The very first weekend following my arrival in the States, Tim and I went on a road trip up the Hudson Valley. This area is renown as being most beautiful in the fall and though we were going on the tail-end of the season, it was a beautiful time to go. All the trees seem to be alight and varied on a colour palette ranging from burnt orange to charred red and stinkingly bright yellow.
We set off on Friday night, after Tim finished work. Our first stop was dinner at Americana Diner which really exceeded our expectations. We were super impressed with our order of the Table Sample for Two which includes Fried Mozzarella, Calamari, Lamb Koftas and Smoked Salmon; the Grass Fed Beef Sliders on home made Brioche; and the Pulled Pork Soft Tacos with chili and cilantro (coriander) salad. Then to drink Tim had the Pear and Rosemary Spritzer (virgin) and I had a delicious Cranberry Margarita, followed by espressos all round (not the best but sadly usual for American Coffee).
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Being so well fed and watered we were fuelled up to brave the New York traffic and didn't mind the late drive as we blasted the radio where all the DJs seemed to have colluded to play only Magic's Rude and Taylor Swifts Shake It Off across all stations for the duration of the drive.
Eventually we made it up to the Fairfield Inn Spring Valley Nanuet only teetering on the edge of insanity and thankfully able to finally stop that incessant racket on the wireless. It was a late hour, maybe around midnight and we were tired from the drive as we approached the check in desk. I left it to Tim but felt that it was taking too long for them to hand over the damn keys already so I got a little closer and realised that they were stuck on the reservation name. The man was saying "Sorry you're reservation is not in the system" and Tim was getting visibly annoyed asking him to check again under the name Lee, L-E-E. The man repeated it back ok L-A-A where I interjected no L-E-E as in E for EGG, Tim then gently tried to get in front of me possibly fearing for the man's safety if I managed to get closer to him. Then Tim goes for the assimilation tactic and says L-EEEE-EEEEE and the man goes oh L-EEEE-EEEEE, why didn't you say so! I just walked away thinking "he's not worth it...".
After this drama we walked into a very comfortable suite and honestly slept very well. They even have this great thing where you don't need to check out any more so we didn't have to talk to Mr. EEEEE again which was a bonus. With this we were on our way to the lovely little town of Nyack at the base of the Hudson River for breakfast. First we made a little detour at their farmers market, which while very small was charming. We weren't sure where exactly to eat so we asked some locals. The locale they recommended was obviously good since it was completely booked. Luckily there was a little cottage café a few houses down that we decided to try instead.
The place is called the Art Café and it is really very cute with very good classic café meets Jewish cuisine. I ordered the Ricotta Pancakes with berries and date honey (yum!) and Tim got the Sabich which is a thick pita pocket filled with boiled egg, home made hummus, pickles, eggplant, cherry tomato and red onions. Both recommendations and both delicious. So after yet another yummy and very filling meal I was getting the idea that I would not be staying in quite the same shape that I had arrived to America in, but oh well, you only live once!
After this we jumped back in the car and were driving through Tarrytown, we were one week away from Halloween at this point and realised we were about to drive past the cemetery surrounding the legend of Sleepy Hollow (thanks GPS for the great info) and decided that this serendipitous moment should not be squandered and had a good old wander amongst the graves. Look at some of our happy snaps.
After this we wanted to make some headway so we drove for quite awhile until it was time for a late lunch. Then we stopped at Farm to Table in Fishkill. Here we had one great and one not so great dish. Tim ordered the Coq au Vin which was absolutely fabulous, but sadly my Prince Edward Island Mussels were a real let down. It felt like they were either baby mussels, picked too young or else severely malnourished adult mussels that led a hard life before their unfortunate capture and ensuing delivery onto my plate. Maybe it's because in Australia we have such big and juicy Mussels and I am just spoilt but as I say, just give these a miss if you are there and stick to the chicken. But one thing I must add is that our server was incredibly helpful and friendly. He gave us lots of great info on the area and some great suggestions on where to go next.
So thanks to our server we were then on our way to the Walkway over the Hudson. This is the longest elevated pedestrian walkway in the world and offers beautiful views of both the Hudson River and the Valley surrounding it. A great free attraction not to be missed if you are in the area.
Eventually we made it up to the Fairfield Inn Spring Valley Nanuet only teetering on the edge of insanity and thankfully able to finally stop that incessant racket on the wireless. It was a late hour, maybe around midnight and we were tired from the drive as we approached the check in desk. I left it to Tim but felt that it was taking too long for them to hand over the damn keys already so I got a little closer and realised that they were stuck on the reservation name. The man was saying "Sorry you're reservation is not in the system" and Tim was getting visibly annoyed asking him to check again under the name Lee, L-E-E. The man repeated it back ok L-A-A where I interjected no L-E-E as in E for EGG, Tim then gently tried to get in front of me possibly fearing for the man's safety if I managed to get closer to him. Then Tim goes for the assimilation tactic and says L-EEEE-EEEEE and the man goes oh L-EEEE-EEEEE, why didn't you say so! I just walked away thinking "he's not worth it...".
After this drama we walked into a very comfortable suite and honestly slept very well. They even have this great thing where you don't need to check out any more so we didn't have to talk to Mr. EEEEE again which was a bonus. With this we were on our way to the lovely little town of Nyack at the base of the Hudson River for breakfast. First we made a little detour at their farmers market, which while very small was charming. We weren't sure where exactly to eat so we asked some locals. The locale they recommended was obviously good since it was completely booked. Luckily there was a little cottage café a few houses down that we decided to try instead.
The place is called the Art Café and it is really very cute with very good classic café meets Jewish cuisine. I ordered the Ricotta Pancakes with berries and date honey (yum!) and Tim got the Sabich which is a thick pita pocket filled with boiled egg, home made hummus, pickles, eggplant, cherry tomato and red onions. Both recommendations and both delicious. So after yet another yummy and very filling meal I was getting the idea that I would not be staying in quite the same shape that I had arrived to America in, but oh well, you only live once!
After this we jumped back in the car and were driving through Tarrytown, we were one week away from Halloween at this point and realised we were about to drive past the cemetery surrounding the legend of Sleepy Hollow (thanks GPS for the great info) and decided that this serendipitous moment should not be squandered and had a good old wander amongst the graves. Look at some of our happy snaps.
After this we wanted to make some headway so we drove for quite awhile until it was time for a late lunch. Then we stopped at Farm to Table in Fishkill. Here we had one great and one not so great dish. Tim ordered the Coq au Vin which was absolutely fabulous, but sadly my Prince Edward Island Mussels were a real let down. It felt like they were either baby mussels, picked too young or else severely malnourished adult mussels that led a hard life before their unfortunate capture and ensuing delivery onto my plate. Maybe it's because in Australia we have such big and juicy Mussels and I am just spoilt but as I say, just give these a miss if you are there and stick to the chicken. But one thing I must add is that our server was incredibly helpful and friendly. He gave us lots of great info on the area and some great suggestions on where to go next.
So thanks to our server we were then on our way to the Walkway over the Hudson. This is the longest elevated pedestrian walkway in the world and offers beautiful views of both the Hudson River and the Valley surrounding it. A great free attraction not to be missed if you are in the area.
It was starting to get dark at this point but we had one last meal to squeeze in before heading back. We made our way to the hipster town of New Paltz, as suggested by our waiter. We worked up an apetite by browsing the many antique / gift / quirky stores and then decided on Indian for dinner. We found Suruchi tucked away behind the main street and saw that it had rave reviews online so we gave it a go. We walked in and the place looked packed, but still we asked if they had any tables. They said "Yes, if you don't mind sitting close together". It was a little alcove for one really but since it smelt so good in there we decided to literally squeeze in like we were human tetris pieces. Patrons at other tables watched and giggled at us, but we were undeterred at this point. We eventually ordered a few plates and while we waited they brought papadams and spicy dipping sauces. "Oh nice", we thought and munched away. Not realising that we should have conserved this food like people in a life raft that know they have to make it last. The food took about 2 hours to to be served. We were only a little hungry when we got to the restaurant but after about an hour or so I was feeling ravenous. We toyed with the idea of leaving, but from our earlier exploration of town we had seen that everywhere gets packed out on Saturday night and we feared we would just be waiting at a different place if we left. And surely the food couldn't be that far away could it? We did ask the waitress at this point, who apologised and explained that they don't usually get so busy... hmmm... not really knowing what to make of that answer we had to just wait this one out....
Once the food finally arrived, I had no complaints about its authenticity or flavour. It was great, we just wished we hadn't had to wait quite so long for it.
So on that note, we were away and heading back to Cherry Hill and commenting on what a great success our first Road trip in the USA had been.
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