You say tomato...and I say "is it?"

Look at these little beauties found recently at the

neighbor's produce stand...teeny tiny "pea-sized" tomatoes. 

So cute, so adorable and so yummy!

I've been throwing them into tacos, pastas & salads -

adding to veggie sides and eating them one at a time. 

Just too cute not to feature on the blog.

To give more perspective, this is one sitting pretty 

next to a little spice jar.  Sure glad I'm not the lucky girl picking them. 

They grow like any other tomato, not in clumps,

so lots of picking one after another, after another, after another...

Hip & happening hangouts for the whole 'hood...

Thought I'd highlight some of our favorite family hangouts in & out of LanCo. Some we visit just once a year, some we grace (?!) with our presence frequently.  Lucky them.  A few we've outgrown, but are still worth a mention for families with wee ones. Either way, lots of fun for anyone!

 The Lake & Beach at Mt. Gretna

Which has to be followed up by heading across the street to

the world famous "Jigger Shop" for burgers & ice cream!

Below is one of their special concoctions.  Established in 1895,

their website shares wonderful historical stories about Mt. Gretna,

as well as a "web-cam" so you can find those sneaky teens.

http://www.jiggershop.com/ 

"The Hands on House"

A wonderful kids museum which keeps kids attention

until around ages 6-8 years.  New this year is a wonderful

addition "Mason's Active Adventure Garden".

"The Wilbur Chocolate Factory"

Home of the iconic & highly addictive Wilbur buds.

A sinful and sensational mouth-watering creation 

long before Hershey kisses.  (Though we love those too!)

So...all that talk of kisses reminds me

to include "Hershey Park".

Our favorite areas always seem to be their water

parks - lots & lots of ways to keep cool.
Also home to some pretty far out roller coasters...

HP also offers great concerts year-round & in the winter

the Hershey Bears hockey team rock the house!

Another LanCo hotspot for littler people:

"Dutch Wonderland".

Though there are a few rides like the Pipeline Plunge

that we haven't braved quite yet, it is a perfect place to begin

the amusement park experience for newcomers.



"Cherry Crest Adventure Farm"

checks in as our all time favorite fall experience!

A ridiculously well designed corn maze (see 2011's below),

plus the added benefit of tons of outdoor games,

arts & crafts, petting zoos & great food.  All digital-free!

Bit of a drive, but an annual must do.  Plan to spend the day!

Lititz Springs Park is home to the 4th of July celebration. Anywhere.

That celebration is a whole other blog in itself, but the following

You Tube video of the over the top fireworks choreographed and graciously donated

annually by Clair Global, will inspire you to visit Lititz for that reason alone.

Sit back & enjoy just a tiny taste:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V8Cldhyoe0&feature=related

And some indoor honorable mentions:

B2B Baseball & Softball Academy

LaserDome

Strasburg Railroad

That Bounce Place (new in Lancaster)

&

The kids indoor gym at Universal Athletic Club

**stock photos from company websites

w/the exception of Hands on House by yours truly**

Amish Paparazzi

It's not often my husband calls me names, though more than likely I deserve a few choice ones periodically.  However, since moving to Lancaster County I have more or less been stalking the Amish.  Stalking.  Such an ugly word.  I prefer to think I am kindly snapping photos in a "journalisticly" or "artistically"  albeit secret manner in which to share with fellow bloggers the new-found knowledge I've obtained about the Amish culture.

My husband has now dubbed me the "Amish Paparazzi".  This weekend I was not alone in my stalking as my friend and her son came to visit from Las Vegas and shared my passion in the quest for the perfect shot, or the chance to churn butter...we settled for pictures. 

We headed over to a town called Bird in Hand, which is a quaint village in Lancaster County -- chalk full of Amish.  This village's economy is based primarily on tourism - which means a lot of businesses that call themselves Amish, but probably aren't.

You see, it's been uncovered in my thirst for Amish knowledge, that the Amish never use their culture (or religion) to advertise. Thus when they own a business, it may be listed with their name but never includes the word "Amish".  So...when the six of us boarded our Amish buggy at the "Plain and Fancy" tourist trap (insert hee hee here), we pretty much understood that the premise was there and the authenticity was not.

Here are a few shots from our trip, beginning outside of Lititz, PA.

When you see a bunch of buggies on a Sunday morn,

they are generally gathered for church services inside a home or barn. 

This is my favorite shot of the day, two little boys outside the barn gathering.

When doing a drive-by, one can only be so quick at focusing,

as well as being incognito.

A family waits to go on their Amish buggy ride at "Plain & Fancy"

located in Bird in Hand, PA.  Nothing fancy about it!

The Amish always have beautiful horses pulling their carts,

their main mode of transportation. 

The kids were bored and missing their technology on the short 4 mile trip.

An "authentic" moment as a man passes us in an open air buggy.

Another real buggy siting, with a gorgeous Amish farm and

sprawling countryside to feast your eyes on. 





Lastly, one of my lovely Amish neighbors. Sweet as can be.

In traditional Amish garb.  Older Amish don't like their picture taken,

younger Amish don't seem to mind.  This friend actually has her own camera.







Lancaster County Top Ten Restaurants...and counting!

We like great food.  We like to eat great food.  A lot.  Yep, that said, we also have kids (who know how to act in a restaurant, thank you very much) so we also really like great restaurants that not only have great food, but also have nice little touches to offer parents of great kids.  Word of the day "great".

In review of the year (plus) that we have now lived in Lancaster County, I've compiled a list of all the restaurants we've discovered, and compiled the oh so familiar "Top Ten".  Based the list on food, ambience, service, and if it wasn't a date night, kid-friendliness.  Let me add that we have enjoyed many fine meals over the years at other restaurants not listed, but to be fair to current owners, I am only including those that we've haunted since our move here. 

Top Ten...in no particular order, with a few good reasons why you

should frequent these fine establishments:

The Horse Inn/Lancaster: known for a Lancaster County favorite "Tenderloin tri-tips" as well as scrumptious crab bisque.  A Lancaster secret, it's discreetly hidden down an alley and up the steepest set of stairs possible.  If features authentic ambience due to the fact it was built in the 1800's and rumor has it that it was part of the Underground Railroad.  Yes, that means a little old and rickety, but nice servers who have been around forever.  Generally not a young and hip crowd, but worth a visit all the same!  Great food...could improve the wine list.  And bless those seniors who always stop to say hi to our children.   Kids are welcome but seem to be a novelty there.

Isaacs Deli & Restaurant/Lititz/Lancaster:  Their "Bird of Paradise" sandwich makes a grown man cry. I've witnessed it.  Isaacs is a staple of Lancaster County and multiple surrounding counties.  Insanely good sandwiches.  Worth repeating.  "Insanely good sandwiches."  Cutesy atmosphere, friendly servers, food named after birds.  We've been going there for years and have never, ever had poor service.   This place is so good, it's my go-to place when I need a gift certificate for friends, teachers, coaches, anybody. Everybody loves Isaacs.  Oh; and they have really cool rainbow bread that comes with their pbj with marshmallows.  Can you be more kid-friendly than that? 

Tomato Pie Cafe/Lititz:  See former blog about my feelings on their food as I may weep if I re-write it.  Gourmet, fresh, original for this small town and sensational.  Not mentioned previously, but their grilled cheese has Brie on it! Yes, rich, creamy brie. Slow service, but is a must-have on the Top Ten list.  (Sidenote: I am still trying to replicate that darned tomato pie and it's still not there.) Grrr.

Blue Orchid/Lancaster:  Only on the list as it's the best sushi we've discovered thus far.  I am positive there will be better, but since sushi is a staple in our diet, had to include the one place we've been seen playing with their chopsticks.  It is always fresh and if you eat at the sushi bar, there's a waiter named Eric who is wonderful.  However...that said...there is a serious lack of creativity in their sushi and often a language barrier when I try to explain rolls I've had in the past.   It's a relatively new complex, so one must wonder who the heck thought of the tacky, outdated blue & purple decor. It's truly as bad as it sounds.  If you know of better sushi in LanCo, please, please, please email me!

Gibraltars/Lancaster:  Love, love, love this place.  Our first visit was right after moving here.  The manager Chris (apparently now at Penn Square Grille) and the chef welcomed us with carpaccio that was like butter.  My husband was moved to tears by the delectable lamb chops and I was seriously blown away with both my ahi meal and  the outstanding service. These are fine dining servers who still have a great sense of humor shining through.  It's a date night restaurant as you want to slowly savor every morsel of your meal and hey, they don't serve crayons with their white linens.  That statement might not be be true, but I've never seen crayons.  Excellent wine list and on both visits (the second with a larger party) we've had sensational service and sensational meals.
 

Penn Square Grille/Lancaster:  Great lunch place. Read about it in a local mag

and didn't realize it was actually the Marriott's restaurant.  My husband had the mushroom burger and said it was the best burger he's ever had.  He's lived a lot of places and eaten a lot of burgers, so that's saying something.  Kid-friendly and also catered to vegetarians, a nice change. 

Ciro's Italian Bistro/Lancaster: Same complex on Fruitville Pike as Blue Orchid.  Wonderful, wide mix of Italian food, hip/trendy atmosphere, fast and friendly service, great w/kids, some unusual yet good full-bodied wines, and it's own gelato bar to choose from!  Heavenly.  However...we've ordered takeout twice and they've messed up both orders.  Moral: Eat there and you'll be pleasantly surprised.  Oh; and get a reservation or you'll wait - always packed. 

Belvedere Inn/Lancaster:  Met some friends at the Belvedere for a wonderful dining experience.  Their menu is small, yet somehow covers a little bit of everything.   We dined on the second floor terrace - cozy, shaded and graced with lovely flowers, all absolutely perfect for a midsummer's night.  Our waiter was well-versed and happy to work with the chef to adhere to our friend's gluten allergies.  Overall, elegant, intimate, historical ambience, yet we'd definitely feel comfortable taking the kids for a nice evening.  Not a stuffy crowd at all.  Entertaining bars upstairs and downstairs if you just want to hang for music and chatting as well.

Annie Bailey's Irish Pub/Lancaster:  If I had to choose a #1, this would be it.  Oops, guess I just chose.  What a fabulous first experience we had there.   Can't wait to go back.  Claire was our server and she was amazing.  Amazing.  Welcomed us, gave us a thorough and mouthwatering tour of the menu; backed by astounding support for their chef (apparently used to be the chef at Log Cabin before it closed, which was one of our "old" favs and is newly re-opened and on our list of to do's).  Again, a menu so well-written it was difficult to choose.  However...who can say no to Lobster Mac & Cheese?  Not us!  And it was worth of every single little calorie enhaled.  And there were lots of calories. My mouth is salivating as I recall my ahi tuna. Yum.  Sigh.  I digress.  Claire not only outshined most servers we've ever experienced, she also went and got playoff scores for my husband every time she headed out of our area.  Claire got a handwritten thank you note. She was that good.  Ambience includes two original bars shipped over from Ireland, at least that's the rumor.  We dined downstairs but apparently the upstairs is gorgeous, so we'll ask for that when we go back.  And we will be back.  Asking for Claire. 

Brunch at the Eden's Resort/Lancaster:  A champagne brunch that should be outlawed.  Should you decide to take on this challenge, prepare with a week's fast.  Everything imaginable is available and cooked or baked to perfection.  The only other place on earth I'd rather eat breakfast at is Peg's Ham & Eggs in Reno, NV.  That's a whole other blog.  Back to the Eden - it is a once a year special occasion brunch.  Divine, simply divine.  Not for those weak on self control, such as myself.

Out of Lancaster County Delightful Honorable Mentions:

Devon Seafood Grill (Hershey / Dauphin County)

Blue Moon Cafe (York / York County)

The Jigger Shop Ice Cream Parlor (Mt. Gretna/Lebanon County)

On the list to try in the near future:

Fenz

Rosa Rosa

The Log Cabin

The Stockyard

Reflections

And the complete list of restaurants we've tried and (usually)

 enjoyed that didn't quite make the Top Ten:

Cork & Cap

Lancaster Brewing Company

Lancaster Dispensing Company

Lombardo's/Lancaster

Bent Creek Country Club/Lititz

Rachel's Creperie/Lancaster

Sushi One/Lancaster

Mojo's/Lititz

Airport Diner/Lancaster

Lititz Family Cupboard Restaurant

Brickerville House Family Restaurant/Brickerville

Bombergers Cafe

Cafe' Chocolate of Lititz

Fiorentino's/Lititz

Capriccio's Pizza/Lititz

General Sutter/Lititz

The Olde Lincoln House/Ephrata

Lily's on Main/Ephrata

White Swan/Rothsville

Lititz Junction Tavern *now closed

Roma's/Lititz

A&M Pizza/Manheim

2 Cousins/Manheim  

JoBoy's /Manheim

The Cat's Meow/Manheim

Folklore Coffee & Company/E-town

Dosie Dough/Lititz

Spill the Beans/Lititz

Brickhouse/Manheim

Ironhill Brewery/Lancaster

Loxley's/Lancaster

Experiencing the taste and culture of our new environment has truly been one of the greatest joys of moving to Lancaster County. 

Same as my sushi request, the search goes on for any breakfast that can rival Peg's Glorified Ham & Eggs in Reno, NV...and for any pizza that even has a ghost of a chance at being half as good as that of Flying Pie Pizzaria in Boise, ID.  

Help me out people - give a shout out for your favs!

Produce...fresh produce!

I (along with at least 4,000 other Lancaster County neighbors and tourists) ventured out on this gorgeous 70 degree morning to meander the aisles of abundance at Roots, one of our local Farmer's Markets.   Roots has been a single-family owned market since 1925 and as they claim, there truly is something there for everyone. 

There are 5 connecting buildings which house a host of produce stands, baked goods, homemade jams and jellies, coffees & teas, plants, flowers, leather goods, clothing, furniture, tools and much, much more. 

Hodecker's houses the county's best celery hearts; Donegals always has the freshest spinach and the Donegal ladies are always so warm and welcoming as they bag my items and, of course, I cannot go without a stop to see Miriam, a wonderful Amish baker who creates the most luscious lemon poppy-seed bread imaginable.  (And yes, I've tried to replicate it several times and it's never quite up to par with Miriams.) 

Incredibly low prices at a variety of fresh produce stands is the big draw for me.  Some of the attached pictures share the great bargains, while others simply reflect the beauty of nature's abundance just waiting to be sifted through, chosen and taken home. 

Tuesdays are the only days that Roots is open; year-round.  It's best to get there early if, like me, you don't enjoy a mosh-pit while shopping; however, rumor has it that the farmers don't want to pack up remaining produce and at the end of day, the bargains get even better.  For more info: http://www.rootsmarket.com/

Don't these radishes just scream "Pick me, Pick me!"

3 for $1 - can your store do that?!

Homemade Root Beer is a favorite of the Amish stands

This week's choice: Horseradish pickles!  And this nice lady didn't think

I was strange for taking pictures of her pickles! 

At least she didn't show it.

And for that, she gets a nice plug: Peter Piper's Pickles are outrageous!

Try the garlic or the jalapeno styles as well!

From Donegals of course

And my homage to Miriam's Pies...

She also bakes other forms of perfection besides Lemon PoppySeed Bread

Multiple flavors of whoopie pies

Okay, who can say no to this?

Mocha! Seriously?

And while trying to leave at the same time as the other 4,000 attendees,

I noticed this beautiful cornfield.

Then the blasting horn behind me woke me out of my revery

and it was back to this reality.

Moral: GO EARLY!!

Spring peeks in between rainshowers

Precious babies chirp outside our bathroom window

Woolly friends grazing

Lush green landscapes perfect for postcards

Fresh sweet berries at the neighbor's Amish produce stand

Our cherry tree shows us some love



Whatever happened to May flowers?

Continuous rainy forecasts dashed our hopes of one last jaunt to the Phillie Zoo (fun fact: the oldest zoo in America and a really great one at that), before our annual membership ended...therefore onto Plan B: the National Aquarium in Baltimore, roughly an hour and a half's scenic drive from Lancaster County.

While this is a large and wonderful aquarium that we've visited many times, this visit we've noticed it is lacking in the inter-active portion of its' exhibits and doesn't seem to be updating their exhibits as many aquariums have.

Noticeably missing is a "touch" station where children can actually handle and learn about live sea-life. The only sensory station actually had a plastic spider, a replica of a nautilus shell and a handful of sponges and miscellaneous items that didn't seem to overwhelm any of us. (Kudos to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach & the Monterey Aquarium in CA for incredible touch and learning stations!)

Apparently one of the dolphins recently had a baby (no pictures or videos of the baby to be found), therefore the dolphin show was cancelled. We spotted 4 birds and 1 turtle in the Rain Forest and enjoyed a short walk through the new Australian exhibit. The shark tank, ray exhibits and jelly fish were the most impressive, as was the customer service everywhere we went within the building.

Overall words of advice:

• Pre-purchase tickets online - quick and easy & you avoid long lines.
• Will-call for those tickets is behind the main ticket counter (no signage to get you there).
• Arrive early as it gets packed. (We arrived at 10:30am on Sunday and it was busy w/in an hour.)
• Arrive really early so you can leave when you're hungry for lunch! The cafe food is tasteless and overpriced, but there are some really great seafood and other restaurants throughout the inner harbor.

All in all, Plan B gets a "B" rating. Not sure this trip was really worth $160 for tickets and a lunch none of us finished (2 adults/2 kids) but I'll part with these fun photos of the jellies.

And...one cool shot of the only octupus, which apparently I was not supposed to be taking,

so my heartfelt apologies to Mr. O and the Aquarium.