Pasta Mediocre

Today was the long drive up to Nashua for Julian's hockey tournament. We got a nice, early start at 11 AM. Everything was cruising along fine until blam! Stopped dead on the on-ramp for the Throgs Neck Bridge. Some genius had spun out and smashed their car up. Twelve-pack of absorbent bathroom tissue hanging out the mangled trunk. Ambulances fighting their way through the traffic to get to the scene. New Jersey cars following three feet behind in the amublance's wake so they could get ten cars ahead. Cooool.

We stopped at Norwalk's famous Pasta Fair restaurant (also known as "Pasta Mediocre") for lunch to celebrate my mom's 176th birthday in style. For some reason she's gotten into the habit of bringing Julian a Ziploc bag full of shelled peanuts every time she sees him - I guess it's their special "thing" these days. More disconcerting was trying to finish my just-passable fusilli with pesto as an angry horde of blue jays gathered by the window next to the ripped up vinyl booth we were occupying.

The drive up to New Hampshire isn't that bad, because several major cities break it up. You hit New Haven, then Hartford, then...uh...well, I-495 outside Boston. We took a side trip into Boston, which Julian had never seen. He brightened up when he saw the collection of comics at Newbury Comics. Then we walked a couple of blocks to the new Lush outlet, which offers lots of hand-made soaps and bath accessories, because let's face it - I'm a girl. I asked them when they were opening in New York, and the surprise answer came back: this weekend! They've got a new outlet on Broadway and 34th, a block from Penn Station.

We got to the Nashua Sheraton just in time for dinner, which was enjoyed in a completely deserted restaurant on-site. They must have some amazing ovens, because they were able to roast a half-chicken to perfection in about three minutes.