Fenway, Horses, and Baked Tofu

Well, it’s a rainy Sunday evening, and I am sitting in bed catching up on several (maybe a dozen at this point) episodes of Gossip Girl and sipping a basil-infused gin and tonic (more on that in a minute), trying to ignore my sunburned arms and sore butt.  Care to learn more?

Here goes.

I left work on Thursday and headed down to my sister Courtney’s house in Dunstable, MA so we could get an early start Friday morning for Fenway Park.  As usual, I was impressed at a red light with the skill my fellow NH residents show at choosing both illustrative and succinct personalized license plates.

So far nothing has topped the nondescript white truck I saw with the plate “GOT POOP” – but really, what can?

Friday morning Courtney woke me up at 5:45, and we made our way via the commuter rail in Lowell in Boston as employee and volunteer (respectively) for the Welch’s-sponsored Guinness World Record attempt for “most about of people toasting at once” at Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary ceremony before the first Sox/Yankees game of the season.  The first task was to place a cup, can of Welch’s Fruit Fizz, and card explaining the toast at each of Fenway’s 37,000 seats.

That’s a lot of seats.

Once that was done (oh, the stooping!) we were allowed to enjoy the park before the doors opened at 12:30.  After that, we would be on hand to interact with fans explaining the toast, and also serve as official Guinness Counters when toasting time came.  It was a picture-perfect day and Fenway looked like a million bucks.

Courtney and I agree that our favorite part of the day was the time in between setting up the cups (our group of 3 was responsible for around 700 seats) and the doors opening, when we were allowed to check out the view from just about any seat except the dugout, so we made do by getting a shot of us sitting on top of it instead.

The Fenway 100th birthday ceremony was an amazing sight to see, and if you watched it on TV, you already know why.  I am going to write about the day at length for my Yankee Seeker blog next Thursday, so if you’re interested in learning more, check there next week!

Nine hours and one sunburn later, we were headed back to Dunstable, exhausted, but thrilled to have had the chance to participate in such a special day.

The cows near Court’s house moo’d hello.  Clearly, I loved this.  Whattup, girls!!

On Saturday we met up with my mother and little sister Tara for a planned outing to Cornerstone Ranch in Princeton, MA for two hours of horseback riding.  None of us had ever been on a horse before, but someone (probably Courtney) had the idea we should do this together, and thankfully, we all (horses included) survived.  My horse, Hope, was a sweetheart, but today my butt is killing me from two hours on a saddle.

After me is my mom on Ginger (who was also Hope’s mom), Courtney on Shiloh, and Tara on Zoomie.

Which brings me to today – an overcast day, perfect for a multi-step stir fry.  I marinated some tofu (sesame ginger), then baked it (350 for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for another 30 minutes or til you’re happy with the texture) while I steamed some broccoli and sautéed a bunch of mushrooms, onions, red peppers, and zucchini.  Served over brown rice, it was quite delicious.  I love baked tofu because the long cook time lets it get a nice firm exterior, while the inside stays soft.  I loathe fried tofu.

I also decided to make a basil syrup, since I openly am in love with the basil lemonade at Clover Food Lab, and thought if I could make something like it for my gin and tonics, it might be the best thing ever.

I let the basil steep in the simple syrup for awhile…

But the jury is still out on how much I like it.  It made almost a cup of syrup so I’ve got plenty of time to try it in different things.

How was your weekend?  I hope it was adventurous, delicious, relaxing…and free from sunburn and saddle butt!