On 8 October 1818 Robert Donaldson made a trip down the
Hudson River from Albany to New York City, “Thought it the consummation of
earthly bliss to live in one of those palaces on such a noble river under such
a government.”
Things have changed some but the Hudson Valley in October is
still a delightful place: fall color, beautiful views, magnificent homes (many
overlooking the river) and much history. We sampled this with friends this past
week from the Vanderbilt Mansion to more humble 17th century Dutch
homes. Washington Irving, the author, lived at Sunnyside, his cozy home
overlooking the river. John D. Rockefeller built a beautiful mansion, Kykuit,
which seems livable even today. The family commissioned Matisse and Chagall to
design stained glass windows for their church, nearby.
The Roosevelt family of Hyde Park gave us a President,
Franklin, and his wife, Eleanor, whom Harry Truman called ‘the first lady of
the world.’ We learned at her home Val Kill that she could only scramble eggs
as far as cooking was concerned. She did have a cook and would tell her that
she was having 4 or 6 or so for dinner. Eleanor then went about her day around
town, etc. and invited various people she encountered. And 20 would show up for
dinner. She lost several cooks this way but the one that lasted the longest
took the order for dinner for 6 and then made dinner for the 20 that would
probably show up. Mrs. Roosevelt would take orders from her in-house guests for
eggs at breakfast: scrambled, over easy, poached? Give the orders to the cook
(the one that lasted) and the cook would present a plate of scrambled eggs
saying she was glad everyone had ordered their eggs scrambled. The former first
lady used common china from the dime store, and made paper plates fashionable.
She and President Roosevelt are famous for serving hot dogs to King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth at Val Kill.
We visited West Point and their cemetery where we looked for
the grave of the brother of the man who built our house. Col. Duncan McCrae was
a Confederate. His brother, Alexander Hamilton McCrae, was a West Point
graduate who was killed as a Union soldier at the Battle of Valverde in the Arizona
Territory in 1862. He is buried at West Point.
We measured the huge Ginko at the Vanderbilt Mansion, touted
to be one of the largest/oldest in the US. It was 11’10” in circumference as
compared to ours in Mississippi which measures 16’4.” And on a visit to Rokeby
we found another huge Ginko, but only 8’10.” Rokeby, built 1812, is a private
home still occupied by descendants of the original owner. It was a real
treat---elegance and decadence, due to the reduced finances of the present
owners who feel a great deal of obligation to maintain and preserve. We got a
special tour as our traveling companions are related to the owners by their
son’s recent wedding.
A number of places were decorated for Halloween. One
spectacular show of 7,000 carved and lit pumpkins we had to miss. No tickets.
They need to be procured way in advance. I especially liked one display called
the ‘scarecrow invasion.’ It consisted of scarecrows decorated for the season
by school children in the area.
We stayed 3 nights in a B&B in Newburg where the hostess
was an excellent cook. My husband especially liked her savory quiche with zucchini
sans crust.
We tried to eat at the Culinary Institute of America in one
of its three restaurants but were not able to make a reservation at any of
them. We did have some good food at several locations. One favorite was in
Newburgh, New York---the Old Plank Road Tavern, c. 1800. It had been a tavern,
house of ill repute, speak-easy and for several years now a nice restaurant
which we enjoyed enough to go back a second night.
We had lunch one day at the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck,
America’s oldest continuously operating inn from the 1700’s. We had a nice
turkey pot pie with a big cheddar biscuit in the middle rather than a crust. I
decided this was a good recipe to do since it will make good use of leftover
turkey from the Thanksgiving dinner coming up, or a hearty fall one-pot meal. I
used chicken thighs since that was all I had on hand. Thighs have more flavor,
anyway. Pot pies are designed for the use of more flavorful fowl. If you have a
bird hunter as a friend, you will be ready to go. I roasted the chicken thighs
with some olive oil, salt and pepper. You can use a pie crust for a topping. I
made some cheddar biscuits for a topping. Either way it will be good!
Turkey or Chicken Pot Pie
Makes 6 servings.
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 celery rib, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 ½ cups hot chicken broth
4 cups chopped cooked chicken (bite-size)
Melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over moderate
heat, add the onion and celery, and cook, stirring often, for 6 to 8 minutes or
until limp and lightly browned
Blend in the flour, salt, thyme, and black pepper, then
whisking hard, pour in the hot broth. Cook, whisking all the while, for about 5
minutes or until thickened. Set the skillet off the heat, cool for 15 minutes,
then fold in the chicken.
Make biscuits of your choice then ladle some of the chicken
pie in a bowl and place the biscuit on top.
Serve hot! Delicious.