Step inside The Vault, a new and exciting Beacon restaurant, and you feel immediately at home, the feeling only you get at a local place. We joined friends here for dinner on a Sunday night, and thoroughly enjoyed the spacious yet cozy environment, worldly cuisine and smart drink selections that give this place the feeling of a neighborhood place with small town charm and big city flair! Continue reading Neighborhood Bar & Grill Meets Manhattan Cosmopolitan
We left full of joy after an evening of spirited live entertainment in the closing event of the Cabaret in the Country series at our own Philipstown Depot Theater.
The Sound of Their Music: Rodgers & Hammerstein artfully created and produced by Hudson Valley resident Phil Geoffrey Bond, was a fabulous tribute to the unsurpassed Broadway and Hollywood musical greats Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
We smiled, chuckled and squeezed each others hand as each wonderful song excited oh so many pleasant memories.
The series included, and we wish we had the opportunity to see them all, performances by many of Broadway and New York Cabaret most applauded performers as they delivered great music for Simply Streisand, Aspects of Andrew: Lloyd Webber, Sondheim Unplugged, and of course this show.
We love a night on the town, but there is much pleasure to be had in the intimate surroundings of Philipstown Depot Theater.
Check out their programs here.
Life here in our precious hamlet of Garrison, NY is filled with many pleasures. This week we loved a wine from another pretty hamlet, one in Italy called Collestefano in the Province of Macerata of the Marche region. Paired with a homemade dinner locally sourced.
It was a white wine called Verdicchio, made with the Italian wine grape of the same name, primarily grown in the Marche region of central Italy. Very popular in the US during the 60s and 70s, distributed in an iconic green fish shaped bottle. Sadly greedy commercial interests let the quality of the wine diminish and so did its market.
Fortunately that has changed and today very fine Verdicchio wines can be found in most better wine shops. It is a wine I promise you will enjoy.
Noted Italian wine writer Ian D’Agata asserts in his book Native Wine Grapes of Italy
This one from the Matelica DOC, is delightful. We had it with a dinner at home of orecchiette pasta with sauteed shrimp with swiss chard, onion, pine nuts, garlic, EVO and Pecarino Romano cheese. All ingredients but the pasta and pignoli nuts from our Cold Spring Farmers Market and local gardens.
Made by Fabio Marchionni who in 1998 took over the estate that had been in his family since the 60s. He had recently gained a degree in Enology and completed a wine apprenticeship in Germany. The children of Italian wine families always seem to come back home.
Over the years with the help of his parents and devoted wife Silvia, Fabio has built a very successful winery which he may pass on to their daughters, Elena and Serena.
His wine, Collestefano Verdicchio di Matelica, imported by Hudson Valley based Polaner Selections. An importer, by the way we have come to trust. We purchased it at Suburban Wines in Yorktown Heights.
It is on Decanter’s Magazine 2015 Top 13 Verdicchio Wines List
Made with 100% estate fruit form a vineyard that enjoys a cool dry climate that is on the Esino River between the foot of Appenine Mountains and the coast of the Adriatic sea. It is certified organic.
The wine is accurately described like this.
“Medium-bodied with crisp acidity and good structure with flavors of apricots, peaches, minerals, mint, almonds and flowers all make an appearance in this soft, caressing white. This is well balanced and meant enjoy now but will cellar for over the next 3-5 years. It is clean and refreshing on the palate, and leaves a long, pleasing finish.”
My friend Judy Becker read this moving poem after sitting in meditation together. I hope you enjoy it too.
Sit here for a bit. Place yourself outside the frenzied pace of life.
Slow down long enough to appreciate birds in flight, water drops like prisms in the grass and countless shades of green.
Step off the fast track and listen to the sound of breath and birdsong.
Take a moment to just be, and in the being, know the whole of this creation,
mystery and madness, passion and profanity, know it all as one, stunning
tapestry.
Sit still and the thin line between sacred and profane simply fades away. There is nothing then to reconcile. All the disparate threads are woven on the loom of life.
Sit here for a bit and your unique place in the pattern becomes clear. Take the still point with you when it’s time to walk away.
Make the choice to see affinity, to watch the picture taking shape as thread joins thread.
Dare to be the weaver and the loom, creator and creation, the sower and the sown.
In a moment of stillness, all that came before is seen as one.
by Danna Faulds
Go In and In: Poems From the Heart of Yoga
I think Luis Bunuel would have been very comfortable here today in the Hudson Valley. We enjoy his outlook on life.
He once said. “If you were to ask me if I’d ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I’d have to say that I doubt it; where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead.”
And as are we with a drink of his own design. Negroni # 80 “The Bunueloni”
Enjoy.
Near the crest of the Lost Pond Trail at Manitoga you will come upon a moving site, inspiring and quieting at the same moment. Named with the Algonquin word meaning “Place of the Great Spirit,” Manitoga is so filled with the spiritual essence of its creator, you can truly feel it.
We walked two of the longer paths here on a cloudy day and then one filled with sun.
This was the home of Russel Wright, the renowned forward thinking industrial designer. Created out of a desolate area that had been a quarry. The house can be toured by special arrangements but the paths in the 75 acre woodland garden can be walked whenever the property is open.
Beautiful on a cloudy or sunny day the paths ascend in a winding pattern ascending in stages as much 650 feet through the woods.
Entry is from Route 9D, there is a parking lot. Visitors first stop into the visitors center to sign in, get information and make a donation.
From here you will walk toward the paths, discrete signage leads the way.
At the foot of the three trails there is a map and guide.
We walked the longer White Pine Loop marked with red and Lost Pond Loop marked with white.
Through the woods.
They travel together foe awhile and then branch off. The paths are meant to be walked in one direction, each a loop, the markers with a block dot indicate you are heading the wrong way.
At points you will come to two bridges that go over the stream.
Each step of the way feels rich and fulfilling, I really felt the love and attention that went into creating this place. And all the enjoyment that people have had here. There are spots where you can catch glimpses of the house.
And the mighty Hudson River. At least now that the leaves have fallen.
At one observation point, marked ion yellow, there are very old boulders, and the house can be seen from another angle.
Back on the trail.
The no hunting posting signs are mounted backwards in places, looks nicer that way.
Someone created this nest for a very big bird.
Moss lines some of the paths.
I was expecting this boulder to speak to me.
Towards the top is the Lost Pond.
At a low point now, in the spring it is much larger, deeper.
All three paths end here at the area called Four Corners.
And then you begin your walk down.
Passing another house. Probably a caretaker’s home. I would not mind.
I loved these to Adirondack Chairs in the wood.
More very old boulders.
At the bottom is Mary’s Meadow. I told you there is always a meadow. Mary was Russel Wright’s wife and Mother of Annie Wright.
We had fun visiting Bad Seed Cider Company at Wilklow Orchards in Highlands, NY. Toured the fields, and enjoyed some great hard cider in their very popular tap room.
Read our story here: New York Cork Report
43 Baileys Gap RD
Highland NY
(845) 236-0956
They say Mclaren Vale is the unique marriage of a premier wine region and beach lifestyle has created a melting pot for all things culinary, vinous and artistic. You could say that the Hudson Valley is a unique marriage of a great wine region and river valley lifestyle and so on.
Well bringing this back home, during a trip to Australia I fell in love with the rich, robust, Shiraz wines of this region. I buy them when ever I see them at a reasonable price. This one found at Dylan’s in Peekskill was not just reasonable it is a steal.
Wines from this region are exciting and delicious and pair well with many dishes, even a Tonkotsu Ramen we had last night.
Dylan’s Wine Cellar
Marbled Meat Shop in Cold Spring has begun offering prepared dinners to take home, finish, and enjoy! They call them “Marbled Meals.”
This week we tried their take on Tonkotsu (Pork) Ramen. It was delicious. Paired nicely with a Mclaren Vale Shiraz, from 90+ Cellars.
Continue reading Marvelous Prepared Food from Marbled Meat Shop
