Two decades of friendship....& one hell of a roadtrip!

I've known this bunch of friends since secondary school day (1988 - ok, now you know how old I am!). We were in the same uniform group - NPCC. We've always kept in touch and even though we don't meet that often.....we'd usually make it a point to celebrate Christmas & CNY together....once in awhile, we'd go on trips together....the last trip that I joined them for was to a kelong at Pulau Tunjuk and that was more than a year ago.

They visited me in late September and we had a FABULOUS time (almost 2 weeks) together. We saw lots of sights and did many fun things. We covered many different places/states too - Massachusetts (Boston/west Mass/Southeastern Mass/Cape Cod), Rhode Island (Newport), New Hampshire, Vermont & upstate New York. We visited an animal farm, a fruit/veg farm, toured Harvard University and Boston, drove through Cape Cod right to the Provincetown tip, went on a whaling trip, visited Niagara falls (the gals also crossed over to Ontario), attended the Bourne Scallop Festival, did the cliff walk and mansion tour in Newport. We also cooked together at my place and shopped till we dropped at both outlet/non-outlet malls. Of course, we also took the opportunity to catch up on the latest happenings in our lives as well as reminisced the past.

Because there were altogether 6 of us - including RG, we rented a 7-seater car from Thrifty (Cambridge)...and all for less than USD50/day! It was an almost brand new Chevrolet that was pretty spacious and comfortable.

The gals flew to JFK airport in New York, spent a night there and then took the Fung Wah Bus to Boston the for just USD15/pax!

We picked the gals up from the bus station and I must say they looked really cheery and fresh even after their 24+hr flight and 4+hr bus ride....impressive!!!

And 'cos they didn't look too sleepy (or perhaps it was the jetlag)....we decided to head down to the Bourne Scallop Festival that very evening they arrived at our place. We stuffed ourselves silly with scallops, chicken, chips & coleslaws. A live band was playing while we ate and after dinner....we popped by the craft fair to take a look and we bought some stuffs.

The next day, we headed up to Boston.......the traffic in/near to Boston is usually quite bad...& especially so during peak hours. We managed to zip past the long jam using the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane (which is meant for cars with 2 and more passengers).....wooohoooo000....that bought us a whole lot of time!

We visited the Boston Commons....




......Harvard University.......



......& Cambridge university town area......

The gals told me before they came that they wanted to experience the all-American grilled dinner.......so I prepared chops, chicken & vegs for grilling a day ahead of our dinner date. Unfortunately, it rained the night we were supposed to be grilling outdooor.....and I only managed to grill the chops (in the rain!!) & some sweet potatoes/corn.....the chicken (tandoori style) I had to bake in the oven instead.

Here's the all-American grilled dinner - pork chops & a Boston brew - Samuel Adams! Alas the coleslaw and grilled vegs weren't in the photo.

That's me.....cheating by baking the chicken in the oven instead 'cos the rain was getting heavier.

We also visited Newport (Rhode Island) which is slightly over an hour's drive from my place. We did the long cliff walk by the coast, had lunch at the Barking Crab restaurant and also visited Breakers.

On the way back from the cliff walk.....we all almost had an "heart attack" when HL drove into the wrong lane 'cos she wasn't used to the right hand drive.....all the approaching traffic (3 lanes) freaked out and started horning at us. I must say HL reacted very calmly by pulling over to an empty driveway before turning the car to face the right traffic direction. We all had a good laugh after that when we related the story to RG when we got back.

The gals had wanted to shop so I brought them to Wrentham Premium Outlet which is slightly less than an hour's drive away from Marion (yes, if you noticed, everything is quite a long drive away from my home! That's pretty common in the states unless you live in the big cities). Well, the gals shopped, shopped and shopped.....right till the outlet closed at 9pm!

I'm not a big outlet fan....when we were at Wrentham outlet....I only bought some kitchen stuffs. I actually walked through all the shops at the outlet and was done by 5pm....but the gals weren't even 2/3 through the entire outlet. So for the later part, I just watched them shop and held their bags for them.....of course, I also did my part to encourage them to BUY MORE!! Here's me waiting with all their bags of stuffs (don't be mistaken.....those weren't everything. They had already placed a big chunk of their shopping in the car!).

They tried to place all of their shopping on my stairs but failed miserably 'cos there were only 7 steps on my stairs! But just look at the amount of stuffs they bought. geez......

Mid-week.....we set off on our roadtrip to New Hampshire/Vermont/Buffalo/New York. RG came along as well.

LHL was at the wheel.....while SX helped with the navigation. The gals were really brave despite not having driven on the right hand side....as well as the fast driving speeds in the states.

The gals were kinda too early for the foliage......we only managed to catch glimpses of some yellow and reds along the way. Another 1-2 weeks and the New England fall would be at its peak. Too bad gals!!

The following 4 photos were taken at one of our lunch stops in Quechee (strange name!), Vermont.

We also visited the Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock (Vermont) where we saw Jersey cows, sheep, oxen & chickens.

We got to watch the milking of the cows.....

Up close and personal with the calves.....

That was a really strange looking chicken that I had seen for the first time in my life....it's called the Silver Polish.

As fall is also the harvest season for many different types of fruits and vegetables.....we saw many farmers' markets along the way and we'd stop whenever we saw something interesting. I love farmers' markets 'cos the produce are always so fresh and inexpensive....and it's nice to support the local community instead of the highly commercialised mega marts.

A chubby bull dog seen at the farmers' market.

We spent a night at the Niagara Falls (US side). It was RG and my second time at the falls but the gals were visiting it for the first time so they were extremely excited.

On the day that we left Niagara.....the weather was absolutely beautiful...the skies were so blue and the clouds were so fluffy and white.

Our next stop was the Samascott Orchards. RG picked this farm for us 'cos unlike other specialised farms where you can usually only find very few types of produce.....Samascott has a very wide range of fruits and vegetables.

Being from the city......we have hardly seen/experience fruits/vegetables growing in their natural states.....so there were a lot of "oooohhhhs" and "waaahhhhs". We all had a great time looking, photographing, picking and eating the fruits and vegetables.

Raspberries.......

We had to pay for whatever we pick and carry out of the orchard......so we just ate a lot while we were at the farm....hee hee

SX being naughty.......

I was holding a cauliflower......

Plum and plumper....

The hardy pumpkins were good for sitting.....

RG decided on a huge pale colored one.....that weighed a tonne!!!

There were grapes too......but really tiny 'cos it wasn't grape season yet

RG climbed the ladded to help us pick a pear......

And here's the pear........

Then it was HL's turn to climb the tree to try to pick something that was growing on the higher branches.....

We brought back many fruits and vegs i.e. bell peppers, corn, apples, strawberries, tomatoes & raspberries!!! All for just slightly over USD12.

We also bought freshly made apple cinnamon donuts & apple cider from the orchard and had a picnic at a nearby park. Yumzzz.....

The gals wanted to go on a whale watching trip so we drove to Provincetown (Cape Cod) where we took the whale-watch ferry out to the open ocean off Cape Cod Bay. And cause the winds were very strong...the sea was especially rough and choppy that day. We were given seasickness tablets before the ferry set off from the dock. We managed to see many dolphins and whales...we were tossed around ALOT and got really wet from the sprays but luckily we didn't throw up despite the wild ride (I saw a guy who buried his head in the trash bin throughout the entire trip - puking. Poor fella) . But on the return to the dock......the gals all fell under the influence of the sleep-inducing tablets!!! haha

We explored Provincetown a little after our whale watching trip and then ended our day with a very sumptuous lobster dinner at Lobster Pot 'cos we all ate very little for lunch as it was right before our ferry ride (thank god we did that!).

Before the gals head back to New York.....LHL volunteered to cook us risotto for lunch. It was very good indeed!

We then dropped the gals off at the Boston bus station where they took the bus back to New York.....where I heard they continued their second round of mega shopping at the Woodbury Common Premium outlets *roll eyes*

Halloween Parade 2010

Many folks have been asking why I haven't been updating my blog.....first I want to apologise to my "avid" readers (tee hee!)....the thing is, after my netbook was rebooted...all my photo editing programs were wiped out and I haven't been able to reload the programs...which means I'm still unable to edit my photographs on my netbook. I can only edit the photos using RG's laptop when he's not using it.

Also, you folks might've known that I had some visitors from Singapore. Four of my old old friends had visited me and had stayed with me for about 2 weeks. They left only first week of October. Following that, we had another close friend who was in Boston for work and we also brought her around Boston. And then, another good friend (ex-colleague from my NUS days) was also in Boston briefly and we managed to catch up with him. But the main reason why I had been so busy was 'cos IT IS FALL!!! RG and I were taking every single opportunity to go someplace whenever he was not working to enjoy the foliage which had been magnificent this year.

Now that fall is almost over...and the temperatures are dropping drastically....it's likely that we'll be travelling less. And I would've more time to blog again.

Last Sunday was Halloween. As usual, RG and I attended the Halloween Parade in our town. The parade is quite a big event....almost all the adults, children and pets were there. Enjoy the photos of the "scary" costumes!

The poor woman's bag-over-the-head Halloween costume.....hahaha, yes, that's ME!

The children were all dolled up in the cutest costumes!!

The "witches of Marion" led the parade.....

Being a big Crocs fan, I absolutely adore this guy's "costume". Yes, he was wearing Crocs on his feet too.

I saw many many ware wolves.....they looked darn creepy....

I love this very innovative and inexpensive outfit....black balloons tied around the body and a green fabric completed the look.

This costume (on the left) is another of my favorite. It looked quite realistic...the headless torso carrying a head.

The adults had fun dressing up too......who says Halloween is only for kids!

This shot was taken towards the end of the parade. The sunrays were streaming through the golden foliage.....and the street was lined with fallen leaves on both sides...beautiful!!

A "scary" doctor??!! He was so excited to start his trick-or-treat that he was running and tripping....and getting up and running and tripping again all over the place. Funny!!

The poochies were also dressed up.

Some homeowners who were awaiting the trick-or-treaters were also dressed up. FUN!

This year we didn't get a single trick-or-treaters 'cos we are staying on a remote road....so RG brought all the candies/chocos to school for his students and they loved them! No one is too old for treats I guess =)

A lazy gal's ANYTHING-GOES-LASAGNA

RG told me the other day that he was craving for some lasagna. So I remembered to buy some lasagna noodles when I went to Shaws.

Yesterday, I decided to make it for dinner. Being lazy, I didn't follow any recipe. I opened the fridge and just grabbed whatever I could lay my hands on that could possibly work for a lasagna.

So out came - what's left of a rotisserie chicken, 3/4 of a bottle of pasta sauce, some cottage cheese, mozarella cheese, parmesan cheese & some chicken stock. I also grabbed a small white onion, a few garlic cloves....and for seasoning, I chose Italian seasoning & parsley flakes.

So this is just my version of the lasagna based on what I had in my fridge......you can use anything that works for you i.e. instead of rotisserie chicken, you can use minced meats or mashed meatballs/sausages....you can use cream/ricotta/cheddar cheese instead of cottage...you can make your own tomato sauce instead of using bottled pasta sauce...you can use other spices like thyme, garlic/onion powder etc etc. You get the picture? Just do whatever you please to suit your taste buds....hence the title "ANYTHING-GOES-LASAGNA".

Since it was spur of the moment kinda cooking....I obviously didn't care to be exact with my measurements. Just taste, taste and taste to get the desired results.

First I boiled the lasagna noodles till soft and cooked. Rinsed them with cold water and then set aside. Next I tore apart my rotisserie chicken with 2 forks to yield about 2-3 cups of shredded chicken. Then I finely chopped my onion and garlic. I heated up my pan over the stove on medium-high heat and added some EVOO. I stir fried the onion and garlic until I could smell the fragrance and I added the shredded chicken, some chicken stock, dash of salt/pepper, italian seasoning, parsley flakes to stir fry till heated thoroughly.

Next, in a large bowl, I added approx half a tub (8-10oz) of cottage cheese, approx 1 cup of mozarella cheese...and then I stirred in the chicken mixture while it was still hot. I mixed till the chicken and cheeses were well-mixed & all the cheeses melted.

Finally, it was time to put together the lasagna. I spread a few tbsps of pasta sauce at the bottom of the baking dish. Then I laid the cooked lasagna noodles on the sauce. On the noodles, I added the chicken/cheese mixture and then topped with more pasta sauce. Then I added another layer of lasagna noodles, again followed by pasta sauce & chicken/cheese. For my last pasta layer....I had ran out of the chicken/cheese mixture....so I just topped off the final pasta layer with sauce and then spread a generous serving of mozarella and parmesan cheese on top.

My oven had been preheated to 350F......I cooked my lasagna for approx 45-50 min in total. Do check on it after 1/2 hour or so of baking 'cos the cheeses on top might burn. If you see that happening....grab some aluminium foil and use it to cover your lasagna so that it can continue to cook without the top layer being burnt.

Here's my lasagna....ready to be eaten!
Anything-goes cooking is fun. Try it and share with us your results.

New England clam chowder

There were still quite some half-&-half and bacon left in the fridge after the gals made clam chowder when they were still here last week. I decided to make another batch of clam chowder for RG and myself with the remaining ingredients using the same recipe that I had given the gals.

It's a really simple and quick recipe which I found online...that yields very satisfactory results on both occasions when the gals and I had made it. This is the New England clam chowder - the white, creamy type (Manhattan chowder is unheard of in New England!!!)

I had modified the proportions and some of the ingredients to suit our taste buds.

Ingredients (serving size - 2-3 persons)
- 2 slices of bacon (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup white onion (finely chopped)
- 1/2 - 1 cup water
- 1 cup of potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1/2 tsp salt (or according to taste)
- dash of ground black pepper
- 1 cup half-&-half
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 can (6.5oz) of minced clams
- dash of parsley flakes
- cornflour (to thicken soup)
- frozen puff pastry (enough to cover the baking dish)

Method
- Heat pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and stir fry till brown and slightly crispy. Then add onions and cook till slightly soft & translucent.
- Add diced potatoes and water and bring to a boil. Add more water if necessary during the boiling process and cook until potatoes are tender.
- Pour in half-&-half and add butter and stir till butter is completely dissolved. Add the clams & the clam juice from the can. Cook over low-medium heat for another 10 minutes and keep stirring.
- Depending on whether you like your chowder runny or thick....you can add some cornflour (add cornflour to a little cold water in a glass and stir to dissolve flour before adding the cornflour solution to the chowder) to thicken the chowder.
- Top off chowder with some parsley flakes (omit if you don't like parsley).

You can stop here and enjoy the chowder at this point by adding some oyster crackers to it. But I continued my cooking process by scooping the chowder into individual small baking dish and cut out enough puff pastry (I use Pillsbury flaky pastry) to press onto the edges of my baking dish to seal it. Then I placed the baking dishes into my preheated oven (350F) to bake till the puff pastries turn golden brown and puff up. The puff pastry on top of the chowder makes a more filling meal. You can also serve the chowder in a bread bowl.

Raisin cinnamon pinwheels - using frozen puff pastry

Frozen store-bought pastries are the best thing in the world!

No more mess or tonnes of washing up to do.....tea snacks can be ready within minutes.

We were craving some raisin cinnamon rolls the other day and I had some Pillsbury flaky pastry in the refrigerator.....so I threw together some melted butter, brown sugar & ground cinnamon in recordbreaking time.....spread the mixture out on the rolled out pastry....sprinkled some raisins all over.....rolled up the pastry like a big "popiah"....cut the rolled pastry into 8 equal pieces and placed them on parchment paper on a baking tray. Pop the little babies into the oven at 350F for about 16-18min (or until golden brown) and then we are DONE!!

Anyone can do this.....you can involve your young ones when making these.