Nutmeg Nuggets 2025

  Perhaps the most popular place in Litchfield is the White Memorial Conservation Center. There are over 40 miles of trails and areas for kayaking, fishing and camping  in this 4000 acre preserve of forest, fields, and wetlands. In 1908, Alain White, whose family was from France,  decided to preserve the land around the  family estate in Litchfield  as a conservation area. Five years later, he and his sister formed the White Memorial Foundation and  amassed over 5700 acres, stretching all the way to the New York border. Eventually, they donated all of the land to towns and the state with the requirement that it be used for parks and conservation areas.  Today, the Conservation Center is operated as  a non- profit  and maintains the area and facilities.  In addition, the original family homestead is used as an education center and each week there are interesting lectures, nature hikes, and programs all centered around nature. If you are l...

When we moved to Litchfield three years ago, we convinced Jocelyn to go for a pony ride at Lee’s Riding Stables, here in Litchfield. The quick 20 minute ride  was on Capucinno, a very mild mannered pony and  while Jocelyn enjoyed it, she was nervous around horses. Since then,  we would visit once or twice a year for a quick ride, but Jocelyn hesitated when asked if she wanted to take a riding lesson.  Recently, we asked Jocelyn if she wanted a lesson, and surprisingly she said yes. So we signed her up with the instructor, Heather, who is the owner Lee’s daughter. When it came time for the lesson, which horse did Heather bring out for Jocelyn to ride, none other than Capuccino! At first Jocelyn was nervous, but Heather was great at getting Jocelyn comfortable and taught her how to sit in the saddle, hold the reins, steer the pony, etc. When  the lesson was over Jocelyn said she was ready for another, so yesterday was lesson #2, and before you knew it, Jocelyn was...

Recently, several Mexican restaurants have opened up in the area and  friends   recommended La Catrina in nearby Bantam. It  is owned and operated by  husband and wife, Enrique and Consuelo Estrada, who worked in the restaurant industry for decades before deciding to open their own place. Enrique learned cooking by watching his mother in the kitchen, and this is one of the reasons the food  is  much more than your typical Tex-Mex.  He has also incorporated his love of Asian - infused cuisine into the menu, so you can get  dishes such as Asian duck tacos, Mexican inspired rice bowls,  and  miso glazed salmon.  For lunch, we started  with the spicy guacamole, then Sunny had the shredded chicken rice bowl which came with  shredded roasted chicken, black beans, sofrito rice, pico de gallo and avocado. The dish was delicious as well as very filling and Sunny ended up taking half of it home. I started with the Asian duck tacos w...

One of our favorite places to go for a walk is Topsmead, a 510 acre state forest in Litchfield. While there are numerous walking trails, a butterfly garden, and places to watch a variety of wildlife, the main attraction is an English Tudor style  summer home  that was built in the 1920’s.  Edith Chase’s father, who ran the Chase Brass and Copper company in nearby Waterbury, gave  her 16 acres of land  in 1917, and over the years, Edith built the cottage and gardens, established a working farm,  and bought an additional 500 acres of surrounding land. When Edith died in 1972, she left the property to the state to be used as a state forest. Today, the cottage, including its contents and gardens are pretty much what they were when Edith lived there and you can tour the cottage twice a month when it is open to the public.  Connecticut has a number of state forests and parks and Topsmead is just one of many in the area which are fun to visit.  Interesti...

Three years ago, new owners took over the Stonybrook golf course which is just a few miles up the street from us in Litchfield. We had heard that the restaurant was quite good so when my sister  Susan visited with us for the July 4th weekend, we decided to go there for lunch. It was a beautiful, sunny, but hot afternoon so we ate inside rather than  on the deck which offers a great view of the course and countryside. Given it is a 9 hole public course, we were pleased to find a casual, yet upscale dining room and a menu with a number of interesting options. The chef is a fan of Asian infused food so there are a number of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean dishes.  As a shared appetizer, I  selected pork belly bites as this is not something you usually see on a menu in New England. It was crispy bites of pork belly in a soy, sesame peanut sauce, which were quite tasty, but also quite heavy- probably better suited for the winter.  For our main courses, Sunny had the su...