Looking forward to a fulFILLING weekend

Aside from the incredibly odd weather, I must say this has been a very nice summer. Mind you, I’m not complaining about the cooler-than-normal temperatures we’ve had the past couple weeks. Anything over 80 makes for a grumpy Scott.

While the summer has been good, I have to say that this coming weekend is likely my favorite of the year. It’s filled with free food, friends and frollicking. Okay, maybe not frollicking, but I wanted a trio of Fs. I guess I could have said fun. But I think that is copywritten by McDonald’s.

Saturday I will make my apparently annual pilgrimage to the Dożynki Polish Harvest Festival at Corpus Christi Church where I will — for the third straight year — be one of the lucky ones judging the 6th Annual Buffalo’s Best Pierogi Contest.

Previous year’s pierogi have included standard sauerkraut, reuben, chicken wing, hot pepper, a cheeseburger pierogi (complete with lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle), Kielbasa and cheese, a Japanese pierogi, beef on weck, Greek and more. It’s heaven.

Even without the gluttony of pierogi that I’ll be consuming, Dozynki is always a blast. Last year we went bowling at the Corpus Christi Athletic Club after I was done consuming my pierogi. It was fun. It was cheap. It was different.

If you’re looking to get out of town on Saturday, head on out to Superman Corner in Buffalo and have some tasty food and say “hi” while you’re there. I’ll be the guy loosening his belt.

But wait. That’s not all. If you act now, you get … the Taste of Lockport on Sunday.

Last year I was a judge at the Taste, as well, helping to judge the appetizer category. This year, they’ve switched things up on me and I’ll be one of the very lucky people judging the sandwich category along with Lockport Journal Sports Editor (and friend) John D’Onofrio.

Fortunately, we’ll be judging the food early in the day which means that I should have it digested well before the Taste is over so I can eat everything else.

Normally I work Sunday nights, but I took the day off so I could eat more. Lucky, lucky me.

To make a long story short  — too late? — I’m going to have a great weekend with food and people that I love. Hope to see you there. And if you’re not there, I hope you’re weekend is as happy as mine is sure to be.

Scott Leffler isn’t Polish. And he’s not originally from Lockport. But he’s going to pretend to be both this weekend — for the sake of the food. He’ll probably tweet photos of his gluttonous behaviors @scottleffler.

The circle of (food) life ...

I’ve gone through periods of my life where I eat very healthy. Those periods, however, are the exception — not the norm.

I grew up with four food groups, where things were “part of a complete diet,” or something like that. It was the nutritional standard from 1956 until 1992. There was meat, dairy, grains and fruit. Pretty simple. Even I could understand it.

But the year I left for college, the USDA went and gummed up the works, trading four food groups in for a food pyramid consisting of grains, fruits, veggies, dairy, meats and sweets.

This mattered none, however, because the college I went to had the best food. Seriously. And it was all you could eat, so I couldn’t care less what step of the food pyramid it was on.

After graduation, we were lucky enough to have money to afford food at all. And quickly thereafter there were only two food groups: Baby food and adult food.

The whole food pyramid was kind of complex, in my opinion. And never really caught on. It certainly didn’t in my household.

Actually, my household is an anomaly. I’ve joked with my kids for years that just about everything is good for you. For example, “Coffee’s good for you. It’s got vitamin C in it. The C stands for coffee.” Likewise, bubblegum has vitamin B in it, and so on.

Fortunately, my kids are smarter than me and ignore me when I say stupid things like that.
In 2005, the food pyramid got revamped into “my pyramid,” with the same basic info, but presented in a manner which was much less easily digestible. It was like the government didn’t want us to understand nutrition.

Last week, they ditched the pyramid altogether, thankfully, replacing it with “my plate,” which looks a whole lot like a pie chart. But don’t call it a pie chart. You’ll upset the USDA. Plus, pie is not a food group ... even if I think it should be. It’s got vitamin P, you know?

My plate shows that about half of what you eat should be fruits and veggies, with a slightly higher percentage being veggies. The other half should be grains and proteins, with again a higher percentage being grains. And then off on the side, there’s a separate circle for dairy. So we’re almost back to the four food groups, except they gave fruits and veggies each their own group. It’s five food groups. It’s much easier to understand than a food pyramid, that’s for sure. Maybe food pyramids would make sense in Egypt ... or parts of South America.

But this is America where everyone knows that circle gets the square.

For the life of me, I don’t understand why food doesn’t just come color coded at the grocery store. Green label means you can eat as much as you want (veggies, for example). Yellow label means eat in moderation (red meat, for example). And red label means eat very sparingly (Snickers bars). I mean, really, could it get more simple?

Well, sure it could. We could eat all of our meals through a straw like in the movie “Wall-E.” But that didn’t go so well for them.

Of food and baseball ...

I'm constantly re-evaluating my relationship with Western New York. Like most relationships, it is – at times – rocky. Sometimes I'm completely in love. And sometimes I'm utterly disgusted.

But there are definitely things that keep me attached to the area. There's my friends, of course. My family is a pretty big one. I like all the water. And then … there's the food. The food here is akin to whatever glue it is that holds many real-life relationships together. As much as you may hate the fact that Western New York snores and picks fights about stupid things, you stay for the food – among other things, of course.

Sunday was my day of gluttony here. A celebration of the phenomenally unhealthy menu choices housed at the 43,000 restaurants we have. And people did celebrate. The massiveness of the crowd was outweighed only by the massiveness of some of the people in the crowd, who looked like they had previously sampled each and every of the aforementioned 43,000 restaurants.

There are other gluttony celebrating events in Western New York, including “The Taste of Lockport” and “The Taste of Niagara,” each run by friends of mine. But they simply don't compare to “The Taste of Buffalo.”

When I go to “taste of” type events my goal is to try things I wouldn't have otherwise. I like to sample menu items I've been afraid to order. Or sample things from restaurants I've been afraid to commit to … or hadn't heard of.

Sunday I had something called a Sicilian cigar. I had spicy Malai Tikka. I tried some blue crab sushi. It was extra tasty. I tried a pulled pork and coleslaw wrap, which wasn't as good as it sounded. And I had a strawberry kabob, which may not be all that unique, but who says no to strawberries dipped in chocolate?

I discovered three new restaurants that I want to try and one that I don't. I ran into several friends and was reminded that gluttony may be ugly, but it sure is fun.

It may be the pizza and chicken wings that keep me here, but it's the variety that keeps me intrigued.

If you missed The Taste of Buffalo this past weekend, don't miss out on the Taste of Niagara on July 23, 24 and 25; and the Taste of Lockport on August 15. As I said, they may not be as big as this past weekend's event, but it sure beats waiting another year.

On a completely unrelated note, I enjoy baseball. But I can't stand the New York Yankees.

That said, I also can't stand the Boston Red Sox.

Now I've likely confused a whole lot of people reading this who seem to believe that those are the only two teams that play baseball. I've actually had people tell me they don't understand this concept. I must like one of them.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are akin to the evil empire and the other evil empire. And I want no part of either of them. In the American League, I root for the Cleveland Indians, which was at one time my home team. In the National League, I root for the Washington Nationals, which may some day be my home team if I can figure out how to get decent pizza and wings down there.

It's kind of like politics, really. I'm not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican. There are other “teams” out there. Find one that suits you. Make it your home team. And don't let anyone tell you that because you're not rooting for the evil empire, you're not really a fan.