Around Princeton

Must have not heard the delivery guy. Box with Chrome OS PC was sitting on my doorsteps. Cool!

2011-01-28T21:16:00.001-05:00

Corp. VPN is going be hammered but @Comcast coming through for me today.

2011-01-27T08:58:00.001-05:00

We've been watching more Netflix streaming. Bandwidth caps suck.

2011-01-24T13:20:00.001-05:00

I'm having breakfast for dinner.

2011-01-21T17:43:00.001-05:00

Hinds Plaza

2010-12-27T08:48:00.015-05:00

Hinds Plaza — The Albert Hinds Community Plaza is adjacent to the Princeton Public Library on Witherspoon Street. Surrounded by restaurant and retail spaces it is a focal point of the downtown and a popular gathering place.

Ticos's Eatery & Juice Bar

2010-12-27T08:48:00.013-05:00

Cuban paninis, tacos, Caribbean Jerk Chicken wraps, Costa Rican salad, and fresh juice smoothies — Tico's has a menu choice for everyone.

Palmer Square, Princeton

2010-12-27T08:48:00.011-05:00

I froze my buns off waiting for the tree lighting but ... it got very crowded — no space for a tripod. None of the shots came out. Make do with these shots I took 2 hours earlier.

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There were taken outside the Nassau Inn.

Princeton

2010-12-27T08:48:00.009-05:00

Outside the Firestone Library

Princeton University

Ivy League

St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church — The side chapel lies to the side of the Sanctuary and is accessed using the door nearest the parking lot on the courtyard side of the church. It was renovated in the summer of 2005. Glass doors were installed as well as a new ceiling and lighting. It contains a cross of St. Francis at San Damiano, the carved figure of Christ and the children, and a new carved wood statue of the Blessed Mother, all of which have come from Italy. The chapel is a serene and beautiful place for prayer and for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Hamilton Jewelers

Small World Coffee — Serving up quality coffee, food, art, and community in Princeton, New Jersey since 1993.

Cool Vines — Princeton

2010-12-27T08:48:00.007-05:00

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Instead of arranging their wines by country of origin or grape varietal, Cool Vines instead arranged wines by taste — simplifying the complexity of selecting the right wine for any occasion.

Matching the wine to the preference of the wine drinkers, the occasion or event, the accompanying food, etc. - all serve to enhance the pleasure from the pour. Instead of demanding that our customers know the vagaries of every wine-producing region's labeling conventions or the subtle differences of the each grape variety when grown in different parts of the world, using the myriad methods that are available to the winemaker, we provide a standardized taxonomy, represented in clear, simple and visual form that communicates the character of the wine with regard to its taste and its affiliation with food.

My wife and I went it to just take a look. The knowledgeable staff helped my wife pick the perfect wine for dinner while I found a few new Belgian ale to try — Schneider & Sohn Organic Weisen Edel-Weisse. I also picked up an unusual — at least to me — Belgian style ale called Hitachino Nest White Ale from Kiuchi Brewery in Japan. Delicious and a fantastic thirst quencher. I also picked up another Kiuchi Brewery ale, Red Rice Ale, a mixture of Sake, malt and strawberries. What!

Twist Yogurt

2010-12-27T08:48:00.005-05:00

Twist offers several flavours of frozen yogurt but my favourite is the Eurotart — a low carb option. My kids like the mango or vanilla onto which they pile a variety of toppings including fresh seasonal fruits, dried fruits, cookies, and candy.

Holder Hall—Princeton University

2010-12-27T08:48:00.003-05:00

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Sixty Eight — Holder Hall was given in 1909 by Margaret Olivia Sage, widow of the financier, Russell Sage, and named at her request for her ancestor, Christopher Holder, “a member of the Society of Friends in America in the Seventeenth Century,” a tablet in the arch beneath the tower tells us, “devout, loving, loyal to duty, patient in suffering.”

Brooke Shields lived upstairs from here when she went to Princeton. The @PrincetonTour is full of this kind of fun trivia.

2010-12-27T08:48:00.001-05:00

Firestone Library

2010-07-25T16:29:00.001-04:00

Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library is the hub of the Princeton University Library system, which is one of the largest open-stack collections in the United States. The open-stack designation means that students have unrestricted access to the general stack area. In addition to books, manuscripts, and non-print items, Firestone has a wealth of computing resources and, like the rest of Princeton's campus, is equipped for wireless networking. Firestone also has ample study space, including carrels allocated to seniors writing their senior theses.

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Triumph Brewery

2010-07-24T23:05:00.001-04:00

Triumph Brewing Company is a sophisticated restaurant & brewery featuring regional American cuisine & hand-crafted freshly brewed beer. Triumph is within easy walking distance of Palmer Square, the McCarter Theatre & Princeton University.

Today I led a group of people through the Princeton University campus taking photos for the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk. We were exhausted from the heat afterward so we made our way back to the Triumph for a beer (I had a Gose) and some lunch.

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Montgomery Farmer’s Market

2010-07-11T08:39:00.007-04:00

I love this time of year. We happen to live in an area with lots of farms, some of which offer organic and community supported agriculture. Each summer the Montgomery Farmer’s Market returns to the Village Shopper Shopping Center in Skillman on Route 206 South. Each week during the summer, while my kids are in Tae Kwon Do, I drop in at one of my local coffee houses (Thomas Sweet Café) for an iced latte and a scone (for Sunday breakfast). While I cool my body with the silky smooth taste of a well brewed coffee, I walk around the parking lot and chat and shop with the vendors of the Montgomery Farmer’s Market.

I almost always pick up a savory chicken saugsage from Griggstown Quail Farm. My favourite is the apple chicken sausage. It is not too sweet but I can taste the Apple over the spices. After a few minutes on the grill this sausage pairs nicely with a well chilled Trader Joe's hefeweissen ale.

Today, we picked up a few pounds of red "sugar" plums. These are small and quite delicious with a taste like muted plum mixed with a hint of mango. My daughter and I fought over who would get to eat them before we headed home. My wife picked up a few ears of corn and we headed home.

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Blue Rooster Bakery and Café

2010-07-11T08:39:00.005-04:00

For Father's Day, I told my wife that I wanted a traditional West Indian breakfast which her research indicated was really a variation of a traditional Scottish, Irish or English breakfast. In the 1700s the British colonies of the West Indies attracted Scots and Irish with skills or money to invest although some came as indentured servants who sold their labour to a plantation owner for fixed number of years. Many of these British immigrants became plantation owners themselves lending their last names to their slave workers. There are many McLarens, Wallaces, Dougans and MacDonalds in my family. Of course wherever peopel go they bring their food with them and since my great grandfather was a Scot (Francis McLaren) I grew up eating a "special" kind of breakfast which includes "black pudding", baked beans, ham, sausage, mushrooms, fried egg, and toast.

Black pudding, blood sausage or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled.

I grew up eating black pudding. On weekends, my father would drive into town and pick up a few logs of black pudding. He would bring them home where my mother would fry them up with eggs, bacon and toast for company. Sometimes after church he would stop on main street and buy fried black pudding from one of the street vendors. So delicious. The spices infused the oils for an explosion of flavour in my mouth.

But this blog post is not about black pudding. It is about how a search for black pudding led to a search for a full Irish breakfast. I Google and Tweeted for months before I chanced up a which led me to the Blue Rooster Bakery & Café in Cranbury, NJ. The Blue Rooster is located on Main Street and except for small blue signage outside, the building looks like any of the old Victorian homes in Cranbury. In fact we would have missed it were it not for the garbage truck that cause me to stop.

There is seating outside but given the warm weather that has plagued the east coast in July we opted to seek seating indoors.

A little sign on the front door instructed us to walk on through to the left to the main dining area and close the door behind to reduce the strain on the airconditioner. The restaurant seating and decor was arranged in a way reminiscent of a bread and breakfast. The kind you find along the most southern part of the Jersey shore or the Hamptons. Quite charming. We walked through the first dining area into a small café area with scones, fresh coffee, and the most delicate looking pastries.

We were greeted by Jerard, a very pleasant young man who was our waiter for the morning. He took us through the café into another and more cozy seating area.

I explained to Jerard why I had come and that I only wanted an Irish breakfast. My kids ordered pancakes while my wife ordered scrambled eggs and an Apple danish. We had some of the most excellent coffee I have had outside of my house. Turns out that the café uses the French press method for brewing coffee - this is also the way I brew coffee at home. When breakfast arrived I dived rights in and devoured the black pudding and to my pleasant surprise white pudding. Images of the West Indies and grandma flashed through my mind. The beans were not the sweet clammy beans you get from a Bush's can. The sauce was thinner and had a citris tartiness to it. I think it was lemon. The mushrooms were a little too salty for my taste. I ten toward a low sodium diet.

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My son had a brownie with breakfast. He describes it thusly: "Slightly crunch on the outsides with a chewy center. It tasted like rich dark chocolate". His pancakes were moist and absorbed the organic Maple syrup which he described as "wonderful". The bacon was perfectly cooked and easy to eat. He also had a cup of cocoa which he describes as "chocolately".

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Thomas Sweet Café

2010-07-11T08:39:00.003-04:00

Route 206 South, Skillman NJ. Used to be Opha's Café. This has become the place for my weekly ice latte treat. The staff are locals and quite friendly. Larry Tritel, one of the barista's, is also a local musician who plays the acoustic guiatar every Sunday morning with harmonica play Guy DeRosa. When you see Larry perform, you can tell he really loves what he's doing. He doesn't do what he does for the money or the attention, he just loves singin' and playin'.

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Witherspoon Bread Company

2010-07-11T08:39:00.001-04:00

The Witherspoon Bread Company serves coffee and croissants and other fresh bakery good daily. It is located on Witherspoon Street across from the Princeton Public Library. My son's favorite are the little multigrain buns. He loves eating them plain or slight toasted. The bakery has that fresh bread smell that I have come to associate from being in grandma's house. Wonderful and safe.

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Princeton Junction Station North Bound to New York City

2010-07-11T08:37:00.001-04:00

Princeton Junction at West Windsor is a New Jersey Transit and Amtrak rail station on the Northeast Corridor located in Princeton Junction, an area within West Windsor Township. The Princeton Branch, connects Princeton Junction to the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey.

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Trader Joe's West Windsor

2010-07-11T08:34:00.001-04:00

We were very excited when the township approved the liquor license. Trader Joe's is famous for having inexpensive yet enjoyable and quality wines - some things that fans called "three buck chuck".

Check out lane at the area's first and only Trader Joe's.

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