Thursday, June 12, 2014

Exploring the Catskills!


Hiking in the Catskills is a great way to spend the day with my nephew, Colton!   We drove a little over 3 hours to the trail head for Windham, Burnt Knob, and Thomas Cole Mountains.  Yigo was our mascot. We started on the trail to Windham Mtn. The trail crossed two creeks, and then went up. Colton started running straight away. He waited for us at the first look out point. We continued on a little further and decided to turn around after a set amount of time.  The trek was a good part of the hip healing, and Colton had a good uphill workout.  

In addition to the hiking in central NY, the views during a daily bike ride is unbeatable!  
I was coming up SawMill Rd. and I saw this behind me. I could not resist. 
Of course the best part about a summer night in NY are the sunsets!


Cooking!!

I have to admit that I am a bona fide foodie. Yes, I know I am among the many others in this world that have a love for preparing, tasting, cooking, creating, tasting, and eating food!  Watching Chopped is a ritual.  I have learned SO much for the past 2 years from watching that show.  Of course reading recipes helps too.

I wanted to share a wonderful Summer Local Desert:

Strawberries (picked fresh from the fields of Common Thread in Hamilton, NY) and cream.
The cream is not local (sorry).  You can prepare the cream a variety of ways. One time I did Ricotta and Sour Cream with vanilla and lemon flavoring. Another time I combined Ricotta and Banilla Stoney Farm Yogurt with assorted flavorings.

The strawberries are washed, but into pieces set aside.
Balsamic mixture:
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 cup Balsamic vinegar
Melt the sugar in the vinegar
Pour the mixture over cold strawberries and toss to combine with chopped basil.

There needs to be a crunch element, so I suggest slivered dark chocolate to garnish the top. (not pictured)

It's a delightful and refreshing desert!! I hope you like it!