“The best [pork] pie you have ever tasted”

Well, I did it.  I made my own version of the famous (or possibly infamous) Manderly pie from A Dance With Dragons.  The recipe from Inn at the Crossroads sounded absolutely delicious,  and I couldn’t wait to try making it.

I succeeded, but at what a price.

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New Tolkien recording to be released

A recording of J. R. R. Tolkien made at a “Hobbit Dinner” in the Netherlands in 1958 is going to be remastered and released later this year.

Wow.  Just… wow.

I love the idea of Tolkien himself attending a feast inspired by his own writings.  Makes me think of how Sariann and Chelsea did something similar with GRRM when he came to Boston for his book tour.  I also love that Tolkien was apparently delighted by the whole thing and really enjoyed himself (as did GRRM).  As a huge fan of Tolkien and GRRM and of creating food inspired by fantasy books, I can hardly wait to hear the whole recording.

It also makes me a little sad that I never had the opportunity to meet Tolkien, this warm, brilliant, remarkable man, before he passed away.  I was only a toddler when he died.  But I am hopeful for the opportunity that perhaps one day I will have the chance to meet George R.R. Martin.  Maybe on his book tour for The Winds of Winter.

-Geoff

 

Calling all Boston area Geeks, Nerds, and Star Trek fans!

Tribbles like you’ve never seen them before!  Captain Kirk with cleavage!

Um, what?

My friend, Karen, is performing in this.

Best. Poster. EVAR.
Best. Poster. EVAR.

Karen’s pretty cool even when she’s not dressed up as Captain Kirk but this – this is really cool.  Also, FREE.  Come one, come all.  Details are here.  If you missed this at Arisia 14, this is your last chance.

~Kelly

Brimfield 2014 – The Loot – Part 1

Geoff and I found a lot of great things at Brimfield this year.  Unlike past years we didn’t go looking with extremely specific things in mind.  This helps tremendously because you tend to happen across things that you can use or give as gifts and spend more time browsing and less time hunting.  I’ve managed to photograph most of the items.  We’re going to break them up into a few posts over the next week or so because listing them all at once would be insane.

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May, June & July 2014 concerts – mark your calendars

It’s time for the summer concert season in Boston.  Mark your calendars now, there’s some great stuff happening.

This list is from Julia Cavallaro and Matthew Hall of Musical Offering

Musical Offering - Baroque Chamber Ensemble
Musical Offering – Baroque Chamber Ensemble

Saturday, May 31 at 4:00 PM
Sunday, June 1 at 2:00 PM

C.P.E. Bach’s Playlist: Works by C.P.E., J.S. & Telemann
Musical Offering (musical-offering.org)
May 31: First Church in Cambridge, MA
June 1: St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields, Lincoln, MA
More Info: musical-offering.org/season-3

Sunday, June 22 at 8:00 PM
Gesualdo Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday
Zefiro Ensemble (zefiroensemble.com)
St. John’s Church, Jamaica Plain, MA
Directions: goo.gl/maps/xC45s
Tickets: $10 at the door

This is from Julia and is AGO/Pentecost/awesome related.

Wednesday, June 25 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, June 26 at 7:30 PM

A Praetorius Organ Vespers for Pentecost
Canto Armonico; Ulf Wellner, dir. (cantoarmonico.org)
Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Orchestra
First Lutheran Church of Boston, MA
More Info: agoboston2014.org/2013/09/lutheran-vespers

And then we have Meravelha and SoHIP.

Meravelha logo

Veni Creator Spiritus – SoHIP Summer Concert Series

July 15, 2014 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
St Peter’s Church 320 Boston Post Rd Weston, MA 02493

July 16, 2014 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
The Chapel at West Parish Cemetery 129 Reservation Rd Andover, MA 01810

July 17, 2014 time TBA
Emmanuel Church 15 Newbury St Boston, MA 02116

Go out and enjoy all the music the summer has to offer!

~Kelly

Brimfield 2014 – the bizarre & the geeky

We’re back from Brimfield.  While we haven’t had a chance to photograph all of our cool finds yet, we did get a chance to take some photos while we were there of some odd stuff.  This post, a lot like the last one, is dedicated to the weird, the strange and the downright bizarre.  Fair warning: if you don’t have a sense of humor this post may not be for you.

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At Brimfield thinking of @TheBloggess

Geoff and I go to Brimfield every year.  Last year was the exception, we were too broke and working too many jobs to be able to take off the time to go.  This year, because we’ve saved our pennies and because Geoff starts a new job on Monday, (more on that later) we’re here.

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So… here’s what happened to the Greatjon Umber

As I had mentioned before, one of my favorite minor characters from A Song of Ice and Fire is Lord Jon “the Greatjon” Umber, who was played oh so awesomely by Clive Mantle in Season One of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  I have often wondered why the character had suddenly disappeared after appearing so memorably in Season One.   Well, after doing some research I found out.

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Beautiful spring day today

Kelly and I were working at a craft fair trying to sell some of her jewelry and the weather was just gorgeous.  In the morning it was a bit low so I walked to a little neighborhood market to get a bite to eat for us.  While there the nearby railroad crossing started flashing and dinging as a train approached the crossing.  So I walked over to take a look.

Continue reading “Beautiful spring day today”