Mom and I were married on August 5, 1989. After a wonderful 3½-week honeymoon in California and then in Seattle with Uncle Bob, we moved from C'ville to Connecticut. Uncle Clint drove a bigass moving truck through New York City, while Mom and Auntie Leener followed behind. Their kindness was repaid many years later, when this story will come full circle with Brad and Mom helping Leen and Clint move across the country.
Our first year in Connecticut we lived in Tolland, about halfway between Hartford, where I worked, and Storrs, where Mom got her Master's degree in School Psychology at the University of Connecticut. Our house was not far off of I-84, the major interstate highway that connects Hartford and Boston. Every day I commuted to and from work on I-84, getting stuck in traffic as I approached the "Dark Tower."
That's what we called City Place I, the tallest building in the state, where my office was located. I worked on the 26th floor out of 38. The building has a good view of both Bushnell Park, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect who designed Central Park in New York City, and the golden-domed state capitol building, which sits at the edge of Bushnell Park. I used to walk through the park at lunchtime trying to escape the drudgery of my job.
The first winter we were in Connecticut was absolutely frigid. A new record was set when the temperature didn't go above freezing for 21 straight days. It snowed early in the winter, and the snow didn't completely melt for months. I used to get up early and run in the cold and dark on the snowy roads, because that's what I did to try and maintain my sanity.
I hated the job. The work was dull and the people I worked for were, for the most part, pompous and aggravating. But I needed to be there for three years, while Mom earned her degree and completed an internship. On the plus side, I earned enough to put Mom through school and pay off our college, law school, and med school loans. And we got away on the weekends. We went to Mystic a few years to shop and run the Tarzan Brown race along the Mystic River. We camped at Stratton Pond in Vermont and over an incredible fall foliage weekend near Franconia Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In August 1990, we spent one of the best weeks of our lives camping in Acadia National Park in Maine with Auntie Leener and Uncle Clint (and their dog Tevye). The next summer, in July 1991, we backpacked and camped in Baxter State Park in Maine, where we heard the call of the loon and a moose paid a late-night visit to our lean-to on the flanks of Mount Katahdin.
I was driving Brad home after school recently when, on the way down the hill into our neighborhood, we watched a beautiful sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains. It reminded of something else positive about Connecticut. The month before our Baxter trip, Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Phillipines, sending more particulate matter into the stratosphere than any volcanic eruption since Krakatoa in 1883. Global temperatures dropped by almost one degree Fahrenheit for a few years after the eruption. But another side effect was the spectacular sunsets. Every afternoon when the sun started to go down, I would head from my office down the hall to a little corner conference room. It faced west and had windows from floor to ceiling. I would just stand there and take in the majesty of the incredible Pinatuban sunsets. I mostly got funny looks from the other attorneys, but sometimes someone would join me and we would just watch in silence at the glory of it all.
So those were some of the good things. Mostly, though, the Connecticut years consisted of long, boring work days with a lot of late nights mixed in, too, including more than a few all-nighters spent doing nothing but proofreading registration statements, which is about as painful as it gets. Clients paid a lot of money for me to sit around eating stale food while we waited for the printer to put in our edits moving commas around.
During that time, Mom and I were trying to start our family. She got pregnant twice in Connecticut, but miscarried both times. The second time was especially painful, and happened shortly before we were scheduled to move back to C'ville. That was our don't-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out moment when we knew it just wasn't meant to be while we were in Connecticut. I haven't had many more satisfying moments in my life than seeing the Dark Tower in my rearview mirror for the last time.
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The story of a Christmas miracle deserves a recipe for a Christmas cookie. These were a big hit with everyone, especially Cassie, who ate more than a whole row by herself in a Dylan-like display of cookie eating.
White Chocolate Raspberry Bars
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum (for gluten-free bars only)
6 ounces good white chocolate chips (I use Trader Joe's White Chocolate Baking Chips, which are made with real cocoa butter and vanilla extract)
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
½ cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar, plus 2 teaspoons
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 grams) vanilla extract
5 ounces (1 cup) raspberries
1. Place rack in center of oven, and heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Tear off a 12-by-12-inch sheet of aluminum foil. Turn an 8-inch square baking pan upside down, center the foil on it, and fold the excess evenly over the sides of the pan. Fold and crease the corners like you're wrapping a present. Slip the liner off the pan. Turn the pan right side up and insert the liner, carefully working it into the corners of the pan. Spray the liner with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum, if using.
4. In a small bowl, microwave 3 ounces of the chocolate at 30% power for 2 minutes. Stir thoroughly, even if the chocolate barely looks melted at all. Based on how much of the chocolate melted after the first zap, microwave again in increments of 5 to 15 seconds, stirring well each time. Melt the last pieces by stirring, so don’t keep zapping until there are no pieces left.
5. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and ½ cup sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until combined. Add the 3 ounces of melted chocolate, and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Stir in the flour mixture, by hand or on the lowest setting of the mixer, until just combined. Stir in all but 2 tablespoons (¾ ounce) of the remaining chocolate chips (2¼ ounces).
6. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the baking pan and spread evenly. Toss the raspberries with the remaining 2 teaspoons sugar. Scatter the raspberries evenly over the surface, then press gently into the batter.
7. Bake until the edges of the bars are puffed and golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 25–30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let the bars cool completely in the pan, about 2 hours.
8. When the bars are cool, remove them from the pan using the foil liner. In a small bowl, microwave the remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate at 30% power until melted, stirring after 30 seconds and after that as needed. Drizzle the melted chocolate decoratively over the bars. Cut into 16 bars and let the chocolate set, about 30 minutes, before serving. Makes 16 bars.
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