Skip to main content

Memories of Vermont

A conversation with Marie reminded me of a food-related Vermont experience from many years ago. One fall back in the 20th century, I went with several people for a fall foliage tour of southern Vermont and New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the weather decided to challenge us by dumping an early, very wet snow all over the landscape. The result was beautiful but also weighed down all the trees, still laden with their leaves, which in turn took down the power lines. The roads were impassable as well, so we had to spend an unexpected night in Brattleboro.

The first challenge was to find a hotel room. We were luckier than some and found a hotel with space. There weren't enough beds for all of us, nor was the heat working. But at least it had a roof and four walls.

The next challenge was to find something to eat. Most places were closed, but the local Chinese restaurant was open. The owner pulled his truck up to the front window, turned on his headlights, and kept the motor running to light the room. He then cooked what he could, which turned out to be a pu-pu platter. He brought it out complete with a Sterno flame in the middle of the appetizers. I have never been happier to see a pu-pu platter.

The next morning, things were slowly returning to normal. A local diner offered a good breakfast. Many of the visitors to town were there, including a New Yorker using the phone (this was pre-cell phone) to bark commands to someone back in the Big Apple. He loudly proclaimed that he didn't care how bad the roads were, he was going to drive back. He left in his car a few minutes later. And some people question the veracity of Natural Selection...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Asheville NC: Luella's BBQ

Luella's is a nouvelle BBQ outfit on the north side of Asheville. It is nestled among the trees in a lovely neighborhood. The restaurant has lots of windows for inside seating and plenty of outside seating. Service was courteous and amazingly fast. This is a combination plate with pork and brisket. Both were very moist and tender. For the pork, I tried both the mild and hot vinegar sauces. To my surprise, I preferred the milder one because it didn't assert itself too much. I enjoyed the spicy tomato sauce for my brisket. The hushpuppies were very good. The fried okra was fresh out of the fryer and excellent. The slaw was of the vinegary variety, which I usually enjoy, but this version is heavy on the white stuff and didn't have quite enough variety in tastes for me.
Post a Comment
Read more

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...
2 comments
Read more

Everybody's Pizza

Everybody's Pizza is across the street from Emory University.  It was founded in 1971 and has a seventies college feel.  But it isn't musty or dated---you don't feel like you are eating in a museum.  It's just pleasantly funky.  They played a Big Bird song while I was there.  What's no to like? The pizza is college-style as well, as contrasted to the Italian neighborhood style that is (or should be) the goal of a New York style pizzeria.  I think that the cheese is the ingredient that most leads me to this feeling.  In a New York pizza, the cheese would be central (even if it came from a low-grade Mob supplier), while in more suburban pizzas, the cheese is seen as one in a medley of ingredients that form the topping.  (I think that cheese-centrism should be the essence of pizza.  Remember that the modern pizza was created by adding cheese to traditional tomato sauce-covered bread.)  I think the biggest fault of this pizza is the crust, which I found to be just a lit...
Post a Comment
Read more