Beautiful Foods 2023

Thank you 2023 for good health and good food!

Here's to the home chefs and the dishes they prepared. 

Seared Scallops | Angel Hair Pasta, Lemon, Butter, Parsley

Pork Loaf | barbeque sauce, herb roasted potato wedges, green apple + cabbage slaw

 Lettuce Wraps | Sticky Rice, Yellow Pepper + Crispy Prosciutto

Thanksgiving Dinner!

Filet Mignon | mushrooms & asparagus in a bordelaise sauce

Christmas Dinner | Beef Tenderloin, twice baked potato, lemony brussels, homemade Caesar salad 

Mom's famous éclair ring

There will always be solace in gathering around an elegant (Simon Pearce x Target x vintage) table setting graced by a homecooked meal.

Here's to comfort,  joy and S U B S T A C K in 2024!

You can find me over there!

Ransom Tavern | South Woodstock, VT

The Kedron Valley Inn is a brick colonial beacon of elegance on a dark December night, situated at a crossroads in South Woodstock, Vermont. Wide hewn wood floors and worn loom rugs give way to a procession of glass lamps and evergreen boughs dangling with dried oranges and Christmas ornaments. The Ransom Tavern is a bar full of intimate conversation over savory Neapolitan fare. 

Thick embroidered drapes hang in grand colonial windows. Eye-catching antiques, soothing artwork, and creamy upholstered furniture such as duo of royal blue velvet chairs framing a portrait of Abe Lincoln meet a festive, modern Vermont dining room. The brightly lit space is full of wooden tables, clipboard menus, cheerful waitresses, and an open kitchen backed by a wood fired pizza oven.  A convivial tavern is bustling with patrons and families. Reservations are recommended. 

The food is wonderfully good, soul nourishing, and executed with finesse. Cocktails abound from Nonna's Old Fashioned ($12) to the Wassail ($14) which comes steaming hot in a joyfully round teacup and saucer. The wine list is award-winning, I opt for a glass of R. Stuart + Co. Big Fire Pinot Noir ($14). It tastes of fig, rich cherry, and nutmeg. The Meatballs and Ricotta ($15) come with two nestled in a glistening red sauce. The Roasted Beets Salad ($15) hits just right with mixed greens, red and gold beets, goat cheese, and toasted pumpkin seeds in a maple vinaigrette. The pizzas achieve that outstandingly chewy meets crisp Neapolitan excellence, with topping combinations to swoon over. Consider a trio of mushrooms: shitake, cremini, and oyster, plus roasted garlic, mozzarella, arugula, and shaved parmesan over a fresh roasted butternut squash puree ~ The Gardener ($24) should be your #1 pizza pick.

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage ($24) lends a distinct flavor and spice from the fennel sausage, roasted red peppers, and an elegant chili oil. The Capricciosa ($28) with tomato sauce, artichokes, cotto ham, fresh mozzarella, and basil rounds out the parade of pizzas nicely. The kids ordered ice cream sundaes ($8) for dessert while the adults enjoyed a Tiramisu ($12) and a Mille Foglie ($12). With final sips of Carpineto Dogajolo Rosso ($11) we wound down our precious time at the Kedron Valley Inn.

From Church Hill Road to Peterkin Hill, we navigated the mountain back roads and excitedly crossed the Ottaqueechee River over Lincoln Covered Bridge. Crossing a covered bridge by happenstance is so quintessentially Vermont, a moment that always deserves just that - a moment.

Ransom Tavern | Kedron Valley Inn

4778 South Road

South Woodstock, VT 05071

Regards | Portland, ME

I have started writing over on Substack. I'd love it if you subscribed! I was seeking a way to re-circulate my blog and email my community. Perhaps a newsletter of sorts is the answer? What I have found on Substack is a vast community of very good writers that inspired me to write a bit more, too. My hope is that Substack gives me some more visibility. I recently wrote about this very night in Portland, Maine which will publish straight to the inbox of my subscribers. 

I loved our experience at REGARDS and would fondly recommend it!

They have an excellent wine program and (after cocktails at CBG, Paper Tiger and Blythe & Burrows) we went straight for wine by the glass. Our first was from the skin contact or orange wine section: a Bosman ($16) Fides Grenache Blanc from Western Cape, South Africa. Second, from the whites, a glass of Dorcha ($13) Sauvignon Blanc from Lower Styria, Slovenia. 

To eat, some of the most inventive, thought provoking plates:

casco bay oysters ($10) smoked trout roe, bergamot mignonette

scallop crudo ($24) matsutake xo, chile de arbol, toasted jasmine rice milk

birra tacos ($22) preserved tomatillo, queso oxaco

hamachi collar ($36) shio koji x tare, morita emulsion

Regards

547 Congress St.

Portland, ME