Some Sugar Added: Stowe Getaway

Our first few days of the Vermont mini vacation have been eventful! Yesterday my mom took a half day off work to spend the afternoon with me, Matt and Riker. Our first stop after leaving the house was Cornerstone Pub & Kitchen for lunch. The pub recently opened and I've been dying to try it; it boasts a creative menu and bar fully stocked with craft beer, as well as a fireplace and cozy atmosphere. It's become the lifeblood of the (for lack of a better word, dull) Main Street in my small hometown. It's been getting rave reviews, and I can see why.

We ordered a few things to share, starting with the roasted golden & red beet salad with arugula, pine nuts, goat cheese and maple vinaigrette. It was perfect. We'd been told we had to try both the fish & chips and the mac & cheese, so we took the plunge.

The mac & cheese was technically for Riker, but we Matt and I had a hard time limiting ourselves to a few bites. It was probably the creamiest, cheesiest mac I've ever had. SO good.

The rest of the afternoon was spent running errands and hanging around at home. My grandmother joined us for dinner at my parents' house, and after eating a pretty rich lunch, we all wanted something light. My mom whipped up some baked lemon & lime shrimp with broccoli and couscous.

And then it was time to kiss my little boy goodnight and hit the road for our friends weekend in Stowe. My friend Lindsay and her husband Ryan invited 15 of us to stay at his parents house for the weekend (his parents are living out west right now), to ski, relax and have fun, and I couldn't wait for everyone to get there. Matt and I were the first to arrive at the house, so rather than sit home and get tired we decided to go out in town for a drink.

The Prohibition Pig (love that name!) is the only bar in the world that serves our favorite beer, The Alchemist Heady Topper, on tap. We'd already stocked up on a few 4-packs of the Vermont brew for the weekend, though, so I ordered a Hill Farmstead Earl, which is a locally brewed coffee stout and was quite delicious.

They also have an amazing menu with all foods (even hot sauces!) made in house, and all ingredients sourced from local farms, so you know we had to order a snack. The panko-encrusted pimento cheese balls with homemade red pepper jelly and curry aioli were amaaaaazing.

One by one our friends started to arrive, so after a couple more drinks at the bar with a few of the early arrivals, we all headed back up to the house for a really fun (and very late) night catching up. I've got to admit, it was kinda nice staying up as late as I wanted to know, knowing my mom was waking up with the baby in my place. ;-)

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This morning our troop split in half - 6 of us went to Stowe Mountain for a ski day while the rest of the group hung around town checking out some local eateries and doing some shopping. It was brisk at the mountain, but a gorgeous day.

Such a beautiful mountain. We had a really great day hitting the slopes.

My friend Heather made us all chocolate-peanut butter energy bites to take with us, and they turned out to be perfect pocket snacks. None of us wanted to waste time going inside for lunch so we could maximize our time skiing, so we popped these on the lift when we got hungry. They hit the spot and kept us full until we got home. It doesn't look like much after I chomped half of it, but it was really tasty.