebrity anecdotes. Everyone but me that is. And today we learned why...

Mark and I were in the airport at JFK walking to our gate when we came face to face with Ty Burrell (aka Phil Dunfee of modern family, which just so happens to be our favorite tv show these days) and his real family.  But when I say we came face to face, it is probably more accurate to say that Mark came face to face and I came face to top of head--eek--I was looking straight down! (a walking representation of those over-used accounting jokes about accountants looking at people's feet that I've heard way too often since the day I chose Accounting as a major in school).

As soon as we had passed them Mark discretely pointed him out (he so kept his cool) and I completely freaked out!  I insisted that we pivot and follow them. Mark whispered "we don't want to stalk them" but I exclaimed "yes-we do!".

And we did. Not in a running up and begging for an autograph sort of way. But more in an "I've seen too many episodes of 24 and apparently think I've lost my calling as a spy" sort of way. I really thought I was smooth until Mark (ever the voice of reason) pointed out that we were in a restricted security zone (which I had failed to notice in my Jack Bauer-like attempts to get us the best view).

*Have you seen the episode where Phil gets an ipad?  It's a favorite and oft-quoted episode around here. Whenever Mark gets something that he had been secretly harboring a desire for he imitates Phil when he exclaims about his new ipad: "I said it didn't matter - but it did.  It so mattered!" or something to that effect.

Take-out routine?

Apparently.

Which ones are well past their prime? Which folded paper boxes contain tonight's dinner?

*One of my favorite practical comments from Relief Society (back pre-Nursery calling days) was this girl in our ward saying that she and her husband had taken to ordering extra take-out on Saturday nights to make sure they had plenty of food for Sunday. I loved hearing this. Of course I always want to be the perfect image of Donna Reed making Sunday roast while wearing pearls, but it's nice to know that other people sometimes fall short of that ideal too. It's nice to think that other people sometimes don't make it to the store Saturday night and end up eating spaghetti or cereal (or Chinese leftovers) for dinner. Solidarity.

**Photo taken by Liz. (I must clarify as not to sully Mark's good photographic name-haha).