Life is a chocolate

William Winand Chocolatier: (73 Central Street,Woodstock, VT)
For years I have this habit of finding the
best chocolate in town…And having few right
then & there… Today I got lucky again…
Three of my favorites are:
Carre Noisette: Hazelnut praline blended
With caramelized almonds.
Pistache: Pistachio almond paste with kirsch.
Mendiant: Dark Chocolate discs studded with
dried cranberry, pistachio, roasted almond and
roasted hazelnuts… YES I AM NUTS FOR CHOCOLATE WITH NUTS! (and a dash of Kirsch does not hurt either)

More from my sniffing arround in Woodstock

Allechante: (Main St + Elm)
Lunch was at this small bakery & cafe. Serving fresh artisanal bread, gourmet prepared take-out, sandwiches, and beautiful, simple desserts. Had the potato leak soup with a great wedge of multi grain bread. Grabbed few dessert for tea time…will let you know how they turn out.

Yes Woodstock, VT makes the cut.

A simple Americana charm is the best way to describe this town. Full of Federal and Georgian style houses the history is oozing around the central green. Few minutes away from the Inn I locate the Woodstock Coffee & Tea: (43 Central Street- Woodstock) & have a really great macchiato ($1.91). Couple of young guys running the joint with no pretenses whatsoever. Coffee, tea, few baked goods, old books, a community cork board…that’s it… Not even a business card in sight!.. (Trust me I asked for it.)
The menu written on jute Coffee Bean Bags… That’s it… Perfection.
I need to go back for a “Maple Latte”.
PS:the menu lists Turkish Coffee as Espresso's GRANDFATHER...I guess that explains why I am hooked...Born & raised in Istanbul.




The Village Butcher: (18 Elm Street-Woodstock) There I ordered my meatloaf with ketchup, hot peppers, lettuce sandwich on wheat bread….($4.65….for a minute I thought I miss-heard them) WOW.
My little old fashion town complete with my old fashion sandwich…
FYI: The beef sold here is all natural and raised in a stress-free Environment, with no hormones, steroids or antibiotics added to the feed, which consists of a strict vegetarian diet to produce the most consistent, best tasting, most tender, highest quality beef you can buy.

Why don't you guys go ski? I rather Lounge!

I can’t believe my life. Here I am at a different Inn, in less then a week apart. What is it about traveling that is so incredibly therapeutic? Is it slipping into a fantasy? Or is the fact that today I don’t have to do anything that might slightly complicate my life? I don’t know…But guess what?
The Inn-keeper just brought me a cup of tea, and I am sitting in front of a fire in the living room of a well appointed historical Inn at Woodstock, Vermont. And writing on my lap-top…wireless & shit…
(Sorry need to take a brake & pour in my apple cinnamon tea from my Villeroy & Boch “Wave” tea pot to my V&B tea cup….)
God that was exhausting!
All kidding aside I will have to admit I am slightly obsessed by owning & managing an Inn one day. However its location and business model keeps being altered in my mind…
Each time I visit a B&B in Maine, an Haute-Maison in Provence, a Cottage in Oregon …I fall more in love with the possibilities of becoming part of this club.
At a quick glimpse becoming an Inn-keeper seems to be an occupation that speaks to my dysfunctions.
First and foremost of I have a soul of a slave…Love pleasing people…Love to cook, to decorate, to entertain…to host. I also love to control people…Their travels, their restaurant choices…their shopping habits & their wardrobes’…
I am The Classic Jewish Mother…in the body of a Judeo Turkish Homo!
I mean it seems like the perfect retirement plan…Doesn’t it?
For years I wanted for this to be in Europe. Possibly in France. Provence is God’s piece of earth…that is simply healing. The nature envelopes you & the quite…the stillness of the acres and acres of land invites you to partner up…To some how to get down to the basics…
Then there were the years I could not imagine this Inn being anywhere but on an Island. A small Island in Greece…Not that I have visited Greece yet…but I was sure that my top of the hill property… landscaped with pine, fig & olive trees…was waiting for me.
I could see me running the attached Tavern, I could see me riding my bike to the sea side early am to buy fresh fish from the fisherman arriving from their recent journey, I could see me dancing sirtakis with my guests until dawn…I guess there is a little Zorba in me trying to unleash…
Lately I have been imaging this INN to be in USA. It now is an Organic Farm…somewhere in a beautiful horse-land… It is more of an oversize barn… but it has more Dwell-like qualities…and less of a turn of the Century antique. It has to be driving distance to NYC…and not to far from the ocean…
(OK! I too want to live in a Ralph Lauren ad. No actually I want to rent RL my Inn as a backdrop for his new campaign shoot.)
With a climate change in summer …when & if I choose to…I should be able to swim for hours and hours. I still want an herb garden, still want to cook… yet I think I need the bathrooms to be designed by Waterworks…. www.waterorks.com and the kitchen to have La Cornue appliances…. www.lacornue.com
Am I getting too comfort seeking in my ripe age of 43?
I also have a need to be close to my kids…and the families that they will create. I absolutely need to be in a town (however small or charming) that has a great coffee shop & espresso machine.
Because it is 12:30 pm now & I still have not had my macchiato…
I am going to walk to town& discover & see if Woodstock makes the cut?

PS: The Lauren Inn- is fine…Not amazing…but fine…If you need to sit & write….while the BOYS are skiing…I am sure better then most in the area…Loved the staff in the restaurant last night…And the side dishes…( Bok Choy with Mushrooms, Green Beans with Almonds and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon)

THE LAUREN INN & RESTAURANT:
3 Church Street Woodstock, VT 05091
ph: 802.457.1925 fax: 802.457.1990
http://www.thelaureninn.com/

WOODSTOCK, VERMONT:
www.woodstockvt.com

Atonement- Feeling bad about eating so much popcorn!

Christmas Day! What do most Jews do? Eat Chinese & go to the movies. But since we are reformed we had assorted salads for lunch that I had picked up from our local organic market…and decided to make dinner out of an extra large popcorn, diet soda & sour candies.
Lately we had seen mostly critically claimed Indy movies back to back… Most of them were extremely powerful, well acted & artsy. However most of them happened to be also brutal.
Depicting the worst of human conditions; such as greed, power, and the killing instinct…
So on this lazy afternoon I really wanted to see a genre that feels me with hope, love & romance… Well the obvious choice was Atonement. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809714841/info
This rich adaptation of Ian McEwan's stunning 2002 best-selling novel was directed by Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) and adopted by the screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons). Well it seemed like a dream team to me.
(Also I am a sucker for period movies…I can watch any Merchant Ivory Production or
Scorsese’s -Age of Innocence time after time.)
It is the details, the richness of the rituals, the ceremony of it all, and the costumes… that sweep me off my feet into the dreamland. And sometimes I feel that is the magic of the cinema or a great book.
I have hard time judging this movie. It did entertain me. Keira Knightley & James McAvoy are irresistible to watch. It is like a “Chanel Mademoiselle” commercial. (I am sure they were the corporate sponsors…since Ms. Knightley is their new spokes person.)
But every time Briony (played at 13 by the remarkably poised Saoirse Ronan came on to the screen you are hooked a bit.
The Film is about deception, guilt, atonement, and regret…The popcorn was deliciously salty & the candy was sour but sweet.
Then in the last 15 minutes or so of the film …maybe even less then that Ms. Vanessa Redgrave appears as the older Briony …And once again without a doubt…Stills the whole movie.
I have been in love with her since I saw her in Julia (1977). I don’t think I understood the film at its depth at age 13…but it left me stunned. As my life went through different stages I watched her in that movie & each time I connected with her more & more… Her strength, her politics, and her love for (Jane Fonda’s character) Lillian, her religion, her motherhood, her principles, her humility, and her courage….and her love of caviar…
.
Watching her, I made more sense to me…I accepted the beauty of the contradictions of my character & persona.
It was all subliminal I guess …but today it all makes sense why I identified so deeply with Julia/Vanessa all the same person to me. (Well it turns out the Academy agreed with me…and gave her the Golden Boy Oscar for her Supporting Role…)
She does not support…she is the tour de force…that gets supported…
All I can say is before Meryl there was Vanessa & after Meryl….I am not sure if they will ever make them like that ever again.
I saw a quote of hers recently where she says:
“It’s a kinky part of my nature- to meddle.”
That is probably what makes her so brilliant…she meddles, she studies, she lives and she projects…and we watch her MESMERIZED.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ian McEwan was born on 21 June 1948 in Aldershot, England. He studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970. While completing his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia, he took a creative writing course taught by the novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson.
McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday.