Frog Level Brewing - Waynesville After a 4.5 hr drive we were happy to be out of the car and ready for a beer! I took Pasha for a quick walk while Leandra scouted the brewery for seating options. She rejected the outdoor patio near the river because there was live music so that area was full and noisy, opting instead to seat us inside near the entrance. To drink, I chose the Berry sour, while Leandra tried the brown ale, and we split a brisket sandwich (ok, but a little bland). Haywood ... continue reading...
NC Mountains Summer 2021: Blue Ridge Parkway
On this trip we managed to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway twice, Sunday and again on Friday. On Sunday we decided to have a picnic dinner, first stopping to pick up food from Ingles and Publix, then driving along the parkway till we found a nice spot at the Haywood Jackson overlook. can you spot Pasha hiding under the table? Not only did it have a great view, but the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler too! On Friday we decided to take the scenic detour route home ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2021: Wine and beer tasting
Much like previous summers, we spent a few afternoons visiting local wineries and breweries in July. Lenz Winery, Peconic We've been members for years now, and Lenz always has some interesting wines available. This year they still had the outdoor tables, and we were able to get a shaded spot on each of our two visits. On visit #1 our focus was tasting newly released wines. Our favorites included the 2015 Sparkling Cuvee and the stainless-steel Chardonnay (a pleasant surprise both for ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2021: shucking oysters!
A few days after we arrived on Long Island I started noticing "Local Oysters" placards popping up along the side of the main and north roads. Normally, I would get my oyster fix once or twice a summer at Case's but what if I learned to shuck my own oysters? Considering the local prices at restaurants were about $3 per oyster, I figured it was worth a little research. I landed on picking up some oysters from Little Ram Oysters as they are a female-owned business (and a couple). Plus, their ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2021: daytrip to Orient
On a Thursday with beautiful weather we set our emails to out-of-office and drove with my parents out to Orient, the very end of the North Fork of Long Island. Our first stop was at Opties and Dinghies for lunch. This small restaurant had a handful of tables (outdoor only) and a menu that included Asian dumplings, sweet and savory crepes, gelatos and pastries... our biggest problem was narrowing down a reasonable amount to order! The char siu bao had a flavor we'd been missing without ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2021: Food
We were much more active this summer compared to 2020, and since things were generally open, we were able to return to old favorites as well as try some new spots. In general chronological order: Roadhouse Pizza, Riverhead Really tasty traditional thin-crust NY pizza. Leandra liked the option for fresh mushrooms! We got takeout from them twice. Greenport Creamery, Greenport Walking around Greenport on a warm weekend afternoon I really wanted ice cream, so we stopped in here with my ... continue reading...
NY Summer 2021: beaches
In 2021 we made a concerted effort to get to a beach for sunset several times a week - while conditions didn't always cooperate with great light, each visit was still worthwhile. Bailie Beach A great beach for walking, with sandy cliffs and piles of driftwood and shells, plus dog-friendly and uncrowded. Mattituck Inlet After storms most of the afternoon there was a short break just around sunset, and Mattituck Inlet had great light on my way to Bailie ... continue reading...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: Sylvan Heights Bird Park
Reminiscent of our experience at the World of Birds in South Africa, this NC bird park located in Scotland Neck had a reasonably photogenic collection of birds to check out, only 2 hours from RTP. We got there near the end of the day, so it was uncrowded, which was a bonus. More photos on Flickr! ... continue reading...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum
On the way to the beach Leandra surprised me with a stop at this fun little park in downtown Wilson hosting a collection of large whirligigs - the blue skies were a great backdrop for the colorful sculptures. Casita Brewing Company, Wilson We spotted this brewery next to the Whirligig park and decided to check it out, and we're glad we did. Interesting beers on tap, and a relaxed environment. Koi Pond Brewing & The Tipsy Tomato, Rocky Mount Leandra had been to ... continue reading...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: beaches and lighthouses
Bodie Island Lighthouse We didn't try to go up the lighthouse, but enjoyed the views from the ground. On the far side is a boardwalk through part of the marsh where we saw an Eastern King Snake and an egret. Cape Hatteras Fairly incredible that you can move a lighthouse! But they did just that to protect this landmark from erosion in 1999. This tower is currently closed for repairs but it's free to park and walk around the base and the nearby history museum is worth a quick ... continue reading...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: Introduction
With full vaccinations (!) and a desire for a quick getaway, Leandra planned a two night trip to the NC Outer Banks for my birthday. There were several firsts on this trip: (surprisingly) the first time we'd ever been to this part of NC in the 15 years we've lived here. our first trip without Pasha since early 2020. the beach restaurants were the first places we went that didn't require a mask on entry. We used some points at the Holiday Inn Express in Nags Head - it was as generic ... continue reading...
We’re vaccinated – let’s go to Florida!
After completing our second vaccinations, our first activity was driving down to Florida to visit family. Since we drove and were staying with Leandra's folks we brought Pasha, who definitely enjoys the open lanai (even if she does not understand why we go in the pool). Pasha occasionally gets bossy with Al, but despite his expression here, he is quite tolerant of another dog in the house. This was a working trip, so we were on our computers during the day, but had the ... continue reading...
Making bread without yeast: a lesson in patience
Like many people I have been making A LOT of baked goods over the last year while stuck at home during this pandemic. I've made English muffins, Pão de Deus, focaccia bread, bagels, chocolate donuts, the best chocolate chip cookies ever, Brazilian cheese bread, taralli, cinnamon rolls, baguettes, etc. A friend of mine gave me the Tartine Bread cookbook for Christmas. I can only assume as a challenge. The first recipe in the book is for "Basic Country Bread" and it's supposed to introduce the ... continue reading...
Pandemic “Dinner and a Movie” Nights
Since we are still mostly housebound and missing travel we came up with the idea of pairing meals (and wine!) to the location of a movie. We've been wanting to watch the Before trilogy for a while, and it was a great starting point since they take place in foodie places like Vienna (Before Sunrise), Paris (Before Sunset), and Greece (Before Midnight). You can see all the photos from our pandemic date nights on Flickr. Movie: Before Sunrise Setting: Vienna Menu: Chicken schnitzel ... continue reading...
2020 Year in Review
Previous years-in-review – 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 Obviously we did not have the travel year we originally planned. Trips to Jordan, Scotland, Canada, the Azores, and Spain were scrapped and Leandra spent hours (upon hours!) on the phone to get our money back for these cancelled flights. Although were were grounded for most of 2020, we did spend some time with our families and tackled a bunch of home improvement projects. Some of our travel stats ... continue reading...
Building a fire patio
We've used a small copper fire bowl for our backyard fires for years. Normally we'd set it up in the middle of the yard, clearing a small patch of leaves and pine needles. It worked ok, but it could be rather messy after a good rain, and sparks could occasionally get to leaves or pine needles. Since we have been home all Fall we finally splurged on the flagstone needed to make a small patio for hosting our future fires. We found a lovely grey and rust flagstone labeled 'Rustic' that seemed ... continue reading...
Light-up house numbers
Our house is set back from the road making it hard to see our house numbers, especially at night. This year we finally addressed that by adding 12" numbers backlit by LED tape to the garage. We started with some leftover plywood as the base. Leandra used some leftover house paint so the plywood would match the house color. We glued several small pieces of wood to the plywood to elevate the numbers off the board and make room for the waterproof LED light strip. With some ... continue reading...
NC Fall Foliage
We've had some nice fall color in Durham the last few weeks, with different patches of the yard turning color at different times. dogwood in the front yard backyard view Japanese maple close-up Rose-of-sharon and Japanese maple - this only lasted two days ... continue reading...
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