Our food, goat cheese and spirits trail

After working twelve straight days that included four days of MacKenzie-Childs' famous Barn Sale, James needed some serious rest and relaxation this past weekend. Saturday was fairly lazy, with only a few quick errands, and ended with the 2nd Annual James Survived the Barn Sale celebratory dinner. We grilled ribeyes and fresh corn, and roasted red potatoes with a little rosemary, fresh from our garden.

On Sunday we decided to go on a little adventure down the western side of Cayuga Lake, which is one of New York's Finger Lakes. The lakes are beautiful, deep and clear, and the landscape around the lakes is lush, rolling hills. The region is New York's largest wine producing area with over 100 wineries and vineyards, and following "wine trails" is a very popular pastime. Not so for us; we learned very quickly that we don't like most New York wines - they are too sweet for us. We did a wine tasting tour just once, with two other couples, and it was a long, tedious day that we vowed never to repeat.

So when we headed south of the Thruway yesterday morning, we had different goals in mind: delicious food and goat cheese. Our destination for lunch, ironically, was a cafe at a winery, one that we visited on that infamous day of wine. We arrived at Crystal Lake Cafe at Americana Vineyards a few minutes after noon and found that we had a thirty minute wait for a table. We were invited to go into the tasting room and gift shop but having tasted their wine previously, we chose pass the time sitting under a shaded pavilion.

The wait was well worth it. There were so many tempting choices on the menu that we had a hard time choosing. James selected the eggs Benedict:

Aidan was delighted by the pulled pork sandwich and fries:

I was a very happy camper with sausage gravy served over a cheddar scallion biscuit with eggs and home fries:

And to my friends in the south who think someone up north can't possibly make delicious biscuits and gravy, you are wrong. Very wrong.

The ketchup that was served with Aidan's fries was unlike any ketchup we have ever tasted. It was sweet, spicy, and so incredibly unctuous that we bought some as a side dish and brought it home in our cooler. In my humble opinion, the Americana should bottle the ketchup and not wine!

Our second destination was back up the road, just outside the village of Interlaken: Lively Run Goat Dairy. Goats! And cheese! We arrived just a few minutes after the farm tour started; too bad we weren't about a half hour later. The "tour" was a look at the milking room while the farmer told us about goat diseases, milking problems, pathogens in goat milk, and the idiocy of the FDA before moving on to the barn where he shared his opinions on the stupid corn ethanol program, explained how the kids' horns are cauterized, and...well, I don't what else because I stopped listening and started visiting with the goats:

The kids were, of course, adorable. There was a large rock in their pen and one little lady decided that it was her turn to stand on it:

 She chased away the other kid and started to climb up:

Success! Now I am Queen of the Rock!

We then herded into the tasting room and sampled cheese. In retrospect, we would have skipped the tour, sampled and bought, then visited the goats on our own. We paid $5 each for the tour and tasting; had we just sampled, it was have been $3 per person. I don't have an issue with farmers or vintners or distillers charging to taste their products, but I have an issue with paying to listen to a farmer's personal opinion and walking through two rooms.

Anyway, back to the cheese. Delicious cheese. The woman conducting the sampling told us about each type of cheese offered and, once again, we had difficulty making our selections. We finally decided on chevre with Herbes de Provence, gouda, and a blue. We plan on having a simple dinner on Friday night of smoked meats, fresh bread, dipping oil and cheese, and the eating will be exceptional.

While on our way home, we saw a sign for Myers Farm Distillers. A distillery? Yes, please! Inside, we could look through a window at the 650 liter still:

Rather than farm-to-table, Myers Farm is field-to-flask, growing the grains they use to distill the spirits. James and I sampled three items each; James tasted the ginger vodka, the gin, and the blueberry orange vodka, and I also tasted the ginger vodka in addition to the corn whiskey and the bourbon whiskey. Tasty stuff and since the ginger vodka was a hit with both of us,  we left with a small bottle.

We had a fun day exploring around Cayuga Lake, without one drop of wine!

Adirondack eats and drinks

We enjoyed many fine meals and only one so-so meal during our recent Adirondack adventure. Our first stop when we arrived in Lake Placid was Simply Gourmet, a wonderful sandwich shop that we discovered during our first visit to LP four years ago. The menu features 46 different sandwiches, representing the 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks, plus you can design your own. I never made it past the very first sandwich on the list, the Marcy: roast turkey, cranberry horseradish sauce, cheddar, apple and cracked pepper mayo. Cranberry horseradish mayo, people. The nice young lady behind the counter recommended the caramelized onion bun as the bread, and she was oh so right. I was so focused on devouring every last morsel of my delectable sandwich that I paid little attention to what James and Aidan ordered, but they both liked their choices:

Wandering around Main Street worked up a thirst so we popped into Great Adirondack Steak and Seafood for a beer. We have not eaten steak or seafood or any meal there, we go for their flavorful beers that are brewed onsite but not distributed beyond the restaurant. The bartender poured us a few samples and we quickly decided on John Brown Pale Ale for our pints. Aidan was happily playing Clash of Clans on his phone and sipping water, which allowed James and I to enjoy our first beers of vacation. It is a wonderful dark and cozy bar:

 

We would have lingered longer and ordered a cucumber-line gin and tonic - how refreshing does THAT sound - but there were two older couples also seated at the bar, whooping it up. By older I mean older than us, and by whooping it up I mean laughing very loudly. I am all for having a good time but when you can't hear the person seated next to you, then it is too loud. One and done for us that afternoon.

Based on excellent TripAdvisor reviews and despite the unfortunate name, we chose Redneck Bistro for dinner. We had a devil of a time finding it and we were on foot so I can't imagine how we would have found it if we were driving. It was an odd little place, more fast casual than bistro; you order at a counter and then your food is brought out to your table. It was not what we expected but we were not disappointed with our meals. James and I both ordered burgers and they were juicy, flavorful and cooked exactly as we ordered. Aidan chose the beef ribs and ate every one down to the bone.

After we walked back to the hotel and Aidan had another swim, we left him to relax in the room while we went downstairs to Outdoors at Dancing Bears for a quick drink. We sat at the outdoor bar with lovely views of Mirror Lake and Whiteface Mountain but our foo-foo drinks were a bit of a letdown - I don't even remember what I ordered.

Breakfast the next morning came from Bluesberry Bakery and when we walked in, our heads nearly spun around from all the beautiful choices! All three of us chose savory stuffed croissants, which were flaky, flavorful, and delicious, and exactly what we wanted. We ate them while sitting by the lake, so we had a wonderful breakfast with a view.

Lunch in Saranac Lake on our way down to Blue Mountain Lake was the so-so meal. I don't care for the village of Saranac Lake and Lakeview Deli did nothing to improve my opinion. Blue Line Brewery, however, is a bright spot for the area. At first we weren't sure if we were visiting a brewery or a construction site, but the owner waved us in, put down his power tools and invited us to sample some beer. He apologized for the mess and for having only two brews available; it seems he can hardly keep up with demand and the construction project is to enlarge the brewing facility and the tasting room. Both beers were rich and flavorful but James and I both thought the Black Fly IPA was the more interesting of the two, so we chose it to fill the empty growler that we brought along. The owner saw our growler from Ithaca Beer Co. and asked if we would swap it for one of his. Why not? He added our growler to his collection and we added another excellent brew to our list of favorite craft beers. 

Once we arrived at The Hedges, we knew we had four cooked to order breakfasts and four four-course dinners to enjoy. Two meat entrees and one vegetarian entree are offered at each dinner and you simply choose the one you want while you are eating breakfast. It is part of our morning ritual there to read the choices, make our selections and choose our dinner time. The food was wonderful as always, and we ate happy.

Lunch is not provided at The Hedges, although you can order a picnic lunch if you like. We took a selection of snacks to eat the first day at lunch, then on Tuesday we drove down to Inlet to Matt's Draft House for wings. The best wings anywhere, in our opinion. We adore this place and stop in every time we are even remotely in the area:

That is Matt behind the bar and we talked Ohio State football (he is also a Buckeye expat) and beer, two excellent topics. The beer selection is extensive and Matt can talk knowledgeably about each one, helping you make just the right choice. On one hand, I would love to have that bar just down the street from our house but on the other hand, it is probably good that it is not. We happily ate wings, watched a little World Cup, enjoyed our pints. and had plenty of leftover wings to stash in our mini refrigerator back at The Hedges for lunch on Wednesday.

On the way home on Thursday, we stopped in at Tony Harper's Pizza and Clam Shack in Old Forge for SRQ chips and fried clams. Another one of our favorite ADK places, it was a nice meal to end our holiday. Vacation isn't just about the rest and relaxation, you know.

Back to The Hedges

Turning down the drive to The Hedges always feels a bit like coming home, our Adirondack great camp home - our happy place. We adore being right on Blue Mountain Lake, where the scenery is always beautiful, the water is clear and cold, and the loons call to one another. Bliss.

Each time we visit, we stay in a different room or cabin, but this time we think we hit upon the one in which we want to stay each year:

The Warriors' Den has two bedrooms, a covered porch, and is right next to the Dining Room. We had a great view of the lake from the porch:

James and Aidan, of course, did a lot of fishing:

They started a friendly (mostly) competition to see who could catch the most fish. The final tally was Aidan - 72, James - 67. I wonder how many times they caught the same fish, over and over!

There were many families with children and Aidan met them all. One set of cousins from Rochester and Buffalo, five in all under the age of six, took a particular shine to him. He would play with them in the swimming area, allowing himself to be the Monkey in the Middle or the target of their squirt guns, or would jump off the end of the dock into the lake with them. But what they really enjoyed was watching Aidan fish and they clamored to be the one who helped him get the fish off the hook. He did an excellent job of having them take turns and not lean over the edge of the dock. Here are two members of his fishing posse:

We also did some kayaking and hiking. All three of us went for a paddle on the lake one morning after breakfast, and then James and I went out on our own another morning before breakfast. Later that same morning, we hiked Sawyer Mountain, just down the road in Indian Lake. The view from the summit was well worth the hike:

Aidan did a little rock climbing along the trail:

I was able to spend a lot of time on the cabin porch or in a chair under a tree, gazing at the lake, knitting or reading, which is just what I like to do while on holiday.

One evening, there was live music at the campfire. It was a spectacularly beautiful evening, and it seemed like every guest was down by the water, enjoying the music and the sunset. And what a sunset it was:

As always, we handed in our reservation request for next year as we checked out. Life is good at The Hedges, and we are already looking forward to next year's visit.

A fine getaway

We returned a few days ago from what has become our annual visit to The Hedges. This year we decided to tack on a day at the beginning of the trip to make a quick visit to Lake Placid. We went to Lake Placid in August of 2010, which is when and how we fell in love with the Adirondacks.

Lake Placid is a beautiful village and last Saturday was a lovely day. We were so eager to start our holiday that we arrived several hours before we could check in at our hotel, so we enjoyed wandering through the shops on Main Street and gazing out over Mirror Lake:

The little Episcopal church right on Main Street, St. Eustace, was having their annual Strawberry Festival:

We climbed the steps up to the church and bought three strawberry shortcakes. While the desserts were only ho hum, we enjoyed talking with the church ladies and peeking inside the sanctuary. The ceilings and walls were all gleaming wood:

St. Eustace was founded in 1894 and has been at its present location since 1900. The sanctuary contains many beautiful stained glass windows, including a Tiffany window. The photos I took did not turn out well, but you can see the windows on their web site.

We checked into our room at the High Peaks Resort and were delighted to learn that we were on the top floor facing Mirror Lake. Here is the evening view from our balcony:

We were even able to hear the loons from our balcony. Aidan was delighted to learn that the hotel has two swimming pools - indoor and outdoor - and he put them to good use. He went swimming before dinner, after dinner, and before we checked out the next morning.

Just before we left on Sunday morning, we watched part of a birds of prey demonstration. Aidan made a new friend, Tess, and even got to hold her:

 

Tess is a barn owl and is quite beautiful.

As much as we enjoy Lake Placid, we were ready to get in the car and head to our happy place in Blue Mountain Lake.