Vermont Pizza

For anyone concerned that I might have been forced to forgo my 6th food group while on vacation, have no fear. Stowe has at least two pizzerias that I got to try.

Pizza #1- Pie in the Sky
Katie and I tried a red onion, feta and spinach pie. Good combo of toppings, although we get credit for that. The highlight of this pie is it's sauce. It's a bold and sweet flavor. The mozz also seemed very creamy and complimented the sauce nicely, however it was hard to give it a total yea or nay because the pizza had cooled down a bit between the village and the lodge.


Pizza #2- Piecasso
On Monday night we enjoyed a ricotta and broccoli pie. Again, props to Katie for a good topping combination. The highlight of a Piecasso pie is the crust. It was a wonderfully airy and chewy crust with a freshly baked flavor.

Pie in the Sky edges Piecasso by a nose. But all skiers should go to bed safe in the knowledge that any apres ski pizza hankerings would be completely fulfilled at either spot.

Vermont in pictures

The Lodge. Employees were stringing lights in all of the bushes and on trees that line the second floor balcony. I can only imagine how beautiful it will look between now and Christmas.


Downtown Stowe. One of the cheese shops we patronized even had an owner who looked like Bob Newhart.

View of the village from the north.


Katie believes Erdine is an age progression of what she'll look like in 50 years. Oh Katie!

I found a friend too:-)

Cows

While Katie was jogging one day, (read: getting very lost and trying to convince a USPS employee to give her a ride back to the lodge) she found the Van Trapp cows. I drove down the mountain with her to have a look.



Katie just knew this cow wanted to be friends with her.

But I convinced her that she should avoid kissing the cow.

But she still got a hand kiss:-)

The hills are alive with the sound of music

Happy Thanksgiving

More on Vermont tomorrow.

But for now, the Taylors wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday!



(29 days until Christmas:-o)

Peppermint Schtick

Katie and I visited Ben & Jerry's today and are pleased to recommend their new holiday flavor-- Peppermint Schtick, which is peppermint ice cream with chocolate covered peppermint pieces!



We took the tour and also got to sample Triple Carmel Chunk. I would have never selected that at the store but it was super too!

More tomorrow!

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Exhaustion...

... Go on a vacation to the Van Trapp Lodge!! Oh yeah!!

Katie visited Stowe, Vermont for cross country camp during high school. But we have always wanted to visit the Van Trapp Family Lodge. When we didn't end up going to Italy, Vermont seemed like a great alternative.

The mountains don't open until next week but we've enjoyed some great sightseeing, food, yoga and winery.



For Katie's birthday dinner, we tried the Green Mountain Inn. I loved my mushroom and chevre raviolis with butternut squash sauce. Katie enjoyed her apple, Cabot cheddar chicken with an apple cider reduction.

Yesterday, after a run on the trail that Katie remembered from high school, we enjoyed a bit of breakfast at the cafe on the Van Trapp property.




As THE SNOW STARTED FALLING, we warmed up by the fire and enjoyed a cinnamon scone (they must have known I was coming;-))




We headed towards the Boyden Valley Winery via the Smugglers Notch Pass. Unfortunately we failed to realize that the road is closed in the winter. But on the upside, we got to watch some diehard skiers walking up the mountain with skis and snowboards on their backs and then skiing down. I can only imagine how the town and mountains crank during the weekend.

Also on the upside, we drove to the winery via Morrisville and found lunch that was The Bees Knees. Literally. The Bees Knees cafe served mean mac & cheese with caramelized onions and a quiche with Vermont cheddar, sun dried tomato, green beans and kale. The atmosphere was quintessentially relaxed, crunchy, friendly Vermont.

We were glad we pushed on to the winery for a tasting of everything from rhubarb wine, ice cider and ice red wine, and glogg. How cool (and hot)... not your average winery.

More adventures tomorrow!

Out and About at Borough Hall

Sad news at the farmers market today... the grape ladies from Buzzard Crest Vineyards are gone! They are the highlight of my early to mid fall. I knew their season was coming to an end but hoped they'd still have a few more Mars grapes for me today. Oh well, something to look forward to next year.

Fun news is that Too Big to Fail, a movie about Andrew Ross Sorkin's book about the financial meltdown, is filming around borough hall today. The dressing room doors said "Pelosi," "Grasley," and "Durbin" on them. Let's just hope the real Nancy stays in DC!

Marathon Sunday

How can one not be inspired by a day like today-- NYC Marathon Sunday!

I watched in Brooklyn, in hopes of seeing the men's and women's lead pack, members of the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, a colleague and Richard Whitehead who is the world fastest double amputee marathon runner (and a Brit.) Missed my colleague but saw everyone else, PLUS Edison Pena, one of the rescued Chilean miners, Jared from Subway and guy dressed in orange body suit (among other characters:-))











Well done everyone!!