Archive: Around Town

Sunset GrillBreakfast:  My husband and I found ourselves on South Hill one hungry morning. We remembered that upon a time we had had a respectable breakfast at the Sunset Grill (Rte. 96 below Coddington Rd.) We stopped in. It was just starting to rain, so we were unable to sit on the extensive patio deck due to splash potential. The inside seating options include: seats at the counter with a good view of a clean well-ventilated grille, cozy booth seating in the kitchen area, or the comfortable spacious dining room ,bright, interestingly appointed, and close enough to the coffee pot. When it is not raining, the ‘have to' choice is outside with an incredible view of Cayuga Lake from the South.

The wait staff was efficient and friendly. We chose the pecan pancake (single) and one of the Special's of the day, ‘home-made' corned beef hash with eggs and toast for $5.99. The coffee was quite decent and hot and the breakfast showed up in no time at all. We knew the cook Matt Torchia from another of his restaurants, The Mahogany Grill, so he sent along a piece of the other special, ‘California French Toast' for us to try.

Last Thursday campers visited the Ithaca Sciencenter before bussing to Taughanock Falls.  These weren't just any campers -- they were kids who have or have had cancer from all over the world.  These children were spending the week at Camp Good Days , and spent the day in the Ithaca area because the camp has opened a regional office in the Village of Lansing.

"Because Ithaca is so beautiful we decided to bring Camp Good Days to Ithaca," says Southern Tier Office Coordinator Marcie Kreydt.  "We decided to visit the Sciencenter in the morning and then go to Taughanock Falls and have a picnic and hike the falls."

Recipe of the week: For breakfast at home -- inexpensive, delicious and healthy!

1 c. cornmeal

1t. salt
1T. sugar
1 c. boiling water- pour over above ingredients, stir well and let sit 10 minutes

 

For a town without a town center, Lansing is all about community.  August provides an opportunity for the community to celebrate itself with the third annual Lansing Harbor Festival .  The festival takes over all of Myers Park for the day and offers live music, vendors, food, and activities in a family friendly atmosphere.  This year's festival is a week from Saturday, August 15th.

"We're using the whole park this year," says festival chairwoman Karen Veaner.  "We'll be starting off first thing in the morning with the Lighthouse Run.  It's a 5K race sponsored by The Holiday Inn and Fingerlakes Running Company.  All the proceeds from this run will benefit the Lansing High School Varsity Cross Country team."

Hey there, my name is Fiona. I am a gray domestic short hair mix. I'm three years old and I've been at the SPCA since 2/16/09. I'm a great girl who needs a loving family to take good care of me. So please come and visit me at the SPCA soon!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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A personal training client recently commented during a session, "I really have to think about what I am doing." Ironically, this is probably what people hate the most about quality strength exercises. For the most part, making strength training part of your lifestyle requires a "mindless" fitness routine. Similar to this idea, Brian Wansink, Nutrition PhD and author of Mindless Eating, says, "The best diet is the diet you don't know you're on." Weight machines provide a mindlessness to strength training in that all you have to do is sit down and move a lever arm; i.e. no-brainer. However, fitness equipment manufacturers have removed the true value of strength training by making their machines "foolproof."

The Sciencenter will officially open its newest exhibit―a real 4.5-billion-year-old touchable meteorite―on Monday, August 17, at 12 noon. The celebration will take place at the Sun station on the Ithaca Commons.

The 40-kg meteorite―one of the oldest objects on Earth― is touchable.  Attendees will  celebrate the Asteroid station opening with free freeze-dried Astronaut Ice Cream, Milky Way® chocolate bars, and Tang® (while supplies last). The event is free and open to everyone.

It was a heart-stopping moment: A tiny orange kitten darted into heavy traffic in front of Squeaky Clean Car Wash on Triphammer Road early Monday evening. A car swerved to miss him. The kitten, terrified by the traffic, ran blindly across the road – and disappeared. He had slipped through the wide grating of a storm drain, falling six feet to the sludgy bottom. Trapped, scared and filthy the kitten had no way out. Thankfully, a passerby stopped and called the SPCA for help.

The 4-week old stray kitten, who later weighed in at just over one and a half pounds, hid in a pipe connecting two storm drains under Triphammer Road. SPCA staff searched for a way to coax the kitten to the opening, but he couldn’t be budged. With the help of Bill Wheeler, an employee of Squeaky Clean, and the loan of a large pry bar, the heavy storm grates on both sides of the road were lifted. By now, two sheriff’s deputies were on the scene, along with SPCA Animal Control Officer Tracy Barton.

WICB-FM raised over $1,500 for Loaves and Fishes food bank during this year’s Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance by raffling off a guitar and amp signed by over forty artists at the festival.  The guitar package was donated by McNeil Music of Ithaca and has a retail value of approximately $1,000.

The annual contest organized by “The Station for Innovation” surpassed previous years’ records and this year’s goal.  “Festival goers were extremely generous this year and helped us surpass our goals,” said WICB Station Manager Evan Schapiro. “The success of this fundraiser really goes to show the strength and support of the local community and their strong dedication to Loaves and Fishes even in these tough economic times.”

Thank goodness summer learning isn’t all pencils and paper.  Students at Lansing Middle School’s ‘Summer Learning Institute’ recently visited two community employers and learned how those agencies contribute to the community and what the potential employers look for in future employees.

Students entering fifth, sixth and seventh grade visited Cargill Deicing and learned about how salt is mined beneath Cayuga Lake.  Mr. Bell and Mr. Nixon, both engineering technicians currently supervising a shaft project for Cargill, spent time answering questions and showing students photos of the steps involved in mining salt.

A common question from gym members that I get after some of my own workouts, drenched head-to-toe, is "Did you do cardio today?" thinking I just got off the treadmill. This scenario illustrates one of the compartmentalized misconceptions of fitness, that your "cardio" has to be separate from your strength training. The idea that you don't sweat when you weight-lift is perpetuated by the use of fixed axis weight machines, single joint exercises like bicep curls, and guys who lift in their jeans. If you don't break a sweat when you strength-train, you may need to question the exercise(s) that you're doing and/or your lifting intensity (load).

We sweat as a natural response to increased body temperature which includes an increased heartrate during exercise. Most heartrate training is intended for continuous aerobic exercise but heartrate can also be a measure of the overall quality of a resistance exercise. The more activated muscle mass during an exercise, the higher its quality. For example, maximum oxygen consumption is a common measure of aerobic fitness. Values are significantly higher during treadmill testing (running) as opposed to bicycle ergometer testing (cycling) because more muscles demand oxygen for energy during running. Cycling, on the other hand, is a non-weightbearing exercise, therefore less musculature is involved. The more muscles involved, the higher the cardiovascular impact, which is very much applicable to weightlifting.

Dave HatfieldIf there is one thing you don't want to be in Lansing, it is a chicken!  Lansing is famous for its chicken barbecues, at least one every week while the weather is good.  Every summer weekend a chicken barbecue may be found in front of the Lansing Town Hall to benefit one of the many causes townspeople support.  More often than not the chef behind the chicken is Dave Hatfield.  Hatfield estimates that this summer alone he will have barbecued 5,000 chicken halves.

He does it to support the community he has lived in all his life.  "It's the reaction from the kids," he says.  "They usually send me a thank you.  It means children are being raised right.  If they didn't care or just took it for granted, I'd stop.  This town takes care of their young.  You know 'It takes a village to raise a child?'  It's a pretty good village we have here."