The Long Day is Over

You might have noticed that I skipped the blog this past weekend. I normally post once a week, but it's been a bit nuts here. This past Friday was my last day at Jetboil and I was busy training my replacement, who was miraculously great. I was very lucky to get two going away cakes, one on Thursday with everyone and a very nice card. I also got a very nice Christmas cactus that I hope I will be able to keep alive for just a little bit. The second is pictured here. Notice it's purple. Very purple. How awesome is that? Thanks Lisa!! I also received a case of 230 gram fuel which I was psyched about. Sometimes people get a PCS or a Flash when they leave, but I already have 2 PCS, a Flash and a Helios, so I asked for fuel. Perry also very nicely took me to CR Sparks for lunch on my last day and it was really good.

The very next day I hosted my writing group at my house. I made chocolate fondue in the Helios and we had a very productive meeting I thought. I really value the conversations and the thoughts everyone shares about the writing, even if it's not mine. I think that I learn something from every meeting. I'm very happy about the tenor of the meetings so far.

Chocolate Fondue Recipe:

16 ounces dark, sweet or semi-sweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups light cream
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Using a Helios Guide, take cozy off 2L pot and put 1-2 cups of water in 3L pot. Place 2L pot in 3l pot to act as double boiler (or use double boiler.)

1. Break chocolate squares into smaller pieces and drop them into the pot.

2. Add cream (which will prevent the chocolate from going lumpy) and stir gently but constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

3. Add vanilla extract, and stir it in.

4. Use a fondue fork to spear the fruit, then dip it in the chocolate. Enjoy!

It's really, really good. But bad for you.

On Sunday, since I'd been having such awful luck in NH trying to find corporate wear for the new gig, I headed down to Boston and picked up Laura V and we went to the Natick Mall. Can I just say, I hate NH store selection? In less than 2 hours, I had bought six suits, a jacket and 4 shirts. I shopped in NH for six hours and managed to buy 1 suit and 2 pairs of shoes. The first four suits we bought in the first half hour. I mean, I'm sorry, but apparently the temper tantrum I had at the Macy's in the Rockingham Mall last Monday (which did involve me asking to see the manager and telling the manager exactly what I thought about them not carrying plus sizes) was entirely justified. It was perhaps obnoxious, but justified. Laura and I had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, where we ordered way too much food again, and the drinks were somewhat potent.

After the Natick Mall, we went back to Allston, where we decided we needed to go to the asian market. I bought more skewers for fondue (yum, fondue) and some pickled ginger and baby bok choy for Shawn.

On Monday Shawn and I took Kiwi to the vet for her wellness exam. She's fine, but my checkbook took a hit. I had some other appointments, but I also managed to find two more shirts and three skirts.

We also visited the new fish market in Manchester on Second Street. Can I just tell you, I almost cried I was so happy! It's called Free Range Fish & Lobster and it's an offshoot of a Portland, Maine company. I bought some scallops and some Maine shrimp. I was almost jumping up and down. Shawn thought I was nuts, but being from Maine, I am a (to put it in Maine dialect) right wicked snob about seafood. They bring the fish down from Maine. I can't tell you what it means to me to be able to get good seafood here finally, and not that crap at the supermarket. Seriously, it's bringing tears to my eyes again. Shawn and I baked the scallops in a little butter with a parmesan/bread crumb crust and stir fried the baby bok choy to go with it. It was wonderful. Go to this market!! I need them to stay in business please!!

Today I managed to score another jacket and three shirts. So I think I'm just about done, except I do probably need two more pairs of shoes. I'll try to hit Off-Broadway Shoes tomorrow. I also did eight loads of laundry washing all the new stuff that needed to be washed.

Last night Shawn and I made final decisions on the menu for Thanksgiving. And for those of you keeping track on facebook, I did decide to brine the turkey although I do think it's a royal pain. We found a recipe for cranberry sauce using splenda instead of sugar, and a diabetic key lime pie recipe. I picked up the groceries today around 2:00 pm ish, and I couldn't believe what a freaking zoo it was. Aren't most people supposed to be working at that time of day?

In fiber news, I have barely knit this week. I have spun though. I had two rainbow batts from Grafton Fibers (which is now called DyakCraft) I got several years ago at a NH Sheep and Wool.

This the batt and the batt spread out. The colors range from black to a deep orange/red.









I spun the singles keeping the colors together the same order as the batt. The color progression is interesting to see on the bobbins as I spun the batt into singles.



























After spinning the singles, I've managed to navaho ply one of the bobbins, as I wanted to keep the color changes together.









I still have to navaho ply the second bobbin, but here's what the first skein looked like. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but it would have to be something that takes advantage of the long color changes.
Well, this sort of catches us up. Stay tuned for Thanksgiving updates.

Incommudicado Post 3 (Utah/OR Show)

It was that time of year for the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City. I left for the airport in Manchester on the 19th of July at 9:00 am, and landed in Salt Lake City at about 8:00 pm ish their time, which was about 10 pm ish my time, and waited for Perry to arrive. Poor Perry had to come in from Germany from the trade show he was attending there. By the time he landed he'd been flying 19 hours. Yuck. Luckily we landed about an hour apart, so we could get the car and go back to the hotel.

(During my travels, I had a layover in Las Vegas and had dinner in Jose Cuervo's Tacoquileria, and apparently sat right next to Cuba Gooding Jr, but didn't notice at all until the waitress said oh my god did you see who that was after he left.)

This year we stayed at the Metropolitan Inn, which was much nicer than the luxurious Super 8 (note heavy sarcasm) we stayed in last year. After we got checked in at the hotel, we went to Squatter's Brew Pub for dinner. I had a very lovely beer and a taco salad.

The next day we spent getting the booth up to speed. We tried a new booth system this year, which was like a cross between lego's and tinker toys, it was so easy to set up, we had the booth up in half the time we did last year. The panels fit in these little round connectors and it was really cool. It's supposed to be more environmentally friendly as well, because the panels weigh less to ship and can be reused by refacing them. We ended up going to the Red Iguana for lunch, which I really like (and which Shawn and I saw on the Food Network after I went last year.)

We had a good show this year, we were demo'ing the new Flash, with an upgraded burner system, which comes out in October and our new recycle tool which will come out in January. The booth was busy most of the time, and I think the Flash will be a hit.

I managed to score more swag than I did last year. I got two pairs of flip flops from Rafters, which were awesome. I also got a gorillapod for my camera, some instant fire, some hand salve and cuticle cream, a led light that recharges in your cigarette lighter of your car, and a half price Sigg bottle.

To demostrate our new recycle tool, we had a local artist make a piece out of used Jetboil fuel canisters. The pointy things with the ball at the end of them are hip implants. I did not ask where he got them. The piece did bring in a lot of curious onlookers though. One the Jetboil crew kept telling people it was one of Perry's early prototypes.

The other fun thing we did at the show was have an Iron-chefesque cook off at the show using the new Jetboil Flash. It was really fun, and afterwords, the winner, the woman in the pictures, kept raising her arms and giving a victory cry every time she passed the booth thereafter.

On Thursday, we normally have a keg and hand out cups with Jetboil cozies on them. We went through the first keg in 15 minutes. We handed out 200 cups in about an hour. For the next hour and a half, people kept asking us for cups, so I think it was a popular event.

We were able to pull down the booth on Friday within an hour of the show closing, which is unheard of. The new system was really awesome that way. We did not have the crates back from logistics, and that could take a few hours, so we decided to go to dinner at an indian place in Park City, the name of which completely escapes me at this point. After our three hour break, we got back to find our crates were there. It only took us about another 40 minutes to pack up and turn in the bills of lading and we were done at 8 pm.

The next day I went to the airport with Perry, which was better than taking a cab, but bad because his flight left at 8:25 am and mine didn't leave until 1:55 pm. I finally arrived in Manchester about midnight, and got home about 1 am after we stopped at Wendy's to get me some dinner.

Still have more to do, stay tuned for the next post...