Feasting on Fondue and Raclette in Telluride

A Bubbling Pot of Fondue at Alpinist and the Goat

A Bubbling Pot of Fondue at Alpinist and the Goat

Providing a Heartwarming Welcome

Providing a Heartwarming Welcome

Serving Up the Bubbles

Serving Up the Bubbles

Brrrr. Baby it’s been cold outside, at least here in the Rocky Mountains. Tis the season to eat lots of warm, hearty foods–calorie-rich meals that refuel you after charging down the slopes all day at Telluride Ski Resort.

And baby do I have a recommendation for you. Book your table at Alpinist and the Goat where you can delight in melted cheese in its most delectable forms: fondue and raclette. Both specialties from the Alps, here these convivial dishes are served with salad, seasoned bread and apples. For the fondue, you can choose from seven different options such as traditional, truffle and Cortina, a twist on the classic recipe blended with creamy gorgonzola. More adventuresome gastronomes will want to try the Basquel, a spicy fondue made with traditional Emmenthaler, Manchego and chorizo or Cajun Fondeaux, a rich blend of cheese finished with crawfish tails and Cajun seasonings. Yum. Leave it to Americans to innovate a centuries-old classic from the Alps.

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Grateful for Telluride and the Telluride Ski Resort

The Town of Telluride, Colorado After the Storm

The Town of Telluride, Colorado After the Storm

With all that’s happening in the world, most of us are feeling extra stressed these days. This is true even in Telluride, Colorado, one of the safest and most beautiful places on earth. No one is immune to feeling reverberations from all these horrific terrorist acts. As I wrote in my story, Paris Attacks Hit Home, we are one.

The Telluride Scene

The Telluride Scene

Still though, we are so privileged in this sweet little ski town. Few people lock the doors to their cars and houses except during bear season, since our local bruin population has become pretty savvy about entering spaces redolent with lingering pizza, berry and pie smells. We live in a bubble of sorts where our biggest threats come from pushing it too hard on the slopes or getting caught in an avalanche during a backcountry ski.

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A Local’s Take on the Telluride Film Festival and How to Do TFF on the Cheap

TFF: Great Films in a Spectacular Setting

TFF: Great Films in a Spectacular Setting

“Aren’t you tired of seeing movies?” my Hunny asked me as I rolled in last night after the last film of the After the Festival Telluride Film Festival viewings.

“No, you know how I love movies, Hun. Plus, I only saw eight over the span of five days. Some people see that many within the first two days of the festival.”

Still, I’m happy that Film Festival has passed. Just like every other festival in Telluride, it represents a workout of sorts. There’s always so much to take in and experience, whether you’re working it or attending it or doing some combination of both (as is the case with most Telluridians); it’s physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. But it’s still pretty fantastic.

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Nova Scotia Highlights

The Scallop Boat Fleet in Digby

The Scallop Boat Fleet in Digby

Beddeck on Cape Breton Island

Beddeck on Cape Breton Island

I’m high on Nova Scotia. Really. I recently spent seven days and seven nights in this Maritime province of Canada and I’m busting to tell the whole world about it. Really.

One of a Gazillion Little Boats I Admired in Nova Scotia

One of a Gazillion Little Boats I Admired in Nova Scotia

Ready for the Bay of Fundy Tides:  the Biggest in the World

Ready for the Bay of Fundy Tides: The Biggest in the World

Lunenberg Loveliness

Lunenberg Loveliness

If you follow this blog, you know that I’m a big storyteller. And I can’t wait to share my travels in Nova Scotia with you. For now though, I’ll keep the words to a minimum and let my pictures tell the story. Hopefully they will be enough to entice you to begin pondering a trip to this charming destination. Spring, summer and fall rank as the best times to go although I’d love to see this endearing land beneath a blanket of snow as fierce gale winds blow in from the Atlantic.

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Another Wonderful Visit to the Outer Banks

The Outer Banks of North Carolina

The Outer Banks of North Carolina

I recently spent a week at the beach with my boyfriend, Steve. We were on the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX), one of the most alluring surf side destinations in the world, and a spot he has been frequenting for almost three decades.

So Pretty

So Pretty

Almost There

Almost There

Steve’s an avid beach enthusiast and I love the fact that he can just as easily appreciate lounging in a sun-baked dune as catching a ten-foot wave in the surf. Depending on the season and the weather patterns, you can find big swells in the waters off of Nags Head, Rodanthe, Hatteras, Frisco, and a slew of other OBX surf spots revered by  surfers and beach aficionados from around the world.

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A Scintillating Sanctuary in Phoenix

Sultry Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa

Sultry Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa

Elements:  Where the Quality of the Views Rival the Food

Elements: Where the Quality of the Views Rival the Food

It has been cold, rainy, snowy and windy here in Telluride, Colorado all week. I don’t mind because we always need moisture in the West and it’s also good catch-up-at-my-desk weather. But still, I can’t help daydreaming about more sunny, hot-as-a-baked-potato-fresh-out-of-the-oven environs.

I’m letting my thoughts drift to the desert, the Sonoran Desert to be exact, which I’m sure is in glorious bloom right now. Heating up nicely, too. I enjoyed a terrific visit there–within greater Phoenix/Scottsdale/Carefree–last summer with my mom, my fourth trip to that part of Arizona since I was young. And each time, I love it even more. Yes, we went last summer. It was a sunbaked sojourn and we reveled in it. (You just have to make sure you’re not basking in the sun during the heat of the day.)

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4 May 2015, 4:00pm
Art & Culture Restaurants:
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Comments Off on The Woman in Gold Movie and Exhibition

The Woman in Gold Movie and Exhibition

Woman in Gold: the Painting in the Movie

Woman in Gold: the Painting in the Movie

I often say I wish I could remember everything I’ve ever read as well as everything I’ve ever written. I give myself a pass on the former but in terms of the latter, I’d think I’d remember most of it. Oh, if only that were the case! In my four guidebooks, one travel memoir, almost four hundred blog posts and an assortment of freelance pieces, I’ve researched and reported intensively on subjects I’m passionate about. And yet, sometimes I catch myself in a sort of black hole-space of my mind.

Take the feature film “Woman in Gold” as an example. I’d been hearing talk about it for months and I vaguely knew about the story of Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, Adele Bloch-Bauer, the Mona Lisa of Austria, and how it was returned to its rightful owner and found its home in America. It wasn’t until last week, however, upon seeing this fabulous movie starring Helen Mirren, one of my favorite actors, that I realized I had had the pleasure of gazing upon this magnificent work in New York City. I refer to it as “a glittering painting by Gustav Klimt” in my story Gallery Going with the Ladies of Larchmont, one of the first posts to my blog back in 2008.

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Telluride, Forbes and Me

The Inn at Lost Creek:  A Forbes Favorite

The Inn at Lost Creek: A Forbes Favorite in Telluride, Colorado

A Sake-tini from Siam's Talay, Another Forbes Favorite

A Sake-tini from Siam’s Talay, Another Forbes Fave

Exotic Delights at Talay, the Signature Restaurant of the Inn at Lost Creek

Exotic Delights at Talay, the Signature Restaurant of the Inn at Lost Creek

We’ve had a huge month of March here at Telluride Ski Resort and this weekend we’re slated to brake our all-time record for annual skier visits. And we still have a week to go before the mountain closes!

I’m utterly exhausted, since like most ski instructors, I’ve been going full tilt all month (actually all winter). I just had my first couple of days off in weeks and I can tell you it feels great to put my feet up and stretch my toes as I bang out this story.

It’s no wonder there’s been so much buzz about Telluride this year. In addition to the word getting out about our great ski mountain and town in recent years, Telluride Ski Resort has been receiving a lot of attention from Forbes Travel along with once again being ranked #1 in the Condé Nast Readers’ Choice Awards.

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    This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Maribeth Clemente. This blog sometimes accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content. The owner of this blog is sometimes compensated to provide opinion on products, services, Web sites and various other topics. Even though the owner of this blog receives compensation for certain posts or advertisements, she always gives her honest opinions, findings, beliefs or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blogger's own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
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