coming attractions

I haven't posted in a while. I know. Relax it happens. This isn't the real post though. That's coming soon. So here's what to look for:

- comments on spending a week in Norwalk, CT (I'm not really going to comment on it, but that's what I did)
- a bc original recipe: roast chicken w/ fennel, carrots and a champagne and sage sauce
- the snakes on a plane trailer - have you seen x-men, yet? well, the snakes on a plane trailer plays before it, so make it to the theater on time
- notes on the massachusetts assembly

actually, I'm not going to post on any of that, besides the recipe, of course. I thought that this little piece would be a good enough stop-gap measure for another content deficient 36 hours.

a post about Maine

I've been in Downeast Maine for the past week, which is why I haven't posted. I've survived the trip (literally!) and would like to share some things.

Maine is not fun when it rains for an entire week. I was hoping to get in on a pick-up ultimate game in Bar Harbor on Tuesday but no one showed up because they don't play in the rain. Bar Harbor was a nice little town from what I saw as I drove in and then out on my way to/from the ill fated pick-up game. It had small shops which looked very much like how I envisioned a New England fishing town would. This was wholly unlike the towns I drove through the rest of the week which each had one "store." One local I talked to called one such location a "trading post." I guess that's pretty close to the original use of the place. Now each of them is a gas station/grocery store/restaurant/hardware store/drug store/bait shop/etc. In each I felt completely out of place.

My notes on the food and drink in Maine:
I ate plenty of lobster on the company's dime, so that was nice. I drank blueberry lemonade twice and it was great. I'm going to experiment and try to recreate it. Expect a recipe for the drink in the future.

Rose and I together dropped $100 for dinner at the nicest restaurant in Ellsworth called Cleonice. It was a Mediterranean Tapas bar. Most notable parts of the meal: artichoke pesto bruschetta, a fiddlehead fern sopressata and ricotta salata salad and the 2003 Vox Populi Pinot Noir. I'll probably make the bruschetta also at some point because it was so good. I'll post the recipe, of course. The salad was really good and its always fun to seasonally. Right now is the only time of the year you can get fiddlehead ferns. Go out and eat some! Right now. The wine was nice. It is from Romania and I don't think I've ever had a wine from there. It was very round pinot with good mouth feel and taste. Nice and dry. I don't think it stood out very much though. Its a fine under-$15 buy.

Ultimate frisbee video

I'm pretty sure I did this in a game once:

http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/mamabird/video/Beau_Jumps_Over_A_Guy.mov

So Improper in Boston

So Dave showed an ad in the Improper Bostonian the other day. Its for a strip club but it also very obviously contains a naked woman with naughty parts exposed. Thank god for blogs because I wouldn't have been able to find the picture otherwise:

http://www.puritancity.com/2006-04-11/the-centerfolds-ad.html

I cast my vote. I think you know how I voted.

Wine, a week later

As promised, here is the wine I had with Adam, Dan and Whitey. Whitey brought it so I can take no credit for finding it. I very much recommend it to you, though.

2002 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

I don't know much about Pinot Noirs so I probably didn't appreciate this wine for how good it really was. I don't remember about the flavor much now, but it was very smooth. It's a bit more expensive than an everyday-type wine, at $18, but its a great under-$20 buy. When I was in Portland a few months ago I had a couple of glasses of wine at a restaurant and I know that one of them was a very good Oregon Pinot Noir. I was to say that it was this one, but I really don't remember. Because I had ordered by the glass, I never got to see the label and seeing the label is really what helps me remember info about a wine. I guess we'll never know.

. . . . . .

I lost my glasses today at a barbecue at the Beacon house. I'm very upset about it, mostly because I rarely loss things, but also because getting a new pair is going to be quite a hassle. I'll have to make do with my sunglasses until I get a new pair.

I suppose there is still the possibility I will find my glasses. I'm going to go over there tomorrow with Dave and look through the backyard more thoroughly. Man, I hope I find those glasses.

Mango Salsa, etc.

My first many day long blogging hiatus! It's hard to get jump started after a break. Now I know why Dave hasn't posted in two weeks.

On Saturday Dan, Whitey, Adam and I made dinner with wonderful results. We made chicken fajitas w/ sauteed onion and red pepper, a mango-avocado-habanero salsa and black bean and rice. I'll try to replicate the salsa in my mind so that I can share the recipe. Maybe Whitey would like to do the same for his Tequila marinaded chicken. I'll post it when he gets it to me.

Mango Avocado Habanero Salsa

Materials:
1 large bowl
1 good knife
1 cutting board
1 set of latex gloves (optional)

1 mango
1 Haas avocado
1/2 a red pepper
3 scallions
1 habanero chile
1 lime
salt
black pepper

Dice the mango, avocado, red pepper and scallions. Mince the habanero extremely finely. If you have latex gloves you might want to use them while handling the chile. If you don't have gloves get some or be careful. Even washing your hands afterwards will not always get rid of all of the capsaicin. Touching any of your orifices for the rest of the day would be foolhardy.

Mix the salsa with the juice from the lime and a few pinches of salt and pepper. The longer the salsa sits the better incorporated the flavors will be.

Try the salsa on chicken fajitas, burgers, w/ blue corn chips, or, literally, anything else! Literally!

The salsa might be really hot. You've been warned.

Up next: the wine we had with the meal.