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September 19, 2011
If you are reading this, chances are you already know that Simon Pearce is one of our favorite restaurants. We have recommended them to countless guests over the years, and have sorely missed them since tropical storm Irene caused significant damage to the downstairs of their building. The team at Simon Pearce is nothing short of amazing, working countless hours to restore the impacted areas of the mill. The restaurant opened for lunch the past Saturday, and as of today they are open for lunch and dinner daily. Here is a peek at my wonderful lunch today.
 Spinach salad with bacon, pumpkin seeds, cheddar cheese and sherry vinaigrette. (Half-eaten, photographer was hungry!)
 Steelhead trout with roasted butternut squash hash, apple maple mustard sauce. This was unbelievably delicious. Not one bit of sauce left by the time that I was finished!
 Ok, so I wasn't hungry by the time I finished my salad and steelhead, but I am a real cheese lover. Three amazing Vermont farmstead cheeses, served with apricot mostarda and house-made crackers. Amazing finish to a delightful lunch. Please be sure to include Simon Pearce in your plans while you are here visiting our wonderful part of the country. Vermont is open and ready for you to visit, please join us!
December 8, 2010
There are exceptions to every rule. For me, it’s the Fish Stew Club at Simon Pearce Restaurant in nearby Quechee, Vermont. It began innocently enough. A few years ago I ordered one of the specials at lunch at Simon Pearce Restaurant. It happened to be the Provencal Fish Stew. One bite and I was hooked. It was like a trip to the south of France. Fresh fennel, tomatoes, mussels, an assortment of fish, baby spinach simmered in a white wine and lemon flavored broth, topped with saffron aioli and focaccia croutons.
 Provencal Fish Stew My fish stew delight is heightened by the atmosphere. The restaurant is cantilevered over a waterfall, looking at a covered bridge. The atmosphere is both modern and warm at the same time. The glassware is all made by Simon Pearce artisans – hand blown, made in the USA. The dinnerware is also handcrafted by master artisans. Service is wonderful, friendly and efficient. For me, going to lunch at Simon Pearce is like being on vacation, even if for just a few hours.
Alas, that lunch ended, but my craving for fish stew did not. A few weeks later, I called the restaurant to see when fish stew would be on the menu again. The lovely Deanna, restaurant manager, answered my call. She asked if I wanted to be included in the Fish Stew Club. Too funny, I am not the only one that craves the stuff. Sure, I sign up, and will be notified by e-mail whenever fish stew is on the menu. Perfect!
 The water fall, right outside the window by our table Now don’t worry if you aren’t in the club, and aren’t sure if you want to join, either. As of this fall, the Provencal Fish Stew has become a staple on the lunch menu. Not sure if it will stay that way, but I sure hope that it does so that you can try this wonderful dish anytime.
While you are at Simon Pearce Restaurant, be sure to check out the glass blowing downstairs. It is a delightful activity for folks of all ages. You can also see the turbine that harnesses energy from the massive waterfall. The turbine produces all of the energy needed to power the entire restaurant and glassblowing operation. If you are visiting on the weekends, you can see potters at work. And once you’ve come to appreciate all that goes into creating these beautiful pieces, you can saunter back up to the retail shop and treat yourself to a one of a kind remembrance of your visit to Vermont.
If I sound like a hired hand for Simon Pearce, I’m not. I just have a real love for how well they do things. Our guests always rave about the excellent service at the restaurant. Personally I have a bit of an addiction to their glassware. The tables at our Woodstock Vermont bed and breakfast are topped with Simon Pearce hurricanes and their champagne buckets and glass ice cubes are in our tavern. And yesterday I was lucky enough to have another bowl of my favorite Provencal Fish Stew. Life is good.
October 28, 2010
Feels like forever since I have had a chance to write anything on our blog, we’ve been crazy busy with the fall foliage season.  Alas, leaf peeping is about finished, so David and I seized the opportunity last night to try out Woodstock’s newest restaurant, Melaza Caribbean Bistro. Melaza, a Puerto Rican, Cuban & Dominican Fusion restaurant, is just down the street from The Village Inn of Woodstock, right in the Village of Woodstock, Vermont.
We were greeted so warmly by James Van Kirk, one of the restaurant’s owners. He has this wonderful energy and a great smile. The place is so full of energy, you can’t help but love it from the second that you walk in. It was great to see how busy they were, especially since it was a Wednesday in a pretty quiet time here in Woodstock.
We chose to sit in the bar, which like the restaurant, is decorated in warm tones evocative of the Caribbean.
 Caribbean Tapas Sampler, half eaten already The wine list features nice wines starting at about $20.00 a bottle, a bit of a rarity these days. Hard to go wrong with a bottle of Lunetta Prosecco for $21.00. It was the perfect accompaniment for the Caribbean Tapas Sampler, pictured to the left. Sorry, the pictures in the post are not the greatest – camera battery was really low and I was trying to squeak out a few pictures, no room for do-overs.
James said that we should both order the sampler, that it is one of the best small plates on the menu. Neither of us was disappointed, we both enjoyed the different flavors and textures, and were frankly glad that we didn’t have to share.
For entrees, David had the Beef Short Rib, braised in a flavorful tomato cuban creole
 Braised Beef Short Rib "Costillas de Res" sauce, served with garlic mashed potatoes and braised veggies. This was melt in your mouth great, tons of flavor, seasoned just perfectly.
I ordered the Scallops “Veiras” and was equally happy with my selection. Pan seared scallops, served over risotto, with a curry coconut lime sauce, pineapple chutney, and
 - Very blurry picture of my terrific scallops
tamarind glaze. This is where my camera work is awful, but the presentation of the dish was so beautiful that I can’t help but share the photo. The portion was beautiful, not a whole ton of risotto, scallops really were the star, along with the wonderfully tangy sauce.
All entrees are served with a green salad with a refreshing house vinaigrette. I called today to ask what the flavoring is, James said that it is Pomegranate. Nice touch, I must say.
We are thrilled to have such an exciting restaurant join our already wonderful dining scene here in Woodstock. We look forward to returning, and highly recommend that you give Melaza a try!
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.
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