It's no secret that ice cream is one of the biggest influencing factors in my life. There are a few ways to make me fall in love with you, and offering me ice cream is one of them.

When I recently ran across a list denoting West Virginia's best ice cream spots, I immediately jotted down all locations and made it a mission to get to them.

Petrucci's Country Market, located in Martinsburg, dishes out ice cream from the side of its building where it also has deli meats, fresh produce and other general country market merchandise. I quickly perused inside before heading outside to ice cream heaven.

This place, which apparently used to be called Tad's Dairy Barn, has Hershey's Ice cream in addition to shakes, sundaes, specialty sundaes and more.

So, I went for a simple caramel sundae, which came out topped with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry.

The ice cream was good - nothing too extravagant, but standard and tasty. You really can't go wrong with ice cream, and this was up to par. A richer or thicker caramel or maybe a softer or more flavorful ice cream could've kicked it up a notch even further. But I'm just nitpicking right now. Decent ice cream in a country setting. Perfect for summer, I'm sure.


Grade: B

After a delicious lunch in Martinsburg, we took a stroll down the street and ended up at DeFluri's Fine Chocolates, a local shop that makes its own fine candies.

The chocolate shop opened in 1985 in Vienna and moved to the Eastern Panhandle in 1998. The shop has lots of goodies, including chocolates, candies, fudge, pretzels, popcorn, and much more.

The main floor even has a look into the factory.

Today the main factory floor houses the vast array of Charlie Casabona’s chocolate-making equipment. Massive mixers swirl vats of creamy chocolate. Finely calibrated conveyer belts cover DeFluri’s famous truffles, classic caramels and nuts, fruit cakes from a local monastary, and much more—with velvety, rich coats of chocolate. An antique foil–wrapping machine puts shiny colored foils on selected finished chocolates. Walk-in refrigerated rooms keep the final products and their ingredients at optimum cool temperatures.

The folks inside greeted us warmly and told us that the fudge and popcorn were especially big sellers and made right here on site. I made my way to the truffle case and picked a handful: caramels, maple centers, peanut butters. You know, all the good stuff. I also got a thing of the popcorn and some marzipan - because how beautiful is that?

Those chocolates? Absolutely delicious. I went for all milk chocolate, and they were each quite good.


I also learned I like marzipan. It's simple but delightful.

And, the caramel corn also quite good!

Have you been? What's your favorite thing to get?

Boyd's Steakhouse is classic Martinsburg restaurant. The old-school steakhouse has a very prohibition-style vibe. And, according to the restaurant's website, it's even the home of one of Al Capone's bars from his estate. How cool.

We were here for lunch, and while I'm sure they do more upscale business for dinner, it still had a moody, speakeasy style to it. Antique furniture that you can only imagine gangsters once sat in. We walked past the long bar and were seated at a booth made of wooden panels and overhead Tiffany lamps that cast a red light.

I was relieved to hear that we could, indeed, order steak at lunch. Because how could I come to a steakhouse and not partake in the traditional steak? I couldn't.

I ordered Momma Boyd's 8 oz. filet mignon (medium), which came with a choice of two sides; I got the macaroni and cheese (duh) and buttermilk mashed potatoes. This steak was very good. While it may have been cooked a touch too long, it was incredibly juicy, flavorful, and tender.

The mac and cheese was extra cheesy, and the mashed potatoes could have been a touch creamier. But overall, this was a top-notch meal. A cool atmosphere and one of the best steaks you'll find in West Virginia.

Grade: A

Somehow, in all of my travels, I had never been to Martinsburg. A tragedy, I know. But, fortunately, Orr's Farm Market changed all that.

Folks from the farm market reached out to me to see if I'd like to come, explore the farm, do some berry picking and show them a little love in my blog. I couldn't really get the timing right this summer, but then all of a sudden, the stars aligned for fall.

I had a column due for the Charleston Gazette-Mail, I was traveling to Martinsburg for work, and I had already wanted to see this farm for my blog. So, it turned out to be a win-win-win. I wrote about agritourism, I got pumpkins we could use for WVU's photo shoot, AND I get to talk about how amazing this farm is right here in my blog.

This expansive farm has roots way back to the 1930s when it was a small fruit and berry farm:

During the depression days in the mid 1930’s, George S. Orr, Jr. helped his grandfather by working on his small fruit and berry farm. This farm was located just west of Martinsburg on the east side of North Mountain (Arden). As a young man George joined the U.S. Navy and traveled to California where he met his wife Juanita. With fruit growing in his blood, George S. Orr, Jr. returned to West Virginia and purchased a 60 acre orchard in 1954 and began a lifetime of growing fruit. With help from his family he increased the size of his orchard to 350 acres by 1979.

When George S. Orr, Jr. passed away in 1989, he was 62. He left his business to his wife Juanita, and their three sons (Mike, Mark, and G.W.). The corporation George S. Orr & Sons, Inc. owned 1,100 acres of orchards at that time, producing 500,000 bushels of fruit annually. The brand was “My Three Sons”. George left a legacy of determination, innovation, and competition.

In 1995 the family opened Orr’s Farm Market, a retail market to serve our local community. Over the years the Orr family has diversified into specialty crops, a pick-your-own operation, and agritourism events and activities.

Today, George Orr’s children and grandchildren are continuing the agricultural path that he paved for them. Pristine orchards are tended to by George’s son Mark Orr. A state of the art packing facility is managed by the eldest son, Mike Orr. The office is run by Mike’s wife Vicki and daughter Julie. Julie’s husband, Phil Bolyard, is IPM manager and helps with orchard operations as well. Mark’s eldest daughter Katy manages the farm market and her husband Don Dove is Packing Operations Manager. Other daughters help at the farm market during their summer breaks from college.

From the beginning Orr’s has depended on extended family and close friends to help bring in the harvests. Without such a dedicated staff of employees our farm would not be what it is today. George S. Orr, Jr. would be proud of what the family has accomplished so far, but there are many goals still on the horizon.

The farm has pick-your-own pumpkins, fruit, games, activities, hayrides, a corn maze and a fresh produce market. Giant bins of apples of all different kinds were available - and you can mix and match a peck to your heart's content. I got quite a few to take home (and I may have ended up munching on all of them before I could make anything with them -- but so worth it!).

I picked my own pumpkin in the patch (the best looking pumpkin ever!) and skipped past dozens of others that were ~almost~ right. When you know, you know, right?

I then took the hayride back to the market. The hayride, by the way, is cute and takes you past the farm's animals and some of the property. Very cool.

The market is something else. Like, it was beautifully set up with all sorts of pumpkin displays, those bins of apples and other general produce that takes up every shade of the rainbow. Plus, there are some fun toys and candies for the kiddos.

Orr's really does have it all. It's a beautiful location with so much fun things to do and the most delicious fresh produce available. They do lots more pick-your-own earlier in the season, and I, for one, can't wait to get back for some strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes... all of them, basically.

This is truly a destination and some place I could spend an entire day at -- I wasn't joking when my column talked about how successful they have been with their agritourism efforts. It's grea tot see a farm like this excelling and really being part of all of our memories.

Have you been to Orr's Farm Market? If so, what's your favorite part?

So, my parents were vacationing in the Poconos recently, and I made the trek up to visit them. The Poconos are a mountain region full of wooded hills and valleys -- and it's just a few hours from major cities like NYC or Philly, making it a prime vacation destination and spot for second-home owners.



We did some cool stuff, like seeing this natural boulder field that came about through years of glaciers, rain and temperature changes. Pretty cool.

Oh, and we ate, of course.

Jubilee Restaurant is one of the oldest restaurants in the area - around since 1968, and it's known as "The Breakfast King of the Poconos."

The rustic family restaurant mostly serves up American fare in a wood-paneled, stone-accented cozy space. The lunch/dinner menu features some interesting items like duck bacon wontons, portobello tower, and more. Lots of soups, salads, chicken dishes, pastas, steak, ribs, salmon, burgers and sandwiches.

I went for the "Bacon Blue Burger," because these homestyle restaurants have to have a good burger in my book. It came with crisp bacon, crumbled blue cheese and a toasted brioche bun. And, overall, it was pretty decent. The bacon was kind of half-assed with just two overhanging strips criss-crossed. I kind of wish there was some sort of sauce to pull it all together, but it still was good.

I also think the pickles were homemade, and the fries were thick but crisp. Good combo. It was standard, but it was good. The service was a bit slow - I ran out of water for a bit and had to ask for more, and our server seemed a bit disinterested.

Decent food - nothing earth-shattering - and good company made for a good time, though.

Grade: B