Home - but still going

I've clearly got more pictures from the road trip to post, and plenty of more stories.  I only wish I had more time to talk about them.  I've found blogging to be fun, but with limited feedback, it can be a little lonely and have a feeling of self-indulgence.  I figure I have three options:

1) Take full advantage of self-indulgence because really, who cares.  Although, I suppose if I ever get a background check, someone might look into my blogged thoughts, so if I write about my cat all the time, it could come back to bite me.  See, I'm already self editing.

2) Post less often - reduce the pain.  Clearly, not an option

3)  Post more interesting things.  This would be an option if I had anything to say.  Maybe, just maybe more things are coming my way, but in the meantime, the best I can do is...

Garden updates!!!

This works for options 1 & 3.

The garden survived our absence, but with the heat on, it has been suffering.  The temperatures have been soring into the 90s (F) the last several days and the cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and beans are not happy.  However, the okra seems to love it.  This was the first time I'd ever seen okra plants or their lovely flowers.  In the image above, the flower is very washed out - photo people: how to avoid this with cell phone camera? - anyhow, it is a light yellow with a morning glory like shape and striking pink center.  The okra coming from the flower a short time later has been great.

Our sunflowers also greeted us home by being open upon our return.  Sunflowers seem to be a small planet for bees.  There almost always seems to be at least two on each plant and make for great viewing.  The flowers are about the happiest thing in the world and quickly erase a long day at work from my memory.  They're kind of like a hypno-toad without the guilt (see option 1 on posting strategies).

 

Today, we also harvested our second carrot.  Really, this is two carrots.  Something about amateurs in Virginia growing carrots always seems to result in cute vegetables; it is probably the clay.  In this case, the two carrots seem have wrapped around each other for what seems to be comfort.  Shhh... don't tell them they're going to be eaten.  At least they'll go together.

Newport, RI = Ralph Lauren Ad

After our trip to New Haven, we headed straight out to Newport, Rhode Island.  The drive was very nice, especially since Emily E. did the driving  :)

When we arrived, we found some sweet parking and walked back down to the pier.  I have really fond memories of my grandparent's taking me to Rhode Island and getting me Rhode Island style clam chowder, which I remember having no cream, but being more of a clam broth.  I remember it being rather good, the beaches being beautiful and rocky, and the air being salty.  I'm sure it has romanticized in my mind, but since the location of that trip, likely Point Judith, is debated, we made for Newport.  The restaurant, the Black Pearl, won a Rhode Island chowder contest and so it seemed like a good place for Rhode Island chowder.  I was disappointed.  The place was on a pier, we could see yachts, but hardly any water.  The service was curt, but whatever.  The prices were pretty extraordinary, but the biggest disappointment, was the chowder.

Note, the action shot.  The chowder was creamy, well seasoned and plenty clammy, but not Rhode Island style that I remember.  Factor in the $4.50 tiny Sam Adams, and I think I would have not recommend this place, especially for Rhode Island chowder.  To be honest, as New England chowder, it was very good.  The rest of Newport felt like a Ralph Lauren advertisement with the styles and the street layout.  Need more explanation?  They were getting ready to celebrate the America's Cup, a yachting race, so I was pretty out of my league.  The dude with the synthesizer, singing way out range at a little harborside bar helped put me back into a great mood. Eventually, we managed to find a beautiful sunset and had a very nice time.  Next time, we'll try Providence or Point Judith.

Also, there was this store which Emily E. wanted a picture of to celebrate Rodger, her boyfriend.

Ah, sunset pictures!  Don't tell anyone, we had to trespass to get this view.

Come On Down, Sweet Virginia

We're home again.  The cat is okay - thanks to Astrid.  We're pretty exhausted and I am way behind on pictures.  I have hardly even posted about adventures in Boston!  Anyhow, I've got steady internet, my computer up and running, beverages, and by tomorrow, a solid night's rest in a familiar bed.  There's going to be some blogging, some reading and some gardening to mark the nation's independence.  1,140 miles later (plus the driving that Emily E. did through Connecticut and Boston), I think we've earned it.  Happy 4th everyone - and I'll provide more closure on our trip over the next two days, along with more pictures.

Cripes! Providence!

We actually didn't make it to Providence, but we did have a great time getting some pizza at Pepe's. The quote comes from Rodger, Emily's boyfriend, who was considering meeting us in rhode island but clearly thought better of it. Emily joined us in Hartford and drove us down to New Haven - her company clearly made the trip more enjoyable as well as allowing us to order extra pizza. We followed up New Haven by going to Newport, RI. I'll post on that part of the trip later.

Pepe's was as good as I remember and then some. Bonus was that we didn't have to wait in line. We followed up the pizza with some classic Italian cookies at Libby's down the street. Then we ate the cookies at a Yalish park while messing with some pigeons. While in New Haven, we also toured the Yale art museum and spotted Victor Wooten, who is currently on a solo tour.

I have limited internet access right now so I'll do my best to post more details later. There are plenty of additional pictures waiting to find their way to the tubes from New Haven as well. I am getting a backlog of thoughts and pictures; blogging takes way more time than I thought it would!

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Here are some additional photos from New Haven and Pepe's pizza.

Ah, Pepe's, not at all round, but sort of round.  Mostly, just pure, pizza deliciousness.  The crust has a sort of chewy crunchiness that was enjoyed by all.  The cheese tasted fresh and the sauce was balanced.  All and all a great pie.  They call it a pie so I feel vindicated for my years of referring to pizza as a pie.

Emily, eagerly awaiting Pizza - looking spectacular, as always.

Emily E. and Emily digging into the pizza.  Thanks so much to Emily for driving us down here!  This trip was so much fun with you!

Does this qualify as an art shot?  It makes me feel things, hunger, joy, etc.  I mean, two of my favorite things: Emily and great pizza.  That's a spinach and mushroom pie.

Two pies ordered, you can see Emily celebrating the damage that we did.  Pizza leftovers for days, but we were stuffed.  

After pizza, we walked down Wooster Street, which is absolutely adorable, to Libby's Pastries. It felt unchanged since the dawn of time, or at least the 50s.  They had a great selection of cookies and other pastries.  Emily is holding pizza leftovers and 18 cookies or so.  

Wooster Street, New Haven.  Beautiful and charming.  Pepe's and Libby's are at the other end of the street.

After Libby's, we went to the Yale Museum of Art, which is free and open to the public as they like to say.  Yale has a beautiful campus with a variety of old, severe buildings and great common spaces.  The museum has a great collection of old and new, with some pretty major pieces.  To those in the art world, I apologize for telling you what you already knew.  To the rest, if you're in town for pizza, it is worth checking out.  New Haven seemed really nice, I have to say worth the visit.  

After the museum and a walk around town, we stopped in a beautiful park, played with pigeons and enjoyed the spoils of our Libby's raid.  See the joy on Emily's face - that is pure.

Soup Dumplings Make Me Philosophical

I'm getting out of order, but I wanted to post about the soup dumplings we had at Shanghai Joe's in NYC's China Town. I should start by saying thanks to my cousins Mark and Valerie for taking my Aunt Mira, Syd, my other cousin, my parents, Emily and me to this particular restaurant.  It was very good.  Before we got into the door, I heard they had soup dumplings, which I had never had before, and I knew what I wanted.  Years of watching Tony Bourdain travel in China had made me want this particular flavor bomb.  I call it that, because it is pretty much what you get when you take unctuous broth and put it into a not too thick, not too doughy, hot dumpling.  When you bite into it, the broth just comes out and you have the meaning of umami coating your tongue.  I could have not eaten anything else on this trip and I would have been happy - well, at least in NYC.  That said, we followed up the dumplings with an entrée that wasn't nearly as memorable as the fun I had playing with Valerie's daughter, Mia.

Part of the reason the other items were so forgettable I blame on the ordering.  No offense to those who were with me, it was what you wanted and I have no metaphorical beef - just the actual beef that was in the beans.  While I was trying to decide between the items with tripe and the fish dishes, a myriad of take-out chicken staples had been ordered along with some green beans.  The green beans were good, but sesame chicken, chicken and broccoli and the like could disappear from the earth and I don't think I would miss them.  

My feelings don't have anything to do with authenticity, they have to do with adventure.  I don't leave my home to eat because I want something I am familiar with.  I go out to eat because there is a chef who can do something that I can't (all credit due to Emily who does most of our in-home cooking).  We certainly have our favorite dishes at our favorite restaurants, but we always look for specials.  I mean, we were in China Town - a place where if we wanted to push it, we could have asked for a menu that would have been entirely indecipherable to me - even once I had the plate or bowl.  Maybe Joe's doesn't cater to that type of crowd, I don't know, but they did have tripe (which I've only ever had in Florence).  

There are times where you climb a mountain for a familiar view, but because you know it is a great view.  There are times you don't climb a mountain for a view because you're happy the view you've got, or your tired or don't feel like washing dishes, or your shoes or something.  However, if you're going to climb the mountain, get the view - don't settle for general's chicken, you know what you're getting and you are not showing respect to the mountain -  the chef.  Yes, I"m saying going out to eat is an adventure and only as rewarding as you make it.  I'm also saying, try the soup dumplings and the tripe!

I'll also quickly add that the night I'm writing this, I went out to a Chinese restaurant in Connecticut and got egg drop soup, steamed dumplings, and general's bean curd.  These, to me, were staples - not much of a view.  The general's bean curd was a little different though; I haven't had that flavor in years since it normally comes on fried chicken.  I don't think I'll miss it for another several years, although it was enjoyed.  I suppose in this particular case, there many views to be had.  It was sort of like eating in Iowa. 

Emily enjoyed the soup dumplings at Shanghai Joe's in China Town, NYC.

Quick Update and Agenda

Emily seems to be feeling much better.  We spent the day relaxing, caught up on some soccer and spent some very nice time with my grandparents.  Tomorrow, we're really looking forward to what was originally supposed to be the busiest day of the trip.  New York City may end up taking that honor; we'll see.  The plan is to meet up with Emily's friend, Emily (yes, also Emily - 1 of 2 scheduled to appear on this trip), go to New Haven for the pizza of my dreams, then on to Rhode Island, and finally up to Boston.  We're looking forward to every part but especially seeing Emily.

I'm really nervous that the pizza in New Haven will not live up to my memories and the hype of I've been giving it for the last 5 years.  I have to admit, aside from family and friends, it was a huge part of the reason for the trip at all.  We'll report back how it goes.

To keep you satisfied in the mean time and because I may not have any live posts for tomorrow, here are some great pictures from the Elizabeth Park rose garden we briefly visited today.

I love this picture of Emily out among all of the roses!

I should probably leave the artsy picture to others, but this was a pretty rose.  There were 1000s of them at the gardens.

My grandparents came, too. They found a nice bench to admire the roses from a distance.  Grandma came into the gardens for a bit.  I promise we didn't leave them there for too long - probably not long enough for their taste.

Emily under the arch of climbing roses.  These just kept on going.

I tried to get the scale of the rose gardens - I failed.  So many roses!

These were called Julia Child roses.  Emily is postulating that they're called that because they look like butter. They were very pretty  - but not nearly as good as making chicken.

A pleasant afternoon

Spending time with my grandmother is just about the best way to relax....at least until you get back on the scale. The food keeps on coming and it is always good. We could eat at any number of places, no matter how fancy, it'll never be as good add any meal with good friends and family.

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New Pictures As Promised

Today, we have a down day - relaxing with the grandparents near Hartford, Ct.  I've been trying feverishly to set up my grandfather's new computer and wireless printer.  I finally got some help from a fine HP technician in New Delhi.  While I've been working on that, Emily has been watching a little soccer (about to go to Penalites).  She's not feeling 100% but has been a trooper.  We're looking forward to going to see some world class roses this afternoon at Elizabeth Park, but probably not too much in the way of food.  We'll have more pictures of that later.

Anyhow, if I can figure out how, I'm going to put up a bunch of pictures with lots of comments.  Enjoy!

Above are a series of pictures from Pat's Steaks and Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia.  It was a fantastic experience with on of my best friends, Paul (a fabulous writer for the Delaware County Times - look it up).  He took us in and advised on types of sandwiches and ordering methods - highly crucial.  At Geno's we got the classic Wiz, yes cheese whiz, with no onions or peppers.  I have to say - the wiz is pretty good in this context.  At Pat's, I frantically ordered a Provo-Wit (provolone with onions).  If you don't order immediately, they send you to the end of the line.  Paul was good enough to coach me up so that I didn't make any mistakes.  I had a preference, and it wasn't the way I had expected it to go.  The whole experience was great and worth doing at least twice, so we'll be back.

Okay - lunch time, more pictures later.

Long day in NYC

After a long day in new york city, complete with the met, a walking tour of food sites, times square, and traffic jams, there is nothing better than nuts for nuts on the way home. They've sweet and crunchy roasted and candied. Easily among my favorites in the city. Although, the pickles, sopressata, and soup dumplings were pretty darn good.After a long day in new york city, complete with the met, a walking tour of food sites, times square, and traffic jams, there is nothing better than nuts for nuts on the way home. They've sweet and crunchy roasted and candied; they're easily among my favorites in the city. Although, the pickles, sopressata, and soup dumplings were pretty darn good. More pictures are surely coming wth my dad's help.

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Harold's New York Deli

Tonight, when we finally made it to new jersey, we met my aunt, cousin and parents at Harold's. The portions are enormous. The food is great. After dinner, this is the type of thing they have waiting for you. It was nuts, but then that's why you go there. It's too late to tell about all of the great things from today, and some of the not so great, so sweet carrot cake dreams to all.

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Test entry

This post is a test to see how blogging from a mobile phone will work

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Hello World!

Hello World. This blog is set up for Ethan and Emily to post what they would like to. For starters, we're planning on posting about our current road trip. We're happy to be on the way safely. Looking forward to more posts really soon.