Pickering Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts, is a 1970s-built waterfront district with a 19th-century feel. It boasts a marina, boutique shops selling everything from the obligatory witch kitsch to bags made from recycled sails, and lots of restaurants featuring an array of fabulous fresh seafood. Here are my favorites: Sea Level Oyster Bar offers so much… Read More Where to Eat on Pickering Wharf in Salem, Massachusetts
The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is the oldest continually operating and collecting museum in the United States. Its complicated history reaches back to the cusp of the 19th century, when our newborn nation was between wars with Britain and 170-year-old Salem was one of her largest cities and a world-class seaport. Salem ships… Read More Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts
Crêpes are one of those wonderful foods, like pie, that can be made sweet or savory, and served for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. French-Canadian crêpes are in a way the quintessence of French-Canadian cuisine, rooted in French cooking, but heartier, better to sustain the people for tapping maple trees than for dancing at the… Read More French-Canadian Crêpes
Corton is a simple pâté made of ground pork, onion, and seasonings. It originated in French-speaking Canada and remains popular in French-Canadian parts of New England. In Québec, it is usually called cretons and served as a side item with breakfast. I’ve read that some New Englanders call it gorton, though I don’t know any… Read More Corton, French-Canadian Pork Pâté
It was a train ride not just back home to New England, but really back to a simpler, more civilized time. I was aboard the Vermonter, Amtrak’s daily passenger train from Union Station in Washington, D.C., to St. Albans, Vermont, just shy of the Quebec border. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, click here.… Read More Train Trip: Washington, D.C., to New England
The lobster bisque was as delicious as I remembered. Hemenway’s has been one of my favorite seafood restaurants since I first visited during a fabulous trip to Providence, one of the best mid-size food cities in America, a few years ago. Seated at its raised rectangular bar, my companion and I savored every chunk of… Read More Road Trip: Southern New England
One of the best things about living in Massachusetts is the annual autumn kaleidoscope of color. There are a few factors that can influence the timing and vibrancy of fall foliage, but mid-October tends to be your best bet for peak leaf-peeping. If you’re planning a foliage trip, here are a few of my favorite… Read More Fall Foliage in Massachusetts
The large window dominated our cozy room at the Burlington Hilton. The view of Lake Champlain was marred slightly by the dark rain clouds and the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center, but we could still see across the blue water to the blurry Adirondack mountains in the background. My travel companion and I had decided… Read More Two Days in the Bubble
