Marilee’s Famous Cheese-Carrot Casserole

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Kellie

My first tasting of this delicious casserole was nearly a decade ago when I was the lucky recipient of a specially prepared lunch by my “Secret Santa” Marilee.  I still remember the note I received, informing me not to bring a lunch to school, as I would be treated to a homemade meal on the following day.  The next day during my lunch break I arrived to find a very neat place-setting with a holiday place mat, cloth napkin, and even a candle at the head of the teachers’ room table!

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The Last Stop: Cabot Cheese Visitor’s Center

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Kellie

Our final stop on our way home from Burlington, Vermont was at the Cabot Visitor’s Center.  After a beautiful ride through scenic Vermont farmland, while digesting our Ben & Jerry’s samples, we stopped to see how our favorite cheese is made.

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Vermont Road Trip: Ben & Jerry’s

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Kellie

On our way home from Burlington, we made several stops to break up the trip.  The first stop was breakfast at Penny Cluse Cafe, which would become my breakfast place of choice if I lived in or near Burlington.  Their unusual breakfast offerings reminded me of The Friendly Toast, my current favorite breakfast/lunch stop.  I wish I had taken pictures of my amazing breakfast: corn tortillas topped with eggs, homemade tangy green salsa, and a side of smoky beans.  Even the beans were amazing…

Our second stop was Lake Champlain Chocolates, where we arrived an hour too early for a tour, but still bought a variety of chocolates.  Again, no pictures…  The chocolates were delicious though!  My favorites were the dark chocolate sea salt caramels.

Our third stop was Ben and Jerry’s, where we toured the factory and sampled some ice cream at the end our tour.

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Burlington, VT: Red Onion

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Kellie

On our way home from Montreal, we decided to spend a day in Burlington, Vermont.  We wandered and explored for a while before deciding to have a late lunch at The Red Onion, a small bakery and cafe on Church Street.

I ordered a sandwich which was called the The Red Onion and was loaded with turkey, bacon, apples, onions, sun-dried tomato mayo, and Vermont smoked maple cheddar served on freshly made bread.  My husband ordered the sandwich special of the day, which was filled with hot capicola, freshly grilled pineapple, baby spinach, and a spicy mango mayo if I recall correctly.  Both were delicious; we traded halves so we could each try both.  The only other sandwich I have had that measures up to these amazing sandwiches is The Godmother from the Good Life Market in Raymond, Maine.

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Spicy Peanut Butter Cookies

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Kellie

I was given a jar of The Heat is On peanut butter a couple of weeks ago, and finally got around to making something with it.  The spice seems mild at first, until after the cookie has been completely consumed…  I enjoyed these cookies, but I recommend them only to those who truly enjoy spicy foods.

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It’s Fiddlehead Time!

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Kellie

My uncle makes the best pickled fiddleheads.  This time, however, he surprised me with a large bag of fresh fiddleheads!

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Vermont Road Trip

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Kellie

On our way home from Montreal, we decided to take a route through Vermont that would allow us to spend a day exploring Burlington.  We enjoyed lunch at The Red Onion, then wandered around the city, eventually stopping at the Vermont Pub & Brewery for dinner, where the highlight of my meal was the Vermont cheese plate and and a salad (about all I could handle after having that monster of a sandwich at The Red Onion for lunch).  Later in the evening we heard a band called the String Fingers play at Nectar’s.

We also toured Magic Hat Brewing Company, and on our way home the next day we visited Lake Champlain Chocolates, though we were too early for a tour, Ben and Jerry’s, and finally Cabot where we sampled more cheese than a human being should eat in one day.  More details soon…

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Bagels in Montreal

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Kellie

Before diving into a Montreal bagel story, I should probably start with my New York bagel story…  On my very first visit to NYC, my first meal was a bagel and lox at a diner not too far from Penn Station.  I remember thinking that the bagel I had that day was the best bagel I had ever experienced.  Of course it helps that it was dressed with cream cheese, a very generous serving of smoked salmon, sliced tomatoes, sliced red onions, capers, radishes and olives.  But I remember the bagel itself as being memorably delicious…

So when a friend recommended that I visit Fairmount Bagel while visiting Montreal, my first thought was that a Montreal bagel experience would, in no way, be comparable to my New York bagel experience.  I was wrong.

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Tired Feet in Montreal

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Kellie

The picture below is one of the few indoor pictures we took while visiting Montreal.  In fact, it might be the ONLY indoor picture taken with my camera due to extreme camera shyness brought on by the event described below…

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Cajun Crab Stew

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Kellie

I found this recipe about a month ago, and have made a variation of it (see below photo) twice already due to its wonderful flavors and easy preparation.


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