We’ve just returned from three weeks in the Maritimes. Those three weeks were broken up into six distinct…phases? Segments? Legs? Let’s say phases.

Phase one of six: Bedford

After a morning of errands and lunch at Aloette, we scrambled to get packed and leave for the airport. Luckily the Porter flight was easy, as was our drive into Bedford. There’s certainly an advantage to travelling in the summer vs. the winter. The next day was a fairly lazy one: breakfast with grandparents, late lunch at Finbar’s with Toronto friends who happened to be in the province, then backyard hangs and dinner with Lindsay’s sister. On our last full day there we enjoyed another lazy morning, a few errands, one more drink with Tess & Aravind before they flew back to Sweden, and then hangouts & dinner & Taboo with Lindsay’s siblings.

The next morning we got up, drove a few minutes to the local IMAX theatre, and watched The Odyssey, which I thought was excellent. We returned to Lindsay’s mom’s place for lunch from Cha Baa Thai, then got on the road to begin phase two.

Phase two of six: Nova Scotia AirBnBs

We arrived in the Annapolis Valley and checked into the Omar Gandhi Guest Cabin, which I’ve been obsessed with for a while. It’s absolutely stunning, from the design to the surroundings. We were pretty tired, though, so we just picked up some local pizza from Nayya, and some wine from Benjamin Bridge, and went to sleep amongst the trees.

We were really as our leisure the next morning, wanting to fully enjoy the the gorgeous space. Eventually we drove to Planters Ridge winery for lunch (spicy red pepper soup; fishcakes and chow; chili crisp ranch salad; corn crème brûlée) and a tasting. We then made an ill-advised decision to drive to the Blomidon lookoff, which due to road work was all too brief. We had to be back at Benjamin Bridge for a picnic by the Gaspereau river, which was stunning. Our dinner at Terroir at the Old Orchard Inn that night was okay, not great…certainly not worth the money. The menu:

• Cocktails
  • Orchard Fog: Earl Grey, lemon and honey-infused gin, clarified cocktail, dehydrated lemon
  • Salted Peach & Thyme (non-alc): fresh peach and thyme simple syrup, bourbon based
• Appetizers
  • East Coast Oyster Bar: six East Coast oysters freshly shucked, served with a blueberry & thyme mignonette and grated horseradish & lemon.
  • Smoked Tuna Tataki: Quick seared & sliced rare tuna Togarashi with chili-crisp & ginger ponzu. Garnished with pickled daikon, cucumber ribbons, lightly dome-smoked & served with crunchy wontons.
• Mains
  • Ricotta Gnudi: Delicate ricotta and parmesan dumplings with preserved lemon, simmered in a honey garlic milk thistle crab cream sauce, finished with arugula-pecan salsa verde, panko crumble, and seared Digby scallops.
  • Smoked Pork Chop: Oulton’s smoked center cut chop, charbroiled and brushed with lemon & garlic brown sugar BBQ sauce. Topped with corn succotash.
    • Lightfoot and Wolfville Ancienne Chardonnay
• Dessert
  • Homemade apple pie

When you drop >$300 and the homemade apple pie is the most remarkable part of your meal, something’s wrong. Anyway. Lesson learned.

The next morning — my birthday — we left the AirBnB, had lunch at The Library Pub, picked up some wine and a book, and drove through some unknown-to-us roads to to Elderbank. There we found our next AirBnB, a geodesic dome overlooking the Musquodoboit River. We opened some bubbly, enjoyed the nature, played some games, ate our weird chicken parm dinner (but the carrot cake was excellent) and got some sleep.

The next morning we were up early, struggled out the door, and pointed our car toward Cumberland County, to begin phase three.

Phase three of six: the farm

After a brief stop at Masstown Market, we drove on to Parrsboro, meeting my parents for lunch at Harbour View. Fish & chips and fried clams ensued. We drove back to the farm and the relaxing commenced. Lindsay skunked me twice at crib, we watched the Jays game, and I fell into a very deep sleep. The next day was the epitome of farm languor: I won 3 games of crib. We took a walk, though we were chased back inside by flies. We made pulled pork for everyone. We watched the Jays game. We slept.

After some Sunday breakfast we drove to our friend’s cottage, where brother #2 and the S-I-L had been staying. We walked to the beach, and eyed the cottage for sale next door. Then we drove on via Tidnish (another road never before taken) toward Shediac, to commence phase four.

Phase four of six: New Brunswick

We arrived in Shediac Bridge to find our beautiful AirBnB. We quickly realized it contained even more space than we though, both indoors and out. But we also quick realized it contained no laundry. That would be a problem, since Lindsay didn’t have enough clean clothes to last the week. It was too late to do anything about it that night, so we drove to Moncton for groceries & supplies, picking up donairs on the way home. One more Maritime task completed.

Though Monday was a holiday, we discovered a brand new laundromat in Shediac, and confirmed it would be open. It was very clean and efficient, and we were in and out practically in the time it took to walk across the road to Timmy’s. We returned to our temporary home, worked on the beautiful deck, made sausage & eggs for lunch, and stepped inside when it rained. A cooked dinner of salmon & vegetables hit the spot, after all the fried food we’d been eating.

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The next three days were drive-to-the-office days for me. One day I saw a car burst into flames on my drive home. One day we drove all the way to the Bouctouche dunes to visit the beach there, but left pretty disappointed with the swim quality. One way it was too hot to do anything. We tried multiple times to visit Chez Leo, but it was far too busy.

On Friday I worked from the house in the morning, then we set out for Bedford. After multiple stops along the way, we made it just in time for me to sign in to one last meeting for the week, during which Lindsay left with her family for another cottage– thus beginning phase five.

Phase five of six: Brother & Bramble

While Lindsay and her family drove to the Annapolis Valley, I drove downtown to stay with brother #1, happily relinquishing any further driving duties for the day. We went to Eliot & Vine, a place that’s long been on my wish list. I had tuna crudo w/ saffron aioli, pickled chilies, red onion, capers, olive oil, crispy quinoa, and a glass of DeMorgenzon Chardonnay, followed by the ravioli w/ goat cheese honey ricotta, San Marzano tomato sauce, grilled vegetables, and a glass of Claude Val Rosé. Unfortunately it was almost unbearably warm in the restaurant (we were sat right next to the front door, which remained propped open during a heat wave for reasons that are beyond me). Anyway, we got home, chatted for a bit, and watched a documentary about the Barkley Marathons.

The next day we walked to the (very cool) Brewery Market and back, which was enough to leave me soaked in sweat. A cold shower never felt so good. We killed the rest of the day until friends arrived; the brother smokes steak and chicken, and we had a feast. Once they left, the brother and I watched episode one of President Curtis, then episode one of BoJack Horseman. Then I went to bed and slept for eight hours.

On Sunday I arose, did a bit of catching up on work & life, and drove back to Bedford to await everyone’s return. Once the crowd rumbled in we got ourselves sorted and then drove out to Lindsay’s dad’s for dinner and various animal encounters. The next day we got ourselves ready to depart, bringing in one final lunch from a local seafood spot, which would come back to haunt us. On the drive downtown to our hotel, Lindsay got violently ill — everywhere — and we had to go back to Bedford to clean up. The second attempt, several hours later, went better.

Phase six of six: Halifax.

We arrived at The Muir, our Halifax home away from home, shortly before 9pm. We got ourselves situated, ordered room service (an excellent burger for me, miracle-working chicken soup & brown bread for Lindsay), unpacked, and passed out.

Tuesday got off to a slow start, as expected. I got coffee and pastries from the nearby Java Blend. We eventually tried to visit The Narrows for lunch but it was closed, so we went to Chainyard instead. We (okay, Lindsay) bought some books from Agricola Street Books, and I got a cortado from the new location of Espresso 46 before we returned to the hotel to reset. Lindsay had supper plans with Kealin, so they took over the reservation we’d made at Bar Kismet. Meanwhile, I met up with brother #1 and his progeny for some incredible pizza at Lou Pecou. We had a special, kind of a souped-up Margherita, and a “One Night in Marseille” — tomato sauce, bocconcini, pepperoni, caramelized fennel seed, pickled mustard seed, basil, Parmigiano Reggiano. I had a glass of local Parlan Nadurra skin contact l’Acadie Blanc. We each had a buckwheat chocolate & sea salt cookie for dessert.

Wednesday started slowly as well. Java Blend again, and relaxing. Then: pastries from LF Bakery, coffee with the siblings, drinks with Andrew at Good Robot beer garden. We bumped into Tim picking up burritos from Dee Dee’s, then ate them in Point Pleasant Park and walked around the trails and beaches. After some brutal traffic getting home we rested up for a couple hours, then went just down the waterfront for dinner at Mystic. Our second time there was very good, if not quite as good as our initial visit back in December.

Lindsay had the ‘Fauna’ menu:

• snacks
• acadian caviar w/ smoked egg yolk, wild sea flora, sea mustard
• lobster agnolotti w/ ns saffron, yogurt, cattail, kelp vinegar emulsion
• koji beef tenderloin w/ juniper, spruce, caper, bone marrow black garlic shoyu, tamarack aioli
• baby halibut w/ stuffed mussels, smoked polenta, sea asparagus, daikon, bouillabaisse cream
• rhubarb w/ ns honey ganache, brandy snap, tonka bean almond, rhubarb compote sorbet
• sweets

I had the ‘Biota’ menu:

• snacks
• acadian caviar w/ smoked egg yolk, wild sea flora, sea mustard
• cured tuna loin w/ crab mayo, apple, ginger sumac crepe, aonori cucumber
• scallop w/ sea lettuce gratin, sea asparagus spätzle, lardo koji turnip, goldenrod cream
• wolffish w/ brioche, scallop, crab, fennel, asparagus pea, crab hollandaise
• sea buckthorn curd w/ white rum sponge, caribou moss, ponzu ice cream
• sweets

We both had the wine pairings, but there’s no way I’d remember them all. The courses I remember most fondly were the caviar with a South African Chenin Blanc and the scallop with a Piemonte Nebbiolo rosé.

Thursday, as you might expect, started slowly. We slept in. We ordered room service. We did some work, and eventually had a late lunch at Drift (lobster hushpuppies, a cheeseburger, a Marque salad). We met Rickie and Bea for drinks at The Narrows Public House, the inside of which was one million degrees Celsius. Then, though I wasn’t feeling well, we walked to Reta’s for dinner with Lindsay’s dad & his wife where I managed to rally enough to eat. We had:

• snacks & appetizers (shared)
  • devilled eggs w/ crisp chicken skin, togarashi, tobiko
  • fried squash flowers stuffed with goat cheese
  • little gem salad w/ giardiniera vin, spicy salami, cured yolk, sourdough, green goddess
  • parisienne gnocchi w/ cacio e pepe
• mains
  • swordfish w/ potatoes, brown butter capers, white lemon, green beans, almonds (Lindsay)
  • duck breast w/ cornbread, brassicas, black garlic pickled cherries (Dan)
• dessert
  • corn & caramel swirl ice cream, all around

We’d hoped to get to BKS, the speakeasy in the Muir, but given how I felt, we opted out.

Friday was the last day of our trip. We got breakfast sammies & coffee from Cafe Lunette, checked out of the Muir, picked up Lindsay’s mom and sister, grabbed pizza from On The Wedge, packed the last little bits, and drove to the airport.

Our flight from Halifax to Toronto was quick; our 31km commute home from the airport took nearly as long. We arrived home to find one very happy, vocal, matted, clingy cat.