Oh, Sandy

Oh, Sandy.

You are wrecking havoc on the entire East Coast. And while we keep our coastal friends at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers, we Upstaters are bracing for impact too.

Here are a few key reminders from FEMA:

• Follow the direction of local officials.
• Make final preparations – If you’re further inland, now is the time to make final preparations.  Be ready for power outages and stock up on emergency supplies of food, water, medications, and other supplies.
• Know the forecast for your area – Sandy is a large storm with potential impacts from wind, coastal flooding, inland flooding, rain, and snow.  Listen to your NOAA weather radio and local news reports, or visit weather.gov for the conditions in your area.
• Check on your neighbor – make sure they’re ready too. (Neighbor helping neighbor is essential to a good life.)

Stay safe everyone!

We're ready... with homemade soup, stacks of magazines and dominoes on the table.

Homecoming - a good life in VT

This past weekend Lindsay and I went to Homecoming at Middlebury College. I have told Lindsay about the fond memories I had of attending the Homecoming game as a student.  My friends and I would go to the game with the intention of drinking more than our fair share of beer. I remembered seeing these impressive spreads put out by alums. I always looked forward to doing Homecoming with the same style when I returned years later. 

Lindsay did a lot to help me realize my fantasy. A real Homecoming spread starts with an actual table. How civilized do you feel when you're eating off of a tailgate? Since Lindsay's a product of the south, she insisted on a tablecloth. We brought an indoor outdoor fireplace just in case it was cold, but we put the fire out after just a few minutes since the weather was perfect. We pulled out a Bauer plate for our cheese, crackers, salumi and grapes. We used recycled Zak! bowls for our nuts and our dessert mix. Chips went on shiny Model Metalworks platters.  Our mixed drinks went in Zak! travel mugs with colorful Zak! swizzle sticks. We added an acrylic napkin holder and colored napkins for cleanup. The point with this is that nothing should be considered over the top. Everything is within bounds. The best comment we got from passers-by was, "now that looks like the perfect way to spend a Saturday". 

after the tailgate was packed away, we headed into the stadium and watched the Panthers beat the Bates College Bobcats 38-23. 

I wanted to show Lindsay the new library, but just as we walked out the skies opened up and drenched the campus.

The day had been perfect up to that point, but when the rainbow came out after the shower, we knew we were living a good life. 

Headed South... Saratoga South

Colored leaves are floating down. Geese are flying south. And we've all had our fair share of apple cider.

It is officially fall.

That means we have closed our doors in Bolton Landing for the season and are settling into our southern-most, Saratoga store full-time.

With a combined inventory and new offerings arriving every week, we hope you will flock in soon.

As always, be sure to check out our Facebook page for frequent updates!

Construction of the Perfect Sandwich

A professor I had in college told me the most important lesson he learned from his farmer father - if something's worth doing it's worth doing right. One thing I've learned over the years is that a good sandwich is truly worth doing and that means it's worth doing right. The construction of a sandwich is just as important as the parts that go into making that sandwich. The following is a list of ingredients in my perfect sandwich:

                           1. Rock Hill Bakery jalapeño cheddar bread

                           2. chipotle mustard

                           3. bacon

                           4. cheddar jack cheese

                           5. dry salami

                           6. cracked pepper turkey breast

                           7. dill pickle chips

                           8. spicy pepperoncini

Here's the most important part - the construction. Start by toasting the bread. This gives the bread some heat. Immediately, after pulling the bread from the toaster place the cheese on the warm toast. This will cause the cheese to quickly warm up and begin to melt into the bread. This cheese layer serves multiple purposes: 1. it covers any holes in the toast; and 2. it protects the toast from any wet elements in the sandwich which would dampen the bread.

Next, add the cooked bacon. Hopefully, if this is done quickly enough, it will melt slightly into the cheese and bond with that half of the sandwich. 

    

Next, you have to add the mustard to the other slice of bread. Try not to add too much (which could dampen the bread, or worse, flow out of the holes in the bread), but make sure you've covered the entire slice of bread. 

    

Once the mustard had been added, you need to cover that slice of bread with the dry salami. Like the cheese, this will cover any holes and it will protect the bread from any more moisture. This is especially important because of the next step. 

    

The spicy, but damp pickles and peppers are added next. It's important that each of these should be shaken to remove any extra moisture before placing them on the sandwich. 

    

   

Finally, the turkey is placed on top of the bacon. The turkey now acts as a barrier between the bacon and the peppers and pickles. This ensures that the bacon and toast remain crispy, acting as a textural foil to the soft salami and turkey. 

   

Anyone who has tried this sandwich knows that, when properly constructed, it becomes an element of a truly good life.