Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Jay About Groton!


As I am sitting here finishing up another day of economic kicks to my balls... I thought I might reflect on a very nice weekend I had w/ my special lady. I was pretty sick and stayed home Friday. Turned out to be a great move, I was able to rest all day and put my mind and body back together. By Saturday I was raring to go!! The weather was great, we had just had a pretty good snow storm that dumped well over a foot of unexpected snow. The snow was deep but pretty light and the temperature was a quite pleasent 30 degrees. My lady had a plan and we ran w/ it... a trip to the Northeast Kingdom! Well, it's actually quite a haul up to VT's nether regions but we were able to get to the fringes just north and east of Montpelier in the Groton State Forrest. It was great, there were miles of untouched hiking trails (only a few snowmobilers were on some VAST trails) and the snow was great. We strapped on the snowshoes and cruised around in solitude for a couple hours. Really quite beautiful.

The best thing about winter sports is apres ski... even if you were not actually skiing!! For this we went to a pretty slick place in St. Johnsbury, Elements. It is a little off the main drag on Mill Street. Suprisingly enough, it is a gutted and refurbished mill?! Who knew? The space is really beautiful w/ exposed beams and wonderful woodwork throughout. It is quite an anomoly for St. J let me tell you. They started us off at the bar w/ wine for m'lady and a beer for me as well as these really crispy homade sweet potato chips. The bar opens @4pm, the kitchen @5. After chatting w/ our friendly bartender and another host we sat down in the bar area which is still quite clean and pleasant. The menu changes every week which is pretty fun. It is not too large or overwealming and gives you apps, small plates, large entrees, and side dishes. The little lady started w/ a green salad w/ a delicious maple dressing (not too sweet or syrupy), I hit up an amazing roasted onion soup w/ a blue cheese crositini. The soup had a great flavor and a maybe even better texture, pureed but w/ body. We then went w/ a couple of small plates. My wife rocked out with a bones clinging braised bork dish w/ blue cheese and toast. The pork was very tender and delicious. I went w/ the duck leg confit. it dropped off the bone and was accompanied by a sweet acorn squash surrounded by a raspberry reduction. We finished off w/ a very pleasant conversation w/ the owner and a couple of espressos (that and an amazing key lime pie slice we took to go!). I am giving this place 2 solid thumbs up... good food, good service, good atmosphere. This place had the whole package. So there you have it!!!

***btw, spell check on Blogger is not working and I am a suki spellor, sori.

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