Destination: Boothbay Harbor, ME

Best of Show: Cafe Mirabelle, Portsmouth, NH

Another honorable mention to Becky's Diner (nothin' finer!) 

Destination: Woburn, MA

Best of Show: A Sazerac at the Sichuan Garden bar

We went to Woburn for dinner this Friday after dropping Melissa off at Logan Airport.

I had wanted to come here for the highly-regarded authentic fare ever since visitng the Yin-Yu-Tang House at excellent Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, and listening to a series of lectures on 5000 years of Chinese history. The classic cocktails were a very pleasant surprise.

Destination: Bar Harbor, ME

Best of Show: McKay's Public House, Bar Harbor

In a departure from our usual routine, we actually spent the night on the road. well, not on the road exactly, but at the Anchorage Inn in Bar Harbor.

We had breakfast in the morning at the Cafe this Way, another charming place.

Destination: Martha's Vineyard, MA

Best of Show: oysters and stout over politics with the locals at Offshore Brewing Company

Destination: The July Brimfield Antiques Fair

Best of Show: memories of 25-cent cider donuts

With hospitality and authentic Greek New England pizza from Costa at the Brimfield House of Pizza.

Destination: Boothbay Harbor, but weather aborted that mission so we went inland

Best of Show: A Sazerac and creative cuisine at the Pepperland Cafe in South Berwick, ME, across from Sarah Orne Jewett's house.

With honorable mention to Becky's Diner (nothin' finer!) in Portland

Destination: Provincetown, MA

Best of Show: the mussels at Bubala's in P-Town

Study choreography here.

Billy and Sonya the bartenders know their stuff, too.

Destination: The Champlain Valley

Best of Show: Dinner at the Black Sheep Bistro, Vergennes, VT

Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth

Destination: Farmington, Ct

Best of Show: Hard Cider at a farmstand in Litchfield, a Greylock Martini at Sullivan Station in Lee, MA

We went to Hillstead House in Farmington, CT.

When you are planning a fancy dinner for friends or family, there's nothing like a visit to one of the many preserved mansions around New England to inspire you to reach for something special. I look at the grand dining room, the dishes, the kitchen, and I think "What could I do with this kitchen and a handful of servants? What would I set on that table?"

After leaving the house/museum, we headed west and made an adventure of it, including finding farm-fresh strawberries that ended up in a Frozen Strawberry Cream Torte for Richmond's birthday!

Destination: Trenton NJ Amtrak Station

Best of Show: Cherry Grove Farm bacon and cheeses

Lorna's roadtrip done, I retrieved her at the Trenton Amtrak station and took a long, leisurely drive to New Hope, PA, up the Delaware Water Gap, across NY and CT (with dinner at Elizabeth's in Tarriffville, CT) then RI and finally home to Plymouth!

Destination: Worcester, MA
Best of Show: Armsby Abbey

I had just set Lorna and Melissa off on a roadtrip to Florida (Lorna can tell you about those adventures) and I was at loose ends in Worcester. Of course, there's no shortage of fine foodie adventuring to be had in Worcester, but loading up the car had been thirsty work so I met my old pal Bill at Armsby Abbey.

Destination: Mid-Coast Maine

Best of Show: Boynton-McKay Coffeehouse, Camden, ME

retro look, great local coffee, people-watching in a great location

Destination: The lower Maine coast, southwest of Portland.

Best of Show: Gypsy Sweethearts restaurant, Ogunquit, ME

Lobster Taco, for starters... people watching, too.