Back in the day – Page 3 – The View from Lajeune

F is for Festivals!

Today is Friday, September 22nd, or as my good friend and News 8 Chief Meteorologist Gil Simmons would say, it is the “Autumnal Equinox.” Fancy! And really just another way of saying Fall (smile). Fall in Connecticut means it’s that time when folks can truly enjoy festivals, fairs, carnivals and outdoor expos.

Speaking of festivals, on Saturday, September 16th I had the distinct pleasure of attending the 10th annual Garlic Festival at Olde Mistick Village in Mystic, CT.

Free admission and free parking so I expected it was going to be crazy busy and I was so-ooooooo right…

I must admit I’ve always had a fondness for Mystic…you see I grew up in Groton, CT (right next door to Mystic) so I spent a lot of time in that town (especially while in high school) visiting friends, eating Mystic Pizza, working after school at the ABC Film Lab, hanging out at “The Village,” as we called Olde Mistick Village back in the day, walking downtown during the annual Mystic Arts and Crafts Fair, chilling out at the marina, visiting the Seaport, watching my sister Casandra conduct tours during her kick a– Summer job at the Mystic Aquarium, etc…

So I was looking forward to spending time at The Village once again, albeit now through the eyes of my middle-aged self…

On that particular Saturday, as luck would have it, the weather was sunny and delightful – – perfect for walking around and enjoying the sights and sounds.

Folks (couples, singles, families, dogs, and babies) came from all over Connecticut and beyond.

One of the first things I did was head over to the duck pond. I was not disappointed…

Love seeing the ducks!

Especially when they dive underwater!

Sampled the wide varieties of olive oil and artisanal honey at Sticky Situations, which was jam-packed with folk!

Bought a souvenir gift from Sophia’s Magical Christmas Shop.

Hung out at Franklin’s General Store for free samples of delish fudge and the experience of a trip back in time…

Spent time at Garden Store Specialties to check out the whimsical gifts for the lawn and garden.

Even made time for lunch with my client Joyce at my new fave, Pink Basil…delish!

Enjoyed a ‘cold one’ at Jealous Monk, a social hall and beer garden.

Garlic galore!

You don’t even need to like the taste of garlic to attend this annual festival as there is truly something for everyone. There’s live entertainment, farm fresh goodies, specialty food carts, vendors, crafters, artists and even authors. And it all takes place at the coolest Village in Connecticut!

Enjoy the season!

Hot Comfort Foods

I used to love me some weekends growing up ‘back in the day’ in Groton, CT. Especially in the dead of Winter because my mother, Jean Anna Tinsely Hollis, would cook all 7 of her Hollis kids pancakes and bacon or waffles and bacon on Saturday mornings and eggs, bacon, grits and buttered toast on Sunday mornings. Weekends were truly a time to sleep in, eat a ton of “Brunchy” foods and then go to church.

Perhaps that is why to this day I Love New Haven, as it is truly a foodie destination, and restaurants that serve “brunch” are not at all hard to find.

I celebrated my 55th birthday this past weekend with my girls – it was almost 2 weeks after the fact as I was actually born on Valentine’s Day. However, one of my three girlfriends was not available until this past Saturday since I had bucked tradition by choosing to celebrate my birthday this year over brunch instead of dinner. And believe it or not, the hardest part for me was choosing where to go as I had 3 former neighborhood faves in mind: The Pantry, Bella’s Cafe and Lena’s Cafe and Confections.

I spent my first 10 years in New Haven living in the East Rock section where The Pantry was the place to go for brunch.

You can’t miss the awning or the colorful building.

I spent the next 11 years living in the Westville section of New Haven and everyone who lives in Westville knows there are two go-to restaurants for brunch: Bella’s Cafe and Lena’s Cafe and Confections.

“Bella’s,” as it is affectionately known, is long and narrow inside and the food is fantabulous – especially the brunches which are served from 8am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The brunch menu changes each and every week and they don’t disappoint. The weekend we went I had the fabulous french toast. Yummy! And well worth the long lines and the wait!

Lena’s Cafe and Confections is less than a block away in a much larger space. As it turned out, this was the chosen restaurant. And surprisingly we did not have to wait in line at all and the food was out of this world. I had 3 blueberry pancakes with 4 turkey sausage links.

One of my 3 girlfriends had an omelette stuffed with crab meat, avocado, hash browns and toast on the side. She washed it all down with a mimosa.

Afterwards there was not a speck left on her plate!

The other two girlfriends had a chicken quesadilla and a chicken Panini. Hot Comfort Foods are now my new birthday treat and the good news is there are so many more restaurants to try in so many other New Haven neighborhoods (smile).

My top 10 fave blog posts!

Over the past 2 years I have published almost 50 blog posts on The View from Lajeune so I think this is a good time to highlight my top 10 faves. Here they are:

The View (from Lajeune): The View (from Lajeune) I chose this blog post because the entire day was truly magical from beginning to end!

A Place of Desert: A Place of Desert…(almost) 4 years cancer free This blog post will always hold a special place in my heart as I truly learned what it is like to survive colon cancer…

My Very First Bug: My Very First Bug… This post took me back to a time when I was asserting my independence but too hard-headed to see that the route I chose actually costs me in more ways than one (smile).

Clams on the half shell…: Clams on the half shell…and roller-skates! This blog post speaks to me as it happens during the 70’s, one of my favorite decades!

Like Moths to the Flame: Like moths to the flame… This blog post is special to me because it brought me back 31 years to when I first started my career in media…

CT “Summatime” Eats: Connecticut “Summatime” Eats! This blog posts was real popular with TVFL readers who, like me, love Connecticut in the Summertime and the variety of eats!

Divas in the Desert: Divas in the desert! My good friend Tony Marinaro, who is a faithful TVFL reader, chose the title to this blog post and I will forever be grateful to him for it :))

My Clean Living Life (Parts I, II and III): My clean living life… My Clean Living Life – Part II; My Clean Living Life, Part III I imagine that these blog posts are popular with my TVFL readers because they know the struggle to live “clean” is real…

Cave Girl: Cave Girl I enjoyed doing the research on this blog post and tremendously benefitted from my ‘R & R’ day. I was not allowed to take pictures of us inside the cave so this will have to suffice:

Taking Fun Seriously…: Taking fun seriously…my very first golf lesson I had fun writing and doing the research for this blog post and still hope to one day have that golf date with my Dad…

Thank you for reading The View from Lajeune. I have plenty of more stories to share…

Movie Buff

From as far back as I can remember, I have always loved going to the cinema to see a movie. Coming from a large family of 9 (two parents and 7 kids) my mother Jean, who was the original Hollis movie buff, would, on a rainy day, load all 7 of us Hollis kids in our two-toned station wagon and drop us off at the Saturday matinée. And we were never without our snacks. My mother was the ultimate planner so on one of her many trips to the supermarket, she would buy large bags of candy and miniature chocolate bars and then proceed to put them in smaller Glad baggies with twists so she could save $$ at the movie concession stand. To this day I cannot watch a movie at the cinema without having something to snack on (smile).

I saw 3 really good movies last week while on my Staycation in Connecticut. All 3 of these movies had just opened at the theaters in 2016. However, these movies were all from Red Box so we watched them right from the comfort of our living room. Things are real different today then they were back in the day…Brand new movies don’t stay in the theaters long so you don’t have to wait before plunking down a mere $1.59 to rent them from Red Box. Or another option is to pay $4.99 or more and watch them On Demand from your local Cable TV service. Unless it is truly something that has to be viewed on a super large screen for the visual and audio effects, I am okay with watching it on our own big HD TV screen at home with the volume turned up real high (smile).

Incidentally the 3 movies we rented from Red Box couldn’t have been more different from each other in genre and/or story line.

The first one was a comedy called Central Intelligence starring The Rock and Kevin Hart. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who has not seen it, but I was really surprised at the serious undertone it took with the whole Bullying aspect that is so prevalent in today’s society.

The second was a drama called Legend of Tarzan starring Alexander Skarsgard and Samuel L. Jackson. I have to admit that the idea of seeing another Tarzan movie made me queasy (my childhood memories of Tarzan movies were not pleasant to say the least) but my S.O. James assured me that this one was done well…he was right and I was pleasantly surprised…Enough said (smile).

And the third was a foreign flick and drama (my personal fave) called The Lobster which my S.O. James handpicked for me. It stars Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. Can’t say enough about this movie except you should absolutely see it as it will open your eyes WIDE to a whole ‘nother world…and make you feel grateful for your own (smile).

Those are my movie picks ~ Apprecier le films!

Baltimore Crab Feast!

Boy do I miss the year 1998. My oldest sister Dana was living in Baltimore, Maryland then and working for Enron so during the Summer, me, my mom Jean, my sister Casandra, my girlfriends Sherry and Thais, their mother Yvonne and my girlfriend Gina would take the opportunity to get out of Connecticut, shoot down the highway and visit Dana and her family for the weekend. We loved Baltimore for 3 reasons:

1. Lexington Market – a foodies’ paradise — a large, indoor market of good, diverse eats!

2. Baltimore Inner Harbor – Love marinas (as a matter of fact, anything water related) and people watching!

3. Baltimore Crab Feast Cruise-to-Nowhere – On this week(end) night cruise-to-nowhere, which boarded at 630pm and departed at 7pm, you could, for one reasonable price, eat all of the hard-shelled crabs you like, be entertained with live music and dance it all off under the starry night sky!

The Baltimore Crab Feast Cruise-to-Nowhere was hands down our most favorite part of the trip. It was like being inside a really cool nightclub (but on the water) with a DJ and finger-licking good crabs for days!

The line to board the cruise ship always wrapped around the block. Everyone and their grandmother seemed to be in that line. This was back in the day when busloads of people came to Baltimore for these crab feasts as good news travels fast! Once inside, and after getting our bearings, we would find a seat at a long wooden picnic table. At the table we were given heavy-duty paper bowls, plastic cutlery, wooden mallets, a sharp knife, hand wipes and plastic bibs. Each table was completely covered with brown paper wrapping and each had extra heavy-duty paper bowls on them for the crab residue. Serious business was about to go down! (smile).

Incidentally, there were also service bars in select areas of the cruise ship but alcoholic drinks were not included in our price.

Here we are all dressed up and ready for our night out.

fullsizerender-10 — L to R – My oldest sister Dana, my late mother Jean, my sister Casandra and myself

Here we are on the cruise ship right before feeding time (smile).

img_1214-1 — L to R – My gf’s mother Yvonne, my gfs Sherry and Gina, my sister Casandra, my gf Thais, myself and my late mother Jean

Here is a picture of me and my late mother Jean right after we ate. Happy faces!

Again, this was 1998, I was 36 years old and Enron hadn’t collapsed yet…

Category: Back in the day

F is for Festivals!

Like this:

Hot Comfort Foods

Like this:

My top 10 fave blog posts!

Like this:

Movie Buff

Like this:

Baltimore Crab Feast!

Like this:

Be Sociable, Share!

Like this:

Be Sociable, Share!

Like this:

Be Sociable, Share!

Like this:

Be Sociable, Share!

Like this:

Be Sociable, Share!

Like this: