Items tagged with 'Clifton Park'
Dim sum at Tea Plus
I've written about breakfast a lot lately, but not intentionally. It just happens that what Capital Region-ers consider breakfast food is expanding. What kind of food writer would I be if I didn't explore that?
Dim sum -- the traditional Chinese course of food that involves small plates of dumplings, buns, and meats -- was traditionally served as a breakfast or brunch-like option.
And after having a few dim sum options at Tea Plus in Clifton Park, I'm thoroughly convinced breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.
Wagel bagel at West End Bagels
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, right? So it's no surprise that for as much attention as "mindful" or "healthy" eating receives, things like over-the-top bagels exist.
Social media was stormed by the rainbow bagel phenom out of New York City, and now we have our own version, too -- the beast that is the wagel bagel at West End Bagels.
Dutch drinking chocolate at Vischer Ferry General Store
And, of course, you could probably use a little something to nibble on, too.
I am a sucker for anything "General Store" related: Cooperstown; Hillsdale; Fort Orange. I patronize them all.
It likely harkens to that great general store that was the hub of village activities in my hometown. It's only a memory now, as the building it was housed in -- the Cox Block, the grand madame situated on the corner of the crossroads -- burned just before Christmas last year. Maybe subtly grasping at nostalgia is the general store draw for me.
So when a friend suggested that we check out the recently-opened Vischer Ferry General Store in the sleepy, historic Clifton Park hamlet, I was all for it.
A modest website suggested little on what I might find there (except for charm and an old-timey feel), so I went in blindly, assured by my friend I could at least have coffee there.
She said nothing of Dutch drinking chocolate. These are the kinds of surprises I can fully get behind.
TOP2014: The Final
Sometimes things live up to the hype.
The final of the 2014 Tournament of Pizza, sponsored by Keeler Mini, was this past weekend at Shmaltz Brewing Co. in Clifton Park. And, as would only be fitting for the Tournament of Pizza to end all Tournaments of Pizza, it featured a clash of local pizza titans: DeFazio's of Troy versus Marino's of Schenectady.
DeFazio's, so many times a finalist, finally broke through last year to take the title. Marino's won the title in 2010 by beating, yep, DeFazios's. The two shops have posted the two highest individual pizza scores this year. And they represent the two highest all-time shop averages in TOP history.
That all adds up to a lot of expectation. And they exceeded it.
Books on Tap at Shmaltz
Could be fun/tasty: This summer Shmaltz Brewing in Clifton Park is hosting a Books on Tap program, where beer writers offer talks, tastings and, in some cases, food pairings.
The talks are on Sunday afternoons, and the series kicks off this weekend with Shmaltz owner and author Jeremy Cowan moderating a talk by beer journalist John Holl, author of the American Craft Beer Cook Book . Chef Rachel of The Ruck in Troy will prepare recipes from the book, which will be paired with Shmaltz brews. The tasting and pairing is $15.
Future Books on Tap talks/tastings include:
+August 3 - Giancarlo and Sarah Annese, authors of Beer Lovers New York
+August 10 - Ben Keene, author of The Great Northeast Brewery Tour
+August 17 - Tom Acitelli, author of The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution
(For the sake of disclosure, John Holl is married to Mary's cousin.)
A year of Shmaltz in Clifton Park
What can you do with an English degree?
Well, English-major-turned-craft-brewer Jeremy Cowan founded Shmaltz Brewing Company. But the idea for a beer company came way before college. It was an inside joke between high school friends who were among the few Jewish kids in their San Francisco school and thought Jews needed their own beer brand. So they came up with "He' Brew" and the tag line, "Don't Pass Over Sober."
More than 20 years later that high school joke has turned into an award-winning craft brewery known for both its playful, irreverent beer names such as He'Brew, Rejewvenator, and Hop Manna -- and for experimenting with interesting blends and styles of beer. And last year, Cowan opened a $3.3 million brewery, the brand's first, in Clifton Park.
Clifton Park? It's a question Cowan gets a lot.
The ladies who (prepare and serve) lunch
On Fridays at Shenendahowa's Skano and Tesago elementary schools, the kids know what they want for lunch. The menu includes chef salad and fish nuggets, but those mostly go untouched. Because it's not just any Friday -- it's Pizza Friday.
The tiny students run in to the cafeteria, excited and hungry, lining up by class. Finally, when they're up, they turn shy and quietly tell the energetic lunch lady, Libby: "Pizza, please."
Principals and teachers get a lot of the attention when we talk about schools, and rightfully so. Lunch ladies? Even with a job that involves making sure hundreds of kids are fed, they don't come up in the conversation as often. Maybe it's the old "lunch lady" stereotype: a cartoonish character with a hairnet, a snarl on her face, and a ladle full of cole slaw.
But that image doesn't do the ladies at Shenendehowa's elementary schools any justice.
And then Tim Tebow called
A screengrab of the Trendsmap for tweets in the Capital Region Monday night around 10 pm.
Remarkable: A hashtag campaign on Twitter Monday night -- #tebowcallmatt -- got Tim Tebow to call Matt Hardy, one of the teens seriously injured in the fatal crash this past Saturday on the Northway.
The campaign resulted in what was apparently a huge surge of tweets -- the hashtag was trending nationally for a while Monday night. There were also two related campaigns -- #MissyCallBailey and #DaleyCallBailey -- trying to get Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin and/or British Olympic diver Tom Daley to call Bailey Wind, the other teen seriously injured. (Wind is a diver planning to attend the University of Tennessee.)
Update: Franklin tweeted late Monday night that she called Bailey Wind and got her voicemail. "Would still love to talk to her."
The two other teens in the vehicle that night -- Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers, both Shen students -- died from injuries sustained during the crash. The Saratoga County DA's office says State Police are reviewing evidence from the crash, and waiting on a blood alcohol content test, as they consider charges against the driver of the other vehicle.
As we watched some of the tweets stream by tonight, one by Patti Gibbons seemed worth highlighting: "The challenge, #518Family, is to live what you're tweeting tonight for more than a few days. Make a life change for the better."
screengrab: Trendsmap / Google Maps
Pancakes at the Jonesville Store
Crusty. In a good way.
Clifton Park is full of secrets. To the outsider, it may seem like a vast wasteland of chain restaurants and suburban sprawl. However, tucked out of sight, just a few minutes west of the Northway in the hamlet of Jonesville is a little restaurant with incredible pancakes. But unless you are a townie, you might not have heard about them.
That is, unless you have happened to stumble upon the comments of a woman who goes by the handle Kerosena. She seems to be on a mission to single-handedly bring these pancakes out of the shadows and into the light of day.
Her tales of these mythical pancakes got me thinking about a trip up to Exit 10. But when I found out they use only real New York maple syrup, I grabbed my keys and was on my way to the Jonesville Store.
As it turns out, their use of local maple syrup was just one of many delightful surprises.
A neighborhood where (economically) everyone's just about the same
Almost none of these things are not like the others.
The Country Knolls neighborhood in Clifton Park has the smallest income inequality of any place in the nation, according to the Census Bureau (with a handful of statistical caveats). That is, there's very little distance between the high and low ends of the income distribution there (Gini index of 0.214). Or, to put it simply, almost everyone there has just about the same level of household income.
Notes the Census Bureau in the report, U.S. Neighborhood Income Inequality in the 2005-2009 Period:
Country Knolls CDP NY, part of the Albany Urbanized Area about halfway between Albany and Saratoga Springs NY (see Map 2), has the lowest measured income inequality (though not different from the others in the table because of the small sample sizes)--0.214, or 46 percent of the U.S. figure.21 In these small places with low inequality, sorting is likely the source of the homogeneity in income. For example, in Country Knolls in 2005-2009, 96 percent of the people were White non-Hispanic; 85 percent of households are married-couple households; 97 percent of the people at least 1 year old were living in the same residence 1 year earlier; 26 percent of people 25 years and over had a graduate or professional degree; the median income of households was $107,589; and only 9 of 609 housing units were renter-occupied (1.5 percent).
That median income would put a household somewhere close to the 80th percentile for income in the Capital Region.
A tip of the hat to the TU's Chris Churchill for noticing this. And The Biz Review talked about it with Clifton Park supervisor Phil Barrett, who lives in that neighborhood.
[via @MickIAm]
Earlier on AOA: Capital Region income distribution
map: US Census Bureau
Mackenzie Cohn
Check it out: Shen senior Mackenzie Cohn singing Adele's "Right as Rain" at the school's annual "Shen Idol" competition this past weekend. She took the top spot -- and it's easy to hear why!
The Gazette has more about the competition. The second-place finisher also sang an Adele song. Kids these days and their appreciation of good music. Sheesh.
StarPups' Kylen Kline
Kylen with two of her stars.
Kylen Kline spent the last two years dealing with some real divas. She was on the road with stars from Legally Blonde the Musical driving from coast to coast in a van and working 8 shows a week. "It was exhausting work," she says.
Most of Kylen's time was spent catering to the stars' needs, but she didn't mind it because those stars -- two Chihuahuas and two Bulldogs -- showed their appreciation with wagging tails and sloppy kisses.
Now Kylen's back in her hometown (she went to high school in Clifton Park) and realizing her dreams. Kylen has created StarPups, an in-home boarding, dog walking and cat visit business that will be expanding to a doggie day-care, training facility and boutique in the fall.
I talked with her recently about life on the road with a Broadway show, her business plans and how little dogs can be big divas.
Cohabit: two neighbors puzzle over an app
Check it out: Axeva, a company in Clifton Park, has released an iPhone app puzzle game called Cohabit. From the press release:
Cohabit, the brainchild of neighbors Ken Malsan and Bryan O'Malley, challenges the player to "think twice" and is specifically designed to test a player's ability to solve two puzzles at the same time. Players must fill in a single board with numbers and colors without repeating any of them in the same column or row, similar to Sudoku. The additional challenge lies in the fact that every number/color combination must also be completely unique. Taking it one step further, the game's in depth scoring system rewards strategically minded players for placing a number and color in the same space at the same time - hence the name, Cohabit.
The release says Malsan came up with the idea and then pitched it to O'Malley -- the president of Axeva, and his next-door neighbor in Rexford -- and they often discussed the app while standing in their driveways.
The app works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It's $1.99.
We downloaded the app and played it a few times on the iPhone. It is very much like Sudoku. The 3x3 puzzles are relatively easy, but it gets harder as the puzzle size increases. We could see this being a fun way to pass the time while you waiting for something.
Axeva released another iPhone app this past summer -- a color book app called Colortoons. The company's main business is building websites.
There are a few other local developers that have dipped their toes into the app pool. Both Ghost Hand Games in Saratoga and Spiral Design in Cohoes and have built apps alongside their regular businesses.
Earlier on AOA:
+ The CDTA iPhone app
+ Spiral Design's Split the check
+ Ghost Hand Games' Snow Brawlin'
image: Axeva
Clifton Park's Claudia Braymer -- World Cup rugby player
She's 5'3" and can probably take you down.
Meet Claudia Braymer.
Claudia is a 5-foot-3, 28-year-old mom and attorney from Clifton Park.
She enjoys running, teamwork and tackling people much larger than herself.
And in two weeks, she's off to England to represent the US on the Women's World Cup Rugby Team.
Colortoons
It's like a coloring book for the iPhone.
Check it out: a local software company in Clifton Park has built a coloring book app for the iPhone. Colortoons includes 20 animal cartoons that kids (or, you know, the young at heart) can "color" by tapping or painting with a finger.
We downloaded the app this afternoon and tried it out. The cartoons are very cute -- they include collections of dinosaurs, farm animals, woodland creatures and savannah animals. (There's also a blank canvas.) The finger coloring is a little like using a blunt crayon. You can save the works after they're finished (alas, there's no virtual refrigerator).
Fantastick proposal
Matthew Streifert and his lovely and talented fiance Alana Sangiacomo.
Update: We talked with Matt and Alana about how it all came together.
If Matt Streifert isn't the most romantic guy in the Capital Region, he's certainly a leading contender.
The Albany Academy music teacher and local actor pulled off one of the sweetest proposals
ever at Sunday's performance of The Fantasticks at Clifton Park's Not So Common Players.
Matt played "The Boy" and his girlfriend Alana Sangiacomo played "The Girl." After the curtain call Matt...
You know what -- we're just going to show you.
(Yes, there's video!)
On2 merger with Google approved
On2, the Clifton Park video compression company, announced late this afternoon that its shareholders have approved its merger with Google. The company says it expects to close the deal on Friday.
The original deal had been held up because some shareholders had protested the price Google was paying. Google then upped its offer to $133 million.
So, why is Google buying a company that makes software for encoding video? You may have heard of a site called YouTube.
Rumors swirl about Paterson, Bruno bacon not delivered, clerk and robber crash through window, a Schenectady gift basket for Stephen Colbert
The big news at the state Capitol is... a NYT story about David Paterson... that hasn't been published yet... and no one seems to know when it will be. The story is rumored to include some sort of bombshell -- though that, too, is currently a mystery (Gawker commenters had some ideas). The governor reportedly met with Democratic party leaders over the weekend to discuss whether or not he will follow through on his vow to run for election this fall. And there are rumors about serious discontent within his administration. A spokesman for Paterson called all the recent rumors "a new low even by the standards of planet Albany." [TU] [Gawker] [AP/Post-Star] [NY Post] [CBS6]
Harold Ford accused Kirsten Gillibrand of using "underhanded tactics" in her attempt to gather early endorsements from county Democratic Party leaders around the state. Gillibrand is calling for Ford to disclose whether he got a bonus from Bank of America. [NYT] [NYO]
Much of the $75 million in state money promised by Joe Bruno just before he left office hasn't made it through. [TU]
The chairwoman of an inspector general's panel charged with tracking stimulus money says much of the federal funding distributed to New York State has yet to be spent. [TU]
The man accused of stabbing three people near the intersection of State and Henry Johnson following LarkFest last year was convicted on Friday on three counts of assault. He could get 25-50 years in prison. The victims said the man ran at them, shirtless, and yelled "I live for this, this is what I do!" during the attack. The man had been up for trial in 2008 for another alleged stabbing in Troy in 2007, but a judge tossed the case for procedural reasons. [CapNews9] [Troy Record] [CBS6] [Troy Record] [TU]
A Schenectady man died from carbon monoxide poisoning in his apartment after turning on his stove to keep warm because the apartment's thermostat was malfunctioning, keeping the heat down. [Daily Gazette $]
Schenectady man accused of torturing dogs, soda tax falling flat, proposal for prayer before common council meetings, family raises $1 million for research
A Schenectady man has been charged with felony animal cruelty after police say he killed two dogs and burned another. Thomas Hendricks is also accused of assaulting his wife -- and police say the alleged violence against the dogs was the an attempt to hurt his wife. Hendricks has denied the allegations. [WTEN] [TU] [Fox23] [CapNews9]
During his state of the city speech last night Saratoga Springs mayor Scott Johnson criticized the "dysfunctional" state legislature for stripping the city of $4 million in VLT money. He said the city would fight new plans to keep the racino open 24/7. Johnson also said that paid parking downtown would start in May. And floated the idea of sharing services with surrounding municipalities. [CapNews9] [Daily Gazette $] [TU] [Saratogian]
There was some flooding in Schenectady's Stockade neighborhood yesterday as ice jams broke the Mohawk. People in the neighborhood seemed unimpressed. [WTEN] [WNYT] [TU]
The woman who died after apparently jumping from the Berkshire Spur overpass on the Hudson this week was an Albany High School teacher. The interim Albany schools superintendent says the woman was "an excellent teacher." She had been teaching math in the district since 1984. [Troy Record] [TU] [WNYT]
Thruway tolls increase, Albany schools to use lottery, the weekend in crime, the first baby of 2010
Thruway tolls went up five percent on Sunday, for both cash and EZ-Pass. State comptroller Tom DiNapoli criticized the increase, calling it "the last thing New Yorkers need now." [AP/Saratogian] [Fox23] [NYS OSC] [WNYT]
A 78-year-old woman was killed in Schenectady Saturday night after she was struck by a pick-up truck while crossing State Street near Proctors. The woman had been volunteering at the theater. The SPD says it's investigating the accident. [Daily Gazette $] [TU] [Fox23] [CapNews9]
Troy police say a man stole an idling SUV -- with two kids in it -- from outside a grocery store Friday morning. The TPD says the kids were found 45 minutes later, unharmed, along with the SUV. They say the suspect was arrested later that day. [Troy Record] [TU] [Troy Record]
Officials from the YMCA will be holding a meeting with the public this week to talk about what might be done to save the Washington Ave location in Albany. [Troy Record]
The Albany school district will be switching to a lottery system for filling slots in its pre-k programs. The old system was first-come-first-pick-wait-all-night. [TU]
Delmar house burns to ground after explosions, DA says city worker chased down alleged mugger, gun buyback out of money, mansion a bargain?
An explosion badly burned a teenager in Delmar and burned his house to the ground on Saturday (map). Firefighters say they heard two explosions after arriving at the scene. Neighbors say they could feel the explosions. Bethlehem police say they're investigating the possibility that rocket fuel was involved in the explosion. The teen was taken to a burn unit in Westchester County -- an EMT says the teen lost a hand in the explosion. A web site has been set up to help organize aid for the family. [TU] [Fox23] [Troy Record] [WNYT] [TU] [CapNews9] [CBS6]
David Paterson says New York would be "punished" under the health care reform bill moving through Congress. [Daily Politics]
The jurors in the Joe Bruno trial say the experience convinced them that the state needs stronger ethics laws. [TU]
Saratoga Springs' outgoing public safety commissioner is calling for the city attorney to resign after the attorney allegedly threw a folder full of resignation notices at the head of the public works commissioner. [TU] [Daily Gazette $]
Day six in Bruno trial, marriage equality vote protest, details in Colonie soldier's death, residents weigh in on APD chief, Albany in-flight
Last night's marriage equality protest at the NYS Capitol
Day six of deliberations is underway in the trial of former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Yesterday jurors heard a three hour read-back of testimony from former Senate attorney and current judge Francis T. Collins. Collins testified early in November that he had sparse information on Bruno's outside business dealings when he was asked to give an ethical opinion about them. The jury has reached a verdict on two counts, but is still considering six counts. Bruno was optimistic enough about his own situation yesterday to comment on someone else's problems. [TU] [News9]
About 150 people showed up last night to protest the senates vote against gay marriage. Eight Democrats joined all the Senate Republicans in voting against the Marriage Equality Act this week. Governor Paterson is a strong proponent of marriage equality, but there's some question as to how involved he was in lobbying Senators to pass the act. Paterson's sagging popularity may be the reason same-sex marriage advocates did not seek his support for a final push. [AOA] [NYT]
The debate over how to close the NYS budget gap continues. Governor Paterson claims the legislature's efforts to close the gap this week don't go far enough. Paterson continues to claim he'll cut spending further, saying "I'm going to do it even without their permission, and if they want to take me to court, they can sue me, but I will not let this state run out of money on my watch." [WXXI via DailyPolitics]
Former State comptroller Alan Hevesi may have accepted bribes from a California investment banker who pleaded guilty in Andrew Cuomo's Pension Fraud investigation. Hevesi is believed to have taken 75 thousand dollars in luxury vacations for himself and his family while he was in office. Also named in the investment banker's confession -- former "Mod Squad" actress Peggy Lipton. [NYP]
Paterson addressing budget gap by himself, Porco appeal expected today, glut of apples this year, Salvo has to hire bell ringers
David Paterson said yesterday that he's decided to act unilaterally to save the state $1.6 billion through a series of cuts, transfers and accounting maneuvers. He also continued to blame the state Senate for the lack of progress on a deal that would close the state's $3+ budget gap. Paterson might also be considering declaring a "fiscal emergency," a move floated by John Faso. The legislature is expected to be back for a another budget gap special session today. The state is projected to have just $36 million in cash by the end of the year (the state comptroller says even less). [NYO] [Daily Politics] [NYDN] [TU] [CapNews9] [NYT] [NY Post]
Joe Bruno Trial: Jury is back for deliberations today after a break for the holiday. [CapNews9]
Christopher Porco's appeal is expected to be heard today before a state appellate court in Brooklyn. Porco's attorney recently said prosecutors in the case "took a blow torch to the constitution." [CBS6] [CapNews9]
Kirsten Gillibrand, in the area to announce an initiative aimed at protecting seniors against fraud, said the Army has not been forthcoming about details surrounding the death of Colonie soldier Amy Seyboth Tirador. [WNYT] [TU]
Human skull fragments in Saratoga County, flu hitting some schools, school board hears Whalen appeal, Rensselaer stations Amtrak's 10th busiest
State police say fragments of a human skull were found in a wooded area in Greenfield (map). They say it appears the skull belonged to a child 10-12 years old. The state police lab will be testing the fragments for DNA. [TU] [Fox23] [Saratogian] [CapNews9]
The Empire Center reports that 1.5 million New Yorkers have moved out of the state since 2000. The one area to show a population gain: the Capital Region. [Empire Center] [CapNews9] [Post-Star]
A spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration says judges are leaving the bench because "they can't make ends meet" on their $136,700 salary. The state's judiciary has been pushing for a pay raise for years. [TU]
Albany police say four men, armed with guns, invaded a house on Washington Ave yesterday (map). Police say the it appears the house was targeted. They say the robbers used zip-ties to tie up seven people in the house. [Fox23] [CapNews9] [TU]
Some Capital Region schools are reporting higher than usual rates of absenteeism because of the flu. Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons cancelled classes yesterday because so many students were sick. [TU] [WTEN]
State flu shot mandate cancelled, charges over ESP man cave, Paterson says Obama Admin cost state $1 billion, a big year for lady bugs
The state Department of Health has rescinded the flu shot mandate for health care workers. The DOH says there isn't enough vaccine to go around and the state would rather see the vax go to at-risk populations (young people, pregnant women). The Paterson Administration said the move was not related to the group of lawsuits filed over the mandate. [TU] [NYT] [NYDN]
The two men accused of being involved with the alleged "man cave" in the ESP have been hit with a bunch of charges that make the cave sound like some sort of stoner's paradise. Both men have pleaded not guilty. The attorney for one of the men said they were "shocked" to face charges over the cave "when there was actually a more publicized and egregious waste of tax money last spring as our state Senate sat around proud doing nothing while Rome burned." [Daily Politics] [AP/Troy Record] [TU]
A special meeting of the Troy city council turned into a bit of display as Democrats refused to show up and people ended up yelling at each other in front of TV cameras. Harry Tutunjian had called the meeting in an attempt to suspend three Democratic appointees accused of being involved with recent case of alleged voter fraud. [Troy Record] [TU]
Two alternate jurors from the Adrian Thomas trial say they would have voted "not guilty." [Fox23]
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?