Nobody 836

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Nobody # 836

Nobody Asked Me But:

The long “voyage” home: I took a quick trip to Austin last week to visit my brother. My return flight took 2 hours and 55 minutes. I walked out of the airport and onto a Fly-Away bus for my trip to Van Nuys where Barbara was to pick me up. The drive from LAX took 1 hour and 55 minutes. Unbelievable!

AND NOW – PART III OF OUR NEW ENGLAND TRIP

Remember the song “Three Little Words?” Two young for that? Oh well. I love you are certainly three magic words, but during our trip we discovered six others that also speak of love - Lake Champlain Chocolate Company ice cream. The company, which we visited on our first Vermont trip many years ago, makes superb chocolates, but their ice cream is even better. We were tired after much walking on a day trip from Stowe to Burlington and my wife wanted a hot chocolate fix, so we wandered into the LCC store on the Church Street pedestrian mall. She didn’t even know that they made ice cream, but one look changed her mind. She ordered a Belgium chocolate mocha chip, but I passed – until I tasted hers. If there is a superior commercial ice cream in the United States, I would love to find it. It is not far behind my all-time favorite, which is from a shop in Oxford often seen on PBS mysteries.

End of story? No way. There is a second LCC store in Waterbury, which is about 12 miles south of Stowe, where we stayed. It is practically next-door to the Ben & Jerry’s home store/factory. Goodbye Ben. So long Jerry. We went to the LCC three times, to B&J no times. The first time we shared the best hot fudge sundae I have ever eaten. The second time we didn’t share. (Jim the oinxster) the third time we went specifically for the hot chocolate. It was delicious, but next time, if I am thirsty, they can just melt the HF sundae and serve it to me in liquid form.

This is how they make it:

It all starts with the incredible ice cream. Add the superb hot fudge. This is LC chocolate, could their fudge sauce be anything less than a chocolate-lover's dream? Then they top it with real whipped cream, thick and just short of sweet. Add pecan pieces to complete perfection. That's amore.

Seattle had its pigs, Saratoga Springs its horses, Indianapolis its tennis shoes. For Burlington it is creatively painted cows lining both sides of Church Street. As you can see from the picture, they are way cool. And isn’t it about time for us to do something like this in LA? Hollywood could have painted statues of entertainment icons. It would be better than the boring stars on the sidewalks. Downtown Los Angeles could do mini-cars and Orange County, rich, SC graduate Republicans. (I will post a group of cow pictures later.)

But I digress. Back to Burlington, with its very nice University of Vermont right in the center. What is a trip without great french fries? Al’s is supposed to have the best in the state, so naturally we had to try. They were excellent, very much like the Boardwalk fries they used to sell in local food courts. Same great gravy too.

In Stowe, which is New England’s primary ski resort, we stayed at the Green Mountain Inn, which was built in 1833, and turned into an inn in 1850. Once again we had a mini-suite, which I love because it gives me a retreat to read, write and enjoy my morning beverage while Barbara sleeps.

Stowe is totally cool with good (and simple) restaurants. Actually Frida’s was not so simple. It is a mildly up-scale Mexican tapas restaurant, complete with prints of paintings by the great Mexican artist. My carne asada taco was excellent, better than Barbara’s quesadilla. It was fun watching the waiter make our guacamole table-side, but Barbara’s is much better. When we finished we wandered outside to take in the British Invasion.

The BI is Stowe’s annual British car show and, cool and sporty, they were lined up on both sides of the main street while a mock- Beatles band played the group’s classics. Afterwards we sampled excellent maple creamee, an especially good soft ice cream. We never had regular size because our timing was bad – we were always full. I know, I know. That is no excuse.

Another night we ate at our hotel’s casual restaurant where I had a very good turkey dinner and Barb had a turkey sandwich on a honey oatmeal bread from their bakery that would finish high up on her best foods list.

The hills weren’t alive with the sound of music, and Julie Andrews was nowhere in sight, but it was still a nice drive to the Von Trapp Lodge and their small deli across the road. Later that same day we drove up to the Mansfield Ski Resort where my wife bought a super new scarf, and I added, to my great/excessive/fun/indulgent (you pick the best adjective), tee shirt collection.

We had what turned out to be a small medical problem our second evening. Barbara had a splinter in her finger from work at home, and it looked to becoming infected. She called Kaiser about 10 pm and was on hold for over an hour. However, when she did get through, an excellent nurse told her to see a doctor the next day and bill it to our Senior Advantage plan. Even though the next day was Saturday, she found a good doctor who told her it was probably not infected (she was correct) but prescribed an antibiotic and gave her a tetanus shot.

Other great discoveries:

(1) Farmer’s markets in Waitsfield and Stowe.

(2) Excellent pizza at Pie-casso in Stowe.

(3) A cool bookstore/coffee shop in St. Johnsbury, VT - this was on our small-roads drive from Vermont to Maine.

(4) A neat new Starbucks in North Conway, NH – same drive. (I only managed 4 new Starbucks on the trip, bringing my number up to 375.)

More about our Pie-casso experience - I wanted to order a glass of red, but the menu did not name of the winery. So I asked my waitress --- “Que syrah, syrah,” I repeated.

Her answer was music to my ears – “Whatever will be, will be/The label's not mine to see.”

All together now - Que syrah, syrah.

(This picture shows where I once again proved myself a champion of the table - ping pong, that is.)

A few words about our flights: We left from and returned to Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The short security lines and easy parking made this a pleasure. Our eastward flight was interesting because of the lightning show over Kansas, luckily at some distance away. On the other hand distance was no comfort with the number of other planes I saw zipping by about 5 or 10 feet away. Well, perhaps they were a little farther, but they seemed pretty damn close.

Our flight home was long but uneventful until we landed in Burbank to be greeted by an up close and personal electric storm.

HERE ARE MY BEST LISTS

BEST FOOD

(1) Hot fudge sundae at Lake Champlain Chocolate

(2) Sausage pizza at Flatbread Baking Company

(3) Brisket and coleslaw sandwich at Thorndike Company

(3) Cork, the chocolate dessert from Standard Baking

(4) Macaroon from Hidden Pond

BEST ICE CREAM

(1) Lake Champlain Chocolate Company

(2) John’s of Maine

(3) Giffords

(3) Shaw’s Ridge

BEST LODGING

Hidden Pond – Although Green Mountain Inn and Samoset, after we changed rooms, were also terrific.<<<

And finally, from former Notre Dame and long-time NFL quarterback Joe Theisman - “Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is someone like Norman Einstein.”