Winter in Niagara Falls

We took a winter break trip back to Niagara Falls, where we experienced a range of weather patterns, baked and ate lots of holiday treats, and visited relatives and friends. A break from India for us and for readers of the blog. Going from a warm boom town in a rapidly developing country to a frigid rust belt decaying city in a country still showing strong effects of the recession.

First, the baking. Red velvet cake, which disappeared very quickly.
Before baking. Then the last piece.
Lots of cookies, but no pictures of those. In addition to baking, we made ravioli.
Kneading the dough. Then rolling it through the machine.
A trip to the mall, and photos with Santa:
An outing to the bowling alley on a Sunday afternoon: chicken wings on the bar, the Bills losing on the TV, and ads for beer.
Holiday tradition at my house: my mom doing a puzzle with the Christmas tree in the background.Christmas lights on a house down the street:Another of my favorite things: a trip to Wegmans, where I drooled over the assortment of apples, and bought bags of yummy honey-crisps.More great produce:Luscious citrus: Outside of the store, machines where consumers return their bottles on which deposits had been paid. We had snow, and then it rained, and we got out just before Niagara Falls got 3 feet of snow.
Playing in the backyard. My mom tried to make a little ice rink for Amartya, the way she made for me when I was little, but the rain destroyed it.After a snowfall on Goat Island, near the Falls. Industry in Niagara Falls has shrunk, but large amounts of hydro power continues to be produced there, and then transmitted via wires supported by these huge towers.One growing industry is the waste disposal business. This waste landfill hill is bigger every time I go home.
Shoppers take a break, with the resulting long check out line at the take out window of the Tim Horton's doughnut shop.