Weekend Wrap-Up

Back on the train again headed southbound, and yet again we have another weekend with no finding of wifi so we have a large wrap up post!  Grab a snack.

When I finally arrived in CT (an hour late!) it was time to head to dinner!  We went to Cafe Sylvium, which is a local place that always has a line on the weekend.  So what’s a girl to do?  Or a glass of the house Chianti of course!

I wasn’t staving thanks to my waffle and pb/apple snack so I went with a salad and app.  Before that came out I had a piece of chewy Italian bread and some white beans that always are served with their bread, no butter!

I ordered en three color salad with gorgonzola.  Enter tons of greens and cheese!

For my main entree I ordered one of the special apps, veal stuffed mushrooms.

These were definitely enough!  Filling and delicious!

I did of course had to have some cherry dark chocolate when I got home!

SATURDAY

We had wanted to go to Kent for the day, but we had a lot of party prep to do any it was supposed to poor on and off all day long and then be a monsoon in the evening.  We played it safe.  There is nothing worse than being rushed through Kent!

Before decieding all of this I had a cup of coffee and a slice of almond butter toast before getting in 6 miles and second breakfast of Nature’s Path flax flakes, granola, raspberries and more almond butter.

By staying close to home we ended up being able to go to the farmers market for some winter squash and root veggies that we planned to serve tonight.  We also were able to pick up a special seasonal treat that I have been wanting all fall!!!

I had one the second we got back into the car after passing this little rainy day sunshine one of the vendors had put out!

We stopped by Whole Foods and Whole Body, their new body exclusive store, where I sampled a shot of Amazing Grass and mango juice and got a small tub of the the original because it was 50% off!  Score for greens!

When mom and I got home it was time for lunch, but I wasn’t very hungry due to my doughnut so I waited a bit before having salad and soup.  It was a soup kind of day out there.

  I just realized how green this lunch was!  Vegetarian split pea soup with a green salad made of AMAZINGLY fresh organic greens from the farmers market this morning, avocado and cuc with light Italian dressing.

Then it was time to tackle this bad boys…

It took my mom and I an hour to cut up beets, parsnips, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, turnips, onion, brussel sprouts (not pictured), pumpkin and the little yellow and green squash that I didn’t know the name of.  We ended up sparing the acorn squash.

4 roasting pans later we herbed and olive oiled them before the oven.

After all of our hard work Mom and I set our for pumpkin spice lattes.

All of that writing means pumpkin spice latte, 2 pumps, non-fat, no whip.  We also picked up some wine to have with dinner and bourbon to make a special dessert!

After getting showered and changed I set up the appetizer table and consumed many kashi crackers and pita chips while doing so

The spread included:  local goat cheese and kashi crackers, tortilla chips, WF queso that was downed in about 5min, WW onion flax pita chips, hummus and Greek olives.

I then proceeded to pour myself of a not so good wine that mostly ended up in the sink.  I then poured myself probably my favorite wine right now – Rijoa.  I call it the Rijoa with the orange house on it.  That is how I can remember these things!  There is also an orange Tinto with a cannon on it that I like but is not as good.

As I was putting the finishing touches around the house I snapped a couple pics of the table and flowers.

There were 8 people all together at the birthday/harvest party.

Along with a large amount of roasted veggies, which people loved and even a non-veggie lover had second of , we had rosemary herb chickens from Whole Foods already cooked.  Makes life so much easier!  We also had a wonderful salad of greens, mandarin oranges, cuc, carrots, cranberries, cantaloupe and celery.

And then it was cake time!

My family has always had angel food cake for birthdays.  I think there may have only been 2 years when I didn’t have one for my birthday (?) one because I wanted a funfetti cake or some other kind of cake for some reason and two was because I was away from home in college.  There may have been a few more than that but I can only think of 2.  And angel food cake is not just for my birthday it is my mom’s, grandmothers and grandfathers cake.  Needless to say I have eaten a lot of angel food cake in my day and tend to only eat it with my fingers like I did when I was one.

Every cake has a theme.  This year was Halloween/Harvest I guess.  We had a standard angel food cake with marshmellow peeps in the shape of pumpkins and ghosts.  We also drizzled pumpkin butter that I heated with bourbon all over the top then dusted with coconut.  We also had coconut sorbet on the side, but I stuck to the cake.

I ended up having at least 2 slices…it is full of air, and I love the sweet light flavor!

Overall  it was a great party and I think my mom had a great time!

SUNDAY

On Sunday we woke up and made coffee.  What did we have for breakfast?  Apple cider doughnuts of course!  Heated in the mirco for 20sec so the sugar starts to melt.  I also had an apple for a little more healthy fiber and fillage.

My doughnut has feet!

After breakfast mom and I went on a hunt to find me a part of my Halloween costume and ended up finding it was 52 cents at Michaels!  We wanted to go to Marshalls but they didn’t open until 11 and we didn’t want to wait around.  We then went to J.Crew, which didn’t open until 12(!!!) so we went for stroll down Greenwich Ave. and stopped by Lucky to check out some new jeans for mom.  I thought they could help her, but alas we left empty handed.  We made our way to the end of the Ave. and stumbled upon a brand new French bakery and community table.  All of the ingredients are organic and they are key on sustainable and local ingredients.  We sampled a pumpkin muffin that was really good, and walked out with a 1/2 loaf of spelt sourdough.  I loved the idea of very long community tables so that you can get to know those that you dine with.  It is kind of like a bar without the drinks.  When we finally made it to J.Crew we didn’t even find anything that NEEDED to spend that much money on so we headed home for lunch.

It was an amazing day in CT!  The sky was clear and crisp, the trees were amazing, and we could eat outside on our front steps!

We made up some salads of greens from the farmers market, cuc, avocado, leftover chicken and root veggies/ squash with a side of toast.  We also had bloody marys for a kick at lunch time!  Why not, I was taking the train!

We also had an unwelcomed yellow jacket seriously bite off a piece of my chicken.  I did not know they were carnivores!!!  Crazy!

For my sweet end I enjoyed a Adora disk a la pumpkin.

Now I am back on the train and who knows how far delayed we are by now.  It was 10min when I got on, but I don’t know if we are loosing ground or if we made any up while we were parked in NYC.

I can’t wait to see Sicily and Nick!

********3 hours later…Home!*****

My train snack was granola and some honest tea.

Now that I am home I made up some little eats.

Ant on a log (!!!) and some Greek yogurt with berry jam and coconut.

OK off to watch Restaurant Wars from last weeks Top Chef!!!  I am psyched that they are focusing on sustainable seafood for this challenge!!

Bring on the week!