i worked on the saturday before lee's birthday. so he had that day to spend on his own. his instructions were to pick me up at work, with a zipcar that i had rented, and he would drive where i told him to go. he did not know where i was going to take him. he eventually figured out that it was vermont--i mean, it's not too difficult to figure out, after all. we stayed in a cheap hotel in montpelier. nothing fancy, but inns in vermont are terrifically expensive! and what with a new condo, i wanted to have a good time without breaking the bank... so we checked in around 7pm and promptly started the festivities. first on the list was a stop on vermonts beer trail: the alchemist pub. Now, this may have been lee's birthday celebration, but i must say that i was ELATED to find out that the alchemist makes its very own gluten free beer! it's called celia pale ale and it was THE BEST gluten free beer i have ever had. possibly the best pale ale i've ever had... too bad they don't sell their beer anywhere but at the pub :( but lee sampled several delicious beers while there and then we had a great dinner. thanks, alchemist!
we then woke up the next morning and headed straight out for the ben & jerry's factory tour in waterbury. it was fun and smelled delicious. this is also where, though it was lee's birthday, they happened to be serving my favorite ice cream flavor as the free sample :) it was mint chocolate chunk. for those of you who know me, you know that i always go to ice cream shops with the intention of trying something new and fun, but each time, as soon as i get up to the counter, i just order the shop's mint chocolate ice cream, whatever it is. how predictable! lee was also able to nab us an additional sample to share :)
anyway, this was vermont, and i'm happy to report that by 1pm, lee and i had sampled the following:- ice cream at ben & jerry's
- plenty of cheese at the cabot annex store
- chocolates from lake champlain's factory store
- apple cider
- wine and hard cider
then we drove up to burlington. i know there are some die-hard burlington fans out there, but i have to say that i just don't really have to go again. lee and i used to live in boulder, co, and burlington and boulder are so much alike (but not in the ways that we liked boulder--in the ways that we disliked boulder...). in any case, we had a nice stroll around on some festival day. then we went to a creperie called the skinny pancake that makes gluten free buckwheat crepes! both of our dinners were delicious--lee did not have a gluten free or vegetarian/pescatarian variety, so i could not sample--and we were so full that we had no room for dessert. but lee's was a completely local crepe: local handmade sausage, cheese, maple syrup, and some veggies. it looked great.
we rolled ourselves back to our hotel, slept soundly, and drove back to boston the next morning. it was a great trip, though it sounded more like a trip for me than for lee! i had never been to vermont before, and i will go back. but lee thought it was a great trip and also agreed that we should go again sooner rather than later. maybe we'll get in some good snowshoeing this year?
lee's real birthday was the following tuesday, august 10. lee wanted a real new england meal, so i made lobster, steamed mussels, biscuits, maple glazed carrots, and boston cream pie. i am eating a lot more seafood these days (my choices are so limited, and i immensely enjoy what i've been having!), but i'm not a huge lobster fan. lee got most of the lobster to himself and then was able to gorge himself on plenty of mussels too.
all in all, i think he had a great birthday :)
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