Another Direction

If the January Adventures were North and South it only seemed right to make February Adventures move East and West.

We started out by heading Down East to the Morris Estate for our Annual Valentine’s Day weekend.  We arrived Friday evening along with Dan and Liz Manz to begin the celebration.  Friday evening was a simple, relaxing time with us beginning to share stories and toasts over some grilled salmon, steamed asparagus, and a mushroom risotto.

Saturday was then a day of preparations and the big event.  The ladies headed out to look through some antique shops and to have a nice lunch out while we guys did some shopping, picking up flowers, and then to start decorating and cooking…we did manage to get out for a nice lunch as well.

Our menu this year was one of de-construction—taking a recipe, breaking it down into the standard components and then putting it back together in a different way.  Since the menu didn’t provide a clear theme we decided to focus on construction—putting things back together.

So the table was put together with the construction theme…



and we guys dressed for the part…obviously safety shoes were optional…



Then we got into the meal…

For an appetizer we started with a form of onion soup.  It was de-constructed into a thick onion soup…then rolling thick bread chunks in the liquid…covering with gruyere cheese…then baking and serving with skewers…a big hit!



Then it was on to the soup course.  In this case we re-constructed a lobster bisque recipe.  We took the meat out of two steamed lobsters, used the shells to make a stock—from which we made the bisque—put the meat into bowls with the bisque in a pitcher and let the ladies put it together.

Next we had the salad course…a de-constructed Caesar salad.  We brushed romaine lettuce with olive oil that we had infused with garlic and put them on the grill to wilt and blacken up a little.  Then we served the lettuce with shaven parmesan cheese and whole anchovies.

We then moved on to the main entree…de-constructed beef wellington.  The plating was a base of thinly sliced sautéed zucchini, topped with garlic mashed blue potatoes, with medium rare tenderloin on top of that, and the final piece was a puff pastry shell filled with duxelle (sautéed mushrooms) and shallots.  Finally we squirted on a red wine reduction with the left over pan juices from the beef…a few glaze carrots on the side for color…
        
 
Dessert was individually built ice cream sundaes.  I was too busy eating them and recovering from the other courses to take any pictures of them…

Another great Valentine’s Day meal for our Valentines!

The next day we all slept in a bit before getting on the road for Connecticut and Vermont.  Now we need to start planning next years.

The following weekend we headed to San Francisco.  I had a Planning, Design and Construction Conference taking place and Cheri came along with me to enjoy some time out west.

We arrived on Saturday and found out that one of the largest Chinese New Year parades outside of China was taking place that night only a few blocks from our hotel…so of course we went.

Sunday we spent some time doing a walking tour of the Italian section of San Francisco, led by Blondina (her real name)…she is somewhat a throwback to the 60’s.  After the tour we walked around the waterfront area as well…

The conference went well and ended up just after noon on Wednesday.  Since we were already in the area  we had decided to spend a few extra days and travel up to Napa and the wine region.  Our friends Jack and Stephanie Gosselin came out and met us for this part of the Adventure. 

Since we were in sunny California we decided a convertible mustang would be the right kind of car for us.  Of course that meant the ladies had to get in the back…plus Cheri and I had packed for a week plus some business clothes…so some of our luggage needed to be in the back seat with them…and off we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge.



Our first stop on the other side of the bridge was in Tiburon for some lunch.  We had a great view back across the bay and a very pleasant way to start a few days off.

The view from our lunch table.

We arrived at a three bedroom cottage that we had rented in Napa late in the afternoon.  A little bit of shopping and exploring the area and then it was an evening of snacks, card playing and the hot-tub.  A nice way to end the day.

We did find a nice olive oil shop that makes it products from olive trees in the vineyards of the Napa Valley.  The owner was fun to talk to and gave us some advice for getting to some of the vineyards we were interested in visiting.

Thursday had no set plans other than visit some vineyards and explore the valley.  We took some back roads up one side of the valley and then swung west to St. Helena for a coffee and pastry—it was still too early for wine drinking…or to have the top down

Then it was on to Duckhorn Vineyard for our first tasting.  We sat out on a large wrap-around porch and enjoyed a nice sampling—Duckhorn has been one of my favorites for many years so it was fun to be at the vineyard and enjoying the wine in a beautiful setting.

   

 

Plus…the roof came back down…

It was a fun day with a few stops (Jack was our designated driver) and a few glasses of wine.
We got back to the cottage fairly early and later went out for dinner at a local place…nothing special.  When we got back to the bungalow later that evening there was still time for another couple of rounds of sh#$$%head—a card game that we taught Jack and Stephanie. 

Friday was a fairly full day of activities for us.  Jack had arranged for us to ride the Napa Valley Wine Train and it was a great experience. As we boarded we were shown to our table seat for the ride up the Valley. And the meal was outstanding.  The best we had on the trip…so far. It was a good tour of the facilities  followed by another tasting…it must have been good because we ended up splitting a case to be sent back to Connecticut. When we re-boarded the  train we were directed to a different car to lounge over our desserts on the return trip.

Before they started serving lunch  (which is shown on the menu to the left) I went up to the Kitchen car and took a few photos.  Shortly after the meal we arrived at Grgich (pronounced Grrr  gich) Vineyard were Cheri, Stephanie and I got off for a tour and a tasting.  Jack was more interested in riding the train further up the line and watching them switch the engines.

Then it was coffee and either Tiramisu or Crème Brule while we chugged through the vineyards…
      

Meanwhile Jack, the train aficionado, enjoyed the ride back on the platform…


After arriving back in the Napa station we made a grocery stop and then headed back to the cottage.  It was a good time to get some naps in before heading out for the evening.

Dinner on Friday was at Ad Hoc, a Thomas Kelleher restaurant.
 


The menu is unique in that it is a daily changing fixed prix with no other options…served family style…and if you don’t like what they are serving you are welcome to try someplace else.  It was outstanding!  We would definitely go back again and try whatever the chef is preparing…because it will be good!

There was another round of cards that evening and it turned out that it was enough that everyone was the designated sh#$%head at least once…and they may have been ganging up on me to make that happen, since until then I had avoided the moniker…I’m just saying…

Saturday morning we needed to be out of the Cottage by 10 am so we worked our way over to Sonoma for a little walking around and seeing the town.  Then we headed over to the west coast and Route 1 back to San Francisco.  Rte 1 reminded me of the Great Ocean Road in Australia or Cape Breton in Nova Scotia—a scenic winding road along the coast with few if any guard rails.  It was fun.


 

We had some time to spend down near the Ferry Terminal  where we had a light supper and then off to the airport for red-eye flights back to the East Coast.

By late afternoon we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in the other direction…

Another Great Adventure…what does March have in store for us?





    

“On the Road”, Off the Road…Odds and Ends

You take a week off from writing...then two...then it's a month...then two, but now I am back...at least for this edition. Plus, this keeps my editor from reminding me, “You haven't written in awhile.”

One of the on the road, odds and ends of the summer was the decision to form a small Roadsters group. It turns out that among the usual suspects (see some of the Bunco Night activities) we have owners of three British sports cars...and a Miata (I know, not quite the same, but we are an open minded group...we would even let a Fiat join us). The object is to enjoy our sports cars together, not to be snobs...but sometimes we can't resist.

On a couple of occasions over the summer we got the group together for an outing—this usually means driving back roads and eating together. Our first outing had us meet at the Cimochowski's for a cook out and then on the road to Preston, CT for ice cream desserts.

We lined up the cars...

Nowak's Miata Swenson's MG Midget Bottieri's MGB Cimochowski's Triumph TR6

and headed down the road. There were many waves,flashing headlights and tooting horns along the way, and the cars turned a few heads when parked together at the ice cream stand. A great outing!



A few weeks later we decided to follow up with a trip to North Charlton, MA for a seafood dinner at a well known clam shack—not so much a shack now, but the food was great. And once again the cars all looked good lined up together...although some people wanted to know if the Miata was along as the chase car. Is this a commentary on the reliability of British sports cars or a dig at the Miata...hmmm.



If you have been a follower of the blog you will recall the minor adventure of putting the new dock in place at The Cottage. At the end of the lake swimming and boating year it was time to find out if it came out as easily as it went in...and it did!

We stacked all of the cedar plank sections onto a trailer to make moving them easier and then it was fairly simple to raise most of the legs and wheel the aluminum frame out of the water. Much easier than previous years and ready to go back in come Spring.

One other Fall item related to The Cottage was the decision to replace the power boat that had served us well for 23 years. Papa did some online research and through Craig's List found a possible replacement at Lake Mascoma—just up the road in Enfield, NH.

Scott and I reviewed the information online and then I was able to make a quick Saturday trip up to look at the boat before we made an offer. We now have a “new to us” boat that should last us another 20+ years...plus Papa went onto Craig's List again and sold the old boat within a week! What a successful Adventure!

In the early Spring Stephanie Gosselin contacted us about jointly bidding at a fund raising event. The item was a day of sailing around Providence / Newport on an old wooden boat and the day included a lobster bake on the beach. We won the auction and tried all Summer to find a time that worked for all of us—the Gosselins, the Greens and ourselves. Finally we were able to arrange for a mid-September sail and had a wonderful time sailing the upper reaches of Newport Bay and enjoying a day on or near the water.



Now Cheri and I have been back "on the road"—in Denver visiting Jess and PJ (and Maggie the Lab of course). We arrived late (as in after 11pm MT) on Thursday following an uneventful series of flights, and forgetting nothing except the key that Jess had mailed to us so we could get into her condo on arrival (she and PJ were at a concert that evening). Fortunately, the concert got out and they arrived before we did so Jess let us in...instead of us sitting on the curb with our luggage waiting for them.

Friday morning we got up to enjoy bagels and coffee together and then headed out to Fort Collins, CO and the New Belgian Brewery for a tour. It would seem that if you have once toured a brewery then there really isn't much to learn from touring another. On the contrary, there is a big difference if you take into account the ownership, the employees and the social consciousness of the company.

It is an outstanding tour filled with the history of the brewery, the founders, energy conservation processes, employee ownership, giving back to the community...and oh yah, beer samples...all for free. This company is the Ben and Jerry's of the micro-brewery world. There is even some fun along the tour with an opportunity to use the company slide to go from one level to another.  We had a great time and had a built in designated driver with Cheri not being a beer drinker (although she gamely tasted a couple of different samples).

Cheri drove us back to Denver (with Jess and PJ snoozing in the back seat...sunglasses on...heads back...light snoring...yah, they were asleep), and we stopped for an early dinner at the Bar D restaurant (known for their desserts). Dinner gave Cheri a time to sample a local lemon-drop martini (we seem to have a lot of pictures where she has one of these in her hand)...a nice dinner...and then some great desserts.



We made it back to Jess' early enough to play some cards...where I lost both times—and Cheri won both times...before heading to bed early so we could be well rested for a day of hiking on Saturday.

Saturday morning we were up and on our way to the Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Backpacks, water, snacks, and Maggie were all loaded into Jess' new Subaru Forrester and we were off.

Hiking in the Rockies is a little different than the White Mountains—here you start at 8,000 feet and climb up (the White Mountains top out at just over 6,200 feet). The air is a little thinner so you breathe a little deeper, but fortunately Cheri and I have been spinning enough that our leg muscles didn't bother us. We climbed along evergreen paths, aspen meadows (where many of the leaves have already fallen), and rocky outcroppings. Besides the thin air the views were also breath-taking.

It was a fabulous time and we were tired by the time we got back to Jess' place. She cooked an Alton Brown recipe for us Saturday evening and we settled into a little more card playing before settling into bed.

Let the Adventures continue...