A Proper Connecticut Winter

I think snow days are more fun for grown-ups than for kids. I mean, what, as a kid you only get out of schools (which going to school can be, admittedly, pretty bad), but as a grown-up, you get out of work!

I have to give a very belated shout-out to the guy on the pub who recognized me from my blog, that was very nice of you. As Homer Simpson said, being famous means that people know who you are, but you don't know them!

So, I apologize for not writing in so long, but I have many, many things to cover. Until then, enjoy this lovely video of a fine Connecticut snowfall:

Farmington Flood Footage

From the Courant:

A water main break could keep Farmington Avenue closed between Sigourney Street and Sisson Avenue through the evening, a Metropolitan District spokesman said this afternoon.

Crews on the scene are working to temporarily shut down water service to fix a 20-inch water main reported broken about 2 p.m. today at the intersection of Farmington Avenue and Gillett Street.

Matt Nozzolio, an MDC spokesman, said crews are prepared to work through the night to repair the break, snarling traffic on the busy street during the evening rush hour. An undetermined number of residents may see some water service interruptions due to the main break, Nozzolio said.

we're one and two of that undetermined number, unfortunately. I hate not having water, especially that flushing thing.

On the upside, I got some footage (sorry if the video is a little spotty):

You Brought Them Here! YOU YOU YOU!

So many of you have heard about the squirrels, the "night squirrels" and the various other forms of wildlife that populate the apartment trees and lawn.

But we have something new. Crows. Which is awesome.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xIV8_x_V48


"it's a Murder of Crows...."

AYEE!!!! WTF, Advocate? I Thought We Were Friends!

Seriously. This is the stuff of nightmares.

I appreciate the Hartford Advocate. I love it, in fact. But note to Advocate, PLEASE in the future do not add to all the Nightmare Fuel I already have running around in my head. You are not helping. It's on the cover for Chrissakes.

Damn, I still have not purged this from my memory the effin rabbit from the Twilight Zone Movie. Jesus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaWWImBFMCM


(9 minutes and 40 seconds in is where the devil bunny appears.)

Game Dinner Part II!

Here are the rest of the pictures from the awesome Game Dinner at the Half Door! For some weird reason, I lost the photo of our beer host, and I am really sorry about that. He did an AMAZING job pairing the beer, and I want to give credit where it is due.

He's promoting a new restaurant, Fraiche, in Fairfield, that promises to be excellent. We will see, right?!?

So the top photo is the famed fried pumpkin, which was astonishing. And they gave us THREE of them!!! The beer for the dessert round was champaign without bubbles, but in a good way. A superb beer. The ice cream you see in the middle was sage-flavored, which may sound weird but I just love the combination of sweet+savory.

Then the other photo is all the beer we had, courtesy of our next door table neighbors, who kindly collected all the bottles for us to take pictures, and also kindly weren't phased in the least that I was taking photos of all the dishes.

And there's your author and Dr. Pete, full of happy food and beer.

So...next up....Halloween! Standby!

Game Dinner!!!

So last night was the Half Door Beer & Game Dinner, which I've been talking about for ages and was, as hoped and expected, amazing. The above photos, in order, are:

1. Hard Cooked Quail Eggs w/ Montana White Fish Caviar on Crostini, paired with Weihenstephan 1809 Berliner Style Weisse

OK, these little suckers were delectable. I only had, oh I dunno, 6 or 7 of them. I mean, how often do you get a chance to have quail eggs? I mean, really! The beer was nicely paired with the egg. Apparently, as per our host & emcee, Brendan, this was the style of Berliner Weisse before Napoleon's troops ruined it. That's Napoleon for you, always ruining stuff.

This dish was the second-best in my opinion. I could totally go for a quail egg right now. I could make the world's tiniest omelette.

2. Fried Frogs Legs with Tarragon Sauce, paired with La Brasserie des Franches Montagnes La Meule

I wish I could say I totally remember what I wanted to say about this beer. It, as all the others, went very well, some better. The frog's legs were awesome, like an unholy union of a fish stick and a chicken finger, like think if the Gorton's Fisherman ran off with Colonel Sanders, only better.

3. Turtle Soup au Sherry, paired with Birreria Baladin Sour Nora 2005.

This pairing was inspired, absolutely. Brendan outdid himself picking out the beer. I tried this incredibly complex, ancient-style beer and thought, "No way is this going with a rich, hearty and complex soup," but I was completely wrong. While the soup was not my favorite dish (probably my least favorite, but I hate saying that because I liked everything), with the beer it just sang. The beer, with its unusual mead-y like character and hints of savory, was a gorgeous mid-dinner addition.

4. Grilled Ostrich Rounds w/Leek Risotto, paired with Brouweij de Glazen Toren-Cuvee Angelique

The ostrich was my hands-down favorite, and the beer was a great pairing. The strength and nuttiness of the beer complimented the red-meatiness of the ostrich. So good, so pink!

(side note: I'm starting to feel like Homer Simpson when he became a food critic and liked everything. The he became a jerk and that dude tried to kill him with a deadly eclair. No deadly eclair for me.)

5. Almond Crusted Antelope w. Porcini Cream & Blue Cheese, paired with Biurrifico Montegioco Demon Hunter

Well, I'm not much of a mammal eater, so I only had the tiniest bite of the Antelope. Dr. Pete was a fan, as he consumed BOTH portions! I have to say, I loved this beer, and not only because of the kick ass name and kick ass label.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.birrificiomontegioco.com/Immagini/Demonhnter%2520big.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.birrificiomontegioco.com/demonhunter.htm&h=440&w=400&sz=34&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=Vb_SrUeEP4r8HM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbirrificio%2Bmontegioco%2Bdemon%2Bhunter%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN


The spiciness of the beer, however, held up nicely against the antelope without overpowering it.


Dessert and other pictures are going to be coming up in a later post, as Blogger only lets me upload so many images.

You'll have to just wait for that friend pumpkin pie....as well as photos of the beer, our beer host, and yours truly + Dr. Pete!

The Humps, the Humps, the Lovely Tavern Lumps

So this weekend was the Nook Farm Harvest Festival. As many of you all know, Nook Farm used to be the name of this immediate neighborhood. Anyway, we started out the day by, of course, going down to the Half Door to watch a game (Peter) and struggle with the massively difficult Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle (me).

So like I think I've said, tomorrow is the Beer and Game paired dinner. (Squee!!!!) Dr. Pete and I noticed that not only was the bar closed tomorrow for the event, but for several days thereafter. For the ever frightening description of "renovations."

Come to find out, they are getting rid of their lovely barroom lump (pictured above, with glasses on it). Sigh. Legend has it that the lump started as the tiniest crack, and proceeded to grow, imperceptibly, into the small hill pictured. You actually can rest a glass on it, but it is not recommended that anyone over a certain amount of alcohol consumption do so.

[Legend Type Singing]
Many a good drink has gone down that way
O'er the lump in the bar when the drunken men sway
[/LTS]

Hey, and there's one of our bartenders! Isn't he attractive?

So then it was off to the Nook Farm thing, which was mostly over by that time (we missed the roving Mark Twain impersonator, damn), but caught these lovely ponies on tape. So, as a reward, PONIES! And yes, apparently all I can say is "ponies."