West Hartford Has Some Tasty Balls 

  By Cami Beiter ~~~~~ When I get a hankerin’ for something tasty, I’ll often go to great lengths to get it. I’ll squeeze in an “errand” 15 miles out of the way to taste the best sub in town, bribe a kid or friend to accompany me to satisfy my disgusting coffee addiction or chicken burrito fetish.  I’ve perfected the art of scheduled to-do’s around my favorite geographical must-have-foodies. Here’s my newest “addiction:” On Mother’s Day, my family and I enjoyed an early dinner on Farmington Ave. in West Hartford.  It was a beautiful day; people walking about, sun was shining, shaded outdoor dining.  After our meal, I stumbled upon my latest must-stop-when-in-West-Hartford-food-pitstop.  It’s a small shop called, Tea Break, a well lit, clean, modern place located at 944 Farmington Ave. This is not your ordinary tea house. It serves the trendy new Taiwanese "Bubble Tea." Curious to try it out, I ordered a Strawberry Ice Blended with Lychee (clear tropical fruit tastes like a gummy bear) De CoCo.  I had them add some bubble balls, marble-sized pearls of chewy tapioca,  for good measure. What the hell, balls through a straw is something I’ve Read more...

Relay For Life Holds Deep Meaning

By Tim Jensen ~~~~~~ In the summer of 2008, I was on top of the world. I had two wonderful children, was editor-in-chief of my hometown newspaper, was coaching high school ice hockey and had just recorded the third hole-in-one of my life (on three different golf courses, in three different decades). Suddenly, in September of that year, almost everything changed. I had been experiencing increasing pain in my left leg throughout the summer, and in typical guy fashion, waited about six weeks before deciding to see a doctor. While awaiting the test results, I was laid off from my job. A week later came the diagnosis: a form of cancer called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in my left femur. In layman’s terms, cancer had eroded away some of my left thighbone. The first step was surgery to attach more than a foot of stabilizing stainless steel to the bone. I am, to say the least, an extremely difficult patient, and Dr. Kevin Raskin and the staff at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston did a phenomenal job during my eight-day stay there. A few days after returning home, I began suffering excruciating pain in the leg and called East Windsor Ambulance. Within an hour of arrival at Baystate Read more...