Something With Bubbles
Hey! It’s December 31, 2018 and we’re still here! That’s something to celebrate. So is closing the chapter on this challenging year.
Although I have to say, for me personally, 2018 was an embarrassment of riches. There was so much good eating, I can barely stand it. In fact, like most of America, tomorrow starts a new phase of cleaner living for the Profussor. Part of me wanted to write a culinary recap of the year, but the past twelve months have been so jam packed with delicious events and outings, the post would go on forever.
This was the year that Little Miss Fussy started baking, thanks to Awesome Amy. And that led us into participating in the Cookbook Club at the local public library, which has been a lot of fun. And then there were all the new things I fell in love with this year, like The Dutch Udder, Delaware Supply, Field Notes at Lansing Farm, Nighthawks, Lost & Found, and Yesfolk Tonics. 2018 also rekindled my desire for fiery Sichuan cuisine and some sweat inducing Thai dishes.
On top of that there have been Official Yelp Events, Unofficial Yelp Events, and Yelp sponsored events every month along the way. It’s been a wild ride. But tonight, we put all that behind. And there’s just one thing you need to do.
Gone Eating: Pennsylvania in Winter
Well, I had some high hopes for the end of the year posts. I’m glad to have cleared the decks of reader questions, and to have looked back at the most popular stories of the past year. Sometimes the slow pace of the farm is great for writing. Other times, not so much.
That said, I can’t let a day go by without some kind of content for this beast of a blog. There are a lot of stories I want to tell, and I do always enjoy talking about Champagne in advance of New Year’s Eve. But those really require a bit more time than I have at the moment.
So what have I been doing on the farm that’s eaten up all my time? Good question. Here’s the pic.
AskTP – Closing Out 2018
Holidays are about traditions. And today may not be a holiday per se, but it is the week between Christmas and New Years. This is a holiday of sorts. It’s a weird week, where not much happens. People are away on vacations, and the country kind of grinds to a halt. Or maybe that’s just the government shutdown.
Regardless, this has become a great opportunity to answer the outstanding reader questions on the blog. Fortunately, I’ve been doing a better job of answering questions as they come in, so I should be able to clear the slate with one solid push from the farm in Pennsylvania.
Maybe I’m on vacation, but several years ago I committed to making sure that every question posted to the comments section of this blog received an answer. My only stipulation was that questions needed to include proper punctuation. And dammit, I’m going to make good on that promise.
Thankfully, I never said those answers would be timely. I never even made a claim that those answers would be correct. Heck, the answers don’t even have to come from the Profussor. But there are unanswered questions, which need to be resolved. Before we get to them however, please remember that the links embedded before every question all go to the same place. I like to call it the mystery link of the day. If this is frustrating for you, just don’t click on them.
As far as links to find the original post? Sorry, that’s too much to ask. The curious can copy a chunk of text into Google, and be whisked off to whatever corner of the Internet it takes you. Now without any further ado, onto the questions.
The Best Dozen of 2018
This is always the kind of post Mr. Dave would hate. But Christmas is over and New Year is looming around the corner. So this is the perfect time for a little bit of reflection over the past year.
2018 is the year when the FLB turned nine years old. Egads that’s a long time. All Over Albany hit ten years, and in less than a week it will be closing up shop. These things don’t last forever, and I’m thankful to be able to keep the hits coming.
I’m also thankful that you keep coming back day after day, week after week, to read these thoughts on food and the local Capital Region community. Over the past few years, the increasing demands of my job have cut into the amount of research I’ve been able to conduct for blog posts. However, the Yelp life has been a fairly rich source of interesting content for the FLB, so it’s hard to think of it as a burden. Quite the opposite, in fact.
One of the things I love about having a blog is being able to see which stories resonated with readers. The posts with the largest readership are entirely related to how widely they were shared by you and your friends. So thank you for doing that too. Hopefully, I’ll learn from this recap and make next year ever better.
But before we head into 2019, let’s see what readers reacted to over the past twelve months.
The Day Before Christmas
‘Twas the day before Christmas
And all through the house
All the Fussys were packing
For a trip to the south
Raf is roasting two ducks
For the holiday meal
So I picked up some wine
That is sure to appeal
All I Want For Christmas
There is so much controversy around media and Christmas, and it seems to be growing. Part of me thinks that people just like to argue for the sake of arguing. For what it’s worth, I totally think that Die Hard is a Christmas movie; and while I recognize that Baby It’s Cold Outside is problematic, so are a lot of great songs from the past. I think one can enjoy a creative work, and still struggle with its content.
Then you have the flip side. Songs that are wretched, but charming. You know like All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth). It’s the message. The idealism. The simple request. The thing the singer just can’t have, but would love more than any consumer product.
This week, we’ve talked about some of the experiences you can give to your friends and loved ones this Christmas. But today I want to talk about the one thing I want, that nobody can provide.
Emily L Takes Gift Cards Out Back
If you’ve been following the blog for the past few months, you are probably familiar with Emily L. She’s been a periodic contributor to the FLB, and while we don’t always agree on matters of taste, I really love being able to feature another passionate local voice.
But Emily submitted this piece before I wrote yesterday’s post on experiences being more important than things. I’m not sure if we’ve ever been so close to being on the same wavelength as we are right now.
So if you’re thinking about getting another gift card for a close friend or relative out of last minute desperation, take a deep breath, and read about the tried and true alternative Emily recently discovered.
Experiences Over Things
There’s less than a week until Christmas!
Personally, I’m excited for our family trip down to Pennsylvania. It’s a long haul, but we often get to stop at Wegmans on the way. Plus I get to bring down a bunch of special beers to share with my brother-in-law. It doesn’t hurt that I can occasionally sleep in late, my father-in-law makes his famous pancakes, and the visit is fueled by locally made kielbasa and sauerkraut.
Although, now that I’ve discovered Euro Deli up in Latham, I can scratch the pork and cabbage itch anytime I feel like it. And with Joan at Field Notes making her own scrapple, I may have to take a deeper dive into Central Pennsylvanian culinary delights.
But for many people, these days before the holiday are filled with anxiety. I know this to be true because last night I popped into a Target around 9pm and it was packed. I also happened to pop into Colonie Center during the day, and the aggressive drivers were leaning on their horns, and traversing the parking lot like maniacs.
Be safe out there.
As a food blogger, people often look to me for advice on presents for the food lover on their list. And clearly people are starting to panic when it comes to getting those last few gifts as the clock continues to count down to December 25.
My suggestion may even help you avoid the heart attack from January’s credit card bill.
Faces of Troy
It’s rare that I get to spend an entire day in Troy from dawn to dusk. But my son was doing some kind of robot thing at RPI. So as long as I was going to be waking up so early on a Saturday morning, dammit, I was going to make the best of it.
However, instead of just sticking to my regular haunts downtown, this adventure took me off the beaten path. And in doing so, it revealed a bit more of Troy’s character.
For starters, I feel like at some point I should just spend a day roaming around the RPI campus. Being up on the hill, I feel like it’s a bit removed from the community. But the grounds are extensive, and I love the feel of those buildings. The more time I spend there, the more I imagine what Troy must look like to the students who attend the university.
That said, I spent precious little time on campus. Classes were over, and I was hungry for breakfast. So I went to a classic Troy-area institution that I suspect is just a bit too far out of range for most of the student body.
FUSSYlittleBLOG 