Have I Got a Girl for You at Rainbow Dinner Theatre

February 15, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

When you’re scrolling through movies or shows to watch, do you find yourself scrolling for romantic comedies that are a little more comedy than romance so that your significant other will still watch them with you? If this is you – head on over to the Rainbow Dinner Theatre for Have I Got a Girl for You – playing now – husband approved!

My husband & I had an early Valentine’s date night last Friday, we headed out for dinner and a show. The food was great (salad, crab cakes, roast beef, delicious potatoes, veggies, and more – and of course, a piece of cherry pie for dessert!)

The show is about a SUPER funny girl named Maureen who gives love one more shot when her sister sets her up on a blind date with a slightly-awkward, but very sweet guy named Joe. Joe is late for their date, but is so eager to show her that he likes her – Maureen tries to cover her feelings by using the sharp wit that she has come to hide behind after years of loneliness.

There were so many great lines in this show – you’ll leave quoting them. You’ll have to see the show to understand, but my husband and I are trying to come up with a number like Joe’s “Magic number 5″ for our telephone number.

Although the show is seriously funny, it also brings to light the themes of self-image, beauty, and feelings of inadequacy, and will touch just about everyone in this world where everyone seems to think that you need to be perfect and skinny. The play is suitable for most audiences, and would be rated PG if it were a movie. There is a bit of sexual innuendo, but almost no objectionable language. I hope that you will book your tickets today at Rainbow Dinner Theatre and let me know what you thought when you see it!

1 Comment | Category: Late Night, theatre, Things to Do | Permalink

Tags: Comedy, Dinner Theatre, Lancaster County, PA Dutch Country, Rainbow Dinner Theatre

Sweets for your Sweetie: Carmen & David’s Creamery

February 14, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

With reviews like these…

“Seriously, some of the best ice cream you will ever have… I just wish they delivered to Philadelphia.” – Steven M. on Yelp
” Their salted caramel ice cream is the best I’ve tasted to date, the flavor is so amazing!” – LFox06 on TripAdvisor
“Absolutely hands down a must stop! Best ice cream I’ve ever had, unique flavoris! Kudos to an awesome place and an incredible experience for all – Evan on Urban Spoon

…who could resist checking out Carmen & David’s Creamery in Downtown Lancaster?

My husband and I have loved date nights (and family nights) to Carmen & David’s since they first opened at 25 North Prince Street across from the Fulton Theatre. They always have a variety of rotating flavors of ice cream, sherbert and sorbet, including sugar free ice cream. You can get your ice cream in a cone, dish, sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream sodas, floats and coolers. In the cooler weather, they serve hot spiced cider, and when it’s REALLY cold, they have the best hot chocolate!!

For Valentine’s Day, a good old-fashioned hot fudge brownie sundae, pictured at the top of this post, is perfect to share (or to eat on your own!). So for you last-minute planners – head on over to Carmen & David’s tonight with your special someone and enjoy the best ice cream that money can buy!

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Tags: Carmen & David's Creamery, Downtown Lancaster, ice cream, Lancaster County, Lancaster PA, Valentine's Day

Sweets for your Sweetie – Bird-in-Hand Bakery

February 13, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

Valentine’s day is FILLED with hearts. Heart shaped cards, lollipops, chocolates and whoopie pies! Why hearts? Cupid is to blame! As the Roman god of love, he scampered across mythological times, shooting unsuspecting mortals through the hearts with love-laced arrows. Once hit with an arrow, love was inevitable.

So head on over to the Bird-in-Hand Bakery & Creamery, and get your heart-shaped whoopie pies and old-fashioned sugar cookies for your loved ones to show them that you “love them with all your heart.”

While you’re at the bakery, you can also check out their famous wet-bottom shoofly pies, oversized apple dumplings, fresh pumpkin pie, moist red velvet cake, donuts, ice cream and more!

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Tags: bakery, Bird-in-Hand, Bird-in-Hand Bakery, Heart Shaped Whoopie Pies, Lancaster County, PA Dutch Country, Sweets & Treats, Whoopie Pies

Sweets for Your Sweetie – Uncle Leroy’s

February 12, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

Today’s Valentine’s Day featured shop is one that is known for it’s delicious homemade fudge, but they’ve also got something special going on for Valentine’s Day – Chocolate covered strawberries!

At Uncle Leroy’s, you’ll experience friendly service, eight flavors of the world’s best fudge, 16 flavors of ice cream (served on homemade waffle cones!), caramel apples, caramel corns, nut brittles, and many other fresh candies. From the minute that you walk in the door, your nose will be delighted, and your mouth will be watering – the smells of chocolate, fudge and fresh waffle cones.

I always like to watch as the fudge is poured out onto the marble table, and worked into a “fudge loaf.” You won’t be able to resist picking up some sweets for yourself, as well as some for your sweetie!

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Tags: Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Fudge, ice cream, Lancaster County, Lancaster PA, PA Dutch Country, Uncle Leroy's, Valentine's Day

Sweets for your Sweetie – Wilbur Chocolates

February 11, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

If you ever find yourself in the quaint town of Lititz, you will find yourself smelling the sweet smell of chocolate. What a delicious factory to live close to! Not only is the Wilbur Chocolate Factory located in Lititz, but there are also the Candy Americana® Museum and the Candy Store. The manufacturing plant is located directly above the store, so when you walk in, you can listen to the curious sounds of the factory above!

You can enjoy any of the Wilbur items, chocolate specialties, and other confections in the store. You can also watch while they make their own hand-made fudge (tiger butter is one of my favorites). They even still offer free Wilbur Bud samples!

This is a sweet place not only to buy chocolates for your sweetie, but to take them for an afternoon out. Surely they’ll enjoy picking their chocolates out at the old-fashioned candy store.

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Tags: Chocolates, Gifts, Lancaster County, Lancaster PA, Lititz, PA Dutch Country, Tour, Valentine's Day, Wilbur Buds, Wilbur Chocolate

Free PA Dutch Valentine Printable

February 7, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

I’m always looking for a way to send Valentines Day cards with my son that don’t include candy, because I feel slightly guilty giving chocolate away to small children. I recently saw something that made me recall my days of elementary school, and when we used to play M.A.S.H. and make fortune tellers (also known as “cootie catchers”). Then I thought, why not make one of these into a valentine?

I’ve decided to share my PA Dutch Valentine Printable with you, along with step-by-step instructions, in case you weren’t privy to (or just can’t recall how to) making these paper games. Instead of getting a “fortune” when you choose your final number, you get a PA Dutch Saying about love/friendship!

Here’s how to make yours:

First, print out the PDF, and use either a paper trimmer, or scissors to cut on the dotted line (this is designed to be 8.5″ x 8.5″).

Next, fold it in half both ways, making a good crease (photo below). When you unfold the second time, your creases will make a cross or an ‘x’ on the paper.

Put the paper on the table printed side down, and fold each corner in to meet the middle.

Then flip the paper over so that the PA Dutch icons and numbers are facing the table, and fold each corner again into the middle (photo below). When you are finished, all your numbers will be on one side, and the PA Dutch icons will be on the other side. Your fortune teller will be in a perfect square.

Next, flip your paper and fold it both ways to make nice creases.

Finally, slide your fingers into the fortune teller as shown in the first photo below, one thumb and index finger under each PA Dutch icon. Fluff the sides up until it looks like the second photo below.

Last, enjoy the game! Instructions on how to play below!

If you’re not quite sure on the instructions to play, you can follow this simple method of the game!

Player A: Asks “choose a PA Dutch icon.” (Holding the game closed so that Player B only sees the four icons)
Player B: Chooses one of the four icons. (for example, Buggy)

Player A: Spell out “Buggy,” holding the game with your thumb & index fingers of each hand, alternate pinching on “B,” pulling on “U,” pinching on “G,” etc. Once completed, ask Player B to choose a number.
Player B: Chooses a number. (for example 3)

Player A: Count to “3″ while pinching on “1″ and pulling on “2,” etc. Once completed, ask Player B to choose another number.
Player B: Chooses a number. (for example 5)

Player A: Open the flap with the number 5 on it, and read the PA Dutch Saying under the flap to reveal Player B’s valentine!

*If you want to extend the game, you can repeat the middle step a few times (choosing three numbers before opening the flap).

3 Comments | Category: For the Kids, holiday | Permalink

Tags: Lancaster County, Lancaster County PA, PA Dutch, PA Dutch Country, PA Dutch Sayings, PA Dutch Valentine, Printable, Valentine's Day Printable

Sweets for your Sweetie – Miesse Candies

February 6, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

The rose is red, the violet’s blue, The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thouart my love and I am thine; I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew, And Fortune said it shou’d be you.

- from the collection of English nursery rhymes Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784)

Roses and chocolates are two of the most common Valentine’s Day gifts. If you’re thinking about picking up some chocolates for your sweetie this year, you should definitely give Miesse Candies a try. Founded in Lancaster County in 1875, Miesse Candies has been providing fresh, quality chocolates using only all natural ingredients for a long time.

So I’ve done some taste testing for you, and I really love the dark raspberry and dark mint truffles, and the peanut butter meltaway cream centers are delicious. You can see a full list of their products online here.

You can find milk, dark and white chocolate specialties with cream centers, jellies, marshmallows, caramels, hand-dipped chocolate pretzels, strawberries, nuts, fruits, coconut, peanut butter and non pareils. They also offer a wide variety of sugar free candies.

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Tags: candies, Chocolates, Lancaster County, Lancaster PA, meltaways, Miesse Candies, PA Dutch Country, truffles, Valentine's Day

Sweets for your Sweetie – Achenbach’s Pastry

February 4, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and I know just the sweet treat that I’ll be picking up for my husband – Achenbach’s Long Johns with red sprinkles. He absolutely LOVES Long Johns, and there is nobody that makes them tastier than Achenbach’s.

I actually hadn’t heard of Long Johns until I came out here to Lancaster County, so maybe you aren’t familiar with them either. Achenbach’s is known for their Long Johns, which are essentially long, iced donuts. My husband’s favorite are the peanut butter ones, but really, any flavor will suffice.

Achenbach’s has been around for more than 50 years, and they not only make delicious pastries, they also bake wholesome breads, mouthwatering pies, and country recipe cakes. For Valentine’s Day, they have a ton of great offerings, from tiny heart cakes, larger heart cakes, “Bee Mine” critter cakes, rose bouquet cakes, heart shaped ice box cookies and more.

Some other specials that you won’t want to miss leading up to Valentine’s Day are Fasnacht Day (Tuesday, February 12), and Mardi Gras King Cakes (New Orleans tradition). You can see Achenbach’s website for more details on each of these holiday specials.

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Tags: Achenbach's Long Johns, Achenbach's Pastries, Cakes, cookies, Donughts, Lancaster County, Lancaster PA, Long Johns, PA Dutch Country, Sweets, Sweets & Treats, Valentine's Day Treats, VDay Treats

Coast into the new Porsche show at Hershey’s Antique Auto Museum

February 1, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

Photo credit: Michael Furman

Put some roar in your winter or spring activities with a visit to the very cool Porsche Style & Design exhibit at the AACA Museum in Hershey, on display now through April 28.

The collection includes more than 20 road and racing editions from the well-known high-performance car manufacturer, including rare prototypes for its 911 and 912 series, the controversial 1980 Porsche Indy car, and classic pieces from the ‘50s right up to present-day.

Even if you’re not a motor head or a fan of television’s Top Gear, anyone with an appreciation for finely-calibrated power encompassed within sleek and innovative contours will enjoy this impressive and informative exhibition.

In a fun and surprising sidebar, the show also includes several examples from the Porsche Design arm of the company, which for more than 40 years has produced functional yet stylish men’s accessories, luggage, mobile phones, home décor, and more.

So wherever you live, be sure to hit the road to Hershey soon and take in this superb tour de Porsche!

See more photos here.

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Tags: Anituqe Auto, Antique Auto Club of American, Antique Cars, Porsche, Porsche exhibit

The Rat Pack Lounge at Dutch Apple

January 28, 2013 | Posted by: Sarah

There’s just 2 weeks left to see The Rat Pack Lounge at Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre! Dutch Apple is a year-round dining and entertainment showplace where you can tell that guests are the first priority. One of my favorite things is that there are no pillars in the dining room, so every seat is the best seat in the house – no seats where you’re craning your neck to see the other side of the stage.

The buffet is delicious, and it changes with every show, so you won’t have the same food for any of the other shows that you go to this season. The Rat Pack Lounge is heaven on earth as Frank, Dean and Sammy get sent back to correct a 30 year-old debt and save The Rat Pack Lounge in one night.

You will love to hear hits like My Way, Everybody Loves Somebody, and Come Fly with Me - and the live orchestra makes it magical. If you can’t make it to see The Rat Pack Lounge, then be sure to book your tickets now for one of the upcoming shows. You can see a list of the 2013 season on their website here.