This may be a bit lengthy, but here’s a recap of my adventures back in good ol’ Connecticut this weekend:
Saturday
Murphy, Drew and I took a trip back to CT for the long weekend. Unfortunately, Drew and I had to drive separately since I was going to stay until Tuesday, and he had to be back for Monday. Note: middle of a Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend=3 1/2 hour drive turns into a 5 hour drive!
My parents were out partying like the social butterflies they are when I got home, which meant that I had to do the Ruby (their new dog)/Murphy re-introdction by myself. After a few minutes of growling and barking on Ruby’s part, and wiggling and snorfling on Murphy’s, they settled down and got along quite swimmingly.
Synchronized walking. A new sport in the Doggy Olympics.
Ruby is lacking some basic obedience training, so I tried working on it with her as we were walking. She heeled pretty well, but absolutely refused to “sit” for me. It went something like this:
- Michelle: Ruby, sit.
- Ruby: I know exactly what you are saying, but I am going to pretend to be stone deaf. WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAID??
- Murphy: I’m sitting, Mom!
- Michelle: Ruby, sit!
- Ruby: Your lips are moving but there’s no sound coming out.
- Murphy: I SAID, I’m sitting!!!
- Michelle: Ruby, SIT!
- Ruby: You’re pretty.
- Murphy: MOM, HELLO!!! LOOK AT ME. I’M SITTING!
Sunday
Sunday was a trip to the Madison Surf Club with the parents. We packed quite a tasty picnic lunch with us, since food/eating are the foremost preoccupation of the Santoro family. In our cooler:
- Pasta salad
- Grilled chicken breasts, legs, and thighs
- Hummus and crackers
- Blue cheese dressing for the chicken
- Hershey’s mini chocolates (A picnic without chocolate? No thank you, I will pass.)
We could have fed 6 people instead of 3. I can’t take any responsibility for the chicken (my dad cooked it). My favorite part was the pasta salad, a pretty simple one.
- Cook 1 lb. elbow macaroni
- Mix pasta with chopped red onions, celery, and black olives
- Season with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste
Just a day at the beach…
Monday
Of course I could not go back to CT without a trip to my favorite place in the state, Ayer Mountain Farm in Franklin. Many happy hours of riding was had there before I moved. I took my favorite little paint mare, Tiger, out to the “field of dreams” with LeighAnn and Peppy! Our friend Sophia (the dog) came along to chaperone. Luckily too; we almost took a wrong turn at one point, but she steered us in the right direction!
Sadly, I do not have any pictures of the “field of dreams”. It was quite dreamy. Good spot for a gallop!
I capped off the day with a dinner with MagSauce, HoneyBear, and Rachel (Rachel, do you even have any nicknames??) at Max Burger in West Hartford. One of my favorite restaurants.
Spinach and artichoke dip with goat cheese and toasted flatbread. Drew, be jealous. I took this picture for you :)
Miss Daisy: turkey burger on brioche with melted brie cheese, bacon, lettuce, and apple honey Dijonaise. SO GOOD. Feeds my unhealthy addiction to cheese. (I once ate an entire wedge of brie by myself. In one sitting. True story.)
Tuesday
Because I couldn’t leave CT without stuffing my face one more time, my parents and I had breakfast at O’Rourke’s Diner in Middletown. They had tried it after seeing it on FoodNetwork’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and highly recommended it.
Irish Galloway: poached eggs and hollandaise sauce over grilled brown bread, bacon, and smoked salmon. GO THERE AND EAT THIS. Now.
Dad at breakfast: I don’t understand why you keep taking pictures of food?
But of course I couldn’t head back to NJ without a car conundrum. For those of you who know my trusty steed UJA, you probably know it’s seen better days. The “talking” it used to do recently became more like “cursing”. I’m not exactly car-savvy, but I believe the technical term for what UJA was doing is jangling. Or rattling. Or making wobbly sounds.
Anyway, after an oil change and a fuel-up, I had my dad listen to the cacophony of noises the car was making, and he thought perhaps the tie-rods were loose. This reminded me of the guy at Costco telling me he thought perhaps the tie-rods were loose. He told me this when I got my tires rotated. Two months ago. Oops. (This also reminded me of the same time when I got my tires rotated at Costco, and then lost my hubcap somewhere on my drive home. My car is a real champ.)
I was all set to drive back to New Jersey with loose tie-rods and have them fixed there, as soon as I filled up my windshield wiper fluid. My mom really likes windshield wiper fluid. She gave me one of the approximately 12 gallons she keeps stocked in the garage, just in case every company that has ever made windshield wiper fluid shuts down simultaneously, she will have a supply. (I’m guessing she’d sell it on the black market.) So I popped the hood, and poured it in the tank. And then felt something dripping on my foot. Yep, a hole in the tank. Half a gallon of precious windshield wiper fluid down the drain. Like I said, a real champ.
Well, that did it for my parents. I could drive back to NJ with the rattles and wobbles and jangles. BUT NOT WITHOUT WINDSHIELD WIPER FLUID!!! What if a bird pooped on my windshield??!?! How would I clean it off?!?!? They insisted I take my brother’s car and leave UJA behind to get fixed. They are so nice and so generous.
Ruby and Murphy had a thing or two to say about the whole car-switching and going-home situation.
Murphy: WAIT wait, I wasn’t ready! I thought I was going to sneeze.Ruby: What? I still can’t hear you.
Murphy: Ok, I’m ready. Shoot me from the side. It’ll look artsy.Ruby: Really, you’re going to have to speak up if you expect me to listen.
All in all, it was a great trip. Saw some friends (and missed some…I’ll get you guys next trip!), spent time with family, and most importantly, ate a lot of delicious food. Not that New Jersey doesn’t have good food. It’s just really far away from my house…
Sounds like Ruby. Haha.
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