Tag Archives: weekends

Pond House Grille Side Dish Cooking Class

I received complimentary admission to this event in exchange for a blog post about my experience. All opinions are my own.

This past Friday night I had the opportunity to attend my second cooking class (read about my first one here) at Pond House Grille in Glastonbury, CT. The restaurant has been doing one class per month, and with Thanksgiving coming up this one was appropriately themed “Spice Up Your Side Dishes”.

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This month’s class had enough participants to be held in a bigger room in the restaurant’s adjacent banquet facility.

All classes are taught by Executive Chef Jordan Stein but I wouldn’t exactly call it teaching…hosting is a more accurate word. Jordan is so great with his guests! I felt like I was in his home and he was letting us all help him make Thanksgiving dinner. He made sure every “student” got some hands-on cooking time in. He would demo each step and afterwards pass it off to a volunteer – or someone he chose. Some guests were hesitant to volunteer and Jordan did a wonderful job of encouraging them to do so.

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Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival 2013

Make sure you check Cait Plus Ate on Facebook to find out who won my Real Art Ways Oddball giveaway. I hope you’ll consider attending – tickets are still available!

One great thing about a blog is the ability to look back at fun times of the past, especially if those fun times involve annual events. I have blogged about the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival twice previously – last year and the year before – but have never missed the festival since my first fall living in CT (2001). It’s frankly just an adorable fall event and really gets attendees in the spirit! The timing is great – the foliage is lovely, it’s not too cold out yet (hoodie/sweater weather!), and the autumn sun is often shining bright. Yes there have been some rainy years, but more often than not the Glastonbury Apple Harvest Festival (Apple Fest) fares well weather-wise.

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Look at that blue sky!

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TGIF in Simsbury

A single post would have to be way too long to recap all the fun I had this past weekend, so I thought I’d spread the love between two posts, beginning with today’s retelling of this past Friday night. I spent time with people I love, and also spent $0. Gotta love it when that happens. Before the day I drove into Simsbury to have the interview for the job I currently hold, I don’t think I’d ever stepped foot (or tire?) in the town. And while a lot of the time it is very quiet and…well…a bit boring…the town sure delivered on this particular evening.

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Get your groove on!

Let me rewind back to the beginning. After a quick-and-dirty post-work gym trip (25 minutes on the StairMaster followed by upper body weights and abs) I met my parents at Millwright’s for a cocktail before the evening’s main plans. I debated whether or not I wanted to make this pre-event visit because I was nervous to order a cocktail before attending a shindig where I knew I’d be drinking wine. However, I really wanted to introduce my mom to my friends (my dad had recently done just that) at this very special restaurant…and Chris Parrot‘s cocktails are no ordinary cocktails. So I took a leap and brought my parents down to the Millwright’s Tavern!

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Farmers’ Market Sunday Funday

One of my first blog posts ever was about my finds from my first-ever trip to the Coventry Regional Farmers’ Market, the best farmers’ market I have ever been to (by far). I was lucky enough to go TWICE last summer with Heather and even participated in one of their events, as a judge for a cocktail competition. This past Sunday, I made my first (and hopefully not the last) trip of the 2013 season! I could not have asked for better company – my sister Hannah, my good friend Kat, and her daughter (the famous) Penelope.

Penelope visited with my mom before we left for the market!

Penelope visited with my mom before we left for the market!

Please notice Penelope’s fabulous foodie onesie, appropriately gifted to her by Emily, Community Manager for Yelp Hartford!

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Proving Myself to…Myself

I sure hope someone catches the “Austin Powers” reference in the title…

I have the best readers in the world – thanks for your comments on yesterday’s post! I was already feeling a lot better when I published it Monday morning but I still had lingering feelings of regret that were holding on tightly. Like I wrote yesterday, time has been a huge part of making me feel better but your kind words help too. The way I spent my Saturday and Sunday evenings, post-Friday-evening-debacle, also gave myself the PROOF my mind needed to see that drinking all the drinks and spending all the dollars (I hope you caught that Alex) will not become habit and is not something I’ll keep wanting to do.

Saturday Night at Krust

Friends are the best medicine!

Friends are the best medicine!

Saturday night I had plans to attend the birthday dinner of Kelly‘s hubby Nick. I’d recommended to them one of my fave restaurants around, Krust Pizza Bar in Middletown. I have to be honest…I considered cancelling. I wanted to sit in my house and eat a salad and drink water, to punish myself for overdoing it on the alcohol the previous night. But I also knew that surrounding myself with loved ones and being a part of celebrating Nick’s special day would mean a lot to both me AND Kelly and Nick. Plus, staying in would have been letting the regret win. So I showered, put on a cute outfit, and headed out!

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Taste of New Haven: On 9 Tour

I just adore the Taste of New Haven food tours! So much so in fact, that I have now been on three of their currently offered tours, as well as one that is no longer offered. You can read my past recaps below:

Keep your eyes peeled on daily deal sites like Groupon or ChariDeal, because Taste of New Haven deals often pop up there – in fact, I have funded all four of the tours I’ve been on with a daily deal! Tickets are normally $55/person (plus tax) or one can become a member and get, among other perks, 20% off of an unlimited amount of tours. I may have used a daily deal for each tour I’ve been on, but I wholeheartedly believe and tell people often that the $55 price is MORE than worth it for the amount of food and drinks each person receives on a tour! The owner, head tour guide, and author Colin Caplan will even try to get substitutions for folks with dietary modifications (within reason).

Colin doin’ his tour guide thang.

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Glastonbury LobsterFest 2013!

I can’t miss Glastonbury’s best event of the summer, our Rotary Club’s LobsterFest. So when my mom told me she and my dad were entertaining the idea of NOT going this year, I did not stand for it. All it took was some reminders of all the fun we’ve had under the big white tent in year’s past, and my dad was on my side and my mom outnumbered. We put out the call to some of our close family friends from Florida, I invited my good friend Jeff, and we were all ready to go with a table.

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Thankfully the weather improved drastically for Saturday and the sun was even out of most of the morning and afternoon to dry out the field after Friday’s monsoon. The hard-working Rotary Club volunteers were out all day in the rain on Friday setting up and getting the tent erected to keep the ground underneath as dry as possible.

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A Summer MIMM

Thank you for the enthusiasm for Bestowed and my giveaway for one of their monthly boxes of healthy snacks! I’m happy to announce the winner, but remember if that person is not you, there is still the promo code “5OFFBESTOWED01”, which does not expire and can be entered at checkout for $5 off your first box (regularly $19). For just $14 (shipping is included) I definitely think it’s worth a try! Enough blabbering – the winner is Jess W! Congrats and I will be contacting you about getting your prize!

I hope everyone had a marvelous first weekend of June! Well, Friday night was still May, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is it FELT like June. The weather was perfect all weekend along and I couldn’t be more grateful! While I felt low during some portions of the weekend, today I want to address the marvelous, which thankfully far outnumbered the mal (Spanish for “bad”).

Thanks Katie for keeping us positive on Mondays when it’s often most needed!

Marvelous is…your “Hey, It’s OK!” suggestions! I’ve seen healthy living “It’s OK!” ideas in comments, blog posts, and Instagrams in response to my post from last week – and I’m loving them.

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Marvelous in My Memorial Day Weekend

It may not be Monday because I didn’t think it was worth it to publish a full MIMM post on a holiday, but Memorial Day starts with M and so does Marvelous, so there’s no reason I can’t keep the alliteration train chuggin’ at full speed. My work day went south the second I picked up my cubicle phone this morning to listen to a voicemail, so I really need to focus on marvelous and not mad. Which is how I’m feeling.

Thanks Katie for hosting this party! Pretend the Monday says Memorial Day.

Marvelous is…making it to my gym’s Friday evening step class. I haven’t been able to leave work on time for that class in awhile but I decided it was the Friday before a holiday weekend so if any day I was going to leave early, it’d be that day. The step class was so fun – a routine with both familiar and new moves, a high-energy instructor who demanded cheers from us as we worked out, and fantastic remixes of old favorites like “The Call”. Great way to kick off the holiday weekend.

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MIMM: School’s Out, Let’s Celebrate!

The winner of the Brilliant Options Wellness massage giveaway is Anna! You will be contacted about scheduling with Kellie your free 30 minute massage – congrats!

I have a lot of marvelous to share! I did a great job this weekend of balancing me-time with friend-time. I gave myself permission to celebrate my accomplishments and felt lots of love and gratitude for the people in my life who made them all possible. I’m continuing to de-grandma on weekends and stay out having a good time, and I’m determined to keep up that trend as long as the (slowly getting there) warm weather keeps giving me energy to stay up later and go go go! But I also spent plenty of time staying put put put, at the house on Saturday during the day and Sunday in the evening.

Thanks for hosting the marvelous party, Katie!

Marvelous is…FINISHING GRAD SCHOOL! Yes, I got A’s in both of my last semester courses and completed my MBA at University of Hartford with a 3.94 cumulative GPA. It feels so good to be done but it won’t really hit me until a few more weekends/lunch breaks without homework I think…or until I get my diploma in the mail. No I am not walking in the ceremony because really, ain’t nobody got time for that.

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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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