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 :)

back from hiatus

Been MIA for a while. Wedding... new house... school... Kind of keeps a girl busy.

But now I'm back in action and ready to post about my favorite season: pumpkin season. I mean, fall. I mean, pumpkins AND fall. They go together pretty well. If you're in favor of carving them, here is a great, slightly demented (in a good way) website: http://www.extremepumpkins.com.

That's it for now, but I'll be back with more pumpkin goodness--I'm thinking pumpkin chili.

This weekend is maple-y

This is going to be a quick post, but I finally found information on maple syrup in Maine and Connecticut which I couldn't find before. Well, I had CT info, but it looks like they put up a new website just for Connecticut Maple Producers.

Apparently, Massachusetts is the most gung-ho about maple with their March is Massachusetts Maple Month celebration. Basically, this means that sugar houses all over the state are open to the public, many of them serving breakfast.

Also, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire are having some type of maple syrup festival this weekend, so if you want to O.D. on maple syrup, this weekend is your chance.

Vermont is having its 6th Annual Maple Open House Weekend. Apparently it placed in the top 10 winter events of Vermont, by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

Maine is having Maple Syrup Sunday,

New Hampshire is celebrating its New Hampshire Maple Weekend this weekend. Stonewall Farm (Keene, NH) is joining in the celebration with, among other maple-related events, a sap-gathering event where teams of people and draft horse run around the farm collecting sap from buckets. If I wasn't going to Western Mass this weekend, I'd be up in Keene watching the competition.

Nothing exciting appears to be happening in the states of CT or RI this weekend. It looks like maybe maple syrup isn't as big a deal in those states, but there's plenty to do in the others, so we won't be too sad about that.

On deck for this weekend, instead of Parker's Maple Barn (it's open year-round so I figured I'd better go somewhere that's only open for a few weeks before it's too late), is the North Hadley Sugar Shack in North Hadley, MA. I've never had their maple products, but I can personally attest to the fact that they have the best soft-serve ice cream (and waffle cones) in the Happy Valley. I went to UMass Amherst--twice--and the second time around, my friend Tim and I did extensive, unscientific research to find the best soft serve in the area. They have their own maple soft-serve and make the waffle cone right when you order your ice cream. And they also have a petting zoo with goats, sheep, bunnies, and chickens. Some of the chickens have feathers on their legs so when the run around they look like they're wearing pantaloons! They put in the petting zoo when I was in school and two of the goats, Rodeo and Licorice, were still little goatlets. I guess that would be "kid" if you want to be techincal. Anyway, they were adorable. They're all grown up but they're still there, as far as I know. You get to go in the pen and walk around with all the animals, which is very cool--as opposed to petting them behind a fence.

So, if you're in the Amherst area this weekend, stop by the Sugar Shack for pancakes and maybe I'll see you there.

I guess that wasn't such a quick post after all :)

Who knew corn fritters were so yummy?!

So, the maple syrup tour of New England isn't panning out quite as planned. Not that there isn't an abundance of places to find it, it's just that my schedule got really hectic all of a sudden. Apparently, when you're getting married, you have to actually do things to plan it. My tactic of procrastinating and hoping that everything will just work itself out on its own wasn't working. And then there's the whole school thing that gets in the way sometimes. But, that's all beside the point...

So, Southface Farm in Ashfield, MA was the first (and only, so far) stop on the tour. For being in the middle of nowhere, it was surprisingly easy to find. It helped that I took a cheesemaking workshop in Ashfield, so I sort of knew where I was going.

Cheese. Let me go off on a tangent about that before talking about maple syrup. Once upon a time, maybe fours years ago, I bought a cheese cookbook. In the back it had all sorts of mail-order information. I'm not sure exactly what you needed to mail order: maybe special cheese or something. Out of habit, I glanced through the list to see if there were any local places listed. I saw the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company (ok, not so local, but it's within a reasonable driving distance of 2 hours). They had a website that I checked out and saw that they had cheesemaking workshops. Oh yeah. Somehow, I convinced two of my friends to come with me and we all signed up. It was fantastic! Who knew there was so much to know about cheese? Actually, I did know, but I had never spent 8 hours in a row thinking about it before. I heartily recommend taking one if you're interested. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to make soft cheeses. Even if you aren't adventurous, there's a 30-minute mozzarella kit that is really really easy and you make it with powdered milk. Having been permanently scarred by being served only powdered skim milk for the first 15 years of my life, I thought that sounded gross. Imagine having to inspect each glass of milk you pour, so as not to end up drinking a lump that wasn't mixed in. Yuck. Eventually, my brother and sisters and I staged a milk boycott until our parents started buying regular milk. I think my mom must have been on our side, because it didn't take long to convince them (and my parents don't give in easily, believe me). My dad still drinks the powdered stuff, though.

Ok, that was a tangent on a tangent. Let me get back to the topic at hand... The powdered milk does make a great batch of fresh mozzarella. Take the cheesemaking workshop in Ashfield, MA if you can. Now, back to maple syrup at Southface Farm and their fabulous corn fritters.

Never having had one before, I ordered one. It came out steaming hot and was delicious--especially drowned in a pool of their own grade A amber maple syrup. Mmm-mmm! The rest of the food was good, too. I had eggs and cinnamon toast; Brian had French bread French toast. They use a lot of local produce in their breakfasts, which I loved (locally-baked bread, local eggs, etc.) It was still a little early in the season, so they weren't sugaring yet, but that was two weeks ago. If the weather out there has cooperated, they should be sugaring by now. They are open for breakfast through the middle of April, if anyone is interested in making the trip. It's in a beautiful area of the state, so it's a really nice drive. If you head out Rte. 2, I recommend stopping at Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters in Shelburne Falls, MA (1335 Mohawk Trail, which is Rte. 2 in that part of the state). If you're headed west, they're on your left. Good coffee and hot chocolate. Brian and I got Mexican HC and it had cayenne pepper in it. Good stuff. They have a funky cafe space with room to hang out, if you want to stop in and relax.

Next stop on the tour, I think, will be Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, NH on March 18th, so stay tuned. They serve coffee made from beans roasted with their own maple syrup.

A word on maple syrup sources while we wait for the sap to flow.

We love our maple syrup in New England. We love it so much that there are festivals celebrating it . You can even go to Pittsfield, VT, to The New England Maple Museum, where you can learn all about its history. Hopefully, they have free samples :)

Lucky for me, most of the New England states have their own Maple Producers Association (or whatever the organization happens to be called in that state). These all have websites (or some type of web presence) conveniently listing maple syrup producers. There are even some with restaurants. This will definitely help me plan where I'll be eating breakfast during the upcoming maple sugaring season. In case you're interested in planning your own Tour d'Erable (not quite as catchy a name as le Tour de France, but certainly tastier!) this spring, click on a link for info:

Connecticut

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

Rhode Island

Vermont

A brochure explaining a little history behind maple syrup and the process of making it

An overview for New England in general (with recipes and festival listings)

Let the sugaring begin!

Hello World!

I love food blogs. Admittedly, I have only just stumbled across them, but why is it that most of those I've found are based on the west coast in the San Francisco Bay area? Yes, I have been out there several times (and love it) so I understand why it is a foodie's paradise. However, there are culinary experiences in New England that deserve to be blogged, as well.

For example, as the earth wakes up to spring, a new season of maple sugaring is about to descend upon New England. And I plan to experience as much of it as possible. And I will drag my friends with me. And we will experience all things maple. And I will blog it. And it will be good.

And so begins heaveninmybelly...