World’s Longest Lobster Roll
I don’t know what possessed me to drive all the way to Maine just to witness the creation of the World’s Longest Lobster Roll. Sure, I love lobster rolls, but I prefer rolls you can pick up and eat (unlike the giants from Red’s Eats, Pearl Oyster Bar, or Mary’s Fish Camp, for example). In the end, I decided it was worth making an exception to be in on this history-making event. Besides, it was great fun.
When we arrived at the site on Commercial Street in front of Portland Lobster Company around 11:00, a long string of tables was already set up on the sidewalk. We paid our $20, which entitled us to a certificate of participation, a T-shirt, and, of course, a piece of the Longest Lobster Roll. All we had to do now was stand around in the beautiful sunshine and wait. And take lots of pictures!
The giant bun showed up near 11:30, but the truck didn’t stop and continued down Commercial Street toward the ferry terminal. By the way, this video includes a description of how Amato’s Bakery made the roll with an oven they mounted on wheels.
The bun was unloaded from the truck and brought back to the assembly area by a large group of volunteer bun bearers that included members of the Maine Roller Derby team.
The sixty-foot tray was conveyed gently...
...and set down on the tables.
Margaret Salt McLellan, Linda Bean’s executive chef, got to work slitting the roll.
Then a team of volunteers laid down a bed of Miracle Whip. (Kraft was a generous sponsor of this charitable event.)
The next step was stuffing the roll with about 48 pounds of lobster meat donated by Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Lobster Roll.
Almost finished.
Done! Sixty-one feet, nine and a half inches.
The last step was cutting that roll into almost 200 pieces.
Show us the money. The event helped the West End Neighborhood Association provide swimming lessons for needy children.
Here’s our portion, complete with chips and lemonade. The meat was superb, very fresh with a hint of the flavor of the sea and absolutely no filler. It’s a shame they couldn’t grill the roll, but that would be completely impractical. Honestly, the Miracle Whip didn’t bother me.
It’s a shame I didn’t get decent pictures of the awesome people who made this all happen, including Linda Bean, the mayor of Portland, and people from the West End Neighborhood Association. It’s also a shame that this would be our only trip to Maine this year, but we had a wonderful time during our one-day stay.
I never thought I would see a lobster roll bigger than Red’s, but this one definitely was. I wonder if Rockland, home of the Maine Lobster Festival, is going to let Portland steal the lobster limelight? The emphasis at the Rockland festival is on whole lobster, not lobster rolls, but the Festival would be a perfect setting to mount a challenge to the record.
National Train Day
I don’t know much about the history or genesis of National Train Day (I think this year is the first one), but I do know that May 10th was selected as the date, because it is the anniversary of the driving of the “Golden Spike” in 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, which completed America’s first transcontinental railroad. I’ll be heading down to 30th Street Station to partake in the celebration (and probably slip into Bridgewater’s Pub for a pint at some point).
Speaking of trains, mere SEPTA has been a huge success—I think upwards of six people have used it. :-) I wasn’t able to add all the features I had planned for National Train Day, but did make some incremental improvements. The most visible change is that it now shows the train number and endpoints for each train. I also reworked the connection algorithm, which has two benefits. Gone are the spurious connections that showed up in certain situations, and it now shows how to make a connection between stations on the same line that are skipped by express trains.
Gig at Chris’ Jazz Cafe
My friends Katie Eagleson and Lenny Pierro have another gig at Chris’s Jazz Cafe this Wednesday, April 29. Their regular drummer can’t get there until later, so they asked me to play the first set. Sweet!
Chris’ Jazz Cafe is at 1421 Samson Street. Two sets, 8:00 PM and 9:45 PM. Cover is $10.
mere SEPTA: Regional Rail Schedules with Train View
Besides my daily commute on SEPTA’s R5 line, I sometimes take the train at odd hours at night and on the weekend, so I was thrilled when iSepta was released about a year ago. It is a model of good design and is by far the nicest of several third-party schedule apps out there.
Eventually I noticed that iSepta didn’t support trips that required a connection. I don’t need to make connections that often, but when I do, it involves juggling two SEPTA schedules. Another nice-to-have would be data from “Train View,” which reports each train’s on-time status. (Train View is annoying to use as is, because status is reported by train number, which makes it a pain to figure out which status applies to your train.)
I thought it would be fun to try creating a web app that supported connections and integrated Train View data. And it was, um, “fun.” So, while it’s not very pretty or full-featured, it does what I need. I hope others find it useful as well.
Although I am still tinkering with it, today seemed like a good time to make it public since SEPTA just updated five of its regional rail schedules. I’ll call this version the “beta.” I hope to have a final release ready for National Train Day on May 9. Meanwhile, please let me know if you have any suggestions or find any bugs.
To use: Go to merecat.org/septa/, pick a start and then an end station. That’s it. You will see a list of trains for the next three hours or so. If a train’s scheduled time (plus any delay from Train View) is a couple minutes in the past (meaning you can probably still catch it), then it will still show up, too. Train View delays (if any) show up in red right next to the scheduled time.
Standard Disclaimers: While it should work on any web browser, the app was tested primarily on iPhone. I am not affiliated with SEPTA in any way.
Philly Beer Week 2009: Winding Down and Wrapping Up
I promise this will be the last Beer Week post until next year—because Beer Week is over. *sniff*
My Beer Week ended with a whimper rather than a bang. For the last three days of Beer Week, I strayed rather far from my “plans,” such as they were. On Friday, I was planning to head solo to Eulogy Belgian Tavern for Brasserie d’Achouffe night, but when Anne expressed an interest in some Beer Week action, we switched the plan and headed back to Teresa's Next Door for Chimay Night.
Although Chimay is one of the most widely-available Belgians, I believe I have only had one before. We ordered a flight of three: Red, White, and Blue. (I should repeat this on Flag Day.) All were very fine, but I particularly liked the spicy White (the tripel is my favorite Belgian style). As good as the Chimay was, the big surprise and thrill of the evening was tasting Monk's Café Sour Ale (a “Flanders Oud Bruin”). I have only had a couple of sour ales before, and I think this was my favorite, mostly because I felt it was well-balanced and not too sour or too anything.
Saturday came and went with no beer outings. On Sunday we stopped at Moriarty’s (after the Go Green Expo), because they were one of the places hosting Ballast Point. They still had two on tap: Abandon Ship Smoked Lager and Black Marlin Porter. I had the porter, which was exceptionally smooth and satisfying without any heaviness.
I didn’t come out of this year’s Beer Week with much of a shopping list, but I did make mental notes of a lot of new places I would like to get to during the year. In that respect, the promotional side of Beer Week in lifting the profile of local bars is working very well indeed.
Philly Beer Week 2009: Summit at Bridgewater’s Pub
I knew I wanted to support one of my favorite haunts, Bridgewater’s Pub in 30th Street train station, by showing up at least once during Beer Week. They were holding tastings almost every day, and I pass through 30th Street every day. Ergo, easy peasy. Thursday was the day I picked, and the featured brewer happened to be Summit Brewing of St. Paul, Minnesota. They were pouring (in Summit pub glasses!) three Summit brews: Maibock, Great Northern Porter, and IPA. The Summit IPA is often on tap at Bridgewater’s, and I have had it a number of times, but the other two were new to me. My favorite was the Porter, but then I love porters.
Philly Beer Week 2009: Ithaca Beer at Teresa’s
Since “discovering” Ithaca Beer at the 2008 Craft Beer Festival, I had been waiting for them to be distributed in southeastern Pennsylvania, which happened sometime last summer. The first sign I noticed was that McGillin’s began serving Apricot Wheat in early August. Not long after our local distributor, Hatboro Beverage, started carrying them, and we picked up the Variety Pack. I have had only four of their beers, however, so I was looking forward to sampling their other efforts.
Ithaca was well-represented during Beer Week. Tuesday’s schedule showed that Ithaca was holding events at three locations: the Foodery, Misconduct Tavern, and Teresa’s Next Door. Decisions, decisions. Ultimately, I chose Teresa’s if for no other reason than its proximity. I felt quite inconspicuous from my perch at the end of the bar and ordered the flight of all four featured Ithaca brews along with some food to wash it down.
- Brute
- Tart, tangy and sweet all at once. Fruit-juicy delicious. I am definitely acquiring a taste for the sours.
- Keller Pils
- Crisp and dry, more hoppy than bitter.
- Bourbon Ten
- A huge, sippin’ beer. Reminded me more of a sherry than a whiskey.
- Flower Power
- I need to try this again, because while it tasted fine, I actually couldn’t decide where to place in the continuum of IPAs. You know what this means, don’t you? More data is needed!
I am more enthusiastic about Ithaca than ever, thanks to this very pleasant evening in one of my favorite places.
Philly Beer Week 2009: Session Beer Project
Beer Week festivities continued last night with a visit to The Tiedhouse in the Franklintown (Fairmount) section. (The Tiedhouse is "tied" to the General Lafayette Inn, a brewpub in Lafayette Hill. Despite the alliance, they also serve beer from other brewers.) I was intrigued by the focus of this tasting: a roundup of “Session Beers.” Our tasting tutor was no less than Lew Bryson, who is the primary proponent—if not originator—of the Session Beer movement. I had been reading Lew Bryson’s blog for a while, and was looking forward to hearing him speak as well.
Not surprisingly, Lew made the case for session beers eloquently. Macro brewers, of course, already produce session beers by the tanker-load in the form of their “lite” offerings, but Lew’s session beers are low-alcohol beers with flavor. To help drive the point home and calibrate our palates, he gave everyone a taste of Miller Genuine Draft Light 64. The MGD64 was barely recognizable as beer, and succeeded in dramatizing the incredible difference in flavor between beers of similar ABV. Lew then turned the floor over to brewer Russ Czajka, who described the brewing process and technical challenges of making low-alcohol beer. We ordered a flight of all seven of the session beers:
As much as I love me some big beer, I have to say I didn’t miss much flavor in any of these diminutive brews. I thought the English Stout wanted for nothing, and I especially liked the Economizer and Brawler.
But enough about beer; I really should mention the food. I was all set to order the cheesesteak spring rolls, but they were out of them, so I settled on the hot turkey sandwich on ciabatta, which was awesome.
Philly Beer Week 2009: Opening Tap
I wasn’t planning on writing a separate post about Opening Tap, but after writing up the Craft Beer Festival, I realized that even after sampling 29 beers, there wasn’t one I would single out for special mention. In contrast, the comparatively smaller group of brewers represented at Opening Tap yielded several I thought were memorable.
Whatever Earth Bread + Brewery was serving was quite interesting; the program identified it as Weak Mild IPA. The two smoked beers were fun—Railbender’s Railbender Ale and Yards’ Grodziski Smoked Wheat. The Grodziski was the smokier of the two, although not as smoky as the Rauch Porter we had at Victory last week. That was really Bacon-in-a-Bottle. Anne and I both really liked River Horse’s Double Wit. I was also very impressed by the Highlander Stout from Stewart’s Brewing, kindly brought to my attention by Dave Martorana of Two Guys on Beer. Suffice to say that the selection at Opening Tap was more unusual and interesting than the much-larger selection at the Craft Beer Festival. Plus, we all got Hammered, so to speak. That is all.
Philly Craft Beer Festival 2009
We survived Philly Beer Week’s Opening Tap last night at the Comcast Center (and according to a friend, we were “on the news”). It was a lot of fun—Mayor Nutter showed Olympian form tapping the first keg, there were lots of new beers to try, and even though the event was sold out, it wasn’t too crowded.
Today we went to the Philly Craft Beer Festival, our third year attending. This year, the Festival fell within Philly Beer Week, competing with about 40 other events. It’s a great opportunity to try a lot of beers in a short time, and a great party to boot. The band was different this year, Dirk Quinn instead of The Bullets. They mostly covered fusion tunes written before they were born. They were excellent, although I didn’t spend a lot of time listening to them. Another change was the addition of a large tent at one end of the hall. Best of all, the weather was glorious. It was about 70, much warmer than any previous festival, and all the doors were left open.
We fell a little behind last year’s pace and tasted a mere 30 beers (and one hard cider). I was happy that there were lots of new beers (to me, anyway) to try. There are only a couple on this list that I have had before (in order of tasting):
Philly Beer Week “Plans”
Last year I posted my Philly Beer Week schedule a month ahead of time; this year, only a day ahead. That’s simply a symptom of my state of mind this year. Beer Week has grown so much in just one year (and it was already huge last year), that I am simply overwhelmed. I got tickets to two events in plenty of time, but other than that haven’t planned much of anything. Just for fun, though, I tried listing the events I am interested in even if I don’t get to any of them (which is why I’m calling this list my “plans”). It’s a mix of new places and old favorites and things that sound otherwise interesting. It’s funny how my attitude about money has changed. Last year, I gave a lot of thought to spending $40 for the Craft Beer Festival. This year, that seems like the low end of the price range. So while the sticker shock is gone, I am just not committed to beer enough to go to more than two pricy events. For that reason, virtually all the events I have listed are pay-as-you-go.
- Friday, March 6
- Opening Tap [Update: SOLD OUT]
Comcast Center
1701 John F. Kennedy Blvd.
7:00 p.m. $40
Even though it will probably be an absolute zoo, I can’t see missing this, what with Mayor Nutter promising to heft a giant hammer to tap the first keg. You just have to be there, even if you can’t see anything. Kind of like Obama’s inauguration.
- Saturday, March 7
- Philly Craft Beer Festival [SOLD OUT]
Philadelphia Cruise Terminal
12:30 p.m. $45
The only other ticketed event we are attending.
- Sunday, March 8
- Bell’s Eccentric Jazz Brunch
The Sidecar Bar & Grille
2201 Christian Street
10:30 a.m.
Jazz and beer, two of my favorite things. And I love Bell’s.
- Ballast Point Keg v. Firkin
Bridgid’s Bar and Restaurant
726 N 24th Street
4:00 p.m.
I like Ballast Point’s Calico Amber Ale a lot, and I’ve never been to Bridgid’s.
- Ballast Point and Hoppy Brewing - Meet The Brewers
TIME - Restaurant, Whiskey Bar & Tap Room
1315 Sansom Street
6:00 p.m.
Another chance to drink Ballast Point.
- Monday, March 9
- Lancaster Brewing Company
Bridgewater's Pub
30th Street Station
5:00 p.m.
I will try to get to Bridgewater’s Pub at least once this week.
- Extreme Homebrewing Event II
Jose Pistola’s
263 S 15th Street
7:00 p.m. $50
I went last year and had a great time, but I just can’t afford it.
- Deep Sea Diving with Ballast Point
The Institute
549 N 12th Street
6:00 p.m.
Ballast Point again.
- The Session Beer Project
the tiedhouse
2001 Hamilton Street
“Join Lew and General Lafayette brewer Russ Czajka as they explore the world of full-flavored, low-alcohol beers.” I’ve never been to the tiedhouse, which opened last year.
- Tuesday, March 10
- Hook & Ladder Brewing Company
Bridgewater's Pub
30th Street Station
5:00 p.m.
Bridgewater’s Pub again. Someone from Hook & Ladder was handing out T shirts at Bridgewater’s just two weeks ago. I got me one.
- Meet the Brewer: Ithaca Beer Company
Misconduct Tavern
1511 Locust Street
6:00 p.m.
Special affection for Ithaca and have never been to Misconduct
- Wednesday, March 11
- Detox!
Actually, I am heading to New York for the “Philly Salon,” a showing of photographs by Philadelphia photographers at Robin Rice Gallery. Do they have beer in New York, too?
- Thursday, March 12
- Summit Brewing Company
Bridgewater’s Pub
30th Street Station
5:00 p.m.
- Colorado Night - Really Taste the Rockies
The Grey Lodge Pub
6235 Frankford Ave
5:00 p.m.
The Grey Lodge is another favorite place that I don’t go to often enough even though it is relatively close to home.
- Ithaca Brewing Sponsors “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
P.O.P.E.
1501 E Passyunk Avenue
7:00 p.m.
I’ve never seen “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and I’ve never been to P.O.P.E., but I do like Ithaca’s beer.
- Friday, March 13
- Friday the Firkinteenth
The Grey Lodge Pub
6235 Frankford Ave
9:00 a.m.
Never been to a Firkinteenth and already missed the first one this year. I don’t know about that 9:00 a.m. time. We got to the Grey Lodge at 10:00 a.m. to watch the inauguration and were the only ones there for at least an hour.
- Meet the Brewer: Chris Bauweraerts of La Chouffe
Eulogy Belgian Tavern
136 Chestnut Street
7:00 p.m.
Never been to Eulogy. Seems like a good reason to go.
- Saturday, March 14
- Uncle Jack's Beer Story Hour
Standard Tap
901 N. Second Street
11:00 a.m.
I love a good story.
- River Horse/ Khyber Pub Grub Lowbrow & Local Food Pairing
The Khyber
52 South 2nd Street
2:00 p.m.
Sounds interesting. Promise “lowbrow” food and I’m there.
- Sunday, March 15
- Detox?
Hardly. I’ll be in Jim Thorpe, PA, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day where there’s booze aplenty, although I don’t have much. I drink just enough to work up my courage to take pictures of the revelers.
Broken Perl Following Leopard Security Update
I started getting errors about “weak references” from a Perl script that used SOAP::Lite and XMLRPC::Lite modules after installing Security Update 2009-001 recently. Many people reported problems with their Perl installs, and the most common advice I found was to reinstall the IO module manually, which I did (see macosxhints), but that didn’t fix it. Another affected module was Scalar::Utils, which I also installed manually, and it did fix the problem.
“Yes Indeedy!”
Harrison Ridley, Jr., jazz historian and scholar who hosted “The Historical Approach to the Positive Music” on WTRI for over 30 years, died Thursday a week ago. I can’t say I listened to his show every week, but I have listened to hundreds of his shows over the years. His knowledge was immediately obvious from listening to him, but until I read his obituary, I didn’t realize the scope of his accomplishments and accolades, including an honorary doctorate from Villanova.
As for the title of this post, Harrison would invariably exclaim “Yes Indeedy!” after playing a particularly exciting track. It was his trademark.
Although I never met Harrison Ridley, he was an inspiration, and I admired him very much. I am planning to go to a memorial service celebrating his life tomorrow (Saturday, February 28th) at 10:00 am at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut Street.
Outlook Webmail Toggle Checkbox Bookmarklet
A while ago, a friend who was frustrated with Outlook Web Access (the web-based interface to Microsoft Exchange) wondered if there were a way to programmatically check the checkboxes next to each message so he could “select all.” That would be handy (I use OWA myself from time to time), but I couldn’t think of a way until I realized a bookmarklet could do it. So, here it is:
OWA Toggle Checkboxes
Compatibility Note: While this works with our version of OWA (Exchange 2003), I bet it won’t work at all with newer versions. No harm in trying; it should just do nothing if it’s incompatible. It even works in Internet Explorer, although IE doesn't need the capability.
Quiet Car Thoughts
SEPTA has been campaigning for quieter rail cars for quite some time, asking that riders “be considerate of others and set phones on vibrate or mute, limit cell phone usage, keep conversations brief and speak using your ‘inside voice’.” In January, they cranked up the volume with a pilot program called QuietRide where one car is designated silent—no cell phones, no conversation, no exceptions.
That’s all well and good, and I wish my fellow riders in the quiet car all the best. I, on the other hand, enjoy the hubbub of conversation, and the occasional cell phone ring doesn’t upset me. In fact, I usually sit in the last car, which is typically the noisiest. That’s not to say that noises don’t bother me—some definitely do. If the car is otherwise quiet (as it usually is in the morning) and there’s just one person yapping on a cell phone, that’s annoying. And I hope there’s a special place in Hell for those people who use push-to-talk phones, where you get to hear both sides of their conversation, not to mention that stupid chirp.
But the real problem with this quiet car program is that SEPTA doesn’t even address the sounds I find most objectionable. I’ve spent the last few years doing extensive field work collecting examples that should help make my point. Enjoy. [8MB mp3 6:39]
Comments
We congratulate our fellow Mainers, the West End Neighborhood Association of Portland. We know first hand how much work goes into a world record attempt.
Please visit coastalcrittersclambakes.com/lobster_roll.html
to read about the trials and triumphs we went through in making our Guinness longest lobster roll record in 1997.
Posted by James on June 24, 2009 at 12:54 PM