Kwaree Blog

Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Lenox and Lee

On Thursday of last week, we decided to head up to the Berkshires for some apple picking. Every year, we end up going too late and are rushed by the end of the season. Of course there are still apples to pick, but many of the varieties are already gone. This year, we thought it would be a good idea to go apple picking not too early, but not too late.

I think we’ll stick with going at the end of the season. There is one reason for this…the Honeycrisps are ripe. I guess the Honeycrisp is a late season apple, because there were “Not Ripe” signs all over the place where these particular trees were. It’s funny because I tasted a few and they seemed fine to me. I grabbed about 15 of them. I have a feeling they will ripen up just fine. Just so you know, the Honeycrisp is the biggest and best apple there is. They are huge.

We go apple picking at a place called “Windy Hill Farm Nursery Orchards & Garden Center.” I think that’s the official name. We just call it Windy Hill. It’s located on 686 Stockbridge Rd in Great Barrington, MA and really is a great orchard. They have hot cider inside and plenty of apples and pumpkins to choose from. I’m guessing when I say there are about 15 different types of apples to pick. We have been visiting this orchard during Autumn for about five years now.

The only problem is…it’s a little far away. I was thinking out loud on the way back from our exciting day when I said, “I think this is the last year for Windy Hill.” I got a funny look. I continued, “It’s just too far away. I can’t see driving for almost two hours to head up to the Berkshires when there has to be plenty of good orchards around where we live.” It’s true, there are tons of orchards around here, but we really like to make a day out of it. We don’t want to just run over to Glastonbury real quick, grab some apples and leave. That seems more like a chore. 45 minutes away is a good distance for an apple orchard. That way, we get to visit some town that we hardly ever go to and it makes the whole thing more fun. I like that. So, next year, I think we’ll head up to the “Quiet Corner” somewhere. I am sure Pomfret has an apple orchard. After all, Pomfret is an area full of beautiful rolling hills, a perfect place for apples to grow.

Thursday was fun. Not only did we visit Windy Hill, we also visited Yankee Candle in Stockbridge to gather a nice assortment of Autumn smelling candles and tarts. It wasn’t my idea to go there, but being the accommodating companion that I am, I agreed that it was a good idea. Now, every time I go downstairs, I think there is an apple pie or pumpkin bread in the oven. It’s really not fair.

Besides apple picking, another goal that I had for Thursday’s trip was to head up to Lenox to check out a really nice country house/hotel called Blantyre. I have heard great things about this place and wanted to see it first hand. I am always on the hunt for the next marvelous Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. The visit was supposed to be a surprise. I wanted to drive to Lenox in stealth mode and quickly turn into the Blantyre driveway. My plan was foiled when I got lost…again. For some reason, Lenox is in something like a spiderweb vortex. It seems like every road going into the town is identical and has the same left turn. Each time I go there, I find myself making the same mistakes, over and over and over. This time, it took a confession and use of the GPS to find our destination. It really wasn’t any big deal because I am used to my surprises being ruined due to lack of preparation.

When we finally made it to Blantyre, we were very pleased by what we found. There is a really long driveway that leads to a large English house type structure. It is secluded and absolutely feels like another land. I can’t compare it to Europe because I have never been there, but if I had been there I am sure the Blantyre would feel just like it. It was kind of like Robin Hood was going to walk out of the woods.

We walked through the front door and found a really upscale and formal cluster of rooms. We visited the main room, the music room and the dining room. I also peeked out to the terrace and the front lawn and gardens. It was better than I had imagined. (Don’t worry, I have pictures)

A woman came out to greet us and answered all the questions about holiday dining that we threw at here. We gave the desk gentleman my name for a return call after they had the menu and arrangements set up. We walked out and strolled around for a while and took some photos.

After we left Blantyre, we decided to head down to the Prime Outlets in Lee, MA. I had this strange desire to get slippers. I know, I know…I am a big burly man. What in the world do I need slippers for? Well, this Winter, I am not fighting cold feet. I do it every year and it’s just not going to happen this time.

We arrived at Prime Outlets and were disappointed by the lack of selection of slippers. The slippers that were there were all made from leather and cost close to $50. They also had no thick hoodies or sweatpants to be found. This isn’t the first time we have walked away empty handed from this joint. I guess it was a good idea while it lasted. By the way, I picked up a nice pair of slippers in Walmart yesterday for $11. I also got a pair of sweatpants for $10. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout. This is simple house gear, mind you.

Lastly, we headed back to the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge for some lunch. This is quite the tradition each year to settle us down after some good apple picking. We even got the clover leaf on top of our Guinness.

Here are some pictures of our exciting day up in the Berkshires. The weather was good when we arrived, sprinkled a little bit while we were picking apples and then cleared up again. All in all, it was a good day – minus the slipper thing.

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Cruising From Portland To Glastonbury, CT

Yesterday, we had to run all over the place to get a bunch of errands out of the way. We had to go to the pharmacy, the hardware store, the bank and then grocery shopping. We did the pharmacy and the hardware store locally, but went to the bank in the next town over.

After we left the bank, I thought it would be a cool idea to drive South into Portland, CT and then swing up through Main Street, Glastonbury. We hadn’t seen this historic area since we were in the car with the realtor.

We made the right onto Rt. 17 North, down in Portland, and drove for a while. We came upon a fruit and vegetable store on the right hand side of the road, I think in South Glastonbury. Now, my nature is to drive right by. I do that with life. So, yesterday, I decided to pull over to see what this fine establishment had to offer.

Well, to my surprise, they had big boxes of tomatoes for only $8. Check them out.

Box of tomatoes

If you know me, you would know that I love tomato sandwiches. Toast two pieces of white bread (don’t get fancy), put some mayo on them, put some thick slices of tomato on them with a dash of salt and you are all set. You’ll love it, trust me.

We had some yesterday and I am beginning to realize that we better eat these things very fast or they are going to go bad. After I finish writing this, I am going to go down stairs and make a few more sandwiches. I think Laura mentioned she was going to make salsa and tomato salad later on. Also, tonight, I am going to blend some tomatoes up and use them as the sauce for a home made pizza. I think we are going to have a bunch of tomatoes left over.

Oh boy.

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Making Luscious White Bread in My Breadmaker

While I get ready for my new beer making kit to arrive, I decided that it would be a good idea to start making things from recipes again. One item I haven’t made in a long time is bread.

Well, today I whipped out my breadmaker and got to work. On the menu was “Luscious White Bread.” This is usually the recipe I make because I have had such good luck with it in the past. It’s a nice, rich, heavy white bread.

There were a few times back in the day when I had a little trouble. I once bought whole wheat flower thinking I was going to get fancy. This was before I knew the stores sold flour made just for breadmakers. I made a few “brick like” loafs that had to be tossed on the front lawn for the deer to eat. This was back when we were renting. I wouldn’t invite the deer here to this house.

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 pound loaf
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 eggs (I use 2)
- 2 1/2 Tbs. butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 3 cups bread flower
- 2 1/2 tsp.yeast
- 2 Tbs. honey (optional…I like it)
- 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
- A sprinkle of oats (optional)
- A sprinkle of mashed potato flakes (optional)

I added the optional items in there. Some of them were just found in the cabinets, while some are just damn good. The honey is damn good. I probably add more than I wrote above. The thing you want to be careful of is to not throw off the moisture and yeast levels too much. An example would be adding three cups of honey. You are going to have issues if you do that.

Ok, for some photos…

This is a picture of the breadmaker I got for free from Pam a few years ago, where I used to work. She said she couldn’t figure out how to use it because she lost the manual. All I have done since I got it was to press “Start.” It works fine like that. My mother got me this old, but good breadmaker recipe book. It has about a hundred recipes in it…all types of breads. It’s very cool.

I like to use soymilk. In case you weren’t aware, this milk doesn’t come from a cow’s udder. Using soymilk really doesn’t have any effect on the taste…it’s just as good. I also use eggs from free roaming hens. This means these hens weren’t crammed tightly in a cage with multiple other hens. The eggs are more expensive, but when you think about what you are doing for the hen, I think it’s worth it.

This is right after I put all the ingredients into the mixer. I put the ingredients in order of how I wrote them in the recipe above. My mother told me a while ago about some issue with the salt touching the yeast. Something goes wrong in that department, so I put the salt in below the flour and the yeast up on top.

This is a few minutes of the spinner at the bottom of the mixer doing its work.

A few hours into it and this is what I got. Now, that’s a loaf. I like it when it’s too big to fit in the machine.

When it’s still hot, I like to shake the loaf out of the mixer and toast it up. The inside of the toaster gets all foggy and then bread is perfect for some nice soy based butter. The hole in the bread slice in the photo above is from the spinner in the mixer. A few slices up, that hole doesn’t exist anymore.

I think I am ready to start making beer.

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