Thanksgiving

For our first Thanksgiving together, we decided for a low key day of cooking and eating traditional dishes. We made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans with fried onions, rolls and, since we are vegetarians, veggie pot pies as our main dish. For dessert, we had Chris's family's pumpkin pie, which came out a bit weird-looking (see below), but great-tasting, and a pecan pie, both covered in generous amounts of freshly-made whipped cream. Most of the produce was purchased at our local farmers market in Fort Greene park. We ate on our new table, which we came across at a sidewalk sale in our neighborhood. The table was only $15, but we did have to walk it the 10 blocks home.

Some holiday appropriate decorations:




























Our lovely feast:

Halloween Weekend

Both Chris and I are big fans of the fall season in the North East. So, this year we took full advantage of the changing leaves by going upstate a bit over Halloween weekend. On Saturday morning we took the train to Sleepy Hollow where we ate croisonts at the Sleepy Hollow graveyard (we figured it was a holiday appropriate outing). After seeing some beautiful gravestones, we headed to Stone Barn Farms. Stone Barn Farms is a working farm/ educational center/ the home to a foodie outpost Blue Hill. Farm animals were seen, delicious food eaten. Next we went up to our bed and breakfast Pig Hill Inn in Cold Springs. Upon checking in we were given freshly made apple pie, which we had by the fire while reading the Times before strolling through the antique shops of the town. Sunday morning a lovely breakfast was brought to our room. After breakfast we spent the day in Beacon NY. Beacon NY is known primarily for its contemporary arts center DIA Beacon, which we went to. We started the day with a lovely 3 mile hike in a state park, which was at the peak of fall foliage. Had lunch at a farmers market by the river. Walking around the main street. The weekend was topped off with the Retro Arcade Museum. We played arcade games as old as from 1954. Even though it was only a 36 hour trip it was well worth it to get out of town for a couple of fun days. As a side note, because my digital camera has been missing for a couple of months, all photos were taken with Chris's film camera.

Trip to the Bronx

For the month of October I've been doing some freelance work with the Wildlife Conservation Society, which means going to the zoos and aquariums of New York. One particularly lovely fall day when temperatures reached near 70 Chris trekked up to the Bronx Zoo where I was spending the morning working so that we could wander through the 240 acres of wildlife. After seeing a wide array of animals we hiked about a mile over to Arthur Avenue, a strip known for its authentic Italian delights. We strolled through a a few blocks of cute shops and restaurants, and bakeries, and butchers before we settled on a lovely little restaurant with amazing pastas and breads. Being a bit tipsy from the wine we then picked up a plethora of cute little Italian pastries to bring back to Brooklyn. All in all, a lovely day.

Trip to the Cloisters

Yesterday we biked up to the northern most tip of Manhattan to visit the Cloisters. We began our trek taking the subway with our bikes to 4th St., and than headed north the 200 or so blocks to the Met's 'upstate' outpost. The route was almost entirely on the New York City Greenway, which made for a lovely ride passing through parks and snaking alongside the water. Along the way we stopped at the famous Little Red Lighthouse. A group of home-schoolers and their parents invited us to join them on a tour of the lighthouse, giving us a chance to appreciate the lovely view. Arriving at our final destination, we snacked in the cafe, and saw some amazing architecture and art. After riding uphill nearly the whole way there, the ride back was much easier. In total we rode about 23 miles.

Various pictures from our vacation upstate. The first three nights we stayed at Big Moose Lake in a historic hunting lodge. Most of time was spent on the lake in kayaks and canoes provided by the hotel. The last day we flew over the Adirondacks in a antique sea plane, including flying over our hotel. After our days in the woods we headed north, taking a break in the wine region, to the Thousand Island region where we saw antique boats and visited many state parks (click any of the pics to enlarge, which we highly recommend).

This is it, Big Moose Inn. Cozy rooms, folksy owner, and the site of an infamous pre-boating lunch. Also, they had free kayaks which you'll see in a moment.

This is the beach at Big Moose. We sat in Adirondack Chairs in the actual Adirondacks. Also we made s'mores and hobo pies.

The view from the deck at Big Moose.



















A gazebo exactly across the lake from big moose. We rowed over there our first night, and sort of thought of it as "our" gazebo.


Karen loves ducks.









We spent a lot of time in these kayaks. We discovered kayaking is our new favorite thing.












Chris Chafin is an athelete.













An (almost) deserted island in the middle of the lake.












The view from the beach of the (almost) deserted island.












This is the deck at the Adirondack Air Service, an abandoned sea-plane dock near the hotel. There was also an abandoned hobie cat there.
















WE ACTUALLY DID THIS










In this plane! A real gleaming, awesome, beauty.













This is what a seaplane pilot should look like. Karen and I had a good time imagining his life story. I say, former test pilot, living out his final days in his version of paradise.








That's Big Moose, right above that blue thing (in the little inlet).












Honestly, honestly, who knew there were all these wind farms in upstate NY? We certainly did not.












My book jacket photo. As soon as I have a book.
















The view from our little table at Tug Hill Vineyard.












We stayed in this tiny little hotel our first night in the Thousand Islands region. It rained the one night we were here, so we didn't get to go swimming or lounge around in these chairs reading, as was our plan.









We had a drink here at The Rum Runner. Not, as you might have guessed, the most well-kept-up of places.
















The Thousand Islands Inn! Birthplace of Thousand Island Dressing and a lovely place to stay. It's on the market! Only $800,000. I would be happy to operate it if someone would like to buy.







A simply stunning young woman, captured in an antique speedboat.










There are a bunch of pictures following from inside our ride in a 1930s speedboat, courtesy of the antique boat museum. It was fast!

































No offense to the Adirondacks, but these last two pics are from what was probably the most beautiful place we visited: Wellesey Island State Park. About equidistant between New York and Canada, it was totally deserted and totally beautiful. We saw a chipmunk! And, as you can see, took arty pictures of each other.