Birthday Time in The Spice Garden!

Hurray for one year of food blogging! Hurray for learning something about digital photography! Hurray for making some new friends on the Internet! Hurray for growing a site that I am excited to work on every day!
Hurray for creative freedom! Hurray for good food and a place to prepare it! Hurray for exploring new and interesting places in my corner of New England that are producing or growing wonderful food! Hurray for the time and energy to continue this venture!

Happy Birthday to The Spice Garden! We're celebrating with a bottle of Silver Mountain Peach Apple Wine, some wonderful apple wine smoked sausage from North Country Smokehouse, and some maple smoked cheddar from Grafton Village Cheese Company ... then it's soup for supper. See links for a look at these 'local products' ... if you like the look you may decide to order their products online or come visit the region and stop into their operations for a tour and tasting!

We dropped in at Silver Mountain last Sunday afternoon ... a really fun outing!  The Miners were doing a cider press so we got to tour the operation and taste their line. Ciders, hard ciders, and fruit wines are their specialty. I am impressed that they do not pasteurize their ciders or add 'strange additives'. What you taste is what you get, which means that storage is an important consideration.  Cool, dark, and dry conditions with bottles in the upright position ... I've been advised by Steve Miner, the owner and vintner at Silver Mountain, and I will pay attention.  I am eagerly anticipating an apple and grape brandy sparkling wine that I purchased especially for our Thanksgiving dessert. I liked the peach-apple wine and an apple-honey wine, also.  Can't wait to plan special plates to complement them!

After our visit at Silver Mountain, we stopped into The Aerie, our sister and brother-in-law's place, for some snacks. Mary and Bill served the North Country apple wine smoked sausage and some great cheese from Cabot's of Vermont. I was really impressed with the sausage, so I found some at a local market for our little celebration. Silent Bob and I loved our late summer visit to the Grafton Village Cheese Company ... tasting their cheeses was a highlight of a day long road trip through the hills of eastern Vermont north of Brattleboro. As for The North Country Smokehouse, we'll plan an afternoon visit soon, as it's only up the road in Claremont, New Hampshire.

If you're in the neighborhood, check out these and other fantastic small food operations that are producing great cheese, meats, wines, and specialty foods! So... here's to another year and more good knoshing!

Silver Mountain Ciders


North Country Smokehouse


Grafton Village Cheese Company