Amy Traverso heads to Boston’s Chinatown with celebrity chef Joanne Chang and learns to make her signature pork and chive dumplings. Next, at the Weekapaug Inn in Westerly, Rhode Island, Amy and co-host Richard Wiese explore the four-star destination while enjoying both its natural beauty and its culinary delicacies.

In this episode of Weekends with Yankee, we go inside Yale University to meet the oldest a cappella group in the United States, the Whiffenpoofs. In Salem, Massachusetts, experience an urban oasis, the Punto Urban Art Museum, where grand-scale murals decorate the community. In Portland, Maine, meet Barton Seaver, a chef who combines his passion for food with his commitment to sustainability.

Co-host Richard Wiese takes us on a tour of the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, where he gets to be an animal trainer for a day. Up in Gray, Maine, we visit a sanctuary for injured and orphaned wildlife, including the majestic moose. On the New Hampshire seacoast, Amy Traverso hunts for invasive green crabs and then cooks her catch into a mouthwatering seafood stew with Chef Brendan Vesey of Botanica Restaurant in Portsmouth.

Amy Traverso builds a table by hand in Woodstock, Vermont, with master craftsman Charles Shackleton using sustainably sourced wood from a nearby forest. In Maine, co-host Richard Wiese unearths the state gemstone, the tourmaline. In Cape Neddick, Maine, chef Justin Walker and his restaurateur wife, Danielle Johnson Walker, put a modern spin on a traditional Maine bean-hole supper at their farmhouse.

Join co-host Amy Traverso and best-selling cookbook author and New York Times Magazine contributor Dorie Greenspan at her home in Westbrook, Connecticut, to whip up a delicious triple-layer parsnip and cranberry cake. We learn about Dorie’s unlikely path to her dream job, and why her books have won all the major culinary awards and her fans are so devoted that they’ve created blogs and Instagram feeds dedicated to her recipes.

Join co-host Amy Traverso and James Beard Award-nominated chef David Vargas, who is bringing his Mexican heritage to Vida Cantina, his acclaimed restaurant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Amy and David start out at Tuckaway Farm, where farmer Chuck Cox is growing heirloom flint corn, before heading to David’s mini-factory, where Chuck’s corn is crafted into perfectly toasted tortillas.

Co-host Amy Traverso visits an acclaimed vineyard in an unlikely place: the tiny town of Barnard, Vermont. Instead of trying to mimic Napa Valley cabernets or Loire Valley sauvignon blancs, winegrower Deirdre Heekin is allowing her wines to tell the story of the region’s unique soil and climate.

We head to Provincetown, Massachusetts, to see what makes this eclectic Cape Cod town a beloved travel destination. Next, we visit the flagship restaurant of Luke’s Lobster on a pier in Portland, Maine, where we learn how a tiny lobster roll shop grew into a sustainable seafood company that can trace back to the source every pound of lobster it serves in its 26 U.S. restaurants and growing list of restaurants abroad. 

Co-Host Amy Traverso visits the Thompson House Eatery in Jackson, New Hampshire, where husband-and-wife team Jeff and Kate Fournier are continuing the restaurant’s legacy as a landmark in the community. There, Amy helps Jeff whip up his famous watermelon steak, along with the house-special Brussels sprouts.

Co-Host Richard Wiese visits Provincetown, Massachusetts, to meet with a maritime treasure hunter who made a surprising discovery on a sunken pirate ship. We then tour the iconic B&M Factory in Portland, Maine, where they make canned brown bread—a uniquely New England treat.

Co-Host Richard Wiese travels to Bartlett, New Hampshire, for an icy climb up Cathedral Ledge. It’s cold and it’s tough, but those who make it to the top are rewarded with views across the Saco River Valley to the White Mountains. Then we head south to Brookline, New Hampshire, to visit New England’s largest outdoor sculpture park: the Andres Institute of Art.

Richard Wiese sin in South Hamilton, Massachusetts visiting the Myopia Polo Club, the oldest active polo club in the country. Then, we travel with cohost Amy Traverso to Freedom, New Hampshire, as she gets outside her comfort zone and into the wild for a survival lesson that includes what to pack and how to build a fire and shelter.

Co-Host Richard Wiese visits Killington Resort in Vermont for women’s World Cup skiing, a two-day event that draws over 40,000 spectators. Richard chats with Olympic gold medalist Diann Roffe about the next generation of skiers, and also meets up with Willy Booker, the head of Burke Mountain Academy, whose students have included reigning World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin. Then Richard takes the gondola to the top of the mountain, where he chats with former Olympic skier Edie Thys Morgan about what it’s like to race at a World Cup.