Friday, October 30, 2009

Foster's Game Dinner October...

Last year's Halloween Game Dinner at Foster's was my first experience there. I still wish I had pictures of the roasted giant fruit bat we ate! Since then, we've been to quite a few dinners at Foster's. They're always interesting and the food is unusal as well as delicious. For this year's Halloween themed game dinner, they may have out done themselves with the presentation! Check it out...

The PRE-GAME: Crickets? Yes. Crickets.
Katie from Pulse LOVES a good cricket!


Denise Rodriguez won the cricket eating competition, taking down 5 roasted, skewered buggers. Joe Capobianco and I tied for second eating 4 monsters each. I think I still have legs in my teeth!

1st COURSE: Charcuterie board with head cheese and blood sausage
"What's in head cheese?" A close up.
Julio Rodriguez from Hope Gallery teaches us to make Headcheesebloodsausagesandwiches.

According to Wikipedia:

Head cheese is a cold cut originating in Europe. Head cheese is not a cheese, but meat pieces from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow), in aspic, with onion, black pepper, allspice, bayleaf, salt and/or vinegar. It may also include meat from the feet, tongue and heart. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat.
Historically meat jellies were made of the cleaned (all organs removed) head of the animal, which was simmered to produce stock, a peasant food made since the Middle Ages. When cooled, the stock congeals because of the natural gelatin found in the skull. The aspic may need additional gelatin in order to set properly.


Blood Sausage is a type of sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. It is also called blood pudding. Pig or cattle blood is most often used; sheep and goat blood are used to a lesser extent.

I tried both the head cheese and blood sausage on their own, and was surprised to find them less repulsive than I thought they would be. Combining the two with the bread for a sandwich per Julio's suggestion actually made it good!

2nd COURSE: A skeletons bone marrow with sea salt and toast points and parsley salad
The marrow was my favorite course. It was a section of a bison bone. You dig out the gelatinous center with a little spoon, spread it on the toast and sprinkle it with the coarse sea salt. Sounds gross, tastes delicious!

3rd COURSE: Pumpkin lasagna with Lucifer's ox tail and sun dried tomato pasta sheets

This was awesome! Unfortunately it was very difficult to photograph inside the pumpkin... so we improvised... for your entertainment of course!
Vinn and Jill Lattanzi of Paradise Tattoo showing off their pumpkin tops!
Julio shows us his stem... we're very mature, I know.
4th COURSE: Rodent stuffed with black trumpet of death mushrooms Talk about presentation! There was dry ice hidden under the salad so the plates came out billowing fog!

Soon I'll be ready to eat a puppy.

Look at the teeth on this guy! Creepy.
Jimmy "The Barber" Dillon got the rodent from Sleepy Hollow.
Alethea Capobianco plays with her food!
I had to take and post a ton of photos of the rodent, because I still can't believe we all ate it! It was a Guinea Pig. To me, the meat was the texture of a dark meat section of chicken while the flavor was more like a fish or water fowl. Very strange. I can't really say that I loved it, but it was fun to try and unnerving to pull apart. I only at the hind quarters of mine as well as some of the front legs. Katie has an extreme fear of squirells http://pulsetattooblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/just-squirrel-trying-to-get-nut.html and she had the hardest time dealing with the monster on her plate. Always a trooper, she picked at it with her fork and gave it a good old college try. At the opposite end of the spectrum... Joe, Jimmy and Julio ate everything including the brain! Leaving only a little skull behind.

5th COURSE: Candy Corn Cake Can you say delicious? And of course that's PUMPKIN ice cream!


There will be another game dinner on 11/19. Call to reserve your spot today!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Buy Some Books...

We've got some new books coming in, and we have to make some room for them on our shelves. We're having a sale (rare, I know!) on some older titles to help clear some space. Get one today!
http://207.126.62.99/home.php?cat=284

Alex and Katie from Pulse show off some available titles... and speaking of available, Alex and Katie are both also available for dates. Inquire within.

Friday, October 16, 2009

It's National Boss's Day...

According to Wikipedia, It has traditionally been a day for employees to thank their boss for being kind and fair throughout the year. The holiday has been the source of some controversy and criticism in the United States, where it is often mocked as a Hallmark Holiday. Controversy or not, we'd like to take this occasion to give BIG UPS to our AWESOME boss Mr. Brett Bryan. Who is not only kind and fair, but also handsome. Check him out...
Thanks to Brett for creating the amazing environment we get to work in every day! I'm not sure where we'd all be with out you! Happy Boss's Day!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Inside the PI (Volume 4)...

The Customer Service Center. You call, we answer. Orders, questions, and concerns are all processed here. The Customer Service Center is actually in a secret location and is like our Batcave. OK, it's not really a secret, but it is separate from the main building and the noise of production, shipping & receiving. We are attached but removed from the main building, with an interior short cut through the warehouse. We have a ton of art and toys in here, more details on that in a future volume.

Lou Jacque stops by (usually with coffee and sometimes with beer) and bothers Melissa. Alex is just avoiding the inevitable.
Brett jumps in to help with some customer service.
Katie and Melissa doing their thing.
Brett "The Boss" paying and mailing them bills.
Katie from Pulse processing a web order.
Joe and Alethea Capobianco stop by.

Friday, October 9, 2009

He's Just Not That Into You...

The picture is terrible but I love this guy, so I'm posting it anyway.

It's Greg Behrendt! He's a stand-up comic, musician and writer. He's hilarious and I love funny! He used to write for Sex and the City and he co-wrote the book He's Just Not That Into You and had a cameo in the movie his book inspired.

http://www.gregbehrendt.com/

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Big E...

For those of you who don't know...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The Big E, also known as The Eastern States Exposition, is billed as "New England's Great State Fair". The only cross-state agricultural fair in the United States, the fair serves as the de facto state fair for the six New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is the sixth largest agricultural fair in the country, and the largest in New England.
The Big E is held every autumn in West Springfield, Massachusetts. It is open every year for two weeks and three weekends, opening the second Friday after Labor Day and running through the third following Sunday.

I was born and raised in Connecticut right on the border of Massachusetts. The Big E has always been there, just 15 minutes away, every fall. Because it's so close by, I usually go a few times a year. It's only $5.00 to get in after 5pm on the week nights, so sometimes we'll just go eat fair food for dinner. Because of my frequent visits to the fair since I was young, I always find it hard to believe when a fellow New Englander says they haven't been since they were a child or that they've NEVER been at all! In these cases, I like to take it upon myself to show them what they're missing. Last year it was Katie from Pulse (I wish we had thought to take pictures!) and this year Sean from Brass City Tattoo. For me the Big E is about eating as much fried/weird food as possible and then if you have time you can pet some animals. Lucky for me Sean was into that. We begin where I begin every time I visit, the Maine building...

Waiting in the long line outside the Maine building just adds flavor to your loaded baked potato.
A 1,056 pound pumpkin only gets you second place around here.
In the Massachusetts building we tried some mac & cheese made with "world famous" Granville Cheddar Cheese. It was OK.
Baby chicken coming out party.
In the Connecticut building I discovered this tasty treat. CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON! I've often said that if bacon were a boy I would marry it. We'll probably never actually make it to the altar, but our relationship just got very serious. I don't know why I didn't think of this myself, and I don't want to tell you what I'd like to do to the person who did. I'm a sick person.
Also in the Connecticut building, Flying Saucer Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich.
My biggest fear as a child... The Zipper. To this day I've never ridden it.
The butter sculpture. It's made from 600 lbs. of butter, it's different every year, and they put it behind glass so I can't eat it.
There are some awesome and unbelievable items available for purchase at the Big E. Including THE Wolf Shirt... http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Three-Short-Sleeve-Black/dp/B000NZW3KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1254861447&sr=8-1 It's worth reading the reviews on Amazon.com Only if you like to laugh really hard though.
Fresh and natural brick oven pizza with a Pale Ale from the Otter Creek Brewery in the Vermont building.
This guy was a "living robot" he was even plugged in. He was entertaining a crowd in the craft common and when I walked by he stole my sunglasses, and pinched my cheeks.
The Craz-E Burger. A glorious and delicious combination. It's an all beef patty with American cheese and bacon on a grilled glazed doughnut. What's not to love about this taste monstrosity?
So cute! Baby piggy pile. Mmm... the bacon of the future.
London broil steak and cheese sandwich.
We went in to the Rhode Island building to get some chowder and ran into this giant clam.
A true carnivore. I wasn't leaving until Sean took down a turkey leg.
The last thing we ate was the Giant Pickle. We went with a half sour. Aren't pickles supposed to aid in digestion if you eat them at the end of a meal?
Like I haven't had enough to eat today?
*Not pictured but eaten: Deep fried sharp cheddar cheese curds, 3 Potato and Cheese Pierogis from Millie's, and a fresh from the cow strawberry milkshake.

GO TO THE BIG E!