brown goat
the life of city dwellers with a healthy obsession with natureArchive for out of the city and into nature
the tuscan coast
my heart is swelling as i think about my sister-in-law enjoying a summer of european study abroad, especially now that her travels have brought her to italy. this article in sunday’s ny times travel section has made my heart swell even more…oh how i desire to return to italy, more specifically to the italian coast.
tell me that the following passages don’t make you want to be there too, enjoying the fine food and the crystal blue mediterranean waters:
“…the slope-hugging road…can be thrilling to drive, with breathtaking views to the south, north, east and west. The sun glints off the water, then sets below it. Best to abandon the car and find a seat in a waterfront cafe before that happens. Porto Santo Stefano has many of them, and they adhere to an unimpeachable philosophy, which is that a predinner glass of prosecco or white wine should be accompanied by a pre-dinner nibble, or rather cornucopia of nibbles: peanuts, olives, cubes of mortadella, cubes of Parmesan cheese. On a warm, breezy night, these arrived with a first round of drinks, and they were replenished in full with a second round. We even thought about staying put for a third, the scene around us giving us cause to linger. Buffed yachts glided out of the harbor while battered fishing trawlers lumbered in, the beauties making way for the beasts.”
“…the tone of our meal there was immediately set by the first thing to hit the table: an amuse-bouche of sautéed red mullet, diced tomato and olive oil, combined in a spoon, enough for just one happy bite. Each ingredient was flawless. After that there was squid-ink tagliatelle with shrimp and artichoke, oversize fusilli with scorpion fish and more red mullet, and nuggets of rabbit — the bones gone, the meat tender — with black olives and roasted tomatoes. It seemed right to add that bit of turf to the surf, and the turf justified the bottle of northern Italian pinot nero we chose.”
during my dreams of italian food, sun, and water, my thoughts move to the idea of our baby playing alongside david and i on the italian sand and my heart swells to nearly the point of bursting…
oh…just the thought of it makes me smile from ear to ear!
this town sounds grand…
carrboro, north carolina.
carrboro you say. and i say, yes!
it’s located less than 4 miles from chapel hill and carrboro has a reputation as one of the most liberal communities in the southern US. it was the first municipality in north carlina to elect an openly gay mayor, mike nelson, in 1995 and the first municipality in the state to grant domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples. in october 2002, carrboro was among the first municipalities in the south to pass resolutions opposing the iraq war and the USA PATRIOT act.
and, it has a fabulous farmers market (every wednesday afternoon and saturday morning and it’s about 5 times bigger than our market), an awesome grocery (with great space for eating and hanging out on the front lawn), fun restuarants and bars, great schools (it’s in the chapel hill school district), and an awesome arts scene (cat’s cradle hosts very cool bands that david and i love).
this small town has put the university of north carloina permanently on our residency destination list…its fun to discover great new places and think about our life there!
serenbe
located in palmetto, georgia is the most idyllic sounding town with the name of serenbe. it has been described as a place where the quality of life is extraordinarily high, where there is an easy sense of community, where the principles of sustainability touch everything from your home’s methods of construction to the organic produce on your table that was grown by one of your neighbors. serenbe is 900 acres of serenity nestled about 30 miles south of atlanta in the chattahoochee hill country and is protected with a master plan that calls for 80% green space.
the community sounds ideal with farms, creative neighborhoods, and miles of well-worn footpaths that make walking easier than driving. AND, the restaurants sound amazing…the farmhouse at serenbe serves a prix fixe weekly changing menu that features organic prodcue grown right at the serenbe organic farm. this week’s menu features a tasting of artisan cheeses, oyster croquettas, ”chicken and dumplings” (confit chicken thigh with buttermilk gnocchi, and spinach), and gran marnier brioche french toast with mulled “summers past” berries with tahitian vanilla bean ice cream….my mouth is watering! the hilfeatures a seasonal, classic american menu created by executive chef/owner hilary white that features a variety of appetizers, gourmet pizzas, entrees, farm-fresh vegetables, and desserts with many ingredients coming from the serenbe farm. and, the blue eyed daisy bakeshop is a casual neighborhood eatery serving a variety of breakfast items, classic sandwiches, salads and snacks AND it is also stocked with yummy treats like cupcakes, pies, cookies, and tarts.
i really want to go for a day trip…maybe one weekend SOON…
home from our beach vacation
thank goodness for birthdays! it was lovely…AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL. i don’t think we could have scripted it any better. we had such a fabulous time celebrating, something we feel like we’re pretty darn good at. it was perfect in every way. i thought about creating a top 10 list but then that would place some sort of hierarchical order to certain things over others- i would have had a difficult time with that. i decided instead to choose my 10 favorite pictures to illustrate the best of the week. more pictures can be viewed on flickr, just click the flickr link straight from the blog.
a perfect fall saturday
it felt like the first day of fall here in georgia…temperatures in the 60s, the sun shining brightly, leaves falling from the trees. both auburn and florida had a bye weekend, so we decided to take full advantage of the day away from college football by going to farmers markets and heading up to the north georgia mountains for a little hike.
we bought wonderful produce (peppers, swiss chard, napa cabbage, green beans, sweet basil, butternut squash, and the largest sweet potato we have ever seen) from the love is love farmstand at the peachtree farmer’s market and crisp apples, a big pumpkin, and delicious tomatoes from jaemor farms. we also treated ourselves to a fried apple and a sweet potato pie.
we drove to black rock mountain state park in mountain city, georgia and hiked the tennessee rock trail. the hike was easy, but beautiful with spectacular tree coverage and great views of the appalachian mountains.
it was a perfect fall day spent with my husband and dog-ter. now it’s time to go cheer for my red sox outside next to our chimenay.
hiking and camping
last weekend, we had our first adventure doing a hike in. below is a link to one hiker’s experience with the trail. the one tag where this hiker decided to put no answer was “hike difficulty.” the answer HARD! would have been more fitting.
benton mackaye/duncan ridge trail to toccoa river suspension bridge
the difficulty of the hike may have derived from the 80 pound pack i had strapped to my back. you should never carry more than half of your body weight and attempt to hike over a mountain in 90 degree weather. if you do attempt it, all of your bones will be sore, not to mention the muscles you have forgotten about or never even knew you had. despite this, we had loads of fun! seriously.
our campsite was private and beautiful, right at the edge of the toccoa river. quite timingly, mark bittman, the minimalist, of the new york times recently did a story on 101 picnic food ideas (i love lists as you may have been able to tell) so, we had a delicious dinner of cold peanut noodle salad with cucumbers and a lovely edamame salad with mint that david discovered.
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we read books (i started a new one- eat, love, pray- since a confederacy of dunces is too big to carry), frolicked in the refreshing water of the toccoa, admired the suspension bridge we could see from out campsite, and slept soundly in our very cool tent (thanks mom and dad). our bug spray did a most excellent job at keeping the mosquitos at bay, but all 3 of us had ticks! such is life outdoors in the georgia summer months.
we have already started planning our next outing for mid-october when both of our football teams have the weekend off. instead of a hike in, this outing may consist of a hike followed by camping nearer to our car…not sure if i can handle another weekend of having a BMI of 36 (with pack weight)!
