Sunday 7.30
I started out my day with a cold pice of pizza from Friday night’s trip to Steve’s. Like on Friday, it was nothing special. We had a family birthday party and so I was over at my in-laws. I made a salad and cooked the steamers. I also had a lobster, plus an extra lobster tail that no one else wanted. I had a bowl of clam chowder too, plus a bite of a biscuit. Then I had two slices of a really good chocolate birthday cake Kelly made. Finally, just before I left I wolfed down a chicken thigh. I ate a lot. Can’t eat that much again tomorrow.
Monday 7.31
As promised I ate less today. I picked up a roast beef sub from DeNo’s. Somehow they still are not done with their construction project. But the sub was good. For dinner I had the leftover chicken and rice from Saturday night. I topped it with a fried egg and some extra hot sauce. A light eating day overall, but good food.
Tuesday 8.1
I only ate one meal today but it was a big one. I did snack on some pretzel sticks but I’m not counting that. What I am counting is The Bancroft. I started with a shrimp cocktail. I always love their green cocktail sauce. Then I had a burger, rare and topped with a fried egg, with a side of fries. I was very full after that but still split the peach cobbler cheesecake. I also tried two new gins, Old English and Geranium.
Wednesday 7.26
I had a busy day at work so just went to DeNo’s again for lunch. Today I got a steak and cheese with peppers, onions, and extra cheese. It was really good today. For dinner I made polenta, ratatouille, and pork tenderloin. I went a little heavy on the tarragon, but otherwise it was very good.
Thursday 8.3
Today we started our annual family vacation. But really most of my day was getting ready to leave, which didn’t happen until around 4:30 pm. I had some pretzels and a beet spread I made during the day as I prepped and packed. The beat spread was roasted beets, feta cheese, one clove of garlic, lemon juice, a little olive oil and some salt. It was really good and I brought it with me so I could have some more. I also snacked on a buffalo chicken stick I got at Whole Foods. It wasn’t bad, but I’d have a hard time calling it buffalo chicken. I won’t be getting that again.
On the ride up to Burlington, VT we stopped to get Thomas some food at McDonald’s. He only wanted fries so Kelly and I split his cheeseburger, not the best. In Burlington, we ate at the hotel restaurant. We are staying at the Hotel Vermont, which is nice. Their restaurant is called Juniper which, as the founder of The Juniper Society, how can I not love. I had their private label gin, a special selection of Barr Hill Tom Cat. We also had the charcuterie plate and the shrimp toast. The amount of meat on the charcuterie plate was insane. It was enough for ten people! We didn’t finish it. Crazy, I know! For dessert we had rhum cake, their spelling not mine. It was very good, but not as rum forward as the one Kelly makes. I like hers better, but they served it with a molasses caramel sauce that was unusual in the best possible way.
Friday 8.4
We started our day at the Festival of Fools on Church Street in Burlington. I needed something to eat before we took the long ride to Ottawa so Kelly and I split a Total Meltdown sandwich at Top of the Block. We had some chips too and more in the car as a snack. We also ate more of the beet spread with rice crackers on the drive.
Before the drive we stopped into Smugglers’ Notch Distillery & Vermont Distillers Tasting Room, how is that for a long named place. It was small but great and I tried a maple gin for the first time.
For dinner we ended up in a touristy spot to escape the rain. We didn’t expect much and it delivered. It was called Bier Market and seemed kind of German, at least they had schnitzel, but no sausage on the menu. How German can it be? The schnitzel was good, but the spaetzle and the cabbage weren’t. I also stole a couple of slices of Thomas’s pizza that wasn’t worth eating.
Saturday 8.5
This morning, I had a few chips before we left the hotel because I knew I wasn’t going to be eating until after one. That’s when my reservation for high tea at Zoe’s in the Fairmount Chateau Laurier was for. I had never been to high tea before and it was quite the experience. I also thought I was going to leave hungry and that wasn’t the case at all. By the time I was done I was stuffed. The tea I chose was maple cream and I loved it so much I bought some to take home. I also really enjoyed the crab salad on a croissant and the blueberry scone with mascarpone and jam.
For dinner we ended up back at Zoe’s after watching an amazing fireworks show. I split a beef tartare with my wife, but of course helped my sone with his chicken fingers and fries. I also tried another new gin and a crazy smoked cocktail that came in a box. When I got back to the hotel room I had a couple bites of leftover dessert from the tea and then my wife and I had a chocolate champagne truffle that she had brought for me from Concord. This was a much better eating day than yesterday!
Top Three
It’s always harder to pick the best things I ate when traveling, but lucky for me Friday’s food was a bust. Here are the three best things I ate:
3. Rhum Cake (Thursday)
2. Bancroft Burger (Tuesday)
1. Crab on Croissant (Saturday)
Links:
quick bite: DeNo’s Pizza & Subs
quick bite: The Bancroft
Pork Tenderloin
travel bite: Zoe’s
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