Mike Vivalo: Yankees Fan, Fan Cave Aspirant

A friend's brother is auditioning for the MLB Fan Cave, and I think his video is really cool. It's full of clever signs and celebrities! Mike is a Yankees fan, so many of you will enjoy his video. I only know a little about the Fan Cave competition (read the basics here), but the winner of the competition gets to "1) watch every single baseball game played, 2) interact and film video content with current and former players, celebrities and musicians, 3) discuss the hottest baseball and pop culture topics through blog posts and social media 4) compete in exciting challenges with other fans to remain in the MLB Fan Cave - and much more." The Fan Cave appears to be an actual place. I actively avoid baseball, but Mike's video is fun, and I LOVE his signs. Anyone who is good with words and ideas always impresses me. I think Mike would be great in the Fan Cave.



Good luck Mike!
Click here to read more.

The Office Fridge: When Coworkers Lose It

One of my favorite new hobbies is photographing mean signs coworkers make for each other. You know, those signs about messy fridges and bathrooms? I cannot reveal where these signs are from, but I'll just tell you they are from the refrigerator in a local workplace. I especially love the literary touch that this anonymous sign-maker uses by including full newspaper columns to communicate just how disgusted they are by their coworkers' slovenliness.






Two more signs after the jump.






Coming up: signs I've found in bathrooms. Click here to read more.

New Canaan Nature Center Winter Farmer's Market

One of my favorite cooking blogs, the locally-run Full Plate Blog, posted on her Facebook page that the New Canaan Nature Center will be having a Winter Farmer's Market on Tuesdays from 12-3. The first one is February 7, and I totally have it on my calendar!

From the New Canaan Nature Center website:

Beginning Tuesday, February 7 the New Canaan Nature Center will host a winter farmer's market on Tuesdays from Noon to 3:00pm. The market is open to the public and will feature winter produce, dairy, meat, baked goods and other sundries from a number of Connecticut based vendors. Expected vendors include Riverbank Farm, Gazy Bros Farm, Goatboy Soaps, Butterfield Farm, Smyth's Trinity Farm, Mamacat's Tea, Raus Coffee, Whistle Stop Bakery and Connecticutly Grown Hot Sauce. Come for lunch - homemade soup and sandwiches from Walter Stewart's Market!

The Winter Farmer's Market, a joint partnership between the Nature Center and New Canaan Farmer's Market, will be held as a pilot program for the month of February and will possibly be extended throughout the spring and to Saturday mornings. Click here to read more.

Worst Parking Lot in the World?

We all know how bad the Ridgeway Shopping Center parking lot is, but I want to thank my friend for taking a photo today that PROVES how bad it is.


I suppose this parking lot incident could have been worse; it could have been an actual collision. However, I don't think it can get much more absurd than this. Can you imagine coming back to your car and seeing that someone has parked, no joke, less than two inches from your car? I have to assume the driver of the white car was intoxicated or otherwise out of it.

My friend who took this photo said that the family in the blue car wasn't too fazed by the white car's comically horrendous parking job, and that they seemed to find the humor in it. It took 3 people to help the family back out.

Streets of Stamford just blogged about how bad this parking lot is, and he pointed out a column in the Tuesday Advocate by Angela Carella about the lot, which includes many quotes from a Facebook page called "I Hate the Ridgeway Shopping Center Parking Lot." I really admire the man that created that page. Read more about it in the article, or go right to the Facebook page and like it! Click here to read more.

Drinks 'n Jewelry Tonight In Westport: Sounds Great to Me!

A friend of mine has a jewelry company and is having an event tonight in Westport for GUYS to shop. So, send your dude, and use the ONE FREE DRINK as a hook to get him in the door! The company is called Lula Belle and there is a wide variety of jewelry styles. You can take a peek at the offerings online. My friend is incredibly charming, so I know this event will be great fun, and if she's not there, one of her sisters who runs the company with her is sure to be there. The charm gene runs in their family, so check out this event if you're in the mood to get out tonight. Um, also, BBQ? Yum.

Here is the info for tonight's event:

Bobby Q's in Westport - MENS NIGHT
Lula belle wants your men! Send them out with their male friends and let them shop for the ladies in time for the Holidays!
Buy One - Get One Free Drinks from 5:00 - 10:00pm

Bobby Q's
42 Main St
Westport, CT 06880 Click here to read more.

Bartlett Holiday Showcase Event Thursday

On this Thursday the 15th, the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens is holding a Healthy Children’s Holiday Showcase. The purpose is to show off their new Children’s Indoor Classroom and an outdoor space called the Nature’s Explore Classroom in the Woods. Besides the tours of the space from 1-3, there are other events going on all day that look like a lot of fun:

ALL DAY: Crafts, Indoor and Outdoor Tours, Shopping, Cookies and Hot Cocoa
11-2pm Mediation 101. Starts on the hour
11:30am – 1pm Winter Wonderland Story Time with Fairy Deb
1-3pm Winter Crafts, Welcome Critters and Science in Nature’s Classroom. Plus tours of the Outdoor Natural Playground and Learning Space (Messy Materials Area, Climbing Area, Building Area, Nature’s Music)
3:00pm Stroller Strides: Making Every Day a Workout with Shanae
3:30 – 4:30pm Kids Concert with Dre Towey

I’ve got a bit of a back issue going on (did I mention I had another baby 8 days ago, and that pregnancy hormones can make your joints loosey-goosey, and for some reason I am super-susceptible to these hormones!) but I may try to hobble up to the Bartlett because this looks like a blast. That's the new baby to the right, looking like a cupcake. She's awesome.

Also, Pure Play Kids, a locally-owned online toy store, is having a trunk show at the event, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Bartlett. I’ve been ogling the store online for 2 years now and have yet to buy anything. (Hey, I’m not done Christmas shopping yet.) I want to see their stuff and meet the owner!

Click on the flier image above to read a bit more, including a little note at the bottom about a road detour.

Hope a bunch of you can make it, and if not, spread the word to your friends, and of course, you can always go to the Bartlett another day. We are so lucky to have these outdoor spaces in Stamford! Click here to read more.

Haitian Book and Arts Festival

The toddler and I are definitely going to try to swing by this event. Has anyone ever been to it? I haven't and am very curious to know what the coolest stuff to see will be.

From the Ferg's latest newsletter:

Haitian Book & Arts Festival
Saturday, October 8 from 2 - 7 p.m.
South End Branch
Hundreds of titles in English, French and Haitian Creole. Documentaries, exhibits, live music and poetry. Presented by the Haitian-American Professionals Association of Connecticut, Inc., in partnership with The Ferguson Library South End Branch and CTE Inc. Click here to read more.

Pumpkin Update 2: Organic Abounds

Evidently organic pumpkin is available! My friend says you can order it on Fresh Direct, and I ran across it at Whole Foods Darien yesterday. I only bought five cans, because realistically, I'll only make a few batches of pumpkin muffins. Plus, I did not want to be a pumpkin hoarder. I wouldn't do that to you guys. Happy cooking and let me know if/when/where you are finding pumpkin! Click here to read more.

Update: Full-On Pumpkin Freakout

Mrs. Green's didn't have pumpkin. (OmNomCT tells me they bought it all, but I think they're joking.)
Yesterday, my coworker swore her husband got two big cans of pumpkin at the Stop and Shop (or Shop Rite, she wasn't sure) on the border on Stamford/Greenwich on Rt. 1. I, of course, ZOOMED to both stores right after work. NO PUMPKIN. A Shop Rite employee said they'd have it in the next month, but is such a glib answer really believable? An employee at Stop and Shop said abruptly and gruffly, "We haven't had it for six months. It's the crop." Clearly, he understands how much trouble we are in.
My friend Mama Ball comments on the previous post that pumpkin will soon be in stores... she's usually right about everything, but I'm going to ask her to do some further research for me.

I am finding confusing info online about the pumpkin shortage. Some links:

--The HGTV readers seem to agree on this thread that there currently IS a shortage.
--I found several versions of an article written in 2010 about how the pumpkin crop of 2009 got destroyed, leading to a shortage in 2009, but suggesting that 2010 would be better.

Well, all my current info from grocery store employees suggests we are in another pumpkin crisis.

I MAY have a can of pumpkin shoved in the back of my pantry. Currently, it's my only hope for making the pumpkin muffins I'm craving so badly.

If you see any pumpkin around, let me know. And don't feed my any false info, you know, like my coworker did. She's clearly got some agenda. Click here to read more.

Pumpkin Horror

I almost don't want to tell you guys this, but I feel it's my duty.
THERE IS NO PUMPKIN ANYWHERE!!!!!!!

I always go into a cooking and baking frenzy in the fall, and pumpkin muffins are on the list for this week. You may or may not know that I am a bit obsessed with pumpkin. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice lattes, and candy corn pumpkins are a big part of how I accept the end of summer.
The kid and I went to Stop and Shop yesterday morning to stock up on groceries, and the pumpkin wasn't in aisle 7 like it was supposed to be. I stopped an employee. "Excuse me, there's no pumpkin in aisle 7, is it somewhere else?"
"Oh we haven't had pumpkin in forever," she said. "It got recalled last year. If we have it at all, it would be in the natural foods aisle."
I tried to hold in my panic as I gathered yogurt and Drano on the way to the organic aisle... IN WHICH THERE WAS NO CANNED PUMPKIN.

I came home and googled "libby's pumpkin recalled," and on a Cooking Light thread, a commenter said, "You can get more Libby's canned pumpkin than you'll ever need on Amazon." I eagerly clicked on the link provided and saw an image of a can of Libby's pumpkin with the horrifying statement, "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

This situation is serious, people.

I'm stopping by Mrs. Green's later today to see if they have canned pumpkin. If not? Well, I guess I'm going to have to take the unimaginable step of BAKING A PUMPKIN and like, pureeing it myself. What a pain. Click here to read more.

Stamford's ER Vet: Cornell University Veterinary Specialists

The husband went to India for work for the entire month of July, leaving me with a toddler and 9 year old English Coonhound to care for. With only a week left until the husband returned, I started bragging to friends that I'd managed to keep both the child and the dog alive for over 3 weeks. Of course, the next day the dog got into some baby ibuprofin, which in high enough doses can cause major problems like kidney damage and seizures. (This picture is of my dog, in one of her two modes: asleep or neurotic.)

Even though I was pretty sure the dog hadn't gotten much of the liquid, I wasn't about to blow my three week "keeping dog alive" streak. I called the vet, who recommended giving her hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. Of course, that remedy didn't work on my stubborn hound. After another call to the vet, we agreed I should take her to the ER Vet. They'd be able to give her fluids to flush the kidneys, or keep her overnight so she'd be supervised if she had a seizure or something. So, at 8:45 on a Saturday night, I packed the dog and kid up into the car and headed off to Cornell University Veterinary Specialists.

CUVS is located in the South End, just south of Fairway. It's a pretty deserted area at night, which made me a little nervous, but once I got inside the building, wow- it's spacious and brand new. Best of all, the staff is great and really seems to have their system down. I filled out some paperwork while the woman at the front desk took our dog back to be looked at. The vet did some calculations and figured out that the dose she could have gotten was only enough to give her indigestion- whew! In just about an hour, we left the vet with doggie Pepcid (and the dog). The whole visit, including the 30 dollar phone call to Poison Control to confirm the calculation, only cost us 188 bucks. So much better than what I was expecting, which was leaving the dog overnight, her possibly being sick, and 4 or 500 bucks for fancy medical care.

I was very impressed with the CUVS staff. While I was there, a family with an injured cat came in, and the front desk lady was so prompt and attentive with them. She calmly said she was worried about how fast the cat was breathing and hustled the cat back to the exam rooms, but she was so gentle about it. She could have really freaked that family out, and she didn't. When the vet came out to talk to me and tell me what he'd figured out about our dog, he explained everything thoroughly and slowly- a nice change from many of the doctors I see who rush in and out of the exam rooms as fast as they possibly can.

I highly recommend Cornell University Veterinary Specialists if you ever need emergency care for your pet, and I think we are really lucky to have them in Stamford. Click here to read more.

Tapas and Avant-Garde Cooking Documentary at Avon

Put July 13 on your calendar if you like documentaries... and food!

I love both but am busy that day, but you should go and enjoy. The Avon is giving a sneak peek of the documentary El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, about one of the world's most exclusive restaurants. After the documentary, Barcelona is giving a free tapas tasting! I bet there will be wine, too, so I completely endorse this event. From the press release:

ABOUT THE FILM: El Bulli has been called the best restaurant in the world and Ferran Adrià, its creator, deemed a brilliant innovator, the father of molecular gastronomy, or sometimes just a crazy chef. The restaurant, located outside of Barcelona, closes each year for 6 months, as Adrià and staff sequester themselves to concentrate on creating the new culinary wonders that will become their next 30-course menu. (The restaurant accommodates only 50 for dinner, despite two million annual requests for reservations.)

This is cooking as avant-garde art: a cocktail composed of hazelnut oil, salt, and water or a dessert of freeze-dried peppermint and ice shavings. Surrounded by bizarre hi-tech equipment, elaborate containers, chopping blocks and knives, they experiment with making mushroom juice and sweet potato meringue. Gereon Wetzel's elegant, observational documentary captures the razor-sharp, science-fiction sensibility at work. Adrià exclaims: "The more bewilderment, the better."

The film is at 7:30. See the Avon's Special Events page for more detailed info. Click here to read more.

Recent Obsession: Sausage Egg and Cheese Sandwich

Last month I went on a big sausage egg and cheese sandwich (on a hard roll- only a hard roll is acceptable) kick. I started with the place I first became friends with the sandwich: Riverside Deli in Greenwich. That sandwich is standard but very, very good. My one complaint is that you have to order a DOUBLE egg to make the egg fill the sandwich, but then that's a teeny bit too much egg.

Vigilante's Deli on Hope St. solves the egg problem by using extra large eggs. They add a bit of an edge to their sandwich by using slightly spicy sausage. I really enjoyed their sandwich, but on a regular basis, I'd prefer to standard sausage of Riverside Deli. Still, Vigilante's is an excellent option.

Garden Catering on High Ridge Rd. in Stamford offers an OK sausage egg and cheese sandwich. The fact that I ate mine while driving (to Massachusetts) may have impacted my enjoyment of the sandwich, but I wasn't crazy over it. I'd have to try it again to identify what the problem was, but WHY would I try it again if I could get Vigilante's? Oh, right, because Vigilante's is closed on Sunday. Also, Garden Catering is really meant for fried chicken and those delicious potato cones. Best junk lunch ever.

However, I just learned of another place on Hope St. from my new favorite local blog, OMNOMCT. One of their posts tells me that Giacomo's Italian Deli has good breakfast sandwiches. They suggest putting it on the Arthur Ave bread that Jack imports from the Bronx, which goes against my hard roll love, but I'll try anything once.

One place I'll never try again is Bull's Head Diner. The sausage egg cheese sandwich I got there could not have been worse. I don't even want to talk about it.

My local Twiends recommend:
Fusaro's Market on High Ridge Rd. and Lakeside Diner Long Ridge Rd. (@kzone 8)
the breakfast burrito at Rosie's in New Canaan (@After_Words)
the Vegas at Nicholas Roberts in Norwalk (@CT_Bites)
Garden Catering, High Ridge Road - egg, chili and cheese (@HeyStamford)

@PhilippeKeb seconded Lakeside and @CT_Bites agreed with @After_Words about Rosie's breakfast burrito.

I'll probably try Fusaro's and Lakeside, because I'm all about an easy local breakfast! Click here to read more.