Hillary Davis Travels's Blog

Old Fashioned New England Candy Store Does It Right

        Memories of being a child in New England and looking forward to summers when my parents would buy us freshly made salt water taffey linger. I don't see them often anymore. And then, one day, I stopped at this store---one I drive by all the time. 

    Nelson's Candies has been in the tiny mill town of Wilton, New Hampshire forever. Forever is confirmed by this picture, which is hung on the wall as you walk in.

     Old school candy-making was learned and passed down from the present owner's grandfather (who he looks uncannily like). They've been a family business for over 100 years, an unusual accomplishment for small-town American stores that have to compete with big chains. 

    Here are my favorites, based on the last few months of testing: pumpkin fudge to die for; fresh maple fudge made with maple syrup from a farm down the road; brandy soaked cherry cordials; dark chocolate pecan turtles; dark chocolate salted caramels; and their old-fashioned mints.

    I went in last week and they were in full swing production towards Easter. 

    Everything is still made in heirloom copper pots.........

    .....and the inside of the store has a friendly feel to it, with samples!

    So the memories no longer need to linger. I have found my candy home. From now on, in New Hampshire, I know I will stop by this little store every holiday---and every time I drive through town as well.

 Nelson's Candy

65 Main Street

Wilton, NH  03086

(603) 654-5030

facebook.com/Nelsons-Candies

 

Madison Avenue Stroll, Part 1

    While mid-town Madison Avenue is impressive and international, the upper reaches of Madison Avenue feel like a small town. Side streets are tree lined. Town houses have planters overflowing with flowers and vines. Stores are small, and antique shops, boutiques and art galleries abound.

    Come take a walk with me and let's look at all the shops together. Later, I will post a second stroll that takes you to mid-town.

    I started around 94th street and began to walk downtown....

    

    Rather than big book chains, a couple of independent bookstores have survived with a very loyal local clientelle. 

    This knitting store looked very tempting, but I have bags full of beautiful yarns waiting for me to transform them into something, so I bypassed this temptation and kept walking!

    Despite only being mid-June, summer sales are in full swing. 

 

    Bistro du Nord was ready for guests...........

.....and looked like it had an interesting menu for the evening.....

...........this lavender was so fragrant as I walked by...........

......shoe window shopping. From casual flats to space age stilletos!

    I stopped into Dean & Deluca, an upscale food market, to take a look around.....

...and ended up with roll mops and some peaches for later. 

....back on the street, more window shopping.

.....loved this window of an art gallery.

......not sure how I felt about these shoes!

.....EAT Cafe, always busy.....

    I stopped into L'Occitane....from the south of France where I lived for so many years. They make a wonderful Shea Hand Cream............

    And I ended up at my hang out, my favorite restaurant in the city. I stood at the bar. I had a tiny sandwich and an expresso. I feel so at home here, either dropping in for one of the gelatos they import from Milan, or for a wine, or for lunch, or for a late afternoon snack. Great ambiance. The family is from Milan and have had this restaurant in this location for years. You have to try it!

    Soon I will post Part 2. Stay tuned!

 

 

Please Don't Squeeze The Cotton Candy

    I lived in France for many years, starting when I was a newlywed in Paris. It was hard then to find American foods in France like peanut butter, oreos (my husband's favorite), bagels, and maple syrup---so I had them shipped over to supplement my pantry. When I later moved to the South of France and had loads of American friends flying over to visit, I would recruit them to pack (hide) some things for me in their suitcases. 

    My biggest treasure was receiving maple syrup.

    One weekend in the South of France, I had guests from Paris and wanted to serve them something fun for Saturday breakfast. But when they put a mouthful of pancakes and maple syrup into their mouth they very politely froze. Then they shook their head. Then they swallowed and blushed. Pushed for an answer of how they liked it, they responded that they did not have a taste for sweet things for their breakfast. 

    I tried maple syrup on some other French friends down from Bordeaux and they loved it. So I decided maple syrup in another country is a hit or miss proposition.

    But here in New Hampshire we get really excited about it. It is a rite of spring to wait for the sap to run and find new maple syrup.

    Just minutes from my village, a young couple has a maple business in a chalet-style barn on a pond with ducks and geese scurrying about---so perfect a setting that the thought occured to me their building would make a great house, with sunsets on the pond and high ceilings and a vast great room.

    I found them by accident as I was hurtling down the highway one day. A sign out front caught my attention.

    Never a lover of cotton candy, the sign stayed in my thoughts for days. Should I go back? What did it taste like?

    So I went back today and was swept away by how good their maple cotton candy tastes. I pulled off a fluffy bit, placed it delicately on my tongue and closed my mouth. It was gone. All that was left was the taste of not-too-sweet maple syrup. Divine!!!!!! Magical!

    I was hooked. I bought some of their maple cotton candy and some of their homemade maple pecan fudge. It was the best fudge I have ever eaten. Seriously. Not too sweet. Just perfect. 

    So I wanted to share with you my journey to Morning Star Maple Sugar House in Dublin, NH. This is what it looks like when you enter through their front door.

    They really have their act together. A gift store with every imaginable product made with maple syrup. Below are the packages of their homemade maple sugar candies shaped into bears, turtles, chicks, owls, and maple leaves...........

......and they make maple caramel popcorn.......

 ...........great looking lollipops............ 

..............and of course, their own golden maple syrup............

    If you are in New England this summer traveling about, visit Morning Star Maple. Your kids will love it. You will be able to tour their maple making facility............which is huge and ultra modern and clean.....

.....taste samples, sit by the pond,  savor some of their maple cotton candy......
.....and take some home. Just remember, don't squeeze the cotton candy!

Morning Star Maple Sugar House, Route 101, Dublin, NH 

603.563.9218   Order online at:  www.morningstarmaple.com

 

Farmers' Market NYC

Even on a rainy day in New York you can still find outdoor farmers' markets throughout the city. This one is called the 67th Street Farmers' Market.

    I visited this weekend and it was almost empty of people but filled with fresh produce dewy and glistening from the rain.

    Super fresh (and super seriously huge) carrots. The Easter bunny better be a big one this year!

    I like going to this market because it is just a few block's from my friend's apartment and they always have lots of samples of everything. The added attraction is that inside the building next door is a flea market that often has amazing finds.

    
    Do you know how, when you go to the sea when it rains, everything is grey or white? Here in the city when it rains, everything is in technicolor.

    I spotted the perfect gift for my friend, but then I realized she really didn't have enough sun for this wonderful little salad bowl planter. What a great idea. A city garden salad mix.

    Frank Sinatra came from Hoboken. So does Hoboken Farms! I loved their sign with a cow rising up amongst the high rises...........

    I love this pickle guy. I stop for his horseradish pickles, but they are all superb. Artisan pickles, pickled with love.

    .....and the Polish stall always has a good variety of fresh pirogi I can take back and heat up for dinner.....this one is a winner.

    .....okay, so this stall tells me that this honey is local. It is from beekeepers who keep their bees on the rooftops of the city....I couldn't figure out where they would find enough flowers to produce all this honey, but it was worth a try!

....and what do I love on my toast with my honey? Fresh butter!




    So even though it was pouring, even though it was a bit cold this weekend in NYC, I went home with arms full of wonderful food. Love NYC. Love farmers' markets.

TRAVEL: Snow

Would you follow this road? Or would you stand and just enjoy the now? Just enjoy being there? It was so silent. And yet filled with life. Snowflakes still fell cold then melted on my cheeks and eyelashes. I could hear the wind in the trees. It was murkey light, yet beams of sun pierced through to create a cathedral in the pines.

Other days and other times of the year, my road looks like this. Warm and dappled. Yet the snow, when it comes, christens the road with a purity and beauty so pristine as to be almost virgin---as if no person (or dog) had ever walked there before.

I became lost in the splendor of seeing a red breasted robin sitting on this branch just seconds before. It was our personal haven. He or she looked squarely at me, and I at the bird that tilted its head to the left and then right as it gazed at me. For that brief encounter, we were eye to eye and shared the snow.

They call them snow birds. People who flee the colder climates for warmer climates in the winter. But my red breasted bird took the opposite route, flying north to sit on a branch covered in beautiful white snow. I turned and walked back down my road. Would the red breasted one follow in flight beside me?

New Hampshire Christmas

There are so many wonderful house tours on now to raise money for worthy charities so I thought I'd go on at least one and share it with you. Hope it puts you in the mood!!

It was amazing to see how many "villages" and "doll houses" were set up. This one covered the whole kitchen counter.

This was the greatest little doll house. I am tempted to begin one myself, just one room, a kitchen!!!

I was really taken by this bedroom treatment so when I got home I sawed off limbs of pine tree boughs and attempted the same thing. It smells divine!

This house had live music of Christmas carols and opera arias that made it a delightful interlude in the house tour.

Upstairs, the master bed was wrapped like a present waiting to be unwrapped.............

......and the sweet smell of honey wax candles filled the air.

.............still more beautiful live music at the next house on the tour..........

............this house did not have a Christmas tree, but it was filled with sunlight and art......exquisite.


...............and this house did have a tree and smelled of cinnamon and apples. It had apple cider with whole cinnamon sticks simmering on the stove.

............and the owner had a huge collection of bird houses decorated for the holidays.......

..............the bird theme continued with a "bird tree" decorated with bird food..........

Wishing you all a peaceful holiday season. One filled with special light. With calm. And with beauty. 

 

Art Nature Walk

 

The Andres Insititute of Art Sculpture Park, Brookline, NH

Two things I love to do in my spare time. Hike, get out in nature, and enjoy art. So when my friend asked me to go hiking with her on an art nature walk, I enthusiastically agreed. I packed my camera and some trail mix and met her at the head of the trail.

She told me that this mountain we were on was owned by an engineer named Paul Andres. He had started to purchase sculptures and place them in the woods around his house when he met master sculptor John M. Weidman, who lived nearby. Their plan was hatched. They co-founded a non-profit organization and proceeded to pepper the beautiful property with outdoor sculptures from artists around the world. Every year they hold a sculpture symposium where the artists arrive and create the sculptures according to a theme. 

So we, the art and nature loving public, can benefit from the lovely walks throughout the property. So come join us. I hope these pictures bring you the peace, serenity and inspiration that we both felt.

 

 

 

 

 

And we took a peak into John Weidman's art studio on the property......

.....and took a lot of pictures along the way..........

............and sometimes suddenly thought we saw something moving in the woods!

.........or thought we heard a horn blow!

.............came across messages posted to trees............

..........and as we left we wondered at the thought of how wonderful it would be to be able to do the same thing. To place pieces of art out in nature around a house. Until that is possible, we agreed we would be happy to come back again and keep hiking to see all the other sculptures we missed on this day on other trails. 

New Hampshire Fall 2011

 

 

I wanted to share with you what I've been seeing out on my drives around New Hampshire during foliage season. A lot of orange. And loads and loads of pumpkins. Even the sheep down the road have been feasting on the broken up pumpkins the farmer laid out for them. Today they seemed to be looking for more!

The farmers' market had a stand of pumpkins. And gourds. Which propelled me to load the car with them since they keep well for months in a cold spot. 

Then another farmers' market, and another exquisite tableau. 

I found a bench outside of the village library to sit on and take a few stolen moments for reading some poetry. 

.....before heading down the lane to scuff through wet fallen leaves.....the rain had just begun to fall. The light was faltering. The air chilling. I dug my hands into the pockets of my coat and smiled. No matter where I am, a walk is one of my favorite things to do in the fall. 

 

 

Hotel Review: Omni Parker House Boston

Do you remember Parker House rolls? Those soft little dinner rolls?

Last weekend I stayed at the Parker House Hotel in Boston and learned that Parker House rolls were invented there! So cool. This was a fun hotel for so many reasons, including this one.

(Oh, and because they served complimentary Boston Cream Ice Cream in the lobby every afternoon! They invented the Boston Cream Pie too. So for an avid culinary traveler, these were fascinating revelations.)

It was also fun because of the sense of history you feel everywhere you walk in the hotel, from the antique phones.........

......to the wonderful displays of historic items related to the hotel.....

....including original china and Parker House Coffee!

The Parker House was built in 1927. Some other fun facts are that Malcolm X worked here in the 1940's, that John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for senator here, and that Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline in the hotel restaurant.

The decor is opulent with classical touches....

.....and a formal dining room.....

The rooms? Very comfortable. Although mine had a view of a brick wall, it had a phenomenally comfortable bed, flat screen TV, and elegant little bathroom.

And the staff were amazing. The concierge time and again gave perfect counsel as to where to eat and what to do. There was also a very good size gym and valet parking. I can definitely recommend the Parker House, which will place you right in the heart of Boston just steps from the Freedom Trail and the waterfront.

Omni Parker House Hotel, 60 School Street, Boston, MA  617-227-8600

My New Hampshire Summer

There's no better way to share with you the beauty of a New Hampshire summer than with photographs. I love taking them, I hope you enjoy!!!

 

And now, at the end of August, we have heavy tropical winds from the approaching "hurricane", winds are whipping up the outdoor chimes into a frenzy, and dark clouds are piling up high into the sky. Moody. Tropical. Always beautiful.