Trip to the Empire State — Monday

We had pretty much spent the last two days with Tim's grandma Helen in East Bethany, so late Monday morning we headed out to Buffalo where we met up with Tim's great aunt Gertie, the younger sister of Tim's Grandma Jean who resides in the Southwest (not to be confused with Grandma Helen in East Bethany). We always love spending time with Aunt Gertie, who is, bar none, one of the coolest senior citizens we know. She rocks.


We spent the day with Tim's great aunt Gertie, the younger sister of Tim's grandma out west. (11/07/05)

We took Aunt Gertie to lunch at a local Greek restaurant in Buffalo called Alton's. The food was okay, but the company was much better. Afterward we picked up some stuff for dinner at Ellie's Deli, a little place that sells all the great Polish food that no one has time to make from scratch anymore.

You can find such treats as pierogis (kind of like a big Polish ravioli stuffed with yummy fillings), kluski (potato dumplings), golombki (cabbage rolls; inexplicably pronounced "go-woom-ki") and placek (Polish coffee cake; pronounced "plot-sick"). We picked up some potato cheese pierogi's and kluski that Aunt Cindy can freeze and cook up for Grandma Helen one of these nights.


One of our stops in Buffalo was Ellie's Deli, which sells take-home Polish cuisine. (11/07/05)

We even took Aunt Gertie with us to Wal-Mart, where we helped Tim's Aunt Cindy with some shopping. Every time we go to Buffalo, we always seem to end up at Wal-Mart. And we hate Wal-Mart too! :) (We're Target people). On our way back to drop Aunt Gertie back home, we drove by St. Josaphat's Catholic Church, where Tim's parents walked down the aisle in 1960.


We drove by St. Josaphat's Catholic Church, where Tim's parents (and a few other of his relatives) tied the knot. (11/07/05)

On our way back to East Bethany, I finally convinced Tim to stop at Tim Horton's, a common Buffalo-area restaurant chain where they sell donuts and sandwiches. Supposedly they have really good coffee (which was the big selling point for Tim). It's named after Tim Horton, the late hockey player who played with such teams as the Toronto Maple Leafs and later, with the Buffalo Sabres.


Tim Horton's restaurants are all over the place in Canada and upstate New York. (11/07/05)

We had seen Tim Horton's all over Quebec when we were there a few weeks back, but it seemed we never had time to actually go inside. They're about as common in Canada and upstate New York as Subway. Incidentally, Tim the coffee connoisseur didn't think their coffee was all that. But their donuts were good! We also got a dozen TIMBITS (or "donut holes" as they're called in English) for Tim's grandma.


James poses with the goodies we got from Tim Horton's, a popular donut restaurant named after the legendary hockey player. (11/07/05)

Afterward we headed back to East Bethany where we spent our final evening with Tim's grandma and his Aunt Cindy.

I will share one funny story. Yesterday, Tim's Uncle Ronny briefly mentioned that he saw "Meet the Fockers" on cable the other night and how funny he thought it was. Well, after Grandma Helen went to bed tonight, Tim and I were up talking to Aunt Cindy about anything and everything. And we were laughing. Well, I guess we woke up Grandma Helen, who summoned Aunt Cindy into the room and asked, "What are you guys laughing at? Are you watching the Fockers?"