Tag Archives: appetizers

TON of Fun at Taste of the Nation Hartford – Part 2

In case you missed it, my Taste of the Nation (Hartford) overall intro and libation recap post went up yesterday! I’m now going to move on to my two favorite parts of the event (and they’ll probably be yours too) – the food and the PEOPLE!

The Food

Some restaurants go with simple white-tablecloth-covered booths, and others go all out. Mill Restaurant Group (responsible for one of my favorite cocktail spots, Market Grille in Manchester) was at the all-out end of the display spectrum!

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MRG’s food quality was all-out as well in both aesthetics and taste! Check out these awesome chilled soup shooters served on slate…

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Judging Crazy Concoctions at CHS Cookoff

I can’t wait to attend Taste of the Nation Hartford tonight with my blends Kaitlin & Kelly! You can still get tickets at the door – general admission is $75, but I’ve been to this event before and it is WORTH IT. Best food tasting event I’ve ever experienced!

I’m so excited to share my experience judging the Connecticut Historical Society‘s first Community Cookoff! Held last Friday from 5:30-7:30pm (nice and early!), the event attracted a good crowd and had the work day craaaaawling by as I anxiously waited for the clock to hit 5 so I could hit the road for Hartford.

I wore my latest splurge – a Lilly Pulitzer top that I got on sale in FL – for such an important event! Little did I know Lilly herself would pass away in a couple of days.

I walked into CHS and was greeted by the smiling, excited faces of Jenny Steadman and Ed Main. They are the ones who came up with this idea, included me, and even planned the event’s timing around my vacation schedule. I couldn’t have felt any more special thanks to them!

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WIAW: Additional Florida Edition

Oo bet that title confused you just a little bit, huh? Stay quick on your feet folks, because this post will be speedy. I miss blogging so much and have not felt at all satisfied with what I have had time to post which is not much. I had a nice chat with my girl Meg about this yesterday – I also miss reading and commenting on all of YOUR wonderful blogs. But it also doesn’t do me any good to place stress on myself and try to make time for everything, because then what I do end up doing will suffer. I would rather do a few things to my best ability, and right now my top priorities are school and (alas, as much as I hate to say it) work. Hey, I gotta pay the restaurant bills. I have so much more than just FL vacation food recaps to share – there’s a lot of feelings associated with that food and the vacation and my birthday. I hope I will get to go deeper into that soon.

For now though I’m going to quickly use What I Ate Wednesday to recap my eats during my latest vacation to Florida. Alas I haven’t even had time to upload my camera photos so I only have Instagram photos to share for now but will try to share camera pics later when I discuss my feelings on the vacation food/drinks. I’ve recapped FL eats before in this photo-dump manner and it seemed to work well! So let’s get this Jenn-hosted party underway. I landed in Florida on Sunday afternoon 3/24 after some bothersome flight delays, and wasted no time stocking our condo with…provisions.

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Birthday Dinner at Max Downtown

Thanks for putting up with my spotty blogging the last couple of weeks! I hope now that the pre-vacation work rush and during-vacation relaxation has passed, I will get back into my routine, including regular blogging!

I still have some Max Restaurant Group establishments to cross off my list, but I selected their ritziest, Max Downtown, for my 24th birthday celebration dinner. My birthday was on 3/22 and this dinner occurred the weekend before that, but vacation and a last MBA semester typically result in late recaps such as this post, so forgive me!

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I (obviously) invited my parents to this special dinner, as well as my best friend Lidia! My dad was kind enough to me and my mom off while he ventured out to find downtown Hartford parking (hey, we were cold!) so I had some time to take some shots of the restaurant’s lovely interior while we waited.

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Barcelona Meets Mendoza: Wine Dinner

Last week (Wednesday 3/13) I had the pleasure of attending Barcelona Wine Bar’s latest wine dinner at their West Hartford location – La Vendimia de Mendoza. Funny enough, it fell on the same day that the new pope – from Argentina – was chosen! Fancy that.

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The moment I arrived I knew it’d be a wino’s dream evening. The menu listed SIX different wines that we’d be sampling. Keep in mind the event came with food too, and only cost $45 per person (plus tax and gratuity)!

ALL THE WINE.

ALL THE WINE.

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Love and Bitters at Barcelona

Remember to check out yesterday’s post, where I shared a special announcement…

My friend (since high school!) Andrea and I made plans on a Monday this month to go out to a fab dinner in honor of her birthday. I discovered Barcelona in West Hartford was doing one of their fun food and drink pairing events that very night, so we decided to turn that Love & Bitters Cocktail Class into our celebratory meetup!

Quite the lineup!

Quite the lineup!

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Caitlin and Kaitlin Take Gbury

I’m glad you all are just as excited about BAMR Bands as I am (in fact mine makes another appearance in this post – can you spot it?) and I’m happy to announce the winners of my giveaway!

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Congrats Amanda, Allison, and Celeste! I will be contacting you about your prizes!

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Millwright’s Tavern Tuesdays!

Thanks to the local foodies who entered my Taste of the Nation Hartford giveaway! Out of 44 entries, the winner is…

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Kristen of Been There, Run That! Congrats and I will be contacting you about how you will receive your two free passes to the April 11 event.

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WIAW: A Super Super Bowl!

Never before have I watched so LITTLE of the Super Bowl. I usually pop into the TV room at our traditional gathering spot, the Gerber family’s house, to try and catch some ads. This year that didn’t even happen.

No Caitlin here!

No Caitlin here!

Aside from the halftime show (I think Beyone was hella fierce) I did not see a single second of the 2013 Super Bowl broadcast. I was too busy hanging out with family and friends, and tasting some fabulous food and drink. Seeing as it’s What I Ate Wednesday (thanks Jenn of Peas & Crayons for hosting!), today’s post is going to be heavy on both of those things!

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WIAW: Florida Vaca Eats!

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway for a copy of the Tone It Up Beach Babe DVD! Check out my thoughts on the post and enter if you are interested!

It’s time to do another not–daily–eats take on Jen‘s What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW). I’ve already done that, and if I shared typical workday eats each WIAW, this blog would be Snoozeville, Population: ALL OF YOU.

After all, you’d much rather read/see a recap of the food & drink I enjoyed during my Christmas vacation to Florida, right? I thought so. I already shared my raw/vegan lunch experience at Christopher’s Kitchen with Brittany, and my apricot beer and TooJay’s takeout on Christmas Day, so start there if you haven’t seen those posts!

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Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

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Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

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