July 2015
July 08, 2015
July 07, 2015
July 06, 2015
July 05, 2015
Day 5: Family Reunion: Ard's Farm Stand Restaurant (Lewisburg PA): Just as advertised.
Ard's Farm Stand Restaurant, Lewisburg PA was halfway between Ithaca and Baltimore, thus ideal for a break point, lunch and picking up of dinner.
One fork of the family was just finished eating and I picked up a delicious fried boneless chicken wing and the remains of a blueberry lemonade and decided we were in the promised land. Colette had a California salad with everything from lettuce to avocado and bacon to chicken and I had pulled pork with chips.
The bill was complicated d/t the addition of fruits and veggies, etc. but I'd definitely stop again if on this route.
July 04, 2015
Day 4: Finger Lakes Family Reunion: Sapsucker Woods; Moosewood (Ithaca) & Little Venice (Trumansburg): Hitting our stride?
Sapsucker Woods at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a marvel: Colette grew up a few miles from here and insisted we come; and am I glad she did; it's awesome and I'm not a bird person.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Moosewood Café, open now for some 40 years, was a revelation when it opened and I recall a meal shortly thereafter as well as its famed cookbook. For better or worse it hasn't changed much, serving vegetarian and fish food from largely local sources with bio-natural-etc wines & beers.
We were 21 or so, spread out a bit (but more on that later) and I'll just record what Colette and I had: terrific corn chips with just OK guacamole; ab-fab poached and chilled shrimp with a divine classic zippy tomato sauce; a locavore plate (local goat cheese with honey and bread and apples); and a cheese-mushroom quesadilla that was disappointing and characterless.
I have no idea of the bill since my wonderful daughters picked it up.
Go? Well, as of last night, Colette received a nasty call from the snarky reservation queen who said that her colleague should NOT have combined 3 reservations when Colette consulted her two days ago. Having 3 reservations for 8 each was OK, but combining them was a "NO NO". She said that having a 'large party' was not possible on a holiday, that we could pay $1000 to rent the porch dining room. When told that Colette had been encouraged to combine the reservation by her colleague, she 'huffily' said the reservation would be honored. Aside from that unfortunate interchange, the staff was wonderful, e.g. service was very good.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Little Venice in was the last reunion of the reunion of 28 of Colette's extended family - in one room, all together, was terrific.
Dinners consisted of a salad bar, and choices of chicken parmesan, lasagna and a birthday carrot cake.
Our bill, once again, was picked up by my marvelous daughter.
July 03, 2015
Day 3 Finger Lakes Family Reunion: Seneca Lake and Hector NY: Women's Rights, Wolffy's, Cayuga Lake Creamery and the Stone Cat: Now I know why everybody is fat.
No trip by my wife to the area would be complete without a visit to the Women's Rights National Historical Park and Elizabeth Cady Stanton House.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wolffy's on the lake near Seneca Falls is a spectacular setting with good wine.
Our dining partners split a soup and salad, Colette had chicken salad and I ordered the special, Fish n chips, thinking one dish was enough. When I bogged down after one of three fish and 4 fries I looked around and the portion sizes and waist sizes at the other tables attested to why America's epidemic is obesity; a sad commentary.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We contributed to the epidemic by eating good desserts at the Cayuga Lake creamery albeit sparingly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Stone Cat in Hector was recommended to Colette and features organic, locavore, etc., food on nearby Lake Seneca.
Among our mains were: catfish, pulled pork, a duck breast special and salmon. All OK.
But the desserts were really what the Stone Cat does to perfections: a raspberry/rhubarb crumble, chocolate cake and lemon cake were all terrific.
Our bill amounted to about $100 a couple.
Finger Lakes Family Reunion 2: Taste of Thai (Ithaca); Purety (ditto) and the Glass Magnolia B&B (Interlaken)
The Taste of Thai in Ithaca NY came highly recommended and justly so; it was wonderful. Our wait-guy, who works at a wine store, advised Colette on a great Seneca Lakes wine (me as a male would never ask advice) and we started off with salads with wonderful ginger dressings.
Colette ordered a Chicken satay over the Pad Thai (bad decision) and I had had a Shrimp Ginger Delight that was terrific.
Our bill was $65 without bottled water, coffee or dessert - but hold on!!!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, Colette grew up in Ithaca and raved about the Purity Ice cream parlor and today the caramel beurre sale was every bit as good as she remembered and I thought was terrific.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight we ate at the Glass Magnolia B&B where the male owner was a chef in Orange County and we had mozzarella and tomatoes, salmon, chicken and marble cake.
I have no idea what the cost was since Colette picked up the bill.
July 02, 2015
Corning Glass Museum (NY) and Johnson Museum at Cornell: mixed wows!
Today was museum day in the Finger Lakes: first the Corning Glass Museum in Corning NY which was the most spectacular glass museum I've seen, surpassing even that in Nancy; then in the PM we went to the Johnson Museum at Cornell in Ithaca NY whose I.M. Pei building is a wow, while it's holdings pale compared to those at say the Fogg or Smith College Museums.
Finger Lakes Family Reunion 1: Corning NY: The Three Birds: Not up to snuff.
The Three Birds in Corning, NY, was the first destination in my wife's family's reunion held every 5 years or so. Four of us went with high hopes. The place is absolutely lovely, with a great staff and nice setting but.....
We started off with a Harbor Fish Soup that was really quite good, a baby green and a Caesar salad that were standard and bread that was clearly made with care, in house, with an EVOO sauce, but both disappointing.
Then we moved on to a crab cake, salmon, and swordfish that were OK but no more and I had their signature dish of flash-fried calamari with putanesca sauce that was the most inedible dish of the year. Our great wait-person asked if she could replace it and I got the Portuguese bean soup that was pretty damn good.
Desserts were a tiramisu (left unfinished by my number 3 grand-child, quite wisely I thought) and a berry crisp, quite OK.
With two bottles of a Cotes de Rhone and no coffee or bottled water, our bill before tip was $151.20.
Go? For soups and salads and wines and good service.
John Talbott
I was surely born in France of a chef father and food critic mother.
Recent Comments