Saturday, May 22, 2010
I realize this is a strange thing to be passionate about, but I love oyster crackers.
Posted at 8:38:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
When we landed at Jaffrey, Lee said to us over the radio, "Hi, Dean and Laura!" I commented to Dean that if we'd had a guest with us they would have been so impressed! :-) It's pretty cool having your plane recognized by the airport managers. Lobster roll at Kimball Farm! Second of the season. I kept moaning while eating it, and said to Dean, "It was worth the wait! The wait all winter, I mean--not the wait just now." So so so so good. I'm sorry, Connecticut lobster rolls, but you just can't compete with Kimball's. Our peppermint stick ice cream was also highly delicious (the cone in the photo is for Dean; I like a spoon). I took lots of pictures, to test out my new camera and decide for certain if I like it. It passed! Here's one of Tango inside our hangar with the door closed (so, no natural light) to test "Indoor Mode." Pretty nice job, new little camera! And here's my side of the controls, while flying home. We flew low over the Quabbin Reservoir on the way back, and it was really pretty. (It's the largest body of water in Massachusetts, and they flooded four towns in the 1930s to make it, in order to supply water for Boston. The cellars are still under there somewhere.) Softly overcast day, very different from last weekend's clear blue skies and fluffy clouds. We listened to a top 40 countdown of this week in 1983 (the year I moved to CT, but we hadn't moved yet in May!) on XM radio, and as we were nearing Hartford they got to #9: "Mr. Roboto"! I gasped when it came on! Hee hee. (Because of Jeffster, of course.) I like my camera.
Posted at 7:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
BTW, I forgot to mention how meant to be it was... we looked at this camera in the store the other day and really liked it, and then I checked some reviews and prices online (it cost the same everywhere) and stopped back to look at it again after dinner on Friday. The store has black, silver, and pink display models, and I thought I wanted silver (like my old camera). However, silver and pink are both unavailable in-store; you have to specially request those colors and they'll send away for one, or you can order it online. When I was fingering the cameras for the second time, determining for sure that I liked it, I changed my mind about the color and decided I didn't want silver after all (not because they didn't have it in the store... just for subtle aesthetic reasons). I was leaning toward black, but then I saw the fine print on the sign that said they had black and orange in the store! Orange???! It wasn't even displayed, and who in the world would buy orange, other than me? You have to send away for silver, a perfectly normal camera color, but they had orange?! So I asked if they really did have one in stock, and if I could see it. The guy found one in the back of the cabinet and let me open the box and look at it, and both Dean and I immediately liked it! I couldn't believe it. He was like, "That's your color!" no question. My mind was all blown. Here's a picture, taken with my old camera.
What the heck, the bird woke up already! Aaagh, I'm doomed.
Posted at 4:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Okay okay, so I really should write about my O'Rourke's visit on Monday, especially with all these very timely O'Rourke-related articles in the Advocate! Full(ish) report: after I snagged my new watch from the box on the front doorstep, I zoomed over to O'Rourke's for lunch. I didn't want to get there too late, since it closes at 3:00 and it was about 2:30. There were a lot of people there when I arrived, though, so I wasn't worried about being kicked out or anything. The greeter asked if I would sit at the bar or wanted a booth, and I said I preferred a booth (since I wanted to fool around with my new watch and take pictures of my shad!), so he asked if I minded taking the one in the very back, since it was busy and I was by myself. That was the best table, in my opinion! Nice and private. Then it turned out that the waiter knew me from ION, although when he brought this up I had no idea what he was taking about, and apologised, explaining that I am horrible at recognizing people. He said it was understandable since he used to have a beard, and then I knew who he was. Good old Casey! O'Rourke must have stolen him. I told him I didn't even need to look at the rest of the menu to order--I knew what I wanted: the spring salad with Connecticut River shad cakes special!
Posted at 2:11:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
When he brought it out, I was quite surprised by the appearance... it looked kind of like meatballs. However, I snapped a photo, then tried one. SO GOOD!!! Best seafood-cake ever! The idea was sort of like crab cakes, etc., but it was shad cakes and clearly O'Rourke's own recipe. Moist, delicious SHAD mixed with all sorts of goodness including two kinds of summer squash and I don't know what else, but it sure was good. After breaking into my first shad cake (ball?), I took another picture to show the innards. Now it looked shadlike. The salad was great, too, with all kinds of interesting ingredients (fruits, nuts, melons...) and textures that were really unusual and tasty together. O'Rourke's meals aren't the greatest aesthetically, but once you start eating them, they are really creative and impressive, with the quality of a far more expensive restaurant.
When I finished eating and Casey brought over the bill, I asked him for a pen so I could fill out the feedback form. (I also filled it out when we went to O'Rourke's last Friday. I love feedback forms!) And I asked him his name so I could properly give him high marks on it for good waitership. :) While I was filling out the form, O'Rourke came over to talk to me! O'Rourke likes to wander around and talk to random customers, and we used to see him doing this a lot when he worked as the temporary chef at ION while getting together the money to rebuild the diner after it burned, but he had never talked to us.
He liked that I was filling out the comment card, and I told him I was an O'Rourke's fan on Facebook and I'd come in directly in response to their post about having shad as a lunch special (I had already written this on the form) and that I thought it was really great that he was serving shad. He looked at me in surprise and said, "How do you know about shad? You're what, 20--?" waiting for me to fill in "25" or "27" or whatever, and after an awkward moment I supplied, "Actually, I'm in my thirties" (in my HIGH thirties!!!) and he sort of did a double-take and said something about how I look very young. Ha! I just said "Thank you." (Do you have to be a certain age to know about shad? Hm!)
Then he told me all about how his shad is super-fresh because he got it from a shad fishermen friend who caught it the night before and brought it fresh to him that morning, in barter for an O'Rourke's breakfast! (So great!!) The shad fishermen sells most of his shad to New York, and has to fulfill big orders (500 lbs?) and it takes a bunch of days before he has enough fish for the order, so by the time New York gets the shad it can be five days old. But MY shad was ZERO days old! Then he started talking about how shad has tons of bones and you need surgeon-like skill to fillet it (which is nearly a lost art) and the shad fisherman guy taught him how, so he knows how to do it, but he can only do one fish in the time it takes the other guy to do five (or something like that... my numbers may be slightly off). I was nodding away, impressed and fascinated, saying, "Oh, wow," and he couldn't believe I was familiar with all this. "How do you know about the bones?!" I just mumbled that I'm a big shad fan and had read a book about them called The Founding Fish. I was sort of awed and overwhelmed since I was talking to O'Rourke, so I was being pretty shy and didn't tell him what a shad fanatic I actually am and that I always buy milt at Hale's, etc. (I did not bring up milt at all.) He did almost all the talking. Hee hee.
Oh yeah, and before he left, he asked me to please fill out my name on the comment card. (I wasn't going to, but since he'd asked, I wrote, "Laura" in the name blank.) Later O'Rourke's read the comment I'd written on Facebook (on my Palma) while eating my shad: "The shad cakes are alosa sapidissima! (That's the scientific name for American shad, which means 'most delicious'!) Enjoying mine very much. :)" and wrote back, "Thanks Laura! I just read your comment card - thank you for the great review!" I also posted my meal photo on their Wall after I got home, and they wrote, "Nice pic! Do you mind if I use it for our next newsletter?" (!!) I wrote back, "Sure, go right ahead! :)"
On the way home, I stopped by Rocky Hill to get some stuff at CVS, and drove by the SBUX corner where Hale's always posts their sign during shad season. I hadn't seen the sign yet and wondered why. This time I looked really hard and noticed that it was there, but it was all tipped over and unreadable from the road, so I pulled into that gas station and parked and got out and straightened up the sign and took a picture of it. (That's my formerly beloved Rocky SBUX across the street.) I think shad should hire me as an advocate. Not that it would need to pay me.
Friday, May 21, 2010
! There's also an article about steamed cheeseburgers (a Connecticut thing, although I've never had one) in this week's Hartford Advocate, including the tidbit that O'Rourke's fire was cause by the steamed cheeseburger cabinet, "so it's noble of them to still make the things"! The main topic of the article is The Other Place, that new restaurant in the (former?) Skeevy Plaza! They gave it three stars (out of four). I noticed yesterday when waiting for my haircut that John had a menu for The Other Place taped up near the register.
Posted at 11:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Now I'm reading the article online and I keep saying "Mmm hm!" "Mmm hm!!! "Mmmm HMM!!" every two seconds!
Posted at 10:52:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
This is such a great article!!!!!!!!
We took a million test pictures with the new camera and like it so far!!! Must try in daylight also. The indoor pictures don't look orange! (Even though the camera is orange. ;-) It's so small and light, it's only a little bit larger than my old iPod Mini, and the Mini weighs more. (!)
Posted at 10:36:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Here's a photo of my new pool stuff that was supposed to illustrate my earlier post (taken this afternoon with the old camera, but I didn't get to finish editing it until after we got back from dinner and buying the new camera): matchy-matchy homemade triangular prism shower bag, swim cap, and u/w watch. My favorite part of the shower bag is the topstitching around the zipper.
Oh, and the online version of the shad article has a picture of HALE!!! (Aka Danny Russell.) Must actually read article! Too much going on at once! ...WHAT! And it's all about O'Rourke's too! MUST READ !!!! Aaaagh!!
!!! Cover of Hartford Advocate! "Chow down on the state fish, before they're gone." SHAD!!!! The cover photo even looks like it's the Hale's shad sign!
Posted at 8:39:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
!!! I just got a new super-slim camera and it's ORANGE. I hope I like it... :-o Eeek. :-|
Posted at 8:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
!!!! BEST informational podcast episode EVER!!!! I am SO right. And I do think the bottled water company conspiracy theory of which she speaks has merit. Based on my own experience as a person who doesn't drink much but feels fine, this all makes total sense.
Posted at 4:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thumbs up on my new u/w watch. It's very shiny though... I bet it will attract barracudas! I also like the new waterproof triangular prism bag I made for my shampoo and stuff, and I realized while I was using it in the shower that it matches my watch! It's not the best bag ever--I put it together really fast and it's not even lined or anything, but it's simple and modern looking and does the job quite well. It's just matte white vinyl with a blue zipper, nothing fancy, and it fits nicely on the little shelf in the shower and doesn't mind getting wet. I made it because I got annoyed that the slidy ziplock thing on the clear vinyl case I was using kept sliding off the end, requiring me to spend minutes trying to get it back on.
Posted at 3:18:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The water in the pool felt really thick to me today. I love that sensation, when I really notice it moving over my skin, and the feel of my limbs moving through it. It felt nice on my hands, especially. It's still a feeling of great freedom to me to feel the water right on my skin, with no wetsuit or BC or tank. It's a boring blue lane of pool water, but it's still nice. And I like how I'm cold when I first get in, but then by the sixth time across I'm warm. I made up a new stroke last time I was swimming. I think it's sort of like the butterfly stroke (I never learned the butterfly stroke, so I'm not totally sure, and I didn't try to copy the butterfly... I just sort of invented it while swimming) but since I'm using my snorkel I never have to lift my head out of the water and I'm sure it's a lot easier than the real butterfly.
Tomorrow's Thursday! And also Friday, which means I get to try out my new watch and bag at the pool! I told Michelle about the fiber art sea creature exhibit at Gallery Hanahou and she thought it was super-interesting, so I looked up the URL on my Palma while my hair was drying and wrote it down on an index card for her, along with the one for Gooseflesh, the website of my fav artist (along with Jill Bliss) in the exhibit. I only discovered Helle Jorgensen's Gooseflesh site recently (March), although I was a fan of her Etsy shop before that. I love love love her stuff. All the art in that exhibit looks so cool, though.
Posted at 12:29:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
I used my new water bottle while doing my weights workout, and I really like it! I didn't finish the whole thing, but I drank a lot, and as someone who normally drinks 1 cup of coffee all day (and nothing else), I think that's pretty good. I think it helped me feel cooler. (I really hate feeling hot.)
Posted at 2:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Edit, 5:55: Hmm, maybe "1 cup of coffee and that's it" is a slight underestimate. But my total daily non-food liquid intake is 16-24 oz, max. I'm just not a thirsty person! I'm proud to report I finished the rest of my water bottle this afternoon (plus a small iced coffee), though! But I'm not really a believer in that whole 8+ glasses of water a day thing.] [Edit, 1:45 AM: Actually, on the days I drink nothing but a dry cappuccino, it's probably more like 3 oz...]
It's real nice out, but it's snowing fuzzie-wuzzies!
Posted at 1:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
This is what my Lug mini-backpack looks like, except it's gray (like the one the model is wearing), not green. And this one is my pool bag, except mine's orange. They cost a zillion dollars more on Amazon!
Posted at 2:09:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Posted at 8:36:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Here's a picture. :-) I left the zipper unzipped so you can see how ALB-ishly well my new orange LugTug goes with my bright pink towel. (The towel even has a waffle-weave texture on one side that matches the square quilting on the bag, but that only shows in the large version of the picture.) Oh, and that's my new underwater watch stuck in the outer pocket waiting to be worn (I'll strap it on my wrist before I leave, so I don't want to put it inside the bag and forget to leave my Mido at home). Also, even though they match, I won't really bring the bag and the water bottle with me at the same time, because I only bring the bag when I swim, and I don't need water while I'm in the water.
Well, I made myself do it, and it was so worth it! It wasn't that cold out after all (esp. with tights on), and I ended up with a great cappuccino made by the Foam Artist at Borders, who, it turns out, is a fellow sea creature fan. And he also complimented my tights (the orange striped ones). Then, I found two great bags for only $12.99 apiece. They are both Lugs and I guess the reason they were so cheap is that they're discontinued styles. One is a slate grey [or "shark-colored," as Dean put it!] mini-backpack that I love, and the other, which matches, is orange and big! Well, smallish big. Just the right size. It's about the same size as the bag I use to carry my swim stuff to NEAC, but slightly longer, so everything fits in perfectly with no cramming! I just tried it and it's so perfect! Plus it's orange and cool looking! I have always kind of disliked my old gym bag (I got it because it was cheap and the proper size), which was perfectly serviceable but blah-blue and boring looking and just barely fit my snorkel lengthwise. The new one has useful compartments and a zipper on top and even zips right over my rolled up towel, no problem. It's like my stuff is made to fit in there.
Posted at 6:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Oh yes, and I also got a really nice metal water bottle for only $5.99! It has a drinky-style cap so you don't have to unscrew the top to use it (I don't get why almost every water bottle I've looked at has a screw-on top... do you want to have to unscrew the top and have a loose top in your hand every time you want to take a drink??) I am a notorious never-drinker-of-anything, but I thought it would be good to bring a bottle of cold water to NEAC and, you know, drink it, which might help me when I feel like it's too hot there, which is what always happens in the summer. Every other bottle I've looked at has cost lots, and I didn't like them anyway. Guess what color the one I got is?? Metallic orange!! It matches my new bag! Thumbs up x 100! It was the only one with a drinky-style top and the only one that color. Wowowow.
[Edit: What the heck, I just looked at the literature that came with my orange bag (it's called a "tugboat") and it says, "Scoot around town in our fabulously stylish mini duffel bag. Use it as your everyday purse or gym bag." Everyday purse??? That would be HUGE!!! I guess a lot of people do have insanely giant purses, but that's just crazy. It's 18" long x 9.5" high x 7.5" wide. I thought it would make a good mini-suitcase!
Also, the mini-backpack is called a "hatchback." Cute. It is so comfortable and has ten zillion useful pockets. The only bad thing is, I have no motivation to finish the questionably-ergonomic bag I'm working on, now. Lug.]
I totally don't want to go outside. It's only in the 50s out there! Supposed to be 80 tomorrow, though.
Posted at 3:08:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Oh, good! I just called my hair place and made an appointment with Michelle. Every time I called on Monday and Tuesday the phone just rang and rang, and I was worried that something had happened to John! But everything was fine. Not sure why no one answered, though!
Posted at 12:47:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Worked on my bag more (and did not write about O'Rourke's yet). I made (and sewed in) an inside Palma pocket with a zipper and contrasting lining. It looks really nice. I'm a little worried about the ergonomics now that I've tried putting it on my shoulder with a weighty object inside, though. The strap needs to be a lot longer than I thought (which is okay, since I've only attached the top section so far), and I don't know if having it extend from the center is a sound theory. Maybe, maybe not. I guess it's a little hard to judge at this point, when I'm just hanging a flat backpiece with a pocket in it off my back, with no bottom or front to give it a 3D shape. Not sure if that will be more comfortable, or less. Scary! This design is entirely new territory. It would be a pretty big bummer to make a fantastic looking bag that is actually unwearable because it hurts my back! Eeek.
Posted at 1:10:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I hope the weather is good next Wednesday!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I got to do some Corporate Seal work! You have to squeeze really hard.
Posted at 7:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Just finished a GREAT meetup in Glastonbury with Susie! A cappuccino at Bertucci's, some shopping at Whole Foods, and LOTS of catching up. We sat in her car and talked for ages. It's cool and rainy, and I didn't want to wake up, but the day turned out nice anyway.
Posted at 4:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, May 17, 2010
shad cakes and salad - delicious
O'Rourke - in my 20s, fisherman breakfast barter, caught last night, send to NY and 5 days old, how do you know about the bones, comment card / shad sign near Rocky SBUX
Posted at 11:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Er... will try to write about this properly soon!]
Wow! So much to write about today, and I'm kind of tired. First of all my new swim cap came on Saturday, so I wore it today at the pool, and I really like it! Not only is it nifty looking, with the blue hibiscus pattern, but it fits better and is more comfortable than my old cap. I wasn't expecting that!
Posted at 6:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I was planning to go to O'Rourke's right after NEAC, but I had to stop at home to get my Fruit Hunters book to bring back to Russell library, and there was a package at the front door. It was my new underwater watch! I quickly opened the box and grabbed the watch box to bring so I could read the manual and set it up while I was at Rourke's. When I opened the watch box in my booth, I was surprised by how nice it looks! It has shiny stainless steel strips along each side and feels/looks much more high quality than I expected from the price and the picture online (even though I knew the price was just insanely cheap on Amazon for some reason, and it's not a junky watch). I immediately knew I'd picked the right watch. I can't wait to try it out on Friday! The only bad thing is that the strap is so long on my skinny wrist. I just finished reading the manual now and trying all the settings, and put it on for the first time. It's much easier to read than I expected, too (not blue tinted like in the picture), and the glass is really shiny, with a shiny stainless rectangle accenting the face that doesn't really show in the picture either. Even though I have worn a watch since I was in elementary school, this is the first time I have ever had a digital watch. I don't really approve of digital watches, but it's not like it's my main, real watch. It's only for swimming and snorkeling and maybe wearing on vac in snorkely locations. (Okay, I guess my scuba watch/dive computer is digital too, but I don't really think of that as a watch; I only wear it while diving, so it's almost never in clock mode.)
My brain is shutting down. I will write about the rest (SHAD!!!!) later.
O'Rourke's Diner on Facebook: "Have you had any shad this season?? Try our spring salad with a shad cake - one of today's many great lunch specials."
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
LWP, in response: "Yes, I have had shad this season (twice!) but you can never have too much shad. Save some for me! And yay for serving SHAD, O'Rourke's!"
How very fortuitous. Today is Shad Day (May 17th, the anniversary of the first time I had shad, in 2003) and Dean has a food thing at work so I get to Eat Something weird on my own!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
4:10 and the bird is up again! Dean got to hear it this time. Don't you know sunrise isn't for another hour and 20 minutes, bird??? [Edit, 5:09: Wunderground is WRONG. Sunrise is 5 AM and I'm awake for it! Aaaaagh.]
Posted at 4:10:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 3:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
(First of all, the little pic on the right is me in the hangar. I wore my new necklace and I really like it! ♥)
Here are some photos from today. I am SO pleased by how well they turned out. The lighting was uncharacteristically good x 1,000. I'm so happy that it was good today, for these photos.
1) A cloud and its shadow. :-) B) The University of Connecticut, in context. Look at all that forest! This is where both Dean and I (as well as my parents and Whaples grandparents) went to college. You can see the white dome of Gampel Pavilion from pretty far away. 3) North side of the UConn campus and Horsebarn Hill. 4) Mansfield Four Corners. RIP, Kathy-John's. :-( 5) Crystal Pond (aka The Lake), in Eastford, Connecticut. I can't believe I managed to snap a photo showing the whole thing, even the Boy Scout Cove (bottom right). This is where my family went on vacation every summer. 6) Our cove! It's the one nearest to the front of the photo, and the tiny speck in the center is the rocks, aka Turtle Isle. 7) Approaching the airport in Norwood, MA, with Boston in the distance and I-95 running below us. 8) Tango on the ground at Norwood Memorial Airport. He got a compliment on his paint job from the lineman!
