Adventure is Out There: Camping Edition #1

Wow, can’t believe it’s Monday mid-morning and that I’m back home with a soft bed, plumbing, and my kitties. We had a great time. A tiring, but great time.

Friday am we left home bright and early. Way too early. Like 6 am. By 12 we had dropped our car off at the parking lot at the end of our expedition, and driven to the start. We loaded 6 people, one dog and food, tents, and other necessary equipment into the two canoes and hand-built by my father-in-law kayak and headed out. The sun was shining, the river was flowing and we had a long ways to go. 11 miles to be exact before we hit our first campsite.

Now I’m not going to be all macho and tell you I paddled then entire way, because I didn’t. This was no youth group day trip from New Life Island. And my arms haven’t not been doing too much working out, other than stripping layers and layers of wallpaper. But I probably paddled….85% of the time. All three days. Bryan would not stop. Bless you Bryan.

I’m still a little in awe that I (along with Bryan) managed to propel ourselves, the canoe and maybe 80 pounds of gear down the river for thirty miles, using arm strength. I can feel a vast improvement in my arms when I flex. haha. But seriously.

By four we reached our first stop, at a bend in the river. We unloaded our stuff, carried it up the river bank, scouted out firewood and set up. Across the river were some Bald Eagles, down stream just a bit were some beavers. It was hard to believe that after the hours of paddling I’d want to get back into the canoe to paddle around a bit before dinner, but I got in with Bryan (sans my paddle) and we explored the other side of the bank a bit, found some little streams and got hit with an amazing waft of cedar trees. I had no idea they smelled so good before they were milled. The tree in our backyard certainly doesn’t smell like that but the forest of them certainly made an impression. A good one.

After a dinner of hamburgers, but missing mustard, the best condiment was hard work. Hard work along with fire roasted burgers, and tomatoes from the garden and I was full. And tired. We all were.

Bed before 9. Bed being a camping mat and two blankets. It was pretty comfortable on the grass outside our house, but on the dirt floor of a forest, not so much. The noise of the bugs outside our tent quickly put me to sleep, though the comfort level of the bed and the start of a downpour had me tossing and turning through much of the night. Nevertheless I awoke relatively rested to a steady rain. It wasn’t going to the relaxing morning around the fire Bryan had described, and the idea of no fire in the pouring rain seemed pretty miserable. I couldn’t help but think of my warm bed back home, and how there wasn’t an end of the rain in sight (I had kept my cell with me to check the weather, though it was off most of the time), and we were in the middle of nowhere, eleven miles downstream from one car, and nineteen miles up-stream from another. That meant there was nothing to do but go on. And I had resolved myself before the trip that no matter what happened I was going to stay calm, cool, collected and cheerful. So I put on my rain jacket and went out to greet the morning, and the family. Maintaining my refusal to be anything but cheerful made any hint of ‘miserableness’ fade away.

Unfortunately in our exhaustion last night we had forgotten to put the camp chairs under the kitchen ‘roof’ so every one was wet, but Chelsea (girlfriend) and Mark (brother-in-law) got a fire started in spite of the wet wood, and Kent (father-in-law) kept the coffee coming. Darlene (mother-in-law) broke out the french toast and bacon.

After a little while we paddled on. Around 12 the rain broke, the water and trees were sparkling and three hours later we made it to our second campground. Setting up camp, placing chairs just-so in the sun to dry and gathering firewood took hardly anytime before we were relaxing again. I read, Bryan fiddled with the fire, the rest of them paddled around the island. Later we went for a swim before dinner, more reading and hanging out. A strong downpour came through, threatening to flood the camp but the boys dug trenches with their feet around the camp while us girls stayed huddled under the roof in our oh-so-dry chairs. Bed time came and with it, a much more restful night’s sleep.

Sunday broke with sunshine, a warm fire and coffee. Lots of coffee. The fog on the river was thick and was fun to watch as it blew upstream. Reminded me of mornings here at home, along Long Island Sound. This was the kind of camping morning Bryan had described. One I would enjoy. Before too long we were packed up and ready for our final leg of the trip. The clouds were beautiful.

I felt like a conqueror of the outdoors until we paddled under I-80 and reached hordes of people swimming in the river where we were going to take the canoes out of the water. I still was a conqueror though. It was a trip that was not without it interesting moments. Moments that will become family stories, not dissimilar from my first sailing trip with Bryan. It was a bonding moment for sure.

As glad as I was to get home into my bed, it was a bit sad to have the fan for noise and not the katydids. My arms are glad for the break though. And the solid night’s sleep was amazing. Camping will probably never be my thing, but I’m pretty proud of myself. I went into it, knowing it was way out of my element, got thrown a couple of curve balls (like 11 hours of rain) and still kept smiling. All in all, it was probably the best way the first trip could go. I got over my ‘never been camping’ and ‘camping in the cold rain’ over at the same time, so most trips from here on out should be pretty painless, or at least ‘old hat’.

The pretty views made up for the inconveniences though. Have any camping stories to share?

prequel to: Adventure is Out There: Camping Edition #1

Today’s post is a random glimpse inside my head as a real adventure looms. No fun house makeover, or food post (I’m due one of those). Feel free to skip.

Well, it’s official. My first camping experience is looming before us. This weekend Bryan and I, his parents, brother and brother’s girlfriend are going to canoe part of the Delaware River. It’s going to be a totally new experience, especially considering my first night sleeping in a tent was last night, and that was in my backyard with every modern convenience 20 feet away.

I think I’m prepared though. I have plenty of bug spray, bathing suits, sunscreen, snacks, a book. I’m scrounging up a sketch book and some colored pencils since I don’t think my cell phone battery will last long enough to take decent pictures… we will see.

It’s very fitting though. The whole ‘Adventure is Out There’ thing. I fell in love with the movie Up, when I was adventuring on my own for a semester in college in Europe, while Bryan was back here working his tail off in his classes. I bawled like a baby on the flight from Heathrow to Cairo when I first saw it. I’m sure many people identify with Mr Ferguson and Ellie, but I’ve kind of claimed them as ‘us’. We each push the other into new adventures. I pushed Bryan (and quite willingly he went) into international travel, and he’s pushing me (actually he isn’t pushing me, but he’d like me to go and I said I’d try it) into camping and being outdoorsy.

We come from two different backgrounds, he and I. Vacation to my family was going somewhere, like a beach to relax, a mountain to ski, or a faraway place to learn/explore the history and culture. Vacation to Bryan’s family was camping, hiking, canoeing to enjoy the great outdoors and occasionally to the beach to skip rocks, go sailing and swimming.

I woke up this morning, after my first night outside and genuinely asked what the appeal was. It was loud out there last night, even with ear plugs. I was a bit freaked out, sleeping outside, though I knew I’d be safe with Bry. And the ground is uncomfortable! Seriously. I wanted to understand the appeal because it’s important to him, and something he enjoys. I think it would give me a better chance of enjoying it myself.

The initial reasons Bryan gave that he liked it: It’s quiet, it’s beautiful, it’s hard work.

I countered with: It’s super loud, much louder than inside the house, it is beautiful, a bed is so much more comfortable and why would you want to work hard on vacation? He laughed, I laughed. Then I said, for real though, knowing reasons that you like it could help me appreciate it better.

Bryan: sure it’s loud, filled with birds and crickets. But there’s no people noise. A bed is comfortable sure, but when you work hard all day paddling (and I’m paddling for you remember?) the bed is comfortable because you are so tired.

Me: No people noise would be nice. And I do like the sounds of the birds. As long as there isn’t anything scary…

Bryan: I’ll protect you…

Me: So basically, it’s just an adventure right?

Bryan: Yes, and you don’t have to go ever again.

Me: So it’s an adventure. Adventure is out there!

End scene.

What Bryan doesn’t know is that I will have to go again. Not that he would make me. Never ever would. But he likes it so much that I will go. Again and again. Kind of like my mom, going skiing with my dad even when wasn’t my mom’s cup of tea. She went. So I too will go.

But more than just going for his sake I’m really hoping that I can come away seeing what it is he sees, and not seeing the things I’m afraid of. I don’t need to become hiker/camper/mountaineer for days and weeks at a time. He knew who I was when he married me. But I like fires, birds, pretty clouds and great views. I can become a weekend camper. As long as there are no snakes.

After all, Adventure is Out There!

Brain Drain

This last week has been insane. Insane in a good way, but still insane. It started way beyond last week, which you all know with the wall paper, and the wedding projects I was working on, but this week was really the ‘icing’ on the cake.

Let me explain:
Thursday: woke up early after 4 hours sleep to pack, clean and work 11 hours (Bryan woke normal time but still worked 10 hours). Bryan took the car to the mechanic, sat there for two hours (615-815 pm). I rode to my eye doctors after hours (8 pm) to pick up my wedding clothes. We got home, packed the car (930), hit the road. Bought subway for dinner (1000). Two hours into our drive, almost to NYC (12 am), through much traffic we realized we forgot the wedding clothes, my dress I had spent three hours altering the night before. We turn around to go get the clothes. Bryan sleeps, I drive until 2 am. We are now in New Jersey. Bryan wakes up, I doze. Arrive at Bryan’s parents at 430 am. Conk out.

Friday: Wake up at 7 (text from friend who was worried), lay in bed for an hour, get coffee get ready (9am). Drive to Bride’s House. Work on wedding projects (230). Get ready for rehearsal, rehearse (400). Rehearsal dinner (500). Bachelorette Party (900). Sleep.

Saturday: Wedding Day! Wedding Projects all morning. Get ready for wedding, in the infamous wedding clothes. (200).

Pictures. Walk down the aisle (400). They are married! (430).

Reception (900). Bride and Groom send off (910). Drive back to Bryan’s parents. Sleep.
Sunday: Church. Bryan’s Family’s Christmas in July (330). Drive to OCNJ (600). Games with my grandparents (1100). My family arrives (1115). Sleep.

Monday: Bike rides, games, lunch, beach, seafood feast, boardwalk.

Tuesday: Bike Rides, games, beach, lunch, beach, family photos (500)dinner (700), drive home (1200). Sleep.

Wednesday: Shower, find squirrel in house. Try to catch squirrel. Leave for work late. Bryan comes home from work to set trap, goes back to work. Come home from work to find squirrel in trap. Clean all night. Sleep (1100).

It’s been hectic. And it won’t slow down anytime soon. But it was SO great to see so much family, and Nate and Steph are married! Hooray. I’ll post about the wedding programs tomorrow. I just needed to get this out of my system before moving on. Thanks for humoring me.

Adventure is Out There: St. Lucia

This morning I told you there would be another post, and I wasn’t lying. Here it is. Whew ok good. Even if I don’t write anything else, I’m set. Just kidding.

What inspired this post, was actually an email from My Publisher, that my Aunt Megan loves, and she has been trying to get me to make a book with them because it’s so easy (it really is!). I got a coupon code for a free book (minus shipping) and was all over that. (Love that if you wait long enough you can get really good deals in your email from this company!) The book came on Saturday, right in time to celebrate the first anniversary and it was a great ‘buy’. Thanks Aunt Megan for the nudge on that one! I knew you’d be right, and I’m super glad I got that coupon too!

the Gros and Petit Pitons, trademark view of St. Lucia

If you read the post I linked to earlier here, then you know I’ve travelled a lot. I was really really blessed with that. You also know we considered a ton of places before finally settling on St. Lucia. The one island, lots to see and do, the fact I hadn’t been there before and it wasn’t experiencing a socio-economic climate we didn’t want to support (Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica) sealed the deal.

Typically, on most people’s dockets once deciding on a location is to debate all-inclusive or not. This one was a no-brainer. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if I’m paying a lot of money to fly to another country, then I don’t want to pay a lot of money to be stuck on one very American-ized view of tropical paradise. If I want ‘American paradise’ I’ll stay in America, it’s much cheaper that way.

I’m an explorer, I like to immerse myself in the culture, and don’t like to feel like I spent so much money on the all-inclusive part of the stay that I can’t possibly leave the resort to go somewhere else to eat, etc. (Sure there are people who will spend a lot of money and still leave and explore, but I don’t make that kind of money to justify it [especially since it often means that you are still with the resort, just a traveling caravan of tourists], and there are also those who say the ‘all you can drink alcohol’ is worth it (which isn’t our cup of tea in the slightest, since we don’t drink) so it’s not for us. If you are going with a huge group of family, say to celebrate your grandparent’s anniversary (it happened, there were a ton of us and it was fabulous because there was something for everyone, and it was a painless way to make sure my Grandpop always got the check at the end of the meal instead of that silly game that’s played when everyone takes a  chance to snatch the check (at least it happens with the working/retired men in my family. Dad even got my brothers in on it at least once when they would snag it away from Grandpop… but on this trip, Grandpop paid (thanks Grandpop (and Nana!)

So, we were going the non-inclusive route. We wanted something a-typical, something ‘honeymoon worthy, but still luxurious. It seemed our options were quaint, but quirky bed and breakfast style places, or ginormous resorts. I’d rather be one of a crowd trying to find a spot on the beach, then one of the few guests staying at a B&B, so we were leaning towards a resort, like the Marriott and then we stumbled upon the best of both worlds (luxury and intimacy) in Villa Beach Cottages.

The Villa Beach Cottages (Image credit- Villa Beach)

Villa Beach is a slice of quiet paradise on a gorgeous tropical island. There are approximately 20 villas on the property, fully equipped with a kitchen, bedroom, large porch, access to two pools and two hot tubs. The beach was just a few steps down from the sea-wall, and it was family owned, and real small boutique adventure.  There used to be actual cottage accommodations, but over the years they have been upgraded into fancy wonderful villas, at least as nice as any fancy hotels I’ve ever stayed at.

View from our Bed

Our Porch – taken at night

And the price! The price was amazing for the amenities (similar style room and proximity to the beach at Sandals (just next door) would have been twice our entire honeymoon budget, and with Villa Beach we’d end up under budget for flights&rooms so there would be extra bits here and there left over to go out to eat (we were planning on saving money by stocking up our fridge and doing our own breakfasts and lunches whatever days we were around the resort ourselves) and sight-seeing around the island. Bonus- if we booked the honeymoon package they’d give us a fruit basket (fabulous tropical in-season fruit) and free use of the 2-person kayak (Bryan was in heaven, and since he was strong I hardly had to paddle).

Bryan paddeling us out to ‘Shell Island’

SOLD. We booked it. And we had a fabulous time. St. Lucia is this amazing island with a conglomeration of all things ‘tropically islandy’. It has rain forests, (massive trees that belong in Jurassic park, check!), a volcano (hot mud baths were enjoyed, check!) fabulous terrain (the Piton Mountains are a World Heritage Site, check!), and great food (inspired by British, French, Indian, African and Caribbean foods, check!

fabulous food at Ladera Restaurant

Bananas grown inside blue bags to protect them from bugs, and birds.

[Seriously, St. Lucia was fought over by the British and French and was 7 times a British territory, and 7 times a French territory, and with these different European reigns brought workers from India (English) and workers from Africa (French).]) Not to mention the water, gorgeous clear turquoise Caribbean waters on one side of the island with plenty of snorkeling and scuba adventures for us to enjoy, and crashing waves and carved rock caves on the Atlantic side.

Crashing waves on the Atlantic side

Crystal blue waters of the Caribbean side

volcanic mud (can go with the water pics right?) bath

Plus the fruit! Did I mention the fruit?? St. Lucia can grow any tropical fruit. And we were there when everything was in season. It was amazing. They have this law that says things that grow along the side of the road anyone can gather and eat. And thank goodness for that. Bananas, Coconuts, Cashews, Almonds, Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Calabash, Mangoes, Wax Apples, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cocoa, you name a tropical fruit/spice it was there. And we ate our fill. I’ve never had bananas as sweet, mangos as perfect, coconuts as juicy…I could go on and on and on.

We toured the island, enjoyed a Friday Night Fish Fry, sunset cruise with steel drum band, lunch on the side a mountain in a three walled restaurant named Ladera(loved by Oprah apparently), snorkeled between the Pitons, visited a cocoa plantation, swam, kayaked to a little island off the shore from our villa, swam in the pool, laid in the hammocks, visited the market in the capital (National Geographic lists that market as one of the ten best markets in the world) and basically had the time of our lives. I’m saving my pennies for the next big trip. I have 4,200 of them right now. 🙂

Sunsets in St. Lucia, photo taken from our beach with ‘Shell Island’ pictured

View from LaDera

post-scuba adventure

snorkeling between the mountains rising 3000 feet above sea-level

As for my reference to Up? I first watched Up when Bryan and I were in the midst of 4 months of not seeing each other while I was studying abroad. Basically it’s the story of us. I’m the outgoing loud one, and Bryan is the steady not so loud one, and we have dreams together. Dreams that someday, if my family history and his family history prove true means he will be moving our house to St Lucia with a bunch of balloons as a cute old man. Plus he bought me the grape soda pin in Disney World for my souvenir. Basically, Bryan is my Mr. Ferguson.

My Mr. Ferguson ❤

So basically, what I’m saying is save your pennies and book a trip to St. Lucia. You won’t regret it. It was seriously one of the best places I’ve been to, and not just because I was on my honeymoon, because this vacation, we were the ones paying, not our parents 🙂

 wow, how many parenthesis can I use in one post?? Obviously I have too much to tell you. hope you enjoyed the not-quite-a-year-late recap.

p.s. since this post is just going up-as is you ought to know I haven’t actually taken the time to correct the coloring in any of these photos, I thought most of them true to life, and I’m just feeling a bit lazy. Hope you can enjoy anyways!

The Cupcake Craze Has Only Just Begun

I don’t often write posts on the weekend. Bryan is home, and we try to spend our time together, so the blog stays off. Today however we uncovered one of those ‘treasures’ that just have to be shared. Today I had a fabulous cupcake. You’re probably thinking ‘Great, who hasn’t? Aren’t cupcakes all the rage? Or are they on their way out?’ I’m not typically a cupcake person, but today I ordered one.

Living in New London we are blessed. There are tons of restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops. We like going to many of them, but due to the whole buying-a-house thing going out to eat doesn’t happen all that much. Well today for the first time (together) we went to Sweetie’s on Bank street in New London to get our very late lunch on. The draw of Sweetie’s is that it’s owned by two Johnson and Wales trained chefs who state on their website,

“We are opening as a “from scratch” shop.  Everything from the bread to the roast meat, pickles, mayonnaise and mustard are made from scratch without anything artificial.  Cakes, cookies, pies and muffins are baked fresh.”

Is your mouth watering yet? Bryan ordered the ‘Roasty Toasty’ roast beef, caramelized onions, and horseradish mayo (don’t forget it’s all made by Sweetie’s!) I ordered the soup of the day, which was Italian Wedding Soup (one of my faves), complete with shredded chicken, meatballs, escarole, carrots, celery, spices, and what appeared to be acini di pepi (a small pearl-like pasta) all in a yummy chicken stock. Both items were delicious, but since I wasn’t planning on blogging about it, they are unfortunately not photographed.

Sweetie’s Bakery and Cafe

Now, Sweetie’s desserts are regularly good, I have to eat one at least every other week (I work down the street and walk a lot for my job!). They have a nice selection always waiting for you in the display case. But what’s better than those? The ones that are so fresh they haven’t even made it into the display case. What inspired this blog post on a Saturday was a fresh-from-the-oven chocolate cupcake. Trust me, it wasn’t a boring cupcake. The cupcake was frosted with a  French Raspberry Buttercream, and then dipped (the butter cream that is) into Belgium Chocolate.  The raspberry flavor of the French Buttercream was soft and airy, subtly fruity and not overly sweet which was a nice balance to the rich (but not overly rich) chocolate of the cupcake. Ooh, we tried to split that in half but man oh man was it hard to not eat the other person’s half. The Belgium chocolate was still soft and melty. I almost, almost(!) picked up the cupcake wrapper to lick off the little bits of chocolate left behind. Trust me when I say this run don’t walk to Sweetie’s before they sell out. And if you aren’t lucky enough to live close and go get one right now, come visit us up here and we will make sure you get to go to Sweetie’s!

p.s. this photo is a Sweetie’s cupcake taken by them and uploaded on their Facebook. I ate my cupcake to quickly so had to use one of their photos for the sake of eye candy (or should I say cupcake?).

Road Trip Survival

I survived Hurricane Sandy. In fact, rather than hunkering down in a safe place, I drove though it. Before you think I’m some crazy daredevil tempting fates let me explain.

In the past few months I moved to Connecticut. While here I clicked well with a girl from the area. A few weekends ago I drove her to the airport to fly to Nashville to interview for a job. It turns out she got it! The only problem was she needed to move down and had to drive her car. Her parents couldn’t help her out since they were going on a business trip so I offered. Unbeknownst to me there was a crazy storm chasing us down.

Friday night the 26th, my husband and I drove down to PA to see my family and celebrate my birthday. We had a great weekend and the plan had been that I would drive back to CT Sunday night with my husband and leave Monday morning to drive south with my friend. Thankfully the storm had us both freaked out. So instead of trying to leave Monday when all of the bridges were closed from eastern CT on through NYC we left PA late Sunday night. All told the drive was 16 hours. By the time my friend got to my parents house it was stormy, windy, rainy and dark. We decided we’d drive as long as we could Sunday night. So I piled into the driver’s seat of the Mini Cooper (yes that’s right. A mini cooper stuffed full of all her stuff with a roof rack that had almost a car’s worth of stuff on top, which I imagine looked quite comical) and off into the night we drove. We drove west and then south driving hundreds of miles through Pennsylvania, then Maryland, West Virgina, and finally Virginia where we stopped barely after midnight. Not only does long drives in a car make me sleepy, but driving in the dark does too. The poor mini was pushed around by the wind like it had a sail on top, thankfully we weighed so much (ok the stuff, not us two girls!) and sat so close to the ground we made it through just fine.

We fell asleep to the sounds of brake retarders on 18-wheelers and the wind howling around the hotel. The next morning we still had a 9 hour drive ahead of us that stretched through the Shenandoah valley where we were snowed on, and continued being snowed on up into the mountains.

Looking back I am so thankful we left when we did! If we would have left Monday I doubt we could have made it out of CT with the road closures, or if we had, I doubt we would have made it through New York. But if we had we certainly would have been stopped by the gusting winds, or the feet of snow that were dumped on our drive just hours behind our crossing. Luckily for us we had gotten a head start on Sandy. Even so, we had our wipers going a mile a minute, and our stops were only for necessities, we couldn’t risk getting caught up deeper in the storm. That huge monstrous storm was in our way the entire drive up and through the mountains until we were about an hour from the city of Nashville. Then suddenly the rain clouds disappeared, and in it’s place was a bright glowing sun, and the honks of rush-hour traffic. We’d made it!

(Forgive me that there are no pictures of driving through the Hurricane. I was a bit preoccupied with staying on the road, and when I was a passenger there wasn’t much to see beyond blinding rain and wind across the countryside!)

However, once there my worries weren’t over. I’d left my husband and a house we just bought in a shoreline town of CT where the sound grew several blocks, beaches were in the streets, power was out for days and people trapped in their homes. I left my family behind in PA where they are still without power and stuck with downed trees and will be for days to come. My parents house on the jersey shore had an entire island flooded and still under a state of emergency and nobody really knows what to expect when they get back to the island.

Of course all the airports were closed and even though I flew out on time from Nashville I hit delays and malfunctioning airline equipment on the way north.  I arrived safely in Providence two hours after I was supposed to be there, but my husband was there waiting and had a bouquet of roses for me. What a sweetheart. We belong in sentimental movies. Even though I’d heard voices of all my loved ones on the phone as first they called me to check on my safety, and then as I called them to check on the status of their situations finally seeing someones face was a relief!

In spite of the devastation and destruction that has hit the East Coast the only thing that really matters is the lives of the people effected, and the rest of it is just stuff. I’m just so thankful my family is ok and all in one piece! It was really hard being far away from everyone and knowing there was nothing I could do but pray. But I’m amazed how the community of people impacted by the storm can band together. My facebook feed is flooded with dear souls offering hot showers, a warm meal, a place to do laundry or even sleep in a warm house to those who are still without. These people warm my heart. I know who they are, and I know they are good loving people. But even so it gives me hope that ‘we’ can be snapped out of our selfish little bubbles to spread the cheer of the upcoming Thanksgiving season to those around us.

Today I am most thankful for the lives of all those spared who are so near and dear to my heart ❤

Road trip

Just an FYI. When I’m asked where I was during the hurricane of ’12 or sandy or Frankenstorm ill be able to say I drove straight through it. Lord willing I can fly home on Wednesday if the airports are open and I’ll give you all details when I’m back! Just think–wind, rain, sleet, snow, mountains, hurricane, two girls and a Mini Cooper. Hope the thought is entertaining. For now I’m enjoying the respite and thinking of all my family and friends in the path of the storm. God Bless

New London Fall Food Stroll- The Breakdown

mysticcountryct.com

Three hours + Seven friends + 40 places to eat = Stuffed Bellies & Satisfied people

If you are local and you didn’t make it out last night you really missed out. What a great opportunity to check out new restaurants, and bits of their menu without a financial commitment, in this economy, let’s face it meals out are rare! Some places I will most definitely go back to, and others I may not.  The food stroll is put on twice a year, and I was told I’d never make it to all of the tasty locations, and that I’d run out of room in my belly to put it all. I really like to try new things, but boy were we all full and definitely didn’t make it everywhere (even the guys!) Hence why even though I’m reviewing the food stroll on a whole, I will in no way talk about all 40 places we could have eaten at. I’m only mentioning places I will return, even if I wasn’t that impressed with the sample dish.

To start, I thought it was great that New London Main Street offered a discount to a group of six or more. They also had a military price (same as the group rate). Luckily my friends like to eat so we took advantage of the group rate at $20 dollars a button (Instead of $30, day of). The button got us entry to all of the places participating and was well worth the 20 bucks! Not only were the streets bustling with the food strollers, there were musicians scattered around to add some fun ambiance. Nothing like a food festival to get people out and about. We may have even been seen dancing around as we went from place to place.

I’ll start off by saying the food stops are listed in the order we tried them, not the order of favorite dishes!

We started with Jasmine Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar. We had no idea what to expect and were amazed to walk into a veritable buffet with mini egg rolls, (veggie) sushi, Pad Thai, green chicken curry, rice, and salad. (To save room I skipped salad & fruit.) Thoughts across the board? Amazing. This will definitely be a place to come back to.  There wasn’t a thing I tried I didn’t like. The mini egg rolls were crispy, the Pad Thai yummy, and the green curry had a good amount of spice! Definitely where we will have to take Bryan’s brother (who studied in Thailand) when he comes to visit.

Bean & Leaf as far as I knew was a coffee shop that recently changed locations. They must do food as well because we had the choice of a Ham and Lentil or Spicy Veggie Soup. Both were good, but nothing spectacular. Definitely a great vibe to hang out with some coffee and friends. I’m sure we will be back to try some fancy coffees and teas.

Gaspar’s New American Cuisine offered an amazing ravioli. I believe it was homemade, like most of the things they offer. Most definitely will be back. It has an old world feel to it, reworked in a funky new way. Definitely new American and we loved it though. How can you not like pasta that is technically well done? The dough wasn’t heavy, the filling was balanced. Good eats are most certainly found there, just like they claim on the website. This is also on our must return list!

Dev’s on Bank Street  served Happy Panda Noodles and won first place! The presentation was great for a food stroll, they had the cup of fine noodles, bean sprouts, scallions, and small bits of beef in a cup and that was ladled over with a light beef broth ‘to order’.  It was warm and light and deliciously spiced. We were greeted by Bunny, one of the two owners. Dev’s serves a Mediterrasian tapas menu. Yes. That’s correct. mediterr- and -asian. The very idea is intriguing and we loved it. I can’t wait to go back and look forward to ordering dishes from two very different ends of the earth. Review? Great. We even came back to Dev’s to end the night. Great atmosphere and yummy food means we will be coming back all the more.

Sweeties Bakery & Café serves breakfast and lunch. I’m regularly here grabbing lunch for my boss or a sweet treat, since I work half a block a way, so I knew they had great food and desserts. They came up with a brilliant menu, visitors could choose a mini apple or pumpkin pie, and either butternut squash or tomato soup. The pies were delicious, and while I chose the spicy tomato soup, it was a bit to salty for my taste. The butternut squash was nice and creamy though. Off menu for last night, but I know that somethings they make well are quiche, and mac and cheese. They also make homemade ice cream, pickles, dressings and more.

Mambo Bar & Restaurant definitely has a bar vibe from the exterior. Probably why I’ve just never gone in. I was surprised though when we went in that there were kids eating with their parents. They had Jamaican Rice and Shrimp. It definitely had island flavors and with the shrimp was mostly rice in a small amount of a clear broth. It was good though, a pleasant surprise on Bank street. The view off of their deck of the river at night was fabulous. The menu may be just enough to tempt me in and eat on the back deck.

Chaplin’s Restaurant is the one restaurant Bryan and I have actually tried. Rumor has it the chef has auditioned for, or was asked to be on the Food Network show Chopped. Whether this is true or not, I can’t say. One thing I do know is their food is great. I ordered the bouillabaisse when we went there for dinner  a couple months ago and Bryan got the special. Both loved it. Last night the choices were Shepherd’s Pie or Seafood Bisque. If you’ve ever read this blog before you can probably guess I went for the  seafood. The soup was great, the large pieces of seafood were plentiful even in the tiny serving.

Of course we had to stop by Studio 33 Art and Frame Gallery, the place I work part time. Funny story: Studio 33 was supposed to be hosting Mariah’s Chow Chow Relish. For reasons unknown to us at work, they backed out the day of the stroll three hours before they were to be setting up. For whatever reason Yummy Hummy came to mind and we called them to see if they would be available or interested in being a part of the Food Stroll with us. They were glad to, and we got to sample the roasted garlic, and pretty beet hummus. Both were delicious and Sara’s Mojito Green Tea Punch (non-alcoholic) was nice and refreshing after all those hot soups!

Out next stop was Hot Rod Café . The boys were glad to be getting something other than soup, however I was disappointed not to eat wings, what they are most known for, and for good reason! Instead we tried their new appetizer, a skewered chicken with some  garlic seasoning, maybe with a hint of lemon. I didn’t particularly care for it, though there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

We started our dessert’s for the evening with a stop by Daniel’s Dairy Downtown. Here we started with a miniature cone of soft serve vanilla ice cream, a sample of whatever flavor fudge we wanted, and a mini scoop of whatever flavor of old fashioned scoop-able ice cream we desired! Daniel’s Dairy makes all of it in house. Definitely a place to try to get some delicious fudge, or get the after dinner bite!

Captain’s Pizza is way down Bank street, almost to State Street. Their set-up was way up on their roof-top deck that overlooked the whale-tail. They had a great Irish band, and the food was good too. I was impressed at the quality of New England Clam Chowder we were getting from a pizza joint, and the pizza was great as well. The best part was the surprising view, and great music! Captain’s is a great place to go for a slice of pizza with some friends.

Just around the corner down on State St. is the Stone Fleet Tavern. The tavern is the closest restaurant to both the train station that services NYC, and the Ferries that take patrons to Block and Fisher’s island, so they tend to cater to a fancier clientele. That being said we had east coast quahog stuffies there. The stuffing with herbs had a good bit of clams chopped back up and mounded in. Not like some stuffed clams that seem to be all filler. The stuffing had a great crispy outside, but was moist inside.

We hit Pinc! hosting You Take The Cake next. The cinnamon apple cupcakes were good, the flavor was yummy. It really did seem as though apples were really incorporated into the batter, thankfully without chunks though! I thought they were perhaps a tad on the sweet side, but not overly, who doesn’t like a sweet dessert?

I’m glad I now know that there is good Indian food in New London. Northern Indian Restaurant served a Chicken Curry with Peanuts. While peanuts are not something I typically choose in foods I thought the crunch added a nice texture, and the essence of peanut was only just there, hinted at, without being too peanuty. I’ll definitely go back for some of my tried and true Indian favorites. It was a real reminder of my time in London UK!

A private, member’s only place, the Thames Club was offering a grilled cheese crouton, and tomato soup. This was by far the best soup of the night, and the grilled cheese, was fantastic. To bad it’s a private club, I’d like some more of that!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.  Can you even imagine how great that would taste? Little Sister’s Bake Shop made these amazingly spiced pumkin whoopie cakes, and the cream in the middle was delectable. Best dessert of the night. A few of the guys who worked at EB were wondering if their food truck would ever swing by the office. Who knows, maybe they will. Their food is fabulous.

Eventually we got to 2 Wives Brick Oven Pizza, by this point we were going to pop anyways, but we tried a slice of their Thanksgiving pizza. It had turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. It sure didn’t work for me. Without the tomato sauce and cheese, maybe with gravy it would have worked, but those flavor profiles just didn’t match. It was a great try though and it really was creative. Unfortunately, nobody in our group really cared for it. They have a great little restaurant and make lots of other yummy pizza so I’m sure we will be back, just not for the thanksgiving pizza!

The last place that was truly memorable was the Garde Arts Center hosting The Cake Lady. They must have had over 25 flavors of cupcakes. It was like a smorgasbord. (Except we only ate one a piece) I chose a cinnamon iced chocolate cupcake (stellar) and Bry had an oreo with mint frosting. Truly a great way to finish off the night.

In one food stroll, and three hours our palates were paraded around the world. There was definitely a theme in soups, as almost every other place offered a soup (if they weren’t offering dessert). It was well worth the 20 bucks in terms of food consumption, and it was a great way to scope out the area’s restaurants and see what the various establishments are like! Would I do it again? In a heart beat. Where am I going to eat first? Dev’s, or Gaspar’s, or Chaplin’s for dinner. Little Sister’s or Sweetie’s from some treats.

Will you sign up in the spring? Which dish sounded best to you? Did you actually survive my nearly photo-less 2000+ word blog entry? I hope so.

Benefits of New England Coastal Living

Relative Closeness: Looking back over the events my husband and I have gone to in the last month or so we’ve been driving all over the place. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York City are all within 2 hours of us. We’ve been to Newport twice (1 hr. away), to see friends and watch an America’s Cup Race, we went to Rhode Island for a Hot Air Balloon Festival (30 minutes away). We’ve also visited a friend’s summer house (25 minutes) twice. And the Rhode Island beaches, with waves unprotected by Long Island (20 minutes!) We’ve driven all over coastal Connecticut checking out local attractions and historic sites. Even heading out to Chatham Mass, at the very elbow of Cape Cod is only 2 hours and 20 minutes. It’s hard to believe the diversity of all we can see and do (and how many states we can visit in the same amount of time it took me to drive from home to college (or less!). And sure, towns back home do have exciting things, but maybe I just didn’t hear enough about the new things, because the states up here really publicize their events. Technically we live in a city, (though it really doesn’t look much like it on our street) and there are tons of events to prove it.

Local Seafood: When you live a 10 minute drive to the beach, or 5 minutes away from good fishing areas it’s obvious there is going to be fresh seafood. Well, in the few months we’ve lived here we hadn’t actually bought anything from the grocery stores that fit in the seafood category other than bagged frozen tilapia fillets. Why? Because whenever the various fish would hit a price I’d feel comfortable spending, or we just decided we’d make it work in the grocery budget the fish counter in the local supermarket would not be something you’d want to order from. So instead we’d get our fish when we went out to eat. Still yummy and fresh, but not cooked at home (which I think is fun too!)
So when we heard that the local co-op grocery store (that you don’t have to be a member at to shop at) was adding another csa to the options (farm produce, chickens and eggs, beef, etc) and it just happened to be seafood we immediately looked into it. Sure it was on the pricey side, but we knew we had a lot more allotted to groceries than we were using and if we would be buying less beef or chicken it would end up being the same amount give or take five bucks. This csa is Gabe the Fish Babe. They only get it locally. They only buy from daysailing boats. That means it’s fresh, fresh, fresh! Plus, it allows the fisherman the ability to sell a variety of things, so not everyone gets the same thing each week. They had two options, fin fish only, or shellfish and fin fish. We choose shellfish and fin fish. (What can we say, we love all seafood!) Each week we get 18-22 oz of fish, and 2-3 dozen shellfish unless they are oysters when we will get 12. We could also get crabs sometimes. As an added bonus they include a recipe for the type of fish you get. We made the assumption that the recipe would be great because they certainly don’t want you to have a bad experience with their product, or you might not sign up for another share! (Shares run 4 or 8 weeks)

So we took the plunge. Last week we had 22oz of cobia (yummy warm-water fish tasted very mild, but had a sort of tuna-steak texture) and 25 cherrystone clams (bigger than littlenecks, and yummier too! recommended to eat raw as they are so sweet!) both came with delicious recipes I immediately filed in my recipe box. (Someone else posted they got oysters and shark last week!) This week we got 3 dozen mussels and 3 whole (but cleaned) porgies. The mussels we’ve already eaten. In the past, I never was a mussel person, and even though I knew they could end up in our box I was a bit disappointed when I saw them. However, they were absolutely amazing. Seriously so good. Bryan declared them the best, and finished off the sauce they cooked in. Literally not a drop of leftovers, and I wasn’t a food pusher!

Next up: porgies. Recipe by Anne Burrell (tv food celeb and great chef). Thursday night have transformed into Christmas. Plus, I don’t have to think up what we are having for dinner. Because I pick it up on my way home and the recipe is already found.

We will be signing up again! And good news for anyone super interested but not coastal. Starting next week they will be able to overnight ship your fish to you. SO…feel free to take the plunge! You won’t be disappointed! And the good news is, we crunched prices to see if it was worth it (figuring we’d add in a couple bucks over market price to pay for local or whatever). Our bucket of clams and cobia last week? We got $32 of clams, and $22 dollars of fish, which means we spent $40 for $54 worth of fish!

So, I’ve only managed to get out two benefits of living here, but there are more I promise! Maybe that will be my next post! Just FYI, I was not paid for the endorsement of Gabe the Fish Babe, I just couldn’t help myself. I’m that impressed.

Any of my readers ever interested in a CSA of some sort?

 

Saving Money a Crazy Way

If you are new to crazyamazinglife, you don’t know that my husband and I recently relocated from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, also known as the land of the taxes. Really, this state will tax you on just about anything. We realized that to transfer our registration, and licenses over to CT would cost about $400 dollars up front (registration tax, license transfer fee, etc) and $400 dollars annually (give or take some for taxes on your vehicle each year). Also, Bry’s work recently transferred 100 people from their one location to the other and now the location Bry works has a parking lot at capacity, but the transfers aren’t over, another 100 people are coming in next week. What’s that mean for Bry? Either he needs to A) get in earlier to get a spot, B) get there when the lot is full, drive 20 minutes to the other location and wait for a shuttle (thereby being late to work), or C) buy a scooter. He would never consider being late, so he decided to go for the scooter.

Those of you who are Facebook friends may have seen the photo of the scooter last week. The scooter is a TaoTao50. It’s small, under 50cc which means it’s street legal without registration or a license plate. You do need to be 16+ and have a driver’s license. He convinced me (ok i wanted to learn but was nervous) to drive and I loved it! Perfect for tooling back and forth to work, and to run errands! In fact I fit a shirt, and jacket I’d bought for Bry, some veggies I bought at a farm stand, mail to buy postage for, several grocery items, my purse, and a comfy pair of flip flops in the seat. Basically, so much stuff I needed two trips to carry it inside! Did i mention I loved it?

This area really is perfect for this sort of travel too, pretty populated, and we are very centrally located. I can legal ride in the bike path, no more parallel parking downtown, and 100 miles to the gallon. We wear helmets, the scooter doesn’t go above 25, and we only take it on secondary roads. The savings on gas alone would justify the cost of the scooter and not paying taxes on it was just a crazy big bonus. So what did I do? Start searching for my own.

In fact we are even going to sell my car (it doesn’t do well in the snow anyways). Snow! Now you are wondering what this crazy person is going to do when it snows. Well, my walk to work is 20 minutes. I timed it in the heat of a 90 degree day. Brutal. Anyways, I have several pairs of sturdy boots, and plenty of warm layers (hello knits!) and I have practice walking that far from when I lived in England. At least for now, while we are two people in our twenties this is perfect for us. And the resale value is great, so no problems there, should a third person appear. Of course, I didn’t want the sporty, manly(is that possible?) looking scooter  that Bryan has (I think so), so I started searching Craigslist.

At first I thought I wanted a Vespa like scooter, and the same company that made Bryan’s scooter sells those style’s as well, in fact we were all set to get a blue one tomorrow when I saw the perfect listing. It was a 1982 Suzuki FA50. Yellow (fave color)! Mint Condition. Sat in a basement for a lot of the past 30 years. The seller brought it by Tuesday night and it ran like a dream. It’s the perfect blend of cute and vintage and I loved it. The price was better than right and included delivery. Of course, mint is relative in running machines. It needed the carburetor to be cleaned and, ever the engineer, Bry needed to tinker around with it for a couple hours before he’d let me take it to work (and before I’d comfortably ride it on the road, but it runs perfectly and I’m so excited. My boss saw this scooter yesterday (it’s technically a noped. No pedals, and basically a bike frame) and started talking about getting one. It’s that perfect in an area like this, and she is 65!

Anyone need a car? 🙂 Selling a 2005 Chevy Cobalt, 2 door. 53,000 miles. In August it will make it’s way back to PA via my parents and will be sold. I’ll be sad to see it go, but it’s time. Good bye Silver Bunny. We had some good times.

Anything ‘crazy’ you’ve done? Because this is crazyamazinglife and we scoot to work now 🙂