Finding Inspiration

Sometimes the very best things in life can be found in your own backyard. Sometimes that backyard stretches as far away as a 2-hour drive, i.e. from Boston, MA to Laconia, NH. Let me explain…

I spent this past weekend at Winter Carnival in Quebec City with one of my best girlfriends, Crystal. Neither of us had been to Winter Carnival before, but we travel really well together and just knew we’d find fun regardless of whether we had maps and elaborate plans or not. Inevitably, our trips together always turn into an adventure… Often involving some sort of law enforcement, we’re not sure why. Like the time we crossed the border between Germany and France, pre EEU, and had our entire car searched by machine-gun-toting border patrol. They riffled through our unmentionables in our suitcases, and even our packed lunch boxes! Maybe the fruit looked suspicious?

Back to our current story… This time, as we were driving through the streets of Quebec City using navigation and MapQuest directions to find our hotel, some pedestrians darted across the street in front of us when we had a green light and got us both a little flustered – navigation talking to us, while we’re reading directions, trying to watch where we’re going, at night, with foreign street signs, etc., and having to slam on the breaks so as to not hurt any locals. It’s no surprise then that we didn’t really see the next street light, which was red, not green, until we were just about to pass under it and I yell “red light!” and then immediate following “and that was a cop.” Yup. The benefit to being young and fabulous is that not only did the officers NOT write us a ticket after pulling us over for blatantly failing to stop at a red light, but they kindly escorted us the rest of the way to our hotel!

The most memorable aspects of the Winter Carnival for me were the dog sled races and, of course, eating sugar on snow (boiling maple syrup poured on snow to make a delicious maple toffee). We also got to wander through Old Town, sit by a massive fireplace in our hotel lounge to relax before dinner both nights, and eat in a couple of very fine restaurants.

'”What does all this have to do with Laconia, NH being the backyard to Boston, MA and finding inspiration there?” you might ask. When I eat gourmet cuisine in fine restaurants, I continually find inspiration for new raw food recipes. And although we ate like Queens in Quebec City (an 8 hour drive from Boston), I found inspiration Sunday night at Tavern 27 near Crystal’s home in Laconia (a 2 hour drive from Boston).

Tavern 27 is a tapas restaurant that strives to use local organic ingredients when possible, and they happen to make the BEST PIZZA EVER, “How Sweet It Is” -- figs, local organic spinach, fresh mozzarella, bleu cheese and local honey on sourdough crust. Yes, I eat pizza, on occasion, when I know it’s worth it. And believe me, this pizza is worth it.

It got me thinking… I‘m fairly certain I cannot successfully duplicate this pizza in raw form and have it be nearly as perfect for the palate. However, I’m also fairly certain I CAN recreate the perfect meld of flavors in a simple, scrumptious salad. When I achieve success, I’ll post the recipe. If any of you decide to play with these ingredients on your own, be certain to share your findings as well!

Augusta