Wishing a great weekend to everyone out there today! It’s been a crazy week for us East coasters, what with another two foot snow dump this past Tuesday.

That’s ok. New Englanders are a resilient bunch, still smiling. (Some of us.) Grabbing our shovels. (Pick axes?) Pulling on our snow bibs like everyone else, one leg at a time. (I hear another storm’s on the way. Just sayin’ and don’t shoot the messenger.)

Two feet of white stuff is a bit much, and thankfully it wasn’t heavy like last week’s batch. (So say the shovelers at my house.) We already had snow on the ground, so our mailbox is now completely encased in white. I think every mail delivery worker up here should get a big fat bonus check during arctic stretches like this. It can’t be easy.

I spy candied maple bacon biscuits. And fresh cider donuts. Eek!!!

A few weekends ago, in the midst of our kitchen renovations (think no stovetop, oven and kitchen sink for weeks) we escaped the indoor kitchen camping scene for a delicious homemade breakfast up in Sugar Hill, NH at Polly’s Pancake Parlor.

You’ll find all things maple at Polly’s Pancakes.

Jon and I first discovered Polly’s by accident last fall when we sneaked off on a quick weekend getaway to Sugar Hill and Jackson, NH. We visited the Garnet Hill outlet in Franconia then googled for a bite to eat and Polly’s Pancake Parlor came up first. Lucky us, what a great find!

Real maple syrup. Real maple sugar. Real maple spread. My kind of heaven on earth.

Polly’s Pancake Parlor has been around for over seventy-five years now and I know why. Great food, real maple syrup/maple syrup products, and excellent customer service are top priority.

Not to mention the view out the dining room windows!

We’ve since visited twice more with the boys and had a great experience each time.

If you remember nothing else, please note that you can call ahead to Polly’s and get your name on the waiting list. That’s a very good idea if you’re planning a visit. We went during the Christmas holidays and took the boys on our way up to Quebec City.

Shop all kinds of homemade mixes and maple products while you wait.

We called Polly’s when we left the house and still waited twenty minutes after arriving. And we’re an hour and a half away! So do call ahead, especially during busy holiday times.

Some of you know our special little guy Hudson. He’s got Downs and autism, but that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for delicious homemade pancakes a bit.

In fact, he’s a carb lover. And while he’s got sensory issues and typically covers his face if a camera appears, he forgot all about that when his stack arrived!

So here’s the squeeze on Polly’s. There are different kinds of homemade pancake batter to choose from. Oatmeal buttermilk. Plain. Buckwheat. Corn meal. Gingerbread.

And then there are the add-ins: walnuts and coconut. And your server works behind the long griddles, flipping your flapjacks! And when you finish your first custom stack of three, your server magically reappears with the second. That’s how they do it at Polly’s. And I didn’t hear anyone complaining. Check out their extensive menu here.

Originally Hildex Farm in Sugar Hill, Polly’s Pancake Parlor started in 1938.

Polly’s mills their own flours. And in 2006, they received a James Beard Award in the “American Classics” category.

So if you’ve never been to Polly’s Pancake Parlor, add it to your New England bucket list. You won’t be disappointed.

We left Polly’s and headed to the Garnet Hill Outlet, just a hop, skip and a jump away. If you’re not familiar with Garnet Hill, it’s primarily a women’s clothing company known for natural fibers, linen, fabulous wools and cashmere. They also carry the exclusive Eileen Fisher brand. I didn’t buy anything there, but that’s not the end of the story.

We headed on to Chutter’s in Littleton, NH, not far away. While Jon and the kids shopped at the longest continuous candy counter in the world, I slipped in to the shop next door – Emma & Co. Consignment.

And scored this beautiful Garnet Hill leather bag for a song. Patience is a virtue! The girl who checked me out said they carry lots of Garnet Hill because the outlet is so close.

And quick kitchen update – it’s functional! Kitchen sink, stovetop and oven happened this week. Now it’s just the details. I’ll keep you posted.

Have a beautiful, relaxing weekend and hope it includes a short stack with real maple syrup!

XOXO,

Allie

The post Breakfast Field Trip to Polly’s Pancake Parlor – Sugar Hill, NH appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

Hello my friends, and a very happy June weekend to you. Got any big trips planned this summer? I’m heading to my cousin’s Milwaukee wedding in July, can’t wait… then taking Jonathan to college in Birmingham in August. Other than THAT, we’re staying local. Read on today about my Charlie’s fantastic summer dreams…. Yep, that’s what they are…. dreams.

Let’s face it. Kids can get bored during the summer. And I’m just not that mom who rushes around entertaining them every five minutes.

Sure we have our daytrips, camps, library trips, and sometimes a week or two of vacation. One year we even swapped houses cross-country with friends. That was a real adventure.

So when school ends, I ask the kids to make a list of things they want to learn, places to go, friends to connect with over the summer. I like getting ideas, learning what’s on their radar, their expectations etc.

Yes, it’s good to know what’s going on in their heads.

I remind them these are ideas, not guarantees.

Last summer there were no big vacation plans on the calendar yet, just a few day trips. The older kids wrote their lists and e-mailed them to me:

• a day at the beach
• basketball at the courts
• hanging out with friends
• Six Flags
• buying vacation cereal (they love picking out junk cereal for vacation)

But one list was still in process.

He sat at the kitchen counter for nearly an hour, focused. Crayons, markers, colored pencils in a jumble around him.

“Ready for lunch yet?”

“Nope, busy.”

He shielded his paper, but I’d already spied the grids, boxes and graphs. He turned it over and labored a while longer. Finally he exhaled dramatically. “Done!” and handed it to me.

I started reading.

Places I want to go

• Walt Disney World
• Beach
• Cedar Point
• Toys “R” Us at Times Square
• Funspot
• Alnwick Garden Treehouse
• Ocean Dome
• Northern Lights

• Grand Canyon
• Paricutin Volcano
• Victoria Falls
• Mount Everest

My eyes grew big as saucers. The kid doesn’t aim high or anything.

I read on:

• Great Barrier Reef
• Statue of Zeus at Olympia
• Statue of Artemis at Ephesus
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Machu Picchu
• Petra
• Taj Mahal
• Great Wall of China
• Chutters*

No joke, that’s exactly what he wrote, and in that order. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was Bill Gates’ bucket list. I hadn’t even contacted a travel agent, but I was already exhausted and broke. Clearly I wouldn’t be making a dent in my summer reading list any time soon. I read on.

Things I want to buy:

• Pop rocks
• Rock candy
• Bike helmet

OK….that sounds more do-able.

Instruments I want to play:

• Drum set
• Hand drums

(Maybe now was a good time to invest in ME — a pair of high end noise canceling ear phones.)

Other things I like:

• Cooking
• Weapons

WEAPONS???? I flinched.

With a graph all its own:

• Shuriken
• Swiss army knife
• Bazooka
• Rifle
• Bee-bee gun

OH YES! For safety sake, insurance purposes, and shut eye at night…. it’s wise to inquire about what’s going on inside their heads.

The list went on.

• Shotgun
• Pistol
• Sword
• Dagger
• Bow and arrow
• Hypodermic needle

“HYPODERMIC NEEDLE?” I gasped aloud.

“Yes Mommy, and I know how to spell it too.” He spoke truth, it was spelled correctly.

“You didn’t even know how to spell hypodermic when you were eight, did you Mommy?”

Silence.

“So Mommy, are we going to all the places?”

“Ummm…”(long pause).

“Your dad and I will talk it over and get back to you.”

And then, nervously, “What exactly is a shuriken?” I said.

“A Ninja weapon. From the Hardy Boys book. Don’t you even know anything about Ninja weapons, Mommy?”

No. No I don’t. And I hope I don’t find out any time soon, either.

Moral of the story: There’s an opportunist in every bunch.

And he can just Dream On…

(And I look forward to that relaxing day at the beach. With him. Minus his Seven Wonders of the World Children’s Encyclopedia.)

*Chutters is a unique candy store in Littleton, New Hampshire boasting the longest candy counter in the world – 112 feet. And he did make it to Chutters last summer. There and the beach.

You may also enjoy: Little Experiment

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