All About Eastman

I've noticed that there are lots of people in Rochester who aren't that familiar with Eastman School of Music.  Since our world sort of revolves around Eastman, I'm always happy to tell them anything they want to know (and usually a whole lot more...).  Eastman is one of the best music schools anywhere!  Newsweek rated Eastman as the "Hottest School for Music" in 2008 (not to reveal any personal bias, but they were probably referring to the attractiveness of the grad students).  

Here's the amazing thing: ALL of Eastman's student recitals and concerts are free! (they do charge for visiting artist recitals and for operas).  It costs $20-50 to see Rochester's professional orchestra (the RPO ) but Eastman's two symphony orchestras each perform once a month (on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday night) and it's free!   You can also attend concerts by Eastman's wind ensemble, percussion ensemble, new music ensemble, chorale, and individual student recitals.  These events are great for dates or for kids over the age of 8.  The concert calendar is posted online.  After 7PM, parking in the East End Garage (which you can enter from Main Street or Scio) is free.

Rent your cart, buy your bag

Aldi is a quirky little grocery store.  The selection is limited, but the price is right!  Aldi claims that its store brand products are often made by the same manufacturers that make regular national brands.  For instance, we think that their tomato soup tastes like Campbell's, but it costs a lot less.   Here are some other things that we like from there (with very approximate prices):

1) Tortilla chips for $1.

2) Cheap baking supplies & spices (generally less expensive that Wegmans/Walmart)

3) Bags of fresh spinach for $1.30.

4) Sour cream, butter, cream cheese for...cheap (I can't remember)  

5) Diced canned tomatoes for 45 cents 

6) Frozen ground turkey for 1.80/lb

7) Apple juice concentrate for 90 cents

 

If very low prices make you nervous (is this really turkey?) you should read their explanation of how they cut costs.  One way is to have you pay a quarter to rent your cart (you get it back!) and bring your own bag (or you can buy one for 6 cents).   The whole cart-deposit/use your bag model is a very European thing to do...which is why you should feel very chic and cosmopolitan when you shop at Aldi.

Pizza!

From the mailbox:

"Mr. Shoes Pizza located on E. Henrietta & South Ave corner- have a special on a large cheese pizza every night carry out for $7.99 and it is a big large. - you can add additional things for a bit more-Their # 442-3000 We really love their pizza."

Good to know!

Haircuts

This just in from the e-mail box:

"I was recently trying to find a cheap and good place to get my hair cut because I refuse to pay a lot for something that will need to be re-done in 6 weeks.  My friend told me she had found a great deal.  There is a Vietnamese lady in Scottsville who cuts hair for $13 if you don't have her wash it and style it.  My friend and I both have very straight, fine hair and mistakes show up easily.  Both of us really liked the job she did and he price is fantastic.

She has a shop called Dan-Ni's.  It is easy to find: 43 Main Street in Scottsville.  Her phone number is (585) 889-8580.  Her prices and services are listed at dan-nis.com.  She also has coupons, but I noticed they expired in 2007 :-).  You could ask if she still honors them."

Thanks for telling us!  

mmmm...Autumn

There are plenty of places around Rochester where you can go to soak up that fall feeling.  The ALL-KNOWING Rochester kids' activity page (recommended by a wise friend) has a complete "Fall Page" that lists all of the farms, orchards, etc. that have fun fall festivities (FFFs for short).   

Last year we went to Powers Farm Market in Pittsford.  We picked out a pumpkin, petted the animals, and walked through three giant corn-husk teepees that are full of lit jack-o-lanterns.  We also went on the haunted hay ride through the woods.  The hay ride was a lot of fun, but it's hard to remember if it was really worth $3.25/person (kids 1 & under ride free).  

We're going to try somewhere different this year, for variety's sake.  Maybe somewhere more farm-y than Powers (which isn't a farm).  What are your favorite places? 

Road Running

When our Road Runner internet jumped from it's great introductory rate to $45/month, we started looking into other options.  From what we could see (between Time Warner, Frontier, and ClearWire) $45/month was a pretty normal price.   

We were complaining about it to our wise friends B & H, and they told us about Road Runner Basic (it's not mentioned on their website...).  It's a LOT  cheaper than the regular Road Runner, and the speed difference is almost unnoticeable (you would probably notice if you like to download big things...like "Ben Hur" or something).  Road Runner Lite is an even slower, less expensive version than Road Runner Basic.    

Even if  you combine TV/phone/internet, I think that you can request RR Basic and get a better deal.   That's all I know about that. 

Freihofer's Bakery Outlet

What: 

A bakery outlet that sells many varieties & brands of bread, english muffins, bagels, etc. Any time you go you can find 100% whole wheat bread for about $1.70 a loaf, and, if you're lucky, you can get 3 loaves for $3 (they'll be on a table by the door).   Around December they hand out Freihofer's calendars that have monthly coupons (like a free loaf of bread with any purchase). They also have "frequent buyer" stamp cards.

Where: 

Genesee Valley Regional Market on Jefferson (map).  It is a big row of warehouse-looking buildings that house things like an organic food market, coffee outlet, etc.   Because of construction, the entrance is temporarily around the corner on Clay Rd.  After you drive into the warehouse area, look for the Freihofer sign in the window of one of the middle buildings.  TADCO Spices, which is two buildings down, is a good place to buy bulk spices (but not a great place to buy bulk grains).