Articles by traveleatlove

The blogger behind Travel Eat Love, I am a marketing communications professional by day and a lover of all things food, travel, and wine related the rest of the time. I am looking to combine my love of writing and social media with all of my other passions to share great reviews, recipes, and experiences with you!

Sonoma Wine dinner with Bin Ends and The Townshend

March 28, 2017 in Food, Restaurants, Travel by traveleatlove | 2 comments

If you live in the Boston area, you probably know about Bin Ends Wine, discount wine stores in Braintree and Needham. Not only do they have an amazing selection and great prices, but they also have a true love, knowledge of, and passion for wine. They periodically do wine dinners, and over President’s Day weekend, we got a group of friends together to go to their Sonoma wine dinner at The Townshend in Quincy.

first course
smoked scallop crudo
served with pickled fresno pepper / pork rinds / cilantro
2013 Gundlach Bundschu Gewurtztraminer
"Estate" Sonoma Coast

This was easily my favorite pairing of the night. We love Gundlach Bundschu and have visited many times on trips to Sonoma County. Any sort of crudo is up my alley, and the wine was bright, crisp, and made the dish pop with notes of grapefruit and lemon.

second course
pork croquette
served with parsnip / gremolata / bone marrow
2014 Raeburn Winery Chardonnay
Russian River Valley

The second course paired a buttery Chardonnay from Raeburn (also a new favorite) with a rich pork and parsnip dish. The vanilla notes in the wine were lovely with the creamy parsnip, another spot-on pairing, and one that was great for a cold Sunday evening.

third course
braised bone-in lamb shank
served with cappellacci / golden raisin / oregano
2011 Donelan Family Wines Syrah
"Walker Vine Hill Vyd" Russian River Valley

Talk about Sunday supper food. . . the third pairing was a hearty, fall-of-the-bone lamb shank with a delicious Syrah from Donelan Family Vineyards. Spice and chocolate and berry notes made for the perfect fireside sipper and a great pairing with the very rich main course.

dessert course
mini "Ghirardelli" sundae
cocoa waffle cone bowl, caramelized white chocolate ice cream, salted caramel chocolate sauce, praline tuille
Prepared By Pastry Chef Kate Holochick
Served with The Townshend’s Irish Coffee

At this point I could have rolled out of The Townshend, but we had a San Francisco treat to finish off the evening. A Buena Vista-style Irish coffee and a homemade Ghirardelli Sundae put me in the frame of mind to head to the West Coast and wander the lovely Ghirdardelli Square (which I did just a few weeks later). Easily one of the best desserts I have had in a long time, and the Irish coffee was a sweet and potent way to end the night.

After this experience, I really can’t recommend these events enough. It was so much fun, and I hope Bin Ends and The Townshend collaborate again for something similar.

Since I just returned from a visit to Northern California, I have quite a few San Francisco and other posts to share. . . stay tuned!

Tags: California, Food, food blog, Quincy, Restaurants, Sonoma, travel blog, wine, wine blog

Travel Tuesday: Heritage House Resort on the Mendocino Coast

March 21, 2017 in Travel by traveleatlove | 1 comment

Where has March gone?! Blogging and reading blogs has taken a back seat to working and travel, and I am back for a bit to share some of our recent Northern California adventures, not entirely in order.

My husband had a conference in San Francisco, and it turned out I had a work event just a few days after, which meant I should just go for the whole week, which is exactly what I did, and it was pretty amazing. More on that soon.

For the weekend we decided to step outside of our Sonoma County comfort zone and headed north to Little River to stay at the stunning Heritage House Resort and Spa on the Mendocino Coast. I discovered the resort via Instagram, and they kindly extended me a media rate for our two night stay. See for yourself how incredible our experience was. . .

After a beautiful drive through Sonoma County and into the redwoods, we arrived at Heritage House, which is nestled along the coast with the most jaw dropping views. It’s rustic and sweet and fits right into the natural beauty surrounding it. This is a true getaway, which is exactly what we were looking for.

Little River CA hotel

Our room was spacious and had a feeling of simplicity and complete zen. A bottle of wine from local Navarro Vineyards was a welcome treat and kind gift from the hotel’s General Manager. We actually opted not to do much vineyard-hopping on this trip and loved being able to try local wines on property.

Navarro Wine

While we did some exploring of the Mendocino Coast, we spent a good amount of our time just being on the property of Heritage House. Can you see why?

In addition to acres of high coastline for watching the sunset (with the absolutely delicious Navarro Wine), we also had a private beach for the resort, and we soaked up some sun while listening to waves crashing. We got so lucky with the weather every single day on our trip.

Please just take me back.

Heritage House Resort Little River California

Heritage House has numerous dining options within driving distance, but we opted to stay in for dinner, dining at their 5200 Lounge and also stocking up on yummy cheese and meats for snacks on our deck.

Heritage House Resort Little River California

The lounge was cozy and relaxed, with a great wine list, and one of the best burgers we had ever had. We spied on the food that came to tables around us, and it definitely looked like you couldn’t go wrong with anything on the menu.

Between the views, the comfortable rooms, delicious food on-site, and plenty to do in the area, with the amazing option to do nothing, Heritage House blew us away, and we wished we had stayed longer. It will absolutely be a place we return to. While we love Sonoma County, we were so happy to have ventured a bit beyond on this trip.

Thank you to Heritage House for taking such good care of us!

Tags: California, hotels, Mendocino County, Northern California, resorts, Travel, travel blog

Martha’s Vineyard in Winter

March 6, 2017 in Food, Restaurants, Travel by traveleatlove | 1 comment

View past Martha’s Vineyard posts :

Our stay at the Nobnocket Boutique Inn

Dinner at State Road MV

A Day Trip to Martha’s Vineyard

We discovered a few weeks ago that Martha’s Vineyard is well-worth an off-season visit, even if that visit comes right after a snowstorm and during the bitter cold of February. Our stay at the Nobnocket Boutique Inn was absolutely perfect for a relaxing weekend away from Boston, and while on the island, we made the most of our time exploring. We were surprised to find out how much was open.

After checking in at Nobnocket, we headed straight for Menemsha Beach to catch the sunset in the area. It was incredibly cold and windy, but so beautiful.

Aquinnah

We only lasted a few minutes walking on the beach before heading to the Menemsha Fish Market, which was open and serving piping hot lobster bisque.

snowy lobster traps

Snow definitely added an extra layer of beauty to the Vineyard that weekend!

Menemsha Beach

Still waiting for the sun to set and the Super Moon to rise, we raced over to Aquinnah and made it just in time to see the enormous moon coming up, and the sky turning all shades of pink and purple.

It was all so breathtakingly stunning, even if we did almost fall a few times on ice as we ran up to the highest point.

Martha's Vineyard in winter

We were glad that we didn’t let the whipping winds keep us from catching this beauty. Only one other couple was out there with us, and other than the wind and waves, it was perfectly quiet.

Our dinner at State Road was the coziest way to end the day!

The next morning after breakfast at the inn, we set off for the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary with the intention of snowshoeing. There turned out to not be enough snow for that, so we ended up walking for a couple of hours, all alone in the sanctuary, except for the company of deer, otters, and other critters whose prints we saw in the snow. It was magical.

We worked up quite the hunger, and decided to head to Edgartown’s Harbor View Hotel for some snacks and a glass of wine.

The hotel is beautiful, and I absolutely loved the pops of color on the porch. It was a nice sight against a gray and snowy day.

Mini lobster tacos and the most delicious Chateau Beaulieu rosé, along with great conversation with Petro at the bar made us want to tuck in and stay for the afternoon, but we had more exploring to do!

lobster tacos

Our next stop was Oak Bluffs. . . talk about pops of color! I absolutely love all of the little cottages there and dream of spending my summer in one. They looked so adorable in the snow, and we were wishing they were year-round properties. Most of them were closed up for the season.

We headed back to the inn for some time chatting by the fire and then decided to check out the Vineyard Haven dining scene, first grabbing fried oysters at The Black Dog, which I know is a tourist destination, but still, I love it! It was so cozy, and the oysters were delicious.

We finished the night with sushi and sake cocktails at the highly recommended Copper Wok, which was really a fabulous date spot.

All good things must come to an end, and due to snow on the mainland, we decided to take an earlier ferry, but not before visiting the alpacas at the alpaca farm. If you are an animal lover or have kids, it is definitely a spot worth visiting. The alpacas were cute and friendly and soft, and the store is full of beautiful alpaca fur items.