Arts and Crafts

I finally got around to using the shadowbox that Brian and I got as an engagement gift - Thanks Auntie Linda!

A Wedding and a Red Sox Game

Ah, the day finally arrived. On July 31st, my good friend Carlo tied the knot with the beautiful Sherrie Norige. The two had been dating for by my count 8 years. great stuff. They got married in a small service down in CT. It was a beautiful day. There were lots of friends from college there, so it was great to catch up. The food was delicious and the DJ was great. We wish them many years of happiness. Now only if Carlo weren't a yankees fan....

(Brian liked the bubbles.)

After the wedding, Beth and I headed up to Attleboro to hang before we went up to a sox game. It was one of the rare opportunities i get to use the season tickets i buy. We met up before the game with my buddy Brett and his sister Allison. We grabbed some beers (watermelon flavored) at Boston Beer Works, and then made our way to the seats. It was a fairly humid night so we did well to hydrate. The game was great. Mike Lowell made his return and mid standing ovation, rocked the first pitch he saw over the monster. It was a beautiful sight.

After the game, Beth and I headed back to Attleboro and met up with Mister Ben Kelley. Good times. Always nice to catch up with him.

A Beautiful Summer Night in Washington Square Park

Mini-Golf for City Kids

Coolest Dog Ever

Last night, after getting home from the Cape, we headed over to Brooklyn for a Birthday/Welcome Back party for Jeff Contray. It was great to see Jeff and Danielle and hear about his trip to South Africa for the World Cup, and to finally see their new apartment that they have been in for quite a while now.

After we left their place, we met up with my friend Allison and her boyfriend Justin, who were hanging out with some friends at Great Bar Harry, just a few blocks away. It was so nice to see them and catch up, AND, since it's a dog-friendly bar, we finally got to meet Justin's dog Boss who we have heard so much about.

The best part? Boss knows how to give high-fives. (Justin taught him so he has someone to high-five during Raven's games.)

A Week at the Cape!

Brian and I spent the last week at his family's house on Cape Cod! Other than a little bit of humidity, it was a wonderful week! Lots of relaxing, cooking, beach time, antique shopping and having fun!

This is the car that we were driving behind on the way down...

In case you can't read the license plate, since it's sort of blurry, it says "BRAILLE".... anyone else find that a little disturbing?

On one of our day's shopping adventures, we found this really cool store call Picnic Fashion. It is all picnic stuff! Neato picnic bags/baskets, vintage picnic accessories, tablecloths, etc. If you are ever on the Cape, I highly recommend going in just to check it out.

When we pulled up, this was one of the vintage things sitting out on a picnic table...

I have one exactly like this that my Aunt found in my great Aunt's house!

Here we are at a Cape Cod Baseball League Game!

And here we are on the beach in Wellfleet at sunset, where we met our friend Tom for a few Dark and Stormy's.

What a great vacation!

Cousin's Weekend

This weekend was the Renoni Cousin's weekend. All of the Renoni's gathered in Greenwich, NY where Ron and Naomi live.

Brian, Danielle and I drove up Friday afternoon from NYC and got there around dinnertime.

It was lots of fun to see everyone and hang out in Ron and Naomi's fabulous backyard! On Saturday we even went to Manchester, Vermont which marked my first trip to Vermont! I'm now at 40 out of 50 states! Woohoo!

Saturday night was fun too - Ron built a fire for us all to sit around, and Brian, Dave, Chrissie and I had stocked up on sparklers while we were in Manchester!

Unfortunately, I never got my camera out, so these are the only pictures I have to document the trip...

This is the bathroom at the pizza place we stopped at on the drive up - the lazy person's solution to a broken toilet? Just put in a new one and write "Out of Order" on the lid of the first!

And this is the weirdo coffee make in our motel that we stayed at. It's attached to the wall. You put the coffee, water and filter in the little compartment at the top and then set your mug on the shelf below... I don't even think there was a start button on it.

Cleveland and Heat

Checking in from Hoboken, in the air conditioning. Temperatures here in the NYC area are around 100 again for the second straight day. Tomorrow looks like it will drop off, but for now, it's pretty disgusting out.

We spent our holiday weekend out in Cleveland visiting Beth's family. A last minute decision, we bought tickets friday afternoon and took off early saturday morning. Cousin Bobby picked us up at the airport just before noon, and brought us back to Alexis' house to surprise her. After checking in there, we set out to surprise Kathy. Bobby and Alexis picked her up at Harbour Court and brought her to "Tomaydo Tomahdo" for a bite to eat. We were there waiting. Kathy's face was priceless as for a second she only kind of realized it was us, and then it hit her. I'm glad we were able to make the trip out there, to lift everyones spirits a bit, and see good people. Alexis and Bob are great hosts and its always good to visit Fairview Park. Beth headed back to Harbour Court with Kathy and Alexis while Bobby and I went to pick up supplies for a Sunday cookout. We swung over to Lakewood to see Mal and got some brats and italian sausage.

That afternoon Uncle Bob and I met up with two of his co-workers for 9 holes at a nearby public course. It was great to get out there and play a few. I wish it was easier to get out to play here in Hoboken, but anything requires a car or a long trip on public transportation. But I digress. After golf, I picked up some dinner and went to visit Kathy and Beth at Pete and Kay's. After a short visit, I went back to Alexis' and crashed.

Sunday we mostly hung around, and then everyone headed over to Alexis' around 5pm for a 4th of July family cookout - even Pete and Kay! There was lots of watching Brandon be his cute little kid self, and also lots of corn-hole. (Even Pete got in a game.)

Monday, Brian and I headed home, but instead of flying, we picked up a U-Haul Truck so we could drive the newest member of our family home to Hoboken - A PIANO!!!!!!

I have been wanting a piano for a while now, but we haven't really gotten around to looking too much, plus they aren't exactly cheap. Then, I got an email from Auntie Lex saying I could HAVE HERS if I wanted it, but she didn't deliver. The rest is history.

We took our time driving home on Monday, and Tuesday morning we had piano movers come to carry the piano up the stairs. It fits perfectly in the corner in the living room and I am SO HAPPY to have it there! I have played it every day so far.

Thanks again Auntie Lex!! You're the best!

Lime Heaven!

So I (Brian) had a nice trip up to Attleboro on Wed/Thurs. Got to take mom to a Sox game as a belated b-day present, and see gramma and grampa. Not to mention the awesome Amanda Nelson visiting. I think i've said it before but i will say it again. Traveling by train is my favorite way to travel. It's so relaxing and such a breeze. Pop in a movie on the computer, and enjoy a crossword puzzle or two. Bring along some snacks, and time flies. Just a nice experience. (Granted, i know things can get messy in winter weather, delays and such.)

But back to the point of this post! Before i left for Attleboro, i mentioned to my lovely wife, that i would really enjoy some Tequila Lime Chicken, a recipe from Barefoot Contessa. She gave it a maybe, but i figured i'd get chicken. Low and Behold, not only did i get my chicken, but i got the makings for some delicious margaritas on the rocks, and in the freezer, a HOME MADE KEY LIME PIE. Amazing! It was delicious and exactly what my sweet tooth wanted!

Speaking of sweet tooth. This morning, i had to go to the Endodondist to have a root canal. I wasnt in any pain, but because of the location of a cavity in relation to the nerve bundle, they were not going to be able to fully clean out the cavity, without touching the nerve. So they decided the best course of action would be a root canal. I had heard some pretty big horror stories, from the time in the chair, to the pain of them doing it, to the pain afterwards, to the pain caused by the damn they put around the tooth... Well this high tech office (with only two people working!) did it all, pain free, worry free, in 45 minutes. All while i got to watch the World Cup game.

(But don't tell Beth, or she might try and make me stop laying on the couch playing video games.)

My First Solo Pie Crust

On Wednesday Brian and I ventured into the city to go to the Union Square Farmer's Market that is there 4 days a week. We were sick of getting surprise moldy strawberries from the Shop-Rite, so we figured we would head to the farmer's market for some quality fresh ones, and maybe some other treats.

We did find our strawberries, and many other goodies like zucchini (did you know that there are ROUND zuchinis?? They look like bocce balls), peaches (although they got squashed on the bike ride home from the train) AND a container of sour cherries. I don't love eating sour cherries by themselves, as they are pretty sour (duh!), but they make a great pie!

Today I started by making a pie crust from scratch. This has been expected of me ever since it became obvious that I would be a permanent part of the Renoni family. Bette Renoni does not use pre-made pie crusts. A lesson I learned the hard way, when I volunteered to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for a cookout a few summers ago, and unknowingly brought a Pillsbury pre-made pie crust into the house. Bette immediately threw out the pie crust and said "You are learning how to make pie crust from scratch!" And we did.

Well this is the first time that I have attempted a pie crust on my own. Not a bad first effort, but definitely some room for improvement. I think a smaller pie dish would have been better, since there wasn't as much filling as I thought there would be.

(It looks like grapes and cheese, but it's sour cherries and BUTTER!)

And, the top is on, ready for the oven!

Fresh out of the oven!

YUM!

Beth Bakes Bread - Prosciutto Ring

Today I made Prosciutto Bread! I have been talking about doing it for a while, and every time I brought it up Brian thought it sounded utterly disgusting, so I ended up making something else.

Well I finally did it. It is basically bread, with proscuitto, pepperoni and hot sopressata mixed into the dough...

Before baking...

In the oven...

Brian started to think he had misjudged the recipe once the smell of it started wafting out of the oven, but I think he was definitely convinced once he tasted it. He got to it before I could take a finished product picture :)

Secrets to Clean Dishes

If you want your dishwasher to clean your dishes, take the soap pod out of the plastic wrapper BEFORE running the dishwasher.

Secrets to a Happy Marriage

If you're going to sit on the couch and eat ice cream out of the carton, bring your wife a spoon.

I Love Fresh Flowers!

Tropical Vacation

We went to St. John for a week!

Officially deemed it an awesome Griswold vacation.

Negatives:

-Heat

-Humidity

-Bugs

-Bug Bites

-Sunburn

-The Fish That Tried to Eat Brian

Positives:

-Pina Coladas

-The Beach

-Sting Ray Sighting

-Beer-ritas

-The Beach

-Sea Turtle Sighting

-Margaritas

-The Beach

-Lots of Fish Sightings

-Sunset Sail

-Bologna and Cheese Sandwiches

-Catchphrase

-Did I mention the Beach?

-Island Time

-Juanita the Taxi Cab Mermaid

For pictures click here:

http://gallery.me.com/bandbontour#100061

Good-Bye to Sandra Dee; Hello Unemployment!

Well, we managed to finish up the "Grease" tour while still in one piece. It was a great year and a half, but we are glad to finally be done.

Now, it's time to enjoy our summer off, before we start working on the "West Side Story" tour in the fall!

Escaping the Roch....

Checking in from the Auditorium Theatre, here in Rochester NY. Stop number.... 40something of the Grease Tour. We recently eclipsed the 450show mark, and sometime in Hershey, Pa we will hit the big 500. Next up we have Buffalo, then a layoff.

But allow me to flash back a bit. After our last layoff, we hopped over to Pittsburgh for a 1 week stay at the massive Benedum Theatre. A great spot to play on tour. Great crew, great theatre, and well, it's pittsburgh, so what ever. After the show Wed night, we hopped in a zip car, and headed out to Warren, OH to visit Uncle Jimmy. We arrived a little after 11, and enjoyed some delicious steak and potatoes and asparagus, a bottle of prosecco and a bottle of red. Next thing we knew, it was 2:30am, so we decided to hit the hay. A light breakfast in the morning, a lesson in making salted caramels, and we were off, back to Pittsburgh. We made a pit-stop in Franklin Park, to visit the early residence of Beth, and then continued on home.

Here are some shots from the old neighborhood stalking we did...

The Cochran's Old House

The Polosky's next door...

And I wasn't 100% sure, but i THINK this was Carlston's - it had the electric box out front that we always used to hide behind.

We drove by the Airey's too, but the ladies walking around the neighborhood were giving us funny looks for driving around slowly and taking pictures, so I couldn't get a shot. Also drove by the Broer's and Shulz's (where I lived the summer I interned at the Pittsburgh CLO).

We made a return trip on Friday, to Lidia's, the place i proposed to beth, 2 years and a week before. The hostess and the manager remembered us, so we had our same table and some wonderful prosecco on the house. The food was delicious but we ate much too fast. I also got full really quickly.... Could have something to do with the fact that we went to Primanti's on the Strip with Taylor and Co. that afternoon. Bit of a heavy meal. See photos...

Before...

During...

After...

Saturday was Pittsburgh's St Patrick's day.. So we celebrated for a second time... and made GREEN pancakes for Pancake Saturday!

And this plaque we came across in Pittsburgh was just amusing...

In case you can't read it, it says "On this site, in 1897, nothing happened".

Sunday was the usual 2 show day with a load out. The perk being, the crew hopped on a sleeper bus, and 4 hours later we were in Rochester. Beth hung out in Pittsburgh for Monday and took a bus with the cast up to Rochester Tuesday morning.

Rochester is quite the odd little Western NY city. It's fairly spread out, but there seem to be lots of little pockets of neat stuff. They have an amazing grocery store chain here called Wegmans, which puts any other store to shame, even whole foods and trader joes. They also have a Great Harvest, which is amazing bread. I had it when i was younger on a trip to Lexington KY, to visit the Chaloux family. I found it about 10 months ago, when passing thru Portland OR. We picked up a loaf of cinnamon swirl, and honey wheat. Good lord. Lightly toasted, little butter. It's like heaven in a bag.

The city definitely has some charm. Beautiful old houses, lots of shops, and neighborhoods. The real kicker is about 25 minutes from downtown.... LeRoy NY.

Whats so special about LeRoy? If you dont know, you're missing out. LeRoy is the birthplace of Jell-O. Yes, you read correctly. Jell-O.

Beth, Wes and I spent the day at the Jell-O Museum...

On our way home, we stopped for a bite to eat at the ever-popular Dinosaur BBQ!

To be honest, it was good, but not worth all the attention it gets. A couple of days later we stumbled upon Sticky Lips BBQ which was AWESOME!! I would definitely recommend Sticky Lips over Dinosaur. (Who knew upstate NY had so many BBQ joints??)

Sunday night, we head to Buffalo for a week!

A Friday in Hoboken

Greetings all.

Today I offer up a recap of our friday, saturday and sunday in Hoboken. We headed out earlish - 1030am (It's early for a week off!). We stopped by our good friend Will's place to pick up tickets to Saturday nights invited dress of Addams Family. We went to the gym for a bit, and then Beth took a yoga class, while i took advantage of their spa's massage deal. 75$ for an hour massage, not bad! Afterwards, we crossed the street to our new favorite quick lunch spot. Brooklynbread. They have huge salads, that are delicious and some pretty tasty soups. We headed back home then, to start prep for dinner. Tommy Defrancesco was coming and we wanted to attempt our own pasta. Tom showed up around 6, champagne in hand, and we made fresh fettucini, had some homemade sauce and some sauteed veggies. A good night of food and drinking and chatting, and catching up.

Saturday morning.... we slept in, and were slowly awakened to the sounds of, well.... a city wide keg party. Hoboken celebrates St. Patty's Day, the first Saturday of March. And oh boy do they. The bars open at 9am, and the green beer is a flowing. Public drunkness is strictly enforced and many measures are put in place to ensure a smooth day. Our downstairs neighbors, Alex and Lisa, had a big party with friends and family. They took the cars out of the garage, and set up a beerpong table, and had a few kegs. Things were relatively calm here, compared to the insanity of downtown Hoboken.

After the huge success of the fettucini friday night, Beth and I decided to attempt rigatoni. We waded thru the drunk fools and headed into the city to Williams-Sonoma to pick up the kitchenaid-pasta press. We also did some furniture perusing next door at Pottery Barn, and think we have picked out our coffee table. We then popped down to Chelsea Market for some lunch and browsing. After a bite we headed back to Hoboken, for a nap and to relax. Nap time, turned into - drinking down at the neighbors, and visiting with Maureen Casey, who came into town for the festivities, with a friend. At 6:00, we made our way to into the city for the gypsy run of Addams Family. We met up with Drew Levy, and Kathleen and Brant. It was a great chance to see a production at it's roots. A theatre filled with supportive friends and family, there to cheer on the production in its first, semi public performance. The show did some great things with lighting, scenery and puppets. It was a little rough around the edges, but its on its way. Monday night, it begins previews, and then a month later it will open. There were some great comedy bits in the show, and some great character performances.

After the show, we went for some delicious grub at the Chelsea Grille, and then Beth and I visited Bridget's Birthday party. After a quick visit, we headed home to relax, and sleep in.

Sunday was a very beautiful day, here in the NYC area. We celebrated, by making 4 1/2lb's of fresh pasta, and freezing it all. We made Fettucini, Rigatoni and Fusili. It should be delicious... when we are home again. On that note, we head back on the road Monday. Off to pittsburgh. Check out the pictures below of our adventure today!

Fettucini!

More Fettucini!!!!

Making the Rigatoni!

All the Rigatoni drying

Fusili in the making!