Horse and Hounds Restaurant and Pub Ocala, Fl.

I have been passing the Horse and Hounds Restaurant on a regular basis for the last 5 years and I have always wanted to stop. We finally did this year and not once but twice. It seems that there is a connection to my favorite restaurant the Crazy Cucumber and some of my favorite dishes are available here as well.

#HORSEANDHOUNDOCALA

The menu is very much English country pub combined with an upscale Florida bistro. They have a prime rib special on Monday's 2 for $25, taco special on Tuesday, Shrimp Fetta Pasta Bake on Wednesdays and a 6 oz 3-course sirloin special on Thursdays. Drinks specials are also offered as well as a popular happy hour.






You can dine outdoors on the porch, in the bar or in the dining room. All very rustic and English with horse prints. I found it to be quite warm and welcoming right from the moment we entered the door.

#HORSEANDHOUNDOCALA

On our first visit, it was a Monday and we both got the prime rib. I am not usually the prime rib type, but I wanted Al to have the prime rib so I got an end cut. Very delicious.











On our second visit, we met our niece Jaclyn here for lunch. She is the manager of the bank in the same parking lot. Jaclyn had the fish sandwich, I had the fish tacos and Al had the shepherd's pie. Al the food was delicious and we had such a nice lunch.

This is now one of my favorite restaurants in Ocala and I am looking forward to bringing some of my friends and family for a delicious meal when they come to visit

The Farm Table Bernardston, Mass.

With the demise of Chandler's in Deerfield, we needed to find somewhere else to stop for lunch on our route to and from Vermont. A Google search brought up The Farm Table at Kringle Candle. A check of their menu convinced me that this was a restaurant we needed to try. Given the fact it was Columbus Day, I was surprised to be able to get a reservation but I did. Not that the restaurant wasn't busy, it was but we were just lucky with our timing.

The Farm Table is only a mile or so off of I-91 and they have a large parking lot behind the building. We were given a small table along the wall with large wingback chairs, very comfortable. The overall atmosphere was lovely, the chandeliers are made from empty wine bottles and there are sleigh bells flanking the windows. I can imagine a roaring fire in the fireplace during the winter, The overall feel was warm and the dress is casual but maybe leaning toward business casual.

We arrived at 12:45 with service closing at 2:30 p.m. Given it was October, the soup of the day was butternut bisque and the sandwich was a pork schnitzel on a hoagie roll.  I decided to try both specials and also ordered the roasted olives as a starter. Al ordered the mac and cheese with fries taking the place of the normal salad side.

The soup was perhaps the best butternut squash soup I have ever had, So simple, so creamy and so delicious, just perfect. I didn't get my order of olives however and I ended up asking for them after I ate half of my hoagie.  The pork was okay, I wasn't impressed. It was a large piece but I would have preferred it to be thinner and not quite so well done. I didn't care for the taste of the pork but that is just me. 

The olives were the biggest disappointment. They were supposed to be flavored with lemon, chili, and garlic, I could taste none of those flavors, they were just salty. They were served in a cast iron pan with no implements to eat them and since they were roasted and hot, fingers seemed an odd choice. The fries that were served with the hoagie were very good.

Al's mac and cheese was excellent and a generous portion served in a small cast-iron skillet. I got a cappuccino and Al a ginger ale which they were good about refilling. 

Now I bet you are thinking I won't be returning here but you are so wrong. We ordered the blueberry crumble for dessert. Oh my, I don't even know where to begin except to say it is gluten-free!! It is served with vanilla ice cream and usually, in these cases, Al eats the ice cream and leaves me the crumble. To say we had dueling spoons scooping up these phenomenal blueberries would be an understatement. I can't praise this dessert enough, I would go back there tomorrow just for the dessert and the soup. 

Lunch with tip was north of $80, not inexpensive but I see the potential of many delicious meals here. I would just perhaps not order the daily special again and stick with their known favorites. I feel confident recommending The Farm Table. 

If you feel like shopping, there is shopping on both sides of the street here at Kringle Candle. 

Harvest Moon Cafe Pittsford, VT.

We drove by this restaurant several times before deciding that we just had to go there for dinner. Dora and Fran had tried it for brunch but never for dinner. I decided to stop in one afternoon for a cappuccino and ended up getting some pastry as well. First, let me warn you, you need reservations for dinner, especially on the weekend. It is a small restaurant with a very loyal following.

I checked out their website and had a pretty good idea before I got there what I wanted to order. lol Of course, the seasonal specials always throw us off and we often don't end up ordering what we thought we would order.

On our latest visit when making our reservations we preordered the popovers. Trust me, if you like popovers, you do want to order one of these, available only Friday and Saturday and they must be preordered.

The menu has lots of choices, they make a slow-cooked sauce and serve it on a variety of pasta and protein options. Fran is a big fan of their chicken parm and he compares all their other dishes to that one which he considers perfection. When he is considering something else he will ask our French waiter is it better than the chicken parm and only if it is a definitive yes will he order something else. This time it was a porterhouse stuffed pork chop and he ordered it.

I love the chicken lemon basil which I have to say is divine. I have tried the fish but I come back to the chicken. It is a large portion that I know will feed me for at least one other meal and this last time, two meals. It chicken is lightly breaded and cooked crispy on the outside and juicy inside. It is served with a choice of starch, dauphinoise potatoes are what is on the plate and cold pickled yellow beets.

Al has become a fan of the steak and mushroom medley but this last time they had a special that was a filet done in the same style and he had that, it was cooked to rare perfection. The picture is the steak, not the filet.

I always start with their salad because it is delicious and the dressing is a real winner. By the time I eat my popover, I am lucky if I can handle even a couple bites of my meal let alone any of their out of this world desserts.

I can't imagine going to Vermont and not stopping at Harvest Moon Cafe, it has become our favorite restaurant in the area and maybe even our all-time favorite place to eat.

Alfie's Restaurant Ocklawaha Florida

Located along Route 25 in Ocklawaha, Alfies is rather a nondescript sort of building. It doesn't in any way hint at the delicious things that you will find inside. Don't get me wrong, it is rustic inside, you can feel comfortable in your shorts and tank top. It is more of a bar than a bistro but don't let that put you off. The menu provides some delightful options.

Monday is prime rib day and the price, quality, and quantity is excellent. My brother and sister-in-law go there for their fried fish sandwich. As you can see from the picture it is quite huge. 

I got the grilled shrimp and chose the coleslaw and sweet potato fries as my sides. It was all so good!!

Al got a patty melt and it was cooked just the way he likes it. 

We had a very enjoyable meal with great service and nice cold drinks. It is a popular place and it is a place you can feel comfortable bringing the entire family. Prices are reasonable for the quality that you receive. 

Green beans and bacon

It sounds like such a simple combination, green beans, and bacon and yet the flavors are so luscious and so complex that you will swear that there has to be more to it to have this depth of flavor. No, there are only four ingredients to this first variation of the old southern favorite.

• 8 slices of bacon
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 pounds of fresh green beans (2 16oz cans may be substituted)

Rinse, trim the ends and slice the fresh beans or open the two cans of beans and drain.

In a small frying pan cook the bacon. Remove from pan and set aside on a paper towel. Add the sugar and vinegar to the pan and mix into bacon fat. Add the green beans to the mixture crumble the bacon on top and cook an additional 5 or 6 minutes covered.

This makes enough to feed 8 people or 6 really hungry ones.

Transfer to a large serving bowl and watch the faces of your family light up. This dish will tickle your taste buds and make you wish that every day was green bean and bacon day. 

If you want to make an even simpler version of this delicious classic try this one which is bound to become a favorite at your house.

Steam one pound of green beans, after cutting off the ends and slicing French style.

In a frying pan cook 8 pieces of bacon. When nice and crispy remove and place on a paper towel to absorb the extra fat.

Peel and dice one small onion and add to the bacon fat in the pan. Sweat on low heat until the green beans are translucent. Turn the heat up to medium and add the green beans. Turn often so that they get a little crispy but no burn spots.

Transfer to a large bowl and crumble the bacon over the top.

Serve to rave reviews.

This is so simple and so delicious I bet you are asking yourself why you never thought of it. It will get even the most finicky eater to love their nutritious green beans. If you want to make it a little healthier you are out of luck, this recipe wouldn’t work with turkey bacon because you need lots of bacon fat. But for an occasional splurge, this is the best. And surprisingly, bacon has only 50 calories per slice so it probably isn't as big a splurge as you might have expected.