a milestone of sorts

After being home with just one child, we drove to join the others on Thursday, and then my husband and I had an opportunity to get away for a couple of nights to celebrate our anniversary.  We stayed at the beautiful, dog-friendly Blue Goose Inn  which is sandwiched between Sunapee Mountain ski area and Sunapee Lake.  Wednesday night we went for a pub dinner and watched the movie Avalon afterwards.  It wasn't a great one, but we both enjoyed it, and boy, was Elijah Wood cute at age nine!

Thursday morning we woke to a light snowfall and a scrumptious breakfast.  Then it was time to head into the woods.  We had hoped for enough snow to do some cross country skiing, but it wasn't to be.  Instead we followed some snowmobile trails that lead us into the quietest part of the woods.

The fresh snow and the dim light added their own magic to the day.  As we were headed out of the woods, we found someone's food storage and dining room:

Pantry underneath the log, dining room on top, garbage disposal on the other side.  Clearly someone had been quite hungry.

That night, we treated ourselves to an exquisite dinner at the Inn at Pleasant Lake to celebrate our anniversary.  It was a truly memorable meal starting with a duck appetizer, followed by Potage Lyonaise which was so good my husband had seconds:

This was followed by a salad and a compote of tart cherries as a palate cleanser.  The main course was amazing:

Tuna with Dill Beurre Blanc for my husband and the most tender Beef tenderloin I have ever tasted in my life.  To finish, there was cheesecake with ganache and raspberry sauce.  Isn't it pretty?

We have lived in the Northeast for almost 18 months now, and there are so many beautiful and lovely places to discover.  I'm very much hoping that we will have lots of time to explore in 2012.