The weather now in central Connecticut is spectacular. So I'll be sitting on my back porch sipping Eagle Rare bourbon (one ice cube, thank you).

Spencer, where??

Flying home from Europe on Swissair, after dinner, the stewardess brought around a cart with a variety of cheeses. Pointing to the familiar one with holes in it, I said "I'll have some of the swiss cheese." In a miffed tone she replied "Sir, they're ALL swiss cheeses. You must mean the emmenthaler."

At the Officer's Club at Fort Hood, Texas, I had just finished eating my meal and had ordered my favorite southern dessert, pecan pie, using a northerner's pronunciation of the nut (long "e", long "a"), when my waitress, in her most drawn-out texas drawl, says "why honey, you must want a "puh-cahn" pie, a "pee-can" is something you find in the bathroom!"

I believe Grace's restaurant on Meriden-Waterbury Rd. (Rte 322) in Southington serves buckwheat pancakes.

I have a Keurig Vue and I usually brew my bold/dark coffee on 14 oz and strong settings. Tastes great to me. I think the travel mug setting is 16 oz, but it takes a special "travel mug" k-cup. The volume settings go all the way up to 18 oz.

Made our annual pilgrimage to Ikea in New Haven yesterday to pick up some swedish meatballs for our christmas eve smorgasbord. Then popped over to L&J's for lunch. We got there early enough that they immediately seated us by a window. As the lunch hour wore on the place pretty much filled up. It wasn't as quiet as a library, but the noise level certainly didn't prevent us from conversing normally. The servers were pleasant and attentive. No complaint in that regard. The menu is a clone of the one in Westbrook. With all due respect to the posters who eschew fried seafood, I view a properly fried clam (whole-belly, of course) or piece of cod as a thing of beauty and L&J's has that down pat. The clams were fresh, lightly battered and not greasy. When my fried clam dinner came, everyone in our party marveled at how large the portion was and wondered if I would be able to finish it. I did! My only nit is that the french fries, while not bad, are ordinary at best. But remember that L&J gives you the option of substituting boiled red potatoes or seasoned rice. My wife, not an avid seafood eater, said that her fish and chips were excellent. I started out with 1/2 dozen raw oysters. They were fresh, ice cold and perfectly shucked swimming in their liquor. At $9.50 per 1/2 dozen it's one of the best deals on the shoreline. Most other places charge $14-15 for 6. Yes, the decor is fairly pedestrian, but with a view of New Haven harbor out the window, I didn't spent much time staring at the two plastic lobsters on the wall wearing santa claus hats. Sorry about the bad experiences that others had, but ours was great and we'll be back.

According to a recent article in the Meriden Record Journal, a Southington resident, Brian Faye, will be an investor, co-owner and operator of the new restaurant.

We have found that the Conn Creek winery on Silverado Trail in Napa Valley puts out a number of excellent cabs, most of which are priced at or below $50.00.

Yes it is.

Thanks. At least I know that my Chowhound site isn't busted. ;>) Maybe I'll have to be the sacrificial goat and try it first.

Seriously? No responses???

Have you been to Zingarella's, the (relatively) new pizza place in the Plantsville section of Southington, CT? How'd you like it?

My brother and his dog joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. He gave his dog what he thought would be a treat for her and fed her a big dish of turkey skin leftovers. The fat overwhelmed her kidneys and she passed away that afternoon.

I prefer the cider donuts at Lewis Farms (corner of Meriden and Belleview Aves. in Southington) to those of Roger's.

How do you get carbon dioxide from a bicycle pump? Doesn't that just replace the oxygen with new oxygen?

Sign in a store front window in my small (Connecticut) town announcing the imminent arrival of the Six Pence Pie Company. Has anyone ever heard of this establishment in any other location? How is it?Are the pies dessert types or are they English meat pies (ala Cornish pasties)?

At the suggestion of the staff of the B & B at which we were staying on the Cape (Captain's House Inn, Chatham..see my review on TripAdvisor), my wife and I went to Buca's Tuscan Roadhouse in Harwich for a fine meal to celebrate a special occasion. In a small house right on Rte 28 near the Chatham/Harwich line, Buca's presents a warm, welcoming, tastefully decorated aspect inside and out. It consists of a small cozy dining room (maybe a dozen or so booths and tables) and a separate bar area. They seated us in a booth in an alcove (almost like a short corridor) that ran between the dining room and the bar area. At first I was concerned that they were sticking us in the bar when I really wanted a more "formal" experience. After all, you don't celebrate your 38th anniversary in a bar It turned out that they really did us a favor. Even though the single booth in this little nook has a view into the (very pleasant) bar area, it truly is the most secluded spot in the restaurant and was, that night, insulated from several groups enjoying holiday parties in the small dining room. The wait staff was friendly (without being overly familiar) and attentive (without being intrusive). The menu is extensive having a regular menu, a winter specials menus and a menu with specials of the day. It made it hard to select, but select we did and a good job of it we did. I started with "lattuga rumania ala Griglia", a salad of grilled romaine lettuce, lemon gorgonzola vinaigrette and tuscan croutons. My entree was "sole invernale", pan fried sole with roasted almonds, peas, basil and roasted garlic topped with a preserved lemon fennel butter sauce,all over fresh pappardelle pasta. Surprisingly, all the ingredients went perfectly together to create dish that was incredibly favorable yet subtle enough to let the freshness and flavor of the fish shine through. My wife had bruschetta (fairly standard fare, but perfectly prepared), followed by "pasta carbonara alle Buca". This was fresh tagliatelle pasta, egg, applewood smoked bacon peccorino romano cheese and pancetta. Unlike your usual heavily creamy carbonara sauce, this sauce coated the pasta with a light glaze, enhancing rather than hiding the pasta's freshness. For dessert, I had a dish of honey gelato. Intense, but not cloyingly sweet, it was the right end to a fine meal. From now on, Buca's will be our "go-to" restaurant whenever we're lucky enough to get back to the Cape.

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Bucas Tuscan Roadhouse
4 Depot Rd, Harwich, MA 02645

We were passing through Ocean City, MD last year and saw a restaurant named "House of Chipped Beef". Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stop and check it out.

I read in my paper this morning that they're about to roll out "Triplestuf Oreos" (or are they "Double Double Stuf"?). There will be three chocolate cookies filled with one layer of vanilla cream and one layer of chocolate cream. This type of Oreo apparently has been available previously in Argentina and now they're going to introduce it in the States.

Don't know why this didn't update when I added the above post Friday night. Maybe this will cause it to refresh.

Gia: I just reread your post and realized that you had inquired about several specific wineries, including Rubicon. During our trip we also visited Rubicon. It too was excellent, but was an entirely different experience from Conn Creek. The word I'd use to describe the Rubicon experience is "elegant", from the imposing building and grounds to the formal feel of the tasting area. The reds were, of course, excellent, but generally pricier than Conn Creek. The basic tasting flight was $25.00 a person. The tasting experience concluded with Rubicon's flagship red that runs $150.00 a bottle. Ruined me for Ripple for life!!! The wines, the experience etc were wonderful. We bought a couple of bottles of their (not $150) wines, but overall Conn Creek just appealed to us more. If you do go to Rubicon, make sure you get to the small public museum at the top of the large central staircase and see the perfectly restored 1948 (?) Tucker automobile they have on display.

On a recent trip to Napa, a local steered us to Conn Creek Winery, on the Silverado Trail in St. Helena, saying that they had cabernets "to die for'. We stopped there for a wine tasting and were so impressed that we signed up for their wine club, the only club we signed up for out of all the tastings we tried that week.. We've had one shipment to date, opened one of those selections and immediately ordered another case of it.

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Conn Creek Winery
8711 Silverado Trl S St, Helena, CA

We had breakfast this morning at Josie's Corner and enjoyed it very much. We had hash and eggs. The hash was good (not fully homemade, but nicely embellished in the kitchen). The homefries were flavorful and crispy/crunchy the way I like it, although next time we probably won't spend the extra money to get the sauteed onions on them. As Hotwing said, their home made bread was excellent. Next, we will try the restaurant in the former Even Steven (now I remember that name) location. Thanks to both of you for the suggestions.

We were driving on Farmington Ave. through Berlin, CT the other day and noticed a number of small diner/mom 'n pop type restaurants along the way. We're always looking to try different places that have great breakfasts. We've gone to places in other area towns (e.g. Southington, Plainville, Bristol), but have never given Berlin a try (other than the late, great Steve's many years ago). Are there any great breakfast places in Berlin these days? Thanks.

I'm pretty sure that I'm getting ripped off by the ice cream people. I notice that the cartons say that there are 12-14 servings in the carton, but I only get 4-5!! ;>)

Swedish Glogg. Made at home from port wine, brandy and rum, lightly simmered with an orange, cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom seeds, almonds and raisins. Served warm by the fireplace while the snow falls outside

The perfect place for you would appear to be Pizza Works in Old Saybrook. About a 10-minute drive from the Essex RR, Pizza Works is located in the Old Saybrook train station right off Route 1 as you come into town. Not only is it situated adjacent to the Amtrak railroad tracks, which constitute the main line between New York and Boston so is a prime location for train watching, but the restaurant also has a large HO model train layout upstairs built by local modeler/artist, Steve Cryan, as well as a large-scale model train circling the upper walls in the main dining room. The menu is almost entirely pizza. My grandkids insist on eating there everytime they come to visit us at our shore cottage in the Summer. Oh, and for Dad, it's got an extensive selection of bottled beers.

Ok, so the four of us made our shopping excursion yesterday to the New Haven/Orange area (IKEA, Talbot's Outlet, L.L.Bean outlet, Trader Joe's) and had lunch at Mark Barry's. Thanks to you guys I was given high praise for my selection of a restaurant. Service was very good, attentive without being intrusive. The food was good and just what my non-Chow companions were looking for. Two of us had the special soup of the day. Although the on-line menu claims that they serve "Charleston-style she-crab soup", it was not on the printed menu. Instead, the soup special was a crab bisque which was quite good. For entrees, one of us has a hamburger, one had the day's special Philly cheese steak wrap and two of us each had an open-faced sandwich consisting of diced chicken with cherry tomatoes, shiitaki mushrooms, and asiago cheese on garlic bread. All sandwiches came with your choice of french fries or sweet potato fries. We all enjoyed our respective meals. Three of us each enjoyed a creditable martini. I probably wouldn't make a special trip down there just for the purpose of eating at Mark Barry's, but as part a day's outing, it was pretty good.

Thanks, Kattyeyes, and Harrie. Based on a quick on-line review of them, several of your suggestions seem to be just what we're looking for. I'm going to pick several of them and let the others in our party make the final decision. It's really difficult for a 'hound (who will eat just about anything...and has) to have to pick a restaurant for a several people who, although they enjoy good food, do not really fit the description of a "Chowhound". Thanks also to the others who took the time to respond. Happy holidays to all!!