The Village Tea Room
Happy New Year! I hope that all of you, dear readers, have enjoyed a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Before I share my thoughts with you about day one of this year, 2009, I want to reflect back on the past month… my month of blog silence.
December turned out to be quite a tumultuous month for me at my quiet country home. About a week after Thanksgiving, we experienced major ice storms in the area. An old ash tree fell across our road, taking out the power lines, the pole and the transformer; effectively leaving my neighbors and me with no power, heat or water for about four days.
After camping out in my living room in front of the wood burning stove for days, I began the enormous clean-up outside (I have lots more to do in the spring), I began cleaning up my house inside. The storm flooded my basement, so anything I had on the floor down there had to go. I also sorted through my over-abundance of reading materials, donating about five boxes of books to my local library.
The tough news came when I asked my neighbor (he’s a plumber) to help me fix a leak in my toilet. We took up some floor tiles in the process and discovered that my whole floor had rotted out. One thing led to another and I found myself preparing to gut the bathroom and completely remodel it. Much of my holiday break went toward buying materials and arranging for contractors.
I have to also confess, my dear readers, that throughout all thus tumult, I found myself in a bit of a blog slump. I ate out a number of times, but nothing warranted a blog. I cooked at home several times, but one can only blog so many roasted chickens without boring one’s readers with redundancy.
As we begin the year anew, I bring to you fresh creativity, new recipes and new restaurants for your reading pleasure.
Welcoming in the New Year
Most people think of New Years eve as a drinking/parting binge that goes all night. While I have had my share of those New Year’s parties, my favorite part of this particular holiday is New Years day. I love to wake up on New Year’s morning fresh and ready to welcome in the coming year with good feelings and intentions. I find this day to be quite joyous. As such, I often put a great deal of thought into how I would like to spend it.
This year, I greeted 2009 by driving up with my cousin Michele to New Paltz to meet our friend Karen for lunch at The Village Tea Shop. It turned out to be quite a pretty day: bright skies, crisp air, puffy clouds floating by, snow blanketing the sidewalks, lawns and rooftops; the beauty of the New Year abounded.
We sat at a corner table, overlooking a wide selection of local and imported wines. I noticed the brochures about the SLOW foods movement. It feels good to support restaurants that share my personal beliefs on local agriculture and food sourcing.
We wanted a Tea for Two service for all of us to share. Unfortunately, they ran out of the large currant scones that I adore so much. Instead, Michele ordered a turkey pot pie and I ordered the Tea for One (with mini-scones) and a dingle pie appetizer.
What is Dingle Pie? Dingle is a town in Ireland and a Dingle pie is like a large Empanada filled with lamb and vegetables in a brown gravy. It is utterly delicious.
Karen ordered a pot of Chai with soymilk. Michele had the regular chai and I ordered this amazing herbal tea blend called Roobios Chocolate Mint. It tasted like a mint chocolate candy, yet had no sugar, syrup or artificial flavoring of any type.
I shared my assortment of finger sandwiches with everyone, but greedily kept the mini scone with the clotted cream and raspberry jam to myself.
Luckily for me, they also serve an assortment of delicious cookies...
Michele ordered a delicious and decadant dessert... chai pudding.
We talked and caught up with Karen for a while, lingering over our tea.
Before we left, I walked past the dessert tray, even though I just ate a completely satisfying and delicious lunch, I gazed longingly at their confectionary creations…
As we welcomed in the New Year together, I felt warmth for all the friends and family in my life. I deliberately chose to spend this day with friends, and I feel gratitude to each of them for being in my life. My intentions for 2009 (as opposed to resolutions) are to spend more time with the people I love and share more of myself with them.
December turned out to be quite a tumultuous month for me at my quiet country home. About a week after Thanksgiving, we experienced major ice storms in the area. An old ash tree fell across our road, taking out the power lines, the pole and the transformer; effectively leaving my neighbors and me with no power, heat or water for about four days.
After camping out in my living room in front of the wood burning stove for days, I began the enormous clean-up outside (I have lots more to do in the spring), I began cleaning up my house inside. The storm flooded my basement, so anything I had on the floor down there had to go. I also sorted through my over-abundance of reading materials, donating about five boxes of books to my local library.
The tough news came when I asked my neighbor (he’s a plumber) to help me fix a leak in my toilet. We took up some floor tiles in the process and discovered that my whole floor had rotted out. One thing led to another and I found myself preparing to gut the bathroom and completely remodel it. Much of my holiday break went toward buying materials and arranging for contractors.
I have to also confess, my dear readers, that throughout all thus tumult, I found myself in a bit of a blog slump. I ate out a number of times, but nothing warranted a blog. I cooked at home several times, but one can only blog so many roasted chickens without boring one’s readers with redundancy.
As we begin the year anew, I bring to you fresh creativity, new recipes and new restaurants for your reading pleasure.
Welcoming in the New Year
Most people think of New Years eve as a drinking/parting binge that goes all night. While I have had my share of those New Year’s parties, my favorite part of this particular holiday is New Years day. I love to wake up on New Year’s morning fresh and ready to welcome in the coming year with good feelings and intentions. I find this day to be quite joyous. As such, I often put a great deal of thought into how I would like to spend it.
This year, I greeted 2009 by driving up with my cousin Michele to New Paltz to meet our friend Karen for lunch at The Village Tea Shop. It turned out to be quite a pretty day: bright skies, crisp air, puffy clouds floating by, snow blanketing the sidewalks, lawns and rooftops; the beauty of the New Year abounded.
We sat at a corner table, overlooking a wide selection of local and imported wines. I noticed the brochures about the SLOW foods movement. It feels good to support restaurants that share my personal beliefs on local agriculture and food sourcing.
We wanted a Tea for Two service for all of us to share. Unfortunately, they ran out of the large currant scones that I adore so much. Instead, Michele ordered a turkey pot pie and I ordered the Tea for One (with mini-scones) and a dingle pie appetizer.
What is Dingle Pie? Dingle is a town in Ireland and a Dingle pie is like a large Empanada filled with lamb and vegetables in a brown gravy. It is utterly delicious.
Karen ordered a pot of Chai with soymilk. Michele had the regular chai and I ordered this amazing herbal tea blend called Roobios Chocolate Mint. It tasted like a mint chocolate candy, yet had no sugar, syrup or artificial flavoring of any type.
I shared my assortment of finger sandwiches with everyone, but greedily kept the mini scone with the clotted cream and raspberry jam to myself.
Luckily for me, they also serve an assortment of delicious cookies...
Michele ordered a delicious and decadant dessert... chai pudding.
We talked and caught up with Karen for a while, lingering over our tea.
Before we left, I walked past the dessert tray, even though I just ate a completely satisfying and delicious lunch, I gazed longingly at their confectionary creations…
As we welcomed in the New Year together, I felt warmth for all the friends and family in my life. I deliberately chose to spend this day with friends, and I feel gratitude to each of them for being in my life. My intentions for 2009 (as opposed to resolutions) are to spend more time with the people I love and share more of myself with them.
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