With the exception of this Thursday and next, I’m on a two-week break—finally using up my remaining vacation days before the new fiscal year begins on June 1. Unless travel money miraculously drops into my bank account, this will be a staycation. And honestly, I’m okay with that.
My only real plans for the next couple of weeks are simple ones: I’ll be keeping up with my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday workout sessions with my trainer, and I’ve got dinner plans with a good friend on Friday night. That dinner, in particular, is something I’ve really been looking forward to.
We’re going to the only place around here that serves a wine I truly enjoy: Henri Perrusset Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay, from Burgundy, France. Now, I don’t drink often—maybe the occasional margarita, a vodka cranberry, or a hard cider—but this chardonnay is something special. It’s a bit of an exception for me, since I usually prefer sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, typically French or Italian, with a particular fondness for wines from the Loire Valley.
I’m sure the wine aficionados reading this might cringe at my taste, but I gravitate toward crisp, dry white wines. I’ve never really learned the proper terminology to describe wine, but every time I look up the ones I like, they all seem to fall under that “dry and crisp” category.
The restaurant’s food is good, though maybe not exceptional. I usually order the lobster and shrimp scampi—it’s solid, even if lobster isn’t my favorite seafood. (Let’s be honest, sometimes it feels like restaurants throw lobster into a dish just so they can hike up the price.) What really makes the meal, though, is dessert. Their flourless chocolate cake is rich, dense, and downright decadent. And the cheesecake? Also worth the calories.
I’m also surprisingly looking forward to my workouts. That’s not a sentence I ever expected to write, but here we are. My trainer has found the right balance—he doesn’t push me too hard, knowing I haven’t seriously worked out in years, but he still challenges me just enough. It’s early days, but we’re making real progress. It feels good.
And while food and wine are lovely perks, what I’m most excited about is the simple pleasure of getting dressed up and heading out. I don’t often get the chance to really put together an outfit and enjoy an evening out, so Friday night will be a treat. Good wine, decent food, indulgent dessert, and—most importantly—a great friend whose company I know I’ll thoroughly enjoy.
Staycation or not, it’s shaping up to be a good couple of weeks.
Joe
The Closet Professor 
May 19th, 2025 at 6:55 am
Joe It’s not really my position to dictate your tastes, but as a quarter French, my suggestion would be to start with a delicious fishy soup such as lobster bisque or fresh fish cooked en croute with a cover of filou pastry, which you need to bash in with a spoon and reveal the wonderful aroumas. I still recall a delicious en croute soup at a small workman’s cafe at the docks at Le Havre, the fish straight off the trawler. A glass of something French, white and dry would be good. A chilled chablis would be ideal.
Another idea (depending on the season) is fresh raw oysters with a twist of lemon and perhaps a drop of Tabasco. You also need a slice of real French baguette.
Then move to a meat course. My favourite is a skow cooked casserole such as boeuf bourguignon or a carbonnade de boeuf or poulet Marengo accompanied with a good red Margaux such as Chateau Palmer 1978 or a Giscours. I still have a label from a 1978 bottle of Ch Giscours. Heavenly magic. The very very rich would opt for Ch Margaux or Boyd-Cantenac. At a wine tasting I did have a free half a glass of Margaux 1894. We were warned it could be vinegar or nectar. Thankfully it was the latter.
Then a cheese course selection such as camembert, comte and bleu de bresse. That enables you to finish off the bottle of red.
For pudding, (if you have room) I’d suggest creme caramel or perhaps a not-too-sweet tiramisu. I tend not to drink anything with such sweet food. But perhaps a small glass of port?
I am not a coffee drinker after 11am, so I’d skip that in favour of mild green tea or a tisane. Then go home and have a lovely long sleep.
May 19th, 2025 at 7:31 am
If I’m out to dinner and get dessert, I always get a cup of coffee. It never keeps me awake when I have it with dessert.
Everything else you mentioned sounds wonderful, except for two things. 1) While I have had raw oyster, I can’t stand them (it’s a texture thing.) I’d much rather have the smaller oysters either fried or in an oyster artichoke bisque, which I haven’t had in a long time. 2) I love boeuf bourguignon and have occasionally made it, I cannot handle red wine. I don’t like the taste and even the smallest amount triggers my migraines.
I wish this restaurant served all that you mentioned. It sounds lovely, but sadly, this is Vermont. Very few places outside the major ski resorts like the ones in Stowe have like the ones you’ve mentioned, and for what I’d pay for a meal at one of those places, I could spend a nice weekend in Montreal.
Back before the New England Culinary Institute closed, they had a restaurant called NECI in Montpelier that would serve very classy foods and since it was run by students, the prices were reasonable. It was also hit or miss. Not all of their students were honor students, lol. The loss of the New England Culinary Institute was a huge blow for culinary schools in New England. Vermont has a few higher education gems, and it had been one of them.
May 19th, 2025 at 8:09 am
Dear Joe
Thanks for your detailed reply.
I had no idea that red wine for you triggers a migraine attack. That’s really awful. OMG every Frenchman would sympathise deeply because red wine is the lifeblood of France. It’s like sex without anal or vaginal penetration. To me it’s almost unthinkable. You poor chap. Tons of sympathy.
I hope cheese does not also cause migraines.
A former American GF from Bel Air once told me that in the USA you could get any cheese you wanted provided it was sliced Kraft. I don’t know if that was a joke or had a degree of reality. In every supermarket in France, the cheese counter is massive reflecting their love of it. That’s where I discovered the nutty delights of comte (from the Jura region near the Swiss border).
As for oysters, they are like Marmite. You either love them or hate them. I love them.
BTW a tip – never ask a Frenchman how he is. If you are lucky he will reply “Ca vas bien”, otherwise he will spend 15 minutes describing the state of his digestion!!
May 19th, 2025 at 8:17 am
One of the great things about Vermont is that we have lots of different kinds of cheese. Vermont is a big dairy state, we have whole markets just for cheese, and thankfully, I have no issues eating cheese.
I did a study abroad in France, and our campus was a former abbey in Pontlevoy. We were walking through town early one morning and there was a group of old men gathered together and gossiping, as old men tend to do, but instead of coffee, they all had a glass of red wine. Unless it’s a mimosa, a Bloody Mary, or Irish coffee, I don’t drink alcohol before lunch, so I was shocked, but quickly realized, it was just part of the culture.
May 20th, 2025 at 5:27 am
Joe,
The French tend to drink a lot of red wine! Their alcoholic consumption is higher than in England but their alcohol is taken slowly and steadily over a period. It is not the wham, bang Friday night binge down the pub here to see who can drink the most beers before passing out. That sort of drinking is massively bad for the body.