Homegrown Happy Valley

1.) Eat a fresh-from-the-brick-oven Gemelli pizza. We’ve seen Gemelli’s divine pies at the farmer’s markets in Boalsburg and Millheim. Now you can also pick up a pie at the restaurant that just opened next door to the State College shop. Bringing home? Better buy two. Trust us, you won’t get your garlic scape pesto pie past the parking lot.

2.) Connect with farmers in Central PA at the 5^th Annual Central PA Farm Tour. Pack a cooler for local goodies and a camera to show your city friends what they’re missing.

Hundreds of children wandering around Allen Street in the 90-degree heat? That’s the Children & Youth Day Sidewalk Sale at Arts Fest. Take a look at our genius locals and their creations for this year.

Will work for dog. Tasha Burman, a participant for the third year, works with wire and glass beads, eschewing plastic. Her passion for making all kinds of jewelry began about five years ago; now she can create a pair of earrings in the time it takes to finish a bowl of cereal. Tasha, 13, is even working on a business plan. For now her skills are earning her money toward a pet dog. 

Soon you won’t have to leave home to take your child to a museum. Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania is moving into 112 West Foster Avenue, where it’s leasing 4,200 square feet for a hands-on children’s museum—complete with a garden! More details about the museum will be announced at a benefit this Saturday at the Gingerbread Man.

With a focus on learning through play, the museum aims to leave children with a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. Carla Zembal-Saul, a Discovery Space board member and PSU professor in science education, gives us the scoop on the museum’s new home.

The long wait for Tana Asian Café is finally over. A big red ribbon on the door welcomed customers a few weeks ago for the grand opening on 454 E. College Ave.

The layout and appearance is similar to what used to be Cozy Thai Bistro, which is owned by the same people and moved to its new location at 232 S. Allen. Wooden tables and chairs are surrounded by elephant statues and illuminated by round orange and white lights. Soft music plays in the background keeping the atmosphere peaceful but popping.

As a senior, graduation sprung up on me. In the midst of studying for exams and figuring out what I’m going to do with my life I had completely neglected that post-graduation dinner reservation for my family. But after paying for four years of college, my parents aren’t about to let me leave here without a proper celebration. Unable to ignore my mother’s nudging, I decided to research my options and blog about them for my Homegrown Happy Valley internship. I was bummed to discover that Zola, Alto and Duffy’s Tavern were already booked. But there are still some good places left. Below, my last assignment for Dear Old State: a reservation cheat sheet for my fellow procrastinating graduates.

If you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of excited about Sugar on Top, the new cupcake cafe opening soon around the corner from Rita’s at 121 1/2 Beaver Avenue. (Read our recent post about the shop here.) So we’ve come up with a fun contest that will help promote the shop. Here’s how it works:

We challenge our readers to create the “Homegrown Happy Valley Cupcake,” a sweet or savory creation that showcases one or more local ingredients. Don’t worry about an actual recipe–just come up with the flavor combinations.

Sugar on Top brings the cupcake craze to State College in a shop that’s just as flavorful as its cupcakes.

The furniture, including a recliner that used to belong to an area hospital, comes from Craig’s List and the Penn State surplus store, while the walls of the 1,700 square foot space are painted pink and robin’s egg blue. The shop is the creation of Shaunda Lohse, a self-proclaimed “bohemian” who wears chipped nailed polish and red cheetah pants—and pulls it off.

Once upon a time there were two hens.

The first is Battery Hen. “I live in a cage so small I cannot stretch my wings,” writes Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns in Thinking Like a Chicken: Farm Animals and the Feminine Connection. “I am forced to stand night and day on a sloping wire mesh floor that painfully cuts into my feet.”

Five questions for Lyn Garling of Over the Moon Farm, which is selling its boneless no-nitrate organically-raised hams for Easter:

What makes your organic hams better than the supermarket version?

Our pigs are raised outside with a diversity of things to eat including lots of organic greens. They also have a lot of room to roam around freely–unlike supermarket pigs who are fed a strict diet and confined in cages their entire lives. Our pigs never experience any stress at all. Then they are custom butchered by Leona Meat Plant, Inc., which is certified in organic animals and does the entire process with a no nitrate cure, which you cannot get in supermarkets.