Mini Car Tour

From the very beginning of my life with Sal, he has always had antique cars. In the 60’s and 70’s, it really wasn’t all that unusual to drive around in old cars, because you could buy an everyday car for under a hundred dollars.

When I was in college, I bought a late model 50’s Rambler for $50 bucks to get me back and forth to RIJC or “Reject” as it was known. The ignition was broken and battery terminals were corroded, so between having to hot wire the ignition and cleaning the battery terminals just to get it started, I can say without a doubt that the Rambler didn’t qualify as an antique car. It was more of a junk car! Sal, on the other hand, drove a 1947 Packard Clipper.

Sal likes to collect and drive old cars, and during the years we have been together, there have been a few unique models in our driveway. It seems like yesterday when I had no idea that Packard, Hudson, Studebaker, Kaiser and Cord are cars, let alone know how to identify them. You may have seen us tooling around the town in our 1941 Cadillac 60 Special, with the wood trim.

Anyway, along with the car hobby there are car clubs to match the type of car you own. So being the kind of people who have nothing to do, we joined the Yankee Wood Chapter of the National Woodie Club, a club for people with wood bodied cars or an appreciation for the “Woodie”. The YWC is more of a social club with a wonderful group of people, who enjoy each other’s company and have fun driving our cars.

We have made so many friends and I owe it all to Vickie DeLuca, who was so persistent in including us in club activities. Thank You, Vickie. The last week in June of 2010, Sal and I hosted a mini tour for our club. We had billed it as a “Tour to Nowhere”. At some point in the planning stage it became a “Tour to Somewhere”. The rendezvous point was the State Police Headquarters, and lining up were Annette & Brian with the 1949 Packard Station Sedan, Nat & Cathy in their 1973 Corvette, David & Judy in a 2009 Shelby, Al & Nancy looking good in the 1953 Buick Wagon, and riding with us in our 41 Cadillac.

Our first stop was at Glocester Greens and Goats to visit with Carolyn and Ray. While Ray checked out the cars, we checked out the goats and gardens. We saw the most adorable baby goats, Carolyn gave us the opportunity to bottle feed them after which they followed us all around the yard. She then treated us with samples of her wonderful goat cheese and we tasted her garden of unusual greens. Do you know there are plants that taste just like root beer?

After a last minute quick good-bye to the baby goats (and Carolyn and Ray, too) we traveled on to Woodstock, CT to tour a historic mansion. Roseland Cottage, Bowen House is an 1846 Gothic Revival style house. The complex includes an ice house, aviary, carriage barn with private bowling alley (which is reported to be the oldest in the country), and Victorian parterre garden. Since the Bowen family lived in the house until donating the property to the Historical Society, it still has all of the original furnishings.

We then toured the back country roads in Connecticut returning to our house for a lunch. I had ice cold lemonade, Italian potato salad, green bean salad, marinated grilled chicken, and a new recipe for grilled pork. It was a hit, so I thought I would share it with you. This recipe serves 4.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary Mustard Rub

4 stems of fresh rosemary

3 cloves garlic, peeled

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

3 tablespoons of a stone ground mustard

1 lb. of pork tenderloin

Remove rosemary leaves from stems and place in a small food processor with garlic, oil, salt, pepper and mustard. Pulse until the mixture resembles a paste. Smooth over pork, place on a baking sheet, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to high, brush the grate with oil. Sear pork on each side for about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low, close the cove of the grill and cook pork for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the internal temperature registers 145°                                       

Transfer pork to platter, let rest for about 5 minutes, slice and serve. I have also roasted this pork in 325° oven instead of on the grill and it comes out just as tasty, but with a different texture.