books you don't need in a place you can't find, the love of

[ursamajor]

I'm in love.

Well, I mean, I'm in love with hyounpark, yes, we established that months ago :) but I've found perfection in a used bookstore on the country roads of western Massachusetts. With comfy chairs and sofas to curl up in, free wireless, and a homestyle cafe attached; a river bubbling up just down the hill from it. The owner had both doors open to let the mild spring breeze sweep through yesterday, and it felt wonderful and calming.

*

When we decided to go to Amherst this weekend, he asked if we should go out Friday and stay overnight. I replied, "Nah, that'd be overkill; let's just go out Saturday. Besides, we've got Restaurant Week reservations."

Which we did, at Brasserie Jo. Service was a little uneven, and the prix fixe didn't look that exciting to me, so I went back to the regular menu and ordered garlic-butter escargots. Ladies and gentlemen, they have got that one DOWN. The sauce was so incredibly tasty that I kept dipping my bread into the leftovers. The steak tartare was good, though slightly odd - they'd shaped it into the form of a hamburger patty, and the pommes frites came along American-style in one of those old-style metal milkshake containers. And then île flotante for dessert, an airy cloud of sweetness that I have yet to be able to duplicate at home (particularly at that scale).

And then the next day, we had Bub's (which Hyoun had never been to!) and Antonio's; walked around campus and marveled at the lack of triples for frosh and how shiny-new Stearns and James looked and where the hell did the wood paneling in the South and North libraries go and how they got rid of the Fishbowl and THEY'RE PUTTING FREAKIN' ELEVATORS into Pratt and Morrow.

Nightcaps at Black Sheep (the cream puff of doom for him, a demure cinnamon-white chocolate chip cookie for me) and Judie's (we have popovers!), where of course I ran into Rikita and Deby; and then it was time to go. Winding our way down 9 to 202 to 181 to 20 to 32 to the Mass Pike (and until you hit the pike, all of those routes are 2-lane curves that we can navigate practically by feel now) to 95 to 9 again, past oishii's and then home.

And we still missed Bueno and DP Dough's and not even enough room to stick in tea rolls from Fresh Side or AmChi (which I still regard with a great deal of suspicion - if you're sticking the town name in something, that's automatically suspect to me - but apparently, AmChi gets their veggies from the same farmer I do in season, so maybe it's not so scary) and Pasta e Basta and the Crazy Noodle place that replaced Nancy Jane's and the new breakfast cafe Lone Wolf and there's even an AFRICAN restaurant there now.

I love Pioneer Valley Food Runs. :)

Comments

[belladonna.livejournal.com]

OOh, thanks for the bookstore recc. Nate and I will have to check that out one weekend soon, when the weather's nicer. He can take pictures of the scenery and I can browse and then he can join me when he's done!

I was a big fan of Tatnuck in Worcester, but I guess it closed. Sad. :(

[ursamajor]

You're welcome! It's gorgeous out there. :)

[fes42.livejournal.com]

Sigh you know you have family in Western MA when you read your route to the Mass Pike and say to yourself "Why'd they go that way?".

[ursamajor]

Hahaha, how would you have gone? That's the route we've been using for years!

[fes42.livejournal.com]

Well you have to keep in mind my family is in Chicopee, so I usually drive down there and get on the Pike there at Exit 4. It just seems to me the all the 2 lane highways are silly when you can be on a four laner. I would take 91 south to the pike from Amherst. But again, we usually would be going back to my family first and then going out to the Pike so it's just the way I go in my head. Yours probably makes more sence...you get on at what exit 7 or 8?

[ursamajor]

Hee, yeah, we get on at exit 8. Part of it is that the bridge into Northampton over the Connecticut River has only recently finished construction (it'd been under construction since my sophomore year), so that would guarantee ridiculous backups at all hours. Taking 9E instead of 9W is practically habit at this point. But it's only 40 minutes to the pike (about 20 miles, assuming an average speed of 30mph) via the backroads vs. nearly an hour (40+ miles, 7 of which are still on 2-lane stop-and-go Route 9) the other way around.

[rustnroses.livejournal.com]

I cry with jealousy in your general direction. And dude, did you not get WINGS?!?!

[ursamajor]

no room in tummy! :( we're realizing that we totally should have stayed overnight friday at the very least; eight hours is not nearly enough time to do it all!

[eevieivy.livejournal.com]

Elevators? Well, damn. An elevator would have been DARN HANDY moving all our crap up to the fourth floor that year. Seriously. :P

Also, I have food envy.

[ursamajor]

*snicker* yeah, Hyoun was looking at me going, "Um, why the hell did you *choose* to live on the third and fourth floors your entire college career then?" I was like, "Um, hel-LO, dorms without pukey people and some of the largest singles on campus? Plus proximity to Buckley and Valentine?"

Maybe you will be closer next year? When do you find out for match?

[eevieivy.livejournal.com]

I found out today that I matched. Thursday at noon (or, well, a bit afterwards) I will find out WHERE I matched. Dunh-dunh-DUNH. ;)

[ursamajor]

Congratulations! And soon you will know where :) *raises a glass to you*