I hate clutter.  If I can't use something, I don't want it sitting around my house.  Unfortunately, it has been several years since I conducted a good purging of all the crap cluttering up my house – crap that slowly drove me insane.

I couldn't take it anymore.  This morning, I woke up and started to throw things out.  I began by shredding a year's worth of papers.  Then I stacked up old movies and CDs that I don't watch ore listen to anymore and put them in a box on my front porch.  During this process, my cousin Michele called.  When I told her about my house-cleaning efforts, she decided to come by and see what she could recover and take to Good Will.

We worked most of the day.  When we tired of working, we went for a drive through the park to look at the peaking fall foliage. I took Michele to see some of the old towns nearby that died out when the state built the NYS Thruway Interstate right through the middle of them.  

We visited Arden, a nearly defunct old town bordering Harriman State Park that now houses some historic buildings and a handful of residential homes.  To get there, you have to cross a road that overpasses the Thruway.  Crossing that bridge feels like stepping back 200 years in time.  There is a haunted feeling that slowly seeps into your soul as you explore the two main roads in Arden.  We passed beautiful fields of tall grass that sloped into the hills, and then entered into a magnificent mixed conifer and hardwood forest with old cobblestone borders along the roads and steep slopes protecting a stream.  Both of us felt an overwhelming presence, as though we crossed this plane of existence and entered into another reality.  We drove along until we reached many No Trespassing signs, took the hint, and turned back home.

Tonight, Michele craved steak.  We stopped at the local Stop and Shop, picked up some boneless eye-steaks and asparagus and headed back to the house.  For dinner, I sautéed the steaks in a hot copper skillet and then finished them in a hot oven.  While the steaks sizzled, I cooked some Orzo pasta and then combined it with some of my homemade tomato sauce and fresh grated parmesan cheese and I steamed the asparagus with slices of fresh garlic and white truffle oil (that I brought back from Provence.  When the steaks reached medium rare, I took them off the pan and let them rest.  I reduced some Merlot in the pan with tarragon and garlic and finished the sauce with some butter, which I draped over the steaks.  The whole meal took 20 minutes to cook.

We drank the rest of the bottle of Merlot, which had moderate tannins and a lovely dark cherry and licorice note that played well with the tarragon in the pan sauce.