My Westchester To-Do List

Do you have one? Recently I was thinking about the things I still want to do here in my own backyard… or things I want to do again because I loved them so much the first time. Here’s my list:

1. Take Jack to Stone Barns Center for their egg collecting. Jack loves to be a big helper, and I’m excited to teach him where food comes from. What better place to do that than the holy grail of agricultural centers? And it’s right here! Like 5 minutes away!
2. Speaking of Stone Barns… I need to eat at Blue Hill again.  Sure, hubby and I did it once, and once is certainly more than most people will eat there, considering the financial commitment and reservation restraints. But couldn’t we just do it one more time? Just one more, I promise. It was seriously the best meal I’ve had in my lifetime.
3. Because so many of my favorite experiences revolve around food, I’d also like to eat at Tarry Lodge again. If I have to spend the rest of my life having only had that Guanciale, Black Truffles and Sunny Side Egg once, I just might die from sadness. It’s like crack. On pizza.
4. Visit Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. It’s practically in my backyard. And yet six years living in Westchester and I haven’t made it over there for a concert or a walk through their supposed-magical gardens. What a doofus.
5. Spend a day at Rye Town Park and Beach. When you think of Westchester, you don’t really think “beach.” But in May, we visited the Rye beaches for the first time and were super impressed with their “kid friendliness.” Plus, I love how it opens up onto a really beautiful, expansive park, making for a great day of beach-going/picnicking. And seriously, being able to lay on the beach 20 minutes from my house instead of trekking to Long Island or the Jersey Shore is a major plus. (So why haven’t I been doing this every summer??)
6. Spend some days at W@tercooler in Tarrytown. It’s a cool co-working space run by a cool chick who is so dedicated to her space and her people and her craft that she spends her free time signing up awesome workshops, events and parties for W@tercooler’s off-hours. Seriously, if you work from home, or just work independently in some fashion, come pick up a day or week pass and see what this co-working thing is all about. The coffee is included!
7. Spend an afternoon strolling around at Ridge Hill. I was there when Whole Foods first opened, but that was before most of the other stores had opened. I also ate at Yard House once, and it was surprisingly good. Now, I keep hearing all about how amazing the Lord & Taylor is, and then there’s the exciting news about Legoland coming in and creating a monster-sized kid-zone for all the local LegoHeads… I really have to get down there and see for myself what’s happening in Yonkers!
8. Use the fire pit in our yard. We’ve been in this house for four years. FOUR YEARS. And when we bought it, we were totally excited about the built-in stone and brick fire-pit in the yard. It has log benches around it, and I could just picture us with our friends hanging out with some boozy cocktails and s’mores and having a fun little fire party after dark. Alas, we have never, ever even sat on one of those little benches. WTF? Who’s coming over, and can you bring the marshmallows?
9. Check out some bike trails. Hubby and I bought new bikes last year, and a sweet little seat for Jack on the back of hubby’s bike. We’ve been biking around the Croton reservoir a few times, but seriously… there are SO many trails and mountains and places to ride around here, and with fall coming, there is no excuse: let the bike riding excursions commence!! (Do you have a favorite place you like to bike?)
10. Take a boat ride on the Hudson. I’m not picky as to whether this is by canoe or sailboat or booze cruise – I just want to experience chilling on the water and taking in the Hudson Valley from that vantage point.

What’s on your Westchester bucket list? Do tell!

We ate like pigs. And then we ate a pig.

This weekend, in addition to being my birthday, was host to a series of food-focused fabulosity that deserves some air time.

Friday and Saturday were Westchester-based excursions — The Cookery and Tarry Lodge, respectively. If you’ve never been to either, you’re either a lazy sloth who survives on Doritos and diet Coke, or you hate Italian food. Neither are good excuses. Get your ass to one (or both) of these places, pronto.

The Cookery is Dave DiBari’s “all-hail-the-pig” lair. It’s where you’ll learn to respect the pig. Where you’ll let buttery, salty potatoes (cooked in goose fat) just melt in your mouth. Where you’ll think about resting your weary head on pillows of potato gnocchi. And it’s where you’ll watch carnivores’ pupils enlarge at the sight of pork cheek, falling straight off the bone.

And then there’s Tarry Lodge, where Mario Batali has reinvented pizza, turning it into something we as Americans probably don’t even deserve to enjoy. Here, it is dressed to the nines with bacon with a sprinkle of black truffles and accessorized with a sunny side up egg, cooked so perfectly you might believe you’ve never eaten a real “egg” before this.

Guanciale, Black Truffle and Sunny Side Egg Pizza

But I digress. Anyone worth their weight in pancetta has tried one or both of these hotspots before And if you haven’t, you’ve surely read the countless reviews praising each as legendary. So no need to beat a dead horse. Or pig. (Shit, I ate both this weekend.)

Instead, I’ll focus my recap on the culinary wonderland that was The Great GoogaMooga in my favorite part of Brooklyn — Prospect Park.

Googa Mooga Alter. Bow to your idol!

Let me start by saying, we went on day two. Day one was seemingly disastrous — it would have taken a lot of legwork to find a positive comment out there about the experience. So I didn’t. Any sane person would have just bagged it on Sunday, considering the tickets were free and we wouldn’t have been out a single cent. I mean, really: who – after hearing such terrible reviews – still treks out to Brooklyn from Mt Kisco with TWO toddlers in tow, no less? (Points to self: “This girl.”) I wasn’t in it alone, however. Joined by my battalion of foodies, Jamie O’Grady, Jesse Lubinsky and Jessica Rappaport (and those aforementioned toddlers), we dove right in. And we are SO. Glad. We did.

We managed to arrive at Prospect Park at about 11am on the nose. Being one of the first throngs of folks let through the gates felt liberating: look at all those food stands!! Not a line in sight! Oy… my stomach was already asking for forgiveness.

Here’s what I gorged on, in this order:

1. Sliders from DuMont Burger. What better way to start a Sunday morning than with some beef? Don’t judge. There was no line.
2. Burger with Roquefort from The Spotted Pig. I meaannnnnn…. really? Do I even need to review this? Pat LaFrieda meats, you had me at hello.

Any burger “experience” area that calls on Meryl Streep AND Jules from “Pulp Fiction” is alright in my book.

• Kasadela’s wings wrapped in nori. I have never, ever, in my life, considered wrapping crispy seaweed around a chicken wing. Until now. And I’ll never eat a chicken wing withOUT crispy seaweed wrapped around it, ever again.
• Chicken bao from Baohaus. This was crunchy, gooey, sweet and savory. Basically all of my favorite things stuffed into one little puffy pouch.
• Some sort of crazy bacon-wrapped hot dog smothered in guac from Crif Dogs. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it. I only had one bite, because really, I didn’t feel the need to waste tummy room on it.
• A salted peanut and chocolate covered frozen banana. I don’t even know what to say. As I stood there in the hot sun, grease already starting to emanate from my pores, and I looked down at this frozen banana covered in the most delicious dark chocolate shell, smothered with salty peanuts, I had but one thought: Clearly I was a fat girl in a previous life. There is no other excuse for this type of behavior.

Is that a salted peanut and chocolate covered frozen banana in your pocket or are you just normally a complete lard ass….

• Fried chicken from Blue Ribbon. We all agreed this tasted like it had BBQ corn chips coating it. Which clearly made me love it even more.
• I did not – I repeat, I did not – have relations with the foie gras donut, despite Jesse’s attempts at “ew, it’s so gross… taste it, please just taste it.” I abstained. And I’m a better woman for it.
• A real-deal Holyfield shaved ice from Wooly’s. I’m already craving another. Insanity. This should be a summer staple for every New Yorker.
• A bacon “flight.” In pedestrian terms, that basically means about 8 unique slabs of bacon, all in a neat little row. It was at this point my heart stopped functioning.
• Oh, and apparently I tried horse bologna. I’m not ok with this, and I fully hold Jesse Lubinsky accountable for my inability to ever look at a pony the same way again. If ever he approaches you and tells you to “try this House Bologna sandwich,” ask him to read the sign again before you bite down. I’m just sayin’.

It should be noted that I’ve left off about 43 items from this list. It’s for everyone’s benefit, really. For me because I had to endure it all once already, and if I go through it again I’ll really need a colonic. And for you because, well… by now you’re probably starving and ought to go get yourself something to eat.

Just please, whatever you do: don’t make it a foie gras donut.