tuesday aug 4th

Coconut Panna Cotta with Mango Glacee

I'm a little late blogging my fun vacation with Donna and Mary Jo. I had visited them in Chicago earlier this summer and they wanted to come see Buffalo. On Tuesday, August 4th, I picked Donna & Mary Jo up at the airport – just ten minutes from my house. They flew in from Midway on Southwest. The day was sunny and warm but very humid. We came back to my house. I gave them a little tour and we had Sangria on the patio. The Taste of Williamsville, a yearly event, just happened to be on that same day. We drove to the Hampton Inn on Main Street and checked into the suite I had reserved on the 4th floor. Kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom with 2 queen beds and a big Jacuzzi that we never used. From there we walked to Island Park to have lunch at Taste of Williamsville which used to be called Savor the Flavor. A lot of good restaurants but we seemed to gravitate towards two in particular. The Gate House and JoJo’s Bistro. We divided up most of the things we tried. Turkey burger with cranberry mayo, crab cakes, chicken Rockefeller, parmesan frites. I had cucumber white grape gazpacho and coconut panna cotta on my own. They had gelato. Then we walked up and down Main Street hitting all the shops.


three girls at Glen Falls

We also stopped at Glen Park where a lot of couples were sitting around talking or necking. I asked a guy from one of the talking couples to take our picture in front of Glen Falls. Both girls were anxious to see Wegman’s so we drove over and they oohed and aahed and wished they had a grocery store half as nice by them. They both bought a Koko lunch bag. Back to the room to drop off purchases and freshen up for dinner at Trattoria Aroma where we had stopped earlier in the day to make reservations for 7 pm. Donna and I both had a fish called walu which was incredible delish. Mary Jo had something chicken.



We called my friend, Barb, from the restaurant to see if she would like to meet us at the room and then head up to the American Falls. She did want to. Barb offered to drive and I let her because she knows the area around the falls better than I do. As soon as we pulled into the parking by the casino, raindrops started to fall.



We started walking to the falls anyway. It started raining harder and harder and we kept walking. Donna and Mary Jo shared the one umbrella we had brought with us. Barb and I just got wet. The storm kept getting worse. Thunder boomed and lightning bolts filled the sky. We hoped our rubber flip flops would keep us from getting electrocuted if we were struck by lightning on the metal bridges that crossed the rapids on our way to and from the falls. We crossed over to Goat Island and stood on the observation deck with the American and Bridal Veil Falls crashing on either side of us, mist blowing back in our faces, in the dark. Too dark to take photos but I tried to take this one of the rapids from the bridge. When we got to the parking area again, the rain let up. We were thinking that wouldn’t you know it…we had picked the exact worse time to be there. But the rain wasn’t done with us yet. It rained so hard on the way home we couldn’t see the road or the highway signs. That was the end of the rain though. The rest of the week was in the low 70’s with low humidity and plenty of sunshine…perfect for the rest of the activities that I had planned.