Saturday, June 26, 2010
The blimp is so lazy! It's still on the ground at the airport. Looks like it's getting ready to take off soon for another day of blimping around in the sky over the GHO (aka Travelers Championship). Also saw (in the air) and heard on the radio a banner tow Cessna! The banner tow called it the GHO, too! Ha! [Edit: Aaah! Every (and I mean every) time I try to type "banner tow", whether on my Treo or on my real keyboard, I write "two" instead of "tow"!] I took a picture, but it was too hazy to tell what the banner said. I did get some good pics of the blimp, though, including this one that I snapped as we took off to fly to Nantucket.
Posted at 1:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We're going to Nan again! Taking advant of Nan ops before it gets all busy.
Posted at 12:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean was all what-the-heck'ed when I told him there's a new Karate Kid movie, and he made me watch the trailer with him. (I've never seen The Karate Kid, but my best friend in elementary school was obsessed with it.) He kept saying stuff like, "That's not how it's supposed to be!" and then made me watch the trailer for the original movie right afterward.
Posted at 3:29:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Laura, shrugging: "The new version looks better. The old one looks all lame and 80s."
So then he made me watch the trailer for the new A-Team movie.
Laura: "It looks okay, but the fake versions of the guys are totally inferior."
Dean: "It looks good. Not all LAME AND 80s like the original show."
Laura: "WHAT??!!?!!"
Friday, June 25, 2010
Eat More Stripers! I'm getting a striper for dinner at Eli's! It's the special, and obviously I had to order it.
Posted at 6:13:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Edit: It was VERY good! Everything was! We took Dean's Gs' out for a late Mothers'/Fathers' day dinner (picked them up at Windham airport), and walked around Old Harbor afterward. It was so nice and calm, and the light was amazing.]
We beat the blimp!
Posted at 4:39:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Laura: "What if we get stuck at the hold short line waiting to take off while the blimp is landing?!!!"
[Edit: We didn't! Whew! We did get to hear the blimp guys on the radio talking to Ground after we came back from Block Island, though. They called themselves "Airship Mobile." Not sure if that was the blimp itself or one of the blimp's ground support vehicles. Our blimp is Snoopy One. You can track them online! It was tucked in for the night, but all lit up. I got a fuzzy picture.]
Blimp friend! It's blimping home for the night and we're stuck in GHO-getting-out traffic!
Posted at 4:17:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Me: "The Blimp Friend's going to beat us to Brainard!"
Dean: "Ooh, beat by a blimp!"
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I can't believe long-awaited blueberry time is actually here.
Posted at 2:09:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Posted at 1:51:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm having a crepe (peach & brie) and cappuccino at the New England Emporium! It's nice here. They've really done a nice job remodelling the place. They messed up my cappuccino (gave me less than 1/4" of foam when I asked for "lots of foam" and said I wanted it dry), but they remade it when I brought it back up to the counter and politely pointed out the discrepancy. Once they learn the difference between a cappuccino and a latte, we'll be in business! :-)
It was a better-the-next-day clafoutis! V. good after the flavors had melded. It's a perfect sweetness now, not too tart/bitter at all. I still think it has too many seeds, though. Pretty much, I'm just not as much of a raspberry fan as I am the other flavs I've done. But, good variation regardless!
Posted at 10:01:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
I'm making a red & black (raspberry) clafoutis! It has whole wheat pastry flour, a little less than the normal amount of organic cane sugar (regular, not vanilla), and 0% grogurt instead of milk. For the topping, I used my zester to produce some scrapings from a bar of Scharffen Berger extra dark (82% cacao) chocolate and mixed it with a little organic cane sugar, then sprinkled that on top. This is what it looked like before I put it in the oven. I wonder how it will turn out???
Posted at 11:08:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Edit: It was good (and smelled fantastic baking!), but not as good as the straw-rhubarb or cherry! The chocolate is a little too extra-dark, I think, as the berries are pretty tart. It needs sweeter chocolate for balance. This might be one of those clafoutis that are better the next morning, however. I will know tomorrow!]
Posted at 9:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Such a fantastic day! I love this time of year so much. After doing my weights at NEAC (did not overdo it this time, and I think I'm finally mostly recovered from my messed-up neck), I drove to South Glastonbury. I was sort of in a daze for some reason, but the nice kind of daze where you think, "Wow, I'm already at Berruti's?! How did that happen? I might as well continue on to Draghi!" I was so glad I did, because they had BLUEBERRIES! The farm stand lady told me Sunday was the first day. Like strawberries were, they are super early this year; usually they come a day or two before the 4th of July. I also got red raspberries, black raspberries, yellow squash and beet greens, all locally grown in So. Glastonbury! (It feels very old-fashioned to say "red raspberries" instead of just "raspberries." It seems like something a grandmother would say...) (Oh yeah, and I also got organic brown jumbo Farmer Butch's eggs!) I asked the farm stand lady where the blueberries came from, since Rusczyk stopped doing them last year, and she said they were from Beckett, but the raspberries and black raspberries were from Rusczyk! (!!!) They only had one half-pint of the black rasps, so I snagged it. First I asked her about how blacks and reds are different, and she said blacks aren't quite as soft-textured as reds, and are a little more tart; so, they're sort of in-between blackberries and raspberries. She also told me I could try one, so I did! But I was planning to buy them regardless, since I have to get all local berries to compare. :-)
When I was driving back toward Glastonbury Center, I passed Berruti's and then decided I should have stopped so I could compare their berries, so I turned around at the next turning-around spot, and it happened to be the driveway of Beckett's, right next to the Old Cider Mill! It was some sort animal care-giving place, but they had a HUGE rhubarb patch!!! I've never seen so much rhubarb in my life! It was very cool, but I couldn't really take a picture. [Edit: Oh man, look at this awesome guide to local food in Eastern CT! And, Beckett's site says they go to the farmers' market in front of It's Only Natural Market (Fridays, beginning July 2, 10 AM – 2 PM)... I have never gone, but I am going to this year!!!!!] [Also, this guide to Glastonbury farms! Aaaaah! I want to go to all of them!!!] [Edit: Oh, and I did not buy any berries at Berruti's, but they had Rose's.]
At Whole Foods, these super-cool tomatoes caught my eye. They're organic heirloom tomatoes from Atlas Farm in Deerfield Massachusetts, and the sign said, "The real deal, not hybrids. Bumpy, ridgy, juicy and brimming with character. Some of these varieties may be descended from fruit our great grandparents may have eaten." What a great description. I bought two! They also had garlic scapes (awesome name), from Enterprise Farm in Whatley, MA, which I also thought were v. cool looking, but I didn't buy any since I'm not really a garlic/onion fan. I did take a picture, though! (I liked how crazy and messy they were.)
On the way home, my radio station played "Let Your Love Flow" and I turned it up really loud. Yes, yes, yes. My favorite song about right now.
P.S. I tried the Beckett blueberries when I got home, and they are GOOOOOD! Tart and very BLUE tasting! They remind me of Suder berries. Gigantic thumbs up!
P.P.S. I've got to go to Suder's and see if they have berries yet! Tomorrow!
!!!!! My pillow from the Lost At Sea exhibition came!
Posted at 1:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Oh yeah, I failed to mention, we had lunch at ION today (they did a really lousy job with mine, and I hardly ate any of it, but when I complained about it they took it off the bill) and afterward we checked out the new place that moved into Main Street Market where ION Market used to be! It's been "coming soon" since fall, but it finally opened on Wednesday! It's called the New England Emporium and the cafe part looks really nice! They even have crepes! (Too bad we didn't check it out until after ION.) They also sell all kinds of different gourmet New England products, and we bought some different weird sodas to try out, including a Vermont Sweetwater brand Raspberry-Rhubarb Ramble! I didn't try it yet because I wasn't feeling that great after drinking a big iced coffee at ION on a nearly empty stomach (my hands finally stopped shaking a few hours later, heh). If it's good I will have to get more for the 4th of July!
Posted at 2:16:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The blimp wasn't there yet yesterday--it must've still been blimping along! They had a spot on the turf runway all orange-coned off for it, though. The GHO (sorry, Travelers Championship) doesn't start until tomorrow, but it takes a long time for an airship to snail from site to site.
Posted at 7:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We had a great hounding in Nantucket! The muscles that wrap around my core (ribs/back) hurt today, I guess from all the balancing along. We biked for a total of over 20 miles! Cat Stats: Distance - 21.17 miles; Average Speed - 9.3 mph; Max Speed - 21.8 mph; Total Time - 2:15'48 (!!). We hounded to Something Natural for lunch, and there was hardly anyone there, since it's still early in the season (the bike paths were very unpopulated, too!). I had a lobster salad half-sandwich on herb bread (their half-sandwiches are the size of normal whole sandwiches, since they're made from one slice of a loaf of bread cut the long way instead of across!), and Dean had a Sheila's Favorite (messy and good). The lobster salad on my sandwich had dill (I think) and green onions. It was good, but not the yummiest lobster ever (not as moist and intense tasting as the best lob). We also had a Part Two cream cheese & olive sandwich on herb bread, which we shared (I ate 3/4!). Highly yum and saltwatery tasting! (But Dean liked it too, even so.)
After lunch, we went on my fav path, all the way to the end of the line (the ocean), then all the way back and into town for the best-ever mint chip ice cream in a waffle cone from The Juice Bar. We each had our own this time, so we didn't have to fight! So BEST EVER. It was chilly biking back to the airport, but good with my arm warmers, Roxy beater and bike jacket on! Totally perfect temperature for biking, the rest of the time. I wore board shorts, my jellyfish Milo in Maine t-shirt, my Ocean Minded shoes (which make great bike shoes!) and my Roxy beater, alternating zipped and unzipped fluttering free behind me. ♥ We took a break along the way at the murky snapper pond, where we saw tons of snapping turtles, like about eight at a time--big ones and little ones. They seemed attracted to the dock by our vibrations. Also, we saw a couple of blue swimming crabs swimming sideways! It was such a clear and perfect day. I took some nice photos; I will try to post a few later.
On the flight home, I noticed the cloud right below us lighting up, and for a second I thought it was lightning, but then it flashed again, but red this time. It was fireworks! The clouds were thin and gauzy, and I could the bright-colored stars exploding through the clouds! It only happened a few times, but it was SO cool. Usually when we see fireworks while flying, it's from really far away and they're very small, but these were super-close and looked life-sized, but from above.
