the loop

Yesterday morning my hubby and I got up relatively early and headed out to make our 3+ mile loop up through Hubbard Park prior to having breakfast challenge #3.  It was freezing out yesterday morning especially after our warm spell so we bundled up and got on our way.  We have been loving this loop because we start up this huge hill that basically goes straight up and then we walk the trails at the top of the hill through parts of Hubbard Park and then loop back down the otherside and sometimes add additional streets depending on how much time we have. I attempted to document our hike/walk (and by hike I mean it was tougher than a normal walk) however I am not sure that my pictures do it justice; Neil suggested that I get the video camera out and walk the loop with it and post a video.

At the top of the hill we always share a coconut water and then make our way through the wooded paths at Hubbard Park and down the otherside. When we arrived home we were hungry and ready to make our Breakfast Challenge #3 which was oatmeal. Now as most of you know this is my go to food so I was really excited about it. In our oatmeal went:

We then headed out to spend the day with the ‘rents and G-Ma as well as have lunch. We headed out on a ride on the back roads of Vermont (a favorite past time of my parents) in hopes of having lunch at Bailey and Burke’s in East Burke.  When we finally arrived to East Burke we came to find that restaurant was closed.  Across the street was River Garden Cafe which according to the menu had a veggie burger and black bean chili so we decided since at this point it was almost 1pm we would try it out.  To our disappointment the veggie burger was made in house and included eggs BOO! So hubby and I decided to go with the fruit cup to share and each ordered a bowl of the chili without the cheese and sour cream.  The fruit cup was okay nothing special for $5.  The chili came and I was so hungry I couldn’t wait to dive in but after a few bites I decided it was just not good enough to eat and hubby felt the same way.  I’m not often one to just not eat what I ordered at a restaurant especially when I’m going to have to pay for it and in this case we both were really hungry but it was just awful.  As my hubby would describe it “it taste like crushed tomatoes with 5 or 6 black beans”  this “hearty” black bean chili was awful so we went without.

Being in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont it’s hard to find much in the way of vegan eats so we decided to hold off and we ended up stopping at the Buffalo Mountain Co-op in Hardwick and found some really interesting kombu and wakame seaweeds from Maine as well as a package of vegan teriyaki jerky that we snacked on.  After returning to our car at 4:15pm we decided it was time to get on the road home and find something to eat.  We had decided to stop into our old favorite The Bee’s Knees in Morrisville but when we arrived and took a look at their menu for the day we noticed that their prices had gone up- $13 for a veggie burger! We decided that it wasn’t worth spending that much so we headed on our way and decided to stop in Waterbury at Ocha the thai restaurant.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of our food as we basically inhaled it as it came out since all we had eaten since our oatmeal at 8:30am was a small fruit bowl and package of vegan jerky.  However it was delicious we got fresh rolls, vegan pad kee mao and vegan tofu and broccoli with black pepper garlic sauce.

At least on our adventures through backwoods VT we got to stop into this ridiculously entertaining trading post which also serves as the:

Question: Have you ever not liked your meal so much that you just didn’t eat it while out at a restaurant? Did the restaurant still make you pay for it? That’s the one thing that bothered me – I know that we ordered it and you take the chance of not liking something but we had like 4-5 bites of our food and then told the waitress we didn’t like it and to take it away.  She still had us pay for it and the only thing she said was “oh well I guess it’s not your cup of tea.”