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Monday, January 9, 2012

an epic whirlwind of a weekend!


with "the grey lady" (our honda pilot) all packed up and settled on the noon ferry, the great osley adventure commenced on thursday, january 5th.  this marked escher's first off island adventure since joining our family!

moments after pulling out of the harbor, the list of forgotten items piled up:  a delicious smoothie still in the refrigerator, the perfect coat for the wedding festivities, games, and my craft basket.  after a moment of regret, the only thing to do was accept and move on!

a pit stop at pain d'avignon for french onion crock and local greens with crispy shallots, eased the hunger...


and provided energy to explore a small state park, reminiscent of a forest of middle earth, 
off of route 6 west.


first stop:  boston

some friends, from nantucket, are living on a houseboat in charlestown harbor, and invited us to stay with them while we were in the city. 

 

pete went to the bruins game for a bachelor party, while emily ventured out to trade, a restaurant co-opened by jody adams, chef/owner of rialto and top chef masters competitor.  after sampling some small plates (house charcuterie plate, local burrata with quince-lemon jam, and mushroom, fig, gorgonzola and sage pesto flat bread pizza).  we had two amazing desserts:


a meyer lemon panna cotta with pomegranate and...  
 
      
         a chocolate chili pudding with salted crisps.  both paired beautifully with the refreshing                grapefruit margarita, "the man without a name."

at the end of the evening, the whole gang met up at warren's tavern in charlestown, the oldest watering hole in massachusetts.  if this day says anything about the rest of this trip, we're in for a treat!

 (nick, christine, pete, and emily)

next stop:  providence, ri, friday morning

after getting a tad turned around trying to pick up pete's step-brother, david, we headed southwest on I-95.  on the quest for breakfast, we met emily's aunt and uncle for bruch at julian's.  the highlight of the meal was david's benedict, "the kracken", with slow roasted pork belly, caramelized leek-parmesan grits, citrus grilled asparagus, and cracklin hollandaise...totally mind-blowing!


on a time constraint, the stop in providence was brief.  we hope to return on the way back to nantucket!

weekend destination:  farmington, ct

liz and jason's wedding weekend kicked off with a comfortable, low-key rehearsal dinner, where family and friends got acquainted and reminisced.  knowing that the next day would be jam packed with activities, the osley's headed to bed, early.  

the next morning, the sun was shining, the temperature was rising, and the air was still.  knowing that the afternoon would be spent at the salon with the bridal party, it was necessary to get out for a run with escher.  crunched for time, the closest open space was a golf course.  however disappointing it was spending the time, that would ideally have been on a trail of a state park, there running the meticulously manicured lawns and strategically planned out landscape, it would have to do.  after accepting that, the run ended up being quite pleasant and most importantly, escher had some quality exercise and it was a gorgeous day!


calm in the air...


and peace in the farmington river.


pete went disc golfing with the guys...


 while emily watched liz transform into a bride!

the wedding ceremony was touching and heartfelt, the ambiance romantic, and the reception full of good food and lots of dancing.  a highlight was being on the dance floor, at the same time, with all the family that attended the wedding!  congrats to mr. and mrs. scavilla!


we hit the ground running on sunday morning and headed east to coventry, ct for an indoor winter farmers market.  wanting to get supplies for the days ahead without going too crazy, we decided on a couple cheeses, a loaf of seeded whole grain bread, yogurt, apples, spincah, garlic, onions, a beeswax candle (guaranteed to burn 110 hours), and blood orange marmalade.

desired stop:  asheville, nc

wanting to avoid nyc, we took I-84.  soon after crossing the hudson river, we started to get hungry.  after narrowing down the restaurant choices, pete decided on a tacueria in middletown, ny. 


  the taco factory completely satisfied the hunger.


(homemade salsa and chips)
a whole family affair, mom and dad are doing most of the cooking, 


(carnitas hurache)
while the children are serving, handling take-out orders, and expediting.

(enchiladas verde) 
boom. done.

knowing that the drive would be about 14 hours, the goal was to make it as far as possible taking turns driving into the early morning.  making it just pass roanoke, va, we pulled over at a rest stop to sleep in the car.


1 comment:

  1. Looks like you guys are having a great time! I'm happy we got to be part of the adventure!

    Brett, Sarah and Graham

    ReplyDelete