Amanouz Cafe, Northampton MA

44 Main Street

Northampton MA 01060

http://www.amanouz.com/

Last week I met my friend Tim in Northampton, Ma for breakfast. Once we finally met (I was , shall we say, a little late), it took about 32 seconds to decide where we wanted to eat: Amanouz Cafe. They serve Moroccan and Mediterranean food. When I lived in the Happy Valley, I used to go here a lot for their soup and their "Amanouz breakfast" (baguette, o.j., and coffee). So good. I had never actually had any of their other breakfasts, so that day I tried their Mediterrrenean eggs. Who knew eggs, tomatoes, and cheese could taste so good? Well, now you know. Or at least I do.

I love that this place is like a tiny European cafe. With small tables squished together and everything. There are a couple of outdoor tables, too, if you are lucky enough to score one. This is one place you should not leave Northampton without trying--they do breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so no excuse.

Half-Baked & Fully Brewed

Great name for a breakfast joint :) This is in Lincoln, NH, near Loon Mountain. They have really good baked goods, breakfast sandwiches, and fun fancy coffee drinks. They alse have a delicious-sounding lunch sandwich menu. And, in case that wasn't enough, they also have freezers full of family-sized ready-to-be-put-in-the-oven entrees (you can see one of the freezers behind Brian). Great idea, since this is in a vacation area where people rent condos. You can have a home-cooked meal without actually having to cook, unless you count pre-heating the oven as cooking. Next time we're up there, we'll definitely be trying them.

Caffeine Buzz

Brian and I just discovered a new (to us) coffee shop that is mostly on the way to work: Java Mama (129 Littleton Rd, Westford, MA 01886 978.692.0083). We've actually been meaning to go for quite a while, but we only remember on Sundays, when they're closed. Finally, we stopped on the way to work a few weeks ago. It was a procrastination tactic after digging ourselves out of the driveway after a snowstorm--we just weren't ready to go to work yet (although it was probably after 10:00 am!) Sometimes you just need to go in to work late, I think ;). Anyway, it totally made my week because they have coffee tabs!!! If you don't know what those are, they are tiny hard plastic sticker things that go over the drink opening in a take-out coffee cup. They're great because you keep them on the cup until you can safely drink your coffee (and don't end up spilling your coffee all over the car). Plus, they're fun since they come in all different colors and shapes--even holiday-themed ones (so far I have two valentine hearts and a monkey). And who can argue with fun? Especially on the way to work when you really just want to go back home and curl up on the couch, drinking hot chocolate and watching old movies. I had only ever seen coffee tabs at a tiny drive-up coffee place in Corvallis, OR (with the happiest coffee girl I have ever seen at 5:00 am), when my sister was in grad school at Oregon State University (Go Beavs!) I had recently been wondering if any other place in the world had them. Well, they have them at Java Mama's--hooray!!

Besides the joy of coffee tabs, they have several varieties of coffee brewed daily (which they may roast themselves, but that hasn't been confirmed) and fantastic scones. I am a total scone snob, and I really like the ones they make. They have a bunch of other pastries, but so far haven't been able to make myself order anything but their scones. The women who work behind the counter (and who I assume are responsible for the baked goods) are really friendly and nice, which is good to experience in the morning. They open at 6:30 am, so they're probably hyper-caffeinated by the time I stroll in after 9:00 am for my coffee and scone.

The one thing about this coffee shop that I don't like is their creepy sign--it's a hand-painted sign of a face with coffee bean eyes and big red lips and giant pearly whites. It's the teeth that get me, although I'm not sure why. I'll have to take a picture and add it to this post later in the week. If you can get past the sign (and it's probably just me who finds it creepy) the food and service are great.

Mile Away Restaurant (Milford, NH)

Just before Christmas, Brian and I tried out Mile Away Restaurant in Milford, NH. He wanted to get his sister and brother-in-law a gift certificate there, but had only read about this place online, so we figured we'd better check it out in person. Purely for reasearch reasons, of course. We're trying to be good about going out to eat since we now have a mortgage bill--two, actually--to pay, hence my need to rationalize the dinner.

So, I'll kill the suspense (I know you're in suspense) and say that we had a really enjoyable meal and would go back. It was a big old farmhouse (with a roaring fire--big bonus) with a restaurant inside serving Swiss Continental meals, as described on their website. High ceilings, with a much larger dining area than we expected from the website, but still cozy, it was reminiscent of The Common Man, if anyone has ever been there, but with more of a B&B feel. Too bad you couldn't stay over, since we were stuffed after eating and it would have been nice just to climb the stairs and lounge around in bed while digesting. Much better than the hour drive home in the snow we had after dinner. But worth it, nonetheless. The waitstaff was friendly, helpful, and unobtrusive, leaving us to enjoy a leisurely meal but not leaving us too long between visits where we felt the need to flag someone down to get anything.

As for the menu, you select your entrée (prices ranged from about $20-30), and then an appetizer, vegetable, salad, and dessert is included in that price. Each has a number of selections, and you can get some extra fancy appetizers for a little extra (prices vary), if you want. I had the duck special of the evening which was roasted and came with a strawberry and wild mushroom ragout. I never eat duck, and strawberries and mushrooms sounded a little odd, so I figured, why not. Luckily, it turned out to be good ordering. Brian ordered the veal cordon bleu, which was also good. I hate when restaurant reviews go on for paragraph after paragraph, describing the meal in lengthy and unnecessary detail, so I'll leave you to check out the menu to get an idea of the other things they offer. One thing I will say is that Brian got maple custard for dessert which was delicious! I do have a special fondness for maple syrup, so I may have been slightly biased, but I was definitely a little envious of his selection.

All in all, a really nice evening out for dinner. This would be a good romantic evening out, if anyone's looking for that. Or, just a relaxing dinner with friends.

There, only two months since my last post. Not good, but getting better :)

Happily-buttered bread

I spent a day out in Western Mass, my favorite part of the state. Stopping in at Atkins Farms Country Market in Amherst, besides buying some of their addictive cider donuts, I picked up some fancy butter from Mendon Creamery in Mendon, Ma (here's an article about their butter). I know there are a lot of foods out there that are heaven-like, but, man, good-quality butter makes my taste buds melt! I got two kinds (I couldn't decide between them): Maple and Cinnamon-Sugar butter. Slathered all over a couple of slices of toasted raisin bread, I couldn't speak until I had finished. Mmmm-mmmm. Not the healthiest of foods. Thankfully, most of my favorite things to eat are vegetables, so a little butter indulgence once in a while should be ok. At least that's what I'm telling myself :)

I also bought some plums and peaches and made a plum and peach crisp recipe that was posted by Heidi Swanson on her 101 Cookbooks blog (one of my very favorites). Except for a failed loaf of peanut bread--I blame the yeast--every one of her recipes that I've made has been fantastic. Someday I'll buy one of her cookbooks (Super Natural Cooking and Cook 1.0).

This week, my challenge is to recreate a pumpkin black bean chili recipe I made up a couple of years ago. If I am successful, I'll post it here.

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere and not a drop to drink...

...or something like that (my apologies, Mr. Coleridge).

Just a quick post for anyone looking to PYOP (pick-your-own pumpkin) in Massachusetts. MDAR (the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources) has very nicely compiled a list of places where you can do just that. If you were invited to my pumpkin-carving party this year, which is BYOP (I'll let you figure that one out yourselves), it may come in handy.

Happy Carving!

Herb Lyceum in Groton MA, no thanks

So, last month, Brian and I took his grandmother to the Herb Lyceum in Groton, MA for her birthday. Actually, Brian took his grandmother and me out for her birthday (nice Brian). Anyway, I had been hearing about this place for years and was excited to finally go. The basic idea is that it is a working herb farm where they serve herbally-inspired prix fixe dinners, with the menu rotating monthly. Sounds nice, right? Well, I will say that the meal was tasty, but man, the hostess was a complete snob! I mean, so much so that I never want to go back. Either does Brian, so there.

Seriously, first of all, the "gardens" are a collection of herb patches that look like a vacant lot. I can appreciate, and do like, the whole over-grown and romantically run-down look. But, there is a difference between shabby chic and looking like crap. So, ok, maybe it's not the prettiest looking garden. I'm fine with that. But then, add in a hostess who spends the entire night complaining about previous guests and saying over and over what a wonderful job they do and how they are better than anything else in the region. Not enjoyable.

The interior, where we ate, was absolutely beautiful--a restored homestead--which had a great atmosphere. During the meal, I think the idea was this woman was supposed to be a gracious hostess, flitting from table to table, joining in the conversation here and there and making sure everyone had a wonderful time. Kind of like when you stay at a bed and breakfast and the host, or hosts, will hang out with you. I love that--usually they are really interesting people. I met one woman whose pet llama was the model (well, his fur, anyway) for Sully in the Pixar film "Monsters, Inc." Unfortunately, the Herb Lyceum woman would come up to a table, sit, down, lounge all over it, and just start talking--not joining in, but just changing the subject to start complaining about how annoying guests can be and how much better her place is than the nearby Pickity Place in Mason, NH. I LOVE Pickity Place, have been there often, and would highly recommend it to anyone. I think the conversation about Pickity Place went something like this:

Snobby lady: Welcome to the Herb Lyceum. Have you ever dined with us before?
Me: No, this is my first time.
Brian: I've been here once before. It's sort of like a fancy dinner version of Pickity Place.
Snobby lady: (distainful look) We're *much* better than Pickity Place. People had mentioned this place to me before, and I finally went there, just to scout it out, and I wasn't impressed.

[The Pickity Place conversation actually went on for a while, but I'm already ranting on and on, so I thought I'd give you the Reader's Digest condensed version.]
So, if the Herb Lyceum is soooooooooo much better than Pickity Place, why do you need to make reservations in advance to eat there (so much so that they add in extra seatings during the busiest times of the year) and the Herb Lyceum often doesn't fill to capacity? Answer me that, Little Miss I'm-better-than-Pickity-Place! And why would you say something like that?! Oh, right, because you're a complete snob.

Another thing that totally pissed me off about this woman was her attitude about locally-grown produce. Once of the things they make a huge stink about is that they only use locally-grown seasonal produce and locally-made cheeses, etc. That is something I like to support, too. So, when we had some really fantastic mozzarella, I asked her where it was from. She said the name of the place (which I forgot, of course), and I asked her where it was. She shot me a dirty look (no idea why) and said "it's local" and dashed out of the room. Now, if you were supposedly promoting locally-grown and produced food, wouldn't this be your chance to talk about the place and people where this cheese was made? Then, your customer might become their customer and you've done your job. Apparently, she deosn't really promote local food, just uses it to show how great she is.

So, completely out of spite, I'm am going to book a lunch at Pickity Place with my mom. Besides the food being delicious, the gardens are absolutely beautiful, and they have a garden shop (with plants and random gifts) plus a giftshop with all sorts of fun things to look at. Good for holiday and birthday gifts. And, the people who work there are very, very nice.

So there :)