Saturday, June 12, 2010
New York day trip (May 26th) report, at long last!
Posted at 10:04:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Our first stop in New York: Cafe Sabarsky, at the Neue Gallery! It was a weird time of day, so we were the first in line. (Usually I go to the gift shop while waiting.) I always order the same thing: this insanely delicious coffee (topped with the most wonderful whipped cream ever) and a smoked trout crepe (it has the perfect amount of horseradish inside!). I love how they serve the coffee with a small glass of water on the side.
Dean got his usual fancy hot chocolate (but they didn't have the mini-whisk thing this time!!!) and an apricot nectar! It was an Italian brand and was really good. Instead of his usual spring pea soup, they had mushroom soup this time. Also very good, although not as good as the spring pea soup, of course.
We got to sit right next to the counter with all the 16 letter long Austrian desserts. The one nearest me was Marzipanguglhupf. (We didn't order any, as we had dinner reservations at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, and I wanted to make sure I saved room for an olive oil + sea salt gelato!)
Next stop was Gallery Hanahou, in the Cable Building in Soho. (It's a Beaux-Arts building built in 1894, so I don't think it's the cable TV kind of cable.) The gallery was on the 7th floor, and was tiny--just a single, skinny room! There was no one else there (except the curators), so we got to look at everything in detail. So great! I took lots of photos.
Next stop was the MoMA design store in Soho, then here: The Evolution Store. I wished June could have been there! Dean seemed kind of fascinated/creeped out by the human bone section upstairs. Only doctors are allowed to purchase stuff from that case.
The anaconda skeleton was pretty cool! This place had everything. (Kind of like that mall in The Blues Brothers...) I bought a couple of tiny and very detailed fossilized sea urchins that are 3 million years old.
I really liked the geometric designs on these meteorites.
When I was looking at this case, upstairs, I said to Dean, "That's not a crustacean!" and the curator overheard me and asked, "What's not a crustacean??" Me: "The brittle star." (It's an echinoderm.) He was like, "Oh, yeah, well... I stuck it in there anyway." He seemed kind of impressed, though. :)
After we left, I quickly checked out Purl fabric store (really cool stuff! I would love to go back when I have more time to slowly browse and make a few carefully-chosen selections), then walked to Otto for dinner. OMG. Otto's olive oil gelato with sea salt is soooooooo good! Surpassing
the level of Kimball lobster roll (!!) good. (Dean had pistachio, which was also good, but he kept encroaching on my half of the dish and trying to steal my olive oil flav, it was that great!) Dean and I both got the same personal pizzas we did last time: quattro formaggi (four different cheeses, each in a different section of the pizza) for him and fennel & bottarga for me. Best pizza ever!!!! It's so thin, it's mind-blowing, and it's not at all filling, since it's so thin and non-greasy. Perfect amount of sauce and cheese, perfect toppings. Nice crispy fennel, with subtle dried shaved fish roe enhancement. We also picked out two antipasti (before the pizza, but this is anti-linear so I'm telling about it second), the Cauliflower "alla Siciliana" (Dean's) and the Cucumber & Farro (mine), which we shared. Everything was GREAT. "Six stars out of five!" :-) Why is all the food so GOOD in New York???
Cherry clafoutis is goooood! I even got Dean to eat a piece!
Posted at 7:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm making a clafoutis! Remember my big clafoutis obsession from last summer? (I think I made eight of them!) It's not blueberry season yet, so got some cherries (not local, of course) and am trying the classic clafoutis flavor for the first time. I used half milk and half yogurt, a bit less than the normal amount of sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, and grindered a little bit of Sloth (cinnamon-darkchocolate-sugar) on top before I put it in the oven. It's baking right now. Eeek.
Posted at 6:42:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Singing Science Records, now more than ever! ♥ Oh my God, I love them so much.
Posted at 5:18:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I wish I didn't do/think about/look at so much exciting stuff. Keeping up with the anti-linear brain is eXhausting. At least I'm caught up now, EXCEPT for our New York visit. And that's a big except, which I definitely want to write about ASAP.
Posted at 8:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wow, it's raining SUPER-HARD!!!! Awesome!
Posted at 4:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
My new fin socks came (the lycra ones I've been using deteriorate at an amazing rate in chlorine), and they fit perfectly on my feet and with my pool fins! (I wonder if I could even wear them to make those Cressi Pluma fins I tried on at Jack's fit? My stubby pool fins are Cressi brand, too.) I was wondering when my Amazon package was going to come, so I looked at the package status tracking online. "Location: Front door." HA! I can even transform them into black socks instead of blue if I turn them inside out.
Posted at 2:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I also got the Sea Flowers Eco-Journal, by Jill Bliss. Beautiful!
I've been feeling like a wampa beat me up and tried to pull my arms off, so I'm staying home today for some R&R. Not sure if catching up on ALB counts as proper R&R (since too much screentime kills my shoulders) but at least I'm less exhausted. I think I need to back off a little from the heavy weights until I stop aching all over. What I really need is a massage.
!!! I was cutting up rhubarb for sauce while Dean was eating some pepperinos (aka pepperoncini) over the sink, and he started shoving one in my face going, "Eat it! Eat it!" so I shoved a rhubarb stalk in his face and said "Eat it! Eat it!" and then he said "I'll do it if you do it," and we both did! Yuck!!!!!! My tongue hurts!! (We both said this.) It wasn't so bad at first, since it was sort of like a pickle, but then the horrible pepperness started kicking in. I bit off a much bigger piece than Dean did, but he swallowed his and I spit mine out after chewing it (but it was too late by then, so it was pretty much the same as eating it). I still think Dean's was more impressive, though, because pepperoncini are meant to be eaten and raw rhubarb isn't. But it was awful! I hope eating the rhubarb fixes my tongue.
Posted at 12:13:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Grilled, marinated veal heart?!!!! I want to go to Prune!!!
Posted at 7:54:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Oh wow, Trader Joe's chocolate yogurt + SoGlas strawberries is a good combination!
Posted at 10:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Did you know that magnolia trees grow dragon eggs after the flowers fall off??? I did not know this. These were all over my favorite mauve magnolia in Middletown. So cool looking! And, just to reiterate what a gorgeous day is it, here's what the treetop looked like. I could not stop staring at the sky.
Posted at 6:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I did all kinds of random "stop and smell the roses" things (if I am using that expression correctly) today. I think bringing my new little orange camera with me everywhere encourages this. First, pulling over to look at Wild Bill's, then looking at the magnolia tree (I probably would have done that anyway, but I wouldn't have been able to record what the weird fruits looked like), then going into the courtyard in the center of Russell Library, just to wander around and look and enjoy it for a few minutes. I totally loved these weird anti-linear bricks! Also, I stopped at the Book Bower, and found a Golden Guide I didn't have (Spiders and Their Kin) and a perfect ocean day book: Under the Sea-Wind, by Rachel Carson. The glossary has the best line drawing illustrations! I'm 40+ minutes away from the ocean today, but I wore my crinoid fossil bracelet, Undersea necklace, and sea star t-shirt to remind myself of World Oceans Day all day long. (I don't think I've ever shown a picture of my Undersea necklace, from Jill Bliss. It's made from shrinky dink material! ♥ )
Posted at 3:18:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Driving by Wild Bill's on the way to Middletown from Cromwell, I just had to pull over, park, and take some pics. I got honked at twice by passing cars! :-D It sure is a bizarre place. My favorite part is definitely this gigantic wonky eye... thing.
Oh wow, Susie just sent me this fantastic link! What do you say, sea salt latte and squid-ink bread? I say, sounds delicious! When is 85C coming to the east coast???
Posted at 1:32:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Breakfast: local South Glastonbury strawberries and yogurt, outside under a breathtaking bright blue and dramatic fluffy clouds sky! It's gorgeous out. Happy World Oceans Day!
Posted at 12:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 2:20:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Fish of the Week! I am reeeeeeally tired tonight (too tired to think), so I decided to do my Fish of the Week, since I'm several weeks behind. This week's fish is the Whiskered Boarfish, which I am very unlikely to see. (Too bad, since it is cute. I love fish with interesting beards and mustaches.) It's the only boarfish in Hawaii, and it's rarely spotted except off Kaua'i and in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. They actually have five yellowish/white bars, so this dude has one too many. Ooops. I didn't know the stripe number was significant until after I drew him. According to the book, they feed on brittle stars, probably using the "whiskers" to detect their prey!
Monday, June 07, 2010
I'm falling tooooo far behind again, so I'm going to slack and just use my exact captions from the photos I posted on Facebook for this entry. Too much work to write something else! Besides, my captions are good. Having my new little camera with me all the time = so great! It's small enough to fit in my bag without being bulky, so that means I bring it!
Posted at 7:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
1) It's finally local farm stand time in Connecticut! One of my favorites is Berruti's Harvest House in South Glastonbury. It's a little bit out of the way for me to visit, but it's a really beautiful part of the state, and I'm extra-fond of South Glastonbury because that's where my dad lived when he was little.
B) Yay! Look what's in season: asparagus, spinach, strawberries, rhubarb, peas, and lettuce! I bought rhubarb, strawberries, and beet greens (not on the sign, but should've been!). [Also, native baked goods are in season.]
3) Here's what the farm stand looks like. Hopefully the farmer didn't think I was too weird, taking these pictures. I asked him about the strawberries and he said they were 10 days early this year because of the hot weather we had early in the spring. They aren't Berruti's own berries, but are from another South Glastonbury farm. [As I posted previously,] the rhubarb is theirs, though!
4) After Berruti's, I drove to Main Street to get to Whole Foods the back way. When I go this way, I always pass the old Whaples homestead at the corner of Main St. and Whapley Road. (Whapley Road was named after both my paternal grandparents, who owned this house and the surrounding land in the 1930s/early 1940s when the road was built; the name is a combo of Whaples + Healey.) You can't see the house very well from the road, because it's surrounded by trees. I have never been to the house, but I always think it's cool when I drive by. Today I decided to stop!
5) The only place where you can get a glimpse of the house this time of year is in this gap between the trees, viewed from Whapley Road. The house's address is actually 1654 Main Street, and the front door faces Main Street, but I don't think they use that door. From Main Street, it's totally hidden by trees.
6) From Whapley Road, I pulled into the driveway of this little farm. My excuse for stopping was that I had seen a sign advertising eggs for sale. I wasn't sure at first if the house and the farm/barn were part of the same property, but they are. It's called Butternut Farm. This barn also belonged to my grandparents.
7) I walked over to the barn, where I was greeted by ducks, chickens, goats, and loudly honking geese. I walked into the mouth of the barn but didn't see anywhere to buy eggs, so I headed somewhat nervously up a short path that led to the house. A man was sitting right behind the door of an enclosed porch on the side of the house that faces the barn, and opened the door when I walked up. I asked him if this was the right place to come to buy the eggs, and he invited me inside. (When I asked my dad about it later on the phone, he told me that Uncle Donald and Uncle Randy used to sleep on the enclosed porch.) It was kind of weird, with taxidermied birds (not farm birds) perched near the ceiling, wings outspread!
8) Immediately inside was this front room, and I recognized the fireplace from old family photos. I explained who I was and that my grandparents used to own the house in the 1930s. The owner responded, "Randy Whaples!" I asked if it would be okay if I could take a photo of the fireplace. This room was SUPER dark and had a million small-animal pelts and bird bodies hanging up to the right of the fireplace!! I guess that added to the authenticity of the restoration. The owner told me about how he'd restored one of the other fireplaces, in the next room, which he briefly showed me, and said it wouldn't have been like that when my family lived there. He also gave me a piece of paper about the house: it's a B&B now! The house was built in 1720 by Johnathan Hale, and the owner bought it in 1959 and restored it to its original condition. He said he'd give me a full tour another time if I wanted. I'll have to take him up on the offer! I was really nervous and shy about stopping, but I'm glad I did.
Here are a few of my old pictures of the house: 1) outside, 2) the fireplace, and 3) my grandparents, uncles, and dad in front of the fireplace. It looks pretty much the same! I have the chair that my grandmother and uncle Randy are sitting in in my room now, and my parents have the chair my grandfather is in (with different fabric on the cushions).
I stopped by the former Whaples homestead in So. Glastonbury on the corner of Main St. and Whapley Rd! It's a B&B and farm that sells eggs now (I bought a dozen), called Butternut Farm. More later... took some pics! (!!)
Posted at 4:23:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Swimming was HARD today. The water was really cold this time. (And I know I ranted before about the old lady who griped about it being cold, but it wasn't cold then! It WAS cold today!) I tried to swim really fast, but I was cold the whole time. :-( I think it's because they just cleaned the pool so maybe the water hadn't warmed up. Brrrrr. I'm worn out! I'm glad I went, though. My shoulders feel a lot less stiff than they did this morning. I did lots of arm action! Okay, I need to buy tons of groceries today (even though I feel like taking a nap) so I'd better scram. Hmmmm, maybe I'll go to So. Glastonbury! That would be fun.
Posted at 2:49:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
