Happy Fall!

Tastes like Okemo - The C-Building to be exact.

I swear the title of this post makes sense. Really, it does.
You see, it all started yesterday afternoon when I got a CRAZY craving for cream of wheat. I say crazy partly because it turned me into a crazy person and partly because I was sitting at work in the sun in 95 degrees - how could I possibly want hot cereal? But I did.


By the time I got home I had somewhat forgotten about it and went about making a normal adult dinner. You know, the kind with meat and vegetables that doesn't resemble baby food and have sugar in it. After all it's still summer and I should take advantage of the barbecue while I can (...that sounds like foreshadowing for an announcement...not yet though - not until it's definite).

(See? Proper adult dinner).

Anyway, I forgot all about that bowl of hot mush until I woke up this morning. All. I. Wanted. Was. Cream. of. Wheat. And not the lighter-made-with-mostly-water kind that I make in recent years. I wanted the the mostly-milk-and-a-chunk-of-butter kind. The kind I used to eat before skiing when I was a little. Back when I hated skiing. I remember it being so much work just to get dressed in the morning; It took forever and I hated the whole process. I loved Vermont though. We almost always went to Okemo and for many years we rented a condo in the "C" Building. I'll never forget that pullout couch with the ugly blue sheets, or the kitchen with the off-white and brown cabinets and dishes to match. Breakfast was always Cream of Wheat with white sugar (gasp!), sometimes with a hershey kiss or two slowly melting and swirled around the bowl and always with a piece of butter melted in last minute. The best part was when my Mom would forget to stir it for a few minutes and the little lumps would form. Sometimes when I make it now I intentionally don't stir it as often as I should. I know, that's gross, but clumpy carbohydrates are the best.

So back to this morning.  Milky, cream of wheat with white sugar and a touch of salt to balance it out. And the butter. I wasn't giving that up. Every bite tasted like morning in the "C"-Building and If I closed my eyes and didn't think about the wall of heat outside my cold air conditioned kitchen - it almost felt like Vermont.

Okemo Morning Cream-of-Wheat

Best eaten immediately, especially before wrestling with your ski boots.

Serves 2

1/3 cup Farina (not the instant or the two minute kind)

1 cup milk (any fat percentage you prefer)

1 cup water

1 tablespoon white sugar (you could use another kind of sugar but this is traditional for me)

pinch of salt

salted butter to serve (optional)

Hershey Kisses to serve (only if it's a chocolate-for-breakfast kind of day)

Bring water and milk to simmer over medium high heat (don't let it boil because it will boil up and out of the pot). Add farina and stir. If it's not boiling over you can leave the heat on medium high, if its threatening to explode all over your stove, turn the heat down a bit.

Cook until thickened, about 5-7minutes stirring frequently (less if you like clumps like me...just be careful to not let it burn on the bottom).

When farina is thick stir in 1 tablespoon of white sugar and divide into two bowls.

sprinkle each with a hefty pinch of kosher salt and top with a thing pat of salted (or unsalted) butter.

I like to let the butter pool a little and then stir it in. 
Swirl in a Hershey Kiss if you feel like a chocolatey start to your day.

With eyes toward tomorrow.

"All the bags are checked

And the reasons why

Yesterday lingers on

That’s the piece you keep when you say goodbye".

- Conor Oberst (Monsters of Folk)

Just like realizing you've out grown snow days, discovering you no longer have a place in a city you previously called home, is a hard pill to swallow. It may be a gradual realization or it may hit you head on when you return for a visit, either way it's your  first step in going forward - especially if you've been dragging your feet as much as I have.

Above picture courtesy of Max Horowitz

I went back to Binghamton this weekend to go to Spiedie Fest and to spend a night out with some friends before we scatter to all parts of the country, including Alaska, South Carolina, Georgia and New York.

We raised our glasses and celebrated with those who are leaving to settle in a new place and commiserated with those who don't know what to do next. We made promises of visits and tucked loose questions into neatly packaged answers wrapped in promises not to fall out of touch.

Saturday night blurred into Sunday morning without skipping a beat. The sun rose, as it always does, and brought with it a new relief and nothing left to do but head off in our various directions.

The drive back down state was three hours longer than usual but somehow underlined with a sense of calm;  the monotony broken up by a roadside farm stand in Monticello. A small sign on the highway lured me off with the promise of local peaches but I left with no less than two pounds of tomatoes, 2 onions, 2 green peppers, 4 ears of corn, 1/2 pound of string beans, 1 pound of white peaches and 1 and a half pounds of the best apricots I've ever eaten. The farmer was friendly and talkative as were his customers and suddenly nothing seemed as important as his local produce. The traffic and roadwork became irrelevant and the uncertainty of tomorrow faded in the presence of a plump, imperfect tomato. After that, I opted to avoid the main thruway for as long as possible, instead choosing a winding state road that meandered through small towns.

When I finally walked in the door at 9pm, I turned one of my farm-stand tomatoes into bruschetta, topped with basil from our backyard. The simplicity of it was familiar and comforting and I ate it on the back patio in the cool, dark night. Afterwards, I folded myself into bed and set my eyes toward tomorrow.

Farm-stand Bruschetta

Serves 1-2

1 Large beefsteak tomato; washed and chopped, seeds removed

1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing on bread

freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

fresh basil

1 large clove of garlic

2 large slices thickly cut bread

Toss chopped tomato with 1-2 teaspoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

brush both sides of bread lightly with olive oil. place in oven or toaster oven on 375 degrees or grill on medium until golden. Remove and rub garlic clove on top side of bread. 

Top with tomato mixture and garnish with basil.

Add another grind of salt and pepper if desired.

Enjoy!

Click here for more pictures from the weekend.

Over the weekend in Rhinebeck.

Some people visit museums when they travel - I visit farmer's markets.