Author: doug

There was some sort of televised sporting contest this evening that meant (a) the friends I was skiing with congregated to observe (leaving me on my own for dinner), and (b) the streets of picturesque downtown Stowe VT were deserted — including, alas, all three restaurants I had been considering eating at. I wound up at my hotel’s restaurant where I had a good (if television-noise-encroached) dinner at the bar.

Bars at ski areas do a good business near the end of the day. My favorite type is fast disappearing: old-style New England ski lodge, worn wooden surfaces, plentiful local beer. But we had my second favorite today: not too crowded, with good not-too-loud music, and that all-important local beer.

I made cornbread with goose fat last night to go with my chili, while Lis was away. Now that she’s back I made it again, this time with duck fat.

My mom and her dog, swimming in Lake Winnepesaukee, in 1942. This print should clean up fine.

Restaurants love to serve an order on a board because it feels festive, it’s easy to share, and the customers can pick & choose their variety of tastes for each bite. I made this at home from some leftovers for all the same reasons, only I can really load up on the good stuff and (since Lis is out this evening) I don’t need to share it with anybody.

As I said in my last post, I’m digitizing old family artifacts. Today’s share is my favorite photo from my parents’ wedding, in 1951. I love that everyone is laughing.

My current project, bound to last months, is digitization of old family artifacts. First up is some 150-year-old photos. This one looks like a plain mirror if you look at it casually, but the equipment in my previous post brings out some amazing detail considering that the original is less than 2″ square (and is at least 150 years old). Sadly, we’re not sure who this person was, but probably an ancestor or at least a cousin.

I had already bought a photo copy stand to help with digitizing the old family photos from my mom’s apartment. But when we unearthed a box of tintypes, I knew I had to step up my lighting game. That’s 2 off-camera flash heads, plus a lamp to give me enough light to focus by. These all have polarizer gel over them; the polarizing filter on the lens then blocks just about all unwanted reflections.

Summer St. in front of my office was a bit of a slushy mess this morning (and not much improved by this evening). The sidewalks in the area, however, are in pretty good shape.

Especially on a snow day. This is a new recipe for me, Caldo Verde from Serious Eats, with potato and kale.