Archive: Around Town

Out and About in the Finger LakesThe semester for one local LACS student started bright and very early in Albany last week. Our 17 year old, "grand daughter by mutual choice" , Tigan, who has appeared earlier in this column as "Gavel Girl", talked her way into an internship at Empire Justice in downtown Albany in order to complete her alternative school required community internship. Because Jim's work also takes us to Albany and provides us with a small apartment there, we decided to turn half of our 12'x12' living room into a "Tiga-tat" room for her with some pvc pipe and 15 yards for fabric.

The first photo was taken at 6:45 am as she began the commute to her first official day of work car pooling with "Geek Guy", a.k.a. Jim Sullivan who, fortunately, works on a long term contract to someday bring the State of NY into the 21st century in an office a few blocks from hers.

Having an additional member of the household has it's challenges, but Tigan is a very unusual person for her age and used to sharing space with grandparents in a wide variety of circumstances. It gives us the excuse to share some of our favorite restaurants in the Capitol Region with one of the more adventurous eaters we know. We will occasionally add notes on her progress in the wide world of eclectic eating.

Our first foray was the Sushi bar and Hibachi grill called "Miyako" (Capitol) at the intersection of routes 20 and 155 in the town of Guilderland about 20 minutes from downtown. There are many Asian restaurants in this area but this one is a quiet family place with decent prices, excellent personal service and a classic show of grill technique. It is also open Sunday night and practically walking distance from our apartment. This was a new experience for Tigan so we ordered a small sushi/ sashimi appetizer. I would not order raw fish at many restaurants, but this one states its certification and the fish has always had an excellent texture and no fishy odor; all good signs.

Tigan liked the salmon (raw) and shrimp(cooked) while Mary prefers the tuna (raw). Our grill chef lit the large spotless grill in front of us and proceeded to juggle knives and spatulas while the surface heated to the correct temperature. Each order has it's portion of fish, meat or vegetable neatly placed on a tray in order.With oil, butter, and soy sauce on the hot grill, the chef deftly spun a raw egg, picked up on his spatula, and sent it into his jacket pocket before breaking it onto the grill. The scrambled egg was mixed with precooked rice for classic fried rice. Garlic and then vegetables were cut as they cooked and served piping hot. Tigan enjoyed the flaming onion "volcano" our chef created.

Finally, the chicken, shrimp or beef were cooked in seperate areas with deferance to personal tastes and caution to put the beef on last if there is any hint of someone not eating red meat. We noticed that this chef kept a small bit of chicken aside and chopped it into marble size pieces. At the end of our meal, when we had finished eating, he took these little bites, made sure they were cool, then flipped them for us to try and catch in our mouth. We found that it works best if you just close your eyes, open your mouth, and let him do the aiming rather than trying to get them because he's had practice and most Americans don't play games like that with their food. It was the perfect way to relax after the three hour drive. We finished the evening with green tea ice cream for Tigan and Sake for Jim. Mary was way too full for anything more. By the way, this is a situation where you should openly let the chef know that you are enjoying the show and even give him a small tip as he is cleaning the grill back to it's spotless condition while you eat.

The second fun event this week was Mary's birthday. She has no hesitation about her age, having earned all of her grey hair and character lines honestly. Her son, Page, who helped her earn a number of those assets in his teen years, brought his wife, Eileen, down from Syracuse to celebrate at Rogues Harbor along with our long time friend and local artist, Carol Abitabillo Ast. Page walked into the dining room, the regular music went off and in it's place was the Beatles' song that includes the line, "will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm ......?" Mary had a little lamb that night; actually a very nicely done rack of lamb, one of her favorite specials on the Saturday menu, followed by the mixed berry cobbler a la mode which she shared with Jim.

We continued the celebration the next day by running out to The Creamery on Rt. 89 for Mary's special birthday cake. if you sign up for their scoop card Judy and Jeff will send you a coupon for a free scoop on your birthday or $2 off an ice cream cake. This week they also had a 25% off coupon on their Web site   to get people to drive out the 20 minutes from downtown, but really, the chocolate hazelnut custom made cake is well worth the full price!  We had fried clams and a pulled pork sandwich for lunch while we were out there along with Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters' Creamery Blend while we chatted with Judy and Jeff (the owners and makers of the region's best ice cream in our opinion) as well as several of their regular local customers. We cut the cake at brunch the next day and it was truly excellent. If you have read this far and can figure out Jim's equation or name the Beatles' song, please enter Mary's age in the comments section. I don't know what the reward for that is yet but you will at least have a certain claim to "Geekdom" .

Have a great weekand stay warm as you're out and about in upstate New York.

Mary & Jim

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