It never really feels like fall until my annual trip to Woodstock.
Yes, this is the same spot in upstate New York where, in 1969, that famous festival of sex, drugs and rock and roll occurred.
The town has a fun, hippie-fied flavor; you can buy postcards of Janis Joplin and tie dyed onesies for your baby.
And on Sundays, you can join in a community drum circle!
Many of my happiest childhood memories were made at our friend’s house, a few miles out of town.
It was fun to show B around! There’s limited cell phone reception, so we had a really relaxing, laid-back weekend.
We went to one of the world’s best bookstores, The Golden Notebook, and picked up a couple things to read.
We spent hours nestled in one of the house’s cozy nooks, just reading. (I tore through Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects, which is really twisted but completely addicting… I also loved her latest book, Gone Girl.)
We tried a couple new-to-us restaurants, including Garden Cafe, which came highly recommended to us by our host. The room was small and cozy, and it filled up fast! It seemed to be the place to be on Saturday night.
We shared two specials: Fall Vegetable, Wild + Brown Rice Sauté with crispy tempeh with red wine mushroom sauce, butternut squash terrine with pistachio gravy and sautéed greens. It was just my kind of plate: so many different tastes and textures to bounce back and forth with!
The Baked Southwest Polenta with Mole Sauce was perfect, too. It was served with spinach, corn + avocado stuffed tofu with sunflower seed drizzle and sautéed greens. Another perfect dish!
We left dinner content but not stuffed; we liked our meal so well that we returned the following morning for breakfast!
We split a batch of perfect banana pancakes that were perfectly fluffy and just sweet enough.
The breakfast roll up was stuffed with tofu, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms + avocado… and I have to say it was the best breakfast wrap I can remember having. They also rolled it perfectly, and somehow got all the ends to stay together!
We had another great breakfast at Oriole 9, where they pour good, strong coffee. I feasted on a tofu hash with spinach, mushrooms, potatoes and roasted red peppers, served with toast and salad.
B had the brioche french toast with poached pears and whipped cream… it was rich and fabulous, as my few bites confirmed.
It was a wonderful, restful weekend. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to share it with.
