Retreat - Part III (The Sights)

September 15, 2009 | Filed Under personal, travel | Leave a Comment

Things we did while in Somerset, PA:

Walked down the road to a farm which has been converted to a driving range. Attempted to hit the cows on the neighboring farm. Failing that, attempted to hit the wooden cow in the middle of the range. Failing that, picked up my camera and took pictures of the pretty flowers.

Drove to an area with biking, hiking, and river kayaking. Attempted to find a short trail which ended at the river. Failing that, retraced our steps over two miles of bike path and took the most heavily traveled trailhead, trusting that it would take us to the river. Failing that, retraced our steps over three miles of trails and found ANOTHER trailhead, which took us, within half a mile, to a steep, muddy hill which carried us to the river.

Retreat - Part II (The Food)

September 15, 2009 | Filed Under food!, personal, travel | Leave a Comment

Little did I know, as I drove toward the inn, that my friend expected me to help her cook a feast for the two of us.

We were to start by making our own tortillas.

I had no idea that people did this outside the pages of Martha Stewart Living. Did you?

Thankfully, she did most of the work, allowing me to drink wine and take photos of the process.

We had to let the dough sit for a while, so I was handed a knife and told to chop a collection of onions and peppers, which were added to a pot of black beans along with a TON of cumin. We discussed our mutual love of cumin, and how sad our lives were before we knew of its delights.

It turns out she had already made pico de gallo, so our feast was nearly complete. All we had to do after that was roll out the tortillas, cook them on the stovetop, and assemble our feast.

It was so good, I made it again a week later - without the homemade tortillas.

Retreat - Part I (The Inn)

September 14, 2009 | Filed Under personal, travel | 2 Comments

I recently took a weekend trip to Somerset, PA.

It was to see a friend who has known me since I was an awkward, overdramatic teenager. Compared to her memories from a decade ago, I seemed composed and mature.

Which might explain why the entire weekend was refreshing in a way I somehow forgot existed.

Though, the scenery didn’t hurt.