Busy March Weekends

 
Well, hello! March as usual, has turned out to be a very busy month for Chad and I. We successfully brewed our first batch of beer, an Irish red and started 'production' on our second, Oktoberfest. We now have a full closet dedicated to beer and brewing equipment. There are a few other guys at church who are into brewing so we've traded 6 packs with them so we can all try different styles of home brew!

Last weekend I took Friday off to drive down to Coatesville, PA (just outside Philly) with my friend Shelby to see my dear friend Heather Stoutenburg. Heather's mother was hosting her baby shower so we took the opportunity to see Heather since she was so much closer in Philly than in Iowa! It was truly great to see her and spend Friday night through Sunday morning catching up and enjoying chatting all things baby!  The drive was long, but it was definitely worth it. Shelby and I actually had a good time on the drive - things went pretty smoothly. One other thing worth noting - I went to Chick-fil-a for the first time ever. Oh-my-goodness. SO delicious! Never in your life have you tasted chicken so moist yet so crunchy.

This past weekend Chad and I went to Vermont to celebrate our third wedding anniversary. Despite traffic we arrived at our hotel, the Essex Culinary Resort and Spa at 8:30pm. We checked in, freshened up, and then headed to Burlington, only a 20 minute drive away, for dinner. We decided on Vermont Pub and Brewery. Our burgers were delicious, however we weren't super impressed with the beer. I got a 6 choice sampler, unfortunately most seemed flat and watery. We are starting to get fairly picky! Never fear... this was not the final word on Vermont beer. We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast on Saturday morning and then headed off to check out the downtown area of Burlington, VT. Burlington is Vermont's largest city, but is probably no larger than Everett, WA. The city sits on the eastern coast of lake Champlain, which borders New York state to the west and Canada to the north. The downtown area has a pedestrian only walkway called the Church Street marketplace. We found it to be a nice mix of local boutiques, restaurants and franchised stores. We went in to a store with the most gorgeous local handmade wood products and furniture. We left with a beautiful new rolling pin made from oak.  We stopped into Lake Champlain Chocolates and apparently started a tradition of purchasing truffles to enjoy on our anniversary getaways (last year we bought truffles on the Cape). We stopped into a wine store and purchased a bottle of 14 Hands Cabernet to enjoy later that night as well continuing in the tradition from last year. We had lunch at the most delicious spot - American Flatbread which specializes in woodfired flatbreads made with local products and (of course) beer! The restaurant is also a brewery. Chad enjoyed a beer that is not made with hops, but with herbs and roots instead. I had a black IPA that was extremely tasty. Chad was so enamoured with the place we almost wanted to go back for dinner! We then headed off to an afternoon of brewery tours! Our first stop was Switchback Brewery, a small set up with very respectable beer. Our second stop was Magic Hat Brewery which was quite an assault on all senses. The inside of the brewery store (called the Artifactory) looks like a clown and a hippie had a baby and that baby threw up everywhere. The tour was just ok but the tasting was great. We purchased two snifters to add to our growing collection of glasses. We then drove back to our hotel and enjoyed some down time. I took a nap while Chad read for a while. Then we enjoyed the outside hot tub (perfect on a misty day) at the spa. We watched Independence Day while enjoying our wine and chocolates. That was a pretty spectacular end to our perfect afternoon. We actually decided to dine at our hotel instead of heading back into town. Since our hotel is also a culinary resort we felt confident in this choice. Dinner was very delicious and it was so nice to be able to head back straight to our room when we were done, not have to drive back 20 minutes.  We checked out early around 9:30 am and headed back into town for brunch at Penny Cluse's. Where not only did we enjoy delicious food but we had the added entertainment of watching a woman get pulled over and arrested across the street. We're unsure of her offense - Chad thinks it's drugs, I think it was a DUI - it's probably both : ) We then got back on the road to head south to Waterbury, VT where Green Mountain Coffee, Ben & Jerry's Icecream, and Cabot Cheese are located within 3 miles of each other! Ben & Jerry's was obviously a highlight. The tour was informative and funny. Our tour guide informed us of the advantages of working for Ben & Jerry: as much free ice cream as your heart desires while on the clock and for every day you work you can take 3 pints home. That's 60 pints a month!!!! Holy cow (btw they make a lot of cow jokes on the tour)! Our tour guide trades his pints for hair cuts and car maintenance. He even participates in a pint for pint program at the local bar! I'm surprised our tour guide wasn't a mammoth of a man - as it was he just had a little chubby tummy. We enjoyed our own gluttonous proportions at the scoop shop post tour. We also visited the Cabot cheese store and enjoyed many wonderful samples. We then proceeded to drive up to Stowe, a quiet, small little ski town where the actual Von Trapp family (from Sound of Music) moved to post WW2. After all of that we waddled back to the car for the return trip. It was a lovely weekend in a lovely state. Vermont is truly beautiful and picturesque. We will surely be returning!

 

I wanted to get this bib for baby Stoutenburg. How cute!

 

Big copper container for some part of the beer brewing process at Switchback Brewery. I'm obviously a pro.

 

 

Moooo.

 

Magic Hat Brewery: look at all that beer!

 

Peace Love & Ice Cream. And Chad.