Dear Loyal Belch Readers~

You may have noticed that in recent months, posts have tapered off considerably. The cause for this is a good one -- these Belchertown residents have been working very hard to buy a house, and all of my energies lately have been going into that.
As hard as we tried to find a place to continue livin' in the Belch, as of the end of this week, we will be residents of the grand old town of Hadley. I'm not quite sure what that means for this blog, but keep your eyes on it and we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I'd like to post a few shout-outs from things we've been doing these last few months:

The birds are back in force -- all those birds that left for the winter are back and happily eating all the food I've left in the bird feeders.
If you're looking for something fun to do, take a look at the Cultural Center at Eagle Hill -- they run concerts, theatre, dances, workshops, and just a great variety of interesting activities. It's a lovely center and there are always art exhibits up in the galleries and hallways. We went this last Saturday (for the second time) and enjoyed a live swing band, dinner, and dancing; met some lovely people. Such fun.
We have enjoyed eating at Amanouz (delectable baklava) and the Korean Restaurant. Rediscovered Amherst Chinese.
Have been enjoying the calls of the owls at night -- have you heard them?

There may be more yet to come -- depending on how much I feel the need to procrastinate my packing in the next few days....

And those of you with the week off -- enjoy!

Where to Eat What: a Shortlist

We are weekend regulars in the Rt 9 corridor between Amherst and Northampton, wherein lie some of our favourite food locations. I don't regularly review restaurants because there are so many, there is so much to say about each one, and that isn't really where I try to focus the majority of my comments. Nevertheless, there comes a time when it seems appropriate to share. So without further ado, a few of my restaurant recommendations, in no particular order:

Korean: Korean Restaurant, Rt 9, Hadley
Mexican: Mi Tierra, Rt 9, Hadley
Chinese: Panda East Chinese, N Pleasant St, Amherst; or Teapot Restaurant, Main St, Northampton
Thai: Thai Garden, Bridge St, Northampton
Steak: Union Station, Pleasant Street, Northampton
BBQ: Bub's BBQ, Rt 116, Sunderland
Coffee: Amherst Coffee, Amity St, Amherst; Northampton Coffee, Pleasant St, Northampton
Sandwiches: Black Sheep, Main St, Amherst
Mediterranean (and baklava): Amanouz, Main St, Northampton
Vietnamese: Miss Saigon, N Pleasant St, Amherst
Diner: Rt 9 Diner, Rt 9, Hadley
Eclectic American: Judie's Restaurant, N Pleasant St, Amherst
Breakfast: The Lone Wolf, Main Street, Amherst
Donuts: Atkins Farms Bakery

There are still plenty of restaurants in that Rt 9 region I have yet to try -- some Nigerian, more Chinese, Indian, Tibetan, and more -- I haven't nearly eaten at every restaurant around, but these tend to be our regular picks.

*Almost all of these restaurants serve gluten-free and/or dairy-free dishes.

The Skies

I know we're all tired of clouds by now -- at least we got some sun this weekend -- but last week's weekend clouds were spectacular. I couldn't help but snap a few photos. Amazing what some droplets and crystals in the sky can look like (even from a moving car).


Taken on Bay Road in Hadley.

March Visitor Budget Itinerary

What to do when you have a houseguest for 2 days in the middle of March? Try the following:
Friday:

• Pick up from airport/bus station/train station
• Take pseudo-scenic route home, passing through the Quabbin for pictures, history, and sightings of deer
• Get home, unpack, shower, grab a snack, catch up
  
• Visit the Clapp Library to pick up movies and (hopefully) museum passes; look at the beautiful building and make introductions to the library
• Stop off at Rannsaka for a bit of local shopping
• Head over to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art; see the great exhibits, learn about the building of the museum, and definitely visit the gift shop
• Go next door to Atkins Farms to pick up dinner makings and a pie
• Run up to Trader Joe's and Target in Hadley to run those errands you didn't get to run during the week and to get the things your houseguest couldn't take on the plane
• Come back home because everyone is exhausted; fix dinner; watch a movie; eat pie.

Saturday:

• Sleep in; get up and watch the birds; eat breakfast
• Make a quick trip to Rannsaka with cash to purchase what there wasn't enough cash to purchase the day before
• Wheel on up to Amherst, where there are plenty of parking places
• Visit the Amherst College Museum of Natural History (which is free) to see skeletons of long-extinct animals, locally-discovered dinosaur prints, and a sparkling mineral collection
• Meander around Amherst; grab a tasty lunch at The Black Sheep and relax
• Walk by a few shops on your way to the car
• Drive to Northampton and Smith College, where the Spring Bulb and Flower Show is on display at the Lyman Conservatory -- make sure you don't miss it
• Explore the college some, finally wending your way to Rt 9 where there are plenty of shops to visit on a sunny Saturday afternoon
• Finally make your way to Amanouz Cafe for tasty baklava; stick around for an early dinner, if you wish
• If you didn't eat Mediterranean at Amanouz, eat BiBimBop at the Korean Restaurnt on Rt 9 in Hadley
• On the way back home, take one more quick pass at Atkins to buy some of their killer cider donuts for an easy Sunday morning breakfast
• Take a short drive around the Holyoke Mountains to show off a bit more of that March beauty that's around
• Back at home, download all the pictures you've taken all day long, eat more pie, and watch a movie before crashing in bed.

There are a few things I would have liked to include in all our travelings around, and we might have been able to if not for extenuating circumstances. If you can, get ice cream at Bart's Homemade Cafe, have breakfast at either Kristina's or Roadhouse, take a hike around the Quabbin, take a little more time to visit some of the shops in Amherst (like the bookstore and the scandinavian store), stop off at Nash's, and maybe even catch a film at one of the local independent theatres. There is plenty to do, and two days is just enough time to get a taste of some of the great things the Valley has to offer. I'm looking forward to planning more quick itinerary's for the spring and summer when the weather warms and the options drastically increase.

So there you have it -- two days of fun in the Belchertown sun for pretty much anyone. If you add another day, there's time to see the Berkshires, visit Springfield or Brattleboro, trek around the Holyokes..., but I won't get into those possibilities now.

My sister came in this weekend (Friday morning to Sunday morning), and we had a great time following that itinerary from above. It was a super short visit, but loads of fun.
My camera was off in Utah somewhere, so pictures will come later (she took some fantastic pictures, and I need to get linked to them so I can sort through them and pick some winners) -- be looking for them!

Bulk Flour

Since my home is a part-time gluten-free and lactose-free environment, and since I love to bake, I am frequently looking for stores that sell non-wheat/non-gluten flours in bulk (more than 2 lbs at a time). Most stores rarely have any decent selection; in fact, the store I would think would have the best selection (considering the number of bulk bins they have filled) actually doesn't.
In Ohio, my mother has a bulk food store in Amish country, and she often loads up on stuff for me before coming for a visit -- and sometimes she even mails it to me (of course, once when she did I got a call from the Post Office regarding a package leaking white powder...) -- it can actually be cheaper for her to purchase and mail it than for me to buy it myself, which is amazing, considering she ships around 5 pounds at a time -- or more.
I've been in the Pioneer Valley for about 6 months now, and this is all I've discovered:

Oat Flour: Maple Farm Foods (Hadley), $1.89/lb (recently went up)
Rice Flour: Maple Farm Foods, $1.89/lb (recently went up)
Brown Rice Flour: Whole Foods (Hadley), $1.99/lb (organic)
Corn Masa Flour: Maple Farm Foods, $3.49/4.4lb bag

You can find spelt flour at Whole Foods, but I don't know the price, since I can't use it. And you can purchase rye flour in nearly every well-stocked grocery in ~5lb bags.
Also, Ocean State Job Lot in Palmer often has Bob's Red Mill flours at prices a little bit cheaper than the regular stores (but there again, small bags).

Finding this kind of information online can be difficult, so if you, too, are a gluten-free baker and know of other places in the area where such flours might be bought in bulk (or where the grains might be ground into flour), please add a comment!
What I'm looking for:
Corn starch
Soy flour
(Tapioca flour)
(Bean flour)

Flayvors of Pumpkins

If all these pumpkins hanging out on people's porches, at roadside stands, and in patches have you craving some delicious autumn pumpkinny flavour, get yourself over to Flayvors of Cook Farm on South Maple Street in Hadley. Flayvors is a restaurant and a dairy, and right now they have pumpkins -- and a delicious Pumpkin Mousse Parfait (cream, pumpkin, and spices -- what more could a fall dessert need?).

After having passed Flayvors of Cook Farm many times on my way to and from Hadley, but never visiting, I finally took the opportunity to stop by yesterday. And I'm glad I did, since I was able to get one of those parfaits and enjoy a never-before-tasted-by-me pumpkin treat.

Looks like a good place to get ice cream, too, and in the summer, you can pet the cows! (Open year-round.)

Corn

"Summer's not over yet!" proclaimed the sign advertising a large farm cart of local sweet corn and pumpkins on the corner of Maple Street and Mill Valley Road in Hadley. I had had some not-delicious corn (advertised as sweet corn, but definitely not) the night before and was craving some sweet, so I pulled off the road and headed over to the cart piled high with corn. I plucked 4 ears off the "$5/dozen" and left my money and headed home. I peeled those ears of corn, flicked off a few worms, and steamed them up for dinner. And were they delicious -- sweet, melt-in-your-mouth kernels that completely hit the spot. I could have eaten a half dozen all by myself.

There seems to be no shortage of farm stands and farm stores selling corn in late August and early September. Just pick a road and drive down it long enough and you're sure to come to some little house or large barn advertising their corn. I think next year I may have to run a comparison experiment -- it doesn't get much better than fresh steamed corn on the cob in the late summer.