Apple Harvest Festival '09

9.26.09

Today was Ithaca's famous Apple Harvest Festival. Stephanie came all the way to New Hampshire to visit me so it was only appropriate that I treat her to some local Ithaca culture. We had a fun day hanging out in The Commons with the rest of the apple-lovers.

Stephanie at the Farmer's Market

My co-first year lab mates: Christian and Christine.

Haruo

Brian let me take a picture of his caramel apple. It looked decadent but I was too full to give it a try.

Autumn Olives

The Ithaca Farmers' Market

8.31.09

I met several other graduate students at an orientation event and we all decided to take a trip to the Ithaca Farmers' Market to see what it was like. I had heard that the market was a great place to go to for lunch because of the large ethnic food selection. When we got there I was surprised to see so many options: Japanese, Indian, Cambodian, Laotian, Cuban, and many others. Everything looked so good but I decided to try the Cambodian food. I got some taro root as well as a fried vegetable pancake that was deliciously crispy. The buttery pancake batter was complimented well with a savory dipping sauce. Some of my other friends got baked goods and a few decided to get the Cambodian sticky rice with coconut milk and mangoes. Many of us also picked up some freshly squeezed lemonade. It was tart but refreshing.

Me, Christine (my lab mate), Verena, and Hilary

Hilary and Rachel

Me, Christine, and Verena

Sharing

The Ithaca Farmers' Market is located on the shores of Cayuga Lake.

Shout outs: I would like to say thank you to Heng (Henry) Li for taking and sharing these beautiful pictures.

Winos In Ithaca, NY

8.23.09

After going home for my birthday visit, my parents were kind enough to drive me back to Ithaca. On the way back, we decided to stop at the Sheldrake Point Vineyard (by my mother's request) and the Bellwether hard cider factory (for my father's tastes). The Finger Lake region (Ithaca is located on Cayuga Lake, one of the many Finger Lakes) is very well known for its world class wineries. I was surprised to see how many nearby wineries there were on a Cayuga Lake winery map I found.

We spent some time walking around the Sheldrake Point grape fields and then went inside to try the wines. For the first time I realized that the flavors/essences typically used to describe a wine are not really included in the ingredients. It's interesting that someone can actually taste those flavors when they're sipping a glass of wine.

My mother and father decided to buy a few bottles of the Sheldrake Point wine.

Wines of Sheldrake Point Vineyards

Purple grapes!

Green grapes!

My father and mother in the grape field.