We ate too much (but it was good)

I'm surprised there were any clams left in Rhode Island after we left.

We had stuffies, fried clams, and raw clams. No clamcakes, since I find them too cakey and not clam-y enough.

We'd been meaning to try out Persimmon, in Bristol, for a while - the chef has won all sorts of awards and it was really highly recommended by some friends of my parents.

We splurged (and decided to make it my "birthday dinner") and had the tasting menu. It was really fun - the first of the five courses was a series of hors d'oeuvres, and we spent the whole evening guessing what was going to come next. The whole meal took about 3 hours, but everything was completely delicious.

It was somewhat romantically lit, so my camera had a hard time with the pictures. This was one of our favourite courses: a devilled quail's egg with caviar. SO delicious. We also ate (and thoroughly enjoyed) several things that we never would have ordered off the main menu, like cauliflower soup, and veal sweetbreads. 

And now for something completely different. Alexandria Bay's idea of haute cuisine? Cheeseburger soup, bitches.

Oh, and pancakes, blueberries, sausage and bacon.

Back in Rhode Island, my parents had recommended Federal Hill Pizza in Warren. We were coming back from a day out in Boston, and took the bus from Providence to Warren. It dropped us right in front of the restaurant (and then we had an exceedingly dark but otherwise pleasant walk back to my parents' house). 

They made our pizza half-and-half: sausage, onions and peppers with no cheese for John, and buffalo chicken for me. Yumsters.

We stopped in for a quick lunch after sailing in Newport, at Rosemary & Thyme. The sandwiches were delicious, but the person who took my order (I think she may have been one of the owners) gave me an extremely vitriolic lecture on the evils of credit cards and small businesses. Zoinks. Feel free to put up a "cash only" sign but don't accept cards and then get mad at me when I want to charge $20 worth of sandwiches. Anyway, bring your cash and enjoy the sammies!

While the boys were playing with trains, my mom and I had a girls (plus Harry) trip down I-95. We stopped in Westbrook and had lunch at Lenny & Joe's Fish Tale. Because, obviously, it had been at least 12 hours since our last clam. And onion rings and coleslaw both count as veggies, right?

So does beer.

Needless to say, I gained a few pounds. My fitbit and I are in the process of working them off again.

Boats: small, medium & large

It appears we seek out boats.

Model boats in Central Park (this time we rented two and raced them):

Coast Daylight (with bunting) in Bristol harbour:

John, helming Coast Daylight.

Harry, a-snooze on Coast Daylight (note the Outward Hound lifejacket):

At the end of our CD adventure (post-swim):

At the Newport boat show. Overkill, anyone?

Our view from the dock of the Uncle Sam's boat tour boat that we took the day after this picture was taken.

The enormous tanker that came down the St Lawrence Seaway, past the wedding lunch:

Roomies, en-kayaked:

The Uncle Sam's boat tour:

Our Duck Tour, in Boston:

About to splash into the Charles River:

A sister-duck:

The boats at Community Boating in Boston. We'll be back.

A cruise ship, from our J-22 in Newport Harbour.

A schooner in Newport Harbour:

Coast Daylight in Newport harbour:

The 1/6 scale model of Reliance at the Herreshoff museum in Bristol, RI.

Us on our first J-22, named Intrepid, of course, in Newport harbour:

And the second one:

Bonus pic: John's "Life Is Good" tshirt, complete with sailboat, on the High Line in NYC with Emily:

Framed cards

I bought these cards at Whimsies in Warren, RI.

I loved them so much, I had them matted and framed (hooray for stock frames and nice framing stores that cut matting for you to measure and then help you stick the cards in the frames).

Newport and 12-meter sailing

We went to Newport, for a sail on a 12-meter. The weather was HORRIBLE - it was gusty with rain in the morning and then the rain cleared up by the time we were due for the sail. We even called the company to make sure that we were still going to sail (since there was no way we would have taken Kanga out in that breeze).

We sailed with America's Cup Charters - it was well organised and the crew and helm were very good. Recommendation: wear the waterproof pants, even if you don't think you'll need to. I had a wet bum. John wore the pants and was warm and dry.

It was too wet/windy for me to risk the camera, so no pics. Because of the stiff breeze, the captain decided that we'd just go out under the jib (the smaller, forward sail). Ok, the jib on a 12-meter is only classed as small when being compared to a football field...

From sailing on our happy little squib, it was quite a change to be on Intrepid. Even with just one sail, we were zipping along at 9 knots (our hull speed in Kanga is about 4 knots). Woowhee!!

Blue sky in Rhode Island

We ate Rhode Island (and a little New York)

We went to Rhode Island. And ate everything in sight. 

I had two hot apple ciders (both delicious). They DO NOT have this in England, and it's a damned shame. Brits: it's warm cloudy apple juice with cinnamon and nutmeg and other yummy spices. It's warm and fall-y and delicious. I have some cloudy apple juice from Waitrose and might try my hand at making it tomorrow afternoon...

And here, my friends, is a giant celebration cannoli, surrounded by lots and lots of smaller cannoli. Shut  up.

We went to an anniversary brunch while in NY, and John had a very entertaining cannoli experience.

A family friend's grandmother is Old School New York Italian, and we were talking about the fact that John didn't know what cannoli was and had never tasted it. Basically, fried dough with ricotta filling. YUM. But definitely not on John's list of good eats. Nonni was undeterred and proudly presented John with a plate containing two cannoli, announcing, "You gotta eat some cannoli! You'll love it!" Poor hubby looked very worried until I relieved him of his cannoli and ate them. :)

Once we got to Rhode Island (not cannoli-free, I might add), we took ourselves for dinner at DeWolf Tavern in Bristol. The food was stunning - John had lamb chops and I had steak, and both had been cooked in their tandoor and were caramelised on the outside and tender on the inside and generally amazing. My only quibble was that I had the daily special and it wasn't mentioned that the price was $10 more than the most expensive thing on the printed menu. Otherwise, outstanding.

And since we were in the US, I had to have some pizza, at Leo's (again, Bristol). This is the buffalo chicken pizza (with blue cheese, obv.). Spicy and salty and cheesy and very very tasty. The pizza base was some kind of twice-cooked foccacia. Really springy with big air bubbles and a crispy crust. We will be experimenting chez Herd.

We also managed to waddle to Federal Hill, Providence's Little Italy. We were hungry and unsure where to eat so my ever-resourceful mom spotted a man going into a bank (he looked like a local) who obviously enjoyed his food, if you catch my drift. "Excuse me, sir, we're wondering if you can recommend a place for lunch in Federal Hill?"

Didn't miss a beat. "Go to Venda Ravioli." We obeyed and were not disappointed. This was the view from our table. The pasta was incredible and super-fresh. It's a deli, a coffee shop, a restaurant, and a kitchen supply store. It does all of them well.

Our final meal in RI was a breakfast at the now relocating Sunnyside. I can't wait to see where chef Joe will end up, and try his dinner menu!

John was excited for the pancakes (leftovers pictured below) and real maple syrup. My mom, wanting to make sure he was not disappointed, stashed a bottle of real maple syrup from home in her purse, just in case Sunnyside had "breakfast syrup" or some other travesty. Thankfully, they served the real thing and mom's bottle of syrup was taken home again untouched. Phew. Cracked me up, though!

My dad is famous

My dad is one of the Barrington harbormasters (in Barrington, RI), and was interviewed by a journalist from the Providence Journal. Yay dad!

Here and there

Here: I rode my bike to Needham Market (and then when it got very windy on the way home, wished I hadn't). I stopped at Halfpenny Home for some buttons, felt, and fabric, and tea with Nicola, of course, which was lovely, and then stopped at the farm shop. I cannot resist rhubarb, even though it didn't fit in my panniers and so rode along poking out at a jaunty angle. Teehee.

And there: I was really wishing for a teleport machine when my mom told me that she was going to the Rhode Island Wool and Fiber Festival at Coggeshall Farm today. She sent me a bunch of pictures from her phone, and was going to bring home any wool that she thought I wouldn't be able to live without. Since, obviously, a girl can't have too much wool.

New York, vol. 4: Rhode Island!

As a small break from New York (and to go on lots of bike rides and swims and eat fried clams and lobster), we went up to Rhode Island. We saw this little guy, guarding a "stay hydrated" honesty box along the bike path. Cute!

Here's my dad at work, protecting the citizens of Barrington! This is the smaller of the two boats that the Harbor Patrol use, but it still has flashing lights and a siren, and is very snazzy.

I couldn't go to RI without stopping for some Del's. At least I got a "mini." It was pretty tiny but still had the requisite lemony goodness. We were trying to get as many Del's logos into this picture as possible. If we had zoomed out a little, there were two Del's trucks parked behind me on the right, but then we would have lost the tiny logo on the cup!

My mom is building a portfolio of watercolour pet portraits for her art business (website to go live as soon as I conquer Wordpress), and she had been trying to get a good shot of her friend's boxer, LuluBelle, for a while. I think this is it! She's such a sweet dog. She was a rescue so is a little bit skittish and was not sure how she felt about the shutter noise on the camera. This was taken after I had been taking pictures for about 20 minutes - she had relaxed quite considerably.