Introducing Fresh Basil Travel Services!

Ten years ago this fall, I returned home from studying abroad in Italy and wrote out a dozen or so pages of detailed recommendations for every place I visited in Europe. My dad still foists that crazy (and quite outdated!) document upon anyone who even mentions Italy.

All that to say, I've long taken great pleasure in sharing bits and pieces of vacation advice with family, friends, and even a good deal of strangers.

It's been lovely to have an excuse to share travel tips with all of you on Fresh Basil over the years, and I absolutely adore fielding questions via email about visiting the Berkshires or New York or Martha's Vineyard. But I've often thought that it would be fun to formalize that arrangement a bit and offer up my obsessive vacation-related research skills to the masses.

And so, I am absolutely thrilled to announce the start of Fresh Basil Travel Services! This is basically an excuse for me to do the crazy kind of vacation prep I would do for myself for you.

I love planning where to eat and what to see and do, but I know many people do not find that kind of thing to be very exciting. In fact, it can be kind of a bummer to sift through loads of blog posts and review sites and travel forums to plan your perfect trip (or so I've heard!). If you'd like to hand off that task and just get down to enjoying your vacation, I would love to help!

North Fork Weekend

Last month we were invited to join friends for a weekend on the North Fork of Long Island. The other couples we were with both have children, too, and it was so neat to see our friends as parents and get to know two kiddos that are a year and two years older than Lizzy. We have lots of chasing to look forward to in our future!

It was a low key trip with dinners at home and lots of chatting and wine, but we did explore the area a bit. We had lunch at First and South in Greenport and also the Lunch Truck at North Fork Table and Inn - both were delicious and had outdoor space for the littles to run around.

One afternoon, the ladies left the babies at home with our husbands and went to Konokosta Winery, where all these pictures were taken. The setting is unbelievable, and the wine is good, too (though other reviewers seem to think it's not as good as other options in the area - we weren't feeling too picky!). On the way out, we stopped at one of the many farm stands in the area to pick up all kinds of goodies before taking the ferry home, which made it a really easy trip to do from Boston.

Summer, I'm missing you already.

Postcards from Martha's Vineyard

I've written about Martha's Vineyard a lot over the years, so I'll try to keep this pretty snappy and just share a great new-to-us find this year - the Galley in Menemsha. Excellent seafood shack with reasonable prices and a lovely open patio in the back where you can sit and watch the boats float. Delightful.

The only other new thing this year was Lizzy! Going to Martha's Vineyard every summer is such a bright spot for me and my family, and it's one of the things I dreamed of sharing with my kiddos one day. Even though she certainly won't remember this trip, it was just so fun to be there with her - taking her to our favorite beaches, letting her taste a nibble of syrup during breakfast at Art Cliff, and going on her first ride on the carousel. This is somewhat over the top in terms of sap, but I did feel, over and over, like I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be there with all my favorite people, including this precious little (but kind of big...) baby who I get to live with and take on adventures and introduce to all kinds of wonderful things.

Now we're off to the Berkshires to kiss this beautiful summer goodbye. Hope you all have a lovely long weekend!!!

A Week in Maine

Earlier this month, we were lucky enough to join Peter's family for a week in Maine. The house was steps away from the beach, with a big deck in the back that looked right at the water. Heavenly!

It was a low-key week with lots of walking at the beach, big family dinners, and time spent making crazy faces at Lizzy in a attempt to make her smile and laugh. On the first night, we celebrated my 30th birthday with bubbly, lobsters, and cake - a completely delicious way to start this new decade.

We went into Portland for lunch and shopping one afternoon, and took home a box of potato donuts from Holy Donut. These are more like fried dough than donuts, but completely yummy nonetheless.

Peter and I went back into town later in the week for a belated birthday celebration, leaving Lizzy at home with her Nana, aunt, and uncle. We had the best time, first hitting up Eventide for oysters, and then Hunt and Alpine Club for fun cocktails and more substantial snacks. Lizzy was a hungry little gremlin by the time we came home, but they assured us that she was mostly well behaved while we were out :)

Summer is just the best-est, am I right?!

Just beyond

A chilly weekend away in southern Maine at the end of March doesn't exactly scream "baby moon," but that's what we called it.

Over the last eight years, Peter and I have taken many, many trips - both big and small - together. Our first was to Williamsburg, Virginia about six months after we met. The town was all decked out for Christmas, and we bopped around eating and drinking and generally feeling extremely adult about the whole thing. That Sunday afternoon was drizzly and cold, but there was a promise of fireworks once it got dark enough, so Peter got a taste of how serious I am about pyrotechnics because we stayed on that town green until the bitter, celebratory end.

Then there were the weekends in New York, before we lived there. Weekends in D.C., after we lived there. Weekends in Boston, before we moved here for good. There were wedding celebrations in Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, North Carolina. Winter weekends skiing in the Berkshires, driving into the wilds of Canada, bopping down to Newport.

And big trips. Taking off for nearly a month to roam around Brazil, and then Hawaii. Week-long stays in Paris, and Charleston.

In the middle of our Brazil trip, which we took off on just days after getting engaged, we went to different beaches all the time, ate so much grilled meat, brought cards everywhere we went to play gin rummy because everyone around us seemed to be doing the same, and I remember one night, probably about halfway into the trip when Peter and I were out at bar where the floor was covered with a thick spread of sand underneath our feet, he said very casually, "It's so lucky that I get to spend all my days with you."

In celebration of these days together, when it is just an us, we ate fried sea food, and took a long walk by the steely grey water, perched as gracefully as possible atop bar stools, and toasted to this lovely, lucky life we have together, and to all the lovely, lucky things that await us, just beyond our line of sight.

Our Week in the San Diego Area

We had the best time on our trip to San Diego! I collected our whole week of activities into one big post. 

Day one: We met up with my parents, my sister, and her boyfriend Joel at our rental car place at LAX (to pick up our awesome minivan!). I convinced everyone that we should stop at In-N-Out Burger before driving down to Escondido. We made it to our resort, and then grabbed dinner at this yummy Argentinian spot (though the manager did have an annoying habit of asking repeatedly if we'd like to pose for a picture on their Facebook page. Thanks for asking, but NO.)

Day two: The gentleman in our group were particularly excited about the plethora of craft beer s in this area of the country. We went to Stone Brewing for a drink in their amazing gardens while waiting for a table to have a late lunch. The gardens are deceptively small, but are so well laid-out that every table and seating area feels private and special. We made a quick stop at Stone Farm on our way home. They grow food for restaurants, including their own, and there are chickens and goats and such. They sell beer, and people just seem to hang out (we came across lots of spaces during our trip that seemed conducive to that!).

Day three: Using Eater for guidance, we went to Mariscos El Pescador for lunch. It's in the parking lot of a mostly abandoned strip mall, but they had the most delicious fish tacos - for $1.25 each! We spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo. I loved the set up there - each new animal habitat felt like a happy discover because it's so lush and green, and the paths just wind along.

These flamingos were among my favorites.

That night, we met up with some long-time family friends for a drink at the lovely Hotel del Coronado (which the Grand Floridian in Orlando is based off of!). There's a giant patio in the back that looks at the ocean, with couches and chairs set up around fire pits. It was heavenly. For dinner, we ate waaaaaay too many chips and queso at Miguelito's.

Day four: My parents, Peter, and I spent the morning golfing at the course on our resort. Super hilly, but views were great and the holes were short (my favorite!).

Our beer tour continued with a visit to Ballast Point, where I tried the most incredibly crisp, light wheat beer (don't worry, I only had a sip!). My mom, sister, and I spent the afternoon shopping while the guys went on to do another tasting at Green Flash. We made fantastic guacamole at home and grilled steaks that night for dinner. I miss those avocados!

Day five: We stopped at Campini's Deli to grab sandwiches and snacks to go, and then went to Hart Winery. They have picnic tables on a patio outside of their tasting room that looks onto the (currently dormant) vineyards. Little grey lizards crawled along while we ate a lazy lunch with a bottle of their wine.

We later visited Wiens and Marimar - both lovely spots that are much more of a production than Hart was. Bigger tasting rooms, lots more people, large outdoor spaces. All the vineyards are very easy to bop around to - they're all basically off of the same road in Temecula.

For the afternoon, we shopped around Old Town Temecula, with a fantastic stop at the Temecula Olive Oil Company for an oil and vinegar tasting. (I was jealous of everyone else's wine and beer tastings, so I really went for it with those oils :) For dinner that night, we drove out to Carlsbad for sushi at Blue Ocean. This was one of our favorite meals of the week. In addition to sushi, they serve robata, which is basically grilled meat on a skewer. Delish.

Day six: The end of the week was unusually warm (around 80 degrees), so we spent the entire day by the pool, grilling burgers and eating more guacamole made from those unbelievable avocados. I had brought this book along with me for the trip, and I found it be terrible! Could not get through it. I'm now thoroughly caught up on the March edition of every magazine on the shelf, though.

Day seven: We started the day with a crazy drive up to Mt. Soledad. The views of La Jolla were stunning, and the memorial was touching. To round out our fish taco eating, we went to El Pescador Fish Market for lunch - also amazing, and the setting is a bit of an upgrade from the strip mall parking lot.

We spent an amazing afternoon Cabrillo National Monument to see the tidal pools. There are easy walking paths and beautiful views everywhere you turn. We went up to the top to see the lighthouse afterwards, which was very cool - you really got a sense for how isolating it was to be a lighthouse keeper.

For dinner, we were back in La Jolla to go to Whisknladle. Oooh, this place was so good! Everything I tried - which included bone marrow, my main dish with pork, olives, and asparagus, and a chocolate peanut butter confection - was wonderful. Highly recommend if you're looking for a fun celebratory dinner in that area.

I really, really didn't want to come home from this trip. Being outside so much in the sunshine, eating so many delicious things, getting to spend so much time with my family - it was just a perfect mix. California, I can't wait to see you again someday.

California, Here We Come

(Watercolor map via Stamen Design)

This is a somewhat cruel announcement to make while most of the country is suffering from such awful cold weather, but we're headed to San Diego in a couple of weeks for a sunshiny vacation with my family! 

I've been pulling together a list of restaurants and things we'd like to do, including the usual suspects like Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, a Stone Brewery tour, and shopping around La Jolla. I've been using Eat This Poem's Literary City Guide and the Design Sponge City Guide as my jumping off points, but please do let me know if you have any additional tips or suggestions!

Winter Trip to NYC

It already feels like a lifetime ago, but earlier this week, Peter and I popped down to NYC for a fun overnight. We drove right into midtown so that I could wait in line for rush ticket to see Waiting for Godot while Peter parked the car and checked into our hotel. The timing worked out perfectly - just when I finished up in line, he met me!

We had about an hour and a half before the show started, so we went to Benoit for brunch. On this trip, we wanted to force ourselves to try a few new places (it's so easy to just return to old favorites!), and this was one of them. Generally, the Eater 38 list is great for some direction since there are just so many restaurants. Benoit is delightfully French and charming, and the location couldn't be beat for proximity to the theater.

Broadway theaters are so beautiful, no? This show, featuring Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, was such a pleasure to watch. I wasn't familiar with the play beforehand, and was surprised at how accessible it was (though I'm sure there was quite a bit I missed, too!). 

After the show, we were able to meet up with a smattering of old friends at the Headless Horseman in Union Square. It was nice and open, and could even accomodate a cute baby and all his gear! We've been so lucky to meet a lot of new friends in Boston, but I still miss all those NYC friends so much, particularly my girlfriends, so it was amazing to get to catch up for a little bit. 

For dinner that night, we went to Gramercy Tavern, an old favorite. We ate in the tavern part (and actually have never been to the dining room - maybe someday!). Everything was still decked out like crazy for the holidays - I love the decor there almost as much as the food and service. I had two dishes I'd like to try to recreate at home: an amazing grilled radicchio and apple salad with pistachios, and a smoked potato chowder with mussels, fish, and octopus (I'd probably skip the octopus at home!). 

The next morning, we left our downtown hotel and caught a peek at the Freedom Tower - very impressive! - on our way to MOMA. We came here years ago on a packed free Friday evening, and even though it was still quite busy, it was lovely to return.

After exploring the museum for a few hours, we headed to Kin Shop for lunch, another new-to-us spot that had been our list even before we moved. The space is serene and cool, and the food is fantastic. We shared fried Brussels sprouts with Chinese sausage and the stir fried Dungeness crab noodles - both incredible. As we were leaving, Peter realized we were very close to Amorino, so, of course, we had to pop over there for a bit of gelato.

We made one final stop at Gorilla Coffee in our old neighborhood before hitting the road back to Boston. In fact, I'm sipping that delicious coffee as I type!

NYC, it was so wonderful to see you again!