The weekend that was...and what a weekend it was!

Wow - upstate NY, what's good? Oh, you want to show me all weekend long?  You're on! 

Friday afternoon began post-work, when I picked up my race packet for Saturday's 15th annual Last Run 5k.  The process was well organized and the volunteers were friendly and helpful.  Swag in hand, I headed to the Shaker Meeting House, with a like-minded friend, on an earnest search for the perfect tree topper.  Motivated by the belief that there is much to look forward to, a star was the goal.  We left empty-handed, but confident in the knowledge that waiting for the perfect beacon of light isn't always a hopeless act.

Sonya Kitchell

I stopped at the grocery store on my way back to the DelSo and got the fixings for pizzas.  Within 90 minutes, I was back in my car, boys fed and lipstick on, heading for Hudson and dinner at Swoon.  I met two friends, one old, the older even older.  We had a super dinner.  The ambiance was cozy with a kind of blurred around the edges feel to it like a sepia tinted photograph.  From there, it was to Club Helsinki for a show which was disappointingly abbreviated for us due to the leisureliness of our meal.    And this was Friday.

Saturday was productive, yet remarkably unhurried.  I even snuck in a visit to Marshall's!  I must admit, I'm becoming more accepting of spontaneity and surprises, something more easily accomplished when they both bring positive wonder. Have I mentioned recently how fortunate I feel? Blessed, I tell you.  Have you read this? If not, please do it now.  I'll wait.  When you're done, let me know who that sounds like.

Anyway, in the late afternoon my running ladies started gathering and we headed to the race course.  Dang - it really was cold!  The excitement warmed us a bit and we watched the fireworks, itching to run.  It was a great night, just a little wind, or rather a lot of wind but only in a couple of concentrated areas.  The lights were magical.  We celebrated post-race at the Wine Bar and Bistro in Lark.  My Prosecco was perfect and our beverage was the perfect time filler before we picked up our takeout at Jewel of India.  We opted for this place over Shalimar because I spotted a 25% off take-out orders coupon in the TU.  Price for our evening out in Albany? Maybe $50 each including race, drinks, and food.

All quality - other than the lamb, that is.  That was the toughest thing about the entire weekend.

Sunday was recovery in the morning and indulgence in the afternoon.  For the second consecutive Sunday, I did yoga at the Yoga Loft in the DelSo.  Yes, I can walk there. Following yoga, there  was a little mad dash to get to the Madison for the noon showing of Muppet Move, but we made it with far too much time to spare. I'd honestly prefer to miss some of the trailers. Post-movie, it was cookie baking and laundry and then a solid 4 mile run that felt great other than that pesky discomfort I've taken to think of as my IT band issue.

The cure for that running "injury" and the other demands of a true weekend?  That would be the hot bubble bath I'm just about to slip into with some quiet music, dim lights and thoughts filled with appreciation.  What a great weekend, what an incredibly blessed life.

Sunday Stroll

After witnessing a beautiful wedding on Saturday, Sunday was kind of a funky day for me.  What better way to span new beginnings and potential endings than a literal walk across a bridge?  Exactly - especially when you factor in the gorgeous sunshine and my complete lack of schedule. The Walkway over the Hudson was the perfect start to a mellow day.

Aloysius was my promenade partner, and I must say, we are well suited walkers.  We scored a legit parking spot on the west side of the river and then proceeded to leisurely walk and talk our way east to Poughkeepsie.  There was a generous wind blowing, but the sun was shining and the air was the perfect mix of crisp and mild.  I had hoped the foliage was going to be a bit more colorful, but the first weekend in October proved to be a bit too early in the fall for really dramatic color.  .                                                                                                                        

The view north while walking east.

In case you're unfamiliar with this bridge, the longest pedestrian bridge in the world at 1.28 miles, here's a link to some FAQs.  What their website fails to mention is that there are some minor issues with traffic flow.  I mean, it isn't a big deal, but there aren't distinct lanes for the various types of traffic crossing the bridge, i.e. pedestrian, cyclists, folks with dogs and/or strollers, joggers...  It's a bit of a free for all, which is fine if you're a person who remains cognizant of others, unfortunately, however, we all know how increasingly rare that trait

                                                                              seems to have become. 

View from Caffe Aurora

Once we got to the east side of the river we decided to search out a good cup of coffee and some pastry.  Both desires were met at the charming Caffe Aurora, in the Little Italy area of Poughkeepsie.  I had a cappucino and a plain Baba which is a delicious sponge-y cake which had been soaked in rum.  It reminded of the cake I enjoyed in Tuscany and was the perfect degree of sweet.  After reading the Yelp reviews, I'm going to try a cannoli  for sure next time - calories be damned. We enjoyed our treats on their cozy covered front porch and were incredibly entertained by the conversation at the neighboring table between a few characters named Nunzio and something else that ended in a vowel.  Very authentic stuff.

I definitely recommend your going to check out this bridge and explore the local area.  The Mid-Hudson Children's Museum  is nearby and this handy map has more information about additional places of interests nearby.  This Cafe Bocca place has some serious potential and Janet's Jerk Stop looks like a cool cheap eats kind of spot.  And talk about a great name!  I imagine the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty popular ones for pedestrian leaf peepers, but you should still slip your walking shoes on and get yourself there.  Some more photos from our jaunt are below.

View south

Walking shoes?

Mid-Hudson Bridge

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

image from Hollywood.com

Are you familiar with this classic Clint Eastwood movie?  It seems like I grew up watching it, along with a Fistful of Dollars and Hang Em High, of course  What can I say?  We liked spaghetti Westerns at my house and Clint could rock a poncho like no one else - except my good friend Aloysius, perhaps.  The movie, like myself, premiered in 1966.  Maybe that fact, along with an excellent  theme song*, are why I am always willing to invest nearly 3 hours watching this terrific film. 

I haven't done much cooking in recent weeks, but three things I recently attempted personified The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  I thought I should share my failures with you as well as my culinary successes - a gentle reminder that none of us (other than Barbara Lynch) are perfect.

The Good

Let's begin with The Good - not only is that consistent with the title, but you all know I'm an optimist at heart.  Today was my first 5:30 a.m. wake-up call for the school year, and I used my time wisely by preparing dinner 12 hours early.  I've done brisket a number of ways, with varying degrees of success, but this "technique" always results in tender, falling apart, flavorful meat.  And, talk about easy!  Combine a can of beef broth with a jar of chili sauce in a slow cooker.  Add brisket (Get one bigger than you think you'll need - it cooks down and you'll want leftovers.) and top with some sliced onions, toss in some carrots if you have them, chopped potatoes would be lovely, too.  Cover.  Turn on low and cook for 10 or 12 hours.  There you go - delicious, easy dinner in one-pot.

The Bad

And now for The Bad...we had a surplus of red and yellow peppers in the crisper drawer so I decided to toss them on the grill and roast them.  Which I did.  For a long, long time because I completely forgot about them.  What I ended up with were absolute fossilized peppers - they were completely charred and lacking even the slightest amount of liquid. Aren't they kind of cool looking though?  Obviously they were inedible, but I'd like to think that the neighborhood squirrels ate them and became really sick.  Squirrels, too, are Bad.

The Ugly (but delicious)

After an August filled with succulent tomatoes and sweet corn, I'm ready to begin enjoying root and cruciferous vegetables.  One of my favorite cooler weather veggies is cauliflower.  Ugly is perhaps too  strong a word but work with me here, ok? Compared to perfectly round, glossy tomatoes and corn with shiny silk, cauliflower just isn't as visually appealing to many folks. After years of attempting to replicate my mother's mustard sauce, I've abandoned that folly and decided that I am more than happy with roasted cauliflower - again one pan and very little attention required.  Perfect. Break up your head of cauliflower into florets and toss into your favorite roasting pan.  Drizzle with  olive oil and liberally season with coarse salt.  Roast at 400 for about 40 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan to toss the cauliflower.  Remove from the oven and enjoy - tastes great hot or cold or even pureed as the foundation of a soup.  Don't they say the ugly girl is usually the nicest?

* Because of some ridiculous pissing match between Apple and Adobe (which I obviously don't understand) I can't embed the song here, but click here for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Me & Neil & Karma

There are certain things in life that I will always think of as belonging to someone else and therefore unavailable to me. For instance, the Tolkien books were always my brother's thing and thus I never read them. Thank goodness for Peter Jackson's films otherwise I would still be in the dark about such things as Frodo, Gandalf and the importance of that damned ring. There's also some music that I so strongly associate with individuals that I resist adding it to my collection - sometimes because I simply don't like it (sorry, Tom, Frank Zappa will never be on my ipod), but more often because I would feel awkward about "stealing" it. Unless, of course, I was literally stealing the music, like the time I took every one of Aloysius' Ricki Lee Jones cassettes that I could get my hands on, just so he would stop playing them incessantly.

For many years Neil also belonged to Aloysius. He had older siblings who refined (created?) his musical taste and was definitely ahead of the curve (or maybe a flashback behind the curve?) on the Neil Young love. I remember the urban myth about Aloysius seeing Neil at the Garden and joining him from the audience on a harmonica solo - probably not true, but lovely to imagine. For me, though, Neil somehow was different; he was available. Perhaps because he had had so many incarnations through the years, I somehow didn't hesitate to embrace him as my own. Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to see him a number of times, once with C, S & N, a couple of times with Crazy Horse, and also solo. He is amazing! Watching him play guitar, stomping his foot and nodding his head, it is pretty clear that he birthed grunge. Probably without pain medication and with forceps.

A couple of Decembers ago, I went to see Neil at the Garden. Sarah had bought 2 tickets for us as an extravagant Christmas gift. It was so fun to be back in the Garden after a 20 year absence and the show rocked, despite the fact that our seats were total nosebleeds and the crowd around us barely registered a pulse. After the show we walked up 9th Avenue, occasionally stopping to warm up until we found ourselves at Kennedy's.

As we settled in to our last stop, enjoying our conversation with some Irish ex-pats, a new group filtered in. And they each had lanyards with all access passes to Neil Young - they were roadies! We hung out with this fine group for a couple of pints and had a great time talking music and shows. The evening ended with their promise to guest list us for the next night's show - and they really did! The second night's show was enhanced by our stage side "seating" and the addition of Aloysius, because when Mark asked how many tickets we needed, I immediately thought of Aloysius. This is where the Karma comes in to the story. Seriously, what are the chances of meeting Neil Young's lead sound engineer, getting guest listed and having one of your oldest friends, a friend who basically gave Neil Young to you, passing through NYC on his way from LaGuardia Airport to New Paltz, join you for the show?? It really was that spectacular.

The only way this story can possibly get any better is if our sound engineer friend, Mark, is able to hook us up for the Palace show next month. And if Neil and Mark let us make them dinner. To be continued...