Half Moon

On Saturday morning, Ken and I ate breakfast at the Four Corners Luncheonette in Delmar. Ken had crab cakes with 2 eggs, potatoes, and white toast, and I had a mushroom omelette with bacon and pumpernickel toast. It was delicious!

Next it was on to Indian Ladder Farms to buy apples, then we drove up to Thacher Park in the Helderberg Mountains for views of the Mohawk and Hudson valleys. The fall colors are starting to look very nice.

The leaves are changing! This view is from Thacher Park.

We ended up walking around downtown Albany in the afternoon and made our way to the waterfront on the Hudson River where we found the ship Half Moon tied up. This is a replica of the ship sailed from the Netherlands by Henry Hudson in 1609 when he "discovered" New York Harbor and the river that bears his name.

The Half Moon docked at Albany on the Hudson River.

He sailed as far inland as Albany (about 150 miles), met the native people, and claimed the region for the Dutch.

The bow of the Half Moon and the forecastle.

The ship is a working ship and it goes out with crews of students who learn to sail it and find out what life may have been like on an exploration vessel nearly 400 years ago. We took a tour and saw just how tiny this little ship was, and how Hudson and his crew were either very brave or very stupid for sailing it across the Atlantic.

Half Moon's main mast (there are three upright masts), crow's nest, and rigging.

Later in the evening we met some old friends of mine for dinner in a downtown brew-pub and had a great meal and a fun time.

The main deck, called the weather deck, is less than 18 feet across. You can see a person standing in the doorway of the forecastle for some scale. This was one tiny boat!

Half Moon on the Hudson; view of the stern.

Beautiful Downtown Albany

Well, at least it's not Burbank... Ken and I did a little walk around Madison Avenue yesterday; our first bit our tourism while in town. Our primary destination was the cathedral; my pictures inside didn't turn out so well, but Ken may be posting some of his soon. Here's some of the stained glass:

Stained glass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Of course, this scene caught my eye because it includes grape pickers. I don't know the significance of the scene for the catholics, though. Anyone?

A close up of the stained glass grapes.

We also went up into the observation deck of Corning Tower to get a look since it was a nice clear day. The tower is the tallest building in Albany, at about 45 floors and contains various state offices.

Corning Tower, named for the late longtime Albany mayor Erastus Corning.

The NY State capitol (red roofs), the Egg performing arts center on the bottom, and city hall on the right (with the bell tower). The design of the capitol was inspired by the Hotel de Ville in Paris.

Ken doing his photo thing on the observation deck.

The restored Delaware & Hudson Railroad building now serves at the State University of New York's administrative headquarters.

Today we plan to take advantage of a good weather forecast to go out to an apple orchard and do some other outdoor things. Stay tuned!

Travel Days

We left St. Aignan on Wednesday morning to spend the afternoon and evening in Paris before flying out to New York on Thursday. While in Paris, we enjoyed several glasses of wine in several cafés before having dinner at Allard.

White wine at the Café des Phares at Bastille.

Tourists on top of Notre Dame's south tower.

We slept for a few hours and got our early flight to JFK, then drove upstate. Of course, when we saw the sign for the winery at Millbrook, NY, we just had to stop and taste!

The winery at Millbrook Vineyards in the Hudson Valley.

Word Of The Week

trouble

This is an interesting word. If you are an anglophone, it does mean what it seems to mean. But that's only this word's second definition in French.

The primary definition is much different. It means cloudy, as in a cloudy liquid or a liquid that is not clear. I learned the word for its meaning relating to wine. A cloudy wine is said to be "trouble.'' Just not clear; cloudy. Amazing, no?

Poulet A L'Estragon

Fresh tarragon from the garden.

This is typical for me. I made dinner on Sunday for some of our British friends (who are watching our house while we're gone). I was good about taking photos early in the process, but I completely spaced at the end, so I have no photos of the finished dish!

Chicken pieces marinating in tarragon and white wine.

It was nonetheless delicious. I marinated two whole birds, cut up, in fresh tarragon from the garden and a bit of white wine over night. Then the chicken got sautéed. I made a roux in the pan and cooked shallot and garlic in it, then added a bunch more fresh tarragon, white wine, and home-made chicken stock.

Lightly browned chicken pieces.

This became a braising liquid and I braised the chicken in the oven for about an hour and a half (a bit too long, but it was good anyway). When it was time to serve, I removed the chicken, strained the sauce, and added cold butter to monter au beurre, as they say.

The mise-en-place for the braising liquid: butter, shallots, garlic, white wine, chicken stock. Not shown, flour for the roux and chopped tarragon.

The chicken was served with sautéed polenta shapes (half moons and triangles), and fresh spinach that Ken got at the market on Saturday. What a feast! Janet and David brought a lovely bread pudding with peaches and Val and Len brought a pithivier which is a tart in flakey pastry filled with almond paste - and Val added fresh plums from her garden.

Some of the polenta "shapes" browning in the pan.

Two bottles of sparkling Loire Valley wine (Saumur and Vouvray) started us off, then we moved to various reds (Bordeaux, Bergerac, Pays d'Oc). With dessert we enjoyed a special treat: a bottle of zinfandel rosé from California that Len and Val brought!

Backyard Sunset

This is Saturday's sunset over our back yard and the vineyards beyond:

First, a wide angle.

Then, a close up!

Albany In The Mist

This is my home town, Albany, NY, at sunrise on Saturday morning, September 30. The fog on the Hudson River is beginning to burn off. I captured this image from the live webcam atop the Twin Towers building. The camera is owned by the local CBS affiliate, Channel 6, and I often check in to see how things look.

Ken and I are taking a trip to the US next week and will be spending about a week in Albany, so I thought this image would be appropriate as we prepare our journey. We're also going to the southern Adirondaks, Washington, DC, North Carolina, Atlanta, Alabama, Kentucky, and Illinois.

This is the Twin Towers building in Albany where the webcam is located. It's only one building about 20 storeys tall and it's called the Twin Towers because the façade has two identical protrusions from the bulk of the building that resemble towers. At any rate, we hope to be online during our trip, posting photos as we go. There may be some gaps in our posting, but keep checking back for updates. We'll have our laptop with us and hope to stay in touch. We have friends staying at our house in France while we're away, so we feel very good about leaving.