American Traveler

P1010493, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

Very nice bed and breakfast

We spent a couple of nights, post Christmas, in Newport, where we stayed at the Clarkeston Inn on Clarke Street. originally, we were booked at the Melville, just down the street, but were upgraded to a room in the Clarkeston. They are both, along with several others on Clarke St., part of the Inns of Newport. Most are on the register of Historic Places. Clapboard, cape cod style buildings. Even though it was an upgrade, our room was a bit small, though it did have a working fireplace which made for romantic evenings. problem was, it was on the first floor, right sandwiched between the front door and the kitchen, and right across from the dining room so it was a bit noisy in the mornings. Breakfast there was good—pancakes, eggs, french toast, coffee, juice—though not outstanding. The location couldn’t have been better.

Goulash at UZK, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

A big bowl of goulash with potato pancakes and dumplings, plus a salad, plus some kolbasa, plus potatoes. That’s the ways we roll in the Czech republic. The place was in a basement filled with museum quality stuffed wild animals. Crazy!

What $16 Gets You at Rowdy Hall

I’m thinking that Rowdy Hall’s half an acorn squash stuffed with spinach is a bit pricey at 16 bucks. Agree?

Next stop: Nick and Toni’s.

New Year’s Eve 2010: Early dinner at Nick and Toni’s. Started with cocktails, of course. A hot pepper infused vodka martini for Lauren and for me, a Rosemary’s Baby—organic gin with homemade limoncello and rosemary. Delicious! Lauren had a wild mushroom and frisee salad which she loved. I chose the warm cauliflower salad which blew me away. Cauliflower was al dente and perfectly cooked. They snuck some bacon in there too. Main course, whole branzio stuffed with citrus for her. Osso Bucco for me. Lauren finished hers down to the eyeballs. Me? I couldn’t get through mine. Too much moist tender, delicious meat.

Read all about how they celebrate maple sugaring season in Quebec

One of my favorite articles from the late, great Gourmet magazine.

You can download it in pdf form here.

shacks part 1

shacks2 part 2