Connecticut

This one time I went to West Hartford, Connecticut a million years ago (ok, a month and a half) and I didn't tell you anything about it! AND I did lots of wonderful food things. Truth be told, I had to update the software on my computer to be able to download photos and it took me a long time to be able to figure it out. Anyways, a few years ago my best friend (H) from middle school and her family moved all the (3 hours) away to Connecticut. Every summer I go out to visit them, and it's always wonderful.

Here we go - this was my long weekend in West Hartford.

I took a lovely Amtrak ride out to West Hartford. It was stressful. I miss timed my trek to Penn Station and near missed the train. I was running off the subway and through the station. And then the track number wasn't listed when I got there. I was in full panic mode. But, I looked up the number was listed a line basically formed around me. I found a nice window seat and got to watch the sun set as I ate my dinner and watched 100 episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

The next morning we went and worked out - so much fun! I love getting some exercise in. Then, H and I hit Dunkin' Donuts for iced coffee and a free donut (it was National Donut Day). Then we began our drive to the Book Barn in Niantic. The Book Barn is my new favorite book store. It was huuuuge. It actually has four locations (one outside and three store fronts). There's cats and books everywhere. Better yet, they have multiple copies of almost everything and they're super cheap ($1 and up).

We continued along the Connecticut coast to get my first ever Lobster Roll from Skippers Seafood in Niantic. Let me just tell you about lobster roll. I'm now obsessed. It was life changing. It's so simple, and I fully plan on making my own ASAP. It was a butter toasted roll, and fresh lobster topped with more melted butter. It came with a side of a nice light coleslaw and some chips. And we just had to get curly fries. Because curly fries, duh.

For dinner, we meandered to town for a night of tacos and drinks at BarTaco. I started with a Port Chester Reviver while we waited for a table outside. They were using the coolest machine to squeeze citrus and make fresh drinks (margaritas!). Then, we got guacamole and some chips to nom on while we waited for tacos. What I loved about this was you could order tacos one at a time as opposed to a more standard two or three at a time - so I got to try and love four different tacos. I had the baja fish, spicy chorizo, portobello with queso fresco and curry shrimp.

The next day we had a relaxing morning and munched on some greek yogurt and nectarines. I read Bag of Bones for a bit and then we hit the center of town to walk around the Celebrate! WH festival (that punctuation was driving me crazy - it should be Celebrate WH!). I always admire the flowers at H's house - her mom does such a wonderful job gardening, and there's a great story about her mom's rose bush (for another day_. For lunch on this unbelievably hot day we slurped down some unbelievably refreshing watermelon lemonade (an unexpected, delicious surprise - something else I'd like to recreate) as well as Mexican grilled corn (another first, new obsession and thing I'd like to make).

After returning from the fair, we planned to make dinner with some of the new cookbooks we purchased at the Book Barn, and then hit an Asian market (another first for me - we don't have one near me), picked up some shrimp chips to munch on and unpacked at home. We then went to the regular grocery store (which had really cool price guns that - you scan all the bar codes in your cart and then scan the cash register at the end and pay. So easy and fun!) and grabbed some beer (I have a new favorite). We returned home and began the several hours of cooking. H is probably one of my favorite people to cook with. We cranked some tunes, munched on the way and joked around, but stayed out of each other's way. We made an Asian cole slaw salad (unbelievably fresh), rice, shrimp and shrimp and pork dumplings and pork buns. It was soooooo yummy. Things I will be definitely making again.

That night, when I went to pack I realized just how many books I bought/borrowed from H's family. Packing was... difficult. Fortunately, H's family loaned me a reusable shopping bag to lug everything home in. I always seem to leave there with more than I came with. Last time it was cowboy boots and Hulk hands.

The next morning I hopped on the train home and my parents picked me up in Newark. And that was my lovely weekend in Connecticut. I can't wait to visit them again. And make all of those yummy food. Also, a sign off with the most adorable picture of H's grandma's dog, Buddy. THIS GUY.