This past weekend was pretty amazing.
After a fun summer of spending weekends with our respective families, it was a nice change of pace to have a weekend getaway just the two of us.
We headed up to Lenox, Massachusetts on Saturday courtesy of a wedding gift from Matt’s brother and his wife. We had two nights there and used every minute of Saturday-Monday doing something fun and out of the norm or just relaxing.
After getting settled in, we went on a hike in the area. I’ve never been hiking before, but now I have a new favorite form of exercise. Too bad NYC isn’t known for its trails;-) Other than the hike, we made it to the gym on Sunday for a spin class and Monday for another workout. It’s a good thing because the rest of our weekend pretty much revolved around indulging in the local eateries.
One of my favorite local vendors was SoCo Creamery. I’m pretty sure that their ice cream was made for me. I’m not sure I should tell you how many ice creams Matt and I had between the two of us over 2 1/2 days. If I could, I would have stayed in Lenox just so I could try their entire ever-expanding list of flavors.
On this particular visit, I had an order of Espresso Cookie and Dirty Chocolate, by far my favorites.
The ice creams are all rich and creamy with a real quality flavor component. On another visit I had blueberry with strawberry cheesecake. The blueberry looked and tasted like it was made from fresh blueberries that day.
Apparently I can find SoCo at some stores in NYC, not sure if that is a good or very dangerous thing. I’m trying to make myself forget before I get myself into trouble!
The way Matt and I ate on Sunday, you would have thought we were carb loading for a marathon. Really we were just carb loading for fun.
The day started with a visit to Berkshire Mountain Bakery. A special thanks to Brian for his recommendation! We tried both sweet and savory mini ciabattas to share. The Jalapeno & Cheese was amazing- fresh and chewy with the perfect amount of heat.
And of course I loved the Dark Chocolate! The bread wasn’t too sweet so you could really savor the rich dark chocolate chunks.
As we continued towards the town of Great Barrington, we stopped at a local farm.
I was so excited to see all of my favorite fall things!
They even still had some fresh-from-the-farm summer produce.
And of course baked goods.
Matt tried their famous Tangleberry Pie (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries).
Nothing like a piece of pie for a mid-morning snack!
One of my favorite things about the towns we explored was the focus on local food and fresh ingredients. Matt and I explored Berkshire Co-op Market, what I think of as a local Whole Foods.
The massive vat of organic peanut butter was enough for me to fall in love.
They also had a ton of options for bulk flours, beans, nuts, seeds, etc. More than I’ve seen in any Whole Foods!
Since they were dispensing Kombucha in fountain form, I figured I should finally give this hyped-up drink a try. Verdict? I liked it, but not enough to pay the normal $2.50+/bottle
After a couple of hours of strolling and exploring the town, I was very excited to be hungry for lunch. We ate at the infamous Baba Louie’s. They actually use sourdough crust made by Berkshire Mountain Bakery (where we stopped for breakfast) and have a ton of creative topping combinations.
We shared a small pizza that was one half Isabella (roasted sweet potatoes, roasted parsnips, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, fresh mozzarella and shaved fennel, drizzled with reduced balsamic vinegar and parmesan) and half Pomodoro Bianco (Fresh mozzarella, roasted portabellas, roasted garlic, tomatoes, red onions, chêvre, pesto and parmesan). The chewy crust was nice for a change but it really was all about the toppings for me. I loved the sweet potato mix.
While walking around the area after lunch, we stopped at the local kitchen supply store. What do you know, they sold cupcakes!
Barrington Bites is another local business. One of the owners was in the store baking her cupcakes and piping them for customers to see.
If I hadn’t been stuffed, I would have ordered a Peanut Butter & Jelly or French Toast with Bacon. Matt had a little room in his stomach, though, and chose lemon and strawberry cupcakes.
Both were moist with a very buttery buttercream frosting. I tasted the strawberry and couldn’t believe how wonderfully the fresh strawberry flavor came through.
By the time Sunday rolled around, I was sad to leave the area. It seemed like there were still lots of local restaurants and foods to try. Luckily we picked up a small stash of local candies to take home. Ok, I actually ate the bark Sunday night, but I tried!
What we did end up taking home was a massive amount of apples! More on that and some recipes to come:-)
I really enjoyed every minute of the weekend. My pants may be a little tight, but it was well worth it.
How do you recover from a weekend of indulgence?
