A perfect day for hanging out and enjoy food, friends and various infusions.

I have a few more shots to snap off on the second roll of film and then I will do the whole develop scan and post for everyone's enjoyment.

Thanks so much to everyone who come by and added to the general merriment of the day.

There was much talk of Patch Adams and Tesla, great Harmony from that wonderful pair of beach vagabonds, luscious foods and various amounts of alcohol.

Jen's dip was fabulous and I must have the recipe!

My dear aunt Maureen came up from Connecticut to enjoy the festivities and great thanks goes out to her for her ability to withstand the abuse given by us all. She may even come back someday.

Mr Blair surprised us all with his ability on the grill that would not work in addition to cooking by flashlight and the heavenly Brats on Potato Bread.

I must thank Phyllis for her fire starting skills as well as everyone else for the fire pit upkeep. It was a great night for sitting around the pit. Great to see her and Ken in his cool shirt after so long.

It all added up to a glorious time.

I should have written down the ingredients for the punch because it went down easy and I have only a mild headache today. LOL. The effects of Rum Punch in the summertime is a glorious thing.

I may have to invite people over next weekend as well with all the alcohol still here. What does a non beer drinker do with a cooler full of beer anyway?

 

An interesting little list from Heather.

67 of the items marked in Bold I have tried. 9 I would not eat. Pretty interesting. If there was an option for have you tried and would you try again, that'd be a whole other number to consider.

I found myself thinking of things like my diverse upbringing where I would spend weekends with my Chinese Grandfather or French Grandmother helping them do so many different things in the kitchen. I couldn't even count the hours I spent in front of the meat grinder to make some of the French Pates. I also started thinking about the area I grew up in and my friends of various backgrounds and the foods that were always shared in their kitchens. Having hunters in the family and the odd items from them added to it all as well. Pretty lucky actually to have those kinds of experiences. Lucky still to be in an Urban area of diversity where I am able to try even more. Food is just so heartwarming at times. Other times, it's just scary. LOL.

 

 

Read the entire original post at Very Good Taste. Link via Clotilde.

excerpt:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Adding some pics to the gallery of little Miss Amelia Rose hangin at Wollaston Beach and enjoying the shaved ice. It was a nice day to go and stroll along the new pathways enjoying the treats and sharing the goodness of shaved ice in the summer as well as stopping into Tony's and having a hot dog and fries with the little one. Heather was able to keep her happy until we were leaving. I think she just wanted to stay. Okay, maybe she needed a nap. Anyhow it was great to get that perfect timing and a nice day to take some shots of the wee one. Hope to do some more before she gets flown half way across the world.

Some misc shots as well of the crane that shall soon be gone. Hoping to get better shot of that as well before it comes tumbling all the way down. And a weekend of reminiscing about high school days and people that have passed on and pictures of them just to have and keep the memories alive. A Schmorgishborg of things added to the gallery really.

Enjoy!

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/aug-2008/zuntitled-1-copy.jpg/

 

Dan & Jen's Engagement Party

The festivities were simply fabulous.

I think everyone enjoyed themselves a great deal.

The weather even held out until we were on our way home so, it made for a perfect day all around.

It was great to be with good friends for the day, see people I haven't seen in a while and even meet some new ones. The food was really great and the view was just perfect. Years ago I did a wedding or two at the Danversport Yacht Club but I had never been to anything down back under a tent so that was a great new experience for me for the place. It brought back a lot of great memories of living up in that area and college and all of that so, that was nice as well.

So folks, I spent my evening off scanning and uploading these for you all since I really won't have time until next week. Some of them certainly could have used fill flash but, for the most part they worked out great. Remember these are printed at CVS and hand scanned so, they are no way the same as the originals. They work though.

I mixed up the color and black & white just for variety. The Ilford B&W C-41 I still have a great passion for since no one really does B&W processing anymore (well, anyone convenient anyway). Heck, very few people do film either. I'm so old fashioned - LOL. Anyway - Enjoy!

http://pandafan.tabulas.com/gallery/a@62849

 

 

 

Along the same lines as Shadow Ads/Fading Ads there's architectural decay and forgotten places photography. Photographers are very passionate people who have a desire to capture something for posterity. I think that those of us who share a passion for things gone by or forgotten have a great desire to make sure a record is kept before it is gone. As America grows and develops we now have a history that we are wiping away or forgetting exists that sits for a time undisturbed or unwanted.

Thanks to Anand I have yet another gallery to share with you from a local who has been shooting these types of things for quite a long time. He has also been doing it on film (love to fellow film peeps!) and hand scanning and putting up on his site. It is just filled to the brim with images and I can't even imagine the time and patience it has taken to get it to this point now that I know all of that. I spent a couple hours the other night going through it all and enjoyed it a great deal.

His passion is decay. Mainly architectural decay. He has gone to great lengths to preserve images of these places. I don't suggest others doing the same thing but, I give him a good nod of appreciation for what he has done and as well, how he has done it. I know that many times when I was younger I would pass by that great peice of land for the old hospital with all the great buildings just sitting up there and wondered and wished I could get a peek. Seeing them overgrown and abandoned gave them an air of mystery and desire to know "what happened?". Well, someone out there took it all the way and he continues to do it today. He also travels to other places to be able to record those as well. Inside info says another Psychiatric Hospital was just visited in NJ so in time we'll have some more to look at as well.

I remember Dan having an interest at one point in those types of things and sharing a link and I don't know if this is the same one but it's similar if it isnt. Maybe Dan will share his link again as well. Glad to have the time now to explore more and delve deeper into sites to find such glorious images.

http://www.massdecay.com/

Enjoy!