Jessica does Waterbury
Carl and I went to Waterbury with a couple of friends, and it was so great! We went to Vermont Liberty Tea Company, which is just one guy in the back of his house, selling all kinds of crazy teas that he blends himself. He is super knowledgeable and loves tea more than anything. We chatted about growing ginger and stevia indoors, and I learned that rooibos tea is not actually tea, and has no caffeine. It is delicious though. I bought some raspberry rooibos, oolong, breakfast blend, black tea with ginger, and an herbal blend called "skanda" that has damiana in it, among a lot of other things.
Then we went to Red Hen bakery (technically in Middlesex, not Waterbury) and had hot cider and black tea and grilled cheese sandwiches with mustard while we played Dominion. If you haven't played, Dominion is a very fun card game about building a kingdom. What's nice about it is that every game is different, because you randomly select the kinds of cards. It is hard to explain, but I recommend it. Also I won.
We tried to go to the Alchemist (a really excellent brew-pub/restaurant) for dinner, but the wait was an hour and a half! On good ski days, the place is packed with people stopping in on their way back to Burlington from the mountains. Ugh, skiing.
It turned out okay, though, because instead we went to have a beer at Blackback Pub and Flyshop, which is a real flyshop but also serves food and high-quality beer. I had a Hill Farmstead Pacifica Single Hop IPA. I thought it was perfect. It has a really heady hops aroma and flavor, but is not very bitter at all. I've been really digging Hill Farmstead lately, and I buy it whenever I can afford to drop $7 on a beer. We had a nice chat with the bar owner and a lovely couple who coach women's sports at UVM.
When I got home, someone had left a dried rose sticking out of my door.
Then we went to Red Hen bakery (technically in Middlesex, not Waterbury) and had hot cider and black tea and grilled cheese sandwiches with mustard while we played Dominion. If you haven't played, Dominion is a very fun card game about building a kingdom. What's nice about it is that every game is different, because you randomly select the kinds of cards. It is hard to explain, but I recommend it. Also I won.
We tried to go to the Alchemist (a really excellent brew-pub/restaurant) for dinner, but the wait was an hour and a half! On good ski days, the place is packed with people stopping in on their way back to Burlington from the mountains. Ugh, skiing.
It turned out okay, though, because instead we went to have a beer at Blackback Pub and Flyshop, which is a real flyshop but also serves food and high-quality beer. I had a Hill Farmstead Pacifica Single Hop IPA. I thought it was perfect. It has a really heady hops aroma and flavor, but is not very bitter at all. I've been really digging Hill Farmstead lately, and I buy it whenever I can afford to drop $7 on a beer. We had a nice chat with the bar owner and a lovely couple who coach women's sports at UVM.
When I got home, someone had left a dried rose sticking out of my door.