Eventually, the morning sunshine and aroma from the automatic coffeemaker brought everyone downstairs from their bedrooms... even if Lewis tried hiding under the covers. Ha ha!
Being a great organizer, Lee had taken care of the car problem before we assembled for breakfast! One call to "Triple A" scheduled a tow truck to bring his SUV to the dealership. Another call arranged for a taxi to bring Pierre to the local train station. The last call reserved a rental car for us, for the remainder of the weekend. All was well!
In fact, the dealership had his car ready within a few hours, so the rental car was cancelled, and we were able to proceed onward to our outing, as scheduled. We visited Sunnyside, the "bachelor cottage" home of famed early-American author, Washington Irving. It is situated in the Village of Irvington, named for the author in 1854.
The cottage was constructed in 1650 by a Dutch-American named Wolfert Acker, who was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn... (when it was spelled the Dutch way: Breuckelen). In fact, Flatbush was colonized by Dutch farmers in 1651 and achieved its name as a adaptation of the Dutch words Vlacke Bos (Flat Forest).
Residents are proud of that historic place, just as they are enthusiastic about Halloween! It was evident by the books for sale in Ye Olde Gift Shoppe.
Do you know the storyline? Watch this short video from the 1999 Johnny Depp and all-star film...
Wearing historic costumes, several tour guides took visitors around the grounds and through each room of Sunnyside. Unfortunately, no picture-taking was allowed inside Irving's home.
We visited the old ice storage house, sunken into the ground. Then, we meandered through the property.
He is also famous for penning Rip Van Winkle, Bracebridge Hall, The Devil and Tom Walker, as well as fanciful biographies about Christopher Columbus.
Most people don't know that, in 1812, he described a Christmastime St. Nicholas flying over NY treetops in a flying wagon! It might be the precursor to Santa's flying sleigh. That tale inspired others, most famously Clement Clarke Moore in 1823 with A Visit from St. Nicholas a.k.a. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. (Moore was born in NYC in 1779). Note: early authors still called the gift-giver Saint Nicholas, per the Dutch fable of Sinterklaas, which inspired the American invention of Santa Claus. Interestingly, Moore's poem described St. Nick as “an elf” riding a “miniature sleigh” with eight “tiny reindeer”. Even though much of the poem’s details became “gospel” for other tales of Santa Claus, his miniscule size was ignored. When naming two reindeer, Moore used the Dutch words for thunder and lightning: Donder and Blitzen.
We drove back to Wixon House for some cozy "afternoon tea" and Sauvignon Blanc. Lewis looked cute, awash in jungle prints!
Apropos for a room with bookshelves during the autumn season, use this link to read a clever autumnal poem:
We enjoyed homemade ravioli, fried calamari, tender veal, and shrimp over freshly-made linguine. Other diners arrived in costumes, and a table of 6 teenage girls (in monochromatic dresses) celebrated a Halloweentime birthday. Some customers arrived in their boats from islands on the lake.
While it firmed in the freezer, we went upstairs and got comfortable in the terrycloth bathrobes that Lee provided. They were perfect on a cool Fall night. On the stovetop, Lewis brewed warm mulled cider (with a cheesecloth full of spices). I shook up some pumpkin-butter martinis and presented the bars of Ecuadorian chocolate that we brought! Grown in the Southern Hemisphere, it is delectably dark: 65% cacao.
With plenty of sweets and beverages, we sat in the living room and watched the thriller movie, Cellular.
Lewis, Lee, and I cooked dinner. I prepared my homemade chestnut stuffing (with apple cider, sage, bacon, cream, and brandy to deglaze the pan so the drippings add extra piquancy). I'll share my recipe with you:
- 1 loaf of country-style bread cut into 3/4-inch cubes (8 cups)
- 1/2 pound sliced bacon, cut crosswise into half-inch pieces
- 3 medium onions, coarsely chopped
- 3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
- 1 pound of pork sausage meat (or buy sausages and remove their casings)
- 1 turkey liver (optional if it comes with your turkey), coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup cognac or brandy
- 1 1/2 cups of cream (not merely milk)
- 1 cup low-sodium turkey stock or low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 large eggs
- 14-ounce jar of peeled, cooked chestnuts, coarsely crumbled
- 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of powdered sage
- 1 teaspoon of powdered thyme
- freshly-ground black pepper
Put racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spread bread cubes on a large baking pan and bake in lower third of oven until completely dry, 25 to 30 minutes.
Cook bacon in a skillet over moderate-high heat, stirring, until crisp. Put bacon in a large bowl.
Pour off and discard all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat from the skillet. Sauté onions in the residual fat over moderate-high heat--scraping up brown bits--for 10 minutes. Add celery and stir for 3 minutes, then transfer to the bowl.
Cook sausage in skillet, stirring until meat is no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes, then transfer to onion/bacon mixture.
Pour off any remaining fat from skillet. Away from the heat, add cognac. Then, deglaze the skillet by simmering over moderate heat, scraping up any brown bits, 1 minute, and add contents to the bowl.
If you do not stuff this into a bird for cooking, you must cook it by itself so increase oven temperature to 375°F.
In another bowl, soak bread cubes in cream, tossing frequently, until liquid is absorbed. Stir that into the sausage mixture, discarding any remaining cream. In the empty bowl, stir together turkey stock, cider vinegar, and eggs and add to stuffing mixture. Stir in chestnuts, herbs, and pepper.
If cooking by itself, pour stuffing in a baking dish and cover with foil, then bake in upper third of oven 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake until top is crisp, about 20 minutes more.
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