Yesterday we made a quick trip to New Paltz, NY. We were meeting my sister Jennifer there; it’s a good in-between spot to meet with people coming from Jersey. There is a free commuter parking lot literally right off the NY Thruway and a perfect place to meet and leave a vehicle behind so we could ride together into town.

For us it’s a two-hour trip, we travel so much making deliveries, we are used to it. We used to meet our Pennsylvania distributor, The Alpine House in New Paltz, to drop off spätzle, another halfway point from Honesdale, PA. Luckily for us, their drivers deliver their wursts and sausages to Shop-Rite locations in Niskayuna and East Greenbush, NY, only an hour trip for us now.

We met Jen at 10 and walked around the small village of New Paltz. It was good to see people out and about; small coffee shops were booming. We wandered in and out of antique shops and boutiques until we were all starving.

We decided on the Mexican Kitchen, located on Front Street, a cute side street off the main road. The weather turned out to be better than forecasted, so we ate outside, the only seating option at the restaurant.

On our way to the Mexican Kitchen, we spotted a pile of items with a big free sign in front of them. One item was a framed print that I loved. It actually is a well-known piece of art with a Parisian theme. Paris is my favorite place in the world; after everything is truly back to normal, Marty and I plan to go.

We had a knowledgeable, attentive, and friendly server. He took care of the tables effortlessly. We weren’t rushed and could really catch up since we haven’t seen each other in person since last July in NJ.

Jennifer is my biological sister on the parental side of my family. She found me two years ago through Ancestry. com. We felt connected immediately and realized we had so much in common. She literally told her daughter Sofia the day before that she always wished she had a sister and found me the next day.

I guess it was the right time for us to find each other; I also have two brothers on that side of my family, aunts, and lots of cousins. It’s super exciting that combined; I have 4 nieces and 1 nephew as well. They are all under 14 years old, so I get to know them while growing up; I love being Aunt Julz.

I’ll write more about Jennifer when she visits us in July, but for now, I wanted to introduce her to you guys. I always wished for siblings when I blew out my birthday candles growing up; those wishes just took 45 years to come to fruition.

Our lunch at Mexican Kitchen was fresh and delicious. Everything, except for their burritos, was gluten-free, including their homemade tortilla chips! We can never eat homemade tortilla chips because they usually are fried in the same fryer as wheat and gluten-based foods. Yay!

The only bummer of the day was someone hit Marty’s side mirror on his truck, his baby, his big green tank. The main road is tight and always bumper to bumper with visitor traffic, but that’s not an excuse to drive like an asshole. Now he has to order two side mirrors, so they match. The truck is a vintage diesel Excursion, so the parts are harder to come by.

The traffic is so bad going through town that they have pedestrian flags to cross the street. Marty thought this was great fun and loved waving the flag at the non-stop traffic so we could cross safely. None of us ever saw or heard of such a thing before. 😂

We said our goodbyes back at the commuter parking lot. Of course, we brought a couple of bags of spätzle for her and her two kids; she said that the kids would be happy. It still makes us smile every time someones tells us our spätzle makes them happy; when it’s my niece and nephew, even better.

Our trip home on the NY Thruway was smooth sailing with very little traffic. Southbound on the Thruway was pretty much bumper-to-bumper slow-moving traffic heading back to New Jersey and downstate NY. Campers, boats, and family-packed vehicles filled the other side of the road. I’m glad we were headed in the opposite direction. Hopefully, they had a good holiday weekend despite the rain up in our neck of the woods, we really need the economy from travelers and visitors, but I’m also glad when they go back home too.

Klaus went on strike and didn’t want to eat his expensive, limited ingredient diet dry kibble anymore. His skin, ears, face, and feet are healed and look fantastic after a long struggle of figuring out what he can eat that won’t set off his allergies again. 

We’ve been avoiding poultry and sticking to red meat. Poultry gives some bulldogs issues, so removed it with great results. 

After days of turning his nose up to his food and Sam hand feeding him, I decided to try making a super healthy beef stew to mix with the kibble and a pumpkin natural peanut butter mixture to mix in for breakfast.

Last week I bought beef ribs that I braised, making stock at the same time. I repeatedly skimmed all the fat off the top. Then I added carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, celery, and red kidney beans. I thickened the stew with a potato starch slurry that worked brilliantly. He likes it and gobbles up his kibble again along with his allergy pills hidden in the carrots. 😉

I used some pet-approved herbs like rosemary, basil, and oregano to further flavor the stew. Salt is a no-no, so when I tasted it, I had to remember its dog food. With salt, it would be delicious human food.

I froze a couple of containers of the stew, but he went through what I had in the fridge in less than a week. I have to make bigger pots of stew as this will get old quickly, especially when we are so busy. 

Today I made…Burnt Brisket Stew. When I added the sliced brisket to water, it softened up and gave the water a beefy smokey taste. I cut up more of the same veggies as last week and have it simmering on the stove. I added the potato starch slurry and, bam, dinner for Klausie-boy!

Let me tell you that our house smells freakin fantastic. I tasted it, again bland without salt and human spices but very good. I am waiting for Sam to come busting through the back door and ask what’s for dinner when he smells the aroma from the stew. 

I feel less wasteful now, and Klaus will reap the harvest of yesterday’s brisket disaster and have some tasty grub. 

So when life hands you lemons, you make limoncello, and when life hands you burnt brisket, you make stew!

After we set up at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market this morning, I went for a walk and took a step way back in time. 

Sections of downtown Troy, NY, have literally been transformed. HBO is filming a new 10 part movie series called, The Gilded Age. 

Julian Fellowes, writer, and creator of Downton Abbey, latest period drama, The Gilded Age, is set in and around New York during the 1880s. The title refers to this time of prosperity in the United States thanks to the industrial boom, and the show will follow the comings and goings of the upper-crust of New York’s high society during that time.  

More than 300 people have been on hand transforming the streets of Troy. Crews have turned the paved streets into dirt roads and will soon lay cobblestone “jigsaw puzzles.” Modern signs have been removed, building’s facades changed and landscape brought in.

Storefronts have also taken a step back in time. Some businesses are still open for business behind the scenes; others have been paid to close during the filming. 

Locals were able to audition for parts as extras for the series. I never knew the attention to detail they spent on extras. 

One woman we know from the market is an extra and sat for 4 hours to have her hair done just to walk down the street. She was then squeezed into a corset and a huge bustled period dress. 

Everyone says the HBO crew has been very nice and accommodating while setting the stage for the series, originally scheduled for shooting last year. Covid 19 had other plans. 

The filming is in such early stages; there isn’t even a trailer for the series yet. The star-studded cast is here and has started filming this week. Shooting is scheduled through most of June. Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Amanda Peet, and Morgan Spencer are part of the cast.

For the last two days, the extras all sat in the Troy Music Hall. Everyone sat on one side, then the next day, the other side. The extras were rearranged on the second day for the illusion of a full audience in the music hall. One said they sat for a long time while they shot the same scene 12 times, the actress had trouble pronouncing one word. 

Walking around the transformed streets early this morning in the rain was almost magical. The storefront window displays and the attention to detail were amazing to see. I could really imagine what life was like back in 1880 in the greatest city in the world, NYC. 

I drudged through the dirt-filled streets and was glad I wore my muck boots this morning after seeing the weather forecast. 

I felt like I struck gold when I came upon a tent filled with horse-drawn carriages. I was literally all by myself with only one other guy out taking photos out in the streets as well. We commented to each other how cool it was actually to see and experience the set.

It’s pretty weird to see behind the scenes and the many trucks, lights, scaffolding, trailers, and bucket trucks amongst the 1880 scenery.

Inside some of the storefronts, artists were still at work lettering the windows and antiquing the doorways. Others were dressing the window vignettes with period items. I told one of them how amazing it looked; he got a big smile on his face and said, thanks!

I’m not sure I will ever have another opportunity like this again. I was so happy the streets were deserted; having a bunch of other people walking around would have completely spoiled the magic for me. 

I went back to our spätzle booth at the market to cold, rainy conditions; everything was soaking wet. It was a long day, but more people came to the market regardless of the weather. I could tell the ones who checked out the movie set, they all had muddy boots and shoes like me. 

I’m getting tired of playing dish drainer Jenga. This was the fourth game I played yesterday. This round wasn’t nearly as impressive as some of the earlier ones I built.

I had some fleeting hope that the high-end, local appliance store we bought our dishwasher from was not as bad as I thought when the repair guys showed up last Thursday and discovered the hose that mice chewed through. 

They said if they didn’t have one in stock, they would order it. They also said it should come in fast, like a day or two at the most. That was last Thursday. After doing shitloads of dishes this past weekend, Marty called the store yesterday, Tuesday, to see if the part came in so he could pick it up and install it himself. 

A not-so-nice, ok downright mean, annoyed AF person answered the phone and growled out, “The part’s been ordered!!!” It’s clear this store doesn’t give two shits about us or our dishwasher. A holiday weekend is approaching, and since they only work bankers hours Mon-Friday 9-5, I know that I will be doing a lot more dishes for at least another week.

Marty tried to find the part himself online but could only buy it with the expensive pump included, which we don’t need. Rarely, Marty can’t find something he’s looking for online.

I shout the praises of small, local businesses all the time being one ourselves, but this place gives small businesses a bad name. This is the reason why people prefer to shop at big box stores. I totally get it.

My patience is wearing thin as we are at the mercy of this local, high-end appliance store that has us by the balls. I’ll repeat it…if I knew when we purchased our pricey dishwasher from them and would receive this type of service or none service, should I say, I never would have done it. Bastards!

I haven’t written for a couple of days; we had company for the weekend. Our first house guest since the pandemic. How wonderful to be able to see and entertain people again.

I prepped a lot of my food ahead, so I didn’t have to take up that time; all I had to do was actual cooking. On Saturday night, I made baked stuffed clams, creamy Tuscan shrimp, Caesar salad with homemade croutons, and mini tiramisu for dessert.

Yesterday morning we went to the last day of an estate sale. Marty stopped there on Friday afternoon on his way back from making a delivery in Manchester. He said it was a weird estate sale. The people who lived in this gorgeous, huge house lived there the day before, packed suitcases and left everything behind. Weird, sad and confusing.

We tried to put together who the family was just by looking at their things, and when I mean things, I mean ALL of their things. Clothing in closets & dressers. Toys, games, electronics, everything in the kitchen, garage, basement, soap, and shampoo still in all the bathrooms. So fucking weird!

We knew the family was Jewish since they had a seder platter and a ceramic dish with Hebrew writing. The mother was tiny, a size 0. She had blonde hair because she had shampoo for blondes in the master bath. Their last name started with a W since we saw it monogrammed on a few items.

They had at least 4 children, 2 boys, and 2 girls. Their rooms were exactly how they woke up the morning before. I can’t imagine teenage girls leaving behind EVERYTHING. The boys’ rooms were filled with trophies, yearbooks, Star Wars collectibles. There were stuffed animals, dolls, and more legos than toy stores had in their inventory. One boy was into science and had microscopes, telegraphs, and books galore. The other one seemed to love sports.

The family definitely were skiers, snowboarders, and outdoorsy. We know where they went to elementary school, high school, and someone had lots of Penn State sweatshirts and t-shirts. They had a gym, an entertainment area, and an arcade in the basement. The maid’s room was the only room with no belongings, except for a flat-screen tv and a bed. She had to have advanced notice and packed up her shit before she left. Marty bought the maid’s tv on Friday.

The kitchen was gorgeous! How I would have loved to cook and entertain in there. From the looks of the kitchen and cookware, they didn’t cook much. I can tell stuff like that, spending so much time in kitchens.

As we walked around, I kept trying to make sense of how a family could walk away and leave everything they owned behind. I kept shaking my head and was bewildered. I felt sad because what if they left in a hurry and why?

As other people walked around this family’s home all weekend, I am certain that they felt the same way that we did.

We ended up buying some blankets, small kitchen wares, and a Yoda robe Marty couldn’t leave behind.

After we got home, I started making Sunday dinner. Again, I prepped everything ahead, so I didn’t have too much to do. I made jerk pork tenderloins with tropical salsa and sweet potato, and regular fries. I planned on making everything in the outdoor kitchen, but the rain delayed that plan a bit.

We had Noah and his friend Zach and Sam since he got home from college Friday night. With our guest that made six people for dinner!

The meal took a little longer than I planned because we waited until the rain stopped to fry the potatoes outside. Rain + hot fry oil = a trip to the burn center, and that we didn’t want. LOL.

I made four pork tenderloins and thought, wow, that’s a lot of pork, but we can always have leftovers. There were no leftovers! I can’t tell you the joy a cook feels when making a meal that people really enjoy and keep going back for seconds and thirds. ☺️

Over dinner, we talked about the estate sale and found out that Noah and Zach were there when the sale opened that morning. They saw the same things we did and were kicking themselves for a couple of things they didn’t purchase, like a free piano and a real arcade game that was under $50 bucks. We also discussed what everyone thought happened to the family. That’s how weird the situation was to be a Sunday dinner topic.

While we were contemplating what happened, Sam, who was the only one who didn’t go to the estate sale, asked why we didn’t look at the names on the trophies. Leave it to Sam to think of that brilliant idea! None of us did, of course.

The empath in me keeps hoping that it was a good situation why they left the way they did, but sadly we all could come up with more bad situations, like an original series on Netflix.

After Sunday dinner, we finished up the weekend heading over to our friend Martin’s place across the street and had some cocktails, wine, and a million laughs.

The weekend with family and friends felt normal again. It was the first time our family of four had broken bread together since Christmas dinner. Everyone was relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company after such a fucked up year of fear and isolation.

I’ve written about hope before; the pandemic, warm weather, and normalcy, but now everything was finally real! Thank goodness!

I love summer and look forward to it all year. Life is easier in the summer. Getting dressed is a snap; I throw on a sundress and twist my long, thick hair into a bun. I grab a pair of sandals or flip-flops, and I am off. 

For work, it’s athletic shorts and a tank top with crocks. It’s so nice not having to bundle up, putting on boots and a winter coat to go 38 steps to the production kitchen. 

Let’s talk about not having to worry about falling on your ass or scraping ice from the windshield while warming up your vehicle. I need my arms and legs not broken, so this is a major plus. 

Otto and Klaus are like us; they love the warm weather. They stare longingly out the windows like we do during the winter and hate to go out to take care of their business. They dislike the below zero days; it makes their paws hurt; hobbling around after just a few minutes of playing ball, Klausie’s favorite thing to do in the world. Bummer.

Our boys love to sunbathe on our paved driveway. I used to be able to walk for miles barefoot on the beach, boardwalk or streets no matter how hot it was. They are smart enough to seek out some shade or come inside when they get overheated. 

Life is easy; our meals are fresh and simple eaten outdoors. We enjoy happy hour on the front porch. I have to look at the clock in the winter and wish it was 5 pm, our happy hour time. In the summer, I look at the clock and go, “Shit! Happy hour is almost over” since we are so busy. I know it’s “five o clock somewhere,” but putting a time limit keeps me from day drinking; I can’t do that shit anymore without needing a nap. 

Watering my flowers and herbs at dusk is such a calming and zen-like ritual. I talk to them, tell them how pretty they are, and give them some encouragement and a nice drink of water. I deadhead my petunias every night and soon will have to start pinching back my basil as well. The smell of picking fresh basil to have with some beautifully ripe tomato slices and fresh mozzarella cheese screams summer to me. A little drizzle of olive oil and some salt & pepper can be a meal in itself. 

We go to bed later and get up earlier in the summer; we work more and harder than in the winter, but it doesn’t feel like it. Waking up to a sunrise instead of the dark does a lot for the mind and the soul.

I love running around the grass barefoot and not being cold. My favorite time of the day is between 4:30 and 6:30 pm. That’s when I like to get a little sun. I used to be able to “layout” all day, but I can’t do that anymore without a water source. I’ve always loved to layout on the cement around a pool. Rubbing baby oil on ourselves to get some “color” or while laying out on my friend’s rooftop with Sun In sprayed in our hair while smoking cigarettes is up there as a good summer memory. The brassy, ugly AF hair that took forever to grow out, not so much. 

When I was a kid, I never understood why older women said they couldn’t sit in the sun, it made them sick. Since the old menopause train pulled out of the station 7 years ago, I finally understand what they meant. 

I’m not going to lie; we do have air conditioning. When we started the spätzle business, I told Marty that after working in a steaming hot, literally from the 40-quart steam kettle in the production kitchen and working under a tent for hours mid-day at our farmer’s markets, I needed to have a place to cool off. This goes back to the ladies who said the sun made them sick, but too much heat does too. 

It’s an amazing feeling stepping into a cool house when we are dripping in sweat from working; I never had air conditioning like this before. We had an above-the-ground pool growing up, and I remember my dad coming home from work and jumping in. One time he was so hot from working in a machine shop all day that he ran in the yard and flipped himself over the side of the pool with his navy blue work clothes on. “Son of a bitch!” He screamed when he realized he had a pack of smokes in his shirt pocket. 🤣

There is nothing better than sipping hot fresh coffee on the front porch early in the morning and a cold gin and tonic with fresh lime in the evening. Sometimes I add a couple of dashes of bitters for an Ernest Hemingway gin & tonic. Lately, I’ve been enjoying a gorgeous, ice-cold glass of Rośe as well. 

Cooking outside is my favorite kind of kitchen to cook in. Marinating and smoking meats, grilling steaks, vegetables, and pizzas. It’s always fun to flip burgers or make home fries with pancakes & bacon on the flattop grill for Sunday breakfast.

We live a quarter of a mile from Camping on the Battenkill campground. It’s one of the best in Vermont, actually. We used to smell the campfires and be jealous since we love campfires. Last year we invested in the brand Solo fire-pit. It controls smoke from getting in your eyes and embers from flying everywhere. We had a campfire almost daily. Sitting around a fire on a clear, starry night, listening to music, sipping a little bourbon is just like camping. It’s better though because we can go inside and sleep in our own bed.

It’s almost 8:30 pm, and it’s not dark yet. It’s still in the mid-70s. The peepers are peeping high above in the trees. The crickets are chiming in along with some birds calling to each other. Cheep!!!! Every night I keep my eyes open to spot the first lightning bug. 

Right now, the dogs are sleeping and snoring away while we are relaxing on the front porch. It feels like being on vacation all the time. We all really do love the dog days of summer here in Vermont. 😎