Back in the days, when I rented apartments, I never held onto anything I didn’t use or need, because I didn’t want to move it when my lease ended.  After I bought my own house, I became lax, I’d make impulse purchases, put off my spring and fall closet cleaning, pack things away throughout the house, until there were no more spaces to hide anything.

Now that I am preparing my house for sale, I have the arduous task of cleaning, packing and throwing out a whole house full of collected crap.  Each time I make progress, I find six other projects that must be completed before I can move on to the next area of the house.  It’s been three weeks now and my friends and family say they see a big difference.  I still see too much crap.

When I’m not cleaning, I have been looking at houses.  I have narrowed my search area down to the towns of Cold Spring and Garrison, New York.  Every time I visit the town of Cold Spring, I fall further in love with it.  From the charming antique shops, to the SOHO-style boutiques, the art galleries and the high quality restaurants, this town exudes charm.  It combines the look and feel of classic New England, with its 17th and 18th Century structures, charming old bed and breakfast, and smattering of historic homes up and down the main street.

When you drive down the main road heading into town, you are surrounded by lush green mountains.  At the end of the road, you come upon the train station, which encases a fantastic indoor/outdoor restaurant and bar.  The ice cream shop sits slightly on the hill and just beyond the train tracks, you find the majestic Hudson River. 

For the first few months of my new house search, I couldn’t help but go back again and again to the fabulous Alsace-style French restaurant, Le Bouchon.  However, this weekend, my cousin Michele and I decided to try the highly rated Tuscan restaurant, Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill.

As we walked up toward the entrance, past the beautifully maintained English gardens and outdoor tables, we made our way down into the lower level of a very old and extremely well maintained historic building.

We sat down in a quiet little corner across the room from the bar.  Afternoon sunlight drifted down across our table and we nibbled on bread and really good olive oil.  We decided to share two appetizers; a wild mushrooms and prosciutto and an Italian cheese plate consisting of Cosmos, Bogart, Toussaint, Drunken Goat and Rita.

For dinner, Michele ordered the Orecchiette with walnuts and gorgonzola cream sauce while I ordered the Pappardelle with pulled rabbit, which the chef finished with a touch of white truffle oil that added a lovely earthy flavor to this delicious, delicate dish.

I wasn’t planning on ordering dessert, but Michele and I looked at the menu and couldn’t say no.  She ordered the Crème Caramel.  It was a perfect, creamy, delectable crème caramel.   I tried a scoop of the deliciously decadent Kailua Cappuccino ice cream from a local dairy farm in Rhinebeck, NY.

As we left, all I could think of is how wonderful it will be to live in a town with both a fantastic French restaurant and an incredible Italian restaurant within minutes of each other – and these are just the restaurants that I have already tried!