Hungry Lippe!

Lippe joined us for breakfast, today. We went to my family’s favorite brunch place, The Flour City Diner.

Flour City Diner entrance

Entrance to the Flour City Diner

In its early days, Rochester was known as the Flour City, because of the large number of flour mills along the banks of the Genesee River. Some of the old mill buildings still exist in the High Falls area of the city, although they were converted into factory warehouses and office buildings, but at least one of the old mill wheels is still visible. Later, after the mills closed and our wonderful county parks were designed and landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, people started calling it the Flower City.

The Flour City Diner is open for a pot luck dinner on Wednesday evenings (a single entree, chef’s choice). They have a full dinner menu on Friday nights, and a wonderful brunch menu on Saturday and Sunday.

Lippe on the table

Lippe waiting for his breakfast

In addition to their usual list of omelets, pancakes, and sausages, they always have 5-7 brunch specials.

Lippe was the first person seated this morning, and waited patiently for us as we greeted the restaurant staff and several of our friends who were also eating brunch there today.

 

We all sat down and studied the menu.

Lippe eats breakfast

Lippe loved his breakfast!

It was hard to decide what to eat. Today’s specials all looked delicious.

Eventually, we ordered. Eventually, our food came.

Two of us had the special Bourbon Raisin Oatmeal. Lippe ordered Strawberry Pancakes With Sausage. (Jerry Manley, the restaurant owner, makes his own sausage. YUM!)

Lippe at Stevers' Chocolates

Lippe at Stevers' Chocolates

After breakfast, Andy went grocery shopping and our friend Linda went home. Lippe and I went to Stevers’ Chocolates to buy goodies.

Stevers is a wonderful place! They make oodles and oodles of different kinds of chocolate and other candies. The best thing is, their factory and shop are in an old house just a few blocks from home.

Today, we got a small pack of dark chocolate and walnut turtles, a small pack of Grand Marnier cream-filled chocolates, and a box of assorted crystalized maple sugar candies.

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Lippe feeds the birds

Lippe and Midnight

Lippe and Midnight look out the window

 

Lippe accompanied Midnight on her morning patrol, and noticed that the bird feeders were all empty.

 

 

 

 

bird feeders

Lippe and the bird feeders

 

 

Lippe bundled up in his warm hoodie, and helped me collect all the feeders.

 

Lippe and sunflower seed feeder

Lippe and sunflower seed feeder

 

 

 

He held each feeder open while I filled it, and then we hung the full feeders on three sides of the house where the birds would find them.

 

Lippe shivering

Lippe shivering

 

 

 

Afterwards, Lippe was shivering so hard, all the photographs were coming out blurry!

We decided to spend the rest of the day reading in front of the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lippe visits the art museum

Today, Lippe and Andy and I visited the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester.

memorial art gallery

Memorial Art Gallery, photographed last October

Lippe sitting on wreath

Lippe sitting on wreath at Gallery entrance today

 

 

 

 

 

 

clock by Wendell Castle

Clock by Wendell Castle

 

We saw many beautiful works of art, including the Extreme Materials exhibit (although I couldn’t take any pictures there).

Here are a few of the highlights.

 

 

 

Mexican pots

Mexican pots

 

 

The gallery has recently renovated many of their exhibits from the permanent collection. The first floor houses items from Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

 

 

Chimu mask

Lippe liked the gold mask

 

 

 

This mask is from the Chimú culture in Perú.

 

Laughing boy statue

My twin!

 

 

 

Lippe was excited to meet the Laughing Boy from Mexico, but disappointed that the gallery store didn’t have a replica of the hat to buy as a souvenir.

 

 

 

 

bench by Wendell Castle

Bench by Wendell Castle

 

This bench was carved by Wendell Castle, who also made the wonderful blue clock we saw near the gallery entrance. It’s very comfortable.

 

 

 

second floor of the Memorial Art Gallery

Second floor of the memorial art gallery

 

The second floor of the MAG houses mostly European art.

 

 

 

 

educational display

This is interesting!

 

During the renovations, the MAG staff added some excellent interactive educational displays.

 

 

 

 

18th c. Archbishop of Paris

An 18th c. Archbishop of Paris

 

 

This well-fed archbishop reminded Lippe that it was almost dinner time.

The rest of us weren’t ready to leave, though.

 

 

 

 

Fountain Court and baroque organ

Fountain Court and baroque organ

 

As I was photographing the ornate baroque organ in the Fountain Court, I heard a guard shout “No swimming in the fountain!”

 

 

 

 

 

Lippe in the fountain

Lippe in the fountain

 

Oh, dear!

I knew who that had to be.

 

 

 

 

 

Lippe on the gallery stairs

Lippe sliding down the handrail

 

 

On the way downstairs, Lippe decided that the handrail would be faster than the elevator.

Tomorrow, we will have a very quiet day!

 

 

 

 

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Third Sentence Thursday, Jan 12

Not a novel, today, or even an essay. Today’s Third Sentence is from an article in the December 2011 issue of Scientific American.

“That is a shame, because a microwave oven, when used properly, can cook certain kinds of food perfectly, every time.”

According to the authors, W. Wayt Gibbs and Nathan Myhrvold, most people woefully under-estimate the usefulness of their microwave ovens, which can do so much more than boil water, pop popcorn, and warm tired leftovers. Gibbs and Myhrvold give a procedure (an excellent example of technical writing, by the way) for a tilapia main dish,  as well as sauteeing parsley, drying beef jerky, and calculating the velocity of light using cardboard and slices of Velveeta.

The scallion and ginger tilapia prep sounds absolutely delicious. Of course, this method requires more than just following a standard recipe from epicurious.com or The Food Channel. You need to know the power rating (number of watts) of your microwave oven, and then calculate the power setting (10 to 100%) needed to cook the fish at exactly 600 watts for 6 minutes.

This intrigues me, a former R&D chemist, and I think it will interest my retired-science-teacher husband. Yes, THAT husband. The food-obsessed one who has cooked every dinner in our home for 40 years, except when he was in the hospital. The one who was overjoyed to receive Cooking for Geeks by Jeff Potter for Christmas <http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/>.

I’m really looking forward to dinner!

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Lippe joins the choir!

Lippe came with me to choir rehearsal tonight.

Lippe waited in my music bag

Lippe on his way to choir rehearsal

 

He’s been looking forward to it for days. He missed his chance to sing in the Boar’s Head Festival, and was so eager that he couldn’t wait until I finished dinner and packed up my music.

 

 

 

 

church courtyard with lighted tree

Tree in the church courtyard

 

On our way from the parking lot to the choir room, we stopped to look at the lighted tree in the inner courtyard of Third Presbyterian Church.

 

 

 

Lippe in the music cabinet

Lippe checks my box for new music

 

We stopped at my box to pick up new music and my copy of the choir newsletter.

 

 

 

Lippe and choir newsletter

Oops!

 

Right away, Lippe spotted a typo. “It’s not 2011, it’s 2012!”

 

 

 

 

Lippe at the piano

Lippe at the piano

 

Since the assistant organist hadn’t arrived yet, Lippe offered to accompany the rehearsal. That didn’t go very well.

 

 

Lippe in the tenor section

Lippe in the tenor section

 

After a brief voice placement audition, Lippe was accepted into the tenor section, where the other singers made him feel welcome.

 

 

 

While Lippe worked very hard, and tried his best, the result was less than successful. Lippe will not be singing with us on Sunday morning.

Lippe and the choir director

Lippe with Peter DuBois

 

Our choir director gently advised Lippe not to quit his day job.

 

 

 

 

xxxx

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