With windows facing east to catch morning rays of sunshine, our bedroom was beautiful. As you can see, I awoke first.
Lewis likes the bedroom cool, so he set the thermostat for 69 degrees. It certainly kept our bouquet of flowers chilled. The bedroom had two walk-in closets: His & His. (So, we each used one). Being a gracious host, Lee left bathrobes for Lewis and I to wear. I wrapped a cotton robe around me and sat cozily in the bedroom's adjoining sitting room.
Peering through the window, I admired songbirds dashing between tree branches. I also perused the assortment of books. Suddenly, I heard a subtle beep from the wall-console; the system alerts occupants in the master bedroom when someone enters/exits the house. Being curious, I went down the grand staircase but nobody was near the foyer or outside the front door. As I passed through the formal dining room, I saw Lee driving away... probably to fetch us fresh-baked goodies.
Just then, the kitchen coffeemaker beeped to announce the completion of its brewing, so I poured a mug of Jamaican Blue. I went to the library, nestled into a leather chair and read books. It was peaceful: no rush, no schedule... just chipmunks and bluejays outside.
Lee returned, just as Lewis strode into the room wearing his bathrobe. Our trio chatted about our day's agenda. Ron appeared in the doorway and asked about the menu for breakfast? Lee answered that were was only a marginal one because he made us 11:30 lunch reservations at the Culinary Institute of America! Wow!
As the preeminent culinary college in the nation, the CIA is comparable to Juilliard for music. Seen below, its splendid campus overlooks the Hudson River.
It has several culinary schools, each focused on a nationality, and each has a real restaurant that gives "service" and "cooking" training for the students. Ingredients are sourced locally from the fertile Hudson River Valley, and from the states in New England. (In the 1600s, New England was the region settled by people from England, and that included upstate NY, while downstate NY was owned by the Dutch and called New Netherland. But within 40 years, the British took it from the Dutch. Having attended a university in upstate NY—full of New Englanders who lived there—I contentedly adopt the habit of considering NY part of New England).
-"Crawford" (24-month, cave-aged, cloth-bound Cheddar, praised by the New York Times) from 5-Spoke Creamery, which makes small-batch raw (70% of European cheeses are raw) cow's milk cheeses, via its restored 110-year old dairy farm, which is 100% solar! Their pastured cows roam free, munching on grasses, herbs, and flowers. No pesticides or hormones. No cornfeed. New England's terrior gives the milk its unique flavor. They cows are milked daily at 4am, and cheesemaking begins at 9am. Only raw milk has the enzyme phosphataze intact to allow the body to absorb more calcium and digest lactose. The milk's beneficial bacteria help your intestines and immune system. The creamery looks like this...
-"Jean-Louis" from Bobolink Dairy and (wood-fired) Bakehouse, comes from a 22-pound wheel named for Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, who encouraged food artisans to aim for bolder, earthier flavors. The dairy looks like this...
-"Toma Celena" Italian-style cheese: nutty, hinting of grains, apples and caramelized milk. It's from Cooperstown Cheese Company, which uses milk from Brown Swiss cows—raised naturally on Lester Tyler's family farm (Sunny Acres Swiss)—and is cave-aged. The farm looks like this...
-"Kunik" a triple-cream wheel made from goat's milk and Jersey cow cream. (Jersey cows are from the Bailiwick of Jersey...
When our waiter mentioned organic chorizo, we thought of the acorn-fed Iberico pork that we remembered tasting on the Iberian Peninsula. (If you have the chance to try that, it was awarded a Denomination of Origin to protect its characteristics). However, it was a pleasant surprise to get duck chorizo! It was a "special menu item", so we did not see where it was sourced. It was delectable!
*To see my amazing university experiences, please use this link:
https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2013/05/college-memories.html
Reservations at those restaurants are made months in advance, ergo Lee achieved a last-minute achievement! It is a handsome place, full of gastronomic history. We love it!
We walked past classrooms for sommeliers, chefs, waiters, and hotel management.
Through glass walls, we admired students in various kitchens.
We lunched at the American Bounty Restaurant, a "farm to table" eatery that sources all of its ingredients from the surrounding Hudson River Valley.
Through glass walls, we admired students in various kitchens.
We lunched at the American Bounty Restaurant, a "farm to table" eatery that sources all of its ingredients from the surrounding Hudson River Valley.
Lewis and I were soooooo excited! The poultry, lamb, pork, dairy, vegetables, bread ingredients, and honey comes from different small-batch, organic farms. They only serve luncheon from 11:30am to 1pm. We were the first to arrive.
Our bright-eyed waiter proffered the cocktail menu on an iPad. I spotted a locally-made rye from the Finger Lakes region, so I ordered a Manhattan "straight up". Lewis tried a gin from Green Hook Ginsmiths in Kings County (a.k.a. Brooklyn), NYC. (Kings County is named for England's King Charles II). Ron drank a watermelon punch, with vodka from Harvest Spirits in Valatie, NY. Lee sipped a rum from Taconic Distillery in nearby Port Chester. The sound of the bartender's cocktail shaker fiercely working its magic was music to our ears.
Of course, we ordered the Local Cheese Board with house-made charcuterie. These were the cheeses and where they came from:
Of course, we ordered the Local Cheese Board with house-made charcuterie. These were the cheeses and where they came from:
-"Crawford" (24-month, cave-aged, cloth-bound Cheddar, praised by the New York Times) from 5-Spoke Creamery, which makes small-batch raw (70% of European cheeses are raw) cow's milk cheeses, via its restored 110-year old dairy farm, which is 100% solar! Their pastured cows roam free, munching on grasses, herbs, and flowers. No pesticides or hormones. No cornfeed. New England's terrior gives the milk its unique flavor. They cows are milked daily at 4am, and cheesemaking begins at 9am. Only raw milk has the enzyme phosphataze intact to allow the body to absorb more calcium and digest lactose. The milk's beneficial bacteria help your intestines and immune system. The creamery looks like this...
-"Jean-Louis" from Bobolink Dairy and (wood-fired) Bakehouse, comes from a 22-pound wheel named for Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, who encouraged food artisans to aim for bolder, earthier flavors. The dairy looks like this...
-Goat cheese from 30-year-old Coach Goat Farm, which is faithful to traditional French farmstead methods (otherwise only found in remote villages of France). Their 900 French Alpine dairy goats were born/raised 2 hours north of NYC. Those goats are descendants of 26 that were brought to America. They're milked at 4am and again at 3pm, each goat giving a gallon. Each gallon is pasteurized but not homogenized and makes 1 lb. of cheese, which has a shelf-life of 14 days. NYC's 3 and 4-star restaurants serve their cheese. The farm looks like this...
-"Toma Celena" Italian-style cheese: nutty, hinting of grains, apples and caramelized milk. It's from Cooperstown Cheese Company, which uses milk from Brown Swiss cows—raised naturally on Lester Tyler's family farm (Sunny Acres Swiss)—and is cave-aged. The farm looks like this...
-"Kunik" a triple-cream wheel made from goat's milk and Jersey cow cream. (Jersey cows are from the Bailiwick of Jersey...
...a self-governing Crown Dependency island ruled by the British monarch since 1290. It is not part of the United Kingdom; it has its own international identity. New Jersey was named for it, too). That cheese was the 2010 Blue Ribbon winner at the American Cheese Society's North American contest! It comes from Nettle Meadow Farm in the Adirondack Mountains: home to goats, sheep, and several llamas. Animals feed on organic hay, raspberry leaf, garlic, and wild herbs. They also have a sanctuary for "retired" animals and rescued farm animals. Their principles are natural ingredients, happy & healthy livestock, and hand-crafted artisanal cheeses & milk. The cheesemaking facility looks like this...
When our waiter mentioned organic chorizo, we thought of the acorn-fed Iberico pork that we remembered tasting on the Iberian Peninsula. (If you have the chance to try that, it was awarded a Denomination of Origin to protect its characteristics). However, it was a pleasant surprise to get duck chorizo! It was a "special menu item", so we did not see where it was sourced. It was delectable!
For lunch, I savored pan-roasted organic Duck (from family-run KNK Poultry Farms), alongside a creamy barley risotto, heirloom carrots, glazed baby beets, and hearty merlot sauce. Scrumptious!
Lewis drooled over his braised Short Ribs from Highland Farm in Germantown. It was served alongside buttermilk whipped potatoes and roasted root veggies from Meadow View Farm in New Paltz, as well as Rock Hedge Herbs foraged from Pleasant Valley.
*Incidentally, America has many communities named Germantown because of a huge influx of German immigrants from the 1700s-1910s. To see our trip to Germany, please use this link:
Lewis drooled over his braised Short Ribs from Highland Farm in Germantown. It was served alongside buttermilk whipped potatoes and roasted root veggies from Meadow View Farm in New Paltz, as well as Rock Hedge Herbs foraged from Pleasant Valley.
*Incidentally, America has many communities named Germantown because of a huge influx of German immigrants from the 1700s-1910s. To see our trip to Germany, please use this link:
Lee loved his pan-roasted chicken with mushroom sauce. The mushrooms are from Bulich Mushroom Company, in the Catskill Mountains.
Ron's pork loin was a tad dry, but he liked it. We decided to sip some after-lunch Riesling Ice Wine (from Cave Spring Cellars in Ontario, Canada), in lieu of dessert. Yet, as a total surprise, Lee arranged for a Passionfruit Cremeaux—with compressed pineapple and caramelized white chocolate ice cream—to arrive, as a belated celebration of my August birthday! It was a wonderful gesture.
After the meal, we gladly completed a satisfaction survey to help the students do great work. We were glad to encourage them, and show appreciation for their diligent efforts and teamwork. Then, we got into Lee's car and ventured forth!
Ron's pork loin was a tad dry, but he liked it. We decided to sip some after-lunch Riesling Ice Wine (from Cave Spring Cellars in Ontario, Canada), in lieu of dessert. Yet, as a total surprise, Lee arranged for a Passionfruit Cremeaux—with compressed pineapple and caramelized white chocolate ice cream—to arrive, as a belated celebration of my August birthday! It was a wonderful gesture.
After the meal, we gladly completed a satisfaction survey to help the students do great work. We were glad to encourage them, and show appreciation for their diligent efforts and teamwork. Then, we got into Lee's car and ventured forth!
Then, Lee drove our "merry troupe of gentlemen" to Hyde Park: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's hometown. It is in Duchess County, established in 1683 to honor England's Duchess of York. (Dukes County was ceded to Massachusetts in 1691 and encompasses Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands--discovered in 1602 and named for England's Queen Elizabeth I). The house where FDR was born is called Springwood.
Coming from an old Dutch family, FDR's elitist mother, Sara, considered their "old-money" wealth to be better than newcomers like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. FDR was a member of the exclusive Holland Society of New York. Membership still requires lineage in the direct, male line of an ancestor who lived in the New Netherland Colony before 1675.
Lewis and I enjoyed the 2010 film, Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray at FDR.
Look at the scenes from the movie to understand what we imagined the inside of FDR's upstate home would look like:
In reality, it looks nothing like that. It's quite dismal.
The filmmakers were too embarrassed to truly represent our former's president's actual home, so they fictionalized it. The movie only used the exterior facade of the home, which FDR created over that austere house, once he became President of the USA. Perhaps from being governor of New York, he learned how to make a phony veneer over something that was inadequate to lure people... which NY does very well.
Here's the REAL interior: small rooms, dark, crowded with heavy Victorian furniture, and small tables/chairs. Compare the pictures (above) of the dining room in the movie, with the reality...
Children ate at the smaller table in the alcove. That meager room was where FDR dined with various European royalty. The film fictitiously made it look like this...
It's no surprise that another farce about FDR occurred. Most of his life was fictionalized by himself, the federal government, and the media. Lies and fabrications were broadcast to the world's people about his marriage, business dealings, international politics, personal wealth, wheelchair, and being a cuckhold to his mother. Despite the era of cameras and motion pictures, the media was complicit in hiding the fact that FDR was half-paralyzed. So, why not falsify images of his home, too?
Even Ron—who was a devoted fan of FDR—looked disappointed, as seen below...
Compare Springwood's dark foyer to the nearby Vanderbilt's entrance foyer (seen below),
Up the narrowly curving stairs (more appropriate in a Swiss Alps chalet), we arrived at the second floor.
The "great president" of our nation—who served 4 unprecedented terms—occupied a small austere bedroom, from birth until he AFTER he graduated from Harvard! OMG! It looks rigidly puritanical.
After FDR's Ivy League graduation, he was finally allowed to sleep in a nicer bed. His overbearing mother oversaw his marriage to a distant cousin, a lesbian named Eleanor Roosevelt. (The film also hinted at her homosexuality). Yes, he oddly married someone who already had his family name.
Aside from disliking Eleanor's "furniture-building" girlfriends and "equal rights attitude", Sara snootily "looked down" upon Eleanor's side of the Roosevelt family tree (from Long Island)—even though that branch of the family included former American President, Teddy Roosevelt!
To keep an eye on her philandering son and daughter-in-law (each with their own girlfriends), Sara bought them a townhouse in Manhattan... and bought the neighboring townhouse for herself. Then, she knocked a hole between them, so she could enter her son's home whenever she wanted! As a "momma's boy", FDR accepted it. Despite FDR's construction of a cabin hideaway for himself on the Springwood property...
...his mother insisted that he spend his nights in the family home, near her. FDR meekly abided by her wishes.
I'm sure Eleanor preferred living in the White House. At Springwood, she and her husband did not share the same bed. She slept in a modest side room, adjoining FDR's bedroom (notice his telephones, directly connected to Washington DC).
Meanwhile, Sara had a grand corner bedroom—right next to them—that seems bigger than both FDR's and Eleanor's together! Can you imagine being married to someone who feels compelled to sleep in the room next to his mother?
Speaking of bedrooms, it's true that Winston Churchill and the King & Queen of England visited FDR there, before WWII. I'm sure they were shocked—after their grand fanfare arrival in NYC—when they saw how miserly Springwood was.
Instead of luxurious accommodations, Sara's austere home—which FDR continued to use while President—only had this room for them (seen below). Look at the homely beds that the King and Queen slept on! "Old money", indeed.
Well, at least the hillside view outside is amazing! Other people in our tour were equally befuddled why Sara's house was so dark inside, instead of allowing sunlight from the gorgeous surroundings? It indicates her personality.
FDR created a museum about himself on Springwood's grounds to showcase his accomplishments in a better style.
It also shows how affluent the Roosevelt family was, overall. Below are diamond stick-pins that FDR designed for his groomsmen. The sterling silver sugar shaker was from their Manhattan home. That was "pre-war living".
Famous for his "fireside chats" on the radio, FDR expressed his belief that government should help its citizenry, out of social duty and not just out of charity. He was the last American president to make weekly "addresses" into people's homes, as he updated them on his policies and diplomatic missions around the world. He did that throughout the Great Depression, the industrial mobilization of America, and machine & atomic weaponized World War II.
The museum mentioned FDR's 6 children (1 didn't live beyond a year). Growing up in that household seems to have affected—or infected—each of them: Anna was married 3 times and replaced her mother as the Hostess in the White House; James was married 4 times; Elliot was married 5 times; FDR Jr. was married 5 times; and John was married 2 times. Whew!
Returning to Wixon House, we prepared more appetizers from the local gourmet market. Lewis lit the gas fireplace (Lee has a wood-burning one in his second living room) and perused a book of Cartier jewelry creations. I stirred up some martinis, in commemoration of the ones FDR loved to make at Springwood and the White House during his famous "Happy Hours".
We pondered what to do about dinner. Lee surprised us by spontaneously suggesting that we dine out at a nearby lakeside "burger joint". Sorry, I didn't take any pictures. But, we got an old-school, low-class waitress: she gruffly seemed like a truck driver... the kind you see in movies about dingy diners. It was hysterical how she gave blunt replies to all of Ron's queries:
Him "Where's the malt vinegar for my fish & chips?"
Her "You don't get any. It always comes with tartar sauce."
Him "Can I get ice in my iced tea?"
Her "You should've said that before I brought it to ya, honey."
Her "What's wrong with the food? You guys swapped plates."
Him "It's none of your business how I eat my food."
Her "Well, you seem pissed off at me for something that's not my fault."
Lee, Lewis and I did our best to hide our smirks and laughter at their back-and-forth chatter—especially Ron's deadpan face of unappreciation. We took our desserts "To Go" and returned to Lee's home to enjoy them.
Merriment resumed and we chatted, gossiped and laughed until nearly 2 am. Tomorrow would be a total surprise for us!
Coming from an old Dutch family, FDR's elitist mother, Sara, considered their "old-money" wealth to be better than newcomers like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. FDR was a member of the exclusive Holland Society of New York. Membership still requires lineage in the direct, male line of an ancestor who lived in the New Netherland Colony before 1675.
Furthermore, Sara refused to acknowledge the Vanderbilts, who lived 2 miles down the road (on land previously owned by the Astors). Ironically, it was the "newcomers" of American Big Business that coerced FDR to repeal his 1930s "New Deal" and pro-"middle class" mandates, in exchange for their increased manufacturing output during World War II. FDR authorized it. Those corporations used the government to enrich themselves with wartime contracts—at inflated rates—while ensuring that their competitors suffered scarcity during the war. Since those conglomerates got paid highly for any employee's work, it was the only time in American history that women and minorities got equal jobs. That "equality" was repealed after the war, and no president fixed it. Sadly, that is part of FDR's legacy: a bloated bureaucracy, taxpayer wastage, and Big Business running amok with government-sanctioned power. Such miserable things continue today.
Lewis and I enjoyed the 2010 film, Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray at FDR.
Look at the scenes from the movie to understand what we imagined the inside of FDR's upstate home would look like:
In reality, it looks nothing like that. It's quite dismal.
The filmmakers were too embarrassed to truly represent our former's president's actual home, so they fictionalized it. The movie only used the exterior facade of the home, which FDR created over that austere house, once he became President of the USA. Perhaps from being governor of New York, he learned how to make a phony veneer over something that was inadequate to lure people... which NY does very well.
Here's the REAL interior: small rooms, dark, crowded with heavy Victorian furniture, and small tables/chairs. Compare the pictures (above) of the dining room in the movie, with the reality...
Children ate at the smaller table in the alcove. That meager room was where FDR dined with various European royalty. The film fictitiously made it look like this...
Even Ron—who was a devoted fan of FDR—looked disappointed, as seen below...
Compare Springwood's dark foyer to the nearby Vanderbilt's entrance foyer (seen below),
The "great president" of our nation—who served 4 unprecedented terms—occupied a small austere bedroom, from birth until he AFTER he graduated from Harvard! OMG! It looks rigidly puritanical.
After FDR's Ivy League graduation, he was finally allowed to sleep in a nicer bed. His overbearing mother oversaw his marriage to a distant cousin, a lesbian named Eleanor Roosevelt. (The film also hinted at her homosexuality). Yes, he oddly married someone who already had his family name.
Aside from disliking Eleanor's "furniture-building" girlfriends and "equal rights attitude", Sara snootily "looked down" upon Eleanor's side of the Roosevelt family tree (from Long Island)—even though that branch of the family included former American President, Teddy Roosevelt!
To keep an eye on her philandering son and daughter-in-law (each with their own girlfriends), Sara bought them a townhouse in Manhattan... and bought the neighboring townhouse for herself. Then, she knocked a hole between them, so she could enter her son's home whenever she wanted! As a "momma's boy", FDR accepted it. Despite FDR's construction of a cabin hideaway for himself on the Springwood property...
...his mother insisted that he spend his nights in the family home, near her. FDR meekly abided by her wishes.
I'm sure Eleanor preferred living in the White House. At Springwood, she and her husband did not share the same bed. She slept in a modest side room, adjoining FDR's bedroom (notice his telephones, directly connected to Washington DC).
Meanwhile, Sara had a grand corner bedroom—right next to them—that seems bigger than both FDR's and Eleanor's together! Can you imagine being married to someone who feels compelled to sleep in the room next to his mother?
Speaking of bedrooms, it's true that Winston Churchill and the King & Queen of England visited FDR there, before WWII. I'm sure they were shocked—after their grand fanfare arrival in NYC—when they saw how miserly Springwood was.
Instead of luxurious accommodations, Sara's austere home—which FDR continued to use while President—only had this room for them (seen below). Look at the homely beds that the King and Queen slept on! "Old money", indeed.
FDR created a museum about himself on Springwood's grounds to showcase his accomplishments in a better style.
It also shows how affluent the Roosevelt family was, overall. Below are diamond stick-pins that FDR designed for his groomsmen. The sterling silver sugar shaker was from their Manhattan home. That was "pre-war living".
Famous for his "fireside chats" on the radio, FDR expressed his belief that government should help its citizenry, out of social duty and not just out of charity. He was the last American president to make weekly "addresses" into people's homes, as he updated them on his policies and diplomatic missions around the world. He did that throughout the Great Depression, the industrial mobilization of America, and machine & atomic weaponized World War II.
This Cartier clock was given to FDR as an inaugural gift, in 1933... long before WWII erupted in 1939. It seems peculiar that three of the four time zones on the clock's dial are for London, Berlin, and Tokyo. How could somebody in 1933 know how important those three capital cities would be during the war?
Like the true Victorian gentleman that he was (born 1882), FDR liked knick-knacks and collectibles, as evident by his White House desk.
The museum mentioned FDR's 6 children (1 didn't live beyond a year). Growing up in that household seems to have affected—or infected—each of them: Anna was married 3 times and replaced her mother as the Hostess in the White House; James was married 4 times; Elliot was married 5 times; FDR Jr. was married 5 times; and John was married 2 times. Whew!
Returning to Wixon House, we prepared more appetizers from the local gourmet market. Lewis lit the gas fireplace (Lee has a wood-burning one in his second living room) and perused a book of Cartier jewelry creations. I stirred up some martinis, in commemoration of the ones FDR loved to make at Springwood and the White House during his famous "Happy Hours".
We pondered what to do about dinner. Lee surprised us by spontaneously suggesting that we dine out at a nearby lakeside "burger joint". Sorry, I didn't take any pictures. But, we got an old-school, low-class waitress: she gruffly seemed like a truck driver... the kind you see in movies about dingy diners. It was hysterical how she gave blunt replies to all of Ron's queries:
Him "Where's the malt vinegar for my fish & chips?"
Her "You don't get any. It always comes with tartar sauce."
Him "Can I get ice in my iced tea?"
Her "You should've said that before I brought it to ya, honey."
Her "What's wrong with the food? You guys swapped plates."
Him "It's none of your business how I eat my food."
Her "Well, you seem pissed off at me for something that's not my fault."
Lee, Lewis and I did our best to hide our smirks and laughter at their back-and-forth chatter—especially Ron's deadpan face of unappreciation. We took our desserts "To Go" and returned to Lee's home to enjoy them.
Merriment resumed and we chatted, gossiped and laughed until nearly 2 am. Tomorrow would be a total surprise for us!
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