Author Archives: adaymay

Tuesday Travel

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Tuesday travels. One of my favorite blog posts to write. This week, I am excited to share the itinerary from our recent weekend escape to Vermont. My girl had a big birthday last week and to celebrate I stole her away for a northern getaway. Did you know that Vermonters claim to have six seasons? Fall, twig, winter, mud, spring, and summer. Who knew?! Although the foliage was past it peaks, my girl and I managed to have a terrific little getaway in the Green Mountain State!

Stay

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I am a huge fan of Lark Hotels, a group of hotels in iconic New England locations {and soon expanding to Napa and Nashville} that focus on a sense of place and a bit of fun. Each location is designed by principal and head designer Rachel Reider, who was recently honored as one of the “5 under 40 designers” to watch. When I saw pictures of the newly opened Field Guide in Stowe, I knew this was the place to stay. Just look at our room above… updated cabin chic. We stayed in a King Suite in the Trail House, set apart from the main hotel. Our room had a fire place, deck, soaking tub and one of the most comfortable beds we’ve ever slept in. And the best part, breakfast was delivered to our door each morning. I can guarantee this will be a place we stay for years to come.

Do

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Have I mentioned my girl is a huge craft beer fan? If you are in the know about craft beer, then you know Vermont is the place to go. And while there are several notable breweries in the area, my girl’s favorite is Hill Farmstead Brewery. Saturday morning, after enjoying our delicious breakfast delivery, we drove northeast for about 45 minutes to Greensboro. With luck on our side, we arrived a little before 11 am and joined about 20 fellow beer enthusiasts to wait for the 12 noon opening. And you know what? They decided to open early. We were fifth in-line to have our growlers filled {I won’t share how many we bought} and then enjoyed a tasting. I sipped on Works of Love, part of their philosophical series, which is a hoppy blonde ale brewed with Earl Grey tea and quite delicious. Heading to Vermont, I highly recommend a visit to this beautiful and popular spot.

We always joke that my girl loves breweries and I love bakeries so of course we had to check out a local Vermont bakery. My pick Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury. Their sign claims they have “world-famous donuts” and I am here to confirm they most certainly do. I typically prefer mine with cinnamon sugar but they do a plain cake donut that is perfection.

Vermont is known for idyllic country roads and covered bridges. Before leaving Stowe on Sunday, we visited Emily’s Bridge, highlighted in this picture. For a full list of covered bridges in the state, check out this link.

Eat

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Since I knew we were going to be doing our fair share of drinking over the weekend, I wanted to make sure we started the trip with a good meal in us. After a bit of research, I decided to make our Friday dinner reservation at Hen of the Wood. This restaurant has one goal: to provide a true Vermont dining experience that showcases the vibrant foods of the state. What a dining experience we had. Perfection! If you are planning a trip to Vermont, I encourage you to get online and book now.

A few other spots not to miss:

Doc Ponds – sister restaurant to Hen of the Woods. They have a fantastic beer menu and delicious bites. A far more casual spot with the same attention to food and service.

The Bench – a stone’s throw from the Field Guide, this lively restaurant has a terrific menu of comfort food. Saturday night, we shared the pizza and a yummy spinach salad but the real star of our meal was the s’mores featuring a homemade marshmallow in a cast iron skillet with graham crackers and chocolate. Sinfully good.

Harvest Market – a two-minute drive from Field Guide, this was our morning coffee spot.

Prohibition Pig – located in neighboring Waterbury, Prohibition Pig is the place to go for lunch and/or dinner. Be prepared to wait. Fortunately we were able to grab two seats at the bar for a late lunch on Saturday post brewery. Burgers, mac and cheese, duck fat fries. Food to help cure a beer buzz!

And last but not least, should you find yourself in Woodstock, I highly recommend Worthy Kitchen. We stopped here for a late lunch on Sunday to break up the trip home. I told our waiter we may just drive north for their food. It really is that good!

While we didn’t have much time for shopping, might I suggest a quick stop in to the Stowe Mercantile to pick up some maple syrup, penny candy and snap a photo in the vintage Stowe mountain gondola.

All in all, a perfect weekend getaway. I think my girl would agree!

Time

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2016 is 53 days away! Are you ready? For me, the easiest way to come to terms with the passing of another year is to buy myself a beautiful new calendar. Last year, it was this Linda and Harriett beauty. Lucky for you, I’ve done a bit of research and today wanted to share my picks for 2016 calendars. Take a look:

With only 53 days till the New Year, I guess that means we have 45 days till Christmas. Thankfully, my shopping has commenced and I’ll be sharing my gift guides with all of you next week. Do let me know if you have a specific person you need ideas for. I love, love, LOVE finding the perfect gift!

Found

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Sweet readers… I can’t tell you how excited I am to share this week’s found item and what just may be my favorite book of all time. Love x Style x Life by the effortlessly chic Garance Dore. If you aren’t familiar with Garance, you should be. I’ll admit, I didn’t know who she was until her collaboration with Rifle Paper. But since that fateful introduction, Garance has become a woman I admire from afar. When I learned of her book, I pre-ordered right away. From reading her blog, I knew her writing would speak to me. And you know what, it most certainly does. Below is a brief excerpt from the introduction:

We want love. We want to feel beautiful. We want to be good friends, good partners, good sisters, good daughters. We want to know how to never buy the wrong pair of shoes again. {Sorry to inform you, but you will keep making shoe mistakes until the day you die. So celebrate being alive right now!} We want to feel fulfilled by the work we do, whatever that work may be. Most of all, we want to find our place in this work.

It reads like my manifesto! I had the pleasure of meeting Garance last night at her Boston book signing. Now I’ve been to many a book signing but never one where I received flowers for attending and the author graciously offered me a seat next to her to have a chat. What a night and honor!

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Help

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Help! For the life of me, I can’t seem to pick out a holiday card this year. Might you be able to help? There are just so many choices. My favorites include:

Which one of these would you like to receive from me?

In the Kitchen

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Question: Anyone else having trouble with this whole fall back situation? I’m tired, cranky and seem to be craving two things: Halloween candy and carbs. To help curb one of these cravings, I decided to make a pot of my go-to fall risotto Monday night. Risotto tends to be a little time-consuming but this recipe all-in-all took about 45 minutes to complete. Not too bad at all. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Risotto

*slight modifications from Ina Garten’s recipe in Family Style

Ingredients 

  • 3 cups diced butternut squash {time-saver: purchase pre-cut squash}
  • 2 Tbs. olive oil
  • Salt/pepper
  • 6 cups of chicken stock {I tend to use a bit more}
  • 1 Tbs. butter
  • 1 minced shallot
  • 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup white wine {I used chardonnay}
  • 1 tsp. saffron threads {the good stuff from Spain}
  • 1 cup freshly graded Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups fresh spinach

Directions

  1. Preheat over to 400 degrees.
  2. Toss the pre-cut squash with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Roast for 30 minutes, checking at 15 minute to toss.
  3. Pour the chicken stock into a saucepan and simmer on low.
  4. While squash is roasting and stock is simmering, melt tablespoon of butter in a dutch over pan, add the minced shallot and saute till translucent. Add in the rice and allow butter/shallot mixture to coat rice and “toast” for 2-3 minutes. This brings out the nuttiness in the rice.
  5. Add the wine and cook for two minutes. Add is two ladles of stock and saffron threads. Stir and simmer till stock is absorbed. Continue this process until the rice is cooked and begin to take on a creamy texture. Typically, this takes about 6 to 8 cycles. I know it’s close when the rice takes on a creamy texture.
  6. Off the heat, stir in butternut squash, spinach and Parmesan cheese. Mix well and season to taste. For presentation, I add a bit more cheese!

Tuesday Travel

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Bull City. The New South. Home of the Blue Devils. It’s true; Durham is all of these things. Since I’ve never been to North Carolina, I had high hopes for our weekend getaway to Durham and I am happy to report, I was not disappointed!

Stay

We stayed at the hip 21c Museum Hotel located in the historic Hill Building {a 17-story modernistic skyscraper built between 1935-1937 and designed by NY firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, who also designed the Empire State Building}. This is the fourth location in the 21C Museum Hotel family, with the first opening up in Louisville back in 2007. The property hosts a free contemporary art museum, 125 well-appointed rooms and a beautiful restaurant on the first floor. Bonus, the rooms are stocked with our favorite Malin + Goetz products.

Our second choice was the recently opened The Durham Hotel. I’m told their rooftop bar is a must!

Do + See

Truth be told, the impetus for our trip south was to attend the 20th year celebration of the Duke women’s lacrosse program. That’s right. My girl is an All-American athlete whose name is forever etched into the walls at Cameron Stadium. Pretty cool, right? So, much of our first day was spent on campus at Duke. I am partial to my Mount Holyoke campus but have to say, Duke is beautiful. The trees, Gothic architecture, chapel. It’s all quite impressive. I had read about The Nasher Museum of Art but unfortunately we didn’t have time to check out the collection. But, we did get to see Krzyzewskiville, the tent city where students camp out for Duke basketball tickets. Now that’s what I call dedication!

Eat

In recent years, Durham has been named one of the tastiest towns in the South. Although we didn’t get to try every place on my list {Saltbox Seafood Joint and Pizzeria Toro}, we did manage to indulge is some delicious fare.

Cosmic Cantina – Every college town needs its go to Cantina and K swears that Cosmic Cantina has the best burrito. Now while I’m partial to my Bueno y Sano in Amherst, I must admit that Cosmic Cantina is quite good. The staircase on the other hand, beware!

Foster’s Market – A mainstay in Durham since 1990, Foster’s market is a dream gourmet market and cafe with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. I had the pimento cheese sandwich. Delicious!

Monuts Donuts – Yes, I had to find the local donut place! We ordered a half-dozen including plain glazed {perhaps the best glazed I’ve ever had}, blueberry cardamom, chocolate and apple cider. A Durham must!

Cocoa Cinnamon – We never did make it to Cocoa Cinnamon for an afternoon coffee but I really wish we did. On the list for our next visit!

Watts Grocery – A great spot for Sunday brunch serving Carolina classics like grits and big biscuits. My eggs were a little dry but the fresh squeezed O.J. and homemade english muffin made up for it!

For my first trip to North Carolina, I have to say Durham is one great little city. One that has great energy, gracious people and delicious food. While enjoying our final meal in Bull City, K and I joked about retiring to her college town. We shall see about that!

Do Well

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I am so sorry again for my silence last week. I’ve been dealing with a little health issue that I think has finally resolved itself thanks to a daily regimen of four little pills. Good news, I’m on the up and up!

Being home, I tend to do two things. Watch tv and organize my closet. The donation bags are growing. I was excited to find out that Madewell has teamed up with Blue Jeans Go Green to recycle your old jeans. And as an added bonus, Madwell will give you $20 towards a new pair of jeans. A win/win in my book!

I promise to be back tomorrow with a new Tuesday Travel post highlighting what Travel and Leisure is calling the new south. I promise you won’t want to miss it!

Note: Offer good till December 31 of this year!

Good News

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It is a good day indeed.Two of my favorite companies have joined creative forces. The collaboration of Rifle Paper and Paperless Post is a match made in heaven.Take a look at the collection. So many amazing choices! And did you know, you can now buy actual paper through Paperless Post. Can’t believe I missed that!

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Photo Credit: Paperless Post and Rifle Paper

Found

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Happy Friday, dear readers! I can’t believe we are one week away from Halloween. Do you have your costume picked out? I’ve never been one to dress up but was thinking I might just step out of my comfort zone this year, especially since I’ll be trick-or-treating with my nephews and niece. Let me know if you have any good ideas!

For this week’s found item, I wanted to share my new Passport case that is currently en-route. Carolyn Misterek is the creative genius behind MATINE, a leather accessories line based in DC that takes simplicity and craftmanship to the next level. Carolyn designs, cuts, sews and finishes each piece by hand. Just beautiful! Truth be told, this is my first Passport case. I’ve been on the hunt for one for quite some time but never found the perfect one. That was until I stumbled upon the british tan Au Revoir case. I can’t wait for it to accompany me on all my travels!

Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday!

Design Crush

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Remember these guys? For years, my Saturday ritual included a night with Vern, Hildi, Ty,and Doug on Trading Spaces. Hard to believe the show launched 15 years ago {on October 13 to be precise}. Granted, we didn’t get Paige Davis till the second season, but this show was certainly my present day Scandal. Did you feel the same way? At the time, my favorite designer was Laurie. The adorable red-head with the southern accent. But I’ve got to tell you, now my favorite is Genevieve Gorder.

I’ve had a few days sick in bed these past few weeks, which always means Netflix. Last week, I watched HGTV’s 6-part series on Genevieve’s renovation of her New York City condo. Just take a look at the finish product:

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The ladder, those  chairs, that marble….

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The black walls with the Moroccan tables and large storage piece from an antique store in Maine. I want it all!

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And my favorite room by far, her guest bathroom.

Looking for a little design inspiration, log into your Netflix account and watch Genevieve’s Renovation. I should also note her Capel rug collection is phenomenal and the price point is quite good. Now, if I could just find a condo to renovate!