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.