I have no idea where most of New England actually is.  I hear names of towns that all sound vaguely familiar and each town seems to have a similarly named town to the North, East and West of Boston. As a family we’d head out to some small town for various festivals or occasions.  Town fairs, apple picking, pumpkin patches and the like. I would research places to stop mid-way on trips to New York or Maine when my daughter was a baby because she was what an Uber driver might call a nightmare passenger.  In any case, now the children are older and our days and weeks are busier but we still make time to do a little exploring.  I also take the time now, thanks to my network of social media food, vintage, and travel folks, to visit places I’ve seen them post on Instagram, blogs or good old fashion magazine and newspaper articles.

Most recently, I headed out to much buzzed about (on my computer at least) Hudson, MA.  From what I gather from gps and my ride to and from Hudson is a big circle away from Cambridge.  I headed down via 90 and came home via route 2.  My best reference point is that Hudson is near apple picking country, not far from the famous Honey Pot Hill and the many other smaller orchards in the area.

You don’t have to go to Somerville for a hipster ice cream/coffee shop. It turns out that the suburbs are creating a new identity for themselves. This is one trend I can get behind and hopefully the locals will too. It is this type of independent community-centric business that every town deserves and so many have lost. We can have nice things if we support local business.  And, we can have dessert!

New City Microcreamery is a wonderful space to meet for coffee. If you work from cafés like I often do and you need a change of scene, then a day in Hudson might be just right.  I am still planning to go apple picking (I know it’s late!) and then head over to the Microcreamery to get ice cream with the family.

For breakfast, I decided to try their homemade English Muffins.  They were just right.  The apple tart was not bad, but not as fresh as I would have liked. I had two drinks (sometimes you need two).  The first is a cappuccino made with Grounded coffee out of NYC and then I also had the steamed apple cider.  This is the best steamed apple cider I have had because they squeeze 1/2 an orange into it which cuts the syrupy sweetness of the steamed cider #brilliant!

I recently returned to New City Microcreamery after a family stroll through Tower Hill Botanic Gardens and the whole family indulged in ice cream.  My daughter and I enjoyed the Java the Heath (coffee and Heath bar), my husband had the Vegan vanilla, my son had Vanilla, and my father-in-law had their Bourbon Vanilla which I also sampled and really liked.

The baked goods are pretty good and I particularly liked this mash cookie that is made from the mash that is used to make beer for the Rail Trail Flatbread Co. They have a slight earthiness and taste like a really good, not too sweet oatmeal raisin cookie.

The Rail Trail Flabread Co. has three main seating areas.  There is the bar area with sevearl tables and a wrap around bar as well as some bar seating by the window.  There is a back room with a larger dining area that is perfect for families and larger groups.  The prime seating though, is right up front by the powerful wood burning pizza oven.

Although the pizza is one of the star players (choose one with the funk – a garlic and parmesan concoction), the salads and sides are pretty fabulous too.

I wouldn’t usually think to order a breakfast style pizza. I tend to go classic with a tomato sauce and cheese.  The Benedict however was a fabulous diversion.  It was creamy and tangy and rich with the egg on top.  The perfect slice to enjoy with a salad and have plenty leftover for a midnight snack.