The World According To Kate » Connecticut

Blueberry Picking At Evergreen Berry Farm!

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:53:49 +0000

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!

Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale – Westbrook, CT

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:30:07 +0000

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!

Night of The Musical Dead at The Hole In The Wall

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:00:32 +0000

This is just a reminder to my local readers that if they’re looking for something fun and affordable to do, they should definitely check out Night of The Musical Dead at the The Hole In The Wall Theater in New Britain, CT. My brother will be playing the part of Reverend Jeremiah Wrongfellow, so I know I will be attending at least one show! Friday was opening night and my mom said it was really funny and just an all around great performance. From looking at the information on the site, it looks really awesome and I can’t wait to see it!

Show dates are Friday and Saturdays at 8pm now through August 22nd. There will also be a couple of Sunday matinees, showing at 2pm on August 2nd and 16th. Admission is a suggested donation of $25.