So as I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve taken a much needed week off from work.. Really, I was waayy overdue for some time off and I feel much better already! I’m sure that will all change Sunday night, though This was also Kevin’s one week off in between classes, so we’ve been keeping ourselves busy with getting things done around the house and doing some little day trips when weather permitted.
Yeah, about the weather… The weather up until yesterday really hadn’t been the best. It was mostly rainy and kind of cold for a few days there, which really was perfect for staying home and getting stuff done! By Tuesday afternoon, however, I was getting a little stir crazy! I needed to get out of the house.
Neither of us had had lunch yet, so I decided we should take a little drive up to J Foster Ice Cream in Simsbury and get ice cream for lunch. I’ve been meaning to get there for awhile (ever since I tried their Pumpkin Ice Cream at a restaurant this past Fall) and, really, nothing makes me happier than having ice cream for a meal. This was the perfect way to cheer me up
Have I mentioned that I’m also a big fan of long car rides? Call me crazy, but ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved a long ride in the car. It’s a little odd, I know, but that’s how I roll. Anyway, it’s a good 45 minute drive up to Simsbury from our house, which is probably why we hadn’t gotten around to trying out J Foster yet. Usually when we decide we want ice cream (which is fairly often), it’s after dinner and a little late to make the long drive when we have plenty of fine ice cream establishments in just a 5 or 10 minute drive. It was perfect, though, for a random afternoon.
It’s a beautiful drive to get up there. The store is located in a really pretty part of the state and the store itself is really cute. It met all my expectations and more!
The surrounding area:
Outdoor seating! Unfortunately, because it was a rainy day, we didn’t get to sit out there. Next time, though!
The ice cream was awesome, too, of course. It was really creamy and just tasted fresh and home made. I got a scoop of Coconut Mounds and a scoop of Kahlua Heath Crunch. The Kahlua Heath Crunch was really out of this world!
Kevin, as usual, had a giant Sundae. He said the hot fudge was really more like chocolate syrup, though. What’s up with that? He did say that the whipped cream was pretty good and the ice cream, of course, was stellar.
Overall, we were very pleased with our experience. It was well worth the drive and I’m sure we’ll be back for more in the near future!
After dinner tonight, Kevin and I took a little stroll down to Tom and Heather’s house to help them celebrate Heather’s 32nd birthday with her dear old friend Fudgie The Whale… yes, you heard me, Fudgie The Whale. When was the last time you had a Fudgie The Whale? I honestly don’t know that I ever have, but I have to say, it really was most delicious. It also lead to some highly entertaining innuendo surrounding Fudgie’s blow hole and fluke. Great times.
The Birthday Girl… this is honestly about the happiest I could get Heather to look in any picture.
Tom, getting ready to battle Fudgie
Fudgie The Whale (he looks a little scared if you ask me)
The Final Product! Tom won his battle vs the whale and the Birthday girl got the fluke!
In past years, we’ve spent long weekends in Boston for Heather’s birthdays (which is also my half birthday, by the way). This year, clearly, was a little more low key. This year, none of us could really get away for the weekend to help her celebrate her birthday due to busy work and school schedules, but I think we just may try to get away sometime in the next couple weeks (I have all next week off from work). Then, we’ll really celebrate! But for tonight, a little ice cream cake with some friends was the perfect way to end the weekend. And I was even home in time for Mad Men!
So did anyone catch Caitlin of Healthy Tipping Point and Operation Beautiful on The Today Show on Thursday? No, me neither (had to go into the office bright and early on Thursday), but I did make it a point to find it on Hulu later on and I thought she did a really awesome job.
The Operation Beautiful mission involves putting post-it notes with really positive and inspiring messages in public places for other women to find and spread the positive vibes. I think the work she does is so important and I wanted to take a moment to share a little something about it for those of you who are unfamiliar with it.
Here’s the Today Show segment from Thursday. Check it out and maybe start leaving your own notes!
Blueberry picking season is in full swing and I recently joined my mother for our annual trek up to Evergreen Berry Farm in Watertown, CT.
The berries were plentiful and we were able to do all our picking under the shade of a giant tree. The shade was much appreciated as it was a very hot and humid day. Luckily we went early before the heat got to be too much. As long as we stayed in the shade, we were pretty comfortable. Here’s a picture of my mom with her berry picking bucket heading towards the tree.
We’ve been going to Evergreen Berry Farm for all our blueberry picking needs the last few seasons and have always had a great experience. There’s nothing like picking your own. It’s really neat to know exactly where your food is coming from. Every year we pick a fairly ridiculous amount of berries (last year we actually went twice) and this year was no different. Between the two of us, we had roughly 10 pounds!
Here’s my 5 pounds:
I know it sounds like a lot, and I guess it is, but no worries – they freeze beautifully. The trick is to not wash them before you put them into the freezer (just remember to wash them when you take them out) and then you have blueberries ready and waiting for you throughout the year. I actually still have berries left over from last year in my freezer – and they’re still fine!
So now you can expect a ton of posts (okay, probably more like one or two) from me about my baking adventures trying to use up some of these blueberries! Just this morning I made some really awesome blueberry pancakes (no pictures – they weren’t exactly pretty ) with homemade blueberry syrup. The syrup really made them special. And it was so simple! Who knew?
Do you have any good recipes to share to help me use up some of these berries? I’d love to hear them!
Last weekend, I did a little shopping and lunch with my mom down at the outlets in Clinton and Westbrook and we had a couple of special guests with us. My brother Dan and his girlfriend Angie came along to pick out her birthday gift from my mom… a new Coach purse – and boy, is it beautiful!
In between outlets, we stopped for our normal lunch at Lenny and Joe’s Fish Tale in Westbrook, CT (there’s also a convenient Madison location that we sometimes go to). Lenny & Joe’s has been serving up great seafood with great service since 1979 and has become somewhat famous in the area. If you eat seafood and you live in Southern New England, chances are you have at some point eaten at Lenny & Joe’s. I’ve been going with my family for years and have never had a bad meal.
The atmosphere is relaxed and casual with a sort of nautical theme. There are t-shirts and hats that can be purchased at the front of the store for only $6 (I’ve actually purchased a few myself over the years). Also, if you wear your shirt while you’re on a vacation or you’ve bought a t-shirt while you’re visiting our lovely state, you can take a picture of yourself in it and send it to them telling them where the photo was taken and they’ll hang it on the wall. The are tons of pictures all over the restaurant of people sporting their Lenny and Joe’s apparel. I think it’s kind of neat.
Notice the cool light fixtures (sorry for the dark picture – I’ve been messing around with the manual settings on my camera):
The food, as always, was great. First, we split a couple of appetizers (shopping can build up quite an appetite!) . We had the fried calamari and their onion rings, which are pretty amazing. Their portions are huge and with four of us eating, we didn’t even finish them.
For our meals, Mom, Angie and I all chose the lobster roll! My brother had the crab cakes, which I did not get a picture of but I hear they were pretty awesome. The lobster roll has become my usual when I go to Lenny and Joe’s. It’s really all you could ever want – hot, buttery chunks of lobster served on a hot dog bun with a side of their coleslaw – and I’m not normally a coleslaw fan, but theirs is really quite good. I’ve heard that other parts of New England do the lobster roll a little differently – that if you go a little north, you’ll be served some sort of lobster salad on a roll. Now, I think that’s just wrong, but that’s me. Take a look what a real lobster roll should look like!
Really, how can you beat that?
Overall, we all had a really great meal and good times at Lenny & Joe’s – as always. Look at Danny and Angie’s smiling faces!
If you’re visiting the area and you enjoy seafood, you really need to stop in at Lenny and Joe’s and maybe even pick up a t-shirt!
This was also Kevin’s one week off in between classes, so we’ve been keeping ourselves busy with getting things done around the house and doing some little day trips when weather permitted.
