My name is Tim Mortenson, and my wife Kathy and I have spent the last 30 years in Rochester.  As our kids start to build their own lives, we're finding more time to enjoy the many things Rochester has to offer - parks, restaurants, RPO, theaters, and more we're just finding out about.  We also come in contact with many different merchants and services - some of which impress us and deserve to be called out.  You'll find a mix of random comments about these in the blog. 

We particularly enjoy dining out, so there's a focus on restaurant reviews.  To help you put our comments in perspective, here's a little more background on us.  We're generally pretty easy-to-please people, and go to new places with the expectation that we will like them.  Since the dinner tends to be the evening's entertainment, our reaction to a restaurant is based on the whole experience, not just the food itself.  How friendly and efficient is the service?  Is the restaurant a comfortable place to be?  Do we feel rushed? 

Everyone needs to get out of Rochester now and then.  In my previous career, I had the good fortune to travel extensively.  Some of the notes in the blog are from these trips, but many are from personal trips.  We're cost conscious in our travels, but aren't interested in scrimping too much on comfort.  I also try to maximize the use of all the frequent flier miles and hotel points whenever possible.

We also enjoy sampling wines.  We're not wine experts, but we know what we like, and what we're willing to pay.  We generally prefer the reds, except maybe a nice white on a summer evening.  I'm the champagne person, and in this area I've learned not to go too inexpensively.  For casual drinking, we tend to stay in the $10-12 per bottle range.  I'm still working on the pages for our wine list, so stay tuned.

And finally, we're avid readers.  Our tastes differ, with my wife requiring a higher standard of writing than I'm willing to put up with.  We read many of the same books, but each also have our separate preferences.  On a particular book, the comments may be from either or both of us.

I hope you enjoy the content here, and find it useful in selecting a restaurant, wine, book, vacation, or activity for yourself.  Please feel free to email comments or suggestions any time.