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May 9, 2011
 Lolo So we are back from an amazing spring break – three weeks in Europe. We spent our last three days in Venice, a place that I was so excited to see, but had heard was filled with restaurants that are mostly over-priced tourist traps. Determined to eat well, I read a lot about the Venice restaurant scene. A name that kept popping up was Loris Manna, better known as “Lolo,” owner of Al Fontego dei Pescatori restaurant. Lolo has over twenty-seven years experience in the mongering of fish, and served as President of the Rialto Fish Market for over nine years … where he still has a vendor operation.
 David and Lolo at the entrance to the fish market With the help of our host in Venice, we were lucky enough to arrange a tour of the Rialto fish market with Lolo. He doesn’t charge anything for the tour. His whole mission is to educate visitors to the bounty of food that Venice has to offer. He doesn’t require that you dine with him. Upon meeting him, I just about had to beg to eat in the restaurant – showed him my notes of dishes that he’s known for. He smiled, really seemed to appreciate that I had done a little homework. Finally allowed to have dinner with him, he still demanded that we would only pay for wine and water if we did not enjoy our meal at his restaurant. Such is the hospitality that we enjoyed in Venice.
I was completely blown away by what I saw. Superbly fresh fish, mostly from the waters just around Venice. (This came as a complete shock to both David and me. We have been somewhat unimpressed with the selection and quality of fish available in the Mediterranean both on this and other vacations in the past.) Lolo is passionate about terroir and quality of ingredients, using only native fish and produce in his restaurant. He pointed out the difference between Maine lobster and his native lobster. The local lobster cost more than twice as much as Maine lobster (46 Euros per kilo, versus 20 for the Maine lobster). His philosophy is simple – only buy the best. If you cannot afford the local lobster, then do not buy any lobster. Make frittata instead, use local zucchini and eggs of course.
 Native lobster and shrimp The shrimp was a revelation. He picked one up, pulled off the shell and handed it to me. I smelled it and agreed that it was indeed fresh. He said “yes, fresh, don’t smell it, eat it.” Now, I am a lover of sashimi and sushi, but raw shrimp with no seasoning at all scared me a little bit. Deep breath, get ready, eat shrimp. WOW, that is all that I can say. Sweet, delicate texture, clean taste of the ocean. I have never had a piece of seafood that was so beautiful. David, not a raw fish fan, was also handed a shrimp. I had a hard time keeping a straight face knowing his personal aversion to the raw. Surprise, he too agreed that it was wonderful. Hmmm. So much for our pre-conceived notions. More on this later, but Lolo’s restaurant was full of these kinds of wonderful surprises.
 More and less local artichokes The produce from the neighboring vegetable market was equally impressive. Lolo pointed out that the best artichokes are the ones on the left in the photo. They cost nearly twice as much as the others, and according to Lolo are the only ones worth using. The others are from an area considered less desirable in terms of the quality of produce that is grown there. It really amazed me that everything being sold at the market was grown locally, and that it was all just so beautiful. And Lolo’s definition of local really redefined local.
 Hangin' with the locals After we concluded the tour, Lolo invited us to his local bacari, All’ Arco, for a glass of wine. It was tiny, unassuming, full of Venetians. Just the kind of place that you hope to find, tucked into a tiny alley, no water view, people mostly standing because there are just a few seats to be had. Glasses of Prosecco and wine flowed freely, and the price was shockingly cheap – just 2 Euros per glass. Lolo knew the people standing outside, and was happy to introduce us to them – the one on the left is a vendor in the produce market, the one on the right is a currently unemployed chef, self-described as “loco”. We felt as though we had made friends in just a few minutes, such a warm and welcoming bunch.
 Cicchetti The company wasn’t the only great thing at All’ Arco. The bar’s counter was filled with a stunning array of snacks called cicchetti, all costing just 1.5 Euros each. We happily snacked on cicchetti and drank prosecco, feeling as though we had somehow stumbled into a fairytale. Luckily the day didn’t end there, check back another day to see about our dinner at Al Fontego that evening.
July 10, 2010
 4th of July picnic on the terrace I was going to write just about our 4th of July picnic for this post, but the month has brought other great celebrations to our Woodstock, VT B&B. So first things first, we had a great time hosting our first (maybe annual) picnic for our guests. We thought it would be fun to have a picnic so that our guests would have a chance to enjoy the terrace and relax for just a bit. We were excited that almost all of our guests were able to attend, and enjoy the fruits of our labor – pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, potato salad, deviled pickled eggs, roasted chicken salad, and coconut cake. The coconut cake, which is one of David’s favorites, was a last minute addition to the menu. I used to make it for our restaurant many years ago, but couldn’t tell you the last time that I made it just for my poor hubby. Alas, now I can tell you.
We were delighted that our friends Edward Forrest and Randy Paxton, owners of The Little Flower Shoppe and Crystal & Bark Designs, here in Woodstock, were able to join us. They moved to town four years ago, and have been providing us with the most amazing flowers ever since. I’ve never seen the same arrangement twice. They’ve delivered roses countless times – not once has it been the classic with greens and baby’s breath. This would be far too mundane for them; they do everything with an artist’s eye. The last delivery was this past Monday – it featured brilliant red roses, blue thistles, greens, all in a tall slender vase wrapped in bark that Edward harvested from a fallen birch tree.
 Dylan and Nicole The delivery of roses marked another great celebration here at the inn, the first wedding of the season on the terrace. The happy couple stayed with us for just one evening eight years ago, and had dinner in our restaurant at the time. Eight years later, they decided to have their ceremony right here on our terrace, and booked our Wedding / Civil Wedding package. It is such a joy for us to be part of these intimate celebrations, and this case was no different. They arrived as guests, and left as friends, and we feel so blessed that they chose to celebrate their love here at our inn. We are looking forward to another wedding this coming week, welcoming our former guests and friends back to our Woodstock, Vermont Inn. And, I must say that I’m excited to see the flowers, which are being provided by The Little Flower Shoppe. Hopefully this time I’ll remember to take pictures and post them!
June 25, 2010
David and I had a great day canoeing on the Connecticut River yesterday. That sounds funny to me, since we were in Vermont and New Hampshire, but the Connecticut River is actually the biggest river in New England. It runs south from the Connecticut Lakes in New Hampshire, along the border between Vermont and New Hampshire, into western Massachusetts, then Connecticut and finally into the sea. The kind folks at North Star Canoe Rentals invited us to be their guests, which we did yesterday.
 Green Mountain Smokehouse Before we started our canoe trip, we stopped by to visit Jake Henne. He’s the owner of Green Mountain Smokehouse, which is just down the road a bit from North Star Canoe. In our world, all things pork come from Jake – hickory smoked bacon, Vermont maple breakfast sausage, and maple cured ham. In addition to the things that we use for breakfast, he makes many other kinds of sausages, beer brats for Long Trail Ale and Harpoon Brewery, smoked pork chops, corned beef, smoked turkey and chicken, and several other goodies. Always on the lookout for new things to serve at breakfast, we discovered that Jake makes his own corned beef. This was great news to us, since we made our own last fall, unaware that Jake could spare us from ourselves. It was also great to hear that Harpoon Brewery is a big supporter of Jake, using his turkey, ham, bacon and corned beef (more on that later).
Our time to start our trip had arrived, so off we went to meet the nice folks at North Star Canoe Rental.
 North Star Canoe Rental in Cornish, NH Once there, you sign a liability waiver, then they help you select the correct size paddle, provide you with a life jacket, and then drive you to your start point. We chose the shorter trip, which is 4 miles long, and takes about 1.5 to 2 hours – unless you are with my over-achiever husband – and then it takes only 1 hour and 15 minutes, with a pretty decent head wind. In any event, the trip is just beautiful. The scenic stretch of moving “flat water” is beautiful, taking you under the Cornish-Windsor bridge, which has a 449′5″ span, making it the longest covered bridge in the country. Once we were safely back at North Star, we were a little bit thirsty from the
 The longest covered bridge in the country! speedy paddling that we did.
Luckily, Harpoon Brewery just happens to be on the way back home to the Inn. What a great time – we started off with a UFO Hefeweizen beer, enjoyed the company of Jo the awesome bartender, and then had some great food – beer battered onion rings, the good fat kind where you can taste the onion (we’re not going to talk about the great greasy feeling on your lips). We followed up the onion rings with a Rueben . How nice to have great bar food done just right – Green Mountain Smokehouse corned beef, layered with homemade sauerkraut, Swiss cheese
 Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT and thousand island dressing. And all served on fresh onion rye from Stone Arch Bakery in nearby Claremont, NH. This confirmed our suspicions about the corned beef from Green Mountain Smokehouse – no need to make our own. Jake is the master. Tender, tasty, just enough fat, excellent.
With just a bit of time to spare, we went off to visit the Simon Pearce factory that is just a few hundred yards from Harpoon Brewery. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit the Path of Life Sculpture Garden, which is a public sculpture garden whose eighteen works of art symbolize the circle of life. We’ll have to make a return visit, and perhaps check out Great River Outfitters, located right next door, for another canoe trip. In any event, I highly recommend visiting these sights when you visit us at our Woodstock, Vermont Bed and Breakfast, it was a great way to spend the day.
June 2, 2010
 Our cute little paddle boat Aah, the joys of early summer in Vermont. A warm sunny day, Inn chores all finished, and a few hours before guests are due to arrive at our Woodstock, Vermont bed & breakfast. Not a difficult thing for me to figure out what to do with myself- enlist a friend and make the short drive to Silver Lake State Park. For just $3 per person admission, you get to experience one of my favorite places. You can sun yourself on the grassy lawn that makes its way down to the lake, where you can go for a swim.
Another great activity at the park is to rent a little paddle boat. We did just that, and spent a lazy hour and half on the lake. In that timeframe we paddled from one end of the lake to the other, looking at all of the sweet little (and some not so little) houses and cottages along the lake.
 Pristine Silver Lake For those that have more time to spare than I did today, you can pack a picnic and make an afternoon of it. Ahhh, until next time, Silver Lake!
March 12, 2010
Lucky, that’s the only way to describe how I feel about my chance to meet Holly Williams and her husband Chris Coleman. If you haven’t heard of Holly, you will, she is bound to be wildly famous. She has an incredible voice, writes really moving songs, and just happens to be the daughter of Hank Williams, Jr. and granddaughter of Hank Williams. The amazing thing is just how sweet and down to earth she and Chris are.
 Holly Williams and Chris Coleman Holly and Chris stayed with us for two nights this week. They had just come back from a tour in Europe, and after just a day or two back in the states, drove from Nashville to New York to start their tour with John Hiatt. This was their first night off in quite a while. We feel lucky that they picked our Inn, and that we got to spend a few hours with them. Holly and Chris were so kind to invite us to be their guests at the Lebanon Opera House, where they were performing the following evening.
I hate to admit that I had not been to the Lebanon Opera House before this event. It is a beautiful little theatre in Lebanon, NH, only about a half hour drive from Woodstock. It’s the kind of venue that just doesn’t have a bad seat in the house because of its size. They’ve had lots of great acts that I would like to see, I guess that I just never made it a point to go. Like a lot of things in life, you figure that there will always be another opportunity.
Well, David and I just happened to be free the night of the concert, so off we went. All that I can say is that I was so completely blown away by Holly and Chris. She played several songs from her new CD, “Here with Me,” including a sweet thank you to her mother titled “Mama”, and a great steamy number titled “Three Days in Bed”. I could have listened to them play for much longer. Oh, and it was so sweet and utterly unexpected, Holly gave The Village Inn of Woodstock a great plug, saying how much she loved the Inn, the food, and the whirlpool tub. John Hiatt and the incredible musicians in his band didn’t disappoint either.
 Holly and Chris There is nothing like seeing a live performance, the energy and the sound are just intoxicating. We feel lucky that we saw this show, we would not have gone except for meeting Holly and Chris. We realize how much we have been missing all these years. Check out the Lebanon Opera House’s schedule to see if there is anything that interests you while you are in our area, it really is a terrific venue.
Last but not least, thank you Holly and Chris for crossing our paths. We feel so blessed to have met you, and wish you nothing but the best. You are just the most amazing people in so many ways. We hope to see you in Woodstock this summer!
February 24, 2010
 - Bring your snowshoes
We’ve not had very much snow in Vermont this year. Until today, that is. I would guess that we have at least 12 inches as of 10 a.m. today (Wednesday). I took this photo of the terrace just a few minutes ago. The forecast is for the snow to continue until about 1 a.m. on Thursday morning, with accumulations up to 20 inches.
For those of you that are joining us this weekend and early next week that asked me to work on the snow situation, here it is. Outdoor activities await you – snow shoeing, cross country and downhill skiing, should be just terrific. Looking forward to seeing you!
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