Usually the Friday after the birdfest is for leftovers and a movie, but this year, friends [three of us] and family [sixteen of them] piled into cars and drove west to the Delaware Valley to an organic cheese farm, which included a running commentary by a tattooed cheesemaker as he sliced us tasty morsels from some scary looking slabs o' unpasturized grass feed milk-based fromage. Mmmm, delish, actually. I'll take a half a pound of that one and a half a pound of that one. And a loaf of that roasted garlic, duck fat ciabatta.
After bravely going where no suburban cheese shopper has gone before, I enjoyed watching the others spend their dough during a round of antiquing in several little river towns on both the NJ and PA sides of the river around the New Hope area.
Since I'm allergic to shopping unless I have to, I found a cafe that featured expensive hot chocolate [sadly, it was only Swiss Miss], plus a tantalizing assortment of homemade cinnamon donuts for purchase to accompany the pricey cup of cocoa. The huge amount of cinnamon sugar in every crack and crevice of the donuts more than adequately made up for the odd shape of these small, yet heavy as lead, confections, which I had no problem finishing.
This brief respite was followed by even more food at a charming old inn across a bridge to the PA side. The repast included onion soup with four kinds of cheese, spinach salad, a hot spinach/crab dip with wedges of pita. Some of us then attempted to take holiday pictures in front of an old mill back on the NJ side, with a rooster, two cats, and a couple of geese stopping by to see what the fuss was all about. They were lucky not to be eaten. Then back to northern NJ for leftovers and a movie. Something with Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Garner.
Saturday we got on a bus to NYC to see the show at Radio City [for the little kids] or the Big Apple Circus [for the big ones]. The circus offered complimentary hot dogs, a bucket of popcorn or cotton candy, plus a soft drink to go with the clowns, the trapeze artist, the manic Haitian acrobats, the lady with a foreign accent who drove white ponies around and around the ring, and the tiny Asian girls who could bend their bodies into paper clips. All of which was followed by power shopping for some, walking amidst the sidewalk throngs for others, and meeting up at 6:00 for, what else? FOOD! at the Sea Grill in Rockefeller Center. We finished the meal with obscene chocolate ganache-type desserts, while amateur skaters provided an entertaining backdrop behind us.
Figuring that riding public transportation into the city was enough hanging with the real people, we rented a big van to take us home. Once home we watched a movie, this time with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl. And snacked on the endless leftovers.
Sunday was reserved for a round of November golf, most notable for how hard it is to get any distance with cold dead golf balls on hard, dry turf. My only sustenance for four hours in the 46 degree weather was a leftover Milky Way I found in my purse. But I was a trooper, riding in the cart, taking video until the juice in my camera ran out, just as a herd of wild turkeys came into view. Afterward, it was back to the house for more leftovers and yet another Ashton Kutcher movie. Wait, this time it was Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl. They all look alike.Today, as the last of us headed home, we all agreed that a few more days just to hang would be nice. Watch some football LIVE for a change. Maybe catch another Ashton Kutcher/Katherine Heigl/Gerard Butler/Jennifer Garner flick. And suck up the last of the leftovers. That 30-pound turkey and fifteen pound ham are going to take a long, long, time.
