Cure Cabin Fever with Vermont Vibes!

Don't ski? Sick of watching movies? Vermont Vibes can be created at home and in your backyard (or a nearby backyard).

Spend an afternoon in your sunny kitchen, followed by a stroll in the woods, and completed with a spa night at the movies!

This past Sunday, myself and the elusive Mitch skipped skiing, slept late, and proceeded to make an affair out of breakfast. We combined a variety of tasty teas to be one gigantic herbal infusion, turned on some global tunes to keep us feeling warm, lit some lavender and lilac candles, and made one colorful and zesty breakfast!

Viber-Tots:

~ small cut potatoes (microwave on high for 3 minutes first - cuts down on boiling time and is more energy efficient than cooking on the stove)
~ finely chopped peppers of all colors!
~ finely chopped onions of all colors!
~ lots of spices - onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper powder, paprika, salt, pepper, etc.
Add ingredients in this order to frying pan with some olive oil in it and saute 'em up! While they're cookin' on low heat (with occasional stirrin') make the following...

Eggs-a-Vibe:

~ eggs (preferably cage free!)
~ Vermont milk (I prefer Booth Brothers)
~ some of the same veggies as above, but add in mushrooms and tomatoes as well
~ shredded Cabot sharp cheddar cheese
~ same spices, maybe toned down a tad
Beat eggs and spices, then add milk (enough to make it a lighter yellow, but keep the thick consistency), saute onions, peppers, and mushrooms in some olive oil based cooking spray in frying pan, then pour in eggs and scramble baby - don't stop - that's how they come out best! When they are one consistency, but still soupy, sprinkle on some cheese and add the tomatoes, stir until cheese and eggs become one, and don't worry about the tomatoes.

After such yumminess, take a winter walk. We weren't in the mood for a full snowshoe, but wanted some fresh air. Bike paths are great winter places for walks because for the most part, they are clear enough to walk along without need for snowshoes. We headed over to the South Burlington Bike Path in the neighborhood we really want to find an apartment in and walked along the path, took some detours for tree love and energy stretches in the woods, and definitely felt re-vibed afterwards!
Then we headed back for the typical Sunday night movie night - with a citrus twist! We used some fun citrus scented foot products and soaked our feet in bath salts and foot spa bath gel during more herbal tea infusions while watching a movie (Across the Universe - soooooooo good!). We scrubbed with some foot scrub using loofahs, soaked some more, and followed up with several doses of cooling citrus foot spray and then finally some moisturizer. Finding foot spa stuff or making your own is an entirely different post, but starting a collection is a must do on any Vermont Viber's list!

Happy Mid-Winter Vibes Everyone!!!

Love at The Village Porch

Valentine's Day is stupid for two reasons:

1.) When you are single.
2.) Because there is too much crap at stores for too long.

But, the fact that there is a day to celebrate love is good. Holidays, even if simple, are good. They shake things up a bit and help people at least think out of the box, which is always good.

I have had some depressing Valentine's Days in my time and some pretty cool ones. This year is certainly the best yet since I spent it with my sweetie Mitch who's the guy I'm actually planning a future with (before him it was hard to even plan a camping trip with dudes!) It started of with a wake up love text and later an e-card, then a dozen red roses (I got him a drum key) and a long drive listening to romantic tunes down to Rochester, Vermont for Valentine's dinner at The Village Porch.

The Village Porch has become one of my absolute favorites and Valentine's dinner confirmed it! I love the little hippie village of Rochester, I love driving on Route 100, I love the Victorian home turned bistro, I love the cozy feeling of intimate dining outside of the attitude of Burlington, and I love the lower prices that come with it!

The drive is long, but I am a Viber so I love driving and my fuel efficient Vibe makes Vibing an activity I can still afford. The drive is also beautiful and I love dark country roads because that's how I roll. The Village Porch is right in the center of Rochester and of course has a porch wrapped around it. Owners Dean and Connie Mendell have done a terrific job creating a picturesque Vermont atmosphere with elegantly prepared dishes at proportions that don't yell "supersize me!" The Valentine's Dinner featured a five course meal for $38! Soup, salad, appetizer, main course, and dessert - Mitch and I each picked opposite items (there were two selections for each and three for the meal) and savored each one. Well, Mitch didn't like his appetizer, but that's because he has issues with certain consistencies, not because it wasn't good. I was especially happy with my entree because it was a decedent seafood dish and I LOVE seafood!

There are two dining rooms, one with a little bar and the other with the window into the kitchen. The waitstaff are so great and I am probably fussiest about waitstaff of everything when I visit restaurants. We dined next to folks from the North Shore Ski Club who were thoroughly enjoying themselves and making Mitch and I look forward to when we can live in a small Vermont town and have our group of local couple friends to go have dinner with at places like The Village Porch.

While The Village Porch may be a little far for some as a destination (even though it's worth it and half the fun can be found in getting somewhere), I do suggest making it a point to stop there when traversing along Route 100 at some point. They don't have a website but can be found on the Vermont Travel Planner and reached at 802-767-3126.
Enjoy!!

Vibe Depletion!!!

Help! My Vibes are depleted! The mid-winter blues have set in. I haven't skiied enough and while I thought I could sneak away mid-week for some good skiing, running a PR business is too damn demanding to allow any such luxury. Living in Vermont is too expensive - period, and it greatly disturbs me that Vermonters are taken advantage of so easily because the demand of the Vermont lifestyle is too high and we pay it. That's a big part of why I started my own business in the first place. People in Vermont get paid crap and instead of complaining about it any longer, I needed to take matters into my own hands. It still doesn't change the fact that employers can pay the crap because people will take it because we want to live in Vermont. In some ways it feels our positive Vermont vibrations are used against us! So, people who visit Vermont that complain about the high costs - please understand that the cost of living is not equal up here and you really are paying for Vermonters to stay warm in the winter.

Hey, I'm all about the Vermont Vibes, but even I get the blues and since I'm about as real as they come, I will share this plight with my loyal readers. Please share yours - it's ok to vent! Then we'll all vibe merrily along when the cosmic forces lighten up a bit.

Love and Light to Everyone Always!!!!