Thursday, March 24, 2011

You can't spell "team" without "eat"!

I know it's short notice, but come to Fairway tomorrow at 7 pm to help send the Stamford High School Culinary Team to the national championships! (I didn't know they had national culinary championships, but I'd love to be one of the judges.)

Like the Fairway flier says, you can "donate to these proteges, receive a Fairway shopping coupon, sample their wonderful demo foods, and be a part of making their dreams come true!"

So wait, I get to eat food and help people at the same time? Wow - they finally found a way to combine two of my favorite activities! Now if they can somehow get football in there, I'd be all set!

Monday, March 14, 2011

And now for a short break...

Hello loyal readers,

I won't bore you with the details, but I just had arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder, so I'll have to take a brief hiatus from blogging so I can regain my NFL-caliber strength and flexibility. The Buffalo Bills keep calling me, and who can say no to playing half your season in sub-zero temperatures?

In the meantime, feel free to email me any questions or suggestions you might have about past or future blog posts. Is there something you'd like me to investigate/uncover/sink to the bottom of the harbor for you? Let me know!

Anyway, I'll be back before you know it, but if you do find yourself missing me, here are a few recent posts that people seemed to like.
http://streetsofstamford.blogspot.com/2011/03/im-back-and-parking-lots-are-devil.html
http://streetsofstamford.blogspot.com/2010/10/burger-wars.html
http://streetsofstamford.blogspot.com/2010/12/latest-on-highgrove.html

Your pal,
JR

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Fairway food fiesta!

As I'm writing this, I'm still stuffed. Last night I was lucky enough to enjoy the culinary stylings of Mitchel London and Dan Glickberg at our local Fairway Market. Mitchel is Fairway’s Chef de Cuisine and runs the cafĂ© at their 74th Street flagship store, and Dan is a fourth-generation member of the founding family. You can see them do their thing on WNBC's LXTV New York every Wednesday between 4:30 and 5:00, as well as on fairwaymarket.com.

On this occasion, they were making caesar salad, ribeye steak with seventeen cloves of garlic, and bananas foster.

Some notable quotes from Mitchel:
- On the steak: "You can use 13 or 15 cloves of garlic, but always an odd number. It looks better."
- On bananas foster: "I love butter. And I love butter with sugar." "It's bananas, butter and sugar; what's not to like?"


I'll shut up now and let the pictures tell the story.

Mitchel (left) and Dan.

Crunchy Caesar goodness.

Before...

During...

And after! Mmm...garlic...

Flambéing the bananas, which Mitchel expressly told everyone not to do (for legal reasons).

The final product with a heaping scoop of ice cream, naturally!

The chefs at their newest, most awesome location!

Here are the recipes so you can enjoy them at home!




Monday, March 7, 2011

Guten organ!

You may not know this, but there's a musical colossus hibernating right downtown just waiting to awaken.

Inside the sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Society in Stamford at 20 Forest Street there lies an old giant whose pipes yearn to be heard.

I'm talking about their 1870 Johnson Opus 339 pipe organ!



On Sunday, March 13, at 4 p.m., the public will have the rare opportunity to attend a concert featuring the Johnson Opus 339. The suggested donation for the concert is $15 for the continued upkeep of this historic organ. For more information, check out UUSIS' special events page.

The last public concert by a professional organist playing this organ was way back in 1990! I bet they played some awesome 80's hits like "Take on Me," "Karma Chameleon," and "Never Gonna Give You Up." You haven't been truly Rick-Rolled until until you've been Rick-Rolled on an 1870 pipe organ!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I'm back! And parking lots are the Devil!

Yeah, yeah, my blog has been quiet for a while...between shoveling the never-ending snow and a vacation, it's been hard to find time to blog. In case you missed me, here's a good old JR rant!


What is it about parking lots that turns good drivers into bad drivers and bad drivers into psychopaths who would park on a burning oil well to avoid walking an additional ten feet?? Is it some weird form of mass psychosis? How else can you explain someone waiting for a space for a longer time than it would've taken them to park a little farther and walk to the store?

With that in mind, here are my nominees for the worst parking lots in Stamford:
- Goodwill: impossible to get in, impossible to get out.
- John the Baker: gotta love backing out into a busy five-way intersection.
- Subway on Elm Street: it's always full of litter, the curb cut is wrong, and it's impossible to make a left out of the lot.
- Stamford train station: not only is it crumbling and overcrowded, they have the gall to charge you $8 even on weekends!

And the winner is: Ridgeway! I specifically mean the portion of the parking lot on Summer Street near Michael's, Modell's and Carter's. People will circle and circle and circle to get a spot on that side rather than parking over by Staples and (GASP!) walking thirty feet.

As for the worst parking lot in our general area, I think it's a tie between Whole Foods in Greenwich and Costco in Norwalk. Not only is the Whole Foods lot far too small and cramped, it's also populated by Greenwich housewives in obnoxiously huge SUVs who are oblivious to anyone else on the planet.

I think Costco's parking lot may have been built on an ancient burial ground, because I have never seen so much madness in one place. People park in the fire lanes, make their own spots, and sit (and sit...and sit...and sit...) for waaaay too long waiting for a closer spot. Here's a helpful hint: drive to the mysterious lower level for a spot! There's a good chance you'll actually end up closer to the door!

So...your thoughts? Any other awful parking lots I missed?