Leaving New England

Friday:

Morning -
Late breakfast at our hotel, the Inn at Middletown.



Coffee makes me happy.

Hm. More accurately, coffee makes me conscious.









PJ & Yu opt for the more healthful items.












The rest of us get things like corned beef hash and dainty waffles.

The food is pretty awesome here, as is the hotel itself. Definitely better than the Super8, which was not super at all.





Lunch -
Yu, PJ, Mark, and I go to the It's Only Natural Cafe, which has mostly vegan snacks (I just cannot face another fried meat-thing today).



Let's see if I can remember what we ate... polenta with mashed potatoes and greens, cajun tempeh, southwestern tofu-things, dim sum platter, etc.







It was all really good - interesting, different, tasty, well-seasoned. The only item that wasn't excellent was the egg roll on the dim sum platter; the cabbage-y filling was boring (nothing but cabbage and carrot, as far as I could tell), like the egg rolls of my Pennsylvania childhood.



In the afternoon -
Workshop with the newly-formed Wesleyan taiko club and a school show at the Green Street Arts Center, where the children are enthusiastic and quite squirrely. (sp?)

In the evening -
The first official concert of the Wesleyan Center for Performing Arts season. And it's sold out! In the audience are the Levys, Sarah & Kevin, and of course, my mom. Also some friends of Yurika's, who shout their support during the show. Unlike - say - in a chamber music concert, woots and whoops from the audience are welcome during a taiko performance. We appreciate their enthusiasm.


Saturday:
Another lazy morning, then we go home! For a whole week! On the JetBlue flight: tv! We watch Project Runway!

Next:
Naples, Florida.

Stay tuned...

Chocolatology

Thursday, Wesleyan U:

Load-in -
Loading dock is about a quarter mile from the stage, accessed via underground tunnels that connect most of the buildings in the arts center complex. Looks a little like something out of a horror movie...

Teaser in the library -
To be more specific, in the marble foyer of the giant, fragile-looking library filled with expensive, breakable antiques. 'Cause that's where you want to play giant drums. In a library.

Lunch @ First & Last Tavern, Main St. -
Good, solid Italian eats.

Tech -
No wings, difficult crossover, no lights (well, besides ON & OFF, I mean). What would Tim Gunn do? He'd tell us to make it work. And we do.

Concert -
Thursday's show is a private concert/preview for the Wesleyan community. We manage to get through with only a few glitches. I gotta stop losing my bachi during the Oedo reprise, tho. Good grief.

And after the concert, I finally meet Joanne, my editor! She's adorable! We've been working together for almost 4 years, and we've never actually met. Sweet person that she is, she gives us a box of chocolates from her hometown chocolatier, Bridgewater Chocolates.













Now, this is the way you make a box of chocolates, people. Take a look:



These chocolates are GOOD. The flavors are all ones that I like: caramels, mints, peanut butter, turtles. No lemon creams! No cherry cordials! And they are big and pretty, without being ridiculous and frilly. Functionally attractive.














And it comes with a map!











The chocolate is melty and fabulous, not shattery-plastic and waxy. The nuts in the turtles are roasted. Pet peeve: raw, greasy nuts. Waste of my time.

Thanks, Joanne! It was wonderful to finally meet you!

"You guys are pigs."

Before we leave the Boston area, we make a quick trip to my old snacking grounds: Cook's Illustrated Magazine.

The entire place has been redone. Photo studios! Walk-ins! A dishwashing room! A giant test kitchen, complete with TV lights! A soundproofed TV prep kitchen! Interns everywhere!

When I was there, we had one and a half sad kitchens with three overworked itty-bitty fridges. Lordy.

Here are two of my pals & former coworkers, Becky & Erin. If you watch America's Test Kitchen (PBS), you'll see Becky. Erin's not usually on camera, because she's too busy running the place.

I miss you guys! Come visit!
















We arrive in Middletown, CT around 2:00, and we are hooon-gry.

Lunch at Thai Gardens. It's good to have Asian eats. We order one of everything, lick the plates clean, and then walk across the street to Praline's, featuring 30+ flavors of handmade ice cream. The small serving = 2 generous scoops. Yeah.

I get lemon & raspberry sorbet.

Franco gets pumpkin & boozy coffee-something.













Trish gets coffee & chocolate chip.




















Yurika doesn't get anything. "Wow," she says. "You guys are pigs."

This is her first tour. And we haven't even discussed dinner yet.

And speaking of dinner - we meet some of Yurika's friends at a pub called Eli Cannon's, a cute & quirky place with many, many beers on tap.









Trish says the Smithwick gets a two!

(This was Alex's. It tasted like flat coke.)











But this one's a seven. Bah.

(That's the one I got. I liked it. Wish I could remember what I ordered, though.)












Fries covered with pulled pork, bbq sauce, cheddar, & scallions. Hoo-yeah!











Wisa wanted something light, so she ordered the fajita salad.

This alleged "salad" had chicken, olives, sour cream, cheese, and onions. Not really a salad. But no complaints.

Flour Power

Breakfast: Lou's Restaurant & Bakery in Hanover, a homey diner that's been open forever.











Cake & pie make Pear happy.












Franco and I each order the eggs & sausage on a toasty biscuit that's about the size of a softball, all covered with cheese, and served with home fries cooked in bacon fat.















The waitress says, "Oh, you're going to be full." I take that as a dare and eat the whole thing.










Trish likes her cider. Unfiltered, as all good cider should be. And tastes like fresh, tart apples.

Trish also gets the homemade corned beef hash. It is chock-full of salty, oniony goodness. Certainly the best hash I've ever had.













Franco agrees. Then gets back to work on his own plate.













Pear gets the poacehd eggs and salsa.














Alex gets strawberry waffles. Like all the other dishes, it's huge. One minute, he's covering it with maple syrup and taking his first bite; two seconds later, it's gone. Vanished.














Now, I'm a fast eater, but I have never seen anyone hoover anything that quickly. My hat is off.

2+ hours later, we're in Boston. Naturally, it's time for a snack, so we go to the world's best bakery, the place where I learned everything I know about baking: Flour Bakery + Cafe!















So what makes a bakery good? There are the superficial things: the location, the pretty things on display, the amount of natural light, kind of seating, etc. Then there's the obvious taste factor. Is everything good? Are there things that are yummy enough to make you cry? Is the menu varied, but not huge & confusing? But the most important thing (to me) are the people who work there. Do they look like they love the place? Are they proud of the food? Does it make them genuinely happy to see you enjoying their snacks?













I love this place. You would, too.

Flour Bakery + Cafe
1595 Washington Street
Boston (South End)
www.flourbakery.com

In between snacks, we actually do work. Really.

That evening, we do a workshop for the Odaiko New England students.











Afterwards, the Pear Marketing Machine goes into high gear. See what happens when taiko-starved New Englanders get hold of taiko merchandise? CDs & t-shirts for everyone!












And then - drinks & late-night snacks at a nearby pub.

Tonight on the Trish Beer-O-Meter: Sam Adams!




































Not a fan. She gives it a 5.

Thanks, Odaiko New England peeps! It was great to see everyone again!

Trish Rates Beer

This morning: school show & workshop.

This afternoon: a late lunch at Panera, followed by another trip to King Arthur bakery.

We plan on buying at least a dozen molasses cookies (and that's just for me), but wouldn't you know it - there are only two left. We split the last two cookies into eight precious pieces.








































Dinner: Salt Hill Pub in Lebanon - a cute Irish pub, with lots of old hardwood, a live band, and local beers on tap.

Loyal readers will know that Trish hates beer. Yet, she'll pretty much try any beer you put in front of her. Go figure.

So tonight, we introduce the Trish Beer-O-Meter! Rating beers on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being god-awful and 1 being really good (she's never going to rate anything a 1).

Our first official candidate: Magic Hat #9 from Burlington, VT. Slightly sweet with a hint of apricot.











































Trish actually doesn't hate this one. She gives it a three!


Pear says she's never had a beer before, ever (she likes sake & wine). So of course, we make her try it, too.






























She gives it a seven.


Oh, yes. The food. Wisa gets onion rings for the table (with nice horsey sauce), and Trish & I split a shepherd's pie.






















It's okay - nicely sized portion, fresh green salad on the side, garlic in the mashed potatoes, which were covered in cheddar (another minute under the salamander, please). The gravy needed a little salt, though. In fact, everyone's food needed more salt. Ironic, considering the name of this pub.

Hmph.

Yurika & Pear split the hummus platter. The hummus had a nice, thick texture and was speckled with lots of parsley. But more salt would've been nice. And maybe a squeeze of lemon. Or is it just us Californians who like lemon in our hummus?




















Anyway, the Salt Hill Pub was pretty good, overall. The service was fine, the menu was interesting, the atmosphere & live music were good, and the food was pretty. Just more salt, please.

New Hamster

First concert finished. Lebanon Opera House, Lebanon, NH. Nothing says fun like playing drums-on-wheels on a raked stage!

But of course, this blog is all about the food...

We arrived at our hotel early Saturday afternoon and then immediately made plans to go looking for snacks. By luck, our hotel happened to be about ten minutes away from the King Arthur Flour Bakery/Store/Baking School, so that seemed to be the most logical place to start.














































See what pretty, pretty things you can make with King Arthur flour!













On the throne at the King Arthur bakery. Someone fetch me a pastry!

If you are ever anywhere NEAR Hanover/White River Junction, you MUST GO TO THIS BAKERY and get the molasses cookies. The croissants & eclairs were good, but the molasses cookie was probably the best cookie I've ever had. And I've had a lot of'em, boy. I would've gotten a photo, but we only bought 1 cookie, and it was gone in a flash. Trust me - it was beautiful.

Then we had quick snacks at the Dirt Cowboy Cafe in Hanover, then dinner a few hours later @ Molly's on the next block (again, this is why my pants don't fit). Both places had killer sweet potato fries.















Who knew Hanover, NH was such a hotbed of fried yammy goodness? (And yes, I know they're not technically yams, but I wanted to use the word 'yammy'.)

After dinner: Movie at the Nugget.
The flick: Fearless (the Jet Li movie)
The verdict: Pretty good. I liked Hero better, but this wasn't bad.

This morning, we had an early load-in, followed by a 2:00 concert. See start of this entry for details (such as they are).

Afterwards: Dinner at the Three Tomatoes Trattoria in Lebanon. Very nice Italian eats. Some folks from Burlington join us.


Trish tries the Magic Hat Circus Boy hefeweizen (sp?).
























A bit of trivia: Burlington Taiko used to have a practice space at the Magic Hat brewery. They used to store their stuff in the brewing room, and it was so humid in there that the drums would be dripping with condensation.


Yurika has mussels & penne in red sauce.


















Trish has pork marsala with super-salty taters.














Roy (who took a redeye to Boston & drove to Lebanon this morning to run the lights for our show) orders lasagne. Am impressed that he didn't pass out from sheer exhaustion and do a face-plant into his dinner.



















I had chicken saltimbocca (sorry, no photo). The prosciutto was nice & salty, the sage was super-fresh, but the cheese should've spent maybe another twenty seconds under the salamander. But I'm being picky.

Tomorrow: school show and perhaps another trip to the King Arthur bakery?