Oh yeah, that happened

It's been busy what with the holidays and all, so we've been in the swing of things with people to see and place to go.  Here's what's happened in the last week or so.

• Dave had a birthday party. It was fun and everyone showed up (except Ben because he forgot).  I made awesome cupcakes because I finally "applied myself" so Cindy can shut it. :)
• Dave's party was great until Mia made everyone leave because she kept farting and her butt smells like rotten eggs rolled in moldy bologna when she really gets going.
• I told you about Mia's meet and greet.  So we still have her.  Santa may or may not have gotten her extra gifts because of it.
• Dave had a birthday. He's old.
• Dave's cousin Mike and his wife Donna came to visit us on Friday.  We hung out for a bit, they spoiled Mia by letting her lick and give them kisses.  Then we went to Madaline and Ernie's house for dinner and had a simple Christmas evening with them.
• We took Mike and Donna to Nashoba Valley Winery at 10 am where we made them do the tasting before they picked which wines they wanted to buy.  In our defense, Donna was the one that suggested going there in the first place.  Note: Dave and I did not do the tasting, in part because we could still taste our toothpaste.
• Mike and Donna headed out to her sister's for a party, so we went to my aunt and uncle's house for their holiday party.  We were thoroughly entertained by a former Pan-Am pilot who had some pretty amazing stories.
• For Bud and Sandy's party, I made this appetizer because it was simple, cute, and I had all the ingredients.  One of the guests actually paraded it around the room before anyone was allowed to eat it so everyone could see how cute it was.  Then she let people eat and by the time it made its way back to the buffet, only one-third was left.  Hilarious.  Who knew?
• The Baltimore Ravens lost.  

I think that sums it up.  This week will most likely be the LONGEST.WEEK.EVER. and not just because Christmas is nearly upon us, but because WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!  On Christmas Day, Dave and I are flying to Charlotte where we'll meet my parents and my sister and her family.  We'll drive part way to Orlando on Sunday and then the rest of the way on Monday.  We'll meet my brother and his family in Orlando and spend a week with the Mouse (and friends).  It'll be awesome. I'm anticipating lots of blog fodder, if not from my family then from random people at the parks.  

Mia Meet & Greet

On Sunday afternoon, Nancy, her son and her mother came to visit Mia.  Despite being exhausted from staying up too late the night before to play during Dave's birthday party, Mia was eager--maybe a little too eager--to meet these new friends.

The family asked a lot of good questions, has experience with dogs and overall seemed like a good fit for Mia.  Nancy and her son were positively smitten with Mia, allowing her to lean in for snuggles and pets.  Mia was a little jumpy, just her normal excitement from meeting someone new, but eventually settled down. Nancy's mother was concerned about the jumping, and it sounded like a deal breaker.  We gently explained that Mia is learning how to behave and is entirely trainable.  We also pointed out how she was allowing Mia to jump, rather than being more of a leader and not let her jump, as Nancy was able to prevent Mia from doing so.  We had a nice conversation and answered lots of questions, even offering to use part of Mia's adoption fee to pay for a session with a reputable trainer familiar with Mia and our group.  The family left and we crossed our paws for good news.

Later in the day, Nancy texted Dave, apologizing for her mother's criticisms and explaining that she absolutely wanted Mia.  On Tuesday Dave and Nancy spoke more and Dave answered many more questions about Mia and her history, as well as ways to help Nancy's mother see how good Mia is (she doesn't bite, get aggressive or territorial, and loves people and other dogs her size).  Jumping is easy to fix, with proper training, and a very minor problem in the range of dog issues.  Nancy intended to speak with her mother on Tuesday night and outline the positives to get her on board with Mia.

Unfortunately, Dave heard from Nancy today that her mother wouldn't budge and therefore they would have to pass on Mia.  It's a shame because it would otherwise be a perfect living situation for Mia and they seem like a great family.  But it's also good that they are choosing to pass rather than try to make it work and risk either a bad situation or Mia not bonding with everyone.

We'd still love to get Mia a home for Christmas, but even if we don't, her forever home is out there and will find her soon.

Oh, I Set That on Fire Too

It occurred to me after I posted about my most recent oven-fire activity, that I also forgot to tell you about the other thing I set on fire last month.  Well, technically I didn't set it on fire.  But it did burn.  And it was again cookie-related.  What's really interesting is that I don't burn food--just stuff that shouldn't be burned in the first place.  Guess I'm just special that way.

So, again, I'm in the kitchen making cookies.  These particular cookies were covered with a chocolate ganache that I made in a small pot on the cook top.  Since I've got the electric stove and the flat cook top, I occasionally forget to turn off the burners (or I turn on the wrong burner. Like when I turned on the burner under the slow cooker and melted some of the bottom off. It's not my fault--when there's no flame it's hard to tell what's going on!).  Anyway, I took the ganache off the stove, prepped my cookies and went about my business.  At one point I used a potholder and when I was done I placed it on top of the stove.

Apparently I placed it on the burner that was still on (low) because a few minutes later I smelled something funny and turned around to see my potholder smoking.

Crap.

Before Dave could notice (luckily he was in the basement), I turned off the burner, turned the vent on high and took the potholder outside on the deck.

I texted out this photo with the message "didn't actually set the kitchen on fire."  When Dave came upstairs, I told him I needed a new potholder.  He asked why and I told him to look on the deck.

The good news is at least I didn't have the potholder on the burner with the plastic grippy side down.  The bad news is that I think these were a wedding gift (Sorry, Kate!  It was well used while it lasted!).

I've asked Santa for a new potholder.  Or a new stove.  Whichever fits in my stocking.

Oops, I Did It Again

I'm so late posting this, but last week was in.sane.  Just terrible.

So remember when I told you the story of setting the oven on fire?  And how I told you if it happened again I'd tell you.

Well, consider this me telling you I set the oven on fire again.

Not good enough, huh?  Fine, I'll give you the full story.

Despite the fact that Dave thinks I do this to convince him to get me an industrial oven, I didn't do it on purpose.  I waited until the day after Thanksgiving this year to spend the day rolling out all my cookie dough for shapes and cookie cutters.  I was nearly done with my Old Fashioned Sugar Cut-Outs and was rolling out Linzer Tarts when I glanced from my rolling station to the oven. 

Where I saw a spark.

Dave was in the kitchen, so I opened the door and sure enough, there was a flame sparking from the electric heating coil.  

Again.

Me: Fire!

Dave (upon hearing the proper word for the situation) popped into action.  I told me to turn off the oven and ran for the fire extinguisher.  After completing my task, I immediately thought of how to save the cookies cooling on the racks and the dough rolled out on the kitchen table.  Luckily, with no electricity, the sparked subsided then stopped without using the fire extinguisher (and more importantly, without loosing any cookies or having to clean up the mess from the extinguisher). 

And that's the story of how I came to finish baking cookies on Black Friday in my toaster oven, one painful sheet at a time.  Because I'm resourceful.  And because the appliance store was closed that day and Dave couldn't get a replacement coil until Saturday.

So Saturday morning, Dave calls the appliance store as soon as they open to make sure they have the part in stock.  Then he made me go pick it up and pay for it (at least I supported Small Business Saturday).  The guy at the appliance store was very nice, recognizing that he must have just talked to my husband on the phone.  I explained that since I was the one that broke it (again), I had to come and get it. 

Back at home with the new part in hand, Dave put my oven back together and the baking commenced.  Here's hoping I can go longer than 6 years on this one.


PS: Yes I was tempted to video the whole thing, but I didn't want Dave to yell at me.  Later he asked me why I didn't video it.  D'oh!

A Happy Lizzy Update

At Thanksgiving, Dave and I were commenting to his parents how the home we found for Lizzy was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have asked for a better family for her.  And then I got this message and photos.

Dear Colleen and Dave:

We are thinking of you both today because we are so happy to be sharing our first Thanksgiving with Lizzy.  She is such a wonderful presence in our home and we are so lucky to have her with us.  Lizzy has formed a special relationship with each of us in her very democratic style.  She is a real pal to Renee and waits for the school bus every morning and afternoon.  She loves playing with all of the kids in the neighborhood and has even made friends the dogs and cats on our road. She goes for runs every morning with Lee and patiently hangs out with me at home while I work - a real family dog! She goes everywhere with us and we just love her.  Lately she has even started to "find her bark" and is turning out to be a surprisingly good watch dog, for being such a sweet and gentle soul.  Thank you both for taking care of her and helping her to find her way to us. It was such a labor of love and we will always be grateful to  you.  Best wishes to both of you with hopes that you will enjoy a wonderful holiday season. 

In Gratitude,

Stella, Leland, and Renee

This is my favorite because it looks like Lizzy is laughing.

             

Mia Meets Santa

On Saturday, All Dog Rescue, the group Dave and I foster for, held a fundraiser.  Volunteers offered pet photos with Santa.  We thought this would be a good opportunity to take Mia on a car ride (her favorite), pick up some new toys (since she keeps destroying them), and get a cute photo (success).

Mia was a little nervous in the store.  She entered the store and met another dog and while things started ok, he scared her and we had to separate her from the other dogs to be safe.  She remained a little stressed out and was mildly distracted by treats and toys, but eventually Dave just took her outside until it was time for her picture. 

Now, bear in mind we are a volunteer group, so we have to take the help we can get.  Unfortunately our Santa, who was great with the dogs, has a baby face and couldn't really pull off the whole jolly St. Nick thing.  But that's ok because we still got a great shot of Mia that is totally going on her adoption profile.

Who could say no to a face that says, "I told Santa all I want for Christmas is my forever home"?  Or a face that says, "What's up with this Santa character--I don't think he's old enough to be out late delivering presents!"  Either way, Mia did have a good day, met some people, got some toys she loves and hasn't destroyed (yet) and even got fitted for a new harness to help her learn how to walk sweetly on a leash.  What more could a pup ask for?

Poor Little Raccoon

Way back when Dave and I had Panda, we picked up one of those stuffing-less squeak toys that had like 6 squeakers in it (one in the head, one in the tail, and one in each leg) thinking she'd love it.  But the thing with stuffing-less toys is that the dog can't just poke at it and make the squeaker go, like Panda loved to do with her Lovebug.  So the toy went unused by Panda.

Then we got Taco and he was all "Dude, this thing's as big as me.  And I'm afraid of squeakers.  And I'm all about getting the stuffing out of these things.  This toy sucks."  So back in the dog supply bag it went.

And Lizzie attitude about the whole thing was "I don't do toys.  I'm just going to lay her and drool."  So still the raccoon sat waiting for someone to play with it.

But we knew Mia was into squeak toys, so last night I dug the raccoon out of the bag, hoping she might be interested.  Interested doesn't quite begin to describe it.  She jumped around once she saw it and tried her best to get it out of my hand.  When she calmed I let her have it and she was in heaven.  She squeaked away, chewing the raccoon's head and tail, tossing him up in the air, giving him a good shake (to make sure he was dead) and carried him all around.

While Dave and I ate dinner, she took the raccoon into her crate and began the process of trying to pull off his tail.  When she was bored with that, she worked on his head.  I couldn't resist, so I pulled out the camera.

Besides the eye becoming a snack, she also managed to pull the squeaker out of his head (along with the little bit of stuffing that was in there).  I successfully swiped the squeaker without her realizing--the last thing we needed was a trip to the animal ER for a squeaker removal.  At least the eyeball should "come out" some time today.  (On a side note, when Dave picked up Mia, he was told that earlier that day she had eaten some crayons.  Sure enough, that afternoon she pooped a rainbow.)

After cleaning up all the detached (and available) raccoon parts, Mia spent the rest of the night destroying him a little at a time.  Eventually she did get his tail off.  Oh the humanity.

So now she had a faceless, tailless raccoon with 33% less squeakers.  I think Dave and I need to invest in some stronger squeak toys.

Meet Mia

There are barely any words to describe her cuteness, so I'll just let you look at that photo for a bit.


Done?  No?  I'll wait.


Ready now?


Ok, let's get started.  This is Mia and she's the new little fur-friend wandering our house and yard.  Mia came into our foster group this past May and was fostered by another volunteer.  In September she found what she thought was her forever home. Unfortunately, the family wasn't the right fit--they had two small children and while the mother was home during the day, she had difficulty with training and couldn't figure out how to help Mia behave on her leash.  They lived in an apartment complex with a lot of other dogs and Mia couldn't quite figure out how to play with them since a lot of the smaller dogs were afraid of her.  So the family made the decision to put her back in foster care until her for real forever home is ready for her.

Dave picked up Mia from her temporary family on Wednesday and brought her to our home.  She was great in the car--in fact she loves car rides.  She came with Dave to train station to pick my up last night and I didn't even realize she was in the back seat until a cold wet nose met my arm and then she licked my hand.

A boxer/pit bull mix (just like our sweet Chiquita) and almost 2 years old, she is of course very smart and very loving.  She basically just wants to be near her people and is curious about everything going on around her.  When I got home, she just leaned up against me while I leaned over and pet her.  Much to my surprise I got my first kiss right on the mouth when she popped up and licked me. (Really--my first kiss!  We've always been pretty good about not letting the dogs lick our faces since we don't want to encourage those habits if their forever home doesn't want that.)  While she's highly food motivated which will make for great training, she was by my side while I prepared dinner.  Not in an annoying "please feed me what your making" way, but more like a "Whatchya doin'? Are you going to pet me and love me and pet me some more?" kind of way.

She's crate trained (although she was a little whiny when we shut out the lights and went to bed last night, she calmed down after a few minutes), house trained, and knows some basic commands.  She needs some impulse control training and to learn a little more for "stay" and "leave it" but she certainly knows what we mean when we tell her to get off the couch!  We'll also have to teach her not to pull on the leash, but all of this should be pretty easy because she listens really well and wants to please us.

Finding her forever home might be tough--we'll certainly be very particular about the family that want to adopt her.  We want her to go to her home and stay there this time around.  Until then, I think she'll just stay close to Dave when they're at home.  She has a bed in all the rooms she's allowed in, so she can be near him all day long.

Cleaning Out

I don't usually make fun of my parents here, but this one was just asking to be blogged about.  And it'll probably be another week until my mom notices this post, so by then it will be far too late.

This past weekend, my sister, Amy, and her family were visiting my parents.  As usually happens when my sister and I visit our parents, she found herself cleaning out their fridge as they tend to not pay attention not care forget about what's in there.  Since Dave and I will be visiting them this weekend, Amy felt compelled to tell me about her findings. The following is our text conversation:

Amy: I'm throwing out cream cheese with a June 6 2010 expiration date from mom's fridge.  You are welcome.

Me: You are a saint.

Amy: What about sweet hot mustard with a date of 9/10/06?  Seriously?  How could that have slipped by us in the past?

Me: That's exactly what I was going to say.  We just did this in January.

Amy: So it has been in the pantry for 5 years?

Me: I don't know which is worse.

Amy: This is all one piece of candy.  Even stuck to the sides of the tin.

Me: Bwahahahahaha.  Thank you.  For real.  Do you think she'd be mad if I blogged about this? ;)

Amy: She has no idea I have done this.  I think it's pretty funny.

Me: So would J.R.  And since she won't have wireless until we get there, it will be a while until she notices.

Amy: Heeheehee...the candies are Harry and David; she can't throw them away.

Me: Yup, that'd be it.  Ooh, what about the rock candy on the window ledge above the island?  Did we toss that yet?

Amy: Dad is in the kitchen right now. I'll check. There's also a tin of Christmas cookies still unopened.  Plastic seal still on it even.

Me: Those may have come from Grandma.  Which means Mom had a chance to toss them but didn't.

Several hours later, I got this update.

Amy: Rock candy is gone.

We tease because we love.  Besides, what else would we talk about if we couldn't poke fun at our mom?  Love you, Mom!

Three & a Half Days

That's important, but I'll get there in a moment.

It all started last Thursday, October 27th.  The weather reports called a for a bit of snow, nothing major.  Dave picked me up from the train station and as soon as I got in his Jeep, giant, fat flakes started hitting the windshield.

Did I mention this was October?

By the time we'd finished dinner and cleaned up, our yard looked like this.  Why, yes those are Halloween decorations.  And no, they aren't covered in snow because we left them out until December.  In fact, Halloween was still a few days away.

We'd made our plans to go out with friends to dress up in our costumes and celebrate Halloween for Saturday night.  A few people were going to come to our place first and then we'd meet others for dinner out before heading to various bars and parties.  We wanted to enter and win as many costume contests as possible.

Before people arrived, Dave and I decorated our pumpkins.  We picked these little guys up from the orchard that afternoon and since they were too small to carve, we got a little creative.  Aren't they adorable?

I made the one on the left and Dave made the little guy on the right

But then, well, I'll just let the video explain it.

So the snow kept coming.  Rachel and John arrived first, trying to get to our place (they came in from closer to Boston) before the snow got too heavy.  Then Stacy arrived, apparently just before her family lost power at their home.  Finally, as the roads got worse with the heavy, wet, slippery snow Nick made his way to our house.  Decked out in costume, we were finally ready to meet Cindy and Keith for dinner.

Nick and Stacy as a 1940's lounge couple

Why, yes, we are the Scooby Doo Mystery Gang.  Minus Scooby Doo.  Minor detail.

We left a little earlier than we'd anticipated because Cindy and Keith lost power before they were finished getting costumes on, so we moved up the timetable.  Might as well find a place with lights and heat, right?

We piled into Dave's Jeep (someone may or may not have been relegated to riding in the tailgate) and with the 4-wheel drive, we were able to get to TGIFriday's in one piece.  While the roads were rough from the snow, luckily there weren't a lot of people out so Dave, per usual, made his own lane and went around all the people that forgot how to drive in the snow.  Because it was, after all, October.

Supposedly TGIFriday's was doing a costume contest.  I say supposedly because at this point we were the only 8 people in the restaurant, other than staff, dressed in costume.  And there were probably only another half dozen tables even seated.  Like I said, not a lot of people were out.

Cindy turned herself into a cutie cupcake! She has sprinkles, too.

Keith had a professional do his make up for the Joker from the hospital scene in the Dark Knight.

We ate, drank, and were merry and for the first time, someone in our group won the costume contest!  (Bound to happen, but who knew we would need these circumstances?)  Keith won, which was awesome.  He even earned a Best Buy gift certificate to celebrate.

Two things: 1) Cindy looked delicious and 2) I'm not actually touching her boob.  Seriously.

At some point the power surged in the restaurant and as we looked out the windows, all the lights in the shopping plaza were out.  Slowly they came back on, but it was rather ominous.  Snow plows cleared the parking lots and surrounding roads, but the snow continued to come down hard and heavy.  Stacy attributed the power surge to the power lines reacting to the snow, "And the power lines were like, whoa!  It's October."

We decided to head back to the house and forgo our plans to hit up other bars--the roads were just too bad.  Cindy and Keith attempted to hit up one party (inspired by his win, Keith hoped to get there in time to enter the costume contest and double down).  Slowly made our way home.  I didn't really notice much other than the snow on the highway and the few cars on the road.  I honestly can't remember if I looked at the mall or other shopping plazas we passed.  But when we got into our community, it was that weird bright darkness of being black skies and the moon reflecting off thick white snow.  We pulled onto our street and that's when Dave and I both realized the bright darkness was eerie not because it was so near to Halloween, but because there were no artificial lights softening the darkness.  Power went out in our neighborhood too.

Our poor little maple tree doesn't normally touch the ground.

This storm was rough.  All night we heard the crack of tree limbs and in a few cases heard them fall to the ground, or worse, onto cars, sheds and homes. Luckily Stacy moved her car just before we left. Otherwise, a huge branch from our neighbors' tree would have landed right on her windshield.

The roads were rough, it was getting cold, and we knew everyone would be spending the night with us, unable to get home, so we needed a plan.  Dave called his parents.  They still had power so he decided to cautiously hit the road and make his way to their house and borrow a generator.  The guys headed out and Rachel, Stacy and I stayed back buried under blankets and listening to the trees crack and fall.

The whole scene reminded Stacy and I of a recent winter storm.  Three years ago there was a massive ice storm that hit Central Massachusetts.  People, including Stacy, were without power for up to 2 weeks.  That was the week before Christmas.

This was October.

Dave's parent's town also lost a lot of power by the time the guys arrived.  There were lots of downed trees and wires and it took Dave three attempts to fine a clear path to his parent's house.  When the guys arrived, Madaline and Ernie had just lost power, but they actually have two generators and hadn't yet winterized their camper, so they generously let their little generator go off into the night.  In the morning they would wake up to find a tree across their driveway.  So it was good that Dave didn't wait until morning.

When they came back, Dave got some heat and hot water running and we all prepared to bundle up and go to sleep.  I keep stacks of blankets in the house, so everyone was comfy and warm through the night despite the temperature drop to about 30 degrees.  The heavy, wet snow packed down on itself, but we suspect there was about 14 inches out there. (October.)  In the morning, Dave brought up the heat.  The day before I'd mentioned to everyone that I'd planned to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.  But since I don't have an electric griddle or a gas stove, that went out the window when the power ceased.  I do, however, have a waffle maker so I still came through with a hot breakfast for our weary crew.

The sun was shining and bright. Since Dave and I were the only ones who had the appropriate gear (why would anyone think to pack snow boots in an overnight bag in OCTOBER?) we cleaned off cars, snow blew (?) the driveway and shoveled the walks.  Stacy and Rachel did my dishes.  It was a win-win. 

After the storm.  Still October.

Since the roads we clear and drying quickly, everyone was able to make it home safely.  We still didn't have any power, but my husband is awesome.  For most people a power outage would mean they could not longer be connected to the world and things like watching football would seem trivial compared to heating your home.

I am not most people.

See, on Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers played the New England Patriots.  Being a Steelers fan in another market is difficult because I don't often get to see the games.  But upon seeing the schedule for this season, I knew I was guaranteed at least this one glorious game.  Something as minor as not having power was not going to stop me.

Dave and I decided that since we have beer, whiskey and blankets in our house, there was no need to run the generator for heat between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm, when the game was on.  So we sat in our darken home, watching our television feature the Steelers' dominance over the Patriots.  It might have been my favorite game ever.  (Especially after being at Heinz Field for last year's match-up).  We definitely confused the people driving down our street who slowed down and looked in our window.  I presume they were scratching their heads wondering how in the world we got our cable to work with no power. (Answer: We didn't.  It's called an antenna and it's what the world used before Comcast took over. Get one.)

So we spent the next 3 days using the little generator that could to cycle between the heat, the fridge and the TV.  We took showers and had hot meals and generally made it work. It helps that Dave is Mountain Man and is always prepared, too.  Throughout those days, a chorus of generators sang in the whole neighborhood and the pungent odor of burning gasoline permeated the air, but those of us that road out those powerless three and a half days rejoiced when at 10 am on Wednesday the lights came on.  Dave, who was home (I'd gone to work), was tempted to run around and turn on everything he could.  But he restrained himself and instead called his parents and invited them to come take showers.  They ended up getting their power back on Wednesday evening.  Cindy and Keith got theirs on Wednesday night.  Stacy got her's on Monday afternoon, but she deserved it after being out over the holidays for 12 days just a few short years ago.

So now we're back on the grid.  Since we managed so well, I think I'm most appreciative of being able to do my hair in the morning (those few days at work, I was looking pretty rough) and being able to see my food when I eat.  We have black plates and bowls, so I was never sure if I finished my meal.

All the leaves are still on the trees, we've had over a foot of snow already, and this better not be a premonition for the winter to come.

After all, this was October.

Boogie Woogie Woogie

Success!  After losing power for over 3 1/2 days we're back on the grid.  I came to work today (and yesterday) and am happy to report that we now have power again following the outage during the freak Halloween weekend snowstorm that also interrupted our Halloween party plans (but we still had a great time.  More on that later--now there are other things to tend to.) 

Ohhh, That's Why I'm Drunk

A couple weeks ago, Dave and I had a chance to meet my uncle and his partner for dinner.  We had a great time and I was feeling very posh because we went to a very swanky restaurant in Boston.  Since I leave work at 4 pm, I knew I would get there before Dave and everyone else, so I invited a colleague of mine, Beth, to head to the bar and have a drink while I waited.

Being my poshest, swankiest self, I ordered a Maker's Mark Manhattan.  I drank vodka in my twenties, so I'm starting to turn to whiskey, which my Irish heritage is appreciative of.  Unfortunately I don't know many whiskey drinks.  Except what my mother, who is a whiskey drinker, always ordered when she was feeling her poshest, swankiest self (which is pretty much always).  And since I was in a posh, swanky place, I didn't want just any whiskey, I wanted the good stuff.  Which, again following my mom's orders, is Maker's Mark.

The lovely bartender made me a lovely drink and I enjoyed it.  (We'll ignore the part where I sat at the bar and changed from my flats into heels which I had pulled out of my purse. Again, I was posh and swanky.)  The drink was large, to say the least, but for $15 bucks it better be.  The cherry at the bottom was quite intoxicated in and of itself and no I did not trip when I got off the barstool yes I ate lunch and no I don't need help going down the stairs thank you very much.

Finishing our drinks, Dave and I said good bye to Beth, met my uncle and headed to dinner.  Where of course I ordered another Maker's Mark Manhattan.  And proceeded to have a lovely evening being very posh and swanky and ordered delicious food, had wonderful conversation and laughs and enjoyed the poshness and swankiness of this uber-cool restaurant.

At the end of the evenings, we said our goodbyes and Dave and I made our way to the subway to get back to the car and head home.  On the subway I turned to Dave.

Me: I think I might be a little drunk.

Dave: Really? You think?

Me: I'm going to text people in the car.

Dave: No.  You're not allowed to text anyone.

Me: Why?

Dave: Because you're drunk.

Me: Can't I just text Amy?

Dave: Ok, you can text Amy.

Me: And Cindy?

Dave: Amy and Cindy but no one else.

Me: Fine.

Dave, being of his faculties, drove us home and I proceeded to sit in the passenger's seat texting Amy and Cindy very deliberately: I'm drunk and Dave said I'm only allowed to text you.  Then I decided to text Lisa too because Dave would never know. (Oops.  Cat's out of the bag.  He's probably going to take my phone away from me next time.)

Cindy was at first concerned that I was sad-drunk as in I tried to wash away my worries with booze, but then remembered I had gone out that night.  Then she was quite sad because she wasn't drunk with me.

Amy didn't reply until the next morning because she had somewhere in the range of a dozen 8 year old boys playing laser tag in her backyard for my nephew's birthday.  It's ok, I forgive her.

Lisa asked me how I was so drunk, quickly followed up with the more important question of How are you so drunk before 9 pm?  I told her it was because I had 2 very large beverages containing nothing but alcohol (at this point I'd forgotten they also had fruit--so they must be healthy, right?), but the definitive answer should have been Because I started at 4 pm, what are you waiting for?

Me: I don't understand.  I mean, I guess 30+ more years of drinking helps, but my mom never got this ripped on 2 drinks....ooooooooohhhhh.

Dave: What?

Me: My mom always drank Manhattans on the rocks.

Dave: Yeah, that will make a difference from the pure alcohol.

Me: Funny.  She never ordered them that way. I've never heard her order a drink on the rocks.  They just show up with ice in them.

Fast forward two days later when I share this with my mom.

Mom: You did what?  I'll bet that knocked you on your ass.

Me: But you never order them on the rocks.

Mom: I always order them on the rocks.

Me: I swear I've never heard you say that phrase.

Mom: Every. Time.

So, apparently I didn't learn to drink from my mom even though I thought I had.

And I promise my brother will make fun of me for this because I can usually handle more than him.  Except I'm pretty sure he would have been done after one of these iceless wonders.

"I Don't Like It"

Last month I got a deal from Living Social for two tickets to the the AppleFest at Wachusett Mountain, including a ride on the chair lift to the top of the mountain.  It sounded like a good way to spend an afternoon, so I bought the tickets and hoped it would be a beautiful day.

Well, yesterday was gorgeous, although windy, and it really was quite lovely to spend sometime outside.  Much of the AppleFest is vendors, crafters and local artisans, but there were some interesting displays, music and the like.  We watched a chainsaw artist work on a bench for the ski lodge.

We also had a chance to check out the Bengal tigers.  Although we were in between shows, it was clear the tigers were pretty stressed out.  Except for the one that decided to lay in the sun and take a nap, they were all pacing and never settled.  It actually made me a little sad, wondering what they must be going through.

They had a German buffet but we ended up passing on it because Dave is afraid of sauerkraut.  Instead we saw the giant pumpkins brought in for the Great Pumpkin Weigh-in.  Imagine how many pies, breads and cookies I could make with this thing!

We also saw a father and son juggling act.  They were pretty good (better than I would be) and the one trick that the father messed up on, he insisted on doing right, so it was nice to see someone admit their mistakes.  He's on a balance board with a cup of water on his head juggling knives in the wind. 

Eventually we wandered over to the ski lift and got on.  And that's when I remembered, I don't like heights and prefer to have my feet safely planted on the ground.  I don't ski, so I've never had a reason to be on a ski lift before.  Dave skis this mountain pretty often and clearly had no issues.  The video pretty much says it all.

We got off a the top to check out the view.  We've hiked up here before and there were an awful lot of hikers there already. 

It was a gorgeous day, despite the wind on top whipping pretty good.  The view was relatively clear, and although we were 50 miles away from Boston, we could still make out the skyline on the horizon.  That is if I had been able to see the screen on my camera when I took this shot.  It's still a beautiful day though.

Then came the fun part.  Taking the chair lift back down the mountain.  At least going up I felt like the ground was getting closer to me.  Going down wasn't as nice (and I think it's pretty clear that going up wasn't pleasant either).  It occurred to Dave that he'd never gone down a ski lift either, but he certainly didn't seem to mind.

Despite being in sheer terror for part of the day, it was a nice event and we had a pretty good time.  We shared a homemade raspberry turnover that was delicious and I was even able to pick up some maple sugar for some cookies I want to make.

But no, even if I had the coordination and desire to ski or snowboard, I don't think I'll be getting on a ski lift anytime soon.

Happy Ending

A little lesson in protecting your pet and why you should get your dog microchipped.

This past March, Mary Lou, a woman who fosters for our group, All Dog Rescue, took in a 9 year old pit bull who she started calling Marta.  She's a sweet dog, but unfortunately there were no applications coming in.  Finally last week, an application came in and Mary Lou set up a meet and greet for Saturday.  And then, on Thursday, we got a voicemail from a woman claiming Marta was her dog.

Turns out, Marta, whose given name is Lexus, was stolen from her owners in July 2010.  They'd searched for her to no avail and pretty much gave up.  Then this past week they were on Petfinder.com looking for a new dog and came across Marta's listing.  So they called and after some fact checking, Mary Lou made arrangements for Lexus to go home.

Lexus' owners hadn't microchipped her. If they had, when she was taken in by animal control, they would have scanned her and gotten her home.  But since she came to our group, she's chipped now and will always be able to get back home.

Mary Lou did a great job and was able to get the local news to cover the story.  Here's the video from when Lexus was reunited with her family.

The Best Random Day Trip EVER

When I realized how far up into Vermont we would have to drive to get Lizzy to her new home, I started wondering what else we could do in that direction to make the trip a little more palatable.  So I looked at the map and I thought about places and things in Vermont that Dave and I like and tried to find some overlap.  Lo and behold, we lucked out.

Being a novice baker, I have been wanting to visit King Arthur Flour, ideally for a class, but even just to go to the bakery and store.  Luckily King Arthur Flour was minutes off the interstate we used to get up through Vermont.  And better still, the Harpoon Brewery was only about 20 minutes from King Arthur Flour, a few minutes off the same interstate, a little further south. Since Harpoon is Dave's favorite beer, I knew we would have to stop.

While driving towards Lizzy's new home, I mentioned to Dave that we would have to stop at a roadside stand of some sort to get real Vermont maple syrup.  As a huge maple syrup fan (I haven't been able to buy anything other than the real stuff since we moved in together), he agreed and we kept our eyes peeled for the right place.

About 15 minutes from our first destination, Lizzy's forever family, we spotted a sign on the side of the highway for Cabot Creamery, indicating it was only 5 miles away.  We agreed we should stop and see what it was like.  So after leaving Lizzy with her new family, we got back in the car and headed to Cabot, VT.  The town is quite quaint and soon we found the Cabot Creamery, including a factory store.

We went inside and started looking at all the local Vermont goodies and then Dave noticed that they offered a tour.  Since it was about to start and was only $2 per person, we joined the group.  The tour started with a short film noting the history of the Cabot Creamery and farm co-op.  It was pretty cool to learn how they started, the quality they require of their farmers and what they do with all the milk, curd and byproduct.  They actually return the water drained off the cheese to the farm fields, putting nutrients back in the soil, and then of course the cows are eating that naturally enhanced grass.

Then our tour guide Tori told us all about the different cheese products and types they make, including some limited items that are only available close to the creamery.  She was very thorough--I had no idea they were so specialized in certain types of cheddar.  She then took us a on a quick trip through the plant, showing us the machines that make cheddar cheese (from curd to package) and another machine that, at the time, was filling 16 ounce packages of sour cream.  The video actually showed us one of the machines, the one that lifts the finished boxes onto the pallets.  I had to comment on it when Tori asked if their were questions because it was painted like a cow. (I asked who painted it.  She said the company that made it sent it like that.  How funny is that?) So of course when we saw RoboCow, I had to snap a picture.

After the tour we went back to the store to sample some of the cheeses.  We tried to behave ourselves since we hadn't yet had lunch, but I did have to get a second taste of the Buffalo Wing Cheddar and Dave was amazed at the limited batch of Classic Vermont Vintage Cheddar.  So of course we had to get both.  And then a few more.  We could have done a lot worse, but ultimately this was our haul.

I don't know if it was the lack of food or just being happy from finding a random place to stop, but outside I goofed off a little.

Moo.

We got back in the car, quickly got back on our route and decided it was time to stop for real Vermont maple syrup.  We'd passed a sugar house on the way up, so when we came near it again we pulled in and got exactly what we wanted.  The sugar house itself wasn't very exciting, but we knew it was the type of place where we would get "the good stuff."

Now it was time for me to get excited.  We were on our way to King Arthur Flour.  In true Vermont fashion, this company is 100% employee owned and really turns out some quality products.  Their recipes are amazing and I understand they have wonderful classes.  Ideally, I'd like to take a class there sometime, but stopped by the store was a fun introduction. 

King Arthur Flour is undergoing a huge expansion, building up their Baking School, store and bakery, among other things  The project will be done sometime next summer.  Guess I'll be holding off on that class until then!

Inside the store, I found myself completely mesmerized by all the different ingredients and tools. all of the thoughts running through my mind of what I could potential make with some many tasty morsels.  Dave was very patient with me as I slowly and methodically went around the store (literally around--the store is a giant circle!), placing things in my basket.   I'd warned Dave that I planned to fill my basket, but then promised to go back through it and buy only the things I wanted most.  Which I did.  My final purchase was only a fraction of all of my wants.

Indeed there actually were specific items I knew I was going to purchase, like Fiori di Sicilia, an extract-like flavoring that gives a unique "secret" ingredient flavor.  I also ended up getting maple flavoring and cinnamon oil, among a few other things.  Items that did not make the cut were the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion cookbook and the mini cheesecake pan, but not I have a reason to go back.  On the plus side, they were running a special that day so I got 15% off my total purchase, which was like getting the cinnamon oil for free!


Happy with my King Arthur Flour swag, we got back in the car and headed toward the Harpoon Brewery.  Dave had been there in July for their BBQ festival with his friends Ben and Nick.  They'd gotten a brief tour, had some beer and ate some good food.  Dave asked if I wanted to do the tour, but I wasn't sure if they would be offering one, based on the information in the pamphlet I'd picked up at the Visitor's Center that morning.  We'd planned on grabbing a bite to eat since they have a pub-style restaurant and we were famished.  We'd left around 8:30 in the morning and other than the stop for nibbles of cheese at Cabot, the only other sustenance we'd had was a bag of peanut butter M&Ms.  

Inside Harpoon, Dave used the facilities and I started poking around the store with all the hats, T-shirts and what not.  I was just about to go to the hostess stand and give our name for a table when I heard a woman holler to the crowd that anyone going on the tour should line up at the door.  I hesitated, not sure if I should hurry and buy tickets for the tour or if Dave wasn't interested.  Just then he came out and I told him the tour was about to begin and did he want to go.  So we ran over to the register, got tickets and headed to the door.  They carded us, gave us tasting glasses (that's always a good sign) and the tour began.  Dave's tour back in July was only an abbreviated version, so this was definitely a treat. 

I'd like to stop for a minute and appreciate our tour guide who, while admittedly having trouble with math at the moment, almost didn't give me a glass because she didn't think I was 21.  And then realized by birth year was 1980, not 1990, and that even if it was, since my birthday is in February, I'd be 21 anyway.  Looking back, I kind of appreciated it because when I'm with Dave I never get carded at all, let along questioned about actually being over 20.


Cat and Dan, our tour guides, gave us an amazing tour.  Having gone on a brewery tour before, we kinda knew how beer was made, but the history of Harpoon and the unique things they do to make their beers was pretty cool.  Local farmers actually take the brewery's used mash for feed for local cattle (no wonder the cheese tastes so good up there!).  Plus Cat bubbled over with personality and energy and you just know she loves her job.  Along the way we had some samples.  First was a swig of unfiltered IPA.  IPA is Dave's absolute favorite, but I usually don't care for it.  But this unfiltered stuff was great.  And super cold.  Cold beer is happy beer.


Cat had filled a pitcher of the unfiltered IPA and then started given about 2 ounce pours to everyone.  With beer still left in the pitcher, she started handing out seconds.  Who was the first person she refilled?  Dave, of course.  There were probably 15-18 people in our tour, and there was a couple standing near us. The woman leaned over to Dave and asked him if he liked IPA.  He said yes and she asked him if he wanted hers--she hadn't tasted it because she knows she doesn't like it, so she just poured it in his glass.  Dave made a beer friend!

Later on in the tour, Cat brought us another sample, this time of the filtered IPA.  And yes, the entire scenario I outlined above was repeated.  Exactly.  At this point Dave had 6 tastings to my 2.  Of his favorite beer.  Lucky duck.

Finally, the tour concluded with a sampling frenzy as Cat described the 10 or so beers they had on tap at the moment and Dan offering to pour us as many samples as we'd like to try.  I tasted the UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen and the UFO Pumpkin.  Both were super yummy, and as Cat described, the pumpkin tasted like "liquid pumpkin pie."  Dave tried the 100 Barrell Oak Aged Dunkel and the Leviathan Imperial IPA, and another one I was forgetting.  Clearly he had so much beer, I was starting to forget things.  Or it could have been the fact that in 8 hours I'd only eaten cheese and candy.  One of those.

So to the pub we went!  The restaurant is the Riverbend Taps and Beer Garden and the food is classic pub fare of burgers, sandwiches and fried things.  We each ordered UFO Pumpkins and then tucked into an appetizer of chicken tenders served with amazing french fries and an awesome ranch dressing.  Again, in true Vermont fashion, ingredients are local where possible and out sandwiches were actually served on King Arthur Flour bread.  Everything was delicious and a leisurely dinner was truly was the perfect way to end the day.  With stomachs filled and our beer buzz subsided, we headed back home.


So let's recap: In a little over 12 hours, we drove to Vermont, adopted out dog to a wonderful family, visited a creamery for a tour and tasting, got real Vermont syrup, visited the King Arthur Flour factory for perfect baking ingredients, toured the Harpoon brewery and got lots of samples and a great dinner.  Yeah, I'd say that's not bad for a random road trip.