There's Always Room for Jell-O

This morning, after a final glimpse of the beautiful view from our room, followed by a breakfast fit for royalty, we loaded up our car and left Canada and Niagara Falls behind us. We were sad to go, but we know that we will be back one day. There are still many things we wish to do there when Kala is not recovering from surgery.

Fearing that we had been out of the country for too long, we made it our mission to repatriate ourselves in the quickest, most effective way we knew how. We went directly to LeRoy, New York, birthplace of "America's Most Famous Dessert," Jell-O. There we visited the Jell-O Museum, where we were told the fascinating story of the accidental invention of Jell-O and how the wiggly confection came to be embraced by a once skeptical American public.

Included in the museum's collection are classic and modern advertisements, Jell-O artifacts, such as the enormous spoons from a recent billboard in Times Square, and recipes from around the world. One of the most fascinating exhibits was a pair of nearly identical EEG readings — one from a live human brain and one from a bowl of lime Jell-O. It seems that the two give off similar "brainwave patterns." There was also an entire room at the museum dedicated to Jell-O icon Bill Cosby. We stopped at the gift shop on our way out and picked up some fun Jell-O molds and recipes.

One man's trash is another man's... dinner? Before heading to Connecticut, which is our destination for this weekend, we stopped for lunch with our friend Kate in Rochester. She took us to Empire Hots to sample the local delicacy: the "trash plate." This dish looks like what happens when a five-year-old is allowed to serve himself at a barbecue pot luck. Start with a layer of cold macaroni salad and fried potatoes. Then add two hot dogs, sliced lengthwise and fried. Top this off with mustard, onions, and chili. Congratulations! You are ready to eat garbage. To be fair, we must admit that, despite its revolting appearance, it didn't taste half bad. Andy actually liked it, and Kala didn't hate it nearly as much as she thought she would. That's all she's admitting at this time.

It was a long drive to Ridgefield, Connecticut, where we are staying the night with Andy's brother Craig and his family. We got a little lost trying to cross the Hudson River, but we took a left at a fork in the road and soon found our way again. After a nice catching-up session with Craig and his wife, Susan, we said goodnight and began our nightly ritual of reporting. It is really good to see Craig and Sue again, and we look forward to playing with the kids in the morning.