Saturday, July 25, 2009
Nantucket hounding, first of the year! We haven't been doing as much biking this year, because of all the rain.... But we have a bunch of different interesting trips this summer, instead... Maryland for Memorial Day, North Carolina for my parents' 50th anniversary, Maryland for the 4th of July, Maine last weekend... then Dean's going to a Forex Expo in Las Vegas this weekend, while I get visited by David's family at the lake, and next month we're going to visit my Dreher uncles in Dayton, Ohio and then fly on (in Tango) to Chicago for Dean's commodities seminar and to see a new city.
Posted at 7:42:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I love the bike trail on Nan. It's so perfect. 7th gear all the time; I just stand up on the hills.
Cat Stats: Total distance = 20.36 miles, Average speed = 9.4 mph; Maximum speed = 21.3 mph; Total time = 2:09'17.
When we were locking our hounds to the bike rack near the Even Keel, this fellow bike lady saw Dean's bagsket (front, back) and started going on and on about what a great design it was, asking where we got it, etc. When Dean told her I made it, she kept begging me to make one for her, telling me I could sell them, etc. I was cracking up. She said, "Why are you laughing?! I'm serious!!" I told her thanks but no thanks, it would be way too much work. Making one for Dean is one thing, but for some random stranger? No. Plus, it's a unique design that I'm pretty sure would only fit our bikes. I was really flattered, though. As I was walking away, she called after me, "If you change your mind, let me know!" Luckily, she didn't steal Dean's bag while we were eating lunch. :-)
Nan was foggy after we got back into town from hounding (on the trail, we saw a bunny and a snapper turtle; I told Dean they were in a race) (the rabbit was far ahead of the snapper!), and I waited in line at the ice cream place to procure our usual post-trail watermelon juice and mint chip ice cream in a waffle cone. The ice cream cone was INCREDIBLE. We kept fightfightfighting over it, accusing the other guy of hogging it whenever we traded turns. We BOTH wanted a Part Two when we'd finished, so Dean went in got another one exactly like it for us to share again. We devoured the whole thing equally as appreciatively. The Juice Bar has the best ice cream cones ever! It's even better than Kimball farm's peppermint stick. And of course, the waffle cone makes it. It's warm. And has curly edges!!! I'm not that huge of an ice cream junkie, but aaaagh.
When we landed and when we took off, Nantucket was blanketed by a low CLOWW that was hugging the island, curving along its exact edges and covering it with a cottony layer of white. The moon was real skinny and I was hoping we could see the milky way (it was clear above the CLOWW) but it wasn't dark enough yet. Nice nice trip, though. My shoulders were all tense and hurty on the way there, but all relaxy and better on the way home. Hounding actually loosened them up!
Here's a photo at the Nantucket airport (ACK), when we were walking out to Tango's parking spot on the grass. It was all foggy out beyond Tang, and all the other planes parked around him had already gone home. I'm not quite sure why my hair looks like it's on fire (from the sunset?), but I like it!
!!! "Thank you for choosing Charlie Trotter's. Your reservation is confirmed and saved in the restaurant's computer reservation system." I LOVE OPENTABLE!! That was about one BILLION times easier than getting a reservation for Per Se!
Posted at 12:03:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Dean got a moleskine (!! so low-tech!) to use on his upcoming trading seminars, and he begged me to write a bunch of stuff in it for him since my handwriting is a lot neater than his. I'm doing it, but my writing is so downhill compared to its former glory, since I almost never hand write things anymore. I got out my old high school notebook of cool words to show him the contrast:
Posted at 9:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
vs.
[Edit: Hmm. Maybe it's not quite as dramatic as I thought. A lot of it is being forced to write with a ballpoint. Bleah.]
Writing with a pen kills my hand. I hold the pen insanely tightly and press really hard.
[Edit: Dean says he likes the new handwriting better! "It's more lively. The new one was written by a goof, and the old one was written by a mope." Me: "A shape-shifting mope?"] [Mope = John from Cincinnati reference. And I was not a mope!!]
Posted at 4:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by
You know how I feel
...
Fish in the sea
You know how I feel
River running free
You know how I feel
Blossom in the trees
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good
Ha! There's an Ask MetaFilter topic today about using the right vs. the left vs. both shift keys. The majority of the people who have posted so far seem to be exclusive left shift key users, like Dean. As I have mentioned previously, I am an exclusive right shift girl. (We discovered this discrepancy when I was having issues with the shift key on my new keyboard not working, and Dean couldn't recreate the problem...) Even thinking about using the left shift is horrendously awkward and makes my left pinky cramp up in horror. That's one of the reasons I hate Dean's laptop keyboard but love my new NetBook keyboard: the laptop keyboard has a really tiny right shift key that is next to the "page up" key, so I always hit "page up" by accident when I'm trying to type on it (insanely frustrating!). My new pal has a gorgeous huuuuuuuge right shift key (larger than the left shift, so it's clearly much more important!). The left shift is just dead space on the keyboard, if you ask me.
Posted at 1:36:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm trying to pick out some charities that I'd like to donate to, and when I clicked on the link and watched the American Forests site load, I got all choked up! I guess that's a good sign.
Posted at 12:46:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I like JFC Day Seven. And the soft brushy nighttime sound of the rain on my window.
Posted at 3:15:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I feel very lucky today.
Posted at 5:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I finally added a waistband to my homemade jersey skirt! It looks pretty good, and, best of all, it doesn't feel like it's bordering-on-falling-off anymore. :-) I really like it.
Posted at 6:21:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
On the way back from Jimmy's and the bank, we drove past Connecticut Fresh Produce Market in North Haven [edit: apparently, it's actually called "Connecticut Natural Food & Produce Market," even though that's not what the sign on the front of the store says], so after I dropped Dean off I went back to check it out! The minute I walked in, I was greeted by a Hawaiian CD playing over the soundsystem, and I was instantly transported. I felt like I was shopping at Island Naturals or Bong Bros. or somewhere... I'm not sure who the singer was, but he sounded really familiar. [Edit: Heh. It was Iz, natch. The CD was Facing Future.]
Posted at 2:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
It was a great market, with fresh produce from Connecticut and beyond, and I bought some fresh fava beans. They are so cool looking. I looked up online how to cook them (you have to take them out of the pods, then blanch them, then remove the outer covering of each bean) and prepared them when I got home. I hope they're as good as they look! I also got some farm peaches from South Carolina to have a contest with the early Lyman's peaches. I kept browsing the store even after I'd looked at everything... I didn't want to leave because of the music! (When the salesgirl was ringing me up, I commented, "I love your music," and she disinterestedly responded, "Really?" like she couldn't believe someone would actually like it. Blah!)
When I stepped back outside, I was back in Connecticut and the illusion was over.
Note: they did not have any local tomatoes, but Lyman's had some (hot house only) from March Farm in Bethlehem. NO tomatoes last time I went to Suder's. :-(
I haven't tried eating either the So. Carolina or Lyman's peaches yet (they need to ripen up a little first), but Lyman's smell better.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Today seems to think it's the 5th Day of May. It's 62° out! Driz & rain. But I'm in a super-good mood. My eyes are recovered from their mysterious reaction. (New theory: hotel pillows/towels?) Nice Ber. Nice nice Bob tunes in my car. Cross the Green Mountain, etc. Tell Tale Signs.
Posted at 5:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Store-brand cereal seen at Shaw's: "Crispy Hexagons." I love it!!
Posted at 4:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Things I Got In Maine:
Posted at 2:17:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
1 bar Coastline Confections River Mill dark chocolate with Maine Sea Salt
2 "Potato - The Kind we Raise in Maine" reproduction postcards
3 huge mosquito bites
4 bars of cranberry soap (also 2 bars of blueberry soap)
12 bottles HoneyMaker dry mead
We toured the Maine Mead Works meadery on Sunday (greeted by the friendly meadery dog!) after our afternoon at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve and before dinner at 555. It was really cool... the meadmaker dude showed us all the back room goings-on, with the columns of slowly rising honeywater swimming with ginger-happy yeast, the soft cleartube piping, the big metal barrels. We got to try out the blueberry mead, and bought many many pretty bottles of mead (I love their label design). Dean likes the semi-sweet kind and I like the dry kind.
I was tired on Sunday (and I'm tired today), since I only slept for about five winks (out of a possible 40). I am so bad at sleeping at hotels. But it was a great trip. I love Maine!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Posted at 6:03:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean: chilled & dilled, beets me, and risotto (hand-shucked fresh peas, house-cured lemon, 555 ricotta, sunny hen egg, hand-rolled bread stick).
Laura: chilled & dilled (dill-cured cucumber soup, olive oil poached salmon mousse), chips & fish (smoked-chilled casco bay cod, butter lettuce, parsnip "chips", malt vinegar aioli), and knuckle sandwich.
Best Five Fify-Five meal ever? (My old fav knuckle sandwich was actually my least favorite part of my meal, and that's saying something. Chilled and dilled was one of my all-time favorite soups. Dean's not a cold soup fan, but, cold soup, if you are chilled and dilled, you are my friend. And smoked cod? Yes. Yesyesyes.)
Desert: Vanilla-scented donuts with white wine-poached rhubarb, lemon cream dipping sauce, sweet orange glaze.
must add 555 to "things I wholeheartedly recommend" on home page!
It's been exceptionally good every time, it's interesting, and it's just... my kind of restaurant.
Maine Diner = officially confirmed to be the best lobster roll of Maine eaten by me! Tied with Kimball Farm (NH) for best lobster roll of my eating experience. (Other notable rolls = Bill's Seafood in Westbrook, CT and Lobster Landing in Clinton (best hot lobster roll).)
Posted at 12:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We ordered:
Orange juice (D), coffee (L), Hot choc w/little whip (D), Eggs Florentine w/spinach (D), and Jim Nantz w/cold lobster roll & cole slaw (L). (A Jim Nantz = a lobster roll paired with seafood chowder. The chowder was awesome and contained clams, shrimp, scallops, and one large lobster claw. Also Vermont oyster crackers that I threw in.) Also, Maine blueberry pie a la mode (shared). Everything was exceptional. Well, the coffee was just OK, but other than that. The weird thing was, the roll didn't look like it would be exceptional, but it was. It was. This was the third time I've ever had a Maine Diner roll, and I must confirm that they are 1) definitely worth the drive to Wells, B) the best.
We sat at the counter, on the very end--best spot in the restaurant! It's really fun sitting at the counter at the Maine Diner, because you get to see everything. For example, you get to see the pie. And the ice cream getting scooped. And the window where all the food comes out. And the list of daily specials, like Red Flannel Hash ("while it lasts"), whatever that is. Stuff like that. It's great!
