Terrific Trio

Friday, October 01, 2010

Fall has arrived and this transplanted Southerner is looking forward to what I like to call "outdoor air conditioning" becoming a constant feature of my walks. And that reminds me that I haven't posted about some of the good things I have learned about life in New England in quite a while.

Time to reel off a short list now...

Portuguese Cuisine -- I have the best luck in the world with barbers. It usually takes me forever to settle on one when I have to switch, but my fussiness is usually rewarded. For example, back in Houston, my barber helped me learn about the local jazz scene and a really good band that plays semi-regularly within blocks of my old job. My new barber is likewise helping me appreciate what Boston has to offer.

This barber is something of a foodie, so some months ago, I was telling her about how much I enjoy experimenting with the Cajun and Creole cuisines of Louisiana, which often involve seafood. As it turns out, this barber is of Portuguese descent and Portuguese food often involves seafood, so I came away that day with a great restaurant recommendation: Atasca, located in Cambridge. I tried it one evening between work and a networking event, and thought enough of it to get my wife to try it.

Mrs. Van Horn, despite being from Louisiana, is not a big seafood fan. This was in the dead of winter, and the restaurant is a good ten-minute walk away from the nearest T stop for me. My wife walks much more slowly than I, so this translated into twenty minutes for the two of us. She also hates cold weather. On the way there, she told me later, she thought, "This place had better be good."

Not only did I not end up sleeping on the couch, my wife said the trip was worth it. If you're from around here, go, and see for yourself.

Apple Picking -- One evening, at a networking event, I bumped into someone I see there from time to time and learned, to my surprise, that hops, a key ingredient of beer, are native to New England. In fact, this acquaintance had purchased some (and had them on-hand) for a home brewing friend. He mentioned that they came from an apple orchard he had visited recently that Stephen King had purchased and started diversifying. I thought that was all kind of interesting, but it didn't occur to me to ask why he had gone to an apple orchard. I just assumed that it was a visit to relatives or personal business of some kind.

The next day, my barber asks me what we had planned for the weekend. I told her that we were coming off a long week and would probably spend Saturday recuperating: Maybe we'd do something Sunday. So she suggested we try visiting an apple orchard. I haven't done this yet, but apparently, this is a favorite pass time in New England. (And then, suddenly, my conversation the evening before made much more sense...)

Being from the South, I do not naturally think of farms as a tourist destination: no "outdoor air conditioning," you know. We probably won't make it this fall, but I'm looking forward to finally doing this. In addition, the next time I see that guy who told me about the hops, I'm going to learn where the orchard he visited was. I'd enjoy seeing a hops farm -- if that's even the right phrase.

But failing that, I've found a list of orchards.

Hats and Jackets -- I like both, but either will make you bake to death outside in the South for most of the year. Up here, with the strong sun and the cool weather, hats are not only stylish, they actually make more than just sartorial sense. I like fedoras, but it's usually too windy for those, so I typically go with an applejack hat.

Well, that wraps it up. Have a great weekend!

-- CAV

10 comments:

Snedcat said...

Yo, Gus, you write: "I like fedoras, but it's usually too windy for those, so I typically go with an applejack hat." Yes to the above. I usually wear an applejack or a driver's cap when it gets cool out. That's one of the places where my wife and I have disagreements, however. She prefers a sort of European casual and condemns my driver's cap as antiquated. "Best hat in the world," I'll reply, and she'll come back with, "You look like Teacher Lenin" (an old epithet for him under socialism that's now used sarcastically), and I'll say, "The man was a right bastard and no mistake, but he had great taste in hats."

Gus Van Horn said...

Heh. You can always tell her that you're "taking back" that style of hat from Lenin.

Roger said...

If you like tart apples, see if you can go to an orchard that will let you pick McIntoshes just before they're completely ripe, usually the third or fourth week of August. Delicious!

Gus Van Horn said...

Thanks for the tip, Roger. Those also happen to be good in pies. I'm not a baker, but my wife sometimes is, so it's good to know about that.

Oh, and I see from Wikipedia that these are good in cider, if I ever get back to home brewing and decide to try making that...

mtnrunner2 said...

How cool finding fun local stuff.

Good seafood is amazing. My definition of good seafood is that is smells like seaweed, or plants, but not fish. I don't get much here in Colorado, but fresh trout is the one thing that may get me to take up fishing again!

I remember the indescribably crisp and tart apples from one of our local orchard growing up. They had them in paper bags with handles already, but they were *very recently* picked. By contrast, I've been underwhelmed by apples from farmers' markets; they seem not much better than summer store apples. I'm not sure if that means store apples are getting better, or farmers' market apples are unremarkable.

Gus Van Horn said...

I feel your pain on inland seafood...

A while back, I was in Indiana and, after having raw oysters on occasion over the summer in Boston, slipped up and ordered them there. Ugh! I couldn't even finish some of them.

Weird about the apples... I can't really bite into them, so I have them only on occasion, but with this information, I'll be sure I have a pocket knife handy when I do get over to an orchard.

Jim May said...

I had to laugh at the "outdoor air conditioning", as indicative of your warm-weather outlook. For me, having grown up near Buffalo, summer in Las Vegas has what another transplant here dubbed the "hair dryer wind".

Gus Van Horn said...

Nice!

I don't recall exactly what time of year it was when we met in Houston, but, depending on when that was, you might appreciate what an old friend, upon leaving town shortly after I moved there, said, "This place is great -- if you're a plant."

Anonymous said...

We drove through Las Vegas a number of years ago. It was about 3:00 am. To conserve gas, we had turned of the AC and opened the windows. My brother said, "Now I know what a roast feels like in a convection oven."

C. Andrew

Gus Van Horn said...

All night, then? That is bad!