Berkshire Bread and Chocolate and the Keystone Arches

When I think I’ve seen everything in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, there are still new discoveries to be made.

Why am I drawn back to the Berkshires? Is it the magical landscape, the history, the literary legacy of Hawthorne, Melville and Wharton, or the ghosts of people and memories that seem to inhabit every branch, leaf and stone?

Certainly, it is the breakfasts, and the welcoming family at the Rookwood Inn in Lenox. I’ve made an annual autumn visit there for nearly 18 years.  

After breakfast at the Rookwood, there is usually little need of daily bread, but I’ve recently learned of the Berkshire Mountain Bakery in nearby Housatonic. One of their signature loaves is known simply as “Bread and Chocolate.”  How can I resist a pilgrimage?

I make the drive past the glittering Stockbridge Bowl, framed by fiery autumn leaves.   

For whatever reason, I’ve spent very little time in Housatonic during my visits to the Berkshires. Like everything in the Berkshires, it is just moments away.  

The Berkshire Mountain Bakery is a large brick structure that sits on the banks of the Housatonic River and was founded by Richard Bourdon in 1986.  

The bakery practices the ancient art of natural sourdough bread baking and Bourdon studied fermentation in Holland, where he headed one of the first bakeries there to revive the craft. The Berkshire Mountain Bakery now offers this ancient ingenuity daily in the form of delicious artisanal breads.  

It is a stunning autumn morning.  The early sunlight filters through the bakery window, illuminating mounds of rustic loaves.

I make my purchase, tuck the loaf of Bread and Chocolate into my backpack and head for my next destination. The perfect round loaf, studded with chunks of chocolate will be the ideal lunchtime repast.

I drive some 30 minutes to the trailhead of the Keystone Arches Bridge Trail, near the small town of Chester, Massachusetts.  The hike follows the Westfield River and the path of the Western Railroad, built in the 1830s.  Major George Washington Whistler, who was the painter Whistler’s father, surveyed the steep area.  

While not immortalized like Whistler’s Mother, the Major was involved in some extraordinary accomplishments.  In its day, the Western Railroad was the longest and highest railroad in the world.  

The series of Keystone Arch Bridges that supported the now abandoned route, are accessible by foot, and are a monument of manmade engineering and natural elements.  

After an hour or so of walking, I reach the most spectacular Keystone Arch and carefully make my way down to the river to observe its grandeur.

Seated on a rock by the side of the river, I pull the Bread and Chocolate from my pack and eat chunks by hand, watching the autumn leaves swirl on the water near my feet.

The bread is sturdy, significant and decadently delicious, much like the magnificent structure that stands before me. 

Bread and Chocolate and the Keystone Arches – ingenuity at its finest.  

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

A Bite of the Berkshires

It’s like coming home again when I step into the entrance hall of the Rookwood Inn, a Victorian “Painted Lady” Bed & Breakfast in the heart of Lenox, Massachusetts. Fresh baked cookies and pink lemonade await me in the dining room.  I let out a sign of content.  It’s been too long. 

I first stayed at the Rookwood Inn in 1995, and kept returning each summer year after year.  But, eventually, various issues and commitments got in the way.  The Berkshires is a cultural mecca for theater, music, art and dance, once a retreat for literary luminaries like Edith Wharton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, William Cullen Bryant and Henry James.   Perhaps it’s the spirit of those writers that continues to invite me back.

My friend Amy Lindner-Lesser is innkeeper and proprietor of the Rookwood Inn.  In 1996, she and her late husband Steve purchased the inn.  Steve developed many of the recipes served at breakfast.  There’s always a lovely selection of stratas, frittatas, fruits and breakfast casseroles.  I’ve come to expect a warm and delicious, satisfying breakfast with plenty of strong coffee and good conversation, accented with a touch of classical music. 

In 2011, Amy published "The Rookwood Inn's Guide to Devouring the Berkshires -- One Cultural Bite at a Time."  The book contains many of the recipes served at the Rookwood Inn, and provides fascinating anecdotes on local cultural attractions. On this weekend – when independence is on the minds of visitors – the tables are decorated with American flags, and the breakfast offerings take on a patriotic flavor.

There’s a trifle of fruit, granola and yogurt and an oatmeal breakfast pie studded with blueberries and drizzled with maple syrup.

Every day in Lenox is filled adventures historic, literary and culinary.   I’m thrilled that my favorite antiques store, Coffman’s Antiques now has a new life in a store right in Lenox, and I marvel at the lovely arrangements of country artifacts. A selection of Shaker whiskbrooms, children’s play shovels and antique eggbeaters catches my eye.

At the Alta Wine Bar, I feast on salmon topped with olive tapenade.

I return to Charles Baldwin Extracts where I always buy my vanilla extract.  Charles Baldwin has been making vanilla extract on the premises for 125 years.

At the Mount, the home of Pulitzer Prize winning author Edith Wharton, I stroll through the formal gardens hoping to connect with the literary ghosts of Lily Bart, or Ethan Frome.  

Edith's dining room is the ultimate in Gilded Age elegance:

A number of wine bars have opened in Lenox, where a fantastic selection of vintages and small plates are available. At Brava Wine Bar, I sample of flight of crisp and crackling whites:

And, dine on lamb meatballs and roasted Brussels sprouts with Bacon:

The bartender Johnny convinces me that a couple of scoops of strawberry rhubarb sorbet would match beautifully with a bubbly Prosecco!  He is spot on.  

The Rookwood Inn is a short walk to Tanglewood, where violinist Joshua Bell leads an all Tchaikovsky program.  Many picnic on the lawn throughout the midsummer night evening.  

At the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, there is a charming culinary garden, and an exhibit on re-imagining the potting shed.

I can’t resist a return visit to Brava, where I dine on roasted beet salad and luscious steak and bacon sliders.  

Once again, Johnny makes a case that dessert is not optional, so I finish with Blueberry Pound Cake with Strawberry Trifle.

Before checking out, there is one more leisurely breakfast at the Rookwood Inn, featuring another red, white and blue fruit and yogurt trifle and a hearty spinach strata. 

Perhaps an autumn visit to the Berkshires is in order?

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Breakfast in the Berkshires

The statue of the Newspaper Delivery Boy greets me once again as I enter Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It has a Norman Rockwell-esque quality and the way he thrusts the paper forward always catches my eye. This somewhat quaint, antiquated symbol of the early information age has become my symbolic greeter each time I return to the Berkshires.

There is a line of gentle, rolling mountains that separates the border of New York and Massachusetts. The Berkshire Mountains stretch from the Northern section of Connecticut well into Vermont. The region is sprinkled with magical destinations – Tanglewood, Shakespeare & Company, Monument Mountain, Mount Greylock, Chesterwood and The Mount. Music, imagination, language and culture infuse the crisp, pine-drenched air.

One of the key reasons I’ve come back year after year is the people and the breakfasts at the Rookwood Inn on 11 Old Stockbridge Road in Lenox, Massachusetts. Innkeeper Amy Lindner-Lesser has owned the Rookwood Inn since October 1996, when she and her late husband Stephen left their careers in social work to come to the Berkshires. The oldest portion of the inn was built in 1825 and was located in the center of the village. It was later moved to its current location and several additions were added. Described as a “painted lady” in the Victorian style, the mauve and violet hues of the Rookwood are a distinctive sight in the historic village.

I’ve been away for some time, but it all feels incredibly comfortable and familiar, like a second home or a special retreat. I sleep better here, and I am able to forget daily pressures. Classical music fills the breakfast room, and the tables are decorated with American flags for the Independence Day holiday. I enter, and Amy and her right-hand, Christine Manarchik are both already hard at work in the kitchen. This particular morning, the entrée is scrambled eggs flecked with spinach in a crispy parmesan cup, and garnished with chives from the kitchen garden.

Breakfasts are made with heart-healthy ingredients and lots of flavor. Steve was a graduate of the Hotel Management program at The Restaurant School in Philadelphia, and developed many of the recipes still used today, but Amy and Chris continue to experiment with new dishes that are low in fat and sugar.

“Our recipes are low fat, easy and delicious,” says Amy as we chat over coffee about the Rookwood breakfast menu.

“We get lots of requests for the recipes,” says Chris. She describes her cooking methodology as Italian-style. “I don’t measure anything,” she confesses.

Another morning I’m presented with an individual breakfast parfait, layered with granola and vanilla yogurt and finished with a patriotic flourish of strawberries and blueberries.

A Croissant a l’Orange is an ingenious variation on a soufflé. One croissant is sliced in half and placed in an individual soufflé dish. Marmalade and tart orange zest is layered inside along with a custard of cholesterol-free eggs and a little half-and-half for flavor. A sweet orange aroma rises as I puncture the flakey golden crust with a fork.

In the afternoon, I relax on the rambling porch with a homemade chocolate chip cookie and some pink lemonade. It is summertime at its finest.

Amy has been vowing for years to publish “The Rookwood Cookbook.” I’m lobbying hard that this be the year. She’s got all the right ingredients – hospitality, flavor, a vintage setting and that touch of Berkshires magic that has brought me back each summer season.

©2007 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved