Maybe it's just because I'm a native-born New Hampshirite, but I just love everything about this place. Last Tuesday was fab to the max! Emmy and I slept for what felt like fifty-bajillion hours and then we were up and out to the spa!
SPA DAY WHOO-HOO
So when I was a wee lassie of general high school age Mom and us girls would pile into the van and go for a day at the spa. I'm not sure why Mom & Dad started making this a near-annual Christmas gift, but it always made up for not having as many presents under the tree as we got older. This particular spa is first rate, and not very far from "home" either.
The Common Man Inn & Spa in Plymouth, NH. Oh my fardles, you have to go. You've just got to. Every other year or so we (used to, maybe the NH family still does) go up there for our Thanksgiving feast, instead of making it at home. Yes, it's got a north-woodsy theme going on, but mostly in the way of flowing birches, and close, comfortable architecture and soft piano music. Emmy and I stuffed our jackets and backpacks away into white pine lockers and scurried off to take a dip in the hot tub.
By the time we arrived my sisters had already entered the special swirl tub, with a genuine waterfall feature that splashed down a rockwall had filled the tub with suds nearly a foot high. There are a couple photos somewhere of us all bobbing around, four heads in a sea of fluffy white. Then, our massage. Emmy and I got the Destressor, a quick 30-minute job with lavender-scented lotion. Emmy spent those 30 minutes in a new kind of heaven. I spent them, of course, talking about eating locally and sustainably to my massage technician. I think I might need an intervention.
After that, Emmy and I lounged in the padded wicker couches and toured the event hall facilities (we're thinking of having our wedding there) while the sisters got their Destressors and Mom got her toes done. Pure bliss.
Oh, but it got better.
We all piled into the car once more, this time with Emmy and I picking up Kath's boyfriend at their apartment. She dropped off her early Christmas present (a vegan cookbook), E and I met the kitties Audi & Enzo, and then we all squished back into Kath's Honda and drove south-ish to the Common Man Restaurant, in Ashland, NH.
By the by, the Common Man is a chain that runs the length and breadth of New Hampshire, with the company owning inns, restuarants, spas, ski lodges, and more. If it's got the Cman brand, you know it's good.
Dad graciously treated all us hungry kids and Mom to dinner and we all ate like kings (except with silverware).
Common Man: Ashland, NH
~Chicken Nachos, appetizer
Spiced & heaped nacho fixings.
~Camp Crackers, appetizer
Very cheesy, crunchy, & thin flatbread. Gorgonzola & mozerella chz.
K: Apple Chicken
Very moist chicken. Walnut-encrusted w/ cheese & baked apple slices w/ maple syrup on. Not overly sweet. Garlic mashed potatoes & whipped sweet potatoes.
E: Pork Sliders
Pulled pork on silver dollar garlic biscuits, dabbed w/ blueberry glaze. Such an interesting marriage of flavors. Delight fully complex. Side of coleslaw, pretty good.
~Tuckerman pale ale, from a local NH brewery
Very like the WI Spotted Cow from New Glarus brand. Bitter & light.
~Baked Apple, dessert
Like apple pie w/o the crust. Oh my god. Oh. My. Godddddd.
Have we convinced you yet?
Take a look at their website!
xoxoxo,
Kim & Emmy
Next up, Wednesday.
SPA DAY WHOO-HOO
So when I was a wee lassie of general high school age Mom and us girls would pile into the van and go for a day at the spa. I'm not sure why Mom & Dad started making this a near-annual Christmas gift, but it always made up for not having as many presents under the tree as we got older. This particular spa is first rate, and not very far from "home" either.
The Common Man Inn & Spa in Plymouth, NH. Oh my fardles, you have to go. You've just got to. Every other year or so we (used to, maybe the NH family still does) go up there for our Thanksgiving feast, instead of making it at home. Yes, it's got a north-woodsy theme going on, but mostly in the way of flowing birches, and close, comfortable architecture and soft piano music. Emmy and I stuffed our jackets and backpacks away into white pine lockers and scurried off to take a dip in the hot tub.
By the time we arrived my sisters had already entered the special swirl tub, with a genuine waterfall feature that splashed down a rockwall had filled the tub with suds nearly a foot high. There are a couple photos somewhere of us all bobbing around, four heads in a sea of fluffy white. Then, our massage. Emmy and I got the Destressor, a quick 30-minute job with lavender-scented lotion. Emmy spent those 30 minutes in a new kind of heaven. I spent them, of course, talking about eating locally and sustainably to my massage technician. I think I might need an intervention.
After that, Emmy and I lounged in the padded wicker couches and toured the event hall facilities (we're thinking of having our wedding there) while the sisters got their Destressors and Mom got her toes done. Pure bliss.
Oh, but it got better.
We all piled into the car once more, this time with Emmy and I picking up Kath's boyfriend at their apartment. She dropped off her early Christmas present (a vegan cookbook), E and I met the kitties Audi & Enzo, and then we all squished back into Kath's Honda and drove south-ish to the Common Man Restaurant, in Ashland, NH.
By the by, the Common Man is a chain that runs the length and breadth of New Hampshire, with the company owning inns, restuarants, spas, ski lodges, and more. If it's got the Cman brand, you know it's good.
Dad graciously treated all us hungry kids and Mom to dinner and we all ate like kings (except with silverware).
Common Man: Ashland, NH
~Chicken Nachos, appetizer
Spiced & heaped nacho fixings.
~Camp Crackers, appetizer
Very cheesy, crunchy, & thin flatbread. Gorgonzola & mozerella chz.
K: Apple Chicken
Very moist chicken. Walnut-encrusted w/ cheese & baked apple slices w/ maple syrup on. Not overly sweet. Garlic mashed potatoes & whipped sweet potatoes.
E: Pork Sliders
Pulled pork on silver dollar garlic biscuits, dabbed w/ blueberry glaze. Such an interesting marriage of flavors. Delight fully complex. Side of coleslaw, pretty good.
~Tuckerman pale ale, from a local NH brewery
Very like the WI Spotted Cow from New Glarus brand. Bitter & light.
~Baked Apple, dessert
Like apple pie w/o the crust. Oh my god. Oh. My. Godddddd.
Have we convinced you yet?
Take a look at their website!
xoxoxo,
Kim & Emmy
Next up, Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment