Showing posts with label Connecticut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Connecticut. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Told You the Best, and Now the WORST!

When I lived in Singapore, I promptly patronized the very first US pizza chain to open its doors.  Every expat and PT needs a taste of home from time to time.  It bore little relation to products of the parent.  So I had a little chat with the manager.  “But we put cheese on it,” he protested.  “We know you westerners like cheese.”

“But there’s no sauce!”  Minor cultural glitch there.  You find out one thing about a country and culture, and miss something equally important (or more!).

They were literally using a paintbrush to stain the crust pink.  I explained.  The manager insisted I return for a freebie in a few days, while they mastered pizza-making.  It turned out quite acceptable - good-not-great category.

Already covered the fabulous pizza I experienced at Mike’s Stone-Baked Pizza in Tallahassee.  Alas, I have just learned he has sold the pizzeria, although he continues working there at present.  One can only hope the new owners continue Mike’s extraordinary quality.  Let me know when you stop by!

In fairness, I now announce the absolute worst pizza I’ve ever had in any country in my entire life.  Fat Cat Pie Company – in NYC and the Metro area, including Norwalk, CT.  I’m not the biggest fan of an ultra-thin crust pizza – prefer a little substance, a little chew, to a thin crust.  But a crust as crisp as a bland unsalted cracker – and thinner! – and so tough in the center you cannot chew it but must rip it is simply totally unacceptable.  So is a cheese pizza with nearly invisible, definitely untastable, cheese.  Where’s the sauce?  Their paintbrush must be missing half its bristles.  Singapore’s first pink-pizza had more sauce and more flavor.

You’d better believe I Yelped this one.  Yelp forces you to click on stars when you write a review, but this pizza did not even deserve the one star I had to click.  Even if you are a fan of cracker-crust pizza I would avoid this one – no substance, no flavor, no merit whatsoever.

May your road rise to meet you!
Ann

Friday, February 19, 2010

Paint in an Artists' Haven

It was one of the favorite places famed American Impressionists like Childe Hassam and J. Alden Weir to paint en plein air.  Julian Alden Weir and his wife, later their daughter Dorothy Weir Young, hosted The Ten and other painters on the Weir Farm in rural Connecticut.

Now the 110 acre Weir Farm is the only National Historic Site devoted to painting.  Here you can paint with the pros and with the spirit of painters past.  The National Park Service runs the farm, and even provides charcoals, pastels or watercolors on various days so you can try your hand.  A self-guided brochure available at the Visitor Center will show you around the popular painting sites around the farm.

The Stone Wall Program, a guided walk, examines the geology and agricultural history of this area in southwestern Connecticut.  Thursdays & Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. year-round.

It will be featured in the "America the Beautiful" U.S. quarter series which starts minting this year.

Weir Farms
735 Nod Hill Road
Wilton, Connecticut 0689
+1-203-761-9945

Hours:
May - October: Wednesday thru Sunday - 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
November - April: Thursday thru Sunday - 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Art Center:  weirfarmartcenter.org
National Park Service:  nps.gov/wefa

Great fun, great hiking, great photo shoots, can't say much for my painting talents, however!

May your road rise to meet you,
Ann