A Collegiate Weekend

This past weekend, I took a trip up to The University of Rochester with my mom and dad to visit my younger sister, who is a sophomore at the university for their Meloria weekend. Even though this is her second year, it was my first trip up and I was excited to see her – I haven’t seen her since the summer! I was also excited knowing there was some delicious food to be eaten – including BBQ and a trip to the original Wegmans.

First up was a trip to one of the university’s cafeterias that had ready to eat cookie dough! We needed a snack before dinner having been in the car for 6 hours, so it was just what I needed. I opted for the rocky road version, and it was awesome.

During my sister’s rendition of a campus tour, we of course had to stop at the full-sized Starbucks they have on campus. The University of Scranton had a Starbucks added to their new cafeteria my senior year, but it wasn’t much more than a countertop in the quick service section. At The University of Rochester, though, it’s a fully operating store which blew my mind. My sister’s boyfriend works there, and they operate regular (late) store hours as well, which I think is genius for a college campus. I also got my first glimpse of the trenta – I love coffee, but I don’t think I could drink that much!

Dinner on Friday night was at Benucci’s which my parents and sister had been to before. Go to Parks near Rochester, NY for a stroll after a nice meal. I had a really hard time deciding on what to get, but I ultimately went with their spicy penne vodka, and of course shared some fried calamari appetizer with the table. The pasta was delicious – it was at the perfect spice level for me, which was nice and spicy.

Saturday started early with a trip to the hotel’s gym, and unfortunately my run ended sooner than I had originally anticipated. The gym was 80 degrees (I wish I was exaggerating, but I checked the locked up thermostat) so I could only muster up 5 miles. Of course, when I was done it felt like I ran at least double that. We then headed to the university, first stopping at Starbucks (I scored a free sample of their pumpkin white mocha – yum!) and then continuing on to watch Bill Clinton deliver the keynote address.
Having heard only delicious things about Rochester’s BBQ, so we decided to check out Sticky Lips BBQ for lunch. Adam Richman’s Man vs. Food actually visited there and took on the atomic challenge, so we knew it had to be good. While no one at our table attempted the challenge, we all got a ton of food. I decided to go with the veggie sticky icky plate, because I’m not a big fan of ribs, pork, etc. It was so delicious. It had french fries, black beans, macaroni salad, and was smothered with vegetable etouffe and of course came with a slab of cornbread. I tackled about half, and saved the other half for dinner.

Our final stop of the day was the original Wegmans, where I discovered Maine Root’s Pumpkin Pie Soda!
 Despite the 6 hour trip, it was great to spend the weekend with my parents (who celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on Sunday – wow!), and get to see my sister and her boyfriend. The next time we’ll all be reunited is Thanksgiving, which we’ll be hosting for the third year in a row. This weekend reaffirmed my beliefs that my love and obsession with food is thanks to my family. The four of us have food on the brain, all the time.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway – you have until Thursday at 9pm EDT!