Torrefaction

We took a road trip to Massachusets back in July. We decided to drive through Ontario and spend the night at Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. We knew we wouldn't have time to do much before we had to hit the road for the next leg of the trip, so we splurged on a nice suite right above the falls. For dinner, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse near the hotel - one of the places where sit and eat while waiters swarm your table with skewers of meat. It wasn't as good as the ones we've been to in Chicago (Fogo de Chao is our favorite) but it was great to start eating as soon as we sat down--at 8:30 at night after a full day on the road.

In the morning we got up and had a nice room service breakfast while we looked out the window. Then we drove down to the park by the falls....we couldn't figure out a good route to just walk there because the hotels are up on a kind of bluff above the park. We looked over the top of the falls for a bit and then got back on the road. It really is an amazing sight and we're happy that we took the time to see it.

Posted by alchemist at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sojurner Truth ended her days in Battle Creek, MI. After the Cereal "factory" we stopped to see this awesome statue of her that's in the center of town.

If you click the photo, you can read her famous "Ain't I A Woman" speech.

Posted by alchemist at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our first stop was in Battle Creek, Michigan - we had lunch at Kellogg's Cereal City, USA. This is basically a kid's museum about cereal. We had a great time checking out the exhibits despite not being kids, technically anyway. We'll definitely come back here when we have a little one in tow.

I learned how fruit loops are made. First they make a flour out of oats (I think) and maybe some other grains. Then they put bright dye in it and press it into long, hollow tubes about as big around as a pencil. Then they slice the tubes into indiviudual tiny o's. The o's go through a pressure chamber that causes them to puff up into big, air-filled o's. Then they spray them with sugar syrup and you have fruit loops.

This only confirmed my belief that they shouldn't ever be eaten, by anybody, but Mike was happy to take a free sample box and munch on them in the car.

Posted by alchemist at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just got back from a 6 day road trip to Boston and back.  Was going to be a 7 day trip but we decided to push from Cooperstown, NY to home (Chicago suburbs) today.  Will post notes & pix tomorrow.

Posted by alchemist at 01:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)