Caroline Dines

This Memorial Day weekend I traveled to Little Compton Rhode Island to kick of the summer season with my family! It couldn’t have been a nicer weekend and I sincerely hope that all of you enjoyed yourselves as well wherever that may have been!

Sunday morning began with an early (before breakfast!) run. I don’t normally exercise on an empty stomach since I have heard that this can be counter productive. I did manage to get in a half a banana and a little bit of soy nut butter (not pictured) before hitting the pavement. This held me over nicely and made the run enjoyable, not unbearable like it can be when you are really hungry! I think the quality of my run also had something to do with the beautiful scenery and my brand new Mizuno’s! I love the new color and can’t believe that I lasted this long!

I also felt pretty powerful with my new bondi band. Knowing that I have run 26.2 miles successfully powers me through a 7 mile run no problem!

My cousin Meg and I both ran 7 miles (a new PDR for her!) and were loving life when we returned. I managed to run mine in 1:00 exactly which puts me at about a 8:50ish pace which I was pretty proud of.

 

Needless to say I was ready for breakfast by the time I had stretched out and cooled down a bit. I didn’t want a big one because my appetite is always more suppressed having just run a longer distance. So what better than a big glass of ice water and a tub of Pineapple Chobani topped with my Mom’s homemade granola?

I guess it can only be made better being eaten with a snoopy spoon that brings me right back to my childhood! I always dig this out of the back of the silverware drawer when I am at my Nana’s. It’s kind of tradition.

 

After breakfast, we all changed and readied ourselves for the beach. Lunches were packed, sunscreen was applied and the car was stuffed full!

The whole crew made it including my Nana who just had a knee replacement last month! I was so impressed with her progress and pleased that she was able to be a part of such a gorgeous beach day, since she is not one to sit at home and loves the beach just as much as I do!

Once we set up shop, it was time for utter relaxation. Nothing better than this in my opinion. I even managed to go swimming (stayed in for about 15 minutes, in the surf!) which makes coming back to a warm towel that much more enjoyable.

 

Of course lunch was a high point of the day and the highlight of my lunch should have been these Food Should Taste Good chips. You see I received a box, a HUGE box, of all the different varieties last week and have been planning to mention them on the blog ever since. I had yet to try the multi-grain and so decided to incorporate this small bag into my lunch. My Mom and I had agreed to split them but she ate lunch first and kind of forgot to portion her chips out and instead ate all but one and half chips! I can say that the one chip I did eat tasted amazing and I am glad that I have many more bags to go through. This company has it figured out. Real ingredient, awesome flavors and a truthful product name. These are definitely my “go-to” chip. That being said, in all fairness I did bring the chips for my Mom to sample so I guess it’s alright that she enjoyed them.

It’s also completely excusable because she gave me half of her homemade potato salad to bulk up my spinach and chicken salad.

 

The potato salad was from Cooking Light and was different than other varieties in that it didn’t contain a mayonnaise based dressing. I believe it was simply rice wine vinegar, a little oil and some herbs that made the flavor pop! The potatoes really soaked up the flavors and after reading an article in Women’s Health that highlighted cold potatoes as a “hunger buster” (due to the special kind of starch they contain which resists certain digestive enzymes), I think I will be incorporating a lot more potato salads this summer.

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Added to the mix were some cornichons, you can never go wrong with a pickle!

And as a special treat, the first local strawberries of the season. Oh yea, this is what a strawberry is supposed to taste like!

 

After a long day in the sun we returned home to get ready for an evening of festivities. I quenched my thirst with some Iced Tea that we had made up earlier in the morning.

 

I have found a new love for homemade iced tea. It’s so easy, customizable and cheap! Why not?

 

After showers, croquet was set up and enjoyed by many.

While I normally love a game of croquet, I was busy getting things laid out for the celebration about to ensue. My cousin Charlie is graduating from high school next weekend and we had planned an extra special gathering in his honor. I brought some Fromage Blanc produced by the Foxboro Cheese Co. purchased at the Copley Farmer’s Market. The flavor was lemon honey and while I was nervous that it might be too mild for my family who tends to like bold flavors, everyone raved about it. Success!

 

I served it with TJ’s water crackers. At 90 cents a box, they’re a pretty good deal and I happen to have a real affinity for simple water crackers.

 

The other noteworthy purchase of the night was actually bought in the village of Little Compton at Wilbur’s General Store. We went in search of “Diet Tonic Water” because we had a craving for Gin and Tonics but honestly none of us really wanted any artificial sweeteners in our tonic. I was so happy when I found this four pack of “Naturally Light” Indian Tonic Water. The bottle contains 40 calories and has just a lesser amount of fruit sugar added to it. Sounds good to me!

 

Added to a little shot of gin, a squirt of lemon and lime juice, some ice and you have the perfect summer beverage!

Cool and crisp.

 

The theme for the night was “cook-out”. Pretty typical Memorial Day fare. However, we added my Mom’s freshly made hamburger buns.

 

All the fixings including Nana’s famous Coleslaw, baked beans, and my aunt Beth’s corn and black bean salad which had fresh basil added to it. Yum. This salad made me excited for corn on the cob!

 

And local beef from Bethel! I decided to have a half a burger since I wasn’t starving and wanted to enjoy the other sides. Beans of any variety happen to be one of my favorites.

 

Just as the sun was setting we brought out the Texas Sheet Cake and sang a Happy Graduation (to the tune of Happy Birthday) song to my cousin. The perfect conclusion to a well executed meal.

This morning we awoke bright early to another gorgeous day. Sadly we all had to go home today but we had one last goal and that was to take a ride in my Dad’s new (to him) boat!

 

I started out up front where my Mom and Meg are pictured here but soon retreated back with my Dad since I was scared by how fast we were going! I love going fast but I am just not used to such a powerful boat yet. My Dad was quick to say we weren’t even at full power yet…yikes!

 

To say my Dad was happy would be a complete understatement. He has been waiting his whole life to have an awesome boat and was completely in his element! So happy for him!

We’ve always had older boats (like picture 1960’s style) that were fun when they worked but generally un-reliable. I think this summer we’ll be taking lots of boat trips so get ready for more appearances by “The Black Tern”. 

 

After taking the boat out and packing up the car, it was sadly time to return to the city. I poured myself a bit of iced tea into the tonic bottle and corked it off for the ride home. While I was sad to see the weekend come to an end, I am so excited for the rest of the summer. I can’t believe tomorrow is June 1st (Happy Birthday Darin!); nice to think we still have it all in front of us!