Lavinia at Home

We went to the Mohonk Mountain House for weekend and it was really romantic escape at mountaintop from busy New York City’s life. It’s 90-minute trip from Manhattan in New Paltz, NY, tel.: (845) 255-1000. Mohonk is an old-time castle and this mountain top house is a unique experience; you will forget your computer, cell phone and TV, just relax…

There is a lake for swimming, tons of hiking trails, horseback riding, beautiful gardens, mini golf, spa, massage services and many more things to do.

At day time we went for fishing on the lake and luckily I caught a trout, but turns out it was little to small to be prepared by chef for our dinner.

There is afternoon tea with cookies served in a massive great room with sofas and veranda with rocking chairs overlooking the lake; the perfect place to read, knit or chat.

Mohonk Mountain House is beautiful place to vacation and perfect for a couple’s getaway, but it’s not a cheap.

This is our favorite pizza, some weeks we will order 4 times pizza or something else from the Mariella’s Pizza. It’s located at 151 East 60th Street (between Lexington and 3rd Avenues) in New York, tel.: (212) 319-5999‎. We are always impressed with their crispy fresh pizza and thin crust, not too much overpowering mozzarella and nice tomato sauce. If you go there for lunch, it may be very busy place, it’s right across the street from Bloomingdale’s and theirs employee’s love this place, but Mariella’s know that lunch can be crowded, so they are ready. Lot of times for me it take only one minute to order few slices fresh cooked pizza and some drink and ready to go! They have the quickest service what I have seen. Lately for variety I’m trying theirs main courses, Lasagna, Chicken Parmesan, Veal Marsala, and they are so good that I’m getting hungry again

You have to try this place if you like pizza and you are in the neighborhood!

There are more than a dozen locations of Not Your Average Joe’s in the Boston area and Northern Virginia area and this restaurant is located at Lansdowne Town Center, 19307 Promenade Dr in Leesburg, Virginia, tel.: (571) 333-5637 with a nice small outdoor area. Service is usually good and the food is above average. Their bread is like a focaccia with great olive oil dipping mixture. I really like NYAJ’s Sangria and specials, and I usually order those. You can get seats along the windows and have a good spot for people watch. We’ve been a few times to NYAJ for lunch and we will go back soon again.

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