Mini-break!

Last November we took a mini-break to eastern Connecticut. It was nice to take a break, but it was mostly so I could go to MGM Foxwoods to see the So You Think You Can Dance tour!

More about that performance in another post, but I've gone every year since they've started having them after the season's over. Last year was the third tour and FI has gone with me to the last two. He is a very patient FI. :)

After the performance, we did a little gambling (blackjack and slots) at MGM Foxwoods and then headed to our hotel outside of Foxwoods. No way we were staying there, given the price of a room.

The next morning we decided to explore some of the local towns and headed to Stonington, which is about 2 hours east of Stamford, almost near Rhode Island, along the coastline.

We drove into town and looked for a place to eat. There was just one main road and we stopped at the first restaurant we saw, Noah's Restaurant.


The inside was packed, which was a good sign. We got great seats right by the window.


FI orderd the Quiche du Jour, which was some sort of veggie quiche.


I ordered Portuguese Baked Eggs which was Portugueses spicy sausage and tomatoes laid out in a ramekin and then eggs were cracked over it and a salsa was poured on and the whole thing was baked. There was great contrasts of flavors, between the eggs and the spicy salsa and sausage, and textures, with the chewy sausage and soft runny eggs. I tried to make sure I had a bit of everything in each bite.


FSIL has a tomato and spinach omelet, which was hearty and yummy.


We then took a car tour of town. We drove through Main Street to the coast and got out to take some pictures. Stonington is basically a point of land that sticks south into the water. I'm sure there's a proper name for it, and I'm picturing my 5th grade geography lessons, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called.

Along the coastline, facing east, looking north.


FI and I enjoying the balmy November weather.


A picture south onto the water. I'm assuming you might see the edges of Long Island in the distance.

It was a relaxing weekend and Stonington is a beautiful little town. There were some gorgeous homes and condos. We debated whether this would be a good place for retirement. Or at least an artist's retreat. Well if any of us were actually artists...

Brunch at Calle Ocho

This Sunday, FI and I went with friends to brunch at Calle Ocho. It's a Latin-inspired restaurant that apparently has all-you-can-drink sangrias for Sunday brunch!

While we were waiting for everyone to show up so we could get seated, I took some pictures of the decor. I like the use of multiple colors in the place mats, plates, and stools. You never have to worry about running out of one color or not having enough of matching colors or having the right order. You just have to have a plate, a place mat, and a stool.


Upon closer examination, we realized the place mats are from IKEA! They are from the same line as our coasters - Panna.


Everyone finally arrived and we got seated. Turns out the front area is just a decoy. It looks super small and crowded and you're worried you can't get seated. Then you follow your hostess back and see this....


A huge cavernous eating area with tons of tables and a sangria bar.


We started out with a bread basket. There were a bunch of different breads - little unsweetened doughnuts, bread with chocolate chips, cheese bread, muffins, sweet rolls, etc. They were all really good and soft.


With the breads, we had 2 types of spreads - strawberry butter and black bean dip. Both were really tasty and both actually worked well on any of the breads since none of the breads were super sweet or super salty. I ended up putting strawberry butter on the half of a piece and then black bean dip on the other half for each bread I tried.


After ordering our food, we decided to try out the all-you-can-drink sangria bar. When we were ordering food, we tried to find some reviews to see what people had recommended. We couldn't find a single food suggestion but everyone RAVED about the sangria. :)

First, a kitschy tongue-in-cheek sign about the "Rules of the Sangria Bar".


Each giant sangria jar was labeled with the name and ingredients. You basically ladled the sangria and fruit into the pitcher and poured it into your glass.


Here's the one I ended up trying. It had strawberries, raspberries, and some other berries soaking in rum.


It was pretty good. It wasn't too sweet so it didn't feel refreshing and the fruit was really tasty too. Although I ended up with sangria splashes all over my shirt from trying to pick the fruit out to eat.


I had the Huevos Divorciados - crab cakes with eggs and salsa and peppers on top. The green salsa was less spicy than the red salsa. The combination of a plain fried egg (and its accompanying smooth texture) and spicy crab cakes (with a crispy coating) was really tasty.


FI had the Cachapa de Salmon which were crepes with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. It was really rich and filling. Since everything in the dish was soft (salmon, eggs, crepe), I didn't think it was as interesting to eat. But it was still yummy.


This was the Latin Benedict with Indian bread, Serrano ham, salsa, poached egg, and a chipotle hollandaise sauce. The Indian bread and ham were delicious. Both were salty with a great chewy (almost crunchy) texture that worked so well with the soft poached egg. The salsa and sauce were also excellent.


This place is a definite recommend! There's free sangria, lots of room, and they take reservations. Those are already 3 pluses for me and the food was delicious too!