Smash Burger

Smash Burger
989 Bloomfield Ave.
Montclair, New Jersey 07042
973-433-7343
10 AM - 10 PM Daily

Grabbed a bite at a new burger joint in Montclair.  The burgers were good and I enjoyed the french fries tossed in rosemary, olive oil and garlic.  Overall, I am a Five Guys Fan.

Before grabbing a bite at Smash, we had quite an interesting day helping a friend put up some drywall.  We picked up some sheetrock, spackle, and other goodies. Loaded everything in my friend's truck then drove to his house. The rear door latch/lock to the truck broke so there was no way to access the sheetrock.  We fiddled around for an hour trying to open the lock to no avail. We drove to a locksmith and even he said he couldn't help us and that we might need to go to the car dealer to have it fixed.  After all that, the lock was still broke, we couldn't open the door, and we ended cutting all the sheetrock in the truck and taking it out through the truck's sunroof.  Oh yeah, did I mention that my friend's plexi glass window on his front door broke as we were bringing sheetrock into the house? SMASH THAT!

Harold's New York Deli Restaurant, Edison, NJ

Harold's New York Deli Restaurant
Edison, NJ


Making beer is hard work. Afterwards, we headed to Harold's for some hearty fare.  Our beer-brewin' buddies have rave reviews about this deli, which is owned by the former operator of Carnegie Deli in the city.  



                                 

At first glance, it seems surreal that this joint was located in a grey landscape of highways, corporate parks and hotels,  in what appears to be the ourskirts of Edison, central Jersey.  Once inside, it is warm and inviting, with lots of mirrors, shiny brass fixtures and cheery lighting.  As for the food, it suffices to say that you will easily run out of superlatives trying to describe the massively ginormous super-sized entrees offerred.

Cakes on display.  Most were quite easily over a foot long.  D'you see that giant eclair on the right???

As promised, the menu is heavy on deli-style hot and cold sandwiches. Typical Jewish fare is also quite prominent on the menu (e.g., matzoh soup, smoked fish, knish and kreplach---a type of dumpling).  DJKung ordered the corned beef on rye (a tower of meat, as you can see on the picture below).  The meat looked really tender and juicy.  He barely finished a third of it.

With the sandwich entrees, you get to visit their "World's largest pickle bar."   This was a really nice touch since you can load up on these crunchy treats to go with your sandwich.

I ended up getting my typical Sunday breakfast of potatoes and eggs.  The eggs were nicely cooked, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. 

I confess that I'm not a big deli person myself, but we noticed that Harold's was popular among big groups and families.  I'm sure they also do a brisk business with the hotels nearby.  I also have a hypothesis that higher-quality deli food is harder to find the further you are away from NY (Edison is roughly an hour from the city), so Harold's is a destination restaurant for folks from central and south Jersey  looking to get their NY deli fix.  

Brew Your Own, Part II

Brewer's Apprentice

A few weeks pass, and the humble wort that we've made has now magically transmogrified into the most precious substance--- beer!  We returned to Brewer's Apprentice to bottle our hand-crafted libations to bring home. 

Our brews came out in cold pressurized cylinders containing our baby brews and were hooked up to the bottling machine.  The staff gave us a run-down of the process. The key is to work fast and methodically, because you lose precious carbonation the longer the beer sits at room temp.

Foreground is the cylinder containng our IPA.  Note the condensation almost to the top, indicating the level of the contents. 

Before we began, we first had to prepare the bottles. We had arranged to use 22-oz bottles for the Celebrate IPA and H. Marzan brews, and 12-oz bottles for the B. Trippel. The bottles undergo a good hot wash and are dried.

This is the machine for cleaning/ sterilizing the bottles. Each cycle is roughly ten minutes.  If you're reusing your bottles, it helps to rinse them out after use and air-dry them, upside down.

After the hot wash, they are dried on these bottle trees.  These do get unstable and you have to pay attention to how you place and remove the bottles.

So how does this bottling machine work?  The bottle is placed inside the machine, with the nozzle/delivery tube inside the bottle.  There is a switch that has four functions: seal, unseal, start flow and stop flow.  After applying the seal, you start filling the bottle up to almost the top, then stop the flow. Let it rest for five seconds or so, depending on the level of carbonation the beer has.  Then you turn off the seal and take the bottle out.

                                             

It is easy to let your attention wander during this process, resulting in suboptimal beer.  Too little an amount of course uses up more bottles.  Spilling/ overfilling is a waste of good beer.  Removing the seal too early will cause the beer to foam up and overflow, and you end up with a half-filled bottle.  Unsealing it too late slows down the bottling process and the rest of the beer gets warm.

The next part is the capping, which we all did manually.  I think we capped something like 500 bottles this morning!!!

                                       

Bottle caps and the capper device.  I was surprised that the process is not more sterile.

So that's really it... bottling was rather easy, but rather laborious.  We decided beforehand to divide the responsibilities so there was an even flow of clean bottles to fill, and filled bottles to cap and label.  Brew App was nice enough to suply us with yet more complimentary bottles from past customers and our crew was buzzed and happy.  Having overindulged this time around, I do plead guilty to mislabelling a few bottles here and there. 

                                                    

Brewers App recommends that you keep your beer at room temp for two weeks before enjoying them.  This allows the carbonation to develop, and we did notice a difference between the zero-week, one-week and two-week mark. 

And so was it worth it???? Absolutely.  The IPA we had displayed a rich, toasty and vibrant flavor and had the right amount of hops without being overpowering.  I find that making beer is quite a lot like making bread.  The freshness is very distinct and we enjoyed how the beer matured over time and the flavors melded together, like a real living thing.  Definitely a large difference from mass-market beer, where the contents rarely vary from bottle to bottle, from day one to day 365. 

                                                

Yay, the beers are coming home!

Camping, Finger Lakes-style

Cayuga Lake State Park

Watkins Glen State Park

Finger Lakes, NY

For the Fourth of July, UFC went off in search for The Great American Holiday Weekend by taking a two-night camping trip to the Finger Lakes.  We were hoping to stock up on some summer vin by visiting a few wineries along the way and also taking advantage of the miles and miles of lakes in the area. 

A trip like this of course takes a lot of preparation and planning.  We wanted to camp, fish and hike with the furs.  Unfortunately,we did not reserve a campsite until a couple of days before, and most sites were booked.  We ended up reserving one night at Cayuga Lake State Park, and the next night at Watkins Glen State Park.

Furs and The Mighty Mississippi ready for the trip!

Finger Lakes is roughly five hours from us, so we took a couple of rest stops along the way.  We also stopped by Wagner Winery/Brewery and picked up some wine and beer (that's what's great 'bout NY campsites---alcohol is ok!)

We stayed one night in Cayuga Lake State Park.  Cayuga Lake, like the rest of the Finger Lakes, was formed when glaciers moved through shallow river valleys and left deep gouges. When the glaciers receded, water filled these spots and created the lakes.

Camping-wise, Cayuga State Park was a massive letdown for us. The campsites in our loop were practically on top of each other and the entire park was just very crowded (this was the fourth of July weekend, after all). The sites were sparsely wooded, with the campsites clearly visible, and the area brings more to mind camping out in your local park.  Definitely not designed for communing with nature--- we get more privacy in our backyard here in suburban north Jersey.  

It was just our luck that our site (site 78) was situated between the loop's playground and the toilets/bathrooms, and campsite-full of college kids playing beer pong.  Literally packs of kids on foot and on bikes congregated in the playground from morning to night.  To the park's credit, though, quiet hours (10 pm onward) were enforced. 

The campsites were quite a ways from Cayuga Lake, and the water was too rough for launching The Mighty Mississippi. Chibs and Babams were game to try the waters, but there were too many recreational craft.  DJKung and his poppa attempted to fish, but got nary a nibble.

DJKung putting up the hammock.  Note the playground and the access road directly behind him.

Typical fire ring here in Cayuga State Park.  Firewood is available at the Camp Office for $5 a cord. (Remember fellow campers, NY does not allow moving of firewood beyond 50 miles of origin!) This type of fire ring does limit the size of the fire you can create, which is a good idea when you're in a jam-packed campground.  It makes it a bit difficult for cooking because you have to let the fire die down a bit, so that the metal grate can lie flush on top of the fire ring.

 We checked out the following day and made our way to Watkins Glen State Park. We were happy that we did, because this campsite was a complete 180 to Cayuga.


Watkins Glen lies south of Seneca Lake. The main draw here is the spectacular waterfalls and landscapes carved out by running water. 

Camping wise, the sites are situated at the top of the mountain and are quite a ways from the spring-fed swimming pool and day-use areas.  There is more ample space in between sites.  Our site (Mohawk Village loop, site 90) had a lot of tall pine trees and it was very very quiet.  

Our site.

Adobo chicken, white rice and black bean chili yeah!
The gorge here at Watkins Glen was privately owned and operated as a tourist resort until it was bought by New York in 1906.  The Gorge Trail, a 1.5-mile paved trail running along and sometimes across the gorge, gives you the best views.  The sites are evocatively named (e.g., "Lover's Lane") and the scenery is just amazing.  FYI---furs are not allowed on this trail, likely for safety reasons.  There are more than a few wet and slippery staircases, and an inadvertent tumble down the gorge can be pretty scary.

Coming down Couch's Staircase.

Checking out the weathered sandstone cliffs.

In the background is the Cavern Cascade.  The steps go toward and behind this waterfall!

Closeup of Cavern Cascade.

Central Cascade in the background.

The Rainbow Falls.  During sunny afternoons, you can see rainbows here!

We did not expect that there would be so much to see here at the Gorge Trail.  Some parts of the gorge cut so deep into the mountain that some areas are just completely shaded all the time.  There are several microclimates depending on the exposure of the sites--- some are wet and slippery all the time, with a lot of mosses and ferns.  Some parts of the cliff wall are dry and sun-baked all the time.  We were astounded just thinking about how long it took for the surfaces to wear to this state.

We took a turn onto the Mile Long Bridge, which leads to the South Rim Trail.  From there, a trail led back to the campsites.

Empty lean-to on South Rim Trail.

Group photo--- UFC has done it again!

All packed up and ready to head home the next day.  It was too bad we did not get a chance to lauch The Mighty Miss just yet.  Guess we'll have to make another camping trip soon!