Food Memories

"R" and I just spent a long weekend in Syracuse, celebrating my 30th with my favorite friends from college (two of which happen to live in Cleveland-- I'm so lucky!) by reliving our college days as we visited campus and cheered on SU in their loss to Georgetown (whomp, whomp). Since I also grew up in the area, my best friend from high school, her husband, and my brother and his girlfriend were all able to join us for the festivities as well. We probably bored them with old college stories about people and places that they don't know, and we were probably the only ones that enjoyed the shoulder-to-shoulder bar crowd at Chuck's before the game, but I was seriously loving every minute of it!

It was a big game for any Orange fan, for multiple reasons.

We all had a list of places that we wanted to see on campus during the trip, and most of them involved food. Does anyone else get cravings for the food that they had around their college campus? You spend four (hopefully) years surrounded by these restaurants, and it can be so fun to enjoy a visit there years later. Eating that piece of pizza, sandwich, beer, etc. can bring back such good memories.

For us, that included pizza and pitchers of beer at Varsity Pizza before the 'cuse game, a steak and pasta dinner at Delmonico's Italian Steakhouse on Erie Boulevard on Saturday evening, and breakfast at Cosmo's Pizza & Grill before we hit the road on Monday. Two things that I didn't get to enjoy: cheese fries from Chuck's and a BYO pita from the famous Pita Pit. Sometimes I make "R" go 20 minutes out of the way to stop there for a pita on our way home from visiting my family in Upstate NY. True story. They are not even that remarkable, but I just crave them.

"R" and I rounded out the weekend with a family dinner at Joey's Italian Restaurant. It was always one of my favorite special-occasion spots in Syracuse, and it did not disappoint. We had a wonderful meal with excellent service, and I was so thankful to be able to spend the time with my entire family there. I also found a new favorite pasta dish on their menu--Tortellini Carbonara.

These comfort foods brought back such good memories from my life at SU, and sharing this weekend with some of the people that I love most-- it doesn't get any better. A perfect way to continue the birthday celebrations. But it sure feels good to be back home in Cleveland...