Friday, August 10, 2007
It's COLD out today! Seriously cold. The Beagleometer said it was 52°. It's been 90-ish, so this was like a big plunge into icy water. It reminded me what it's like when it's not summer. :-(
Posted at 4:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 12:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
This is the best breakfast ever, in August. A perfectly ripe local tomato with cottage cheese.
In this case, a Suder tomato with Stew's cottage cheese. It's even better with G tomatoes, but obviously I can't get those anymore. Suder's are a close second. Dean thought it tasted like I put sugar on the Suder tomatoes the other day, they were so sweet. I didn't, of course. I only put sea salt. Tomatoes really are that sweet, when they're good!
Wow. I know how to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" correctly without looking it up. (I suppose it's not really that hard, is it?)
Posted at 1:35:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Landed on [runway] 16 this evening at Jaffrey. Flew right over Kimball Farm. I could see all the lobster roll and ice cream and fried clam -eaters craning their necks looking up at us, and then, a moment later, the smell of Kimball's perfect waffle fries filled Tango. It was lovely.
Posted at 11:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
My lobster roll today had exceptionally huge pieces, even for Kimball. And only one tiny square of celery! We rock-paper-scissored to decide who'd go buy the ice cream (I always lose on purpose because I like doing it), and I got a new flav this time: mint chocolate chip. (Our usual is peppermint stick, of course. And sometimes when it's cold we get butter pecan.) It was excellent. Very minty, not green, and with lots of nice small flat chips (vs. too-huge chunks). Like an ice cream version of a peppermint pattie. Is there anything from Kimball Farm that isn't extraordinary?
I started reading my Rocks & Minerals Golden Guide in Tango, and it's a huge cliff-hanger because I left off right before I got to the part about aluminum. It was written back in the tin/steel can / tin foil era, and the whole time I was reading all the tin stuff I was wondering about what brought about the switch to aluminum.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Dean cut the trapdoor in the pinata (drill + utility knife) and I took out the balloon! It worked perfectly!! The balloon was shrunken but still had air in it, and I reached my hand inside and popped it and pulled it out, easy as pie. The edges of the trapdoor are nice and smooth, and the inside of the pinata is completely dry. I'm going to do the skin (tissue paper) and attach the legs and eyes in my room instead of the basement, now that he's nice and dry and non-gluey.
Posted at 10:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
(BTW, if you are related to me and are bringing something to put in the pinata, the door is 3" x 3 3/4", and flat things that are about 4 1/2" can fit at an angle.)
I was right about the blueberries. I gave Dean Rose's in his lunch today and asked him afterward if he liked them better than the Rusczyk ones from yesterday, and he massively did. He thinks the Rusczyk's are way too tart. I think they're 1,000% perfect. I wish I hadn't wasted any on him!!! :-)
Posted at 7:44:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I hope I don't drive all the way to Draghi's next week to get more Rusczyk's, only to find out that the tartness was just a fluke and they're usually more like normal blueberries. That would be a bummer!!
I got almost all the rest of the supplies for the Bash today at the party store in Glastonbury! The party store in Glastonbury is quite excellent (much nicer than the one on the Ber. Turnpike). They even had really cool looking napkins that say "Celebrate! 70" on them. (BTW, in case you've been reading all this Bash stuff and wondering, "What the heck IS this Bash, anyway???" ...the Bash is for my dad (aka The G)'s 70th birthday in September. It's going to be at my parents' new house in North Carolina, and all my siblings and the vast majority of my nieces and nephews are coming. We're figuring 15-20 people, including spouses, etc.) I am highly pleased with my selections and their matchingness/the color combos. The only ones I have left to buy are the large plates and cups.
I went to the Rocky SBUX on the way home today, and it was actually pretty good (even though everyone there was a total stranger and they didn't know my drink or anything). I haven't been there in ages. I can't even remember when I last went. I am very over Rocky. I go by it all the time and don't even stop.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Made the eyes! The eyes are awesome. I need a gold paint pen to make them perfect, though.
Posted at 10:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I finished the pinata's legs! Jump, jump, jump.
Posted at 8:38:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 6:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
OH!! Almost forgot! I was innocently walking along at Whole Foods, and suddenly found myself face-to-face with a big pile of monstera! (!!!) I have been wanting to try monstera since September, 2001! That's longer than my mangosteen obsession. It's mentioned in my fourth week of ALB entries. I also lamented in March, 2004: "Aaagh, when am I going to ever find a monstera ?? They are just so cool looking." It's on my "Weird foods I especially want to try" list! It's MONSTERA! So now I have my very own monstera, but apparently it's not safe to eat until the scales fall off.
Matcha!!! I can't resist matcha.
Posted at 4:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I bought some candies for the pinata at A Dong, so of course I had to taste-test them all to make sure they're palatable before offering them to innocent guests. (Don't worry, I kindly avoided buying the super-weird ones in the first place.) I only ate one of each variety, except for the matcha. I had to seal the package back up with tape so I won't eat all the matcha. (I think they're these, although the packaging on mine is different.)
I also got some more Rose's So. Glastonbury blueberries at Whole Foods so I can give them to Dean and hog all the Rusczyk blueberries for myself!! I can't keep my hands off the Rusczyk blueberries. Note to future self: BUY THEM NEXT YEAR!!! The drive will be worth it! They barely even taste like blueberries, and I mean that in a good way. (I think most people would like Rose's better, though. Rose's are really good, and sweeter. Classic local blueberries. Rusczyk's are out of this world blueberries. Tart and mysterious. They don't taste blue, but they are.)
Oh, and none of the candies I picked out at A Dong were horrible! (With the possible exception of the matcha.) I'm pretty sure even a non- weird food fan would like them. They're all tasty and seem quite superior, as candies go.
I have a gigantic headache. And no, it's not from eating matcha. It's been lurking all day.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Every muscle in my back hurts! It's practically spasming. Pinata-ing is killer.
Posted at 8:55:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Susie took me to a new So. Glastonbury blueberries source this afternoon: Draghi's farm stand, over the Portland-Middletown bridge. I saved the location to my GPS Guy, so I can find it again! The blueberries are "grown & packed by J. Rusczyk" in South Glastonbury, and they are as good as that name is cool. They're even better than the Rose's ones that I got at Whole Foods. I think so at least. (They're tart-er.) We'll see what Dean thinks. I think they are THE BEST. I definitely need more.
Posted at 5:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We also went to Stew's. Susie and Alex are big fellow Stew's fans. (I was hoping the Milk Carton Band would perform my favorite song about all the creative things you can do with a Stew's bag, but they didn't. They only did one number, then went on break!) I showed Susie how to get to Stew's via the Suder Road, even though it was pointless. But it's the Suder Road!
Just checked on the pinata! It's looking good so far and it feels pretty strong already... flexible but solid! I'm going to use white(ish) paper for the next layer (tonight), then when that dries I get to do the outside!! Must prepare the legs...
Posted at 1:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Part one is drying! I have to do two more back-and-forthways layers tomorrow. I'm using strips of Investor's Business Daily newspaper with a foil balloon as the base underneath. (I had no idea what the design on the balloon was; I just thought the shape would be good. The guy at the store said it was a Power Rangers balloon, so I guess that's kind of appropriate...) Paper mache sure uses lots of glue. The first step isn't that fun (but it wasn't awful either, although it did take about an hour, and I was definitely ready to stop by then), but I can't wait 'til I get to the step where I get to do the outside.
Posted at 7:11:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Yesterday we picked up Dean's Gs in Amityville on Long Island (using Tango and the courtesy car from the airport, with the help of my Guy!). As we were driving to pick them up, we observed that there's a Chipotle two inches away from Republic Airport! (!!) Now we have to go back! They went there on a bus and it took four hours. It was only about 40 minutes to fly them home. :-) Oh, and we ate at the airport restaurant, The 56th Fighter Group (almost the 58th, but not quite) and they had escargot on the menu! Of course I ordered it.
Today was our 12th wedding anniversary, and it was nice. Pinata-making and slounging around. Dean asked me, "If you could eat anything in the world right now, what would you want to eat?" and I thought for a minute, then said, "Pancakes and sunny-side-up eggs." Dean: "Where could we get that, this time of day??" Me: "IHOP." So that's where we went. :-)
Matcha is magic!!! (Even if some people think it tastes like dirt.)
Posted at 12:10:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
