Saturday, July 24, 2010
Lightning & thunder & Deep Blue Sea x 100!
Posted at 12:36:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Such a beautiful clafoutis. But I'm not taking a picture this time. It's blueberry. Chaplin blueberry, because I need to use them up and buy more tomorrow!
Posted at 1:54:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I got a good but way too long skirt at Uptown today and shortened it using a blind hem and it's great! It has a lining, so I had to shorten that, too (not using a blind hem). I like it!! I did the blind hem for the outside and non-blind for the inside since that's what the original skirt had. The fabric is really soft and cool and lightweight and nice textured. My new sewing machine is so fantastic!
Posted at 12:26:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday night is Suder corn night. (Because Thursday night is trash night.) Also, I got two of these. The sign called them "Tequila Colored Bell Peppers." Pretty!
Posted at 4:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I am obsessed with "Up and Gone" by Cat Power. I just bought it on Sunday and I've already listened to it 20 times.
Posted at 4:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
This is what I look like listening to "Up and Gone."
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
It's so quiet without electricity. No computers humming, no air conditioner, no refrigerator, no fans. I read for a while by lantern-light outside but it made me sleepy, so I came in and took a bath and got ready for bed. At least we still have water. It's a zillion times worse without water. And we also have gas! I made seitan skewers and leftover pattypan squash on the gas grill, so we had a delicious dinner by candlelight, using the candleholders we used to use every night at Clocktower Mill because it was so dark in the dining room.
Posted at 10:56:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Such a different and quietly fun day, from beginning to end! First Dean dragged me up super-early so we could go to the Farmers' Market on Block Island. It was 300 feet overcast so we had to wait a little while to leave, and still didn't know if we'd be able to land. By the time we'd gotten to the airport it was 400, then finally while we were flying along it went all the way to 600. We needed 431 to land. Dean flew IFR and used the VOR/DME-10 approach, and we popped right out of the
clouds in front of the runway. It wasn't cloudy in CT or on Block; there was just a low cluster of clouds hanging out right off the island. We landed and got a great parking spot (hardly any other planes there!) and a taxi into town was waiting for us, thanks to telling the FBO guys over the radio that we needed one. We made it to the market about a half an hour before closing, which gave us time to check out all the tables and buy everything we wanted. We even circled back around afterwards, to count. Great market! There were 32 tables and an accordian-kazoo-washboard/tub duo. We got rhubarb and quince jellies (from two different vendors), fingerlings from Blazing Star Farms, a banana-chocolate-creamcheese empanada to eat on the spot, and seaweed salad. Of course I had to buy the seaweed. It was made from sea lettuce, plus glasswort and sea rocket (two succulents that grow on the beach), sesame seeds, sesame oil, olive oil, coconut milk, and some seasonings. [Edit: Glasswort = sea asparagus!!!]
Afterward, we got a Del's and decided to have a MacPhail's intead of taking the opportunity to go to Bethany's Airport Diner like we'd planned. MacPhail's is better than a diner breakfast, anyway! We'll never to to Bethany's. (It stops serving breakfast at noon.) Then we got coffee/chai at Bweel's and hung out a little while Dean did some work e-mails. Bweel's had a framed comic about stripers! I told the worker I don't like stripers because they're too abundant now and are eating all the shad. He said, "Well, do you like fishing?" and I concurred that I like striper fishing. Eat more stripers!!!
On the way home, we stopped in Glastonbury to pick up Dean's Metromint waters that were in at Whole, and at Berruti's for Farmer Butchie eggs, Dean's berries (Rose's) and Berruti's own peaches (I drove.) We also pulled over at The Main Scoop to THROW AWAY my seaweed in their outdoor trashcan because it was so smelly, but first I took a picture of it and ate about half of it. We could easily smell it even though it was in a covered container, inside an insulated shopping bag, INSIDE a soft-sided cooler, in the back (luggage area, not back seat) of Tango, then the back of Lex. I didn't want our entire kitchen to end up smelling like Cooneymus Beach at low tide, and I'm not sure even the refrigerator would have been able to contain it! It's hard to believe something so smelly could be so good! It really was pretty tasty though. Poor Main Scoop, but at least I bought a kiddie-sized mint chip ice cream (we needed it for the spoon) to semi-make up for throwing smelly seaweed in their garbage.
After we got home it was still only 4:00 so I went to Borders, but on the way it started raining INSANELY hard. All I could see were the red tail lights of the car right in front of me. Everyone drove really really slow. Then it started to HAIL!!!! The hail was the size of moth balls and was pelting down super loud on the metal roof and glass windshield of my car. I was afraid the beag was going to be all dented!!! (It was fine, though.) A few minutes later, when the hail had ended and it was raining a bit less hard, Dean text-messaged me that it was raining super hard and hailing at home, and we'd lost power! I hate to be powerless, so I stayed out and fooled in the Westfarms area for as long as possible. It was really quiet there with hardly any people at Borders or Barnes & Noble. I was on a mission to get a copy of the Back Bay Books edition of Brideshead Revisited because I bought it as a graduation gift for Rose and was super-jealous of the perfect cover. They didn't have it anymore at Borders and only had other, inferior covers listed in the computer (I already have an inferior cover edition). It was very strange. They had Back Bay Books editions of all Evelyn Waugh's other books, but not BR. I also had been unable to find it on Amazon, so I was flummoxed. However, B&N had one copy, so I snagged it! Barnes & Noble usually just annoys me, but not this time!
I got up over an hour ago so we can attempt to visit the Block Island Farmers' Market! Still don't know if the lurky cloud layer will lift in time, though...
Posted at 9:21:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Ugh, my eyes are so wonky. They really hurt, and keep going on blurry on me. But I just finished a worthwhile project: my lobster roll reviews and photos, all gathered together in one spot for easy reference! Will post a link soon.
Posted at 2:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, July 19, 2010
I'm feeling discombobulated today. But I did go check out the farmers' market in the West Hartford Whole Foods' parking lot. (It's called the Troutbrook Farmers' Market.) It was kind of eh. Only six stands: Bethany Homecrafts (cool upcycled/felted wool products!), George Hall's Ogre Farm again, Wave Hill breads, Windham Gardens farm, Jones' Apiaries, and Rose's Berry Farm. Ugh, Rose's is everywhere! I only spent $4, getting a couple more cute pattypan squash for my collection, two small tomatoes, and some basil, all at the Windham Gardens stand. They really need a band. I decided that all farmers' markets should have bands. It's possible some of the vendors were absent today because of the rain (even though it wasn't rainy anymore in the afternoon) because it did look like there were some blank spaces. But even so... it was just kind of boring, without much life. The Middletown one is tons better!
Posted at 11:29:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
WOW, so much rain and thunder this morning. It seems so quiet now. I wonder if this afternoon will be okay for the Whole Foods farmers' market?
Posted at 1:54:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox was pretty fantastic! People who should see it, if they haven't already: June and AGD.
Posted at 1:59:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Also, the deck is finally back in commission--yay! I polished both grills and they are (mostly) gleaming. To celebrate, we had supper outside. Let the proper summer eating resume!
