The Sights and Smells of State College

What a weekend this was! I had so much fun celebrating Josh’s 27th birthday with him and his family. His parents drove down from Connecticut and we got to spend Thursday through Sunday together. It was the best time!

As soon as we all got to State College it was present opening time! It was so much fun watching Josh open all his gifts.

He got some awesome stuff. Check out his new messenger bag for carrying his laptop and teaching materials to class!

Josh with his parents! 🙂

After present opening we had all worked up an appetite. For Josh’s birthday dinner we decided to head to Marios for some amazing Italian food.

Its finally fall coat time!

We split a ricotta, blue cheese, apple and honey pizza for an appetizer.

As well as elephant garlic. They were both so good!

For dinner I got my favorite butternut squash gnocchi. So good. Also enjoyed with a delicious peach bellini. I love sweet girly drinks.

After dinner we all got lattes.

And then headed home to sing to Josh and have him blow out his birthday candles!

The carrot cake turned out phenomenal. I was so happy everyone enjoyed it! This is definitely a recipe I’ll be making again and again.

Friday morning Josh had meetings to go to so I explored downtown State College with his parents. We had so much fun poking around little shops and getting lunch at Irving’s bagels. They are so much fun to spend time with and are so easy to talk to and be around. Once Josh was done with school we spent the afternoon antiquing before heading to Rey Azteca, an amazing Mexican restaurant for dinner. We shared nachos with re-fried beans, cheese, and guacamole for an appetizer and then I got a spinach and cheese quesadilla for dinner. We then did some Target shopping. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for all of this as I left it charging at Josh’s but it was such a fun day!

Saturday morning we all headed to Tait Farm’s Fall Open House. We played with the Basset Hounds and then bought a lot of shrub and jams.

After Tait Farm we headed over to Wegmans where they were doing a beer and food tasting. We had to sign up and get wristbands before proceeding to five different stations where we were offered a sample of a drink and food that complimented each other. I’m still learning to like the taste of a lot of beers as I’m not a big fan of the hops taste but I was really excited to find I liked the taste of two of them immediately. Three of the food stations were vegetarian friendly which was also really exciting. This station was the brie and nut station. The guy was so nice to let me have the recipe to make the Wegmans fruit and nut mix to put over the cheese. I can’t wait to recreate this!

After sampling lots of awesome foods and beers we hit up Wegmans food court for some lunch. I got the vegetarian broccoli and cheddar. It was really good although I’m still partial to Panera’s broccoli and cheddar. The awesome thing about this one though is that it uses a vegetable stock instead of a chicken one.

Josh and I also split their new mango tofu sushi. It had a nice citrus taste to it and was all around delicious!

Josh’s parents were so sweet and ordered Josh a half dozen of his favorite pastry. Sfogliatelle are so pretty!

After Wegmans we headed over to the Home Depot parking lot where there was a Farmer’s Market going on.

There was a goat milk and cheese stand run by the nicest farmer who let us sample all of the products. I already love goat cheese but was surprised to find how much I love goats milk. Unlike the cheese it is not tangy at all, but so rich and creamy and easy to drink.

Josh’s mom treated us to peach goat milk yogurts. They were so good!

After a busy day Josh and I had a quiet night that night. We spent it watching Big Bang Theory and HGTV. For dinner I melted brie and sour peach jam on Italian bread. It was so good!

Sunday morning we lounged until noon when Josh’s parents picked us up to head to Boalsburg for lunch. Its only ten minutes outside of State College and yet I had never been there before. It is so charming and cute with lots of little shops and restaurants.

We ate at Duffy’s Tavern, a little restaurant that’s been around since the Civil War. That little kitty crossing the street ran up to us and rolled onto its back for us to pet its tummy two minutes after this picture was taken. There are a half dozen town cats that roam freely from store to store and are cared for by the entire town.

The rooms are so well maintained and so authentic to their original period it feels like stepping back in time.

For an appetizer we split the baked brie. It was delicious.

I got a coffee dusted veggie burger with cheddar cheese and onions. I wasn’t sure what the coffee dusting would taste like and was delighted when I tried it and realized it gave the burger a nice smokey flavor.

We split an order of fries for the table.

For dessert I got the brownie with walnuts and ice cream and powdered sugar. Josh’s mom also got the same thing. It was so good.

Josh got the apple tart with cinnamon ice cream and caramel.

And Josh’s dad got the death by chocolate cake. All of it was amazing.

It was such a delicious lunch spent with the best of company!

After lunch we explored the town and discovered some cute little buildings and shops.

There was a furniture store with some amazing pieces. They were playing Christmas music and had appetizers and sparkling wine for customers to eat while they browsed. Josh and I fell in love with this trunk. Isn’t it gorgeous?

After a Sunday afternoon of exploring we headed back to State College to introduce Josh’s parents to Faccia Luna. We ordered a wood fired ricotta, spinach, and basil pizza as well as a margherita pizza with red onions and green peppers. They were both so good!

The weekend flew by way too fast and before I knew it it was time to say goodbye to Josh’s parents and then to Josh as I headed back to Williamsport. Seeing Josh enjoying himself on his birthday made me so incredibly happy! As hard as it was to leave this morning I am so excited for next weekend, its our one year anniversary! I hope everyone had a great weekend and that your week is starting off well!