Edible Book Festival

Here's an interesting event that's happening this week. The Western New York Book Arts Center is having their annual Edible Book Festival on Friday April 1 and this is no April Fool's joke. The April 1st date actually was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) a French gastronome who wrote the book, Physiologie du Gout.

Part of the International Edible Book Festival, which is held annually on or around April 1st, artists create an edible book that’s judged on appearance as well as taste; one can literally eat their words! The event, which takes place from 5-8pm, is open to the general public. tickets are $10. For more information, see their website www.wnybookarts.org/edible2011.php

The Western New York Book Arts Center is a unique store/gallery promotes printing and book related arts. They carry bookbinding supplies, papers for letter press printing, and decorative art papers, including Hahnemuhle papers from Germany, Armad papers from Montreal, and Thai rice papers. They also carry a selection of books, cards, and posters. In addition, they also offer lectures and workshops about printmaking, papermaking, illustration, design, writing, and binding.

WNY Book Arts Center, 468 Washington Street, Buffalo

Curious Kids Day this Saturday

Looking for something fun to do with the kids this weekend? Check out Curious Kid's Day, presented by Western New York Family Magazine at the Buffalo Museum of Science. The event takes place Saturday March 26 from 10am to 3pm, with all sorts of activities revelving around the museum's current exhibit, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibit."

Activities are free with museum admission, although there is an additional $2 charge to enter the actual Chronicles of Narnia exhibit, which is by timed ticket.

Read the article about this event in the March issue of Western New York Family, which can be found free at Wegmans, public libraries, day care centers, peditricians offices, and many other locations. You can also sign up to read the publication online at www.wnyfamilymagazine.com

Maple Syrup How Sweet it Is

Mmm... maple syrup, who doesn't like the sweet delicious taste of maple syrup? I'm talking about 100% pure maple syrup, not the 2% "pancake syrup" you usually see dominating the grocer's shelves. Not only does maple syrup taste good, it's actually fairly good for you. It's cholesterol free, and contains calcium, potassium, iron and phosphorus.

Since New York's official state tree is the Sugar Maple, it's not surprising that the state is second only to Vermont in producing maple syrup, which is a uniquely American food.


Maple sugaring history

According to the New York State Maple Producers Association, maple sugaring is a "centuries old North woods tradition." Native Americans were the first to tap maple trees and collect the sap to make maple sugar to use for cooking. The early settlers, who learned the maple sugaring process from the Native Americans, used maple sugar as their sole source of sweetening since it was too costly to import sugar.


How syrup is collected and processed

Making maple syrup is a very weather dependent activity. The warm days and cool nights of Spring cause the sap to run. There are only a few short weeks in the "sugaring off" season when conditions are right for collecting the sap.

Years ago trees were tapped using wooden or metal spiles and buckets. Today approximately 75% of New York State maple producers connect their trees with plastic tubing and the sap flows directly into collecting vats; which are then taken to the "sugaring house" to be transformed into syrup.

At the sugaring house the watery sap is boiled until the water evaporates and the result is pure maple syrup. It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup!

Learn about how syrup is made at Maple Weekend

The annual Maple Weekend is going to be taking place this weekend, March 19-20 and next weekend, March 26-27 at over 100 maple producers throughout New York State. sample syrup, visit the sugarbush and see how syrup is made, enjoy pancake breakfasts, purchase maple products, and take part in other fun activities. For more info visit www.mapleweekend.com

Check out this blog post about Maple Weekend by fellow local travel blogger Carol White Llewellyn, a.k.a. The Travel Maven http://travelmaven.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/5326

Events happening this weekend

Here are just a few of the events happening this weekend in western New York.

St. Patrick's Day Beer Tasting at the Burchfield Penny Arts Center. Friday March 11 from 5:30-7:30
Get ready for St. Patrick's Day by sampling some beer. Featured beers include Flying Bison, Ithaca Beer Company, Heineken Light, New Castle and Don Equis. There will be live music by The LeftOvers. Tickets are $20 members, $25 non-members call 878-4529 for more info. Burchfield Penny Arts Center, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, www.burchfieldpenney.org

Who Bounced the Bouncer: a 1920's Speakeasy Mystery on the Niagara Wine Trail. March 11, 12, 13
If you prefer wine over beer, check out this month's special wine trail event along the Niagara Wine Trail. For this murder mystery weekend, participants will collect a clue at each winery, along with a sampling of their wine. Visit all 13 participating wineries and see if you can solve the mystery. Tickets are $20/person. see www.niagarawinetrail.org for details.

Buffalo Home and Garden Show, Buffalo Convention Center. March 11-13 If you're looking to do some home improvements this year, don't forget to check out the home show www.buffalohomeshow.com

Winter Carnival, Holiday Valley. Mark the end of another ski season at this annual event which takes place at Holiday Valley Ski Resort and throughout the village of Ellicottville. www.holidayvalley.com

Great store for gamers

I know I usually post items that are more touristy, but I want to share with people information about a store that I discovered. My sons had a game system that wasn't working and I enquired at one of the national chain game stores about repairs. They said "Go to Oogie Games."

At Oogie Games, which is locally owned, the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable, they have a large selection of reasonably priced games and used systems, and they were able to fix our game system for a lot less than buying a new one.

My boys also had a Game Cube system that wasn't working, but they still had a lot of games for it sitting around. Oobie Games doesn't fix Game Cubes because you can buy a used system from them for $20! Now my youngest son can play the games his brothers played when they were younger....the games are new to him!

They have two locations, one on Sheridan Drive in Tonawanda, the other on South Transit Road in Lockport. For more info see www.oogiegames.com

A wonderful lunch at Ruzzine's Rock Bottom Eatery

Today is my dad's 95th birthday and I wanted to take him to lunch. We were looking for somewhere casual, affordable, and close to his house. Ruzzine's Rock Bottom Eatery fit the bill. I had read an article about it in the Amherst Bee a few weeks ago and it sounded pretty good.

The restaurant is located in a Victorian style home. The dining room is very cheery, with yellow walls and navy curtains. The restaurant is suitable for all; retired folks, business people, families, and couples. The food, which is made from scratch to order, was very good.

I decided to try a burger, since their burgers were rated "The best burgers on the planet" by Buffalo Spree Magazine a couple years ago. The burger was really big! I ordered the 7 ounce, I can't imagine how big the 12 ounce one was! It was pink and juicy inside and grilled to perfection. I opted for the sweet potato fries as a side, which were served with a honey butter dip. (The above hamburger image was taken from their website; I got mine minus the bacon and cheese.)

My dad decided on the reuben sandwich, which was loaded with layers of corned beef. Now my dad can eat a lot for a skinny guy, but I had my doubts that he would be able to finish such a big sandwich, however, he managed to eat the whole thing. He commented that it wasn't exactly a low calorie meal!

The menu features a variety of items from salads and sandwiches to pitas and wraps. They also have pasta, several dinner only selections, like steak and pork chops, as well as a Friday only fish fry.

Ruzzine's Rock Bottom Eatery, 6261 Transit Road, East Amherst, 716-204-4004, http://www.rockbottomeatery.com/