Exploring

Satan’s Kingdom

February 7, 2011

There is a small group of people who know me personally enough to know that when they come across random, bizarre articles, link, or places that I am a good person to share them with. So, the fact that I received an email from my friend Emily with no text and just the wiki link to Satan’s Kingdom, MA is not that out of the ordinary .I could not believe that a place actually existed called Satan’s Kingdom, let alone driving distance from Boston. After the busy holidays we found that we would be able to go last Sunday (1/30). Plus, we felt it would be best to go as a way to celebrate my birthday. ha

The idea of driving 2+ hours one day to get to Satan’s Kingdom, “an unincorporated community in the town of Northfield, Massachusetts” (wiki), would be a ridiculous idea for some people, but this is just the kind of thing the Emily and I enjoy. We have driven to Maine for lobsters since it’s much more fun to get them right off the docks and to the Cape for no real reason at all aside from a trip just to end with boxed wine.

So we set out early to drive to Satan’s Kingdom. The ultimate goal was to get to the Satan’s Kingdom Wildlife Management Area, where there had to be a sign that we could take a photo with. Without real directions to there we drove around the town trying to reach the Wildlife Management Area, mind you this is the middle of no where so there is no consistent 3G reception telling us where to go. First we overshot it and ended up in Vermont. Then we circled back and stumbled upon W Rd, which according to google maps on the iphone is “closed winters”. I thought that this would not be true… hello, we are not in the Rocky’s here! I was wrong. Finally, we then found Veron Rd which brought us there, which also was closed further down.

I have no idea how my car made it on the hills. The two just kept cracking up in the car as my car made angry noises as it slowly made it up these little snow covered hills. But we made it through, even making it over the tiny causeway at Sawyer Ponds.

Once we made it there we took foolish photos with the sign. How can you miss the opportunity to make devil horns in front of that sign?!? And briefly wanted around Satan’s Kingdom, which was not spewing hot fire but was covered with a nice coating of snow. There were even older snowshoer’s who were also there, that I suspect not as (childish) amused by the sign as we were.

After the visit to the Satan’s Kingdom, we headed north to Brattleboro, Vermont. We enjoyed an amazing brunch and checked out at local yarn store before heading back to Boston. In all it was a long day of driving but it was totally worth it. I can’t even wait to scrapbook these pictures!

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Montreal Day 4 and The Video Wrap Up

January 13, 2011

Monday 1.3.11

It’s quite astonishing to compare the first day our our trip with our last. Price and I realized that by the time we were leaving Montreal on Monday that we had already been to King Arthur Flour Cafe and Shop in VT and crossed into Canada on Friday.

We leasurly got up, had coffee, checked out and packed up the car before we headed back to Fairmont Bagels to get breakfast there. Even Brioche, my version of a traveling gnome, enjoyed in the fun of enjoying these crunchy, chewy bagels.

Beware of crashing road signs!!!

While in Vermont we stopped off at Park Row Cafe in Waterbury, Vermont for lunch. I highly recommend this place because the sandwiches, soup, and dessert we shared were fantastic. I had a turkey sandwich with provolone, mayo, lettuce, and sprouts. All of that on freshly baked whole wheat bread. Price had a BLT and a cup of cream of brocoli soup, which I tried for the first time ever and loved. Then we split a no bake chocolate peatnut butter oat cookie.

Price was amazing and drove the whole way back! I fell asleep after lunch and he did not wake me up where we had discussed switching. When I did wake up he told me not to worry about it and just to back to sleep. Amazing. 🙂

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Lastly, here is our weekend in less than 1 minute.

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Montreal Day 3 {Our Anniversary}

January 9, 2011

Sunday 1.2.11

Day 3 of our Montreal vacation marked our 6th year anniversary.

While we were enjoying the Polar Spheres on New Years Eve, I saw a restaurant called Eggspectations. I thought it would be a great place for us to brunch on our anniversary since it would be nicer than standing in the street eating bagels, see Day 2 post. Plus I can’t resist a place that has several kinds of eggs benedict.

We then hit up the Underground City, La Ville Souterraine, to check it out and work off breakfast. It was less excitng than we thought it was going to be, since it was just a mall and tunnels.

However, we got lost, a lot. Obviously, we understand how to read plans, but the maps we had were simple and when your in the space it is not intuitive because you can’t just cross the space to get into another tunnel, but you had to go up or down a level to do so. Either way we walked miles. I played around with google’s pedometer and figured out were were up in the 12+ mile range for the day.

After miles of tunnels we emerged to check out Old Montreal for the last time. We got to see Borsecour Market, which contained a few restaurants and several gallery like stores. We loved Montreal Poutine so much that we went back for our last poutine and real meal in Montreal.

After walking so many miles, we decided that taking a cab back to the hotel was necessary. Such a great decision. We were both so tired that we just relaxed and watched the news in French. I still have no idea what we were watching but it didn’t it matter. We started to get hungry for dinner around 8 so I called down for some room service but the ktichen was closed… why?… “because of the holiday”. What holiday!?! New Years was the day before! The front desk said we could come down to look at some delivery menus, but I didn’t even have the energy for that so we had a bag of all dressed potato chips for dinner instead.

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Montreal Day 2 {New Years Day}

January 7, 2011

Saturday 1.1.11

I don’t suggest people to go to Montreal to celebrate New Years if you don’t plan on nursing a hangover on New Years Day. Why? We discovered this laid back city took the day off. There were a lot of things closed from museums, shops, and restaurants all over the city. It was nice to have such a laid back day but Price and I are used to conquering a city and walking all over. We still walked all over but without any real place to go. So I’d suggest going to visit Montreal another time because this city has a lot to see and do, you definitely don’t want it closed.

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we planned on getting bagels for breakfast so after sleeping in and having some coffee we headed out to get bagels. Since I did not sign up for an international plan for the weekend, we only had wi-fi at the hotel which ment we had to relay on the maps in the guide books to get there. That would not have been so bad had I not gotten us off the wrong subway stop and made things confusing.

But the extra walk to Fairmont Bagels was really worth it since they were fantastic bagels. I got everything bagels, which they called “All Dressed” and Price got poppy.

We walked back to the subway to head towards the underground mall. while asking for directions we were informed it was closed because it is new years day. WTF? sersiously??? At this point I don’t know if that was true, but we listened to her anyway and went back to Old Town Montreal to wander around. It was then that we learned how Montreal deals with snow… they don’t. They just let it be and block your way from using snow covered stairs.

We wandered over to Bonsecours Market, but it was closed. I really could not understand how so many shops were closed on a day where there were so many people walking around.

So we continued on to the St. Lawrence River to see across to the Biosphere and to see the ice skaters on the Bonsecours Basin skating rink.

It started to drizzle again and it was mid afternoon so we headed over to Chez Suzette for lunch of fondue. Skip the bloody mary’s there, too watered down.

And then a dessert crepe and some after dinner coffee drinks that were 10% coffee and 90% alcohol. Holy hell that was a lot of sambuca.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel where Price napped and I watched a Sister Wives marathon. Oh the madness! I was addicted. Price practically had to drag me away to get to have $10 filet mignon at Brochette, a 24-hour grill place that is attached to a shut down body shop down the road. I enjoyed a filet kabob and Price had a grilled chicken pita. Pretty good for a $10.80 filet dinner 🙂 I should have taken a photo but it was a kinda place where you just don’t do that.

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Montreal Day 1 {New Years Eve}

January 6, 2011

Friday 12.31.10

Price and I were up at 4.30am and were done with out trip to Dunkin’s by 5.30 to get on the road quickly. It was beautiful to see the sun rising over the Mts in New Hampshire.

We made a stop for breakfast at King Arthur Baker’s Shop and Cafe (previously posted)

We continued our trip on ward and upward through VT into Canada reaching Montreal around 11.30

We were told that ‘typically people check in at 3pm’ by the man at the hotel desk when we came in to see about early check in (no) and where to go next. So we walked down to Vieux-Montréal (Old Montreal) for some lunch and to check out the city.

We stopped off at Montreal Poutine, who I had been tweeting with before our trip, for some lunch. Besides the great meal there, we had beer called Unibroue. I had the Ephemere Blackcurrant and I really have to find that down in Boston now.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel, on the way I noticed a dress that lday gaga would love.. diaper dress!

Price and I got settled in our hotel room, took a nap, and then headed back out for dinner and to celebrate the New Year. On our way to dinner we saw a cool outdoor exhibit, called Polar Spheres, outside the Palace Des Arts.

We went to Basilic in Montreal’s China town. I got Bun, as usual.

As the New Year approached we headed down to the Port area to see the fireworks, but mother nature had other plans for us. It eneded up raining and we decided to bail on the fireworks. A quick walk out of Old Town and a cab ride later, we were back in the hotel drying off and watching the ball drop on TV. Still, a fantastic end to 2010.

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Baker’s Dream: King Arthur’s Store And Cafe

January 3, 2011

I knew we had to make a stop at the King Arthur Baker’s Store and Cafe once I realized that we were going to pass it on our way to Montreal. This is a baker’s dream. I had been hoping to take a class there this year but I didn’t get my act together, but this has gotten me even more committed at this point. I talked Price into making a stop here be telling him we would get breakfast there.

The store itself is gorgeous with intricate wood structure that comes together at a spiral stair in the center. But the best part is that it is packed full fantastic flours, measuring cups, aprons, bowls, mixes, and much, much more. King Arthur Flour has a variety of flours and mixes, including Gluten Free mixes, that make great savory and sweet products.

I really could have spent so much time and money here. I ended up getting a package of Raspberry Jammy Bits, English Muffin Mix, English Muffin Rings, and Eggnog Cookie Mix. I’m really looking forward to making english muffins soon.

The other part of the place is a cafe that has breakfast and lunch items. There were a lot of options for turnovers, cinnamon buns, croissants, and muffins for breakfast. Some of the lunch items included sandwiches on their freshly made bread. You can even finish off your lunch with a cupcake.

Price and I had breakfast there that did not disappoint. The pastries were a sweet start to our vacation.

Oh yeah, the king and I are best buds. *fist bump!!!*

Living Today at Martha Stewart Radio

December 5, 2010

My love for all things Martha is undeniable and pretty well known. Martha magazine, cookbooks, show, products, and radio. Well when there was a chance for the ‘first 5 people to email to get to attend a live broadcast for the Tree Trimming holiday show on Friday’. I jumped at the chance thinking I would be way to slow. Luckily I was not!

On Friday morning, I left Brookline before 6am to drive down to CT to meet my mom so we could go into The City together. Of course I stopped on the way for breakfast at Bill’s Bread and Breakfast to get the BEST english muffins around.

We encountered some issues with the train since service was down. Luckily, as soon as we ran back to my car to try to another station on a different line there was an annoucement saying it was just restored, so we ran right back. And very randomly, I ran into someone I had not seen since HS so we got to catch up. Fate… maybe?

I love New York City. I doubt I could ever live there, but I love to visit it. I love the energy of the city. We arrived in busy Grand Central and then headed over to 5th Ave. We saw really interesting window displays at Sack’s as well on our way up to St Patrick’s Cathedral. After that we wandered over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

We then headed over to grab some light lunch at ‘Witchcraft in the concourse of 30 Rock.

The McGraw-Hill Building is the Sirius HQ, so we went there next to see the radio broadcast. We arrived to a busy scene with with Martha Stewart Staff decorating the tree in the lobby. Even Greg Kleva was there!

The group of us went into the Fish Bowl Studio, where the show was being broadcasted from that day. The studio was just as busy as the lobby with Mario (the host), Lauren Gloud (the producer), engineers, interns, and the incoming guests.

The first guests were 2 Rockettes, Allyson Kelly and Elizabeth Sousek, from Radio City Music Spectacular. They were stunning. The explained how they became Rockettes, what it is like being a Rockette, their healthy life styles, and they even brougth recipes with them. But the most impressive things about Rockettes… their kicks! They told us they do 300 kicks per show. Clearly they had to show how they do the kicks, and clearly, I had to volunteer to learn now. I was really embarrassing and hard! I have this on video so I will have to post all this embarrassment later. ha

The next guest was Sal Scognamillo, head chef and co-owner of New York City’s Patsy’s Restaurant. He brought Baked Clams, Shrimp Scampi, and Strufoli for everyone to try. Sal discussed Christmas traditions and some of the ways to prepare for the Feast of Seven Fishes.

The third guest was Event Organizer David Monn. David explained various ways of setting the holiday scene at home or at a party. He explained that creating the mood does not have to be expensive since a candle can add a lot to a space but you can get them for as little as $3. He brought 2 centerpieces with him that were stunning, inexpensive, and creative. The centerpieces are ‘low’ because you want to have pieces that are not in the way of your guests looking across the table to someone. He explained that centerpieces should not go much higher than your wrist when you have put your elbow on a table (see photo)

Abby Dodge came with some desserts. She wrote about book about desserts using only 4 ingredients in each recipe! She brought chocolate cheesecakes, bourbon balls, and pistachio shortbread. I loved the shortbread! Abby took questions during the show about baking recipes and problems- even from audience.

So the show has covered… appetizers, entrees, decorating, and dessert… what else does it need? DRINKS! Allen Katz, mixologist, brought 2 suitcases with him to haul up his drink ingredients. Allen made 5 drinks to fit perfectly for the upcoming holidays- like Run, Run Rudolph. Sadly, we did not get to try the drinks there but I think that the punch recipe is calling for me to make it.

After the show mom and I rushed back to Grand Central to get a train back home. We then did some dinner with my grandma- fried calamari on pizza is amazing! I was back on the road by 9pm and picking Price up from his poker night by 12.15. It was a L-O-N-G day but really worth it.

Check out the Martha Radio Blog post about that show, including recipes, here. (My mom and I are with Mario in picture #31!)

Wool Day At Canterbury Shaker Village

September 27, 2010

After Price went on his Ride-Along we went to Canterbury Shaker Village. Every time we pass by the exit for it I make a huge fuss about going. I was able to sway Price into going by explaining it was Wool Day there and it would be the perfect chance to see alpacas, angoras, sheep and goats. Price was just as excited as me when I told me that. Clearly, I am being sarcastic, but he went along with it anyway. And I’m going to safely assume that he enjoyed himself while we walked around the different Shaker buildings learning about their broom making and how they wove poplar to make tiny boxes.

Plus then we saw…

ALPACAS!!! (’nuff said)

This guy was too tired to stand up for us.

These 3 ladies were knitting in the round. There were 3 circle needles and they each had an end of one. They had a raffle for the poncho. I’m hoping I get lucky with my 4 tickets!!

We talked with the guy who owns Work in Progress Farm. He was really nice explaining that the horns keep the goats cool and his one female goat gives off 7 pounds of wool 2x a year. We got to pet Thor. He had amazing soft ears.

I tried on this beautiful felted hat from Scattered Stone Goods. I’m pretty sure I’ll be ordering this for the winter.

After checking out all vendors and the big tent we relaxed in some Adirondack chairs under an apple tree. We admired the views and the embroidery hoops I got.

We finished off the trip to Canterbury Shaker Village by going to Greenwood’s, the onsite restaurant, for lunch. Fantastic food.

Let’s GO Racin’ Boys!!!

September 26, 2010

Earlier this year we discovered you could go for a ride in a NASCAR race car and immediately decided that this was something that had to be done. So my Dad got Price a gift card at graduation to do it. I decide that while it would be fun this could be Price’s thing to do and let him have all the fun while I got to take pictures. Plus I might have freaked a little, ha.

The Ride-Along Experiences are offered by Richard Petty Driving Experience. The ‘crew’ travels to different tracks on off racing weekends. In this case we went to New Hampshire International Speedway, and the NASCAR race occurred the week before (Clint Bowyer won). I had called ahead to find out the details about signing up for a ride-along. They told me it was first come first serve starting at 9:30am. Based on that we decided to leave Boston at 7am so we would get in line first. Low and behold, there was no line since they started early!!! As soon as Price signed up he got to go on his ride along.

At first he got suited up in a protective gear, then got a head sock on, then a helmet. They told him how to get in the car, which Price said was pretty easy. The crew woman put on a HANS device, hooked him in, and then up the the safety net. Price said the car has sooo much horse power that it makes your stomach feel like it’s sinking. It’s really hard to tell how fast you are going since there is no speedometer and everything was just whizzing by. He can’t imagine that the guys go even faster than what he did, and they do it with 42 other cars around them. He had a great time and did not want it to stop at the 3rd lap.

After the ride along, we hung around to watch the guys who signed up to drive the cars themselves. Then we went to Canterbury Shaker Village, which I will post about tomorrow, and spent the night camping. It was a great weekend 🙂

I got him a DVD of his Ride-Along, which will be arriving in 4-6 weeks. Stay tuned…

Brimfield: From Balls Jars to Raspberry Lime Rickeys

September 14, 2010

Emily and I went to Brimfield again this year becuase we loved the experieince last year so much. It’s just a massive conacopia of crap. Some good, so bad, all with a pretty funny story. Here goes…

(L) A 1800’s ‘casket’ used in transporting the dearly departed to furneral homes. They advertised that this would make for a great hallow decoration. (R) Pretty amazing magnifying glasses that this man makes with handles from old knives.

(L) A small Pyrex dish for $3. I should have gotten it! (R) A thread spool organizer could be yours for $500+

Possibly the cutest thing all day. This hutch had storage for flour and sugar. The flour is on the left with the built in sifter. The cabinets had storage and some cooking information/instructions. $1600

Raspberry Lime Rickey $3 in process and in consumption

(L) A quick self portrait (R) A coral lamp

(L) Emily trying out a new hobby? Testing out a toy gun (R) Rabbits and other animals. I’m particularly sure what they are from. $40

Check out Emily’s Flickr album to see pics of a corpse bride, a very flexible mannequin, and an old mustang.

Maine Snapshops

August 18, 2010

Here is a quick little photo run down from our past weekend in Sunshine Maine.

Escaping Boston

Braedan at the point

Getting lobsters for lunch at Conary Cove

“Tickle me!!!”

Happy (almost) 90th birthday!

Lilly at Ames Pond. Price as a good sport and held on to me while I leaned over the edge for this pic

Relaxing on the porch

It seems like everything slows down once we are on Deer Isle. It is the place where I can walk around a pond within 30 seconds of thinking about it. Where I can see stars… a sky full of them. Where the milky way is not a candy bar but something I can actually see! Just walk by a bush and I can pick a blackberry. The salt air makes me feel refreshed and tired at the same time. It’s the place where we walk on to a dock to get lobsters. I love that the plan for the morning is to get jam (hot pepper jelly to be exact) and the plan for the afternoon is to drink, read, and nap.

Can’t wait until we are back there next!!!

‘Hometown’ tourists

July 13, 2010

It’s funny that in almost 7 years here in Boston neither Price or I had really walked the Freedom Trail. Well, I had done portions on class outings but never a real outing to walk it. I mean, I walk by/on it every workday to get to my office from the T stop, but never count that. So we decided that we would make a point of doing it, along with other touristy things, this summer. It was also sooo annoying to be in class when a teacher would be shocked that I had never been to various local museums, gardens, cemetaries, and other landmarks. How am I supposed to see a new exhibit when you just assigned me 6 hours of homework for the week? Now we have a summer completely free of classes and school prep we are making the most of it here.

This past Saturday we stayed in Boston and took our turn at the Freedom Trail. I thought out recent trip to DC was hot and humid to sightseeing- well this was so much worse. We knew a storm was going to pass through in the afternoon, which made it soooo oppressive. So we did the trail pretty quickly, having seen some of the places already and trying to beat out the storm.

I was happy to reach the North End around (late) lunch time. We stopped in some place to split a calzone and salad. Of course lunch was not timed properly/long enough for the rain to start while we were there. No, it had to start about 3 minutes after we left. So we ran down the street with my teeny tiny umbrella into a local bar to wait out the rain. It came down in buckets, resulting in some pretty severe flash flooding in Somerville, a neighboring town. Visibility was reduced to 100 feet or so. Luckily* the rain passed within an hour and we were out again to finish the rest of the trail.

We walked over some bridge to head into Charlestown to see the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument over there. In the end we decided to skip the monument since it is just a mini Washington Monument and we just saw that. One obelisk is like another. We got the last tour of ‘Old Ironsides’ which was nice since there was little wait time. So glad I was not a sailor on there since I learned that they got 1 gallon a water a day to do with water they wanted- which generally was drinking. Man on stinky, cramped boat.

*I’m having some pretty big issues with rain this year. First the flood in March and now this intense storm trampled my newly planted tomatoes and my flower squash. There goes half my veggies this summer. 🙁