Saturday, August 21, 2010
There's a new thing in the building across from Froozie's that goes out of business every year. (Kind of bizarre of them to open on the second-to-last week of August, after the place being vacant all summer...) This time it's an airbrushed temporary tattoo joint. It's super bustly on the Froozie porch (mainly caused by noisy National Hotel people around the corner) but we snagged our table on the end away from the other dudes. It's a beautiful clear calm day and the perfect temp!
Posted at 1:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Mississippi. TTS Disc 3 version! Love LOVE.
Posted at 4:?1:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I took a bath, and now the fingers of my right hand are ON FIRE!
Posted at 12:33:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
My fingers still hurt from cutting up those peppers bare-handed!
Posted at 10:50:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I am making another straw-rhu clafoutis, to use up the last of the tiny strawberries from the Coventry Farmers' Market. This time I used 3 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk, as an experiment.
[Edit: It was still wolf-worthy, but inferior to the normal 2 eggs. For some reason, it massively developed layers, with a distinct "crust" on the bottom (where all the heavier flour fell down), followed by a very eggwhitey section with the straw and rhu mixed in.]
Posted at 8:29:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Peppers from Cold Spring Brook Farm: El Hombre, Inferno, Hot Cherry, Cheyenne (Cayenne), Tormenta Jalapeño, Anaheim, Yummy, Carmen Italian, and Garden Salsa.
I cooked them all on the grill, each individually wrapped in aluminum foil. Then I took notes while Dean cut up the peppers and analyzed them, feeding me one bite of each. All quotes and opinions are by Dean unless otherwise noted. (He's a pepper fan and I'm not.)
Ratings, listed in order of preference:
1. Yummy Pepper - Sweet & yummy! (I agree, it was tasty.)
2. Carmen Italian Sweet Pepper - "This one's good." Tasty. Not hot.
3. (tie) Hot Cherry Pepper - Good, not hot. "I like the cherry pepper."
3. (tie) Garden Salsa Hot Pepper - Good flavor. Nice for eating because it's big. Laura: "I like this one."
4. Inferno Hot Pepper- "I like the Inferno." Good flavor, big, not too hot.
5. El Hombre Mild Long Hot - Just the right amount of hotness. Good flavor.
6. Cheyenne Hot Pepper - Jalapeño flavor, without the tormenting. Hot, but not too hot. "I like it." Laura: "I don't! It hurt my tongue!"
7. Anaheim 118 Mildly Hot - Not as hot or as tasty as El Hombre.
8. Tormenta Jalapeño - Good, jalapeño-ish, hot. Tasty though. Laura: "Yaaah!! Ahh! My tongue is ruined!" Much hotter than the others. Dean: "A little hot just for casual eating."
Dean seemed to like all of them, and there were almost no leftovers! He said I'm "officially in the good category" for trying all those peppers. I can't believe I did it, and even kind of liked some of them!
Momentus occasion! We got rid of all the catalogs in our giant and highly organized catalog file. We only kept six super-old ones, for nostalgic reasons. Catalogs are officially passé.
Posted at 1:25:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Suder's also had Paula Red apples today. I had never seen that variety before, and I'm not a super-big fan of most apples (except ♥honeycrisps♥, of course), but I bought ONE to try out. It was so good!!!!! Nice and crisp and tart. Honeycrisp-level good! I'm going to get more tomorrow.
Posted at 9:52:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I forgot I didn't post about making the mokes yet on ALB. Heh. I will do that after I take the pictures. (Too dark now; better lighting tomorrow.) Saw this at Big W today. Why???? Okay, the bat-themed York Peppermint Patties are pretty cool, but IT IS NOT TIME FOR HALLOWEEN CANDY! They also had about ten million packaged trick-or-treat minis on display. And ten million is not an exaggeration. Sick sick sick. On the other hand, I also saw this at Big W. I love them so much! If only it were vanilla soy, I would buy it just because of the packaging. And guess what Suder's had today?? Yummy Peppers! A huge bin of them! I bought about a pint and already chomped three of them raw.
Posted at 6:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I went on a bike ride before supper, and it was perfect out. Dare I say it, slightly crisp. The bike ride was insanely short, because it was actually not a real bike ride, but rather transportation to the cemetery! It was nice and overcast today and I kept thinking nonstop what a good day it would be to look at gravestones. (The lighting's not as good for photos if it's sunny.) I walked down and looked at the part of the cemetery that I didn't visit last Sunday, but it was kind of boring because that's where the more recent graves are, and their stones have much less character. There was actually a new grave that had just been dug, with plywood over the top and a truck parked nearby with its bed full of the missing soil. After I looked at the 20th/21st century section, I went back and looked at the 19th/18th century area again, and noticed a whole bunch of things that I didn't last time. There were some heads that I'd missed, and other interesting stuff. Haven't sorted through the photos yet. Lots of Savages (there are about three or four different Seth Savages!) and lots of Hubbards are buried there. (The nearby elementary school where we go to vote is Hubbard School.) I want to go back to the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford some time. (I went there in 2003 and 2004, but just quickly both times, and without my camera. That was when I first found about about heads! I posted about it on ALB.) I also want to go to the Mansfield Center cemetery near Dean's old house. And others. But those are top of the list. :-) However, I am in no hurry. It will be fun randomly adding to my head knowledge when the right conditions strike.
Our mokes finally came!!!! They both look great! They look so different all glossy and bright! We like them!!! I'll post a picture soon.
Posted at 2:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Also, there are stones by Gershom Bartlett of Bolton! Here's an example of stones I'm pretty sure are each guy's work: Josiah Manning (or one of his two sons), Gershom Bartlett, and Jonathan Loomis.
Posted at 1:53:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 2:30:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
YUM!!! Strawberry-rhubarb clafoutis is the best clafoutis. Best best best.
I added 33 new images to my cemetery album on Facebook! (The new stuff starts with the Nathan Hale monument.) After organizing all those heads, I think I might be developing a new obsession. I'm starting to recognise the different carvers' styles and forming favs! I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of stones at the Nathan Hale Cemetery by Josiah Manning of Windham and Jonathan Loomis of Coventry (makes sense, as it's in Coventry). Oh yeah, and I found out those winged heads are called "soul effigies." Now I want to visit more cemeteries to see more heads and learn more about the carvers' styles!
Posted at 1:59:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Also: I am baking my straw-rhubarb clafoutis right now. I can't wait to SMELL it.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
We had the beets & beet greens from Crocker Farm (bought at the Coventry market) tonight for supper. Best. Beets. Ever. They were so sweet! Also, I made the lima beans I got as a freebie at North End. Not bad. Not yucky like frozen limas. Not as good as those pretty shell beans, though.
Posted at 6:30:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean thinks I should go to the West End Farmers' Market in Hartford. It's on Tuesday and Friday, from 4 to 7, on the corner of Farmington Ave and South Whitney Street at United Methodist Church. Four Fields Farm sells there. I just looked it up, and it's only 5 minutes from the West Hartford Whole Foods! And they have music.
Aaah! I saw these on a store shelf today and massively wanted to buy all of them, but we don't use this shape Kleenex box. Plus I don't believe in whatever anti-virus agent they contain, but, still. So great looking!!! I especially like the little slug guy.
Posted at 4:48:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Posted at 11:32:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Coventry Regional Farmers' Market notes (from Sunday):
Definitely the biggest and most crowded farmers' market we've ever been to! The parking area was giant and packed.
Eat-now food Dean got: Keifer's Italian ice (watermelon), chocolate chip cookie, veggie samosa (he snuck over and bought it while I was looking at heirloom tomatoes), sweet mint tea, and freshly-squeezed lemonade. I refused to eat any of his things (except the lemonade). He said I wasn't getting into the spirit of the market, so I tried to buy some eat-now stuff of my own.
Eat-now food I got: coarse salt pretzel and mint brownie. I was too busy writing things down on my Piece of Paper!
Non eat-now stuff we bought:
Magda (fat) and Zephyr (two-tone) heirloom squash and heirloom tomatoes, from Four Fields Farm in Granby. Tomatoes = Black Krim (green one at top), Zapotec, and Crnkovic Yugoslavian, plus a freebie Evergreen (pictured here with Red Rose from the Lyme market and Black Prince from Maggie's Farm, Lebanon). Four Fields Farm specializes in really unusual heirloom tomato breeds no one's ever heard of! I certainly haven't. I'd never seen any of their varieties elsewhere.
Beets and a huge bag of broccoli stalks, from Crocker Farm in Ashford. I also bought a jar of honey from a Storrs apiary (Alex Nishball's) at their stand, and returned later to get their last bundle of rhubarb after I found strawberries (!) to go with it.
Sour pickles and chipotle mustard in jars from Christine's Country Kitchen. They are really into getting people to return jars!
Tiny sweet strawberries from Easy Pickin's in Enfield. Strawberries in August!! How??? Not just strawberries, but the early kind of strawberries. I had some of my berry hairnets (saved from Chaplin Farm) in my bag, so I used them on the strawberries! Later I ate one strawberry to determine if I should go back and get more. I immediately did, and bought two more half pints. I put my two remaining berry hairnets on them at the table before I paid for them, and the vendor was really confused because he didn't recognize his own berries. Hee. Then I returned to Crocker for the rhubarb. It was only a small half-bundle and they gave it to me really cheap, but it'll be the perfect amount for a straw-rhubarb clafoutis!
Maggie's Farm, Lebanon (is this a Bob-loving farm??? I didn't ask) = the aforementioned Black Prince heirloom tomato and a bag of shiitake mushrooms (for the quiche Dean kept requesting).
Another farm (didn't write down name) = fingerling potatoes, basil, French butter lettuce (I heard the vendor telling another customer how great it was and then I wanted it too... I got the very last head, which was kind of buried under some other lettuce).
I think that's everything. Not sure. We were all weighed down with our bags! It was at the Nathan Hale Homestead, in a big open field. Kind of like the South Kona Green Market but BIGGER! There were even dudes with Colonial outfits on, crazy stilt-walking people, hula-hoopers, and a drummer guy with lots of different types of drums (but not as many drums as Nick in Freaks and Geeks). He did songs like "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" on his drums. I took some pictures, but it's kind of impossible to photograph a big farmers' market because it's so chaotic and there are so many random people walking everywhere. Mostly it looked like lots and lots of white-roofed tents with tables underneath and lots and lots and lots of people and dogs (on leashes) milling around. There were tons of non-produce things, too, like the upcycled felted wool lady was there, and different jewelry makers, soapers, homemade baby dresses, hemp stuff, a spinner, the Beltane cheese guy (we talked to him... he likes to talk!), a cow cheese guy, meat stands, and all kinds of different eat-nows, and... I don't know, just everything! This page has a list of the vendors.
Afterwards, we decided to go to the UConn Starbucks, and on the way we drove by the Nathan Hale Cemetery! I wanted to stop, so we did! So many cool HEADS!!! I walked around looking at the gravestones while Dean followed alongside in Lex, looking out the window at stuff I pointed out. There was a giant monument to Nathan Hale (America's first spy! that is very cool) but he isn't actually buried there because the British hanged him and he was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on Manhattan island soon after his death. His body was never found. I took a million pictures of gravestones with heads on them. There were so many, and they were all different and all cool! I am still trying to sort though them... it's overwhelming! My favorite gravestone was Edward Crandall's. He died in 1788 and had the only brown head stone, with nice green lichen trim and a very nice head.
After the cemetery, we were driving along and saw a sign for Mansfield Middle School, and I suggested to Dean that we follow and check it out. It ended up turning into a huge nostalgia tour that was super fun! Since I pointed out that it was nearby, we visited Bicentennial Pond; then, after drinks at SBUX, Skora's, Phil's, and the UConn campus. I took pics of the former Honors House (ugh), the College of Agriculture, the Storrs Congregational Church, and the Chemistry building (pretty!). There was lots of construction going on and a bunch of the roads were blocked off. Then, of course, the sharp turnoff to Moulton Road. I knew when we were getting close to Grandma's old house, and told Dean to pull over. The barn looks pretty long in the tooth. I even took a picture of the huge glacial rock across the road from Grandma's. (Whenever we visited in the summer, I loved to climb on it. It was sort of a tradition.) Last site on tour: Kathy John's. It's still vacant! :-( Since we couldn't eat there, we had dinner at Rein's, then drove the rest of the way home, stopping at Bob's Farm Market on the Berlin Turnpike for eggs (I've always thought it was so weird to drive by a farm market on the Ber, but had never before stopped... they had Hosmer Mountain, and we bought two bottles!). Such a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
Nice nice day. Overcasty and drizzling rain on and off, but lovely. Finally, I feel well-rested. So very calm and relaxed. I drove to Draghi Farm (via the Arrigoni Bridge), then from there to Whole Foods, all without turning on my GPS, and I didn't get lost or even make any wrong turns! Amazing!
Posted at 6:40:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We had Magda heirloom squash from the Coventry Farmers' Market for dinner tonight, and it was really good. And I bought Vermont Butter & Cheese Fromage Blanc at Whole Foods. I almost bought Quark, but then I decided on the Fromage Blanc instead. I will try Quark another time. Will write about the Coventry market later tonight, but I want to finish my book first.
!!!!!!!!!! Whole Foods has mangosteen! The forbidden fruit! If this was 2004-2006, I would have nearly fainted with excitement, then snatched one up with shaking hands. As it was, I just sort of stared in surprise, then took a picture. Of course, you'd never see mangosteen at Whole Foods back then, because it was illegal. I have to admit I didn't even know they were import-able now. (Did I?) Price: $39.99/lb, which is almost $10 each. Crazy!! They were $2 each from Ken Love's table at the Keauhou Farmers' Market.
Posted at 4:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I forgot to mention, I got raspberries at Ashlawn (from the same vendor who sold me the heirlooms) and they were so good. So so so so good.
Posted at 12:04:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Good grief, it's insane how behind I am on posting again. I didn't write about the Lyme Farmers' Market on Friday, Block Island on Saturday, or the big triple-header today: Coventry Farmers' Market, Nathan Hale cemetery, and big nostalgia tour! All I wrote about was quiche. Aaaaaaaah!!!! And I have about 200,000 photos. And I didn't even write about our anniversary yet! I am holding back on posting until I've filled some of this stuff in!!! [Edit. 2:28 AM: Okay, I wrote some. Friday + Saturday. Will add photos from Block Island, plus report about today, tomorrow. Must go to bed now.] [P.S. Today was so fuuuuuuuuun!] [Edit, 12:53 PM: Okay, I added the Block photos. Posting this now. Will write about yesterday soon!]
Posted at 12:39:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 12:11:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I made a quiche! Dean kept requesting one (made with Yummy Peppers and mushrooms), so I found a recipe online and adapted it. I mixed together 3 eggs, 3/4 c. Bisquick, and 1 1/2 c. milk, then poured that over broccoli and Shiitake mushrooms (both from the Coventry Farmers' Market), Yummy Peppers, and cottage cheese. I didn't have any normal cheese around, so I just used whatever was left of the cottage cheese. Oh, and I cooked all the veggies first (peppers and mushrooms on top of stove; broc in the microwave). Then I baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. It came out perfect, and was really light and fluffy, not as heavy and filling as a normal quiche. The Bisquick sort of formed a bottom, but there's no rich shell like in most quiches. It was highly yummy. I don't like cooked peppers, so I left the peppers out of my section. Quiches are pretty similar to clafoutis!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Dean: "We're going to get lots of squashes. Dozens and dozens of squashes."
Posted at 11:45:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Me: "What are we going to do with all those squashes?"
Dean: "Eat them. And squash them. Mostly eat them."
I got up early, and we're going to the Coventry Regional Farmers' Market! The cheese guy on Friday in Lyme told me it's huge and they have everything.
Posted at 11:02:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
