Weekend Miscellany
Jul 27, 2003
It was beautiful so we got in the car in the morning and hit the highway for the Connecticut shore to find a seafood lunch. Seemed like everyone else with a car, including quite a few that should have stayed in the driveway rather than break down on the roadside, thought the same. We did manage to get to East Lyme before our patience wore out completely and enjoyed a great meal at the Flander’s Fish Market. We learned of it from a review on Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood site. Quick description of the eats: The roll on which the hot lobster roll is served was a little different than expected- good, hearty whole wheat and tasty, but too firm for the contents and we discarded half of the bread- but the hot lobster salad itself was excellent, seasoned with sherry and spices. The fried seafood platter (I couldn’t make up my mind and it had some of everything) was also very good. A generous portion of crisp fried seafood without too much batter. I didn’t consider that a whole plate of fried food is too much of a good thing on a hot day and I couldn’t finish. Afterward, we headed inland and took secondary routes (154, 9, 202, 44) back through Hartford into Amenia. A much more pleasant drive than the coastal weekend scrum.
We’re getting ready for a two-week vacation. Drew up a packing list, struck things off it, added others and tested it for fit in the suitcase (going to have to take some in the carry-on or jettison something). We double-checked our itinerary, paperwork, checked the camera and did a pre-emptive cleaning of the fridge. I ran lists of one-time passwords (hey, you never know), made a list of things I need to buy before leaving and fired off emails to various contacts we hope to see. Pretty mundane stuff but we’re excited about it.
On Monday, our friend Paul returns from a couple of years of working in Japan. We’ll pick him up at the airport and he’ll be staying over. This nicely handles his matter of needing a base of operations while getting resettled in NYC and our concern of who will keep an eye on the place, water the houseplants and take in the paper.