Vacationing In The Ocean State: Sleeps & Eats

Where We Stayed: Warren, Rhode Island.

We rented a three bedroom, two bathroom townhouse in Warren, RI (about 20 minutes from Providence) with my parents. We found the rental on VRBO and were very pleased with our accommodations. The townhouse was located on the top two floors of a a three story historic home and it over looked the water.  It was wonderful because it had two balconies and a deck where we were able to sit out and relax, enjoy a cup of coffee and take advantage of the grill. The townhouse was so beautiful and Neil and I really wanted to just move in, we loved the layout and the location.

We also stayed an extra night at the Hilton Providence which was in a good location (downtown Providence) but we were less than impressed with the accommodations. I am not sure if it was because we had a baby and they worried she would be loud but when we checked in they said they were going to move us to a higher floor and we ended up being in a room across from the ice machine and on a floor with younger (rowdy) adults and lots of little kids. The bed was comfortable but it was so noisy!

Where We Ate:

We actually picked up a bunch of groceries from Whole Foods and Trader Joes and ate the majority of our meals at the house.  The few meals we did eat out included:

  • Kabob and Curry (take out): One of the nights we picked up Indian take out to enjoy at the house.  It was great because the menu had a vegan section and everything was clearly market dairy free and/or gluten free.  We ordered two curries and pakoras and some house pickled veggies.  The pakoras were delicious and I am so glad I ordered two orders of them! The curries were pretty good not the best I’ve had but not the worst either.  The pickled veggies were …um….well they had a really  off putting smell so I didn’t even try them.
  • Wildflour Bakery: Neil and I visited Wildflour last year and instantly fell in love so we had to visit it again.  The first visit (yes it’s so good we went twice) we had a granola scone, a gluten free lemon blueberry scone, a gluten free raspberry cheesecake brownie and a slow drip coffee for him and a (too) spicy coffee for me. My coffee was super spicy because of the cayenne and although I tried to drink it I just couldn’t. On our second visit I had a yummy broccoli cheddar scone and Neil had a granola scone (what can I say it’s really good) and we shared a green smoothie and a slow drip coffee.
  • Julian’s: When we visited Providence last year Julian’s was on the list to try, however since we were just in town for the day we could only go to one restaurant so we didn’t end up making it there.  This trip it  made the list again and not only did we go once we went twice! Our first visit was for dinner with my parents, I ordered the Mediterranean Spice Fried Seitan Skewers with saffron-olive-portobella bulgar, pea tendrils, preserved lemon, & paprika roasted cauliflower purée, Neil had House Made Vegan Teriyaki Sausage with wasabi-salted pommes frites, pickled cabbage, & hot mustard and my parents both ordered grilled chicken one with asparagus the other had a green salad.  We all absolutely loved our meals and would recommend it to both vegans and omnivores. On our second visit we went for Sunday morning breakfast and word to the wise get there early.  They open at 9am, we arrived at 8:55 and there was already a line.  People had been waiting awhile as well and had already put their names on the list.  As we were leaving the line to get in was huge! At least if you do have to wait you can get yourself one of their tasty (sounding) breakfast cocktails to enjoy outside while you wait.  For breakfast Neil and I shared the St. Jamez ‘Benedict’ fried tofu ‘egg’, garlicky spinach, & vegan hollandaise and the special tofu scramble.  Both were good but not as good as dinner.  We wish we had ordered the benedict and the vegan carrot cake pancakes instead of the scramble, oh well there is always next time.

  • Federal Hill Pizza: Federal Hill Pizza was located just a few blocks from our house in Warren so we decided to try it out with my parents for lunch one afternoon.  We shared the bruschetta flatbread, garlic broccoli rabe, the green salad that was topped with grilled veggies and the pasta with garlic, olive oil and grilled veggies.  The star of he show was the green salad with the grilled veggies, it was delicious and we all loved it.  Overall the food was good, my parents had a pizza there one of the nights and they really enjoyed it as well.
  • Crazy Burger: Neil was able to take part of one day off while we were in Rhode Island so we decided to head out of a drive and that’s when we came across Crazy Burger in Narragansett.  Apparently (we learned this after visiting) the restaurant was on Diners, Dive-in’s & Dives, what brought us to Crazy Burger however was the selection of vegan burgers and other vegan offerings. Neil and I really wanted to try everything (vegan) on the menu but decided to go with two burgers one with the slaw and one with fries.  For our burgers we ordered BIRDIE MAE BURGER: Grilled Tempeh, purple sticky rice, sweet potato, roasted sunflower seeds, and rosemary-pumpkin pesto combine to create a wonderful taste & texture; grilled into a tomato tortilla and the WILD & CRAZY MUSHROOM BURGER: Portabella, Porcini & Domestic Mushrooms mixed w/Italian rice & fresh vegetables; served on a vegan bun with a wild mushroom gravy. Both of the burgers were really good but the mushroom burger was extra tasty because of the amazing wild mushroom gravy (which was amazing on the fries as well).  This is definitely a place we hope to visit again, I mean we need to try all of their veggie burgers to really decided which one is best.

Up Next: Coffee Joints and the Happenings in the Ocean State

Where are your favorite places to eat in Rhode Island?

Baby Wearing Me Out

Although Edie slept beautifully this morning I was still in need of a little pick me up so I whipped up a 5 Sparrow Snow Ghost Frappe* made with Chameleon Cold-Brew. The frappe tasted just like something you could pick up at a coffee house for an arm and a leg but it was made at a fraction of the cost at home with unsweetened almond milk. I sucked this back quick and I am looking forward to trying the other flavors that 5 Sparrow have including the chai.

After enjoying my coffee frappe I spent the remainder of the day nursing a baby who just couldn’t eat enough; today was one of those challenging nursing days.  When I was finally able to take a quick break and Neil was able to have a little daddy-daughter time I whipped up two big salads for Neil and I for lunch.

Ingredients:

leftover potato-summer squash-chickpea hash

radishes

heirloom tomatoes

greens

shredded cabbage

red onion

mushrooms

Drew’s Roasted Garlic & Peppercorn Salad Dressing for me and Lemon Goddess Salad Dressing for him

After lunch I was back at my nursing station on the couch for a few more hours.  In between feedings I was able to get a little bit of work done on the computer and played with Edie when she wasn’t fussing to eat or needing to be changed (we went through so many diapers today!).

As a snack I decided to try a Good ‘n Natural bar but after one bite (that I couldn’t finish) it ended up in the trash bin; the texture and flavor was awful.  Neil tried the other two flavors that we had but after a small bite of each he came to the same conclusion- they were all awful.  So instead I had a KIT’s ORGANIC bar instead which I already knew was tasty.

Once Neil finished up working for the day (he is working from home this week and next) we decided to head downtown to the local wine shop to pick up a few bottles of wine and use our Living Social deal. When we arrived downtown we put Edie in the Boba wrap and she fell asleep instantly so we headed to the wine shop and picked up two bottles of red and a beer for a gift.  Since Edie was still sleeping peacefully we decided to stop into American Flatbread for a beer. I had a 6oz pour of Juhlia which is a sahti (for you beer geeks) and Neil had a pint of the TLA IPA (and about 1.5oz of my Juhlia because it was a high alcohol beer).  It was amazing to sit outside and enjoy a beer with Neil while Edie just slept peacefully.

This evening I bathed Edie and put her to bed while Neil made dinner (veggie burgers and homemade baked potato “chips”).  Now it’s time to sit back, relax and watch a few shows on Netflix before heading to bed.

Today on Naturally Family check out our post on our DIY Nursery Art.

Disclaimer: 5 Sparrow provided me with their product at no cost. I was under no obligation to review them if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway.