Tag Archives: restaurants

Keep Calm and Think Out Loud

It’s that time of the week again: Thursday, the time to Think Out Loud! Thanks as always to Amanda for hosting this link-up, even from sunny California…hope you’re enjoying your time in Disneyland, lady! I too am going to be on the move tomorrow (I’m heading to Boston and staying the night to visit friends, Friday to Saturday) so I won’t be posting; this is the last you’ll hear of me this week. But I guess that means I can just throw in some extra thinking today, right?

Think out loud with the rest of us by linking up!

1. Since writing Tuesday’s Trade ‘Em Up post, staying in a couple of nights, and making sure I get enough sleep, I have been feeling better about myself anxiety and body-image wise. I didn’t even experience guilt yesterday about going out with friends the night before. I met up with former UConn co-workers (and newly engaged couple) Cara and Brian for dinner at Bricco Trattoria in Glastonbury. Still loving it there and have kept returning since New Year’s Eve!  After dinner we walked (aka jogged, it was freaking freezing) over to Hanafin’s for Tuesday Trivia. Theirs starts at 8PM – nice and early! I enjoyed a half pint of the Rebel IPA (two thumbs up) and even managed to contribute a few movie-related trivia answers. I have to be honest and say I totally judged a bro the next table over who didn’t know that Finch is the last name of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird. Did you not take high school English?

A side of baby cabbages (of course) and they were awesome.

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Big Brew and 42

Full Disclosure: I am being provided complimentary admission to this event.

I mentioned previously that Molly and I will be traveling to White Plains, NY on Saturday 2/8 to attend the Big Brew NY Beer Festival. I was offered the chance to interview Chef Anthony Goncalves, chef/owner of 42 the Restaurant and the designer of the beer-infused buffet that will be available to attendees of the fest’s VIP portion.

  • Beer battered fish and ranch chips
  • Beer braised lamb arancini (Parmesan and preserved lemon)
  • IPA pickled carrot salad over roasted and dehydrated carrot
  • Oatmeal Stout glazed apple fritter

Needless to say (and especially since the general admission tasting takes place AFTER the VIP tasting), Molly and I are certainly going to have to pace ourselves! I could be a “healthy living blogger” and say I’m most looking forward to the pickled carrot salad…but that’d be a lie. I’m looking forward most to the lamb – I love lamb! (Not to be confused with lamp.)

Source

Holy off topic. Anyway, I emailed to Chef Anthony some questions that came to mind after browsing both the festival’s and the restaurant’s websites. After getting his answers, I had the chance to give him a call and follow up to gather some more insight into his involvement with and feelings about Big Brew Fest, and beer in general.

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MIMM: Worn Out But Worth It

I am exhausted, despite the fact that I went to sleep at 9:15PM and got to sleep til almost 8 this morning. But the reason I’m worn out is because of a weekend which included some going out of my box, and it was well worth it. Let’s get the Marvelous In My Monday party started so that I can remember that fact.

Will you too be joining Katie’s marvelous link-up?

Marvelous is…trying a new restaurant for a baby shower on Friday. I went to spin in the morning so I was able to join my co-workers after work for drinks and dinner, which is not something I’m usually able to do with my preference for evening gym sessions. I was of course in charge of picking the place and I ended up choosing nearby Cracker Barrel Pub in Tariffville, because they just re-did the menu and new manager and head chef Hazen is someone I’ve worked with before. Clearly he knows me because he sent out crispy baby cabbages for the table – what a nice surprise! (If anyone is interested in trying Cracker Barrel’s new menu, there is a Groupon out right now!)

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Let’s See How Far We’ve Come

Happy Friday readers! I came into work late today due to a family obligation so I’m all confused about what time and day it is. Thankfully the time is afternoon and the day is Friday, so I’d say I’m in business. I wasn’t sure what to blog about today or even if I was going to blog, but I can’t stay away for long so here I am. I noticed a few things last night during the plans I had mentioned in yesterday’s post, so I’d like to share them with you all.

I first headed to J’s Crab Shack in Hartford after the bartender Kim invited me to come have a Manhattan in their new lounge (formerly was a banquet room). While there I found out that not only was Kat running late to the event, but the food there would be “snacks” from Pond House Cafe (who by the way is offering some fun reasonably priced cooking classes this year). I love Pond House food but snacks seemed ominous to me. I knew I needed to eat dinner but making a dinner out of event snacks often means making dinner out of dips, cheeses, and other not-so-light food. Instead of planning to restrict at the event (AKA drinking on an empty stomach), I made the decision to go next door to O’Porto and grab dinner – a healthy dinner I was comfortable with – at the bar.

Greens, shrimp, smoked-salmon-wrapped asparagus, and balsamic vinaigrette.

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Marvelous Mohegan Trip!

Tonight is your last chance to enter my Nancy Rose Performance giveaway for a new workout outfit! Entries close at 11:59PM EST. Seems as if it’s been eons since my last Marvelous In My Monday (MIMM) post. I haven’t taken the time to sit down and write one since before all my holiday travels! But this past Saturday night certainly calls for a recap. My good friend Molly came home (we grew up a few houses away from each other) from Boston so we could spend time together in CT. Turns out my parents planned a spontaneous overnight at Mohegan Sun Casino for that very same evening…and they let us tag along.

Will you be joining Katie’s link-up this week?

We got ready in the hotel room and headed downstairs to grab a snack, since dinner reservations were late. I knew Molly would adore Tuscany and we had a cheese plate craving so we selected that as our first stop of the night. I had the Perfectly Pear Martini (Absolut Pear, Martini & Rossi Asti) which earned its name thanks to the bartender doing a great job of fulfilling my request for just the tiniest splash of sour apple pucker (it was supposed to come with more). Molly was pleased by her Rye Sour…and the prompt bread-and-dips (white bean puree and olive tapenade) service. Continue reading →

Best of Each Month in 2013

Thanks for your feedback on yesterday’s post about my 2014 New Year’s resolution! I was hesitant to hit publish because I felt there were a few misconceptions you guys could get from the post. I do not think I’m ugly without makeup or my hair “done up”, and I also didn’t want anyone to think my resolution was vain. But this is my blog and it’s my resolution so I shared, and I’m glad I did. It seems that those who commented get that it’s about how I feel about myself, not how I look to others.

I have been debating for a few weeks now how I would recap 2013 on the blog. Last year I did a top 12 of 2012 but I really think it would be too hard to rank all the great stuff I got to do and the fabulous people I got to see this year. There is so much to look at in the year! So I decided to refine a bit and instead look at each month. I’m going to try my hardest to declare a favorite day/event/occurrence/etc for each and I’ll end up with a list of twelve things, but to be honest I still won’t do an accurate enough job of getting across how grateful I am for each and every person, place, or thing (noun?!) that made 2013 a year to remember.

January

The Mohegan Sun WineFest was a very special event for me! It was my second time there to help Mohegan promote the festival but this year I got to bring my foodie partner in crime Rachel. She got hooked and is taking her boyfriend back to this year’s event! I also met Kaitlin in person for the first time, and we shared a hug that made her boyfriend (now fiance!) think that we had known each other for year’s. It sure feels like it!

Me, Rachel, and our media passes!

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Back In Town

Tonight is New Year’s Eve, and I wish I could say I’m going into it ready to enjoy myself, but I’m experiencing lots of hesitation about my plans for the evening. I don’t have super-high expectations of a special New Year’s Eve; I learned long ago not to hope for “that magical night”. But my plans involve dinner at Bricco Trattoria then celebrating at Rooftop120. I’m going to be with my siblings and some of my oldest friends. I need to be excited! But New Year’s Eve out after trips to NYC and Florida, which happened to fall around the food-and-drink-heavy Christmas season, just has me thinking about calories. And the poor workout I will have the next day if I feel even the slightest bit hungover.

I got in almost all of the restaurant trips I wanted to this vacation. I already mentioned Chick-fil-A and Duffy’s. I also got to have a healthy plant-based lunch at Christopher’s Kitchen, got my Quizno’s fix in the airport during the trip home, had a special dinner at Seasons 52 with my family, Kat, and her sister, and got to take my sister and good friend Greg to the Rum Bar for some tropical beverages. And though TooJay’s was out of black and white cookies on Christmas Day, I got one later!

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On The Up and Up in Florida!

I hope you guys enjoyed my recap of my father/daughter traditional trip to NYC! It was a great time but the food and drinks definitely got to me and my travel day to Florida this past Sunday was a bit rough in a mental sense. I just felt gross the entire day after getting up really early for my flight (I got around 6 or 7 hours of sleep but Sarah understands…I swear any less than 8 and I’m a mess). I was wearing a slobby travel outfit, had on my glasses, and my hair was in a not-so-chic rat’s nest bun. I felt ridiculously dehydrated, so much so that I couldn’t even finish a little bit of coffee. My pants felt tight (even pants of the yoga variety!) and all I felt like doing once we got to yoga was 40 minutes of P90X Yoga…not nearly “enough”, in my head. To be honest with you, I found myself restricting my intake all that day. I just wanted to feel better about myself. It didn’t really work…it often doesn’t. That’s the lesson I seem to still be learning.

A very Florida Christmas.

A very Florida Christmas.

What DID make me feel better was having a snack after yoga, taking a shower, and deciding to make myself look presentable for our dinner at Duffy’s. I always visit this local chain when I visit; my family consistently looks forward to our Duffy’s dinner. So that was a perfect destination for our first night in town. Putting in some extra effort to blow-dry and straighten my hair, and also putting on a cute breezy outfit, definitely had me feeling better upon our arrival at the restaurant.

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Five Things Friday: Half Day!

It’s the last day to enter my Blue Nile giveaway for a sterling silver necklace! Entries close tonight at 11:59PM EST.

It’s Friday and I’m taking a half day at work today (holla) and have a lot of random stuff to say. Perfect day to join Clare‘s Five Things Friday party so I can be ADD and talk about all the things!

If you participate, make sure you link-up!

1. Today I get to see two very special people!

The reason for my half-day at work today is because I’m the lucky duck who gets to pick up this lady from the airport.

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Thanksgiving 2013: Dining Out

In recent years my family has spent Thanksgiving at the home of our friends, the Gerbers. Unfortunately this year they moved to Texas and we decided instead of finding another group to join or having Thanksgiving at home, we would go out! Obviously this was my idea and of course we selected J. Gilbert’s, my favorite restaurant, as the spot. Thankfully (ha get it?!) we were smart enough to call a couple of months in advance and lock down a 6:30PM reservation for our party of six. We received a call the day before Thanksgiving letting us know that a 4PM slot had become available, and my parents jumped on it. This was not fun for me because the earlier the reservation the more time I was going to have between finishing dinner and going to bed to think about what I’d ate. But I was the only one in that camp, so I had to deal!

The Croswell Fam!

The Croswell Fam!

I felt ridiculously hungover on Thanksgiving morning thanks to the previous evening’s festivities (Jager, never again) but made it to the gym for 30 minutes of StepMill intervals and an upper body workout. I sure am glad I went because I felt a lot better afterward, but man it was torturous during! I rushed home to shower and get cozy with coffee and the Black Friday circulars…a tradition! I felt very tempted to restrict after the gym and just not eat until dinner so that I would ensure I’d have plenty of room for the amount of food I was “bound to consume”. I texted my girl Brittany for support and she gave me the reality check I needed to push forward and fuel my body post-workout.

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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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