All Over Albany

I'll see you later

This is hard to say, but I'm taking off. It's been a good ride but it's time for me to try something new in life and unfortunately, that also means taking a break from Albany in the form of graduate school in the Midwest.

Like so many of us, I never intended to come back here. The lure of immediate post-graduate employment in the form of a job with the Associated Press brought me back, and ended up pushing my dreams of moving to San Francisco to the side. So I stayed... longer than I ever anticipated, and I've enjoyed myself more than I would ever have expected.

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Peebles Island

The view from Peebles Island -- New York's smallest state park.

A recent Saturday spent exploring Cohoes led me to nearby Waterford, a quaint little place on the edge of Saratoga County that to me seems almost quintessentially upstate New York.

I don't know how I've managed to live here so long without having ever made a trip to Peebles Island in Waterford, right outside Cohoes. It's beautiful. One hundred and 91 acres of land at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

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The Pig Pit BBQ

Hmmm... do we smell a BBQ smackdown?

While driving around Cohoes , I couldn't help but giggle at this "Pig Pit vs. Dinosaurs: Bring it on!" sign. Clearly I had to check that out.

So, my look at Cohoes continues with, The Pig Pit.

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Harmony House Marketplace & the Wine Seller

They love NY wines.

Okay, okay, I'll admit it - I don't think of New York when it comes to choosing a wine. And I'm definitely not alone in that thinking.

The folks at Harmony House Marketplace's The Wine Seller are hoping to change that.

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Remsen Street in Cohoes

Remsen Street in Cohoes

Lately I've been into taking little sojourns to areas locally that I've never really thought to explore. This weekend I headed to Cohoes in hopes of checking out the views of the falls from Falls View Park . Unfortunately, the lower sections were closed off, making for something of a boring trip.

While deciding where to go instead, I took a stroll down Remsen Street.

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Olde Polish Deli in Watervliet

You know they have kielbasa.

On a recent trip through Watervliet (okay, okay, actually I was lost), I stumbled upon The Olde Polish Deli. And well, finding a cool little ethnic shop I've never been to is one of the best ways to get lost, in my humble opinion.

After my first trip, I was enthralled.

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Box lunch: bento boxes at Sushi Tei

Lunch in a box

Something about a bento box, the traditional Japanese lunch box, just makes lunch seem a little more fun.

I can't entirely explain it, but being served a meal that's divided up into little individual sections holds incredible appeal. It seems tidy, precise, organized. And it's fun to look at. Of course, eating it is the most fun part...

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Delish Deli: lunch from... a gas station?

You won't believe what you'll find in here!

Gourmet grub from a gas station?

Sounds like a Top Chef quickfire challenge, doesn't it? When users started praising the Delish Deli at the Mobil station in Delmar on Yelp, other users were quick to dismiss.

Really, who goes to a gas station for lunch? I mean, unless your concept of a meal consists of Twinkies and those rancid-looking hot dogs in glass cases? I don't.

Well... I didn't.

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Scooter Pie at Midnight's rock n' roll burlesque

Clad in fishnets, wigs and pasties, Scooter Pie is bringing her own brand of rock n' roll burlesque to Albany -- and audiences seem to be digging it.

When Scooter, aka Kiley Oram, first started doing burlesque in New York City, she was pretty naive. At her first show at the Boudoir Bar in Carroll Gardens, the other performers were surprised that she hadn't known to bring pasties. The Schenectady native and Notre-Dame/Bishop Gibbons alumna says it hadn't occurred to her that she'd have to take her bra off!

She learned fast.

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The teas at One of A Kind Teahouse

The One of a Kind Teahouse -- in the Chinatown building on Central Ave.

I'm a sucker for a good bubble tea.

Something about that sweet milky concoction of tea and flavoring with the tapioca pearls swimming in it is just oh-so-appealing.

I've been getting my fix at the Good Leaf Tea Co. or the Hong Kong Bakery on Central Avenue, but now that I've discovered the One of A Kind Teahouse, well, my bubble tea heart has been stolen.

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Timothy's World Market in Schenectady

Timothy's -- your one stop shop for goat and cricket bats.

Back when I compiled the AOA Ethnic Market Compendium a commenter pointed out that I'd missed some great Guyanese markets in Schenectady.

Schenectady has a pretty big Guyanese population, one that former Mayor Albert Jurczynski worked to help develop . The city now has a chapter of the Guyanese American Association and a whole bunch of Guyanese markets.

I took a drive out to the Electric City yesterday to check some of them out for myself. This was both a good idea and a bad idea.

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Men's roller derby coming to the Capital Region?

We've already got two women's roller derby teams in the Capital Region, so why not a men's team?

That's what George Dunckley, aka Museknückle wants to know.

The current Albany All Stars Roller Derby referee is looking to get a guys team going locally. Among other things, he's looking for a few good men.

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Help set the Guinness record for dodgeball

Ready. Set. Dodgeball.

Albany could soon lay claim to a new record: the world's longest dodgeball game.

The folks of Albany Dodgeball, which is made up largely of members of the Albany Society for Advancement of Philanthropy, are trying to set a new Guinness World Record -- but they need a little help.

Here's the deal...

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Road Trip: North Adams & MASS MoCA

The trip to MASS MoCA is part of the art

One of the good things about living in the Capital Region is that there are a wealth of cool places within a short distance.

Such as MASS MoCA and North Adams.

After the jump -- the virtual road trip.

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The Grand Street Vacant Lot Project

What would you put here?

What would you do with a vacant lot? The folks of Grand Street Community Arts want to know.

They've got big plans to turn some of the empty lots in Albany's South End into areas of urban beautification. Through the Vacant Lot Project, organizers will be working with community organizations and individuals to come up with new ways to revitalize the spaces.

And they're looking for input.

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Rewriting the bible in Columbia County

Phillip Patterson beneath the willows. (photo by Laura Glazer)

Phillip Patterson is hand-writing the Bible.

Yes, the entire bible. The 1611 King James bible, to precise. The Columbia County resident hopes to complete it by next year, the book's 500th birthday.

Intrigued?

Laura Glazer was. Yes, that Laura Glazer. The host of Hello Pretty City.

What's all this about?

A mix of things, really.

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The Puppet People of Schenectady

Michelle, Mark and a few of their friends.

Schenectady's Michelle Smith-Carrigan and Mark Carrigan advertise themselves as "your puppet professionals."

Seriously, how much fun must they have at parties?

"So what do you do for a living?"

"Well, actually, I'm a puppet professional..."

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The kimchi (and other stuff) at Kim's

Kimchi and more.

I love almost anything that's pickled or fermented, and I especially love spicy food. So I was pretty psyched to discover the store-made kim chi at Kim's Asian Market.

If you've never had it, Kim chi is basically a mix of pickled, fermented vegetables that's pretty commonplace in Korean cuisine. It's got a funky, slight pungent taste to it with a varying level of heat.

So how was it?

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Marketplace Gallery re-opening

Art from The Market Gallery's "Recovery" show, just about a year ago

The Marketplace Gallery , located in a loft down by the Port of Albany, held several awesome art shows last spring and summer. The expansive space, run by Samson Contompasis and his brothers Alex and Max, was a great addition to the Albany arts scene, until an electrical fire back in August shut it down.

Now, after months of rebuilding, the Contompasis brothers are re-opening their gallery and they've got some promising plans for the place.

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The ethnic market map

This way to the tiramisu...

The Capital Region has a great number of wonderful little specialty markets that I just can't resist. From Greek to Italian, to Indian and Russian, and everything in between.

While this is by no means fully comprehensive, AOA's put together a Capital Region Ethnic Market Map of some of our favorites -- a sort of ethnic market compendium.

Know of other places we should check out? Please share!

Pellegrino's Italian/Greek market

Pellegrino's Italian, American & Greek (oh, yeah!) market.

I'm always trying to find the perfect thing to bring to dinner and cocktail parties. Lately it's been the grape leaves from Nora's

This week I stumbled upon a new place to look -- the Greek selection at Pellegrino's.

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Troy co-op slated to open this summer

A sketch of what the Troy Food Cooperative could look like by this summer.

So, you know that proposed Troy food co-op there's been so much buzz about?

Well if everything goes according to plan, it looks like you'll be able to shop there by this summer.

Here's the scoop.

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Curling in the Capital Region

Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!

The Winter Olympics are coming, and you know what that means. It's curling season! You know brooms and ice and -- well, actually, that's about all I knew about curling. And while Stephen Colbert's curling attempts looked amusing, I figured that probably wasn't the best representation.

So I checked in with the Albany Curling Club for a closer look.

Yes. Albany has a curling club.

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Signs of the times

The South End Tavern in Troy

Ever notice how many cool old retro signs are hanging around the Capital Region?

I can't help it -- I find something about about all that kitsch rather charming. The other day I got thinking about some of my favorites and made a list.

Some of my favorites (with pictures of course) can be found after the jump.

What did I miss?

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It's glassware! It's an instrument! It's both!

Stand back -- he's a professional.

Ed Stander plays the glasses. That is, he plays wine glasses and brandy snifters as a musical instrument. Really.

The Delmar resident internationally renowned for it -- he's played the glasses all over the world (including the Great Wall of China). You might have also seen him performing at this year's First Night celebration in Saratoga.

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