Saturday, May 09, 2009

Dean, after we picked up buttermilk at Stop & Shop: "All right, you have all the ingredients to make me MY CAKE."

Aaaaah!! It's MY CAKE. MY cake. Grrrrrrr.

Posted at 8:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Fantastic Cafe Routier meal, as always. Everything we ordered was exceptional. And I had... ♥shad roe♥! It was highly amusing, when the waitress came up to our table to tell us about the specials, she said, "I understand you're interested in shad and shad roe." I sort of did a double-take, and said something like, "Yes, absolutely." Later my dad questioned her to determine how exactly she knew this, and she said, "You must've mentioned it on the phone when you made the reservation." Me: "No." Her: "Well, maybe you said something to one of the waiters when you were here previously, and it got entered into the computer as a note." Me: "No..." My dad, smiling: "Never mind, we know how..." Ha. :-) Thank you, Cafe Routier ALB-reader(s)! I haven't had shad roe since 2003! Cooking it right requires more skill than shad or shad milt does, so I only prepared it myself that one year (which was the same year as the one and only previous time I've eaten it at a restaurant).

Cafe Routier's shad roe was most delicious. Sapidissima! It was served on a bed of very fine jasmine rice and tender spinach leaves on a delectable buttery orange-colored sauce (the color was from carrots, I think). But the roe itself was sauceless and nearly unadorned, presented as it should be in its springtime glory, smooth, veiny, nearly-bursting with eggs, as rich and tender as a couple of sweetbreads. My mom was shocked by the appearance of them, warm pale brown and organ meat-ular, and my dad had to explain that the roe itself was contained within the two membranes. "They're that big??" Yes, yes they are. That's 300,000 tiny eggs that I ate, and I enjoyed every one of them. I got my dad to try a piece, and Mom refused at first, but then relented. (I'm sorry the photo is blurry, but I think it's obnoxious to use a flash in a restaurant.)

Anyway, it wasn't only the shad roe that was sapidissima--our meals were brimming with springtime delicacies: morel mushrooms, asparagus, ramps, tender sweet pea raviolis, even rhubarb in Dean's dessert. Second only to the shad roe, I think, were the morels. My dish didn't contain any; that probably would have pushed it over the top. But Dean's vegetarian meal did and so did my mom's scallop dish. Dean's meal had lots. Oh man. They were amazing. He let me have one or two. Morels prepared just right need to be categorized with steamed artichokes as a lobster/shad/etc. equivalent for vegetarians. I love the brain-y texture, the delicious buttery, earthy taste. Dean's golden beet appetizer was also delicious, surrounded by a lovely pink strawberry sauce, fresh and frothy-sweet and almost too intense to believe. He said the whole thing was the best chef's-spin-on-vegetarian that he'd had in recent memory.

My dad also commented that Cafe Routier is one of the very best restaurant experiences he's ever had. I agree. The food is as good as a New York City restaurant, but without the New York City atmosphere. One of the nicest things, that we all noticed and appreciated, is that Cafe Routier isn't noisy. People just aren't loud there, and the space is also designed with that in mind, with an acoustic tile ceiling, plenty of soft surfaces to soak up sound, and unobtrusive music playing at a low volume. It's easy to carry on a conversation and enjoy your food. The bar/lounge section is a bit louder (appropriately so), but it's separated from the dining room and there's really no spillover at all.

Oh yes, I also had an appetizer: asparagus soup with a yummy soppy brioche crouton on the bottom and Maine lobster on the top. It was delicious. And of course asparagus + shad = the quintessential springtime combo. And we ordered the famous house made fries with dipping sauce for the table, which everyone found maddeningly irresistible. Dean even figured out what the mysterious keynote flavor in the dipping sauce is! Him: "It's that herb we used to grow on the deck... a skinny, branchy thing with sharp spiny needles." Me: "Rosemary? No." Then, instantly after I took another bite, "You're right!"

Of course, we had to get the vanilla bean crème brulée for dessert. Mom, Dad, and I each ordered one. Dean got a chai-spiced creme caramel with pistachio phyllo and rhubarb sauce, which he kept feeding me bites of in order to justify stealing bites of my crème. His was really good too (especially the rhubarb part!) and I would have loved it if it had been the only dessert, but I was trying to eat my crème brulée and was getting very full! :-) Cafe Routier's crème brulée really amazing. The texture is just so light and creamy. I don't know what they do differently, but it's just so... the best. My mom didn't like the square dishes because it was impossible to scrape every last bit out of the corners. Ha. :-) All in all, a perfect Mothers' Day/Fathers' Day meal that we all enjoyed immensely.

Posted at 8:30:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Friday, May 08, 2009

My throat hurts! I think I scratched it this morning on some cereal. That's when I noticed it, anyway, so I'm blaming it on that. I'm having a horehound drop to fix it.

Dean and I went to see Wolverine tonight, but it wasn't that great. It was OK. I expected to see hoards of Star Trek fans lined up for opening night of the new movie, but there was one dude. There's never anyone at the Berlin movie theatre.

Posted at 9:43:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Hale's sign is up!!!!

3,912 shad so far at Holyoke Dam! And 744 sea lamprey. :-)

Our shad day in Westbrook is planned for Monday.

Posted at 3:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

After Lobster Landing, we went on an Old Lyme Part Two, and the G bought the M a pair of gold ear rings for their Golden Anniversary at this really nice store called EF Watermelon (sort of like E.F. Hutton). It has new jewelry, estate jewelry, and all sorts of cool gems & minerals, just like in the gems & minerals section of the American Museum of Natural History. The Gs got into a giant chat with the store guy, who was shocked to hear that I live in East Berlin, because his family came from East Berlin and their homestead was the former farmland where Aetna is now. He was an East Berlin expert. He also knew all about the Eastford and Abbington area and got into a huge discussion with the Gs about various details, including We-Li-Kit vs. Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe. He agreed with the M that OLICS is even better.

Of course we had to go to the Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe again (!), and I got strawberry, which was definitely the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had. I wish their servings were a bit smaller, though! It's hard for me to finish, although the Gs seemed to have no problem with theirs. :-) The G got coffee this time, and the M had her new favorite ice cream again, blueberry.

Afterwards we went to Bowerbird, which one of the Old Lyme shop keepers mentioned, and I knew all about, thanks to Susie. I even had it saved as a location on my GPS, so it was super-easy to find. It was lots of fun browsing around, and my dad bought me a bag (!) that I was admiring but was too cheap to get for myself, since I never buy bags. Wow! It looks like the kind I make, but has cool features I wouldn't be skilled enough to sew myself, and really nice jacquard fabric that I'd never be able to find around here (esp. thanks to the demise of Fabric Place). The fabric is actually designed and created by the bag company (they make up a collection of new ones every year) and handcrafted into the bags. Mine has zinnias in various shades of orange on a stripey-textured background, paired with a golden tan fabric with small polkadots in the same various shades of orange. It even has a zippered Treo pocket in the front, just like I like, and a zipper on top. But it has a flat bottom with a hard insert, so it can stand up on its own (it's lunchbag shaped), and is a little roomier than my standard bag, so there's space for my sunglasses and stuff like that. Perfect for travel. Very wow, since I never see store-bought bags that I actually like. Thank you, Mom and Dad!!!

Posted at 10:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

It's unanimous: Lobster Landing in Clinton = best hot lobster roll ever, no contest! I was a little skeptical when the M and I spotted the package of non-New England-style buns, but the buns turned out to actually be key to the Lobster Landing rolls. They're Koffee Kup Bakery grinder rolls specially imported from Burlington, Vermont in a huge truck driven straight to Lobster Landing. The LL lady told us all about them, and even let my mom pose for a picture with the package so I'd remember the name. Even though the rolls aren't NE style, and therefore have no exposed edges, they cut out the center then grill them on the top, so they still have that nice grilly element to them. Then in the cut out section (so it's well supported, and doesn't fall out when you try to eat it), a generous serving of delicious fresh hot Connecticut lobster is inserted, dressed with butter and lemon. Amazing flavor, with a slight (but not overpowering) sweetness to the roll and just the right subtle taste of lemon (not in every bite, but as a surprise here and there) and perfect butter application. These are large rolls, with lots of lobster, claw and tail. Perfect texture. Excellent price, too--cheaper than any of the other lobster roll joints, even though you get more lobster! There aren't any sides (cole slaw, french fries, etc.), but who wants sides anyway? MUST return! Almost made me want to switch my lobster loyalties from cold to hot.

The Lobster Landing shack is also really cool, right on the water with a very fishy smell when you get up close. Inside the shack are tons of tanks filled with lobsters, but the lobster rolls themselves are actually made outside and you can watch them being prepared. Or at least, we could, since it was an overcast-bordering-on-rainy day and there was only one other customer there. The LL lady said it's really busy in the summer and sometimes you have to wait as long as 45 minutes for your lobster fix. We had a giant chat with the LL lady; she was really friendly. My M brought up Cafe Routier and the LL lady said she'd actually never been there, even though she lives nearby, so I told her she must go, and that they have the best crème brulée ever. She latched right onto that and started talking about the great crème brulée at Mill on the River, and I told her that Mill is where I first really discovered the joys of crème brulée but that Cafe Routier's is even better than theirs. So hopefully she will heed my advice and GO THERE.

Oh yes, and as we were leaving, my dad asked the proprietor if he'd pose for a photo in front of the lobster shack, and he happily did so, and even went inside first to get a lobster to hold up. Apparently he gets asked this a lot, which is not surprising. Here's the large version of my photo. My very favorite part is the "O" on the sign.

Posted at 1:47:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

I didn't go to a lobster roll place with my Gs today (we had great ice cream at the Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe, though!), but I stopped on the way home and had one by myself anyway. Heh heh. It was superb--much better than the one on Monday!! I went to Bill's Seafood, at the Singing Bridge in Westbrook. It was super-close to the Gs' place. The lobster roll may have been the best one I've had in Connecticut. Very tasty, fresh tasting lobster, paired with a perfectly buttered and grilled New England style roll. That's what you need for a good lobster roll, and that's what it had! It was a little on the small side, but I'd much rather have a smaller good roll than a big mediocre one. The lobster salad (atop a nice piece of green leafy lettuce) had small chunks of celery, and a good modest amount of mayonnaise. It was topped by an unnecessary tomato, which I didn't eat. The tomato looked nice (artfully twisted), but I knew from my lob roll the other day that it would add nothing to the experience. I appreciated the fact that it was on top and therefore easily removable. The grilled roll was very buttery tasting--pleasantly salty--which really brought out the flavor of the lobster. Good texture and nice claw pieces. Top-notch!

To cap it all off, this great old-fashioned ooompa band was playing! It reminded me of Kathy John's music. It was sooooo cool. There was even an old couple dancing.

The Gs and I went to Book Barn today, and I finally got to use up my $14+ credit. I got a Golden Guide for my collection (birds; it was the only one they had which I didn't) and paid for a good portion of the books that the Gs had picked out. I had no idea what I'd ever use the credit for otherwise, so it was great that they found a bunch of stuff they liked.

At the Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe, the M got a blueberry ice cream (vanilla with blueberries in it) cone and said it might be even better than As-You-Lik-It ice cream!!! I was amazed, since the Gs are awfully huge We-Lik-It fans. I had coffee ice cream, which was excellent (non-wimpy coffee flav) and the G had maple walnut (also excellent, based on his devouring of it). I told the Gs about my idea for a Mom and Dad trivia game at the 50th Anniversary party, and we started to brainstorm ideas. Fun!

Posted at 7:30:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

5th day of May in the drizzling rain = 1,000% true this year! :-) All day, too! Dean's picking me up for an IFR flighty and I'm wearing my starry scarf.

Posted at 5:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I think I might be finished-ish.

Posted at 3:23:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Monday, May 04, 2009

The Gs are here, and we visited Westbrook Lobster Restaurant and Market in Clinton! (First we tried to go to Lobster Landing, but it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we will return. It looked superb. Very seafood shack-ish, and right on the water. I got out to read the sign with the posted hours, and it smelled so FISHY!)

The Gs got hot lobster rolls and thought they were excellent. No complaints. Big plus was the butter on the SIDE, so it wasn't soggy and you could apply as much or as little as desired. Roll was toasted just right.

My cold lobster roll had chopped green leaf lettuce on the bottom, then two large tomato slices supporting the lobster salad. Salad had large claw pieces and a generous amount of celery. Good amount of mayo. Lobster was slightly tough (and not as tasty as my favs) and it was hard to eat on top of the tomato, but otherwise it was good. Very well prepared New England style roll. That's my report!

Posted at 2:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.