20 Years and Still....

Looks like the anniversary train has come up!

Well, it comes every year, but I rarely, if not never ever, post anything about the occasion since I find the whole exercise a little too schmaltzy for my liking. And we all know how cynical I can be about love. But I think this year is a milestone for us and so deserve a few words from me.

20th wedding anniversary....has got our names all over it.

Here's our bio:
20 years....7,305 days....175,320 hours....2 daughters....dozens of trips and lots of fun....2 continents, 9 addresses....countless laughs, endless dreams....

It has been a great ride. And funnily enough, I can't seem to wait for more years to come with my hubby.

Sonnets (and in this case, blog posts) are mostly written about great loves. And the great ones always have a bit of crazy in them. Does this post count? I certainly think so.

Our Welcome to New York

Manhattan skyline

This year's family getaway came earlier than expected. As soon as school was out, I had already made plans to cross over the border. And not just the "close to the border" kind of crossing either. This year's getaway destination was New York City, a good 6 hours from the Canada-US border.

The holiday schedule moved up a bit because the family chose to join a bus tour to New York and the availability came up during the Canada Day weekend. It felt kinda odd leaving Canada on Canada Day but we were definitely looking forward to seeing a new place for the first time. Since arriving in North America, New York has been at the top of places to visit and this year, it was finally happening for us.

The tour started at around 8am when the bus picked us up in Mississauga. It was a 4-day trip to New York. The itinerary was that we would spend the first day on the bus travelling to our hotel, which was situated in New Brunswick. And then we would spend the second and third day in Manhattan, New York. And the fourth day, we would be heading back to Canada.

It promised to be a quick, jam-packed trip and certainly sounded as exhausting as my Contiki European Discovery trip in 2010. I was highly hesitant at first to book the family on this tour since I knew that bus tours will tend to test our stamina. And I was not wrong. It did. But my family was such a trooper. Although there were a lot of moaning and complaints about long walks and wrong directions and indecisive choices, we came back to Canada intact.

Join me as I share our New York visit. However, short it was. Taylor Swift had the right idea: As much as we wanted to visit and experience it, New York had been waiting for us all along.

Buffaloes Have Wings?

A photo posted by MJ Rodriguez (@jamie250196) on May 22, 2015 at 4:17pm PDT

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I always thought the term "buffalo wings" meant chicken wings the size of buffaloes.

For those new to the term, "a buffalo wing or buffalo chicken wing is a US-cuisine of a wingette that is deep-fried, unbreaded, and coated in vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and butter. They are traditionally served hot, along with celery sticks and/or carrot sticks with blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing for dipping." (Wikipedia definition)

So anyway, I've developed a penchant for hot, spicy food in recent years, and me and buffalo wings go way back. I first tasted this delicacy whilst living in South Africa. It was a popular menu item on one of South Africa's franchised steak house. Since arriving in Canada 2 and a half years ago, I have been whining to anyone who would listen that I have been missing my fix of buffalo wings.

Imagine my surprise, in the midst of one of my whining sessions, a newfound Canadian friend pointed out that I should check out where it all began. The place where it was first created, Anchor Bar Restaurant in Buffalo, New York.

Woah! I was flabbergasted. So buffalo wings actually meant Buffalo wings. These spicy-hot tasting wings originated from Buffalo, New York. Hence, they are called as such. I had gone on long enough without having one that I never even thought it meant anything but.

Anchor Bar is billed as the home of the original Buffalo chicken wings. I was hesitant at first to test the place out as I thought that it might not be suitable for kids. With a name like Anchor Bar, can you blame me? But my hunger for the wings prevailed and I thought what the heck! Hustled the family into the car one morning and off we went to Buffalo. Arrived at Anchor Bar just before lunch. It was starting to get busy. Ordered mild and hot wings. Also ordered breaded mushrooms. It was as scrumptious as I remembered it to be. No complaints from me. Ordered too much so had to take some home. Had buffalo wings at dinner as well. I was a happy girl.

Ambience at Anchor Bar was good and nice. I would definitely go back and I can recommend the food as well. It won't stop me from trying out all the Buffalo wings in Buffalo though. I've read on the internet that there is another place that serves quite a good plate of wingettes and I made a conscious note that we will hit that place next time we go to Buffalo.

It's Been Waiting For Me

Rest week this week, guys.

Going away for the Canada Day weekend, hoping to come back refreshed next week.

To tide you over while I'm gone, I'll leave this pic to signify what's coming to the blog this summer :-)

Photo credits:
Photo found on Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1548181097213354/
Original photo taken by Thomas Ritzerfeld - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ritzerfeldorama/5127510871/