Category: Hungry, Like Something To Eat?

Of course you would, we love eating out and cooking at home. Here are our some of our best dining experiences.

A Great Wine Find! Spirits Too!

Great Wines and Spirits from Mid-Valley Wines & Liquor

Mid-Valley Wine and Liquors, Newburgh, Welcomes You Too

You surely know by now that I am very serious wine habitué and cocktail devotee.  And ever since I was so dramatically severed from my many tried and true sources, developed over decades, in New Jersey, it has been a riveted and phrenetic search to find new. Two things have complicated my quest, the frost-bound winter, and the potent Hudson Valley command to be “Locally Centric.”

Today my unrelenting hunt was significantly rewarded upon my passing through the threshold of perhaps one of Hudson Valley finest purveyors of thoughtfully selected wine and spirits. With a special concentration, Mid-Valley Store Manager, Lindy Steele, revealed in our conversation, “we make a great effort to offer New York state products, it is a great market for us.”  Continue reading A Great Wine Find! Spirits Too!

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We Do Love Bars, Like Dogwood in Beacon

Jill at the Bar Dogwood Beacon NYAnd discovering all the great ones in the Hudson Valley has been fun.

Dogwood in Beacon is destined to be a favorite.

So what makes a good bar? Great atmosphere? good booze, decent food? Yea that’s all true.  But I think the most important thing is this, a bar can have none of those qualities I just mentioned and still be great, as long as it has Great People.

Dogwood excels at everything you want in a great bar, but what we loved the most were all the great people here. Continue reading We Do Love Bars, Like Dogwood in Beacon

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Locals, Tourists, and We Like Whistling Willies, Cold Spring

Whistling WIllie's the Tapsa classic old world American Bar and Restaurant

with great drinks food and entertainment. Set in what must have once been a hotel decades ago.  We especially love their happy hour. The friendly staff are oh so welcoming here, you feel right at home with all the locals, regular customers, here on any given night.  Continue reading Locals, Tourists, and We Like Whistling Willies, Cold Spring

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We’ve also Been West of the River

Bike Ride on Ashokan ReservoirBiking and Lunch, Ashokan Reservoir and Sunfrost Farms

In Ulster County  near Woodstock is the great Ashonka Reservoir which has a great walking or biking path. There are a lot of great biking routes in this region, you can find maps and information here. We like to bike along water and so we picked this route. After a vigorous ride we drove over to a favorite lunch spot, Sunfrost Farms. And then into Woodstock for a casual stroll. More Continue reading We’ve also Been West of the River

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Everything You Need Is Here

Vera's Phillipstown Farmers Market Counter

at Vera’s Philipstown Farm Market

Sure we miss all the fine food stores we had so close by our former home in Montclair, NJ. Whole Foods, Traders Joe’s, Fairway, Kings, ShopRite, and more all within a few miles.

Yet, as we venture about our new domain we are delighted with all the appealing new places we are finding. We love the integrity and commitment to quality that Hudson Valley merchants possess.  We adore that we don’t have to go out onto the highway or to strip centers boring in their corporate homogeneity.

At 3901 US Route 9 Vera's Sign

we found Vera’ along with The Pantry and Marbled Meat Shop and here you can find everything you need to happily fill your kitchen cupboards and your eager tummy.

Continue reading Everything You Need Is Here

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Where to Find Great Wine

Viscount Wine & LiquorsI vividly remember the first time I entered a wine superstore

It was back in the early “00s”, 2003 I believe, when the now famous Wine Library moved from it’s normal sized wine store to a 35,000 square foot mega store around the corner. It was astounding.  The boom in wine was just beginning then, fast forward 10 years and now there are superstores everywhere.

I just visited the mammoth, 40,000 square foot, Viscount Wine and Liquors in Wappinger Falls.  Now bigger does not always mean better, a lot of the warehouse style stores that have popped up lately are just not that good.  But Viscount is not in that category, ask a man who has tasted thousands of wines. This place is amazing. Continue reading Where to Find Great Wine

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On a Cold Rainy Night

chionetti dolcetto di doglianiA very good red wine and comfort food is in order

Imagine Giuseppe Chionetti with his family sitting by the hearth tasting wine of one his early harvests, his son Andrea taking a small sip too.  It was April 1914, the rainy season in Dogliani, the wine was still young but showed great promise. Giuseppe glanced a warm smile to his wife as she served their dinner. Farming was a struggle, but life was good, World War I had not yet come to Italy.

Over a century later, on another rainy night, we are tasting Giuseppe’s legacy in a 2008 vintage of his great wine. A tradition carried on by his son, Andrea, and grandson Quinto. And I smile to Diana and she back to me, what a wonderful wine.

 Chionetti Dolcetto di Dogliani Briccolero 2008

Continue reading On a Cold Rainy Night

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For Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner, Marbled Meat, Cold Spring, NY

Chris Butcher at Marbled MeatYou’ll find only the very best, meats, cheeses, condiments and accompaniments at Lisa Hall and Chris Pascarella’s new Marbled Meat Shop in Cold Spring.

Conveniently  located next to Vera’s on route 9, MMS has quickly become a regular shopping destination for us. We love Lisa and Chris and everything they offer here.  See 4/4/2015 updates  Continue reading For Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner, Marbled Meat, Cold Spring, NY

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