Andrew, Summit and the Eggroll

Just because this is incredibly funny...

Family, Friends and Farewells

Phew! It's been a busy week! Just a quick summary and then I'll share some pictures. James and I both took Thursday and Friday off last week. My brother Curt, sister-in-law Mandy and nephew Andrew were in town visiting from TX. Andrew has to be the cutest thing ever - and that's coming from a dog person not a baby person, haha. We hung out at my parents lake house for most of the time. Between breaks in the rain storms we made it down to Harkness Park on the shore for Andrew's first visit to the beach. He wasn't impressed. James introduced him to the world of RC cars and he liked that much better. Greeeeeeat. When the sun was out we got a chance to feed the ducks, when it rained I put everyone to work assembling wedding invitations and when the rain stopped, we were treated to another rainbow!

On Saturday we headed up to Southbury, CT for the wedding of a close friend of mine, Ryan and his beautiful bride, Kelly. The weather cooperated (no rainbows this time!) and everyone had a wonderful time. Congratulations guys!

Sunday was spent recovering from the wedding. Monday was a "get stuff done" kind of day (it was a mandatory furlough day for me) and Tuesday was Sandy's (SP) retirement party at Hurd State Park. The weather was once again less than ideal but the party itself was great. Despite the rain (and hail), lots of folks came out to celebrate SP's career and wish him well in retirement. Of course, the sendoff wouldn't have been complete without a serious geocaching adventure. Joel and Emily helped me plan a three stage cache which was led by Sandy and his GPS. It was great fun. We also placed a permanent cache in the park to mark SP's transition to retired life. Hope you enjoyed yourself SP, we'll sure miss you!

Of course...I cried. so predictable.

And yet another rainbow...

And now, life resumes some bit of normalcy, at least for another week or so. Then it's another wedding followed by James' two week stint in Singapore (more on that later) and then it's really crunch time! So long normal life, we'll see you again at the end of September!

Two Months!

It's July 6th, that means we have exactly TWO MONTHS until da dum da daaaa! Yay! James and I can't wait!!! Now, about that to do list.....

See Ya Later SP

When I first started this blog, I decided to try and keep it separate from our working lives. Not sure why, who knows? But when it really comes down to it, our jobs are a big part of who both James and I are and the people we work with are not only our colleagues but also good friends. Today was a really sad day for me at work. It was my friend Sandy's (SP) last day on the job. It's all good news for Sandy, as he gets to start his day tomorrow as a happy (we hope) retiree, but for me and for our whole office - not to mention the entire GIS community in the state of Connecticut - it's going to be a big loss. Thank you Sandy for everything you've done to help me along the way. You've been an excellent teacher, mentor and friend! We will all really miss you. But this is not a goodbye, it's a see ya later gator! - CC

Celebrating SP's last day of work with lunch at the Blue Oar

SP helping me celebrate my 100th geocache find!

River Days

For those of you that are not very familiar with Connecticut, James and I live in a small town named Haddam, located in the central part of the state right on the Connecticut River. I grew up in here and somehow after coming and going for six years or so, I found myself back where I started.

Showing my Haddam Pride in a sweatshirt that's probably as old as I am

We had a strange spring here in Connecticut. It could be summed up in two words: soggy and cold. Now that we've officially made it to summer, the weather pattern is finally starting to come around. Despite a few severe thunderstorms, we actually saw sunshine and bathing suit weather this weekend! Summer days in Haddam can guarantee you one thing - plenty of people will be flocking to the river - and this weekend we joined the crowd!

Summit thinking, "is the rain ever going to end?"

Saturday afternoon we stopped by the Murphy "river shack" to celebrate one of my bffs mother's 60th birthday. It was a surprise party and boy was she surprised! Happy Birthday Ginny! We enjoyed good food, great company and some booming thunderstorms! They didn't last all afternoon though, and when the clouds parted we were treated to an amazing rainbow!

Sues, Kelly and I enjoying a rainbow over the river

James has been itching to get his boat out on the river. James is in love with his boat. The back story goes like this: two years ago I was away on a backpacking trip with my friend Nicole when I got a phone call from James telling me he just got "the greatest deal ever" on a boat. It only cost $200. Well, let me tell you, there's no such thing as a $200 boat. The thing was in bad shape. It needed work. It needed a serious cleaning! It needed some TLC. James was just the guy. I wish I had a "before" picture but I don't (I couldn't bring myself to take a picture at the time - I was just thinking "what did he get himself into?!"). Here's an "after" picture. The boat is a 16' circa late '60's beauty. She doesn't have an official name, but James and I call her "The Seatriever". Get it?

Here are some pictures from our afternoon on the river.

Summit riding shotgun

Bald Eagle Nest - can you see him in there? (it's kind of blurry)


I got to drive - watch out!

Goodspeed Opera House, East Haddam


Exploring Selden Island


Had to get a swim in


Happy boaters!

Recipe Thursday - Eggplant Parmesan

James and I both love eggplant (and cheese). We have a few growing in our garden, but they still have a long way to go before they are ready to be harvested so I had to buy the eggplant this time around. I can't wait to try this recipe using fresh eggplant from our backyard!

Last week I came across this recipe on one of my most favorite recipe sites, Simply Recipes. If you enjoy cooking and are like me and need a recipe for everything, take a minute to look through some of the recipes on the site, there's lots of good stuff there! If I were to redo this one, I'd definitely allow the eggplant to drain for two hours like it tells you to. Being the impatient (and hungry!) person that I am, I didn't allow it to dry out enough and it resulted in a somewhat soupy end product (see photo on right). Oh well, it still tasted pretty yummy and it sure was cheeeeeesy! Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs (about 2 large) eggplants
• Kosher salt
• 1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 lbs of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
• 1 cup grated high quality Parmesan cheese
• 1 packed cup fresh basil leaves

Method

1 Cut eggplants lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange one layer in the bottom of a large colander and sprinkle evenly with salt. Repeat with remaining eggplant, salting, until all eggplant is in the colander. Weigh down the slices with a couple of plates and let drain for 2 hours. The purpose of this step is to have the eggplant release some of its moisture before cooking.

2 While the eggplant is draining, prepare tomato sauce. Combine tomatoes, garlic and 1/3 cup olive oil in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper to tasted and set aside.

3 When eggplant has drained, press down on it to remove excess water, wipe off the excess salt, and lay the slices out on paper towels to remove all the moisture. In a wide, shallow bowl, combine flour and breadcrumbs. Mix well. Pour beaten eggs into another wide shallow bowl. Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat, and pour in a a half inch of olive oil. When oil is shimmering, dredge the eggplant slices first in the flour mixture, then in the beaten egg. Working in batches, slide coated eggplant into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

4 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bottom of a 10x15 inch glass baking dish, spread 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with one third of the eggplant slices. Top eggplant with half of the mozzarella slices. Sprinkle with one third of the Parmesan and half of the basil leaves.

5 Make a second layer of eggplant slices, topped by 1 cup of sauce, remaining mozzarella, half the remaining Parmesan, and all of the remaining basil. Add remaining eggplant, and top with the remaining tomato sauce and Parmesan.

6 Bake until cheese has melted and the top is slightly brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.

Father's Day Follow Up

I almost forgot to mention - my dad got another Father's Day present (though really he actually bought it himself so it doesn't qualify as a present and in reality it's going to be my moms but STILL)...a new car! And not just any new car...a hybrid! Maybe I'm rubbing off on him after all! Yay dad, way to be GREEN!