Mini Vacation: Burlington, VT

A few weeks ago, we escaped to Burlington, Vermont. I had been there only once, when I interviewed at the University of Vermont in 1992. In typical Erin-style, I had no memory of ever being there.

We were blessed with beautiful weather, and even got a little sunburn in April -- in Vermont! But mostly, we ate and enjoyed some much-needed relaxation.

Our Garmin GPS has a mind of her own, and she took us a bit off the beaten path as we traveled north, weaving through many miles of beautiful farmland. I had only a couple of must-do things on our trip, and one was to go to Mary's Restaurant at the Inn at Baldwin Creek in Bristol. Little did I realize that we had driven right past it en route to our hotel in Burlington. So, back we went though the miles of beautiful farmland to eat at this wonderful restaurant. The re-trip was well worth it, but that sort of "oops!" theme dominated our trip. I've never planned so little for a trip before, and will be much more diligent next time -- as is, you know, look at a map.

Mary's Restaurant:


Pedestrian Church Street on a warm afternoon:


How different my life would have been if I went to college in Burlington. I mean, there's no sailing in Bosto -- wait a minute...


The Flavor Graveyard at the Ben & Jerry's Factory (another "oops" moment that took us hours off-course):

Ice Storm

John and I left early Saturday morning for a weekend trip to Boston. As we packed our little suitcase, our conversation went something like this:

Him: I was thinking of taking the Pike to Boston and Route 2 home from Boston. [You see, we're very tired of the turnpike...to the point where it sucks the life out of us. Er, me.]

Me: Well, it's a beautiful driving day today, and we don't know what tomorrow is going to be like...[clearly]...so we should take Route 2 today. It'll be fun!

Him: OK.
___

So, yeah...we have a small pile of unopened newspapers from the latter part of last week, and once we saw that John had school on Friday, we thought that the storm forecasters had really gotten it wrong.

They didn't. The storm just happened to miss us, and for that we are very lucky and grateful. Below are some photos from the early part of our trip on Route 116 through Cheshire, Savoy, and Windsor, Massachusetts. Absolutely everything was encased in glass-like ice, weighing down trees, powerlines, signs, and even blades of grass.





(Even apart from the storm, this was the worst route yet that we have taken across the state!)

Natural Bridge State Park

On a beautiful mid-October day, my friend Laura and I set out to find the Natural Bridge State Park somewhere off Route 8 in North Adams. We had a hard time. Our GPS could find neither the street nor the park, so we just winged it and drove to where we thought the park might be. Luckily, there were signs, and we found it with little difficulty. Unfortunately, we arrived 15 minutes before the park closed, so we had only those 15 minutes to figure out where this "natural bridge" was.

I'm not sure we ever found out? At one point, we asked someone where it was, and she implied that we were standing on it, so...hmmm. I'm just going to say (until we make the trip again in the spring) that the park consists of big hunks of rock (very scientific) that continue to be carved by the flow of water. There are all sorts of deep valleys in the rock that you pass over on narrow fenced stairways, and you can see the water flowing below. I'm assuming that this water sculpted what is now the "bridge"?

Ugh, I'm sure Laura would agree that we would have learned more if we weren't so afraid of getting locked in the park overnight! Anyway, here are a few pictures of the park:

The path upon which we ran through the park:


The water carved a valley beneath us:


We think this white rock is the "bridge" — it extended around to the part upon which we were standing. Very bridge-like!


There were areas for picnicking and leaf-peeping, too:


This was pretty much the last perfectly autumnal Berkshire day of 2008:

Hairpin Turn

On a lovely fall day, we parked at the hairpin turn on Route 2 in North Adams. We had taken Route 2 from Boston when we moved to the Berkshires, and it wasn't until we drove through Florida (the town) that I remembered John would have to navigate this crazy-sharp turn in a giant U-Haul. He told me afterward that his hands got all sweaty. Yikes! It is easy to see why:


In our Corolla, however, it was a very pleasant trip:

Lunchtime Walk

Although my new workplace building appears to be somewhat isolated (apart from a nearby Dunkin Donuts), it turns out that the center of Williamstown is only a short walk away. I recently changed my work hours, making for a 1/2 hour lunch, but a few weeks ago I was having to kill an hour at lunchtime. The walks were great — but getting out early is much better! 

Here are some photos of "downtown" Williamstown, Williams College, and the Williams College Museum of Art:

Pie-Oh-My*

I was honored to have been invited to the home of my dear friends, Senta and Karen, last night to see folk-singer Taylor Pie perform live...in house concert!

I was only slightly familiar with her music, having previewed some tunes online last Christmas, for which I bought Senta one of Taylor Pie's CDs. Senta has long-remembered Taylor Pie, or "Pie," from the time she spent singing and songwriting in the Berkshires in the 80s. After last night, I am joining Senta and her family as fans of Pie, for sure. It was a cozy, beautiful evening.

Taylor Pie will be performing in (non-house) concert next Thursday, September 25th, at the American Legion in Pittsfield.



*Die-hard fans of The Sopranos might recall that Tony's horse was named Pie-Oh-My. John and I are in the middle of watching Season 4 right now...slightly obsessed!

Weekend Outing: Windsor Jambs

John and I have really been enjoying our proximity to places of outdoor adventure. We wanted to go for a bit of a drive for a day trip, and it seemed that all of the exciting places to visit were right around the corner!

With our handy Garmin, we arrived quickly at Windsor Jambs...kind of. I found all sorts of conflicting information as to which Berkshire town this forest resides. Finally, I plugged in a nearby address and we followed signs. Weird!

We arrived at the picnic area and walked around a bit, then decided to follow the hiking trail uphill to the jambs. I had been to the picnic area once before (when I was about 3 years old), but had never returned and had never seen the tumbling water of the jambs. I was on a mission...only we couldn't find the trail! So, we drove to the jambs and hiked around the trails there. Ah, well...


Windsor Dam (not to be confused with Windsor Jambs):

The Jambs:

I experienced a total flashback when we first arrived at the forest. I was standing by the edge of the pond and saw all of the tadpoles swimming in the sunny, warm part of the water. Suddenly, I remembered looking at the tadpoles 30 years ago in that very spot. (Actually, I had forgotten all about tadpoles!) I did some photo research when we got home, and here was the proof:


Um, you'll just have to trust me that this photo was taken at Windsor Jambs with the tadpoles. Anyway, click here for a few more photos from our adventure.

Little Fish in a Little Pond

Who knew that starting a new job in late summer meant that I would score a second company summer outing?! My first outing this year was to catch a Lowell Spinners Game (in Lowell, of course), and my second brought me to Laurel Lake in Lee for a bass fishing tournament, competing against six of my very new co-workers. (Sadly, my camera battery was dead when I arrived at the lake, so I've included a couple of cell phone pictures.)


I shared a boat with my remaining co-workers, and I quickly learned how to cast a line (and how to avoid getting snagged by someone else's cast line in tight quarters). I had gone fishing many times, many years ago with my dad, but we used a different technique. (I won't dispel that technique here, just in case it's his secret weapon — similar to the secret ingredient in his famous beef stew.) Proudly, and somewhat amazingly, I caught the first three tiny fish for our team.

It was a hot day, and apparently fish don't like the sun. Well, and we ran out of worms. My successful morning with the ol' hook and worm soon turned to hours of uneventful casting with some kind of fancy lure that made a rattle-y sound (do fish even have ears?). Early afternoon events included casting my line into a tree and getting a pretty bad sunburn on my chest.

Alas, here is the trophy our boat's team did not win. So close...if only one of my fish were a little bigger!


I got to keep my new rod and reel, and I now have a giant tackle box of goodies. I'd go out fishing again, but I need someone to help me put the worm on and take the fish off!

Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival

Apart from the long and scenic drive to the Adams Recycling Station, John and I took our first day trip today to attend the 13th Annual Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival in Bennington. Mostly, I was on a mission to try garlic ice cream (as promised in our local newspaper), but my taste buds were useless by the time we found the ice cream after having tried countless varieties of garlic in all its forms (raw, pickled...). The garlic ice cream, then, just tasted like vanilla.


In our 2007 CSA farm share, we received a bag of locally grown garlic. It was small and dark and a bit difficult to free from the garlic head, but it was really wonderful. I roasted it, and made Chicken and 40 Cloves, and used it in everything I cooked. It had never occurred to me before today that there are different kinds of garlic. In retrospect, this seems stupid, but I got to taste the different varieties today, jabbing a toothpick into tiny (spicy!) raw pieces of cloves. I decided to take home a bunch of the larger Porcelain variety, which I purchased from Mud Road Farm (of St. Johnsville, NY).


Aren't they cute?

Beijing 2005

During my 2005 trip to Beijing, we were able to peer over a wall near Tienanmen Square to catch a glimpse at the construction of buildings for the 2008 Olympics. It's difficult to imagine that part of the city being the focus of positive international attention, particularly since not even 20 years have passed since the massacre that took place there. (For some context, a member of the Chinese military tried to knock the camera from my hand after I took the photo below.) Perhaps in 2021, New York will have healed enough to host the Olympic games in lower Manhattan. Of course, they, too, would have to oust a couple million people from their urban dwellings to make room for gigantic complexes that will too soon be empty.

I had the opportunity to visit the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona in 1996 — only 4 years after they hosted the games — and it was a ghost town. Quiet, creepy and sunny. My only hope for the 2008 Olympics is that the future utilization of these buildings was decided upon and considered throughout their design and construction.

That's right, I don't give a crap about Michael Phelps. I didn't know who he was a week ago (I don't think I'm alone here), and although I am in awe of his ability, NBC has done too fantastic a job of overpromoting the image of him...and his mother. I watched (part of) the opening ceremonies. There are approximately 10,500 athletes competing in these games. Why do I keep seeing the same 5? I find NBC's coverage to feel constantly contrived and difficult to watch.


Um, anyway... Traveling to Japan and China was a lifelong goal for me. As I have not previously posted the photos from my trip on my blog, I thought that this was an appropriate time. Please click here to see select photos from my trip.

Lowell Spinners vs Staten Island Yankees vs The Gator Pit

My 3rd annual company summer outing brought us to the Lowell Spinners game — in Lowell, of course! After a brief downpour en route to the stadium, we arrived with empty bellies to find the Gator Pit in full force. We loaded our plates high with grilled meats and picnic fare and pondered going up for seconds.


It was a wonderful last night out with my work pals — and the Spinners won! (More photos here!)

Mom's First Game at Fenway!

It was my mom's birthday exactly 11 months ago yesterday. For that birthday, we presented her with a series of gift certificates — one to be enjoyed "sometime next week" (a restaurant gift certificate), one for "sometime next month" (a spa gift certificate), and the last one for "sometime next year" (a promise to get her to Fenway for a 2008 game). At last, she was able to cash in the "sometime next year" gift yesterday.

We were prepared, as much as I despise the entire concept, to buy tickets from a ticket broker. I lucked out, though, big time — after entering the MLB drawing for tickets to one of the Yankees series, I was able to get 4 tickets together for the sunny game yesterday...for face value...$12 per ticket.


It was pretty hot, but we were blessed with the occasional cloud and sea breeze. Mom got to see JD Drew's home run, did the (seated) wave, and participated happily in the 7th Inning Stretch. I took a bunch of photos, of course.


We left early in order to beat the crowds (the Sox were losing pretty badly, anyway), and headed to Kelly's Roast Beef at Revere Beach. Mom and Dad got to see the ocean, and get some awesome summertime sandwiches for dinner. It was a great day.

Eddie Izzard, Stripped (Me of $120)

OK, that's not even true. In fact, Eddie tried to help. It was the ancient Orpheum Theatre in Boston that did this past April. Since leaving the theater angry that evening, I have had "Write Letter to Orpheum" on my to-do list. Of course, it has been pushed to the end of the list repeatedly by such things as "Pick Up and Move Across State."

I am not one to threaten the writing of a letter without seeing it through, so this has been weighing on me a great deal. I want to mention, as well (particularly because I have a reputation in my office for continually contacting the Starbucks Coprorate Office about the unfriendly employees downstairs — which I've only done once!), that I often take time to send complimentary letters. To give an online nod to these businesses, I have sent such letters to Boloco (an awesome, growing, green, local burrito place), Tully's Coffee (whose cheerful employees made my day one rainy Saturday in Seattle), the Pine Street Inn (whose work cleaning the area around the Holocaust Memorial I am very grateful for), and McDonald's (where I received unexpectedly friendly customer service). McDonald's replied via email to my recent comment:

Hello Erin:

Thank you for taking the time to share your complimentary comments with McDonald's. It's a rare person who takes the time to compliment. Thank you for being that person!

Every McDonald's restaurant employee is trained to provide our customers with the best-possible restaurant experience. This includes providing fast, accurate and friendly service, and serving outstanding food quality in a clean and pleasant restaurant environment.

Please be assured that your nice comments will be shared with the franchise owner and restaurant team of the McDonald's you mentioned. I know they'll appreciate the time you took to share your comments with us.

Again, Erin, we know you have many choices when making your dining-out decisions, and we truly appreciate your choosing McDonald's. We look forward to serving you again soon under the Golden Arches.

Jennifer
McDonald's Customer Response Center

So, you see, I try to keep these sort of things in balance.

It would be wrong if I didn't contact the Orpheum about my experience there. Below is the letter that I am dropping in the mail today:

Orpheum Theatre
1 Hamilton Place
Boston, MA 02109

July 24, 2008

Dear Theater Manager,

I am writing to inform you of my experience at the Orpheum Theatre on April 30th of this year. I purchased two balcony tickets to Eddie Izzard’s performance on that date via Ticketmaster for a total of $118.55. My order number for this purchase was XXXXXX. I found your contact information on the Better Business Bureau website.

I have attended many theatrical events in Boston and throughout the world. These seats at the Orpheum were the worst seats I have ever been sold. Because of the pitch of the seating in your theater, the view from these seats (Balcony, Row T) is 100% obstructed. There is no warning of this obstruction when purchasing tickets, and the lack of view of the stage is certainly not reflected in the price. I would never have purchased tickets for obstructed seats, and I remain embarrassed to have unknowingly subjected my friend to the aggravation of trying to see the stage from these balcony seats.

I could not remotely enjoy Eddie Izzard’s performance, despite being a long-time fan. He is a largely physical comedian, and the inability to see his performance made only for frustration. Throughout the show, I heard complaints from many other people in the balcony section. In fact, at the beginning of the performance, we were also unable to hear the performance. It took a frustrated person from the balcony section to stand up and shout to the performer, himself, that we could not hear. Thankfully for us (embarrassing for you), Mr. Izzard responded kindly to her yell and adjustments were made.

There does not seem to be the same retribution for the sale of bad experiences as there is for the sale of bad consumer items. Obviously, I can’t “return” my experience, despite holding the receipt. My bad experience at the Orpheum was completely the fault of the theater, and I feel I am writing this letter on behalf of a number of people who felt very taken advantage of following this performance.

Because of the 100% obstruction of the stage from my seats, 100% frustration for the duration of the show, and my 100% disappointment following a much-anticipated performance, I am requesting a 100% refund of the price I paid for these two tickets: $118.55

Thank you for taking the time to address this situation.

I will be sure to follow up on my blog if the Orpheum follows up with me. Please post a comment if you had a similar experience at the Orpheum.

Free Slurpee Day!

If you're reading this on Friday, July 11th, it's not too late! It's "Free Slurpee Day" at 7-11, where you can fill a 7.11 oz cup with the your favorite flavor(s).


I've always been more of a Slush Puppie person (which I often confused with Hush Puppies when I was a kid), but I wasn't about to let this opportunity slip away!

Scooper Bowl '08

What could be more fun than the all-you-can-eat ice cream extravaganza that is the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl—in 93 degree heat?! Nothin'.

According to the official website:

The Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl is the nation's largest all-you-can-eat ice cream festival. The event serves up ice cream from 11 of the nation's leading ice cream companies while raising money for the Jimmy Fund, which supports cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Six of us headed over to Boston's City Hall Plaza before noon, and I think we successfully beat the major crowds. Many scoops were had (here are scoop carcasses from just one of us)...


...and here are our individual reviews/ice cream picks:

Erin M.
Overwhelmed by the 11 ice cream booths, I have now forgotten who made the coconut almond fudge ice cream that I would like to declare as my favorite.

Kelly
I'm all about team building....as Mike would say, "Ubuntu." I'm going to have to say my favorites were Birthday Cake and the Light Raspberry from the second tent we went to. Yummy.

Erin K.
I always knew I liked coconut, which is why my favorites were the chocolate coconut almond AND the coconut pineapple. If I HAD to choose, surprisingly, the coconut pineapple would be my favorite. It reminds me of summer! Secondly, I like how the scooper bowl really just knocked down the doors of inhibition for us! We were freely dipping our spit-covered spoons into each other's ice cream dishes like there was no tomorrow! It was definitely a team building exercise, if nothing else!

Anne
I concur on the dipping/sharing part. My favorite flavor hands down was the lemon sorbetto. With it being soo hot outside the icy lemon was a refreshing treat - so much so I went in for 2!!!

Meira
My fave was the Brigham's one....duck tracks....or something like that. That had delightful mini peanut butter cups and really good tasting vanilla with chocolatey swirl. Oh so good!

Bill
Interestingly enough, Erin and I had the same favorites. I would have to say that they were followed closely by the lemon ice that we enjoyed at the beginning and the end of our team building exercise. I thought it was important to use the word exercise so we don't feel guilty.

Ellis Paul, Raw

I was invited many months ago to see Ellis Paul's performance last night at the New Moon Coffee House in Haverhill. The invite came from a major fan of his, and I was excited to finally hear his music—it was a great performance at a very interesting venue (a Unitarian church that has been hosting folk performances for 20 years).

On our way to Haverhill, we stopped in Beverly. Hmmm...


OK, when we made the plans, I thought Beverly was near Haverhill (in the same way that most people seem to think that Pittsfield is near Amherst). Guilty. The reason for our detour was to dine at Rawbert's Organic Garden Cafe, where they prepare vegan meals with almost exclusively raw ingredients. My friend, Meira, had described her previous food experience there and I was intrigued.

The food was really flavorful and filling. I think this is largely due to the use of fruit and vegetable dehydration to achieve different textures, making for dense, concentrated flavors. Our appetizer was (vegan, raw) Margherita Pizza. The crust was made from (I think?) a combination of grains and dehydrated vegetable pulp (the byproduct of juicing), the sauce was made from concentrated tomato puree, and the cheese was made from nuts. It was really very good!


Meira ordered the most interesting (and incredibly tasty) entree—Nut Butter Squash Ravioli with Cashew Alfredo Sauce—the pasta of which was made from dehydrated beets. It was sweet and rich and really beautiful!


I had a horrible time deciding on a meal, and resorted to The Sampler (as well as nibbles from my friends' plates). I enjoyed the interesting flavors of the Thai Dumpling (sunflower and sesame seed, celery, carrot, fresh herbs, ginger, galangal root, lemongrass and other exotic spices), and found the raw hummus to be some of the best I've ever had. To make it, the chickpeas are soaked until they sprout, at which time they are tender enough to blend into the delicious, garlicky spread.


A perfect match for the sudden summer weather, we ordered Cucumber Lime Coolers sweetened with agave nectar. Agave is the same plant from which tequila is made, and its nectar, I just learned, has a low glycemic value.


Raw foodism isn't a movement I plan to join in full, although I appreciate the value of consuming fruits, vegetables, and nuts as near as possible to the time they were pulled from the ground—an added benefit to growing your own food.

Kala and Rob's Berkshire Wedding

I was, well, honored to have been asked to be Matron of Honor in the beautiful wedding of my friend Kala last weekend. As I blog, she and her new husband, Rob, have another week remaining of their Mexican honeymoon—nice!

The title of my blog looks strange to me—only because both Kala and I are Berkshire County natives. It seems like it should just read "Kala and Rob's Wedding." (This reminds me of a friend's question to me after I returned from a trip to China—he said, "So, do they just call it food there?") Anyway, the Berkshires actually played a significant role in this wedding. The hills offered a picturesque backdrop, and the crazy Berkshire weather did have an effect on the planned outdoor ceremony (this did not diminish the smile on Kala's face in the slightest!), but perhaps that was to be expected. Less expected was the decision of the bride and groom to name the tables after the famous cottages of the Gilded Age that populate the county. Researching this information and creating the table name cards was one of my (few!) duties as Matron, and I learned a lot of Berkshires history in the process. Mounting the cottage name and information on thick antique gold paper was a shiny, money-saving alternative to the copper frames we were originally planning to use. Below is the card from our table, The Mount—Edith Wharton's foreclosure-facing estate and gardens:


I also designed the programs for the ceremony, which incorporated both Italian and Jewish wedding traditions.


Many of the Jewish traditions were explained in the program, and I wanted to use the actual Hebrew words next to their English counterparts. This was unexpectedly problematic, basically due to a coding incompatibility between Unicode and InDesign. Although I had several Hebrew fonts on my Mac, and Wikipedia was a great source for the Hebrew words I needed (and my friend, Meira, knew enough Hebrew to make sure that Wikipedia got those words right), each word I cut from the web pasted in reverse letter order—not a mirror image—in InDesign. So, for example, the word "blog" pasted as "golb." It's an easy fix when you speak the language, but shuffling foreign letters around can be scary. This was further complicated by the accent-like vowel marks (nikkudot) that separated from the consonants to which they were attached when I tried to move them around. Oy vey! I solved this problem by converting the type to outlines (losing ability for edits), carefully rearranging the letters, and placing the new type image next to the English type. Perhaps there is an easier way?


This wedding provided the opportunity to participate in one of my strangest projects so far. The mother of the bride broke her foot not long before the wedding day—this, we thought, was tragic for a woman that was a constant presence on the dance floor at three other weddings this year. Of course, there's nothing that a few painkillers and some sparkly fabric can't cure! (Note: I am waiting to receive a photo of the glammed-up immobilization boot - in the meantime, here's the mother-of-the-bride's ceremony get-up...too funny!)