Weird Stuff in Brooklyn

This was the sandwich board outside of the Gibson on Easter Sunday.  Hilarious.

I found this gem on a wall in Greenpoint.  I assume it's a tribute to all of the political unrest.

Bad Joke of the Day - Passover edition

Q: What do you call someone who derives pleasure from the bread of affliction?
 

A: A matzochist!


Finally!  A matzoh joke that isn't about constipation!!  Thanks to Risa for this seasonally appropriate bad joke!

Brent's Gazebo - Hanover, New Hampshire

I'll begin this blog post with a simple question: How many gazebos do you have?
If you answered 0, then HA! my boyfriend has you beat!
If you answered 1 or more, I'll rephrase the question:
How many gazebos do you have that have been erected on the campus of a prestigious Ivy League college at your request? 
Is it zero?  Would you say you have exactly zero ivy league gazebos? 
Yeah, that's what I thought.  Basically, don't test Brent's gazebo having abilities, because, although you wouldn't know it by visiting his house, Brent can completely annihilate you in a gazebo brag-a-thon. "How?" you might be asking yourself....

 

Well, the legend goes that in the year 2000, Brent Knopf, a gazebo-loving senior at Dartmouth, was fed up with the lack of shaded outdoor spaces available to students.  There was nowhere on campus where one could sit and study outside without having to purchase a coffee beverage or pastry.  So Brent approached the Dartmouth administration and pleaded the case for a gazebo on campus.   Brent's winning idea cut right through the red tape and bureaucracy usually involved when proposals cross the desks of university administrators, and 3 months later, a gazebo was erected behind the senior apartments.  Brent's very own gazebo dream had become a reality almost as beautiful as it was in his imagination.   I could hardly believe this fairy tale, until I saw the gazebo with my own eyes.

Please enjoy this series of photos I took with Brent, upon returning to visit his gazebo 11 years after its erection.   Oh, um, I mean construction.

 The 'This is my gazebo, bitch!' pose

 The 'Check out my gazebo' jig (part 1)

 The 'Check out my gazebo' jig (part 2) 

 Welcome to my lovely gazebo

Woolly Monster Attacks Chicago!

If I'd learned anything from Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, and Dolly the cloned sheep*, I would have never released this human-made creature into the wild!




*Dolly disaster pending

Piermont, New Hampshire - A place to try new things!

Even though it is April, and most of us are thinking about warming temperatures, spring rains, and seasonal allergens caused by blossoming trees, it is still snowing in New Hampshire.  At least it was in the small town of Piermont, where Brent and I stayed for the second half of our New England adventure.   

Our lovely hosts Alex and Kristy showed us all of the fun to be had in the country as the snow was starting to thaw.  First we went on a snowshoe expedition in the hilly forest behind their property.  This was my first snowshoeing experience.  Apparently there have been many breakthroughs in snowshoe technology over the years because our shoes didn't look like the tennis-rackets-strapped-to-your-feet that I picture when I hear the word 'snowshoe.'   Instead, they look like mini-sleds with metal teeth on the bottom.  When you walk through fresh snow with them on, it makes a sound like you're biting into a crisp apple.  I really liked it!

Brent, Alex, Kristy, & the neighbor's dog Toby, who followed us for the whole adventure.

Along our snowshoe route, we saw a variety of animal tracks in the snow.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the animals in person, but it was nice to know that they were somewhere close by. 

Moose Tracks

 

Wild Turkey Tracks 

 Otter Tracks! 

Otter Tracks on video!

Another great reason to visit New Hampshire in April is because it is maple syrup making season!  Alex & Kristy's neighbor, Ed, loves to make his own maple syrup.  He taps the maple trees in his yard, and hangs a bucket underneath to collect the tree sap.  When sap comes out of the tree, it is clear in color and has a very subtle sweetness, but basically tastes like weak sugar water.  In order to make it into maple syrup as we know it, you have to boil it down.  It takes 30-40 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.  Suddenly I was beginning to realize why authentic maple syrup is so expensive.  It is a very labor-intensive process.

Ed showed us his "sugar house", which is a cabin where he boils tree sap into maple syrup.  Ed's boiler was homemade.  It consisted of a barrel laid on it's side with a door in the front to load in firewood, and a flat pan on top that was about 6 inches deep, and divided into 3 compartments.   Ed pours the sap into the first compartment.  As it heats up, it begins boiling and moves into the 2nd and 3rd compartments.  The compartments create more hot surface area, and therefore make the sap boil into syrup faster.  It is still a very slow process and takes hours of careful boiling until the water evaporates. 

Once the sap has boiled down to syrup, Ed must remove it from the boiler quickly before it turns too thick and ruins his pan.  Many sugar houses go up in flames if the syrup is left to boil, unattended. 

Spigot at the bottom of the pan where boiled syrup is collected.

Ed has quite an impressive maple syrup collection.  He has over 100 containers! Many of them are tin and vintage.  I was really excited by the old log cabin syrup that actually comes in a log cabin shape!

Ed and me with his maple syrup collection.

Ed's collection has over 100 different kinds!

 Log Cabin syrup in a log cabin shape!  Awesome!

Our last Piermont adventure was one for the books! We went to Robie Farms to see how they make their raw milk cheeses!  We met Mark Robie, who showed us the giant bowl where they add the milk, enzymes, and rennet.  We also saw the press where the cheese is pressed into rounds.  The most exciting part of the tour was a visit to the cheese cave!  We bought the Toma and the Piermont cheeses, and they were both excellent!

Me inside the cheese cave!

So much delicious artisanal cheese! Brent can I build a cheese cave at your house, please?

Who would have guessed that there was so much to see and do in a very small New Hampshire town?  I had a wonderful time, and it was so great getting to know Alex and Kristy, too! 

Adventures in Vermont

Last week, Brent and I ventured to the faraway land of New England! When we arrived in Vermont, we walked down to Lake Champlain. I was told that some people call it the 6th Great Lake. As a Michigander, I take my Great Lakes pretty seriously, so I had to see for myself how great it was. It turns out it is a nice lake, but I wouldn't call it "Superior" to any of the true Great Lakes. Hahaha! Get it! I worked in a bad Great Lake pun. This is shaping up to be my best post ever!

It was really interesting and beautiful to see the ice of the once frozen lake breaking up with the spring weather.

Downtown Burlington features a lovely pedestrian mall called Church street. I got one of the most delicious mochas I've ever tasted from Lake Champlain Chocolates. Apparently, the bronzed saxophonist knew about the quality of the mocha, and asked me for a sip.

"Sorry, between myself and my chocolholic boyfriend, there isn't enough to share"

The next day, we went on a beautiful, snowy hike up to the top of Stowe Pinnacle. Sometimes I think hiking is just a fancy name for walking around in the woods, but since we needed hiking poles to get up the icy terrain, I think this trek definitely counts as a true hike. It was a perfect day, and the views were spectacular!

Watch out for Kelly Bears, though. We spotted one atop the pinnacle.

After our semi-strenuous hike, we were feeling hungry! Luckily, our intrepid host Ben knew just the spots to take us to sample some of Vermont's best local fare without having to pay a dime! Our first stop was in the adorable town of Stowe, at the Stowe Mercantile. This place is a free sample extravaganza! They carry hundreds of specialty products, and there were at least 30 different items available to sample around the store. I fell in love with their horseradish maple mustard, and Brent couldn't get enough of their wasabi peanuts and bittersweet chocolate sauce. We had to buy some, even though Ben insisted that we shouldn't feel pressured.

Next we went to the Cabot Cheese headquarters for some serious cheese tasting. They had samples of every cheese flavor they offer, along with samples of maple syrup and a few other specialty items. It was like my own personal Disney World. There was so much free cheese that I actually got to a place where I had enough cheese. This is probably only the second time in my life that this has happened (The first time being cheesefest '98 where my sister and I gathered everything cheesy in our house and nibbled til we dropped).  Brent loved the horseradish cheddar the most.  My favorite was the vintage cheddar aged 18 months.  Crumbly and perfect!  Yum!

Our host Ben doing his best cow impression.

After cheesefest '11, we walked next door to the Lake Champlain Chocolate store for some free chocolate samples. Everything was delicious! Needless to say, after all of the hiking and free goodies, Brent and I took the most epic vacation-food-coma nap I've ever had (excluding post-Thanksgiving dinner).

The next day, Brent and I headed back to Stowe for a cozy, small-town afternoon. We stopped by the Cold Hollow Cider Mill where we tasted delicious hot apple cider, and I found this corn bread mix that comes in the shape of an ear of corn!!!  Too cute!

Finally, we couldn't leave Vermont without stopping by the Ben & Jerry's Factory tour!  We weren't allowed to photograph the factory (for fear that Haagen-Dasz spies may have been among us), but we did get to see where the chunks, swirls, and flavors get added, and the vast tubing network that pumps 100,000 pints of ice cream through the factory everyday.  We also learned that one lucky B&J's employee is the quality inspector (aka taste tester)! Yum!

My first visit to Vermont was definitely action packed!  Thanks to Ben and Lori for their excellent hospitality! It was also very nice to meet their friend Jen!