Tootsie Yr2: Schenectady, NY part 2
Apr. 17th, 2023 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Thursday, a chill morning and an afternoon matinee.
Paul (our drummer) had his sister in the pit with us, so that was cool!
This is making me want to have guests in the pit as well!
Unfortunately our Ableton crashed near the end of the show, but we made it through and I don't think the audience was aware that anything had happened.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, just dinner and the evening show.
Paul's mom sat in on the second show, and seemed to have a good time :)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, we had most of the day free so I thought it would be nice to walk to Schenectady's Rose Garden.
It was about a two-mile walk, and it was pretty hot, so for the first time in my life I brought an umbrella for shade.
It kind-of worked.
Along the way were lots of plants in bloom.
This pussy willow:
A small cherry tree:
And misc lovely ground flowers:
At the park it was immediately clear that there would be NO roses.
PSA: Roses bloom in late spring/early fall...not early spring/late fall. LOL!
I admired the thick thorny branches on the park's trellis.
There was a cute little stone bridge over a fish pond (the fish kept hiding) flanked by two little magnolias.
And the main park itself was nice too.
Even without roses it was a pleasant walk.
Afterward I went to CVS and Walgreens nearby, hoping to find Easter candy for the boys, but it's pretty much all gone.
To save time and energy I Ubered back home, as it was now mid-80s and I felt tired and thirsty.
Lunch, and the rest of the afternoon was finishing Dallas Foodie Finds, which is two pages long and just would not seem to END.
Just when I thought I was finished with it, in the process of researching points of interest for our day off I stumbled upon an Eataly at NorthPark Center Mall!
If you have never heard of Eataly before: picture in your mind a Whole Foods.
Shiny, modern, high ceilings. Extensive deli and meat and seafood and cheese offerings.
Upscale, snooty-booty products on the shelves.
Now imagine that it's ALL ITALIAN.
Italian Whole Foods! That's Eataly.
There are only seven Eataly stores in the US.
I've been to the one in Chicago, and had some of the best pasta of my life there, and saw mozzarella being made in-house.
The store contains three restaurants, an Italian coffee bistro, a pastry/cake cafe, and an Italian candy section.
The deli areas have pasta, doughs, cured meats, cheeses, seafood, etc.
There's produce, and of course Italian imports and wine and all the things you'd expect to see in an Italian store.
In other words, I gotta go! Because who knows if I'll ever get to go again.
Here's a 2-minute walkthrough video that some kind soul made, if you're interested to see the store.
CLICK HERE to watch
Anyway. The evening show went well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday I got up early to have breakfast with my friend Kriste.
She took me to a great local diner, where I ordered a veggie Benedict and received a veggie omelette instead, but I didn't say a word.
Because either way it's delicious, and still technically what I ordered ("veggies and eggs") so win-win! Haha.
We were able to chat and catch up a bit, which was really nice.
Kriste and I worked together in New Jersey at an editing/writer's submission firm, way back in 2008ish.
Since then we have both moved around and changed a lot. But it was good to see that she's still the kind, funny, awesome person that she was all those years ago :)
After breakfast we went to a co-op (because foodie adventures!) where Kriste wanted to get bulk ingredients to make cookies for her vegan boyfriend. Because if you're not vegan you don't need a 1lb bag of vegan flour, you know?
We found everything that we needed and then some; we each got a pastry and a beverage to enjoy later.
I saw lots of things that I wanted but couldn't get because travel. That's ok, the fun is in the looking!
We hugged and parted ways, then I relaxed until it was time for the first show.
Both shows were fine, we had good audiences :)
We had another guest in the pit, one of Kevin's friends this time (Kevin = Reed 1).
Also, Kriste sent me a picture of her vegan lemon cookies, which I think turned out very nicely.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday I was happy to "sleep in" which was only until 8am haha.
Then breakfast during which I tried the last of my Schenectady co-op foods:
- Ginger Sheep Milk Yogurt from Old Chatham Creamery: Very good! I've now had both sheep and goat milk yogurt, and in my opinion sheep's milk yogurt is far superior. It's smooth and rich, the flavor is gently earthy, and it goes so well with granola or fruit or even toast. I will say that I wish there had been instructions to stir on the cup, because all the ginger was in the bottom and I didn't realize that until halfway through. Otherwise though, it was very good and I'd definitely buy it again.
- Vanilla Cacao Water from Blue Stripe: This was "ok" in the way that coconut water is "ok", haha. It tasted like someone melted part of a Lik-a-Stix in some water. Not terrible but would I pay $$ for it again? Nah.
The usual Sunday packing and food prepping for the travel day (we are leaving around 10am and should have time for lunch at the airport too, yay!) and soon enough it was time for our last show. We had a good audience, and load out went normally.
---------------------------------------------------------------
It's Monday and it's raining steadily. Hopefully our flights won't be delayed.
In about two hours we load onto the bus. We won't get to Dallas until after 6pm Central Time.
Schenectady was nice, but I can't help but look forward to two weeks in one place, and time to explore.
I have been to Fair Park and the Dallas Farmers Market.
This time I'd like to visit the Arboretum, possibly the art museum, some thrift stores, and of course my list of foodie spots including Eataly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Other Stuff:
An update on the banana tree.
Jameson says it rained last night, actual rain not just a drizzle, which is wonderful.
So far the bananas still look good to me, no obvious rot or issues. Keep growing little guys!
Monarch caterpillar --> chrysalis --> butterfly mural on a building in Schenectady.
Someone wrote this on our dressing room directional arrows. Fake news :p
Paul (our drummer) had his sister in the pit with us, so that was cool!
This is making me want to have guests in the pit as well!
Unfortunately our Ableton crashed near the end of the show, but we made it through and I don't think the audience was aware that anything had happened.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, just dinner and the evening show.
Paul's mom sat in on the second show, and seemed to have a good time :)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, we had most of the day free so I thought it would be nice to walk to Schenectady's Rose Garden.
It was about a two-mile walk, and it was pretty hot, so for the first time in my life I brought an umbrella for shade.
It kind-of worked.
Along the way were lots of plants in bloom.
This pussy willow:
A small cherry tree:
And misc lovely ground flowers:
At the park it was immediately clear that there would be NO roses.
PSA: Roses bloom in late spring/early fall...not early spring/late fall. LOL!
I admired the thick thorny branches on the park's trellis.
There was a cute little stone bridge over a fish pond (the fish kept hiding) flanked by two little magnolias.
And the main park itself was nice too.
Even without roses it was a pleasant walk.
Afterward I went to CVS and Walgreens nearby, hoping to find Easter candy for the boys, but it's pretty much all gone.
To save time and energy I Ubered back home, as it was now mid-80s and I felt tired and thirsty.
Lunch, and the rest of the afternoon was finishing Dallas Foodie Finds, which is two pages long and just would not seem to END.
Just when I thought I was finished with it, in the process of researching points of interest for our day off I stumbled upon an Eataly at NorthPark Center Mall!
If you have never heard of Eataly before: picture in your mind a Whole Foods.
Shiny, modern, high ceilings. Extensive deli and meat and seafood and cheese offerings.
Upscale, snooty-booty products on the shelves.
Now imagine that it's ALL ITALIAN.
Italian Whole Foods! That's Eataly.
There are only seven Eataly stores in the US.
I've been to the one in Chicago, and had some of the best pasta of my life there, and saw mozzarella being made in-house.
The store contains three restaurants, an Italian coffee bistro, a pastry/cake cafe, and an Italian candy section.
The deli areas have pasta, doughs, cured meats, cheeses, seafood, etc.
There's produce, and of course Italian imports and wine and all the things you'd expect to see in an Italian store.
In other words, I gotta go! Because who knows if I'll ever get to go again.
Here's a 2-minute walkthrough video that some kind soul made, if you're interested to see the store.
CLICK HERE to watch
Anyway. The evening show went well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday I got up early to have breakfast with my friend Kriste.
She took me to a great local diner, where I ordered a veggie Benedict and received a veggie omelette instead, but I didn't say a word.
Because either way it's delicious, and still technically what I ordered ("veggies and eggs") so win-win! Haha.
We were able to chat and catch up a bit, which was really nice.
Kriste and I worked together in New Jersey at an editing/writer's submission firm, way back in 2008ish.
Since then we have both moved around and changed a lot. But it was good to see that she's still the kind, funny, awesome person that she was all those years ago :)
After breakfast we went to a co-op (because foodie adventures!) where Kriste wanted to get bulk ingredients to make cookies for her vegan boyfriend. Because if you're not vegan you don't need a 1lb bag of vegan flour, you know?
We found everything that we needed and then some; we each got a pastry and a beverage to enjoy later.
I saw lots of things that I wanted but couldn't get because travel. That's ok, the fun is in the looking!
We hugged and parted ways, then I relaxed until it was time for the first show.
Both shows were fine, we had good audiences :)
We had another guest in the pit, one of Kevin's friends this time (Kevin = Reed 1).
Also, Kriste sent me a picture of her vegan lemon cookies, which I think turned out very nicely.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday I was happy to "sleep in" which was only until 8am haha.
Then breakfast during which I tried the last of my Schenectady co-op foods:
- Ginger Sheep Milk Yogurt from Old Chatham Creamery: Very good! I've now had both sheep and goat milk yogurt, and in my opinion sheep's milk yogurt is far superior. It's smooth and rich, the flavor is gently earthy, and it goes so well with granola or fruit or even toast. I will say that I wish there had been instructions to stir on the cup, because all the ginger was in the bottom and I didn't realize that until halfway through. Otherwise though, it was very good and I'd definitely buy it again.
- Vanilla Cacao Water from Blue Stripe: This was "ok" in the way that coconut water is "ok", haha. It tasted like someone melted part of a Lik-a-Stix in some water. Not terrible but would I pay $$ for it again? Nah.
The usual Sunday packing and food prepping for the travel day (we are leaving around 10am and should have time for lunch at the airport too, yay!) and soon enough it was time for our last show. We had a good audience, and load out went normally.
---------------------------------------------------------------
It's Monday and it's raining steadily. Hopefully our flights won't be delayed.
In about two hours we load onto the bus. We won't get to Dallas until after 6pm Central Time.
Schenectady was nice, but I can't help but look forward to two weeks in one place, and time to explore.
I have been to Fair Park and the Dallas Farmers Market.
This time I'd like to visit the Arboretum, possibly the art museum, some thrift stores, and of course my list of foodie spots including Eataly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Other Stuff:
An update on the banana tree.
Jameson says it rained last night, actual rain not just a drizzle, which is wonderful.
So far the bananas still look good to me, no obvious rot or issues. Keep growing little guys!
Monarch caterpillar --> chrysalis --> butterfly mural on a building in Schenectady.
Someone wrote this on our dressing room directional arrows. Fake news :p
