Olde York Farm [Claverack, NY]

This past weekend was hectic – not necessarily a lot on the schedule, but small things that added up to a lot of time. Errands, yard work, and picking up chairs from an hour and half away.

The bonus of that last part was a visit to Olde York Farm Distillery’s tasting room. I had tried some of their liquors months ago at the Hudson Berkshire Wine and Food Festival and ended up falling in love with their Cacao Maple Vodka. When we were back in that area and looking for a break between some distance highway driving, I used it as a great excuse to finally let Mister try some of their stuff [since I had hoarded the vodka in secrecy].

 It was pretty chilly and the sun had only just starting peeking out at around 2:30, so a drink sounded perfect. While I had been following the farm on Instagram for months after meeting them at the festival, this was the first time actually visiting the tasting room.

Perfection.

Aesthetically, the bar is exactly what it should be; cozy, inviting, rustic with a slight industrial lean, and filled with touches that make it feel incredibly one of a kind and familiar at the same time.

When we first walked in, the bar itself was pretty crowded, but it cleared out by the time we were leaving about an hour or so later. There was still plenty of room, and one of the guys from behind the bar brought some menus to us super quick. There is a full cocktail menu, as well as beer and wine. You can also sample their different whiskeys, bourbon, vodkas, and liquors at no charge.

I selfishly picked two drinks before Mister had a chance to provide input:

• Hot Toddy: mulled peach whiskey, honey, lemon, hot water, cinnamon
• Sugar Shack Old Fashioned: Smoked maple bourbon, bruleed maple sugar, peach bitters, luxardo cherry, orange peel

This hot toddy was exactly what I needed and wanted; if I could’ve jumped right into that mug it would’ve happened. It was warm, smooth, and gave me just enough buzz to make Sunday feel like Sunday. It smelled like something warm from the oven, and tasted like everything that is good and right with the world. I’m not exaggerating, not even a little.

Mister’s old fashioned was on par, and I’m thankful he liked it more than the hot toddy so I didn’t have to share.

We were able to unwind, enjoy some drinks, get some dog cuddles in and felt genuinely renewed. I really debated even posting about Olde York Farm, because I want it to stay exactly what it is; but I also want to share the experience with everyone else. What an odd feeling.

If you happen to see them out at a fair/festival/farmer’s market, grab some of their unique spirits- but if you’re in the area, definitely go for their cocktails.  If you’re not from the area, they’re also an AirBnB site, so if you want to drive out to Columbia County, or don’t want to drive home after too many drinks, you can stay right on site.

 

 

 

 

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South Carolina Getaway [Part 2]

The beach is always such a meditative place. There is a reason those sound machines have waves as an option; that repetitive and constant noise is therapeutic. Add some sunshine and its restorative.

While in South Carolina, I went for my first ever beach run. I’ve walked on the beach and I’ve run while on vacation, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to run on the beach. Three times while at Mister’s parent’s house in Surfside, I was able to get a run in.

I’m terrible at running, and with the snow and cold in NY I havn’t really ran in a while. I would love to be one of those people that runs 10 miles a day with a marathon on Saturday, but three miles whoops my lungs and my knees. But when I run its like I forget everything that I had on my mind just minutes ago. Sunshine, breathing, my feet hitting the sand. Just focus on moving and breathing.  Keep moving. Keep breathing.

I don’t know if anyone reads this blog for my running advice. I don’t know if anyone reads this blog at all, but I’ll move on.

Litchfield Restaurant   [Pawleys Island, SC]

Since 1968, Pawleys Island locals and visitors alike have considered the Litchfield Restaurant the “Best Breakfast in Town”. That is as true today as it was back then. More than forty years later, we still serve hearty home-style Southern cooking for both breakfast and lunch. Our full menu is available all day, so sleep in and have a late breakfast if you like.

I’m genuinely surprised this place even has a website, I mean they aren’t even open past lunch time. I spent a day with my Mother-in-law while Mister and his dad went out to play golf one morning. We started off with a stop for breakfast and this place was definitely worth writing home about.

We were lucky enough to squeeze in at the counter and I saw the food coming out from the kitchen. That meant I knew I had to order grits and biscuits, the eggs and sausage were kind of an after thought. That biscuit was exactly like I imagined it would be, and yes I slathered it with butter and orange marmalade.

Also, why is food still so regionally divided? Grits in the south, oatmeal in the north. I’m still not sure I fully understand grits, but I can certainly tell you that about a third of that serving kept me feeling stuffed until almost dinner time.

If I get a chance to go back, I’m definitely going to try some sausage gravy.  Now you see why I have to run while I’m on vacation?

The Claw House [Murrells Inlet, SC]

This was my first time having hot peel and eat shrimp (at least that I can remember?). Crazy good. Like seriously yum. Mister went with crab cakes, which we both think were overpriced for the serving but still good. This place is expensive for the atmosphere, but I think that’s because its located on the Marsh Walk. When the weather is nice, this is a great little section of restaurants and bars linked by a boardwalk. It wasn’t super busy on either of our two visits, but I imagine in the summer season it can get crowded.

Drunken Jack’s [Murrells Inlet, SC]

If you want to feel as if you’ve stepped back in time to the swanky club of another era, check out the lower bar area of Drunken Jacks. Just a few steps down the Marsh Walk from the Claw House, Drunken Jacks has a completely different vibe. This is a great example of something being just old enough to go from dated to retro.

If you keep moving towards the deck area, you’ll have a great view of the Marsh while you sip your drinks. 

 

Balaboosta [Manhattan]

Balaboosta; n. A Yiddish term meaning the perfect housewife, homemaker, a wonderful mother, cook & gracious hostess. she does it all and she does it well!

That’s the description that can be found at the top of their website  and is a perfect way to describe the warm, homey atmosphere in the Mulberry Street restaurant.

While I was running late to meet a few women for brunch, they had already started on cocktails and the Mediterranean Sampler [house made hummus, labne, matbucha, za’atar pita]  Since being introduced to za’atar at the Bronxville Farmer’s market a while ago, I’ve loved the flavor profile but can never really nail the application.

That is what made my drink so perfect – imagine a middle eastern margarita.

“Lily” Za’atar infused tequila, mezcal, grapefruit, ginger syrup, lime, black saline

I cannot rave about the cauliflower appetizer enough [lemony + crispy], but the shakshouka I had as my main was incredible. The only real complain from those of us who ordered it was that it was so incredibly hot that in eating it I felt like I was melting from the inside out. Even on a cold day, the physical temperature of this dish was a bit overwhelming.

The flavor was incredible, and the grilled bread was just enough to soak up the tomatoes and spice. I’m definitely thinking of recreating this at home – which would take some thought because my cast iron pans are quite large and Mister is really focused on not deviating from his chocolate chip pancakes routine in the morning.

Spicy Margarita, Bread, and Something for the Dogs

This past weekend was pretty low key – and one of the first weekends that Mister and I both had busy Saturdays planned separately.  While Mister went skiing with my Dad, I met a few women for brunch in Manhattan.

It is nice being walking distance to a Metro North station in Westchester – within 35-40 ish minutes I can go from my front door to Grand Central. Thankfully, the women I met up with were kind enough to choose a place just a few blocks from Grand Central to make brunch even easier.

Salvation Taco was the perfect spot for a girl’s brunch ; there was a steady stream of spicy margaritas and sangria while we were able to lounge around a coffee table on couches.   Thankfully one of us took command and ordered food for the table, which meant we were all able to share tacos, quesadillas, and wings. Everything had great flavor, and I personally loved the extra salty chips that came with an order of guacamole.

By Sunday morning, we were both excited for a lazy couch day – especially Mister after a very early and long day of skiing. We had mini bagels with the works [i.e. smoked salmon, tomato slices, and red onion] and coffee while on the couch. 

While waiting for the coffee to brew, I spied the bread cookbook my Mom  had gifted me last week and thought the rainy Sunday was a great time to give something a try.

Bread Illustrated   is an America’s Test Kitchen cookbook – which means I was in love with it before even cracking the binding. For all beginners, scientists, curious cooks, or experimenters – try America’s Test Kitchen. What I love is they explain the why and the how to every single thing. For example, with my favorite meatloaf recipe of their’s – they showed the results from baking it in a glass loaf pan, a metal loaf pan, and free form on a sheetpan. They explain the merits of each situation, and ultimately recommend free form on a sheetpan for the ability to crisp up all the edges. I trust their recipes because they work, and they explain why.

Bread and rice seem to be my two nemesis in the kitchen. I can’t cook rice, and I struggle with bread.

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While it didn’t rise as much as I would’ve liked, the Whole Wheat variation on the American Sandwich Bread was perfection. The taste, texture, and even crust was really impressive. Thanks to the cookbook, I think I was able to pinpoint why the rise wasn’t ideal [water wasn’t warm enough for the yeast in the first rise, and it might’ve been too cold/drafty in my kitchen for the second rise].

I can confidently say, however, that I used said bread for my lunchtime sandwich at work today.  Feels pretty good to say, hey look I made this! [I didn’t actually do that, because I’m pretty sure that would just be strange. But like if someone asked…]

While all this baking was going on , I felt bad for the dogs. Yes I’m a crazy dog mom, but we keep the dog treats on the counter where I was baking and they kept running in exactingly.  Since I had the oven going, and we weren’t doing anything other than laundry and watching tv most of the day, I decided to try a batch of dog biscuits as well.

I happened to have a set of dog related cookie cutters we had received as a wedding gift – so I was able to come up with a pretty sizeable batch of dog bone shaped treats.  I purposely under baked them by a few minutes, to keep them soft per my dogs’ preference.  These were a HUGE hit – so much so that I’m considering making them as regularly as I can.

 

A surprise and an intention

Yesterday morning I played around with doing a little yoga first thing in the morning. I’m not at the level of awareness or yogi-ability to really settle into a morning practice without any guidance, so during a break in the day I researched some free online yoga options to get started on the right track.

Down a YouTube yoga black hole I did find exactly what I was looking for: Yoga with Adriene’s 30 Day Yoga Journey Its completely free, and you can sign up to get the videos emailed to you every day for 30 days or you can scroll through the sequences on her website. I’m writing it down here as a form of accountability – hopefully 31 days from today I can write about how it went.

What better way to prep for a 30 day yoga journey than by a midweek trip to the bar. We’ve all had those days; work was long, coworkers were terrible, traffic was a nightmare. Sometimes you and Mister just need a beer and some catch up time outside the house.

We stopped by Fogarty’s in Bronxville, which isn’t the closest place to our house but just about the third closest option. We’ve never gone through the door to the dining room, always left straight to the bar side. Its a calm crowd, the beer selection is pretty good  and its an easy choice. Mister likes that its an Irish bar with Irish bartenders; feels more right.  Last night I was feeling kind of hungry in a, maybe we should eat something that resembles dinner, sort of way. But neither of us were really starving.

I ordered the chicken tenders with fries to share, expecting an easy salty snack to tide us over for the night. 

I was so excited about what they put out, that I cut it open and took a picture.  In a bar. On a weeknight. Sober.

These aren’t frozen chicken tenders. They’re beer battered beautiful chunks of chicken breast.  They’re crunchy, and just a tiny bit salty.  I would’ve easily eaten them myself if I didn’t have one of those weird husbands that actually expects to share my food when we say yea lets share a plate.

 

Meal Prep

It was a deep rut.

Christmas, New Years, Snow Storm. Flannel pajamas, baggy sweaters, cheese, wine. Christmas cookies, french toast, more cheese.

How to break the deliciously cozy cycle when New York has been colder than Alaska lately?

ACV.

Apple cider vinegar. Its a little routine that I can never stick with too consistently (despite my best efforts), but its a great way to jump start a little nutrition and pry yourself away from caramels and Camembert.

8 oz of cold water, squeeze half a lemon, 1 – 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar.

Drink this before you start breakfast, while you’re getting ready in the morning. Before coffee, before brushed teeth, before the stretchy pants get too comfortable.

It may be psychological, total placebo affect – but for me personally, it curbs my sweet tooth and allows me to hit the reset button my nutritional intake.

While I sipped my ACV, I cooked a big batch of food for the coming week to allow myself to really trudge through the winter apocalypse with some vitamins and hopefully a few less pounds in the stomach area.

New Year New Tradition

In my last post I noted that Mister and I eat the same dinner every year on New Years Eve. We didn’t really have a tradition for New Years Day – which seems to be the day everyone universally has off (except for my Mom this year, sorry Mom!).

With the long weekend of no plans, I knew I had some time to put together a decent brunch and liked the idea of starting a new tradition that’s all our own.  We invited my sister and her husband, and Mister’s brother and his wife – which is just about the top number of people that can fit in our kitchen. Did I mention that our house is tiny?

Here’s everything just before we started, I’m incredibly proud of how well everything turned out. My list-making abilities paid off – as did the discovery that my magnetic notepad that I normally stick to the fridge can be stuck to the metal backsplash between our stove and the vent.

The complete menu:

• Overnight Baked French Toast
• Spiral honey ham
• Pea Salad
• Bisquick Quiche
• Carrots
• Banana Bread
• fruit salad (from my sister)

Growing up Jewish, I have it ingrained in me that sweet foods should be eaten around the new year based on the idea that sweet foods are eaten on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

The night before I started the baked french toast, and the pea salad. I don’t want to give away all the family secrets, but my Aunt Resa’s pea salad is one of my favorite things to eat on holidays. This was my first time attempting it, and it was the perfect acidic counter balance to all the sweet.

I’ll give you the recipe, but promise to give Aunt Resa the credit please.

Mix one bag of frozen peas with one can of drained chickpeas.  Pour an entire bottle of italian dressing on top.  Let sit overnight, drain well before serving and toss with redskin spanish peanuts.  Enjoy! Its crunchy, tart, a little sweet from the peas. We’ve eaten the leftovers as a snack or even a light lunch.

While everyone was arriving I made sure we had a cheese plate out, nothing fancy, but an opportunity to use the monogram marble cheeseboard we received as a wedding gift.  Aren’t weddings fun?

And of course, what would a New Years Day brunch be without a champagne bar?

 

The Trader Joe’s Winter Wassail started a conversation about how I am a sucker for all things seasonal. If you put up a sign that says “Limited Edition” I will most likely buy it, for no other reason other than it is seasonal and/or limited. This is how I ended up with Pumpkin Spice Cheerios.  I don’t even eat regular cheerios. And yes, they were as bad as you would think.

This Winter Wassail though – incredible stuff.

Even if you’re not a songbird, Trader Joe’s Winter Wassail is so festive, you may find yourself spontaneously bursting into carols of the season with every sip. Our Winter Wassail was modeled after the spiced beverage enjoyed during 12th century Christmas celebrations. Years later, we’re still impressed by the drink’s ability to turn humbug feelings into holiday spirit. A sweetened blend of black currant, apple, and lemon juices produce a punchy punch. The cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and orange peel punches it up even further. Enjoyed hot or cold, the flavor and aroma will instantly kindle feelings of holiday cheer. It’s a merry mixer with red wine, simmered on the stovetop and served steaming. Winter Wassail will be with us through the holidays. If merriment is your manifesto, you’ve met your match. Each 64 fluid ounce bottle is $3.99, until the last carol is sung (or we run out).

The ingredients are pretty straightforward:

INGREDIENTS: WATER, CANE SUGAR, APPLE JUICE CONCENTRATE, BLACKCURRANT JUICE CONCENTRATE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, SPICES (CINNAMON, CLOVES, NUTMEG, CARDAMOM, GINGER), LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, ORANGE PEEL.

Weirdly enough, that list turned a few people off – whom were pleasantly surprised by the actual juice once trying. Its like a holiday spiced cranberry juice.  More sweet and spiced than tart.

I love those champagne coup glasses more than anything. How can you not feel incredibly fancy while drinking from them? Its as if they require me to throw on some kitten heels while I slice up some snacks.

Cheers to new drinks, to new family, to new traditions. Happy New Year!

New Years Eve Tradition

Everyone has their traditions for New Years Eve – their ideal evening for ushering in a fresh start.

Last New Years Eve was our first weekend sleeping in our new home. Mister’s brother and sister in law came over for dinner to celebrate our move and the new year all at once. This meant a scramble in the kitchen to find plates (we did not own one matching set), learn how the oven works (we’ve since purchased an in oven thermometer), and decide how to best accommodate more than two people in our small eat in kitchen.

It has been an entire year since that impromptu dinner and thinking back I’m so happy with how far we’ve come. In the past 12 months, our house has become our home. We’ve been blessed with wedding gifts of matching sets of dishes, serving ware, and stemware. And we’ve gotten much better at making other people feel comfortable in our small home. I hope.

I had ordered beef filet from PeaPod – and Mister requested twice baked potatoes. Which in reflecting on our past four New Years Eve meals – we’ve apparently always had some version of this.

My sister was quick to point out that we’ve had four sets of dishes in four years. Which isn’t exactly the case. The square plates were mine from my apartment, but there were only three plates in the set (the fourth was broken early on) so they were given up when we moved into our apartment. The blue round plates were Steve’s from his apartment, and there were also an odd number of plates, and no small plates. The blue and white anchor set were a gift from when I worked at the USS Slater – and we genuinely use for special occasions only since we have a complete setting for two. In hindsight I should’ve used them for this meal.

Above is the set of dishes that now inhabit our cabinets.  We have an entire set of these – everything from soup plates to serving sets and I love their classic simplicity.

That phrase can also be applied to our dinner – filet topped with blue cheese and mushrooms, oven roasted carrots and asparagus, twice baked potato.

In all honesty, I don’t love twice baked potatoes. I would much rather have mashed potatoes and/or potato skins. Mister doesn’t even eat the skin so that’s an argument I bring up every year – why can’t we just eat mashed potatoes?! But its a tradition, and he only asks for them once a year so I oblige.

This blog actually gave me the inspiration for our dessert – in looking back on old posts I came across the rice pudding recipe. I hadn’t made any since that one time so I thought it would be something different to add to our menu. I did add some booze soaked raisins this time, and I loved it even more.

How could I resist serving it up in these dishes I inherited from my grandmother? I think they’re dessert dishes – though I’ve seen in Mad Men-esque movies that they’re used for cocktails on occasion. Throw some boozy raisins on top and sip away at the rice pudding, I guess. Or not, that sounds terrible.

I had planned a cheese plate, and some appetizers as well – but we ate at around 7:30 and then I started prepping some dishes for our New Years Day brunch. By the time the table was cleared and reset, and the food all set, I took a quick nap and then it was midnight.

 

Should Lentils Be More Popular?

Lentils are for lentil soup.  Curried lentils maybe.  Does anyone do anything else with lentils? They’re inexpensive, incredibly filling, can be flavored by what you’re cooking with.

Last night I made a “cleaning out the fridge” dinner – in part because we’re going away for the holidays, and as an attempt to use up any forgotten produce before our weekly groceries were delivered. [* shout out to the folks at Peapod who allow food to appear at my door every Wednesday night around 7pm]

Part of this plan of attack was to use up a bag of lentils I had bought a week or so ago for a sausage/kale/lentil soup.  After Mister’s comment that I’d been cooking an interestingly high number of soups in the past few weeks, I didn’t think it would go over well and it never happened.  That meant I still had this bag of lentils, and I wasn’t about to let them just hang out in the pantry with the 4 boxes of pasta I’ll politely ignore for a few more months as well.

There was no recipe, only the prayer that an edible meal would result at some point that night.

1. 1 cup lentils, 2 cups water.  Simmered in a pot with whole smashed garlic cloves, salt, pepper, cumin, allspice
2. sweet Italian sausage in a large saute pan with olive oil
3. once the sausage was blackened  crisped up bit, added veggies and garlic

veggies:

• red pepper
• yellow pepper
• onion
• mushrooms
• peas

At this point, Mister was out of the house to grab some supplies for his kitchen renovation project.  Which meant that dinner was ready and he wasn’t home to eat it.  I turned the burners off and let everything sit for 20ish minutes until he was home.  At this point, I warmed them back up -plated and ate.

 

On the side, some Olde York Farm Cacao & Maple Vodka mixed with some apple cider.  Just a splash of their vodka gives the cider a complex, mulled flavor that I’m completely hooked on.

Here’s the thing about those lentils; they were already pretty mushy when it came to pack up the leftovers. And I wasn’t left feeling like, “man, we should eat way more lentils.” But, about two hours and one dog walk later, I was still uncomfortably full from about a quarter of a cup of lentils.  That’s impressive stuff.

Swifty’s, Delmar

Its fairly fitting that today on FussyLittleBlog, the post is about a healthier burger; my own post is about an incredibly unhealthy burger brought to my attention by the same blogger.

Mister and I arrived at Swifty’s in Delmar at about 6:15pm on Friday, and could tell there was something to get excited about.  This small restaurant was filled with families and couples, lined up near the door waiting for their seats with almost aggressive anticipation. We were given a wait time of about 30 minutes, so we headed to the bar for a drink.

We were able to wiggle our way into two seats at the bar, despite the crowd, where we had drinks (Saranac Legacy IPA) and an order of BBQ wings to get started.

I was enthusiastic about the beers on tap, but less than excited about the soggy wings.  Though the BBQ sauce was great, there was not one crispy bite.

Once seated, we went straight for a shared order Loaded Waffle Fries, and a shared Swifty’s Buffalo Burger (salad on the side, we are trying to focus on healthier foods some of the time I promise).

Any disappointment from the wings served at the bar dissipated, once we were presented with the Swifty’s Buffalo Burger.

The menu description reads:

Do not be intimidated by this one-of-a-kind burger! Hand breaded, deep fried crisp and golden finished in buffalo sauce

The hype was spot on.

For starters, I think Mister and I were both surprised when we were asked how we would like it cooked (medium) and it was actually delivered with a juicy red center.  How can they possibly cook a burger so well AND deep fry it?  That is a true talent.

Its crispy. Juicy. Spicy….the bun is a little sweet.  We abandoned the fries and both inhaled our halves of the burger with minimal discussion.

Next time, we’re definitely getting two.