Friday, September 30, 2011

Rainy Weekend Projects




Portsmouth Open Market

Quick trip to the Portsmouth Open Market (anyone familiar with SOWA? Same organizers). We did not see our friend's fishing lure jewelry, or Peppersprouts (my college friend's company!), but hear they will be back for the Halloween show. 

We did find amazingly good pretzels with yummy cranberry mustard. I wish they printed their website on the bag! But it's called Save Me Studios. Cute pop-up pretzel shop!



We also found some great Christmas presents - yep, I said the C-word. 

We also saw some pretty burly brussel sprout stalks. Can't wait till ours start to develop veggies! They are the neatest thing to look at - People walking around with brussel sprouts over their shoulder!
Walking back to the car to head home: 


Thursday, September 29, 2011

Evening in Portsmouth, NH







NHPTV Passport

Our whole weekend was planned around the NHPTV Passport beer and food tasting at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH. We went last year and had to go again this year. We bought VIP tickets and were really happy to have a taste of some aged beers. Did you know beer ages like wine? Yep, neither did we! Smuttynose Brewing Company provided the beers. I really liked the Maibock, and I am a huge Old Brown Dog fan  (favorite ever?), but found out that I'm not such an Really Old Brown Dog fan. The food pairings were great, especially the mincemeat empanadas and chèvre and chocolate balls dusted with bacon! We would have liked to know what the chicken-apple sausage in pretzel bread tasted like, but they ran out! In the first 20 minutes! Major bummer. So we left the VIP tent for the main event...

from the gardens of Strawberry Banke




Absolutely amazing beers everywhere we turned!
We had our fill and more! Great great beer, and tons of people to share beer love with! We met people from all over New England and it was best when we got to talk to the head brew masters for many of the vendors. We also met "friends of the brewmaster," and they seem to get great perks! Long lost beers, anyone? 



Strawberry Banke Rowland Gallery



The main tent

The grounds at Strawberry Banke are beautifully kept. They find seed packets in the walls of the historical homes and research their origins and uses and try to replant the grounds as they traditionally were.












I love picking up all the stuff! Great labels, design, and funny lines.





Memorial Bridge -- First and last walk over

We finished up at the Fishtival and headed over to Memorial Bridge, both of us realizing we had never ventured there before. Not sure how that is even possible with all the time we've spent in P'th. The bridge connects Portsmouth to Badger Island to Kitter, ME. There is no longer any vehicle traffic, but pedestrians can still enjoy the seabreeze coming off Portsmouth Harbor. Memorial Bridge is dedicated in 1925 to those servicemen from World War I. It's scheduled to be dismantled the week of Oct. 3, 2011. Basically there is some state to state dispute over maintenance that can't be resolved. We did had a lovely walk.

Portsmouth, NH entrance. 



View of Portsmouth seacoast from Memorial Bridge


    


I love iron work in every possible way - geometry, texture, patina, juxtaposition and craftsmanship.
                   



        
                                                                




WWI Memorial to State of Maine Servicement. 




I'm a sucker for a beautiful habiscus.

My Grandmother made me so.












Look what we found in Kittery!
We also found the ice cream truck. Still awesome
even if you're damn near 30.

We made our way back to Portsmouth from Kittery with ice cream in hand. In between the two states is Badger Island. Not really sure what state it belongs to. Badger Island is known for its seafood. We found a pizza place instead. $8.50 for a pitcher of good beer. We sat down only to wish there was a pinb...Pinball machine! We found one tucked in the corner. Tyler kicked my ever lovin' ass.


One of the last times the Memorial Bridge will be raised to let through boats and cargo ships.
Glad we were on the bridge to see it. 




Memorial Bridge, Kitter, ME entrance.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Fishtival - Prescott Park, Portsmouth, NH

We got triple lucky this weekend, as we had planned for one event, and actually attended three! We went to the Portsmouth Fishtival (love the logo!), celebrating the heritage of the maritime town.
Here fishy fishy! Gross and awesome. The fishermen were on hand to answer questions. The rest of the fish that belongs to that tail scored them $6K! Also they talked about this great program where the boats have a fish share and if a boat caught more than its limit, it can sell it to another boat and vice verse. So that people aren't over the limit, and they don't waste any fish. Sounds good to me.

Each vendor had a recipe featuring a different local catch. Lobster, squid stew, halibut, cod, etc. See if you recognize some of the fish here!



I really need to get the recipe to this. Our Spirits' Home! 

Beautiful views of Portsmouth Harbor from Prescott Park
 
Fishtival from afar
Can you spot the Tippy Tommy? 
We ate three lobsters and were given 2 flimsy cafeteria napkins for each of us. We scored a roll of paper towels from a local vendor and were basically the heroes of our little table area. 
We literally saved the day by asking a restaurant to give us some more paper towels.





What craftsmanship! They even had cup holders and were comfy! I love the recycled look!




We saw two good family friends and was enticed to check out Gundalow. They are building a boat to replicate the real Gundalow.