Hello from the green mountains of Vermont! Yesterday morning Matt, Riker and I got up literally before the crack of dawn to make the 7 hour trek up to my parents' house for the weekend. We were originally planning to come on Thursday night after work, but when Thursday evening rolled around we were both exhausted and not too sure we could handle such a long drive that late. Instead, we got up at 4 AM Friday, packed a bag full of yogurts, fruits and other snacks, and after two coffee stops/bathroom breaks we made it home by 11:15 AM. We wanted to get there nice and early since we had plans to be on the mountain skiing by early afternoon.
We actually had some discounted tickets to ski at Stowe, leftover from our friends trip to VT back in January, but I realized about 5 hours into the drive that I forgot the tix at home. Epic fail. Oh well. I really had my heart set on skiing, so after dropping Riker off with my mom, we drove out to Sugarbush for a half-day pass (Stowe is majorly expensive even for a half day).
I love Sugarbush, and this time we skied a mountain we haven't been on yet and it was absolutely beautiful. It snowed most of the time we were there, interspersed with rays of sunshine, and it was a perfect afternoon. Followed by a nice evening of dinner with the fam.
We met my grandma and parents at Harrison's Restaurant in Stowe, a cozy little underground place featuring gourmet American fare. My mom's been wanting us to try Harrison's for a while, so I was excited to check it out. Especially since we got the best table in the house, right by the fireplace.
We started with curried and white wine mussels and a bottle of red, both of which were delicious after spending the afternoon in the snow.
For my entree I selected the pecan crusted Ahi tuna with broccolini, brown rice and sweet potato puree. It was beautiful!
The tuna was perfectly cooked and I ate every last bite.
We would've loved to stay for coffee and dessert, but Riker had other plans for us. He was a bit of a crankpot and definitely wasn't in the mood to sit there any longer, so we headed home for the rest of the evening. I had brought back some hazelnut cookies, champagne truffles and speculoos chocolate from Germany for everyone, which made for perfect little sweet nibbles with coffee after Riker went to bed.
Talk about a great first day home.
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This morning we had a leisurely breakfast at home before my mom and I left the boys at home and headed out for coffee and errands. A new coffee shop opened in town that she said had the best lattes, so I had to judge for myself.
She wasn't kidding. I had a Vermont maple skim latte, and it was fantastic. We sat and chatted over coffee for a while and had a nice time catching up. Eventually we made our way home and then the whole group ventured out to the nearby town of Montpelier for lunch.
I had told my mom if there was one place I wanted to eat this weekend, it was The Skinny Pancake. This small cafe is famous for amazing savory and sweet crepes, made with all locally sourced ingredients - even the meats and cheeses are from local farms. My kind of style!
I ordered the veggie crepe with spinach, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, basil and sunflower seed pesto, and Cabot cheddar, and I added smoked salmon for some extra protein. The crepe was crispy on the outside and the filling had so much flavor, I became an instant fan of this place. They also carried our favorite beer, Heady Topper, which was the icing on the cake. It's so hard to find, so you know we had to order one. ;-)
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing a little shopping, taking a walk through Hubbard Park (talk about some serious hills!) and taking a nice long drive in the afternoon sunshine.
Riker is teething and pretty cranky, so grabbing hot tea and taking a drive was actually the best part of the day - he likes sitting in the car and he usually sleeps. ;-)
We also found a farm that sells its own grass fed beef, and since Matt is really trying to eat healthier, sustainable meats, we stopped and stocked up on a cooler full of steaks and roasts for him to take home.
I nabbed the last carton of free range eggs too. Good find!
Now we're back home and making dinner, planning a relaxing evening in with a movie and some cards. Hope you're having a great holiday weekend so far!
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