New Video: A Brief History of Herbs

A new video has been posted to YouTube.  This one is a quick history of herbs.   It was captured during Fallfest at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH.

Another video for Fallfest will be coming in a few days.

You can see the video here.

New Video Posted: How to Shear a Sheep Cira 1700

I know I've been slacking big time getting you guys some content.  I've been crazy busy the last couple months.  I'll have a few new posts coming soon.

Here is a new video for you.  It was taken at Strawberry Banke Museum  in Portsmouth, NH.  It was during their Fall Fest which I'll be covering in depth in a future post.

This is how they use to shear sheep back in the day.  I mean way back before they have clippers. It's  in normal definition.   I could make it 1080p but I thought for a video like this that would have been excessive.

You can see the video here.

CMDTA Travel Tidbits: Vintange and Vine

Try to imagine you are at the entrance to Epcot.  You pay your admission and head towards to World Showcase to enjoy Food and Wine. 

You arrive at the first booth.  You look through the offerings trying to decide when the cast member hands you one of each for free!  Next they hand you a free wine glass and let you try all of the wines for free!

You go to one booth after another and they are all free.  You can eat and drink as much as you want.  Some of the booths are hidden in the gardens.  Others hidden in the attractions.

You make it to the American Adventure and there are a number of five star chefs doing demos and you don't have to pay to take part.  Outside there is a band playing and a nice big bon fire.

You wake up and realize you are not in Epcot you are at Strawberry Banke in Portsmouth, NH.  You are not in the middle of Food and Wine you are at Vintage and Vine.

Vintage and Vine takes place at Strawberry Banke which is an outdoor museum based on the history of the New Hampshire seacoast from the 1600s to the 1940s.  All over the place are historic buildings and amazing gardens.

Vintage and Vine itself is a four hour event and cost $40.  For that price you get a free wine glass and as much food and drink as you can handle.

There are about a dozen stations.  Most stations have both food and wine.  In many cases a station consists of a local restaurant and a local vineyard.  The food offerings are diverse and most stations offered at least two food items.  The wine was another matter.

Every wine station had a minimum of five to six different wines you could sample. 

One of the coolest features is the fact that some of the stations were hidden inside the homes and in their vast gardens.  You never knew when you would stumble across the next station. 

In the middle of everything is the five star chef area.  Five stations put together where some of the areas best chefs do cooking demos for everyone.

If you are a wine fan you will love Vintage and Vine.  Between the free food, free entertainment, free wine glass, silent auction and roughly 70 different wines and meads to try; you can't beat it.

Vintage and Vine is everything Disney's Food and Wine should be.

The Burping Troll of Walmart

Anyone who wants to read something Disney related might want to skip this post. In past posts I’ve mentioned the “Burping Troll of Walmart.” Some people might be wondering what on Earth I’m talking about. Well I’ll explain. The following story is not a joke, it’s not exaggerated, it is unfortunately a true story.

The Burping Troll of Walmart is an employee at the Portsmouth, NH Walmart located on Lafayette Road. It (I’m not saying if it’s a man or woman to protect the guilty) normally works the express checkout lane.

One day I was shopping at Walmart and only had a few items, so as most people would, I used the express checkout lane. It was my turn to check out. I looked at the “associate” and was taken aback. I don’t even know how to begin to describe what I saw. It looked like the lady from who played Momma Fratelli in the Goonies if she had abused heroin her entire life. She could have also passed as some unnatural cross between a human and a shaved bulldog. The only time I’ve really seen anything like it is in the movies or a video game. The naughty part of my brain wanted to take a picture because on one would every believe me.

Now you know why it is a “troll.” But why is she a burping troll? Let me continue with my story. After I got over the visual shock, I greeted the troll and got no response. I figured she was just having a bad day. After all if I looked like her I think I’d be having a bad day every day. As she was scanning my stuff it burped. Now I’m not talking about a small muffled burp. I’m talking about a wet, nasty, very audible, belch. It was the kind of burp that could have been followed by mouth wiping. I was shocked. I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know if I should asked if she was ok or stay quite. I figured I should stay quite because it may have slipped and I didn’t want to make an awkward situation even worse.

The Troll finished scanning my items and I swiped my card. It asked me something. I can’t remember what it was because she had barely finished speaking when a second, equally disturbing burp, bellowed out of its mouth. Forget about not reacting. The guy behind me in line burst out laughing. I tired not to breathe because it sounded like it was a stinker. I grabbed my bags and got out of there as fast as I could.

I see the troll from time to time. Whenever I do I get into another line. I don’t care if I only have two items and the only other option is getting in line behind the mother ten with three hundred dollars in groceries, I’m getting in that line.

You might not believe me. You might figure that there is no way this could be a true story. If that’s so then I challenge you. Go to the Walmart in Portsmouth, NH and go to the express lanes on the grocery side of the store. You’ll know it when you see it.