Scarborough FoodFair: Maple Syrup and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Andddddd....I'm back!

With something yummy. See that thing up above? It's yummy.

So, where do I begin...

As most of you know, Kaston and I went on a little Spring Break excursion to the great states of New Hampshire and Vermont. Not your typical Spring Break destinations, thank goodness. Our trip was filled with back roads, a ridiculous amount of (delicious) food, llamas/goats, maple syrup, and lots of cheese. Solid combination, right?

I don't want to bore you to death so....I'm going to give you a quick rundown. With a chance of bullet points at the end. Don't be scared.

We meandered our way up to the little skiing/outlet mall shopping town of North Conway, New Hampshire on Saturday. We lazily spent the evening at the Inn indulging in a large amount of food and then chatting up a storm with the owner/bartender and waitresses. We seem to do this a lot.

The next morning we inhaled our delicious breakfast at the Inn while enjoying the unreal views of the mountains...which of course led us to jump in the car and drive directly to them. We spent the day driving through/in/around the mountains and eventually over into Maine as the sun went down. This is where we discovered Candlepin Bowling. GREATEST GAME EVER. I won. 2 out of the 3 games. Don't tell Kaston I told you. He's a poor sport sometimes.

The next morning, after inhaling another delicious breakfast at the Inn, we started our descent into Southern Vermont. This leg of the journey was littered with finding every local cheese producer in the Southern half of the state. Which I do admit was a bit excessive. But, as I've told you before...I really love cheese.

After arriving in Arlington that evening, we spent another lazy night at the Inn exploring the grounds and hanging out with the llamas, oh...and eating. We were served a SIX course meal from the Inn's farm to table restaurant and had to be rolled to our room. It was obscene. Day 2 in Vermont of course included a lot of driving, followed by a trip to Hildene (Robert Todd Lincoln's summer home) and a visit to the local sugar shack (where they make the most wonderful maple syrup). These last two were easily my favorite parts of the trip. Being practically the only people visiting Hildene, we ended up chatting the afternoon away with the tour guides and getting exclusive looks around the house. Remember when I said we do that a lot?

Of course I've left out an absurd amount of the trip...but you've already fallen asleep so it doesn't matter right? And don't fret I haven't forgotten about the bullet points. Please see below the recipe for all of the delicious places we ate so you can go to New Hampshire and Vermont and indulge too!

The last time we came home from Vermont I immediately made something with maple syrup. {These Maple Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins} Well...guess what? Vermont has done it to me again. But THIS time I watched this particular maple syrup being made and then poured into my very own Maple Syrup jug. YUM. However, I didn't make a big plate of buttermilk pancakes drenched in maple syrup as you would expect because...as you can see...we ate a lot over the weekend. Which means I'm going to be munching on carrots for the next couple of weeks (lies). Instead I made this vinaigrette. That way I could feel somewhat okay about eating another meal.

Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette