Zucchini Bread

The best thing about zucchini...

...zucchini bread. My family has been gobbling it up. I used my tried and true zucchini bread recipe.

Making grape juice

I am spending a week at my parents, visiting and staining my grandma's deck. My mom and dad have some grape vines and I was excited to see all the plump ripe grapes on them. Mom said there aren't as many as last year and they aren't as big but they look good to me.

I picked a bunch of them and took them to my grandma's to make juice.

I coudn't decide what juice recipe to use so we made two batches using different methods. This old recipe fascinates me. I'm not sure how a silver spoon keeps glass from cracking but still... fascinating.

We made one batch with whole grapes and sugar floating in hot water method.

And we made another batch using the cook-the-grapes-and-squish-the-juice-out method.

The juice turned out to be a wonderful color and tasty too. Fresh grape homemade grape juice is so different than what you buy in the store!

pixlromatic

There are a lot of iPhone photo apps out there now... Hipstamatic, Instagram... and now my fav pixlromatic.

It has the most filters and also some effects like bocca and bunch of frames to choose from. It only saves to the phone and uploads to Facebook though - not all the choices like flickr or twitter like some of the other apps, but there are so many effects I'm wiling to just do the sharing from the photo album after downloading.

Snow Daze snow cone food truck

When I was at Spokes and Ink I finally caught up with the Snow Daze snow cone food truck. I blogged about Rochester food trucks recently. I love the little trailer they work out of.

They have some pretty interesting flavors too. I got the peach blueberry. i'm pretty sure I saw something with carrot jucie which I am curious about.

Spokes and Ink party

Today was Spokes and Ink at the Genesee Center for Art! There were some great posters for sale.

I was pretty excited to see my "Biking Like Cats and Dogs" hanging up there. A few people there were buying it so I'm hoping for a nice amount to dontate to Lollypop Farm.

I made a letterpress Spokes and Ink card.

Tina and I biked there and there were lots of others that did too. I spent some time eyeballing the other bikes.

Overall it was a great event and I'm hoping they do it again next summer.

Mushrooms

With all the rain we have had lately there are a lot of mushrooms popping up around my neighborhood.

Sunflowers

I finally made it out to the sunflower field for some pictures.

Right at sunset is my favorite light. I used my Kodak MAX digital camera. I love that camera.

I totally meant to plant sunflowers this year and I never got around to it. This makes up for it a bit.

This year they even had a little pull off are for all the people that stop to take photos.

Domo went along.

What a great name for a dog in Rochester! She is probably lean enough to call Genny Lite.

Genny #13743577

Genny is a 3.5-year-old female American Foxhound mix who weighs 52 pounds. This sweetie came to Lollypop Farm because her family had too many pets and didn’t feel she was getting the attention she deserves. Her tail thumps out quite a beat on the kennel walls and she has a smile for anyone who will stop by to say hello. Genny is your typical hound with long graceful legs, a beautiful face and wonderfully expressive ears! Genny has lived most of her life outside. She is eager to please and looks forward to adjusting to the comforts of being an inside dog! A home with children over the age of 6 is recommended, due to the fact that she has never lived with children. She’d also prefer a home with no cats or small animals. Come out and meet Genny today…she can’t wait to become a member of your family!

Wedge, the cat from last week is still waiting to be adopted.

Stick Hound

Hugo is a bit of a stick hound.

Sometimes he sets his sights too high.

Spokes and Ink: Rochester Bike and Poster Party

Next weekend two of my favorite things smoosh together into one event. Spokes and Ink is a bike and poster party from the Genesee Center for Arts and Education. You can bike on over and enjoy local food and music.

Local artists were also invited to submit poster designs and they will be up for sale at Spokes and Ink. On a whim I designed a poster featuring Oscar, Hugo, Stewie and my birthday bike and I was thrilled when I was chosen!

The party will be at the Genesee Center next Saturday, August 27 from noon to 6pm.

So if you are looking for some art for your walls or just want to hang out check it out next weekend!

Critters, weekend and Instagram

Sleeping in.

Blogging.

Gardening.

Ice cream.

Cozying up during a rain storm.

F. Olivers olive oils and vinegars in Rochester

There is a new shop on Park Ave that specializes in oils and vinegars. F. Olivers is from the Finger Lakes and offers a mind boggling selection of flavors of vinegars and oils.

We stopped in during the Park Ave Fest and you can see how stunned Tina was. Their shop is amazing with rows of shinny tanks that you can sample from.

Just a few of the vinegar flavors are peach, grapefruit, cinnamon pear, coconut, dark chocolate, pineapple - the list goes on.

As for olive oils some of the flavors are basil, blood orange, lime, chipotle, and the most amazing Little Butter. There is no dairy involved but this olive oil tastes like butter! Perfect for misting on popcorn.

If you are going to visit you really need time to sample all the flavors and let the staff mix some for you - basil olive oil with strawberry vinegar - fantastic!

Wunderlist

I am a list addict. I makes lists for everything. It is a very satisfying thing to organinze everything in a list and it's an even better feeling to check something off your list.

I probably have about a dozen notepads with lists. I've tried a lot of list apps but the best one by far is Wunderlist.

It has some nice features but not too many. Some list apps go overboard.

There is a laptop app, iPhone app and iPad apps and they all sync.

List heaven.

Blog about Wunderlist - check.

Just a few cukes

I don't know what kind of cucumbers I planted but I got really weird round little cucumbers and only a few of them.

Just enough to make one weenie jar of sweet pickles. I'll have to savour them.

Rochester Food Trucks

I have been waiting for the food truck rage to hit Rochester. How great would a fleet of trucks with unique tasty food roaming the city be?

Turns out they have been here for awhile, they just aren't driving up and down the streets... they are parked at festivals and the farmer's markets.

While we were at the Park Ave festival I spotted Lynez's Frozen Delights Truck. The truck was pretty sweet looking in of itself but it also had really good Spanish Ice.

I got the Pina flavor and it was so good, I can't wait to catch up with the truck at the Public Market to try more flavors.

Pet of the Week

For fun you could call him Wedgie. Heh. I like his Batman mask.

Wedge #13034167

Wedge is a 5-year-old male black and white cat who has been waiting too long for a new home. He came to Lollypop Farm in May, because his family was moving and could not bring him along. Wedge is a mellow boy who enjoys lots of attention. He has been trained to use a scratching post! This sweet boy lived with children in his previous home and enjoyed their company. He has been living in the cattery and gets along well with other cats, but he’s a bit cautious when it comes to dogs. Wedge is one of our Featured Felines: Cattery Cats. Now through Friday (8/19), you can adopt him for just $35, or any other cat, 5 months or older, who is living in the cattery! Come out and meet Wedge…you won't be disappointed!

Hobie, the dog from last week was adopted!

Weird Cat Position

Does any one else's cat sit like this? Stewie is so weird. He sat there for ages... watching me.

Side view.

Weirdo.