24 | February | 2012 | Fitness & Feta

Here’s a little happy dance to Friday!

And a happy dance for the winner of the John Wm. Macy’s CheeseStick Giveaway:

Commenter #7, Ashley Pratte!

It was the fact she liked the John Wm. Macy’s Facebook page and left a separate comment telling me she did so (See, those options do pay off!) that won her the prize, but her original comment was:

I would guess that my fave would be the cheddar and asiago because I just can’t get enough cheese. I would also really like the cinnamon because I have a definite sweet tooth!

Congratulations, Ashley! Please email me at akaralekas@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Vermont Culinary Weekend Getaway

Over the long President’s Day weekend, Tim and I headed up to Vermont for a getaway with his family. In lieu of getting each other Christmas presents this year, Tim’s immediate family (parents + sister Katie and her boyfriend Vinnie) decided to buy this Groupon so we could have a fun weekend away all together.

For $400 instead of the usual $819, our Groupon included a two-night stay for two adults in a traditional room at The Essex, Vermont’s Culinary Resort & Spa. It also included our choice of two cooking classes (1 for each of us), two massages (1 for each of us), or one of each. Not too shabby, right?! We obviously chose the cooking classes over the massages, as this was a fun activity the fam could do all together.

Friday finally came and we took the afternoon off to make the 3-4 hour drive north. A drive that included many flashcards, by the way. Tim is a saint! We also took some silly pictures and enjoyed the scenery along the way.

When we arrived and first pulled up to the hotel, my first impression was “This is it?” It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere and the grounds didn’t look that big to me. However, The Essex is actually 18 acres of land located right between Lake Champlain and the Green Mountains. I ended up absolutely loving that once we were actually on the resort’s grounds, we got lost in all it has to offer. You know, that nice “we’re secluded and away from everything” feeling.

When we walked in the lobby, we were greeted by an inviting glass display of dessert and cupcakes, and a woman giving away pumpkin and homemade chocolate crêpe samples.

Sold from the get go!

Our room was super cute – we actually ended up upgrading from the “traditional” room that the Groupon included to a room that included a fireplace as well as a Jacuzzi / bigger bathroom.

When we got there, they told us the only Jacuzzi room that was left had broken jets which I was disappointed about (I thought we were going to be sitting in a tub of water?) but they didn’t make us pay the full upgrade fee for it. Turns out, only one jet was broken! I wouldn’t have even been able to tell.

Score!

Our room had a Keurig too. The bf knows I need my coffee in the morning!

I loved our room, so I can only imagine what the more expensive suites are like.

Anyways, we did a LOT of stuff in one weekend aside from the cooking class that was included in our stay:

Friday night: “Cote d’Azur Dreams” Cooking Class + Drinks at The Tavern
Saturday morning: Workout in the fitness center
Saturday afternoon: Exploring downtown Burlington: Lunch at Zabby & Elf’s Stone Soup, a ton of browsing and stops along Church Street, and some beer tastings at Magic Hat Brewery
Saturday night: Chef’s Table dining in Amuse + Drinks at The Tavern
Sunday morning: Sleep in + breakfast in Amuse

There’s a LOT to write about, and I’ll have to save some specifics for another post. Until then, I’ll leave you with a little story from Saturday afternoon.

The World’s Most Disappointing Cup of Coffee

After Tim and I got lunch with Katie & Vinnie on Saturday afternoon, we did a lot of walking around the shops in downtown Burlington. Katie & Vinnie had their heart set on getting a good cup of coffee, and we took awhile deciding which place to get one from. We actually walked in one place and walked out before settling on The Bluebird Coffee Stop. (Are we coffee snobs?!) The long line at this place caught our eye earlier in the afternoon, it had a cute name, and was just a little kiosk stand in the middle of the street among all the shops.

After hemming and hawing, Katie and Vinnie ordered first. Katie decided she wanted to try the Salted Mocha Breve.

Katie: “I’ll have the Salted Mocha please, with skim milk.”
Mister Breve Snob: “Sorry, we don’t have skim milk.”

Strike 1.

Mister Breve Snob: “I can use 2% instead.”
Katie: “Okay, that’s fine.”

Mister Breve Snob walks to the back to start making the already disappointing 2% version, but comes back to the counter right away.

Mister Breve Snob: “Sorry, but MY salted mocha recipe is actually a BREVE.”

I wish wish WISH you guys could hear how he said the word breve. “It’s ACTUALLY a BREV-EH…” in the most disgusted tone ever. I snorted by accident.

Strike 2.

Katie: “Okay, I’m sorry I didn’t actually know what breve meant so I just didn’t say it.”
Mister Breve Snob: “Well, do you just want the regular mocha then?”
Katie: “Ummm… sure…”

Rude Man walks to the back again, leaving Katie without much of a choice.

Strike 3.

3 strikes before even tasting the drink is pretty bad!

Strike 4 was that they ran out of apple cider, so Tim didn’t end up getting anything. Mister Breve Snob didn’t even think to cross his apple cider recipe off the chalkboard to indicate otherwise. Shocking.

I debated whether to even get anything at this point, but really wanted one, so I went with the Maple Latte because it sounded interesting to me.

It didn’t even taste like Maple.