Writer’s Voice, a New Haven-area discussion group and writing workshop organized by Gabe Davis and Jamie Turndorf (a.k.a. Dr. Love), held its January meeting at Scoop This! in Woodbridge.
In January, the patio seating may not look particularly tempting,
but if you proceed inside the brick and wood structure,
you’ll find plenty of other options.
There are many tables
as well as comfortable lounge space.
When our group meets at Scoop This!, we favor the party and meeting room because we can segregate ourselves more completely. On this occasion, we found this private room looking like this,
so we deferred to the birthday youngsters and used a front space that had been set aside for us instead.
Nearby, I found the alternative newsweekly (top shelf) at which I worked for almost a decade.
Scoop This! not only supports local publications but local authors
and artists.
There’s even a gift section.
Our featured writer for January was Kay Pressman, an experienced writer, editor and teacher who plied us with evocative poetry as well as passages from a novel-in-progress set in the Italian Renaissance.
Here you see some of our talented members, whose criticism tends to be supportive but incisive.
But man cannot live on words alone, so I sought out some sustenance during the meeting. There were sandwiches,
drinks and chips,
homemade ice creams,
and even candies.
Not to mention coffee, bagels, muffins, scones, paninis, soups and salads. The one thing I couldn’t decide was whether signs like the following were genuinely motivated by hygienic concerns or a clever management ploy to get customers to pick up after themselves better.
Here is a sandwich ordered by another writer,
and here is my own.
I accompanied my generous sandwich with Arizona Blueberry White Tea and rosemary-and-olive-oil-flavored potato chips from Deep River Snacks, whose well-made kettle chips free of peanut oil (my daughter is allergic) I have increasingly been spying around the New Haven area.
In business since 2004, Deep River Snacks is an intriguing, family-owned start-up located in Old Lyme. The company is committed to sustainability, uses only non-GMO potatoes, and its products are kosher-certified, gluten-free and contain no trans fat.
I finish with a photograph of one of Scoop This!’s chief assets—its friendly wait staff.
Scoop This!, 180 Amity Road, Woodbridge, 203-389-8800
Writer’s Voice, http://www.meetup.com/writersvoice/
Deep River Snacks, P.O. Box 373, Old Lyme, 860-434-7347