Hello friends!

I’ve just returned from the loveliest weekend meander out on Long Island with my friends Kelly and Crystal, eating yummy food, drinking a lot of delicious drinks, and doing some very serious sitting around.  Seeing as I took an extremely large amount of photos and I have to (just have to) share them with you all, I’ll post about it all in snippets during the week.

We started out driving through the North Fork bright and early, with the goal of getting to Wm. J Mills in Greenport before it closed at noon on Saturday.  (By the way, when I grow up, I very very badly want to live on the North Fork.  Unpretentious, quiet, and lush, it’s sort of the best thing ever.)

Mills Canvas did not disappoint, with some really exciting new styles that haven’t made it on their website.  Wanna see?  Yes, yes, you do.  If this all sounds strangely familiar, it’s because I’ve gushed about them before.

The first ones I saw as we came in the door, were the waxed canvas bags.  They were the bomb diggity.  Kelly snapped one up in their duffel shape.  It was beautiful, and cost a pretty penny.  It was most likely, very worth it.

I love the handsome, no nonsense styling of these bags with their crisp silk labels, and classic practical shapes.

A short while later, two new Mills bags went into the trunk to join their seasoned brethren, my grey tote.  (My tote is camera shy, and is skulking in the corner.)  How great is that coral color on the right?  It’s just begging to be taken on a trip.

Post-Mills Canvas, we went off to try out some beers at the Greenport Harbor Brewery on Kelly’s fervent recommendation.  As a mostly indifferent beer drinker, I have to say that I was really impressed by some of the brews they had on tap.  For $8 (plus a tip for the nice ladies!) in their tasting room, you can try their full selection, which changes seasonally and is thankfully available in select bars all over New York City.  Oh, and you get to keep the cool pint glass. Hellloooo, deal.

My favorite by far was the Havre Rouge, with the Summer Ale a close second.  Both of the beers were refreshingly crisp and easy to drink, with subtle floral notes that made me want to put them in my pockets.  Or at least in my fridge.  Sadly, they do not bottle their beers as of yet, so I will be scouring the city streets for another pint.

Next up was the famous fried chicken at Salamander’s General Store.  It was everything I remembered it being and more.  Moist and tender, with the thinnest, and crispest of crusts, it was well worth braving the wait and the buffeting winds.  We ordered the family meal, which consisted of eight pieces of chicken, coleslaw, cornbread, slaw, gravy, and mashed potatoes.  Let me tell you, not one of these items were duds.

The chicken is obviously made with fairy dust and unicorn kisses.  The cornbread was full of sweet corn flavor, fluffy as a pillow, and made by pocket elves.  The slaw was refreshing, and pink, perfectly offsetting the richness of the chicken.  The potatoes were real, light, and full of earthy potato-ness.  The gravy, well.  As relative newcomers to this place, we questioned the large quantity we received, but polished off ALL of it by our meal’s end.  I admit to accidentally, possibly on purpose, pouring it over most of my plate.

We also randomly got 4 pieces of bonus chicken in our box, which made for a great cold snack later in the day.  (They were just as good cold.)  You must go to this.  It will make the world seem happier, and flowers sing.  Look, singing flowers.

As of the time of this writing, I am plotting furiously to go back to Greenport for a whole weekend.  How can so many cool things live in one place?  This is what you should do this summer.  I’ve decided for you.  Read this post.  Jot down some notes.  And then pretend this was all your idea in the first place, and fly, fly to Greenport with a well chosen companion or two.  I won’t mind at all.

Next up, we’re off to the car ferry which takes us from North to South Fork, with a brief stopover in Shelter Island.  Check in tomorrow for some awesome photos of the motel we stayed at in Montauk.  Let’s just say you would not be surprised to find Don Draper pulling in.

P.S.  How rude of me.  How was YOUR weekend?  =)