A Moveable Feast of One Foodie's (mostly) Vegetarian Adventures
You know it’s officially fall when it’s time to go apple picking. We head up here this past Sunday on an absolutely pristine fall day and did the whole shebang: tractor-riding, apple-picking (more eating than picking for a few little ones), donut-eating, cider-drinking and hay-throwing.
A perfect day.
Now…what to do with a bushel of apples? Stay tuned…
Last week, we headed up to Blue Hill Farm for a visit. If you go on the weekend, there’s all sorts of activities like egg collecting, gardening workshops, cooking classes and such, but because it was a spontaneous, weekday sort of thing, nothing in particular was going on up there except a bunch of kids hanging out at Farm Camp (how awesome would that be?). But we didn’t care because there were turkeys to look at, flowers to smell, the gift shop to peruse, greenhouses to investigate and cookies to eat.
The grounds are beautiful and there are also trails that take you to Pocantico River, as well as a view of the Hudson River from up the hill.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. We were lucky enough to attend a wedding there a few years ago, and the food is amazing. They actually don’t have a set menu, but they present you with a list of 100 or so ingredients and you get a “farmer’s feast,” that is, whatever is fresh at the farm that day. Some of the current offerings include red jacket squash, mountain magic and sungold tomatoes, black raspberries and fairytale eggplants. It all sounds so colorful and delicious.
There’s also the café, which is where we enjoyed cookies and iced tea. I saw some nice looking open-faced tomato flatbread sandwiches and salads and fresh loaves of some seriously crusty onion bread.
The chef who was collecting these flowers told me that in addition to using them in salads and as garnishes, they also roll the flowers into sheets of fresh pasta. The repeated rolling stretches the bright petals out, so the pasta has this incredibly colorful abstract pattern woven into it. I love this idea. I imagine it would look something like this Sol Lewitt sculpture:
It’s hard to believe while we’re deep in the throes of August, but I’m starting to feel summer slipping away ever so slightly. I’m not sure I’m ready for fall just yet, but I am excited about all the delicious produce coming our way, getting back in the kitchen and actually being able to turn the oven on again. So, are you excited for fall or are you still clinging to these lazy days of summer?
On our recent trip to Martha’s Vineyard, we stopped by the farmers market in West Tisbury, which is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the summer months and has been running for an impressive 37 years. Everything is island-grown and/or made, including the alpacas, which apparently are for sale but only in sets of three as they are pack animals. Good to know.
We weren’t lucky enough to see any alpacas as I think the alpaca vendor is there on Saturdays, but we managed to sample and buy a few goodies. We really enjoyed Good Tastes’ fresh-squeezed juices, the jalapeño pepper jelly from New Lane Sundries and fresh corn on the cob.
Of course, I had to sample the vegetarian egg roll from the Egg Roll Lady, as there was a lot of talk about it on the Chowhound boards. And I really wanted it to be good because of her immigrant-makes-good story. Unfortunately, while nice and crispy in texture, the actual flavor was a bit bland as the filling was mostly cabbage without much seasoning. The cold summer roll with curried tofu was more flavorful, but I was a little disappointed.
Overall, the market was pretty low-key with some gorgeous produce and even more beautiful flowers, particularly the zinnias that filled the entire bed of a pickup truck (the owner even invited me to climb into the cab of the truck, as she claimed this was the best angle to shoot from!).
Maybe it’s because I have such fond memories of going to the farmers market with my mom on summer Saturdays — where you could not only get the freshest fruits and veggies, but also homemade clothes for your Barbie (what, your farmers market didn’t have that?) — or maybe because you know you’re supporting local farmers and craftspeople, but farmers markets are just happy places. You’re strolling, noshing, hanging with your family and just enjoying a beautiful day. And this was just that kind of day. Perfect.
My one-and-only brother John came to visit last week, and we had a few adventures in and out of town, including a delicious (and somewhat deep-fat-fried) lunch at Market Table and an amazing day yesterday at Storm King Art Center (where we *all* forgot our cameras and were reduced to using smart phone cameras, which really just don’t cut it). It’s okay, though, it gives me a reason to go back very soon. It’s only about 1.5 hour’s drive from NYC, and it is such a revelation. You can make a day of it — bring a picnic lunch and your bike (or rent one there); they have a tram if you’re not up for walking, but you should because then you can get up-close and personal with the art and hike some off-the-beaten-path trails to other pieces of sculpture (and work off your picnic lunch)…and it’s a great place for kids (please note that the signs say “Don’t Touch,” not “Don’t Enter!”).
Of course, if you don’t feel like schlepping, Storm King is presenting a special exhibition of Mark di Suvero’s work right here in New York City. But we were rather pleased to be strolling around the virtually empty grounds at Storm King when we heard from friends about the massive crowds on Governor’s Island. Such a great day!
So, it’s already almost next weekend and I’m just getting to posting about *last* weekend’s Smorgasburg in Brooklyn. Which was fun, but clearly, if you want to eat, you need to get there before noon. This was our experience at a few places we were eyeing (including Shorty Tang & Sons, who apparently sold out well before we got there…humph!):
Also, if you have a toddler, I hope you have videos on your phone because you *will* be waiting in line for food — well, the savory main course type ones, anyway.
But it was still fun to wander around and nosh pretty constantly for a bit. We had a delicious fried fish taco from Choncho’s Tacos, great flavored mayos (on mediocre fries, *sigh*) from Empire Mayonnaise, and ice cream (naturally) and finally buckled and picked up a package of Whimsy & Spice’s earl grey sandwich cookies, which were really lovely.
And let’s not forget about the view. Even though it threatened to rain a few times and a couple sprinkles fell, it ended up being a glorious day — one that reminds you that you live in the best city in the world.
Have a fantastic holiday weekend US readers…back on Tuesday!