Tag Archives: binghamton

Poppy’s last birthday

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This was the "exterimator" Super 8 in Binghamton sent to our room to deal with ants

This started out to be a very sad day.  It is my dad’s 69th birthday, and he was not feeling well —  significantly weak and down in the dumps until about 2 p.m., when he perked up and suggested we go to Denny’s on Vestal Parkway for some coffee.  It is always a good sign when he wants to go for coffee, so we all left his apartment feeling better.  I called Steven and asked if he could come out and he said he would.  This is another hot day in a string of hot days and hot days make challenging situations worse because you can’t think of anything other than how damned hot it is.  Humid, too.  We came back to our scuzzy hotel room and found ants marching in via a hole in the drywall around the window.  This presented a problem since the window was near the desk and the laptop on said desk.  While I appreciated the free, high-speed, wireless service — the only decent thing about the place — it was rendered useless by the column of ants I needed to brush off my calves every now and again.  We stuck a cotton swab into the hole and complained to management.  This was early evening.  We called back at about 10:00 p.m. for an ETA and were told that “the exterminator left, but was on his way back.”  Odd.  He finally arrived after midnight – check out the photo above for his likeness.  I told management that I did not want ants nor the smell of bug spray in the room.  I suggested they look into an actual exterminator, and perhaps even clean around the sides of the building once in awhile.  By that time we were beat, so we sprayed a tiny bit of chemical into the hole, stuffed the swab back in and hoped for the best.  UPDATE:  Months later, we received a full refund based on the complaint we filed

2006 Binghamton Balloon Rally & Spiedie Fest

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bighamton spiedie fest in 2006 – large bottle of sauce

Today we went to the Binghamton Balloon Rally and Spiedie Fest in Otsiningo Park.  The balloon part was last night, actually, and all we saw of that was the traffic jam it caused on Front Street on the way back from Wegman’s.  I realized last night that I hate balloon fests, though not as much as parades or circuses.  The fest was a large affair with all the same chain booths that you find at almost every street fair around as well as local arts and crafts people and religious organizations.  I think I learned more about Jews For Jesus than spiedies.  There were also several spiedie booths, the two largest being Salamida’s and Lupo’s, which I understand are competing entities.  We sampled one chicken and one pork at the former and two lamb at the latter.  I don’t know which was the best — they were all fine, but I am partial to the stronger taste of lamb.

salamida's spiedies

Salamida’s spiedies

We spent several hours there since there was so much ground to cover and, I must say, it was a cut above.  We had been hearing on the radio for weeks that John Corbett would be there performing, and until I arrived at the event I thought it was the Sex and the City guy.  I kept wondering why he would be there – that maybe he was from Binghamton – and even chatted with Steve about it.  Turns out John Corbett is a country music act.  Matt glared at me when he realized my mistake, thinking I was totally out of it.

Crawdads

Crawdads

We had some chain booth crawdads (you know, crayfish) with remoulade and then hopped on one of the shuttle buses back to Broome County Community College, where the car was parked.  This event sets up a seriously efficient shuttle system.  Alameda County Transit should contact these people for advice.

Wegman’s and Super 8

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The hole in our bathroom door in our hotel room

We checked into the super bad Super 8 in Binghamton this afternoon.  Why?  Well, although the Motel 6 was fab, it did not have free (or even pay) high-speed wireless internet.  When you have a website, dial-up becomes old quickly.  So we thought we’d “upgrade” for a couple weeks and were looking forward it.  Upon arrival at check-in, we came upon a woman railing about the lack of extra pillows, the bad AC and the dampness.  She said that this was “the worst place she ever paid to stay.”  We’d have to agree.  Our room was, overall, tacky, dirty, dank, sticky and broken down.  There was something akin to a gunshot hole in the back of the bathroom door, and the horrors that existed behind the toilet in the bathroom rivaled the worst gas station rest room ever.  Can you say “water damage” or “dry rot?”  The walls in the place were stained and had a yellow hue that had nothing to do with paint color, and the furniture was well past its prime.  The management may want to — and I know this is a crazy idea — put some of their profits back into the business.  But, if you can handle serious cooties, they do have a fast wireless internet connection. 

Package of whitefish at wegman's in binghamton new york

After we hung out a bit we drove over to Wegman’s, a tony supermarket chain, to get some snacks for dinner.  Wegman’s is like Whole Foods, so we were able to get decent take-out sushi, cheese and whatnot for a hotel room picnic.  There were piles of vacuum-packed ready-to-cook spiedie meat in refrigerated display cases and, joy of joys!, pieces of whole smoked whitefish from the Acme Fish Corporation in Brooklyn, New York.  Silky, sensuous smoked whitefish flesh….salty, savory, oily, luscious smoked whitefish flesh.    UPDATE:  Months later, we received a full refund based on the complaint we filed.  That was nice.

Spiedies again

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Matt insisted on spiedies today, so we hit up a Spiedie and Rib Pit for dinner (1268 Front Street, Binghamton).  This is a little place with Formica tables and a self-serve soda machine with lots of serious eaters inside.  Really, I mean tables full of big guys chowing down.  Spiedies are a Binghamton specialty.  Marinated meat cubes are grilled and served on a hero roll with or without a bunch of other things.  While the marinades are top-secret at some of these spiedie joints, I would imagine they are akin to Italian dressing.  We both got a regular spiedie sub – nothing on the bun except meat so we could judge its quality.  We both had chicken, agreeing they serve up a good sandwich, but next time we’d get the frills.  The chicken was very moist, by the way, and both large sandwiches and two sodas set us back about $15.

The Cracker Barrel in Binghamton

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This evening we ate at a chain restaurant called The Cracker Barrel on (where else?) Front Street.  We had planned on going there one of the other days but my dad claimed it was too “cutesy” for me and that it would drive me crazy.  Since we were once again dying of the heat, we didn’t much care where we ate so long as it had a cooling system.  I did not know it was a Southern chain with a number of outposts outside the South.  I never heard of it, period.  Yes, it was cutesy, and it had a large gift shop that you were routed through to get to the restaurant, but there was enough there I was actually interested in to make it fun.  Once you get past all the chickie dishes and overblown cookie jars and homespun-looking tschotchkes, there are a few things worth your time.  First, Lodge makes things for The Cracker Barrel — basically their usual cast iron ware but with a Cracker Barrel logo cast into the bottom.  While you can find this stuff cheaper on Amazon.com and discount stores, it is still nice to look at and handle while you are waiting to be seated.  Then there is a large Southern candy section, and a really cool toy section, with some nice kid-sized cookware sets.  Ah, time to eat!  We were brought corn muffins, biscuits and butter to munch on while we looked at the huge comfort food menu.  Meat loaf, beef stew, chicken and dumplings.  You get the idea.  Matt had the chicken fried chicken and I had chicken and dumplings.  You get three sides with your entree, chosen from a huge variety of sides, and we came up with six to share:  cole slaw, fried okra, cornbread stuffing, fries, corn and mashed potatoes.  The sides were fine but the fried okra could have been better.  Once I received my dinner and spent an hour watching lots of other entrees come out of the kitchen, I realized that their stock in trade was boneless chicken breast.  Almost all of the chicken dishes (and maybe it is all, I’m not sure) use this boneless chicken breast meat.  While this is healthier and easier on the kitchen, I was very disappointed not to receive chicken on the bone with my dumplings.  You just can’t get the same flavor in certain dishes without chicken on the bone.  And, come on!, what kind of Southern place has no real fried chicken?!  I have to admit, though, it was quite tasty and gave us our comfort food fix in a cool environment.