Dining Alone

I live in New Britain, not too far from the Berlin Turnpike. My "neighborhood" is mostly north of my home; working in West Hartford, my band rehearses in Manchester, arts and socializing in Hartford. So I spend a lot of time driving along the retail ghetto of the Berlin Turnpike.

One thing I have noted as I drive along that road are the many restaurants - restaurants I have not dined in since I've moved to New Britain. Because dining out is not something that one does alone. It's a recurring source of bitterness and angst in my life as I make my way north or south several times a week - just last night I stopped by Lowe's to pick up some stuff, and noted that the Lowe's parking lot was filled with overflow from three adjacent restaurants on a busy Saturday night. The list includes:

• Plaza Azteca
• Outback Steakhouse
• Ruby Tuesday
• Ming Palace
• TGI Fridays
• Chili's
• Bertucci's
• Bonefish Grill
•  Ruth's Chris Steak House
• Joey Garlic's
• Cavo's
• Puerto Vallerta
• Tunxis Grill
• Elaine's
• Makris Diner

I do go to Panera Bread often, but always alone and almost always take it to go - I've often looked out at those dining in, with dining companions, and thought that doing that, just once, would be a real treat.

Being single, living without a circle of friends that might call up and say "let's grab a bit" now and then, sucks.

Coming Soon - Elmwood Eateries

We're still waiting for Bombay Olive to open on New Britain Avenue on teh corner of South Main Street. They've been working on it a while, and it certainly looks like it's getting ready to open. They seem to have put some money into the exterior (signage and stuff) and we've seen positive write-ups about other locations - so looking forward to having anotehr Indian option.....



Meanwhile, in the old McDonald's location (in the Shield Street Plaza, where A Dong is located), a new restaurant named Cora Cora is getting ready to open. A few months ago I saw "Coming Soon: CORA CORA" painted on the whitewashed side of the building (as if with a paint roller). Minimal renovations (a coat of yellow paint, really) hardly disguise the fast food origins. The drive through windows are still in place. But there is a nice sign on the window, the place seems to have been cleaned up, and tradesperson trucks are in the parking lot most days. Will be interesting to see what this turns out to be.

Wild Rice

At teacher training last week, the instructor made a huge pot of rice in a pressure cooker. I was so taken by the rice (taste, texture, deliciousness) that I vowed to up my game, rice wise. I inquired as to the magic, and apparently, there were three kinds of rice involved (long grain brown, short grain brown, and sweet rice), as well as a magic substance called Gomasio (Sesame Salt).

En route to pick up MYA for a movie, I got into town early and so I dropped by the Super Natural Market & Deli in Bristol, just to check it out. Nice little shop, kind of funky in the way that Cheese & Stuff used to be, with a bit of Bristol charm (i.e. - there is a more or less conventional deli there where you can get soups and sandwiches, and some ables to sit and eat). I picked up some golden raisans (I'm kind of addicted to them in my morning oatmeal) and I also some some small packages of mixed wild rice from a company called Lundberg Country Wild. I picked up a couple of packages, just to test them out (and to support the store, a small independent natural food store). Long term I will want to get some individual grain types and mix my own, but to play with the rice, I thought the pre-packaged kind were a good start.

Cooked up a pot of Lundberg Jubilee blend (Wehani®, Black Japonica™, short and medium grain red rice, short and long grain brown rice and sweet brown rice.) I made a batch of Gomasio (you can find some easy directions, along with a description of Gomasio, here). It was simply delicious.

I've added two new whole grain foods into my diet. A multi-grain cereal with milled flaxseed and soy (made by Hodgson Mill) has replaced instant oatmeal. I spice it up with some raisans, walnuts, and a bit of brown sugar. Advertised to be low fat, all natural, whole grain, high fiber, and high in Omega-3 oils. Now the wild rice.

For yoga teacher training homework, we had to make a whole grain dish, and introduce more whole grains into our diet. I think I'm all set there. We also need to try a couple of new (to us) root vegetables, so that's my next gastronomical exploration.....

Lychee Wan - Bristol CT

MYA and I were driving around randomly, looking for a place for dinner, when we stumbled upon Lychee Wan in Bristol. It's on the corner of Broad Street and Emmett Street, former location of Cacti's. They have been open about a month.

Very impressive! It's Pan-Asian cuisine, with a smattering of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian. So there were soups, salads, curries - less of the usual Chinese restaurant fare, and more lighter and spicier. I had the Tofu Sambal - which was great - the tofu was fried crispy, almost like bacon, with zucchini, onion, carrots, mushrooms, and eggplant, and served up in a crispy bowl (sort of like a taco salad). I was breaking up the bowl to get the delicious sauce.

MYA had sesame chicken which was beautifully presented and also delicious. And there were so many dishes on the menu begging to be tried. They have not done a lot with the decor left over from Cacti although subtle lighting, table candles, and asian art goes a long way to making it nice inside, and it's all very tasteful. The menu is really well designed - somebody either is or hired a graphics artist! The business cards are equally well conceived; I'll scan one in for here next time I am at the office.....

The staff was very helpful and friendly, suggesting several dishes as we pondered the options. I suspect they might have been the owner Sam Xu and his mom....there is a nice piece from the Bristol Observer online here.

No liquor license (yet) so it's BYOB - but call to be sure.

Bottom Line: Bristol has a high quality asian restaurant that's fresh and interesting - definitely not your typical Chinese or Japanese fare. So give it a try - we'll definitely be back!

Lychee Wan 417 Broad Street Bristol, CT 06010
(860) 940-6369 / 6420

Random Road Musings

A couple of puddle jumpers - from Cleveland to Detroit and from Detroit to Grand Rapids. I probably should have driven....for all the hurry up and wait associated with air travel. That being said, Northwest Airlines, and Detroit Metro, have been downright civil so far.

Staying at the Airport Marriott in Cleveland ($159 rack rate) but then you do not get free breakfast / coffee in the morning, free wifi, or free parking even. Sheesh. No wonder I am a low budget hotel kinda girl - I just freaking hate paying for all these stupid things that the moderately priced properties throw in for free. And while I am at it, can I grouse about paying close to $100 to rent a minivan for 18 hours because that's all they had on the lot. Next time, I book cars for all my travel and then cancel them if I need to.....just to lock in a lower rate.....

On the plus side, the veggie wrap at National Coney Island in Detroit Metro (right across from Gate A23) is pretty rockin and is miles ahead of the McMeal I was considering.

And Boingo works out pretty well for me as well - even though I need to buy it, I can log in from Cleveland AND Detroit for my pound of flesh. Not so bad. I had some web stuff to upload this morning; it's pretty cool to be able to keep up with the little things while I travel.

Staropolska - New Britain

Zippy and I went to Staropolska in New Britain, this evening, with a friend.

Completely delicious! I had a rare (for me!) polish beer (when in New Britsky!) and we all had the Polish Platter (see photo): Golabek (Stuffed Cabbage), Kielbasa, Bigos (Hunters Stew), Pierogies, Potato pancake. All totally delicious.

The potatoe pancake was freshly fried, crunchy outside, fluffy inside. Three pierogies: mushroom, meat, and potato. The stuffed cabbage was remarkably light, and not too sharp flavored. And the Bigos (Hunters Stew) - sauerkraut, cabbage, meat, kielbasa - was incredible and would have been a wonderful entree by itself.
The place is spacious, light, and well decorated, there's an adjacent parking lot, dining inside or on the patio.

Highly recommended! In moderation, of course....

Back to Business

I think, finally, my summer vacation is coming to an end. Today is going to be my first real work day in a week and a half. Kind of looking forward to it, not the least because of the fine air conditioning over at the office. Goodness its powerful hot out there (and in here).

We spent two days in Rhode Island at a charming estate - Zippy's mother and sister conspired to gather the smallish family for a reunion. I had a lovely time; Zippy's niece is a delight and I was entertaining with pool frolics (she loved standing on my shoulders, and kept saying "let's pretend we're friends") and also a game I thought up called "mystery box" - a shoe box became the repository for things lying around and she had to guess what I put in there. Sort of like 20 questions except she was a bit too young to really guess. So she'd work in tandem with Nana (Zippy's mom) to figure it out. We must have gone through 20 objects before I tired of the game. She could have gone on forever.

We also met the newest member of the family, Zippy's nephew Chaz (aka Little Man aka Mister Mister) who was also beautiful and amusing.

All in all a nice reunion. I, lacking a lifetime of history, got along fine with Zippy's family, although there were some old tensions. The food was delicious (Zippy's sister is a Martha Stewart wanna-be, so we feasted on lamb chops and steak on the two nights there) as well as cocktails. I got my swimming in (being 25% dolphin, I love the water)

Today - a morning hot yoga class, and long overdue work - I am cranking out two reports this morning to get a jump on things and then the rest of the day - more reports, overdue August 1st invoicing, and other reports and projects to finish up.