Monday, November 4, 2013

Last Week in NJ 2013

This is going to be a boring blog post, so buckle up.

Tuesday, Vicki and I went to see 12 Years a Slave and found it disturbing but the acting was phenomenal.  Catch it if you can.

Thursday, Denice came up from Little Egg Harbor to attend a little demonstration/party Vicki was hosting for Jan who represents a clothing line, Cabi.  Vicki made a Mexican Casserole and a veggie lasagne, both of which were yummy.  It was fun for me to get together with old friends and meeting new friends.  Here is a shot of Denice and me - much to her chagrin.



On Friday, Vicki, Denice and I went to see About Time.  It was enjoyable but no Love Actually, which is on my Top Five list.  After that, we went home to change and get ready for dinner.  Dinner at Sanducci's was yummy.  Denice and I had the short ribs and Vicki had the Chicken Christina.  After dinner, we went to the Bergen County Playhouse in Oradell to see A Shayna Maidel which was absolutely spell-binding.  A story about a family torn apart and reuniting after the liberation of the camps of hitler [yes, small H] Germany.  The acting was WAY above community theater and I will follow Lauren Maruski to see how she soars.  She was absolutely wonderful.

On Saturday, Vicki succumbed to a nasty cold and Denice headed back to Little Egg Harbor.  Vicki rallied enough to have dinner with Kelly and Dan at the Crow's Nest.  Sorry, Steve but some of us like it.  And the Cosmos are great.

They're surely an adorable couple.

So Sunday morning, Vicki was still ailing but her car started so she took me to the airport.  She also shared her cold/illness with me.  I popped an Allegra before I got on the plane and hoped for the best.

The flight was uneventful [thank you, God] and my seat mate was mute - or so it seemed - again, thankfully.

Jay and I then popped into Houlihan's for a bite to eat before heading home.  Probably won't be going back any time soon.

Today, Monday, I spent unpacking, doing laundry, trying to get the house back in order, but sneezing like a mad woman.  Mucinex is my new best friend.

So that's it for 2013 in the Northeast.  Great fun - great family - great friends, both old and new - and I look forward to a return engagement in 2014, perhaps with Montreal as a new stop.  ;0)

That's it for a while.  Maybe a movie or restaurant review in the future.  So please stay tuned.

Bon nuit!


Monday, October 28, 2013

October 21 - 27, 2013 - Part Two

Friday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we all gathered to take a hike Jim and Sue had scoped out.  Nephew Dan and his girlfriend, Kelly, had arrived late Thursday.  The hike was over two miles through the woods, up and down hills, and we were snowed upon at times and sleeted upon at other times.  It was cold when we started out but most of us started shedding our outerwear at the halfway mark.  Here are a few of the photos I took along the way:






And:



Of course, we had to make the requisite stop at Cold Hollow Cider Mill and yes, I ate an apple cider donut and drank the BEST apple cider EVER!!!
Snow at elevation

Vicki, Kelly and me
Then we all went back to freshen up for our dinner at Jim and Sue's:


Vicki, Carol and Sydney
Pat, on bass, and Chris, guitarist and vocalist, entertained us.  They are SO talented.
Saturday morning we awoke to snow which turned to rain so outdoor activities were not in the picture. Steve, Dan and Kelly went to Burlington for the afternoon; Vicki went back to Montpelier for more shopping; I stayed at the hotel and watched Carol, Laura and Josh in the pool.  Then we all went back to Sue and Jim's for games and more food.  Vicki stopped at a farmer's market and brought back the MOST beautiful veggies - rainbow carrots, rainbow beets, Brussels sprouts and romanesque [the spiky green things - like cauliflower].  DELISH!
Family:
Matt

Steve

Carol


Sue

 Above, is Vicki, VERY proudly wearing an ice cream cone pin that Josh won for her at Ben & Jerry's.  They went there for the Halloween festivities and Josh said he wanted to give his winnings to Grandma Vicki because she lost her dragonfly pin.  He's such a sweetheart - always knows the right thing to say.  But there's no doubt, he's ALL BOY!
Jim

Chris

Kelly

Laura

Pat played a few tunes for us.  I'm going to try to add videos later.

Sydney found instructions on her iPhone for Laura to do her first Starburst bracelet.  Mighty fine job for her first time.



Back to the Great Room at the hotel to watch baseball.









Sunday morning, we all gathered in the lobby.  Vicki and I were going to leave without having breakfast as we'd spotted Rosie's in Middlebury and wanted to stop there - and at other places on the way back.  The rest of the group went to a little place in Waterbury Center for breakfast.  Dan and Kelly were going to drop Steve at BIA for his trip back.  Here are Vicki, Chris, Sydney and me.  I sure hate not living closer to my family!
So, off we went - stopping at Shelburne Farms, at Rosie's for a late breakfast and a few other places.  Vicki discovered that the car problem has not been completely remedied so she's going to see her mechanic in Ridgewood.

We stopped at the Chit Chat Diner for Schnitzel and Noodles!  YUM!
So, that's it.  It's Monday morning now and Vicki's doing laundry and I'm blogging.  This takes more time than I thought it would but I enjoy it - and I hope you do as well.  We have a few plans for this week, including shipping Heady Topper back to Dallas, and of course, a few items I purchased here which will definitely put me over the 50 pound limit for my suitcase.


October 21 - 27, 2013 - Part One

On Monday, we discovered Vicki's trusty [to date] Santa Fe had a little problem.  When we were heading out to do a little returning of clothes/shopping, her car didn't start when she turned the key.  After jiggling the shifter, it started, so we ventured out and were lucky it started when she jiggled the shifter.  We stopped for a quick lunch at The Crow's Nest [excellent roast beef sandwiches] as Vicki had to work the three to seven shift.

We'd thought about renting a car for the Vermont trip but after talking with my very own personal Car Guy, we took the chance and decided not to rent.

Tuesday was spent preparing for our trip to The Green Mountains.

We left for Vermont at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday.  Steve was scheduled to arrive at Burlington International Airport at around 5:00 p.m. so we had plenty of time.  However, when he arrived at LaGuardia he was able to get an earlier connecting flight and his new arrival time was 1: 30 ish.  Relying on my iPad to get us a faster route, once we hit Rutland we took Route 7 into Burlington and it was a wonderful trip through Middlebury, Brandon, Shelburne.   Steve was standing outside only for about 10 minutes when we got there.

We checked into our hotel and freshened up.  At 6:00 we went to The Hen of the Wood for dinner with Jim and Sue.  Here are a few photos to enjoy:

Crispy Pig's Head [wonderful]
Here's the wine Steve selected:
Family:
Sue and Jim

Vicki and Steve

Steve and me
And:
Vicki and Sue

Jim and Steve

Jim, Sue, Steve and Vicki
We had a wonderful time and love the location.  We'll definitely be back to this spot.

Thursday morning we drove down the hill back to The Hen of the Wood to capture the beauty of the stream:





Then, we decided to go to Montpelier, but alas Vicki's car had the aforementioned problem.  She called Jim who called Sunoco Bob in Montpelier who diagnosed the problem over the phone.  So off we went to Montpelier.  We dropped the car off at Sunoco Bob's and walked into town.  Montpelier is beautiful so we walked around town for a while, snapping photos here and there.  Lots of churches in Montpelier with beautiful steeples:



By this time, we were looking for a place to have lunch and came across a sign that said "Farm to Table" and it is a part of the New England Culinary Institute.  So, we had lunch at NECI on Main and was it ever good!!!
I had Parsnip Soup [and Cosmo]

Vicki's Pumpkin Risotto

Steve's Ploughman's Platter

My Autumn Salad

Pumpkin Creme Brûlée

Vicki's Cheesecake
After lunch, we walked a bit and Steve purchased a jacket in Onion Sports.  The Onion River meanders through Montpelier and several stores have "Onion" in the name.

Back over the bridge to see about the car.  Sunoco Bob is a good guy and he put Vicki's car in front of others as he was aware we were from NJ and didn't want to be stranded.  So back to Waterbury Center we went.  Vicki's son, Matt, and his family had arrived by then and we hung out for a while.  Josh and Laura love being tossed around by Steve.



Matt and Carol went into Stowe for the evening leaving Josh and Laura in our capable hands ;0).  We took them to dinner in the hotel, and then Jim and Sue joined us in the Great Room.




Back in the Great Room, Jim dazzled us with his juggling abilities.
In truth, they were non-existent!

Matt and Carol returned from Stowe and Carol decided she's going to have to find new babysitters in the future as we didn't put the kids to bed by 8:00 p.m.

I'll end this now and continue our Vermont trip in the next post.