What a night!

September 1 – We did our house work this morning so we were free for an afternoon and evening trek!  And a trek it was….

We went to Niantic to go to the Book Barn one last time.  Bear in mind that Bill already has 2 Trader Joe bags of books!  We took a wrong turn and ended up on Crescent Beach, which was a very lovely spot.  We wish we had found it on an earlier trip and we could have sat out a while and enjoyed the view across the water.  But, we were on a mission!  I was surprised to find 5 books for me but Bill just kept piling them on the floor and he ended up with 35 books!  That’s a record!!

Another sign

One of the signs

The next stop was dinner in Newport, RI which was about 1 ½ hours as there was no direct Interstate highway.  We had reservations at White Horse Tavern, the oldest continuous tavern in the US.  The information that came with our confirmation was that men had to wear a button up shirt and long pants, jeans were ok but not torn or distressed.  The women’s code was similar.  Bill took khaki pants and a button up shirt and once we arrived at the restaurant he changed into them.

Before heading in we took some photos of the signs and the tavern itself.  It is surrounded by homes and building from the mid to late 1700’s. 

One of the tables in front of the fireplace

Yummy Pork Belly

The tavern is on a corner and they have an outdoor area but it was 6 and the air coming off the water was chilly so we opted to dine inside.  The service was excellent and the menu was awesome for the adventurous diner.  It was perfect for me but more
restrictive for Bill.  It was so hard to decide!  I started with a glass of Riesling and had Crispy Heritage Pork Belly for my appetizer.  Bill had a wedge salad.  Boring!!!  The sauce on my pork belly was made with coconut, mushrooms, peaches and topped with basil and cilantro.  Sooo yummy!

Bay Scallops

Bill went with a steak that he said was perfectly cooked, tender and he loved it.  I had Pan Seared Georges Bank Scallops.  They were huge and served with fresh English peas and Moral Ragu and a Saffron-Pine Nut relish, pearl onions and arugula.  They get most of their ingredients locally and it was all very fresh.

Bill passed on dessert but I tried the Lavendar Crème Brulee.  She said it was light on the lavender but to me it was pretty heavy and I didn’t enjoy it as I expected. 

One of the nice old homes

After dinner we drove around the area where the historic homes were.  I took quite a few photos of them.  Of course the have no yards and are right on top of each other but so

Another one

many are very well kept and it was nice to see how many there were and the  preserved conditions.

The ride home was the trek!!  I would have to say words were exchanged due to the directions the GPS was taking us and it wasn’t what Bill wanted and he was getting very frustrated.  I thought it best to just sit back and go where the driver took me.  What should have been about 90 minutes home ended up being about 2 ½ hrs.  So it was a quiet ride home!