A weekend in the Berkshires.....

(warning.... long post)

Cannot get much more New England than that!

I also cannot believe it took us this long to finally get there!! You MUST go there sometime for a concert at Tanglewood, especially if you are within driving distance in New England!

Friday I scooted out of work early and only worked a half day, I had to get home to finish packing and fuel up for our drive.....

LUNCH

-sandwich thin, turkey, goat cheese, spinach, tomato

-few TLC's

We loaded up the IL's convertible.... yes we are spoiled... and off we went to Lenox, MA.

A couple hours into our trip I needed a little snack, nectarine to the rescue!

We took a meandering route, I-495 to route 2 to route 8 and finally to 7. I think it took us about 4 hours or so. We were very happy to arrive in Lenox and to the B&B, the Rookwood Inn. It was the perfect location, walking distance to the village and to Tanglewood.

After unpacking we decided to venture out for a walk.... and eventually a pre-dinner cocktail. I lost the picture, but we grabbed a drink at the bar of Firefly. Cute place, it was a little loud due to a private party the next room over but we enjoyed checking the place out.

At 8pm we headed down to Alta Restaurant & Wine Bar for our dinner. We were happy to find the dining room a bit more quiet than at Firefly, we wanted to just relax and enjoy our yummy dinner.... and be able to carry on a conversation. :)

We split a bottle of 2006 Louis Latour Pinot Noir. It was yummy. We also split a camera shy crab cake and salad. The salad was delicious with greens, feta, grilled zucchini, tomatoes and cucumber.

Also had a little bread & butter.

For my main course I had the salmon. It was delicious!
It was pan seared and topped with an kalamata olive tapenade, on the side was grilled zucchini and a warm potato salad with an herb sherry vinaigrette.

After dinner we were too stuffed for dessert right away so we retreated to the bar..... as it was pouring out! I was feeling adventurous so I had a fun martini.....
this one involved mango vodka and orange juice, yum.

But soon we found room for dessert and split this chocolate mousse cake...... it of course needed a glass of red wine, I opted for a cab.

Finally the rain stopped for a bit and we were able to walk back to the inn. We had a big day ahead for Saturday and needed our beauty sleep.

Saturday we were up and out by 9am. The inn offered a breakfast, it was ok..... Apparently it wasn't exciting enough for me to photograph. I just had an english muffin, small yogurt and a bit of quiche.

We did some exploring and then headed to the morning's main event.... a roundtable discussion at Tanglewood with James Taylor, Sheryl Crow and John Williams. It was a great discussion focusing on how each of them got started in music, their influences and where you they feel the music industry is going. It was just great to see them carrying on a thoughtful conversation and even answering some questions from the crowd.

After the roundtable we were both HUNGRY!!!

So we headed back to the inn, parked and ventured back into the village. We checked out a few places and decided on the Church Street Cafe..... excellent choice. :) It was a bit busy, but so were most places due to all the concert goers in town.

LUNCH
My sandwich was SO GOOD!

Whole wheat w/ eggplant, tomato, greens and goat cheese.... forget if there was anything else, but it was yummy... primarily due to lots of goat cheese I think. ;) The salad it was served with was delicious as well, it was kind of a pesto barley salad w/ some carrots and celery.... yum.

We did some more exploring around down town and then headed off to Guido's Fresh Marketplace. This place was definitley a great find, full of gorgeous organic produce, fresh backed goods, beautiful deli salads & meats, lots of fabulous cheeses, just a food lovers dream! It was also PACKED with other concert goers getting their picnic fixin's.

Once we had our food it was back to the inn to pack up and head to Tanglewood. We loaded up our picnic backpack, our table and chairs.... then we were off!!

Once at Tanglewood we got our spot set up and then it was time to start the grazing and the drinking!

DINNER
-we ended up with lots of snacky food..... grapes, string beans, an apple, brie, jack cheese, crackers, bruschetta topping

oh and WINE

Our main course was ..... ciabatta rolls with chicken salad and seafood salad.

It was a little cool out BUT no rain! We were so happy the weather cooperated!

While waiting for the concert to start we made a pleasant discovery..... the house music being played prior to the concert was a friend of ours, Peter Mayer!!! We were both humming along and then realized it was out of place. After looking at the program we realized a connection between Peter and one of the crew (he also had ties to Sheryl Crow as well). It was just so amazing to be seated with 20,000+ people and to hear Peter playing.... this guy played at our wedding!

Then it was time to finally enjoy some live music.....

Sheryl Crow
James Taylor
and apparently I forgot to upload a picture of Yo-Yo Ma.

It was a fabulous night of music. The mix of folk, rock and classical was wonderful. I am always amazed out how moving Yo-Yo Ma's playing is. It pretty much brought me to tears...... so beautiful.

After the concert we were very pleased with our decision to walk.... bumber to bumber traffic. We powerwalked back to the inn. Once back we dropped our stuff off, changed and headed out to check out the village. It was suprisingly quiet and we soon realized we were a bit tired..... so back to the inn we went and hit the hay.

I was very happy the next morning when I got up for my run that we hadn't stayed out later. My training schedule called for a 16 mile run, but not knowing the area all that well I decided to do a shorter run and hope that I got a longer run in later in the week. I headed out for a loop around Tanglewood and then added on a bit through town.

It was a bit foggy out at the start of my run........

Another reason why I opted for a shorter run...... all the HILLS!!!

I was able to get about 6 miles in and then headed back to the inn. We had a lack luster breakfast.... again no pictures. Some yogurt parfait and some baked french toast. After breakfast we packed up the car and did some more wandering.

Just down the street from our inn we found this gorgeous building......Ventford Hall. Unfortunately a play was going on and we weren't able to go in, but we did poke around the building and the grounds. Amazing to think that was someone's summer home.

We then headed north to check out Williamstown, home to Williams College, and then on to North Adams. In North Adams we checked out the Mass MoCA....museum of contemporary art. But prior to doing that we had to get some food, luckily they have a restaurant there...Cafe Latino.

Since we were still on vacation, I had some wine with lunch.... glass of pinot gris.

It was perfect with my yummy fish tacos.
I was happy to see that the restaurant is commited to using as much local ingredients as possible in their food.

I was also amused to notice the trees outside the window..... growing upside down. Inside the museum we noticed their gift shop sold maple syrup made from the trees.

Unfortunately by the time we got done with lunch, we were short on time and didn't really get to check out much of the museum...... next trip though!
At least our trip home was fun.... well at least the start. Route 2 out of North Adams has some fun twists and turns, as well as some fun climbs and descents...... great for the convertible on a sunny day!

It was a great trip, I really hope we are able to go again next summer!! Maybe next time we will bring some friends. But it was good to get away...... just the two of us.

Hope you had a great weekend!!!

Britt

Back into the swing....

Now that the craziness of vacation is over and the visit from my dad.... back to blogging.

Today was a busy one as usual. I got the weekly email from our CSA (crop share association) mentioning that we should try to get to the farmer's market early, as they would pack up if an afternoon thunderstorm sprung up. So smart me decided to swing by at lunch time, only problem is the market doesn't open till 2pm. Then I hit traffic due to road work..... so I had very little time for lunch so I threw this together......

- Flatout, turkey, provolone, tomato, spinach and a lil' mayo w/ a nice juicy piece of cantaloupe. Yum!

Then it was back to work. Had a little snack of Pirates Booty around 3:30 or so along with a big ol' glass of water.

After work I ran back to the farmer's market to get our crop share. Look at this amazing spread!

Lettuce, onions, carrots, baby turnips, cabbage, green beans, potatoes

I also could not resist the sunflowers and picked up a bunch.

I unfortunately did not have time for a bike ride as I had a 6:30 meeting. I decided not to chance it and have my dinner first. Kept it simple with another wrap, notice a trend here?

We had some left over steak tips from last night so I cut & heated a piece up, added in some fresh lettuce, tomato and some baby bell cheese. Unfortunately the meat was chewy not sure what happened so I only ate the other stuff, little meat. :( So sad.

My meeting didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would so I came home to do some chores and see the hubby. :) My disappointing dinner caught up to me and I had to have a little something else, some ice cream in the fridge was calling my name.... so it was a small dish of chocolate fudge ice cream. Yum. :) It was camera shy though.

So what has been keeping me so busy..... my wonderful dad visiting! His one request, other than wanting to spend quality time together, was to enjoy some lobster together...... so we did!

But before the lobsters we enjoyed some mussels.....

Of course I had to pose with my mussel and my muscles.....

But then I got full..... so we had to take a break before the lobsters.

As you will note in most of the pictures I have wine. I enjoyed myself quite a bit, unfortunately I had a 5K the next day at 8am about 30 minutes away. I survived, definitely not my best time ever (22:49), but I made it through some how. But definitely a lesson learned, take it easy the night before.... regardless of house guests.....either that or not schedule a race the next day. ;)

So prior to my dad's visit.... there was Cape Cod. Ah what a wonderful time! We had some much fun. A recap of some of the highlights.......

Serious Matches of Badminton

Chillin On the Deck....

Riding Bikes on the Rail Trail

Enjoying Beautiful Sunsets

Relaxing at the Beach

And Cooking Up Some Tasty Eats

Alright time to focus on serious matters.... like Jillian's drama on the Bachelorette!

Who's a slacker....... oh me.

Hey I knew it was ambitious to think I could wade into the world of blogging while on vacation...... it just crashed and burned a couple days in. The internet connection wasn't working on all the computers we had.... oh yeah and I don't have my own computer at the moment... take pity. But I think I have sufficiently guilted my hubby and I'll have myself a nice little macbook all of my own. :)

Pretty much once Kirt arrived my ability to blog went downhill... he's such a distraction. ;) As were my many books I got sucked into, I'm a sucker for a mindless mystery novel.

Anyhow.... for the most part my breakfasts & lunches didn't get too wild and crazy. However my evil, but so sweet, father-in-law kept getting fresh donuts from a place nearby...... so hard to resist! I tried to limit myself to half of one and then keep to a healthy breakfast.

One major accomplishment for my trip, I worked out 6 out of 8 days! Even on those other 2 days I did some walking or leisurely biking (to the beach!).

My workouts....

Wednesday: 3 mile run, 30 pushups, planks 3 x's holding for 1 minute

Thursday: 4 mile run, situps, 30 push ups

Friday: off day, but walked and road my bike to the beach

Saturday: 20 mile bike ride

Sunday: 25 mile bike ride

Monday: off day, but did some walking and scaling the dunes at the beach

Tuesday: 8 mile run

Wednesday: 3 mile run

When on vacation I MUST workout first thing in the morning or else it doesn't happen.... which has been a trend in my life even when I'm not on vacation. The day flies by and if I didn't work out in the morning, its not going to happen on most days.

So here is some photos and some yapping.....

Breakfast most days was Kashi Heart to Heart, greek yogurt, berries, drizzle of almond butter and some ground flax.... why mess with perfection.

Lunch tended to be a flat out wrap, turkey, provolone, lots of veggies, pickles and some hummus. Side of carrots and occasionally a little vino.

Dinner was where it got a bit more interesting.....

Thursday night... grilled pork, asparagus, spring turnips and sauteed turnip greens with some brown rice. Little salad on the side.
Friday we decided to hit up a fish market in Wellfleet, Hatch's. I found some super yummy smoked bluefish. This stuff is addicting! Our pre-dinner appetizer spread. I probably would have been content with just this to be honest... but one cannot live on cheese and smoked bluefish alone.... so sad.
I was on dinner duty so I did a simple baked cod, mashed fennel potatoes (all from our crop share), zucchini & tomato salad, as well as some regular salad. Also had a glass of Charles Shaw cabernet... aka 2 Buck Chuck. Its really not bad, especially when you consider the price, actually $2.99 where I got it in Cambridge, Ma.
Oh and I had the hubby make these as another treat for dinner.... some fresh mussels cooked in olive oil & white wine with some onion and garlic. YUMMY!!!

We had some left overs so this was Saturday's breakfast... don't worry I had some fruit too...

Fishcakes with a poached egg on top.

Saturday's dinner was a lemon chicken pasta my mother-in-law whipped up. Had salad on the side. Simple but so good! (love how beautifully lit my dinner is, thank you sun)

Then we ventured to the upper deck to enjoy this....

Sunday was a BEACH DAY!!!

It was a tad Windy on Sunday but we survived and had a great time, so much so that we went back for more on Monday. But this time we went earlier and packed our lunch. Both days we ventured up to a great beach bar/restaurant around 5 or 6pm, the Beachcomber. Sunday we just did a couple beers and Monday we shared a 1/2 dozen oysters on the half shell and a half dozen shrimp cocktail, so yummy, plus a couple drinks.

Me on Sunday after a day at the beach and a beer

Sunday we headed out for dinner, our first selection didn't really work out well.... long story, a hungry Britt can be a bit grumpy when a restaurant's staff is rude.... so we went back to a place we know and love.... Winslow's Tavern in Wellfleet.

Kirt and I split a 1/2 dozen oysters and then I had this delicious striped bass w/ potatoes and artichokes so good.

Random other stuff...

Me hanging with Zoey..... the neighborhood Portuguese Water Dog..... she has the most hysterical bark, you can tell when she is out and about.

And another lovely sunset.

Left out a few side trips and adventures.... but that is the best I can do at this late hour. Hopefully now that I'm back to the "real world" I'll get on more of a regular blog schedule.... we shall see! Now to get some sleep, I am hoping to get back to Kettlebell tomorrow morning!

Britt