Thursday, March 17, 2011

Last stop on the East Coast...

After spending 2 fabulous days with C in NH, I mean they gave us their room while they slept with the kids! AND C's husband made some incredible lasagna... tho' one of their children is a pretty picky eater and would not try something so foreign and bizzare as "lasagna"...ewww.

So we were all calling it PizzaPasta. She was so excited for PizzaPasta and when it was put in front of her?

The little golden haired head fell into her hands with the utter devastation only a 2 yr old can know.... poor little thing! You could almost hear her thoughts..."those horrible adults and their talk of PizzaPasta... this is nothing like PizzaPasta... this is disgusting and horrible and I can't believe I fell for it..."

The next day C drove us to the tiny airport in Lebanon, NH where we rented a car for a one way drive to LaGrangeville, NY outside of Poughkeepsie.

We took a small detour in CT to eat lunch at Corey's Catsup and Mustard which was featured on the Food Network show, Diners, Drive-in's and Dives. Mmmmm..... BURGERS.... ONION RINGS....SWEET POTATO FRIES.....

The East Coast is amazing... you can drive for 5 hrs and go thru 4 states... NH, MA, CT, NY. Not so much in the Midwest where I'm from... NE goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever....

We found E's place with no trouble and as we pulled down her lane, I got so excited. She's sent me pictures throughout the years and it was just like everything she'd sent me - I recognized her wonderful farm - Pond View Farm! She runs a horse program for children... summer lessons, shows and horse camps.

We met our freshman year at CSU. She didn't think CSU was for her, she left and went to VA to a horse college and has been immersed in the horse industry ever since with her riding programs and horses. She events and jumps... has 20 horses, a barn, 42 acres of pastures, a riding ring and 2 GIANT dogs - a bloodhound and a 210lb mastiff.

It was so great to SEE her place live and in person after all these years.... and to catch up. I haven't seen E since before Furry Husband and I got married in 99.

5 comments:

Funder said...

Oh man. I-40 in Tennessee is 450 miles long. You literally spend all day driving and still don't get out of that damn state before the sun sets. I mean, the scenery changes, but there's something kind of exciting about driving into a New State! Know what I mean? :)

PizzaPasta made me laugh :)

Shanster said...

I hear you - at least in TN the scenery changes. NE is cornfield after cornfield along beautiful I-80!! grin.

DebH said...

YOU ARE KILLING ME with the diner, drive-ins and dives! I always want to be near one of their stops to test the menu!! Way to go! Sounds like you had a wonderful time catching up with your friend and a wonderful vacation. and I would kill for a Onion Ring right now...
I quit watching the food network as it is just TORTURE!! I definitely am obsessed with food and more so since I am limited on ALL the best stuff..you know fried and buttery and flakey. Somebody stop me please!!
Glad to hear you had a Fantastic time..You so Deserve!

Shanster said...

Well I was nervous that I gained back the 10lbs I've lost this winter but after a few days of back to whole food eating and non-processed food I was only a half a pound over.

I really hear you on that everything good is fattening. We've been finding a lot of good tasting but healthy recipies in Cooking Light and Martha Stewart Food magazines...

The other night we had poached chix breast, yogurt, scallions, celery with some salt, pepper and a little lemon juice over a bed of mixed greens... it was tasty! And healthy too...

But man, it was work to change my eating habits to actually ENJOY healthy food. Keep with it! I know you can do it! I know I still have problems with portion sizes... but I can only work on one thing at a time! grin.

Shanster said...

K - I'm calling bullshit on myself...with the 10lb statement. I hate - really hate - how obsessed we as women get with a perfect weight... too many truly beautiful people who put themselves down or feel bad cuz they aren't what they consider a perfect weight.

So maybe it's not so much the 10lbs as it is that I feel better and I'm still a friggin weakling as evidenced by today's yoga class..

When I lost the 10lbs, the only thing I did was make a move to eat more whole foods - animal protiens like chicken, fish, red meat and veggies, fruits, nuts... it wasn't a HUGE shift and I still eat carbs - toast w/ PB for breakfast - but by eating more healthfully and giving my body better fuel, the weight came off and I didn't really TRY and that was sort of cool to me.

A little perplexing since I never "tried" and I always expect it to reappear which is sort of screwed up cuz it shouldn't matter as long as I feel good and can do the things I want to do...but I get caught up in the stoopid society hype as much as anyone I suppose. sigh.