Employment situation pushed us back to PA. We lived in Brattleboro, in the southeastern corner, populated by some old-timey Vermonters blended with what a local called "aging hippies and trendy radicals". The rest of the state pretends it's part of Massachusetts.

Let's see... food related things about VT...

Going to the sugarbush with my son's nursery school class to watch and participate a little in the maple sugaring process was both fun and instructive. Watching a bunch of 4-year-olds out in the woods to learn about a hundreds of years old craft has its joys by itself. Just knowing how much sap has to be collected to make syrup makes me less likely to complain about the price.

We found out about the Puritans' early version of breakfast cereal: popcorn with maple syrup and cream. I made it for the children one Thanksgiving morning. After tasting it, they gave me that baleful look of children who have been hoodwinked. I never knew fresh popcorn could get so tough. We chalked that one up to historical research and I made everyone some toast and hot cocoa.

Vermont common crackers are the best things on Earth to serve with stew, and very good with soup and with jam on them for tea. They look like very large unsalted oyster crackers, and are like dense and crunchy biscuits that keep for months. I've never seen them outside of VT.

Last but not least, even though VT makes some fabulous cheeses, trying to get a decent pizza there is like walking in the wilderness in search of the lost city of Cibola.