Walkin’ and eatin’

I’m off north tomorrow morning. There is a fair chance of rain Wednesday and Thursday, with some thunder and lightning thrown in. Temps in the Fahrenheit mid-80s (35-ish Celsius). Humidity in low 60s. The famously spectacular views from West Bond and Bondcliff will probably be obscured. I’ll just have to return with H&A ... and perhaps, eventually, the little one. There’s a version of this walk that is a traverse, as opposed to my planned loop. With a jolly crew and a second car, that would be great fun.

I always eat well when I go north, where I have the use of a friend’s cottage on the west (Vermont) side of the Connecticut River. Best of all, there’s home cookin’ at J&P’s. I also often have a dinner with J&P or others at the Canoe Club in Hanover or the Norwich Inn back across the river in Vermont, where brewmaster Patrick Dakin, who with aplomb played a major role in H&A’s wedding celebration, creates small and rotating batches of his excellent beers. Mornings, I frequent comfy, friendly Isabell’s cafe in East Thetford (fresh ingrediants, homemade baked goods) or, if I’m headed that way, the previously mentioned Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire (the plan for Wednesday morning). Before I come home, I usually stop at the Hanover Co-op to buy a few loaves of Red Hen ciabatta and, if it’s available, a big chunk of the best cheddar I’ve ever tasted, Cabot/Jasper Hill Clothbound. Maple sugar (Grade B: much tastier than that flashy, lightweight Grade A stuff) and good farm hard cider sometimes round out the shopping. When it’s open in the summer, I also often stop on the way up or back in Putney, Vermont, at the funky Curtis’ BBQ (lunch tomorrow for sure).

Out.