New Britain, Nautical Navigating and Nauseating Nutrition (a weekend with Kim and Greg)

 “Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” ~Tennessee Williams

The next best thing to going back to Texas is having someone from Texas come here.  This is precisely what happened this weekend. Kim and her husband, Greg, came and stayed the weekend with David.  You may remember Kim from an earlier blog (http://kimsingleton.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/my-first-visit-from-texas/).  We worked together in Dallas and she comes to CT periodically for work. She's one of those friends (you know the type....you may even have one) who I may go weeks/months without talking to but as soon as I see her, we pick up right where we left off.....catching up on family and friends and all the stories we've missed since the last time we were together.  I like Kim a lot. Always have. She's one of those rare people who is both opinionated and direct - not afraid to speak her mind - and one of the most non-judgmental, open-minded and fair listeners I've ever known.  Not an easy combination to find in a person. She's not a "nod and agree" kind of friend - she'll tell you what she really thinks. Our one-on-one conversations are rarely small talk. We cut right through to family, relationships, kids, faith and all the things that really matter.  I always enjoy her visits. David even said Sunday night after everyone was gone something like "It was nice to see you guys chatting and laughing for hours in the boat. I haven't seen you like that in a while."  True enough....but we'll get to that in minute.....

David drove me into work on Friday morning so that he could come and pick me up at 5:00 on the nose to go to the airport to get Kim and Greg by 5:30. It had been raining all day. (Let's be honest, it had been raining all week!) At 3:00 when I took out the mail, it was cloudy and dreary and wet and damp. We had planned to go see a baseball game that night.  I was fairly certain that wasn't going to happen.  But by the time I walked out at 5:00, the clouds were starting to part and the sun was peeking through.  By the time we were leaving the airport, there was only a cloud or two left in the sky.  It was about 75-80 degrees and a tad muggy, but MUCH nicer than it had been in a while.  We headed off to the park to see the New Britain Rock Cats - Eastern League (AA) - an affiliation of the Minnesota Twins. All tickets are $5.  I didn't spend any time watching the game, but what I surmised from Greg's comments about the game play on the way home was the "you get what you pay for" rule applied. 

The reason for this particular adventure? UBS was having their summer get-together. They rented the picnic area next to the stands and everyone brought their families. There were hamburgers and hot dogs, ice cream and the like.  The kids were given "dollars" to buy little bats and balls and caps and trinkets all donning the Rock Cats logo. Kim got to introduce Greg to her co-workers and we all got to catch up with people that David sees at work everyday, including his IT partner-in-crime, John and his girlfriend, Kim. We all sat together at a table while John kept the running joke of the night going:  "It's the Kim table. Just say Kim and one of them will answer you....can't get their names confused." 

Kim and Greg at the game:

 

John and Kim at the game:

 

David being silly:

 

I gave him the "Cutest Kid at the Game" award. He was ADORABLE:

Saturday morning I was up early.  I got a shower and dressed for a day on the boat.  Now, for all you Texans, let me explain what that means.  If you were going out to a Texas lake in June, I suppose the big question would be: Should I put on my bathing suit under my clothes, or take it to change into?  If you are just an "over-the-top preparer"  you may look at a weather forecast to see "Just how hot will it be today:  90's or 100's?"  Your concerns tend to lean toward which SPF and how many bottles of water to pack.  In New England, "dressing for a boat ride" requires a  serious checklist and a small overnight bag.  Besides the aforementioned items, you need a drawer full of clothing as well.  1. You need something to ride over to the marina in:  Shorts and t-shirt.  2.  You need something warmer to ride  from the dock to the destination in:  a sweater, sweatshirt or the like.  3. You need something cooler to wear when the boat stops on the water in the sun: here's where the bathing suit or tank top and shorts comes in.  4. If you are staying into the evening, you need something even warmer to go home in:  sweatpants and jacket and closed toe shoes. I wore my shorts and t-shirt. Packed a pair of pants, a sweater, a lighter pair of shorts, sunglasses, hat and camera. (we took towels and a blanket as well) I was ready to go. 

WARNING: You may find this next portion contains some disturbing imagery, both visual and verbal.   Weak stomachs should scroll down to where I’ve typed “YOU’RE SAFE NOW". I don't want to gross anyone out.  But it was part of the experience and Kim and I had a few laughs over it. :)

We got out about 9:45am and headed to Colchester to fill up the gas tanks.  At the gas station Kim hopped out to get some water for the ride over. I decided I had better warn her.  After all,  no one had warned me the first time I went for a boat ride.  I needed to warn her about “the shed”.  Have you ever seen SAW? I don’t watch many scary movies, but everyone I’ve ever seen has had a place like this…….a shed……a closet…..a rickety old structure where the gruesome murder would either take place or be concealed.  There is such a structure where we were headed.  At Hamburg Cove it’s called……"the bathroom”.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, for the sake of time, I’ll post the photos…..I think you’ll see what I mean. 

You go from the dock, past a junk yard, over a railroad track.  It's eerily quiet back there. There's a repair garage across the way with broken down boats.  I imagine the small grey shed next to it a practical place to store the murder weapons.  It's a perfect horror movie location if I've ever seen one.  

   

"I'm sure I'll have to use it. Is it really that bad?", Kim asks.  I smile. "Well, let me put this way", I say, "It's filthy. It stinks and supplied toilet paper is always a question. Better take a napkin or something. You just never know. But don't worry there's hand sanitizer in the car, so you have that when you get out."  "You don't wash in the sink?" Kim looks confused.  "I wouldn't touch that knob for all the money you could come up with", I say. "You'll see."  When we got there, I was pleasantly surprised.  It was the first part of the boating season and clearly someone had done some "Spring Cleaning".  My guess is that in June they supply a roll of paper towel and a four-pack of toilet paper. They hose it down and don't walk back in until the following June. This was the nicest and freshest I've ever seen it:

 

I don't think I have really captured the true DISGUSTING-NESS of it in the photo. But as Kim asked, "Just how dirty do you have to be to feel the need to shower here?"  My mind goes back to the movies......I can just see the villainous murderer laughing maniacally.....cleaning the blood from his contraption of death......I really shouldn't have watched SAW.



Since now I'm about to show you the "fun" and "pretty" and "wonderful" part of the New England life I've found up here, I thought it only fair and honest to show you the other side too. It's not all boating and ocean and lobster and deep green lush foliage in 80 degree summer sun weather.  ;)

 !!!!YOU’RE SAFE NOW!!!!

It was the first time this year that David had taken the boat out.  I could tell that he was itching to get going.  It wasn't a glorious, sunny, 82 degree, perfect New England Saturday like we've had the last two. It was cloudy and a little cool. But it wasn't raining and that was good enough.  (You can go down the river or out to the ocean with an outdoor lunch destination at the end of either excursion.  I prefer the ocean hands down, so I was glad when we decided to eat at The Dory on Shelter Island.)  The river and the ocean are such different experiences.  On the ocean the water is choppier, you drive faster, the wind hits you harder. You toss and bounce in the sun and the heat and the jostling wears you out by the end of the trip.  When the water hits your face, it tastes salty and leaves the white salt marks on your skin.  The coast is further out and you feel like you are on a much bigger adventure than on the river. When the day is done, you feel like you've had a real nautical excursion.   

We left the dock about 10:30 – 10:45 or so. David drove and Greg sat up front with him. I’m sure they talked boats and gadgets and things.  There’s a computer in the dash that tells the depths of the water and all the nautical navigation information you would need….where the buoys and other markers are and things like that.  I don’t really know the ins and outs. We couldn’t hear them. Kim and I sat in the back on benches near the motor. We could yell across at each other when the boat was really moving and talk in a normal range when we were in a no wake zone.  There was a lot of lip reading going on (on my part anyway) but we managed to jabber and catch up on lots of things.  David would look back occasionally with a giant grin.  Here’s a few of the things we saw on the way to the island:

The Fourth of July Boats:



Homes and boats:





The trip is about 45 minutes from the river to the ocean and another 30 minutes or so from the ocean to the island. We were boating along in the ocean by now. Kim and I deep in conversation about one thing or another. We were in the back by the motor and the guys were perched up front.  There are seats, of course, but they stand a lot. I don't know why.  Maybe it's more fun.  So the guys are standing up front and all of a sudden we hear a clang/thud/pop kind of noise.  A second or two later the boat stops.  I was still sort of engaged in the conversation and my mind was thinking about that. I wasn't really paying that much attention.  I heard the noise, but it wasn’t until I realized the boat had stopped that I switched gears.  Kim said something about seeing a  rope come across the back.  My back was to it.  David and Greg were talking and fiddling up at the front.  David climbed up front and the boat rocked as he walked.  I sat still.  Kim sat still.  We didn’t really say anything. David was talking about the anchor. He was worried it might have wrapped around the motor. My mind flashed to Nick Schuyler, the football player that had escaped the boating accident that killed the other three.  Hadn’t their anchor been stuck?  If I remember right they tried to free it and their  boat capsized. It was kind of windy. The waves weren’t really high, but high enough, and with the walking around, the boat was rocking a little. 

I looked over at Kim.  “I’m kind of a panicker,”  I say.  “I’m not,” Kim said.  “But when I saw the look on both their faces, I knew it wasn’t good.”  I smiled. We turned and looked back up front.   You know how they talk about a “wave of fear” rushed over someone?  I get that. I get an immediate sense of hot, nervous, crazy panic from time to time. When I get really scared,  I’m not a yeller or a screamer. I don't start barking orders.  I am a “freezer”.  I imagine I was born with this trait as I’ve heard Bill tell many times about the time I was left in the car with him at about 2 years old.  I didn’t cry. I  didn’t throw a fit. I just sat there with giant eyes (probably in a  scared panic) until Mary came back out to the car.  That was me now.  Big-eyed, frozen still, trying not to look scared. It felt like we were sitting there 15 minutes or so.  I bet it was closer to  four or five.  The anchor had fallen off the latch and was lose. David reeled it in and placed it back on the front of the boat and we were off. No worse for the wear.  We got to the island around 12:30ish.  Docked and headed over to eat.

The Dory Restaurant (http://www.doryrestaurant.com/) since 1925:



It's just a little place with really good food and an even better view from the patio where we ate:



It was a day of "weekend, vacation-like" sailing. I hadn't eaten breakfast and was hungry.  I'd also escaped an anchor-malfunction near death experience (well, sort of) and lived to tell about it, so I decided that called for a splurge.  I got the "Cupcake Burger: stuffed with gorgonzola cheese and topped with applewood thick sliced bacon."  I only ate half.  Greg and Dave split the other half.  I ate all my fries and two pickle spears......yum!  It was a good filling lunch.  I'd be ready for a salad by dinner.  I'd had my big meal for the day.  And it was a good one!  David had a burger too and a fourth of mine, fries. Kim had the best looking fish and chips (I'd get those next time)....GIANT pieces of white fish....and Greg had the seared tuna salad.  He helped Kim finish her fish.  We left full and happy....a nice big lunch for a day of sailors. On the way back, we stopped in a couple of shops and then took a few photos.  Then we were back on the ocean.

David, Greg in the Jackson Hole hat, Kim:

    

Kim and David.  It was starting to get cooler on the way back.  Clouds rolling in.  The towel was a good blanket!



My new desktop photo.  I love to watch David on the boat. He is always having too much fun.  You can just see his "inner 8 year-old" in his eyes: 

 

I love it too!  LOVE to be out on the boat! The summer of 2009 is going to be known as "That summer you wore the bug sunglasses all the time to cover up your angry eyebrows, remember that?"  



Lots of love to go around:





We made it back across the ocean and to the river.  About 4 minutes or so before we hit the cove, Greg's hat went flying!  He'd made it the whole way there and back and lost it at the end. I suppose there's some sort of metaphor for life in the story....but I can't think of it now.  His hat was gone.  We hit the dock close to 4:00-4:30 - I can't remember exactly. We headed back to shower and change and then to dinner.  I not sure how it all transpired, as I was at my apt getting ready, but when they came to pick me up, it was decided that Carbone's was the place.   

"I am not a glutton -- I am an explorer of food." ~ Erma Bombeck

Carbone's  (http://www.carbonesct.com/) is on Franklin Avenue in the Little Italy part of Hartford. It's also one street over from my office.  It's known as one of the best Italian restaurants in Connecticut, and the best in the Hartford area.   Oddly enough, none of us had ever been there.  David and I had talked about going several times and just never had.  David mentioned on the drive over that he wasn't that hungry, but might be after we got there and smelled the food. We drove the 30 minutes from home to the restaurant arriving at 8:15 for our dinner reservations at 8.  We were seated immediately at a rounded booth off to the side. We had our own little nook to sit and talk and eat.   

When you walked in, there on the boards, on the menus, on the framed plagues was this phrase:  One family, three generations, more than seventy years. They had been around since the 30's cooking the same recipes. I couldn't wait to try it! I wasn't starving as I'd had a big lunch, but I could definitely eat....I can always eat.

We looked the menu over.  Entree prices were $25-$30.  The ceasar salad read this way: Caesar Salad (prepared tableside for two or more) $10 per person We were a little confused.  So $20 for two salads?  So, when we spotted this, we couldn't pass up the value:

Back by popular demand
7-course Roman Dinner
$35 per person

First Course (served family-style)
Cold Antipasto Plate
Eggplant Compantina & Lemon Zested Ricotta
Fresh Mozzarella & Tomato Basil Bruschetta
Sopresatta & Pecorino Tuscano Cheese

Second Course (served family-style)
Fried Calamari and Cherry Peppers with Marinara

Third Course
Carbone’s Famous Caesar Salad (prepared tableside)

Fourth Course
Shrimp Risotto

Fifth Course
Veal Picatta served with a creamy polenta

Sixth Course
Tenderloin Filet Sorrentino accompanied with mashed potatoes and vegetables

Seventh Course (your choice of one)
Torta di Angelo or Cannoli

We decided to go for it.  They brought out bread with a spiced oil.  David and I tasted it, but didn't want to fill up on bread.  Neither of us starving, as we'd had burgers just a few hours ago.  Greg had the light tuna salad and was the only one really hungry and deservedly so. First course was a small spoon-sized compantina on a spinach leaf (a relish with olives - never had it before. DELICIOUS!) a tiny caprese salad with one small tomato wedge and a sliver of cheese and basil.  The sausage with a small triangle of sharp cheese was perfect!  This is going to be a really memorable meal. Bite-sized, tiny morsels of delicious tastiness served on tiny little plates....we could try it all!  We all looked at each other's plate. We'd scarfed down everything.  The food was seasoned perfectly.  David even ate his Compantina - and he doesn't eat olives. We may not have been hungry coming in, but our taste buds were happy and we were getting hungrier by the minute. 

The calamari came next. Light, crisp.  The peppers were even better than the calamari. They added a nice kick.  David and Kim avoided them - more for Greg and I.  Yum! The plate was gone in no time.  The waitress came over and cleared our plates.  She brought four more forks......bring it on!  It was SO GOOD!





Then the third course, or my personal favorite course, the tableside caesar salad.  Okay, first of all, I LOVE the tableside food preparation.  I remember when tableside guacamole used to not be so common place and quite the treat....flambéed bananas have been around forever....but I find it hard to find the tableside salad anymore.  Second of all, it's so 1940-1950 supper club......It takes me back to the movies, and one in particular, Easter Parade.  Have you seen this?  Jules Munshin pantomiming the tableside caesar?  I have always loved that movie and that scene in particular.  The salad was made with a little less pizzazz, but still yummy!  Anchovy and raw egg included. Again, our plates were clean. 

Round Four?  The shrimp risotto.  Now, I am quite the risotto snob. I've had some really good risotto in my day.  I wasn't too impressed with this course.  But I ate it all the same.  It lacked the creaminess that is vital in a good risotto bowl.  I was getting really full.  And there seemed to be more time between courses now.  They had been served at rapid fire pace and we'd scarfed them down so quickly.  My stomach was starting to catch up. 

The conversation was starting to shift as well.  We'd started with small talk, to whether risotto was rice or pasta, to recapping the day. Now we were talking about how full we were getting.....how much food we were consuming...and the more we talked the fuller it seemed I got. By the time course five arrived, I wasn't the least bit interested in food. The irony?  Now we were getting to the "heavier" part of the meal.  Veal Picatta served with a creamy polenta with an artichoke heart on top.  This time the plates were going back half eaten.  Food was being shuffled around to look like more was eaten.  It was good, but for me the point of diminishing returns was occurring.  It tasted good and the value was there, but the stuffed feeling was winning out.  I was full.  My waistband was getting tighter by the minute. 

By the time round six came out (a filet.....a filet, really?), we were so full, it was hysterical.  When Kim saw her plate and said, "Mashed potatoes? Really they have the nerve to serve potatoes now?"  I thought we were all going to fall over.  David exclaimed, "I'm going to have stretch marks tomorrow."  We were all so full it hurt to laugh.  Pained expression on our faces. I was just hoping that I could keep it all down on the way home.  These plates were back virtually untouched compared to the cleaned ones we'd been sending back. 

I’m getting nauseous just thinking about it now.  Our stomachs protruding and our brains yelling “Don’t eat another bite!” we tackled dessert.  David had a chocolate fudgy torte and it looked so heavy, I couldn’t even try it. And you KNOW I’m a chocolate fan! I had a “mock” cannoli.  It was a lace cookie over a mountain of sweet lemon ricotta.  I managed to eat the cookie and took a bite or two of the filling. I pushed the rest around on my plate.  The laughter grew. I think our blood sugar level was giving everything a comical twist. Kim and Greg were entertained by the waiters. David and I were giving each other “kill me now” and “would it be rude to unbutton my pants right here?” looks.   

Eventually we rolled out of our booth and into the car. I’m really not sure how. I mean, we weren’t that hungry when we walked in.  And we were STUFFED as we walked out.  On the way home, I starting writing everything down so I could remember it for the blog. Kim and I were re-living the meal – trying to remember every detail.  Kim looked over at Greg. “Are you ok?” she asked.  From the backseat I heard a quiet, mono-tone, deathly serious voice: “Would you stop taking about food”.  The car erupted in laughter and David shot back.  “When we get home, I’m making popcorn”.  The thought of popcorn smell floating throughout the house was enough to send us over the top.   We were all nauseous and hysterical at the same time - an unstable combination.  

I’m not sure how many calories we all consumed Saturday, but I imagine it was enough to feed a small village.  It’s Tuesday morning and I still haven’t really had a hungry feeling yet.

The weekend went fast and we had to take Greg back to the airport the next morning.  We stopped at Ken's for a late breakfast on the patio and then on to BDL.  Kim grabbed and car and came back to the house for a little while.  It was a nice weekend and so fun to visit with them.   I hope they'll visit again sometime soon.