I have always loved chocolate, but it was my first Godiva truffle that spoiled me. Shaped like a shell, the open oyster filled with hazelnut praline dissolved in my mouth in a sense-enhancing glaze. It made me question every chocolate I had...

I've lived in Rochester more years than I can count on both my fingers and toes, and yet had never been to "Live from Hochstein." I'd heard about it for years, as it began way back in 1975. It starts at 12:10 p.m. and ends at 12:50 p.m., giving...

For shame, Rochester! For shame! Only one of you -- besides me -- showed, and even that was a pit stop.

A long time ago, I remember seeing a present wrapped in a common brown paper bag transformed into a reindeer. Then I made the mistake of watching a Martha Stewart Christmas Special where she took pieces of colored tulle and gathered, wrapped, and...

This week was all about the election. I headed down to my local polling place before work on Tuesday to cast my votes. I got a fright when as I walked toward the building that has been my voting place for the last nine years -- with no signs...

The participants (about 40 or 50 of them) gathered in the parking lot by a school-bus yellow car. Balloons were being filled from a helium tank in the trunk. Someone was strumming a guitar while another played on a xylophone. (Which reminds me, next year

Doing the Greater Ithaca Art Trail has become an annual tradition for me. The weather is usually fine and the ride down is beautiful, with the autumnal trees at their peak. This year I wondered if they were going to use my mailbox idea from last...

Stephen Colbert just does not stop. He plays the role of arrogant, selfish, pseudo-journalist with such flair and commitment that I sometimes wonder where his line between satire and actual belief system is drawn. Seeing his lecture Saturday at...

It was raining in the morning with a forecast of steady showers, but the sun began to shine shortly before the gardens tour at the Rochester Civic Garden Center. About a half dozen of us met inside the center to eat our brown bag lunches while...

I love my blog. I love writing it because it's not limited, like a review. It's a firsthand account by me, a regular person, attending events. And, as such, regular things happen to me: venues don't call me back, the event is different than described, or like in this case, my plans change.   I was planning on going to the Historical Barns Tour, but the day before, I was given tickets to the Inside Downtown Tour. No problem. I wanted to do both, so I would. But the night before I hosted a bridal shower

I have an excellent sense of direction, and one of the fun things I like to do is head out of Rochester in my car and try to become lost. I usually have to go pretty far, and I usually only get lost for a short time. However, in that short time I usually find something interesting. Like the time I found Nine Pines Country Store, open on a Sunday afternoon, miles down a dirt road near Newark. Whoddathunk? I bought a beautiful wrought iron chandelier that day. Or I come upon a spaghetti or bar-b-que dinner put

The tram ride up to the mansion might have been fun on another day, but this day the rain that blew in the sides of the car magnified the cold and I was just thankful that I didn't have to walk. It wasn't the best day to tour Sonnenberg's gardens, but the dull gray sky, drizzle, and chill in the air was the fitting prerequisite for a hot cup of tea. The Victorian Tea was held inside because of the weather, which was an added surprise. Card tables were covered with flowered cloths, lovely mismatched china settings, and

When I hadn't received a reply from my second e-mail requesting a reservation for the Victorian Tea at Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion, I resorted to phoning. Too bad, sold out. I hate when that happens. I made reservations for the following week. I didn't do an event, but I did do something eventful. I went peddle boating, my absolute favorite summertime activity. There are just so many things I love about it, beginning with it being something I can do with only one other person, as they are typically two-seaters. I love one-on-one interactions. So,

We didn't know exactly where we were going for the Poags Hole Hillclimb on Sunday, August 17, but it wasn't a problem. We simply followed the motorcycles. At first they came in ones and twos, then they expanded in number the closer we got. As we stopped for gas at what looked to be the last place before turning off the main roads, I got a small dose of what we were in for. The large convenience store parking lot was rimmed with bikes and bikers, and my heart sped up a bit. "Danger, Will Robinson!

This past weekend, a family dressed in period costume gathered at the village square for East Bloomfield History Days. As they sprawled on a picnic blanket, the image was quintessentially American, and set the tone for the day. Cannons stood guard like sentinels on all four sides of the mound leading up to the Civil War monument -- an obelisk engraved with names and battles, with a pondering Union soldier perched atop. The square was also home to displays of local Civil War-era history, including quilt-making demonstrations, "veterans," and telegraph equipment. As I made my

It wasn't just the T&A that piqued my curiosity about Frank De Blase's "Peel & Squeal Appeal" lecture last night at the Dryden Theatre. I had spent many an hour in the Williams Research Center while in New Orleans, rolling through microfiche looking at the old Blue Book bordello menus. I've often had the feeling that, in a past life, I was once a madam managing such an establishment in New Orleans. And, although a burlesque story doesn't have the same ending as one set in a bordello, they both begin with a tease. I

In years past, the Rochester Public Market offered its summertime Community Garage Sales and Super Fleas once a month. They are now held every Sunday, and that might explain why only a portion of the available vendor spaces were in use. The day was bright and sunny, and upon entering the compound I was struck by the amount of doggy bags. That's dogs in bags, a practice that has become somewhat of an epidemic since "Legally Blonde." After questioning one such pet carrier, I was told the practice saves the pooch's paws from being trampled upon.

It's challenging to find anything good about the rising cost of gas. However, as I am a woman who loves words, the addition of two new words to the Urban Dictionary created by the soaring oil prices gives me the self-delusion of finding something redeeming about it. Daycation and staycation, while now admitted only into a rogue dictionary, may well someday end up in The Oxford.This past weekend I went on a staycation at a cottage on Canandaigua Lake. Arriving late afternoon on Friday, and having established the Top Secret House Rules, me and four of my gal pals proceeded to eat,

Last week I ran into a woman who told me that reading a City's Choice on an altered book workshop inspired her to attend. Neither of us knew the other had been there, but we discussed how cool we thought the books were, and also our own pitiful attempts at the workshop to make one. I blogged about it here. I say this because when I learned that the Memorial Art Gallery's "Rochester Biennial" was to include a book artist, I was excited.First, a gripe. The $10 admission seems a bit steep considering I can go to Buffalo's Albright-Knox, which

Thursday night I made my way down to the new Party in the Park site to see Los Lobos. Parking, as my friend texted me in all caps, F*CKING SUCKS! All parking is a walk from the site. And security rivals that of an airport. Or of Water Street Music Hall, where it seems they're always looking for a fight. Even my tiny paperback-sized purse was thoroughly checked for weapons of mass destruction.Once in, If ound that the Riverside Park space is big, but bigger is not always better. Ultimately, you're standing in a big-ass parking lot. A big, flat