#37 Boston - The Benefits of Antioxidants - Feb 18 07

Greetings from Brookfield, Connecticut, where you can learn all about the benefits of antioxidants, have a wine tasting and make a gynecologist appointment all in one place. Not bad, eh? Specifically, the place was the DiGrazia Vineyards located within the town of Brookfield, along the Connecticut Wine Trail. Founded in 1984 withy initially 45 acres of wine-yielding soil, it has now beefed up its operation to an annual production of 7000 cases and eighteen brands of wine (http://www.digrazia.com/). Not only is Paul DiGrazia a bona fide wine wizard, but he can also call himself an MD, PhD, and is specialized in gynecology. Yes, ladies, he is the local gyno!! His wines have no added sulfites, ergo they are headache-free, and he was certainly on a roll when he explained to us the benefits of anti-oxidants, which his wines apparently have plenty of. Quote from his brochure "As a man of science, Dr. DiGrazia brings chemistry to explain drinking wine in moderation to good health." I believe the suggestion of having a little glass with breakfast was mentioned, and we could not agree more. Joanne and I were quite charmed by this local gem, the wines were absolutely fantastic and we both left substantial amounts of credit card money there. I was delighted by their substantial selection of desert wines, and Yankee Frost (a sweet Vignoles) and Autumn Spice (white grapes fermented with sugar pumpkin and honey, lightly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves) emerged as early favorites. I must come back down here for some more - unfortunately shipping laws prevent them from sending the stuff up to that little Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

We did leave in a happy mood there, and headed straight for Stew Leonard's, the World's Largest Dairy Store - http://www.stewleonards.com/ . What a great place, not only chockfull of dairy products, but all kinds of wonderful things - with many opportunities to sample and we observed quite a few individuals who I think came to store to have dinner. Joanne and I closely followed one couple who apparently were there to "sample" the steak and chips and looked quite content by the time they reached the cash registers.

I have come to visit the lovely state of Connecticut, the southernmost state in New England, and Brookfield to check in on my friends Joanne and Marc who moved here from Boston six weeks ago. Originally called Newbury (because it took land from three surrounding towns New Milford, Newton and Danbury), the town of now 16,000 inhabitants was officially founded in 1788 and was named after the first minister of the parish's Congregational Church, Reverend Thomas Brooks. Joanne and I quickly used the chance to escape getting roped into any home projects (Marc's family had arrived and was industriously at work wiring, painting, replacing outlets, installing dryers and what not) and headed for the Williams Gurski Open Space Trail located right in the center of town. A superb place to hike around on 200 acres (http://www.berkshirehiking.com/hikes/gurski.html), wooded wetlands, tulip tree forests, meadows, rock outcroppings, a picturesque, but frozen brook named Mervin, high ridges - everything a hiker's heart desires. The snow was packed hard and slick, and on occasion fancy footwork was required - Joanne graduated with honors from a " baby hiker" to a "toddler hiker" and learned all about marcescent trees and also saw her first Japanese Spindle Tree aka the Winged Euonymus (See attached picture). We checked out Gurski Farm, which up until 1968 was a working farm, and whose farm house and falling down barns and blacksmith sheds were just approved for restoration by the Brookfield City Council.


What else did we do? Went to Osaka Restaurant in Brookfield (v.g. as Bridget Jones would say), checked out the most quaint neighboring town of New Milford (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=New%20Milford%20CT&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi) and the local running store "Road and Track Sports". Big family dinner last night with some wonderful Linguini Alfredo and the first bottle of the DiGrazia wine. Life was good. Hailey the dog, who also responds to Hailey Bailey or "roo-roo" has shown a lot of interest in Oscar and wants him to come play with her, even though her attention was diverted temporarily yesterday when Marc's sister Amanda brought in her pet gerbil.

Currently both Oscar and Hailey are taking power naps, Joanne is studying and Marc has disappeared to Loews, a dangerous place from which he may never return. Joanne and I will head off to another hike this afternoon, and maybe hit up the Brookfield Crafts Market. Another option in Brookfield are furniture stores, of which there are thousands - not sure why there is such an excessive need for interior decor, but if it is too cold and unfriendly outside, a little detour to the Lazy Boy Factory sounds like a fun place to go :):) Of course there is also Panchos and Gringos, Joanne’s favorite Mex Mex place around here - I was told there are Mariachi’s playing some decent tunes, and the food is not too shabby either. (http://www.panchosngringos.com/)

Back in Boston this week, it was a tough one. On Tuesday and Wednesday Mother Nature had it on her mind to spoil Valentine's Day a bit and not only dump some snow on us (we would have been fine with just that), but follow that with sleet, rain and freezing temperatures, and you have loads of fun. It took two of my (very helpful) neighbors Antonio Sr and his tenant Scott, and myself 45 minutes to release Ella, the caaah, from an icy embrace and we used shovels, ice picks, hammers, you name it - bone breaking labor, and I for one was glad for the help. It would have taken me at least two hours to do this on my own. The month of February has been chilly, and we have not had temperatures above 30 degrees F for the past three weeks (maybe one day...). Work has been busy with some late evening meetings. Thursday I hosted Amgen all day for a pipeline presentation, an exhaustive day, but it was highly successful, and Caroline and I had to promptly go out and celebrate at the somewhat snobby Beacon Hill Bistro (http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/bistro.html) which does serve some very impressive cuisine, however the cheese platter for 2 that ran $20 was just a little on the meager side.

I had running practice this week at Community Running, and learned the hard way that eating a load of Fettuccine Primavera two hours before track workout is not a good idea. I was huffin' and puffin' like a debilitated old locomotive on its last leg, and was really not impressing anyone. Next time a granola bar will do.

As you know last weekend my friend Dan plunged into the very cold (and apparently yucky) Boston Harbor water near Carson Beach in South Boston to raise awareness for the Cambridge-based Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project. Just watching Dan and his fellow dippers brave the icy waters made Caroline and myself flee real quickly to the comforts of my home and later the renowned S&S Deli near Inman Square in Cambridge for some very nice comfort food. Again, life was good. (http://www.sandsrestaurant.com/)

I will be staying here until tomorrow (President's Day Holiday) and then head back up to Boston for a nice short, but busy workweek. Next weekend I will be heading up to New Hampshire for some skiing, and the week following it is off to Europe!

It started snowing a bit here just now, but now the sun has forced her way through, so I think we will grab the hiking boots and go! (actually I take the back, the snow has just reappeared.....)

Until next week my friends,

pet :) - traveler extraordinaire