Menus, recipes and tips to make every day your best day
I love Grape Tomatoes. I’m not so fond of Cherry Tomatoes. Those suckers escape my fork and jump the plate more often than not. Plus they pop in your mouth. {{shudder}} I also do not like tomatoes that aren’t in season and smell …
Celebrate with this super easy Summer Happy Hour Menu~ Although it felt like it would never happen, it’s finally Summer! It’s the perfect time of the year to get together a couple friends on the patio or balcony and have a drink to celebrate. Summer …
In French, it’s Chicken Cordon Bleu, but this grilled take on the classic is All American. A cordon bleu or schnitzel cordon bleu is a dish of meat wrapped around cheese (or with cheese filling), then breaded and pan-fried or deep-fried. Veal or pork cordon …
Weekly Menu 06.08.25: Keep Your Egg Rolls, I’ll Take the Fortune Cookie The Weekly Menu 06.08.25 includes National Egg Roll Day, which is clearly a sign from the universe to order Chinese takeout. I read once that egg rolls are “America’s favorite deep-fried appetizer,” and …
Weekly Menu 06.01.25: Say Cheese Why are we getting ooey and gooey during the Weekly Menu 06.01.25? June 4th is National Cheese Day, baby! It’s about time, huh? National Cheese Day: Yes, It’s a Thing, and we’re all in for it If you needed a …
Honoring American heroes during our Weekly Menu 05.25.25~ We’re honoring the American heroes who gave all during the Weekly Menu 05.25.25. Memorial Day is here! “We are not here to mourn the dead but to praise them.” — Original Memorial Day Proclamation We’re honoring the …
Weekly Menu 05.18.25: Buzzing Into Dinner with Easy, Family Favorites~ This Weekly Menu 05.18.25 is sweeter than ever—because we’re giving a nod to the hardest workers in nature: bees! With World Bee Day landing on Tuesday, we’re dishing out meals the whole family will love, …
The Weekly Menu 05.11.25 is brought to you by fate, flashbacks… and a fully functioning appendix. What’s bizarre on the Weekly Menu 05.11.25: Four years ago this week, I cooked steak salad, went to bed, and woke up needing emergency surgery. This year? Same salad, …
Weekly Menu 05.04.25: A spicy Paloma in One Hand, Enchiladas in the other ~ ¡Salud! If Cinco de Mayo isn’t officially a food holiday, it should be—because during the Weekly Menu 05.04.25, we’re leaning all the way in. I’m starting things off with my take …
Erieites like to say Erie, Pennsylvania is centrally located: we are within 100 miles (give or take 20 miles) of Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. We share Lake Erie with Buffalo, which is one of the reasons that we head east more often than south or west. Another motivator for me, is that, growing up, we went to Niagara Falls at least four times a year – so heading east is apparently genetic.
One of my favorite day trips to the falls included only my Dad and my baby brother, who was probably not more than three at the time. (Not everyone in the family got the Niagara Falls bug.) We ate at a typical touristy buffet overlooking the falls, where, horrifyingly, my brother’s lunch went right through him. Spectacularly. And, of course, we had no spares. We located a store that sold both underwear and pants (and socks and shoes) and stocked up. We giggled the whole way home (and for years after) about the ridiculousness of the entire day as well as his outfit.
In college, I convinced my roommate and her boyfriend that they hadn’t lived until they saw Niagara Falls, and we made the eight hour trip from Boston to Niagara Falls in a loud and bouncy blue Jeep Wrangler. The Falls were as magnificent as I had told them, and, as far as I know, it was the only time they ever got to see them. I feared my parents would be angry that we made the road trip, but finally told them about it. They agreed 100% that the trip was completely reasonable as well as necessary.
Mom and Dad went to Florida every year for about six weeks during the winter. The snowbirds were pretty lucky they had a live-in babysitter for the younger unit of their eight child family, huh? Keeping the sibs occupied could be a little bit of a chore, though, so I finally decided on a day trip to the Falls. I still remember how disappointed my vacationing father sounded that he hadn’t made the trip with us.
Part of our marriage negotiations included at least semi-annual trips to Niagara Falls. Despite rolling his eyes about it occasionally, Bert keeps up his end of the deal, so we’ve been able to convince our boys that Niagara Falls is both a great day trip and awesome overnight destination, especially now that two of them are able to enjoy (brave?) a trip to the casino on the Canadian side. I prefer avoiding Niagara Falls during the summer because of the sometimes insane crowds: in my mind, there isn’t much better than the falls frozen and surrounded by snow in February or March. As a bonus, it’s cheaper to stay then.
“It’s Niagara Falls. It’s one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world. Who wouldn’t want to walk across it?” Nik Wallenda
Ha! This girl. I love them, but…
