Drive About Near Cayuga Lake

At some point in the latter part of the afternoon, I decided I should go buy some beer to contribute to the fridge, and to stop at the Amish farm market. I also just kind of wanted to drive around the country...the water may have been a little cold, but the day itself was beautiful and warm. On my drive I saw all sorts of signs that I wanted to investigate - brown eggs, a goat dairy, a yarn shop. In the end I stopped only at the Amish and at a beer/gas station outside of Trumansburg (an entirely appealing little town). I did, however,  see so many houses I would love to own...if I didn't know how serious winter is up this way.

Succulents in old shoes.

Barn.

Road heading back towards the lake.

Pretty light.

Toads. I forget what their names were, but they were very clever.

This was a particularly itty bitty toad.

Then I asked AS to take a photograph of me in the water, which I more recently sepia toned-ish.

Morning Lake and Grilled Cheese Lunch

I woke up super early the next morning, but attempted a further lie-in for about an hour or so. The house was at full capacity between AS's guests (me and K), her parents, and her sister H's entourage of six. But in the morning all was quiet and peaceful.

I thought that it was AS and her dad sitting out on the dock, because the hammock in which she slept was empty. But, the actuality of the situation was that H., who had been sleeping in the living room, had awoken and gone out to the dock, and then AS took her place. Musical beds!

After coffee, I quickly got down to the important sitting on the dock business I had to attend to. I jumped in the water a few times, but it was extremely brisk. Not the kind of water you can really float in without feeling as if you might lose a toe or two. I think K. brought out this delightful seltzer with lemon, which made my reading that much more relaxing.

At some point in the morning, this old timer came by to check up on who was alive or dead. In other words, to check in on the other multi-generational people who have been coming to the lake for a long time. AS gave him the low down and I asked if I could take photographs of his Lake Trout. I was quite smitten with them and convinced myself that if I put my mind to it, I could catch them too and that could be dinner for everybody! This was, of course, not to be. But seriously, beautiful fish.

Because this was the first weekend that most folks come up to the lake there were a number of things that had to be done, with which I was completely unhelpful. For example, getting the raft out into the water. AS's dad, sister and her friends did all the heavy lifting.

H. bringing up the rope/anchor? I didn't entirely understand how it all worked.

H's group of friends are all very into frisbees. There was a lot of throwing and jumping and splashing as a result. I tried to take a few good photographs, but people kept getting in the shot and since I didn't know them and it was their right to get up and walk around, I didn't ask them to stop. This was such an accidental photograph, but I kind of like it. There's something ominous about the female form in the foreground and where the frisbee is in the background, like that frisbee, and the man attempting to catch it, are about to be squashed. Or something.

AS made grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone, and they were tasty, ooey gooey and so fulfilling.

Cayuga Lake Dinner Arrival

Memorial Day weekend was a wonderful weekend indeed. It began with AS and I both getting out of work early. Or did I take a full day off? I can't recall. I think I worked half a day, then packed, then drove down to Federal Donuts for a quick round of chicken (no photographs because I was too busy ripping into the chicken...I think I have an iPhone photo). So we were on the road by 2 PM, is the real point. We hit only the barest of bad traffic, and joined her parents by about 7. It remains a beautiful drive from Philly to Cayuga Lake, about 45 minutes or so north of Ithaca. Their house is on the west side of the lake. Upon our arrival we were offered a creamy tasty cheese.

AS's mother had already started a lot of the prep work for dinner, but AS tossed the salad.

And then I helped toss the pasta, a fresh mix of nicoise olives (or some similar breed), yellow and red peppers, fresh mozzarella, bacon (or maybe porcetta?), chopped basil, and perhaps onions too?

Served with shrimp to boot. A lovely first meal.

After dinner, the topic of Michael Jackson's Thriller came up. And it was determined that at least AS's mother, if not her father as well, had never seen the whole video from beginning to end. So we endeavored to right that wrong, with great results.

I was lucky enough to be a guest at the S family house in the summers of 2009 and 2010, taking a 2011 hiatus, and I must say I'm so glad that I got the opportunity to go back. It's just so pretty and peaceful. You'll see.

Frittata

I drove back from Baltimore via Route 1, which made for a prettier drive than going straight up 95. I meant to stop somewhere interesting and get lunch, but I never quite saw a place that screamed "somewhere interesting!!!" So when I finally got to Philadelphia I took a look at my food supplies and concocted a frittata of red onions, red pepper, smoked salmon, brie cheese and perhaps another ingredient I've forgotten at this far removed date.

Once again I included one unbroken yolk. This was a very tasty overall dish.

Dinner c/o Orchard Market & Cafe

After we said our goodbyes to B. and D. we gathered ourselves up and went to Orchard Market & Cafe for a nice Persian meal. The place is BYO, so Dad brought a white wine that particularly lovely. 

We shared their hummus and an eggplant and artichoke dish, which was described as: layers of eggplant and artichokes & Bulgarian feta cheese smothered in a tangy-sweet dill dijon mustard sauce. It was quite sweet. Surprisingly so. Interesting.

I also ordered the salad shirazi, which I was happy to enjoy. Gotta love sumac.

I chose the combo kabob for my main meal, which was way more food than I could actually deal with. Chicken, koobiedeh, and a half skewer of filet mignon. Tasty stuff. The onion was really spicy, like shockingly so.

Preakness Day

I am way behind on this here blog. Just last night I had a barbeque, from which there are many a photograph of food and revelry I'd like to share. But last weekend I went to Cayuga Lake, and have many a beautiful picture from that trip that I"d like to properly share with the internet. But first we have to wade through the remaining meals and images of the weekend before that. So here we go. The day of the Preakness was a beautiful one. Warm but not unbearably so. Throughout the day I made a number of small bets that generally returned my investment...bet $6, get about $6. So I wasn't a high roller but I was happy to at least have winning tickets from time to time.

The staff and the track work hard and seem rather unimpressed by the whole thing. The ladies in the bathroom told me that they don't get breaks, they're cleaning and filling soap dispensers for the length of the event. That sounded pretty much miserable, so I was kind of amazed by how friendly they were to the masses of women rolling in and out.

This time I wore the fascinator that J. gave me this past November. Dad wore his hat this way just for the silliness of the photograph.

Running.

Flying.

Landing.

This lady checked each horse's mouth. I assumed because they have an identifying tattoo there so she could be sure that each horse was supposed to be where it was?

We were not absolutely nearby Bob Baffert and his crew...but we weren't totally far away either. You can make him out in the yellow tie, sitting next to his son Bode, for which Bodemeister (came in second at both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness) is named. Bode Miller, who is the reason the son has the name was also there.

I thought this was a pretty neat photo. Lighting isn't perfect, but you do what you can with what you have.

Mike Smith slightly removed from the hoopla behind him.

Mike Smith, Baffert and Bode, all part of the crowd.

Yup.

People looking at things.

The parade.

Such good posture.

This lady does the awkward 'ride up to the winning horse just after the race in order to get the jockey's first thoughts and reactions' interview.

I'll Have Another...had another win.

Creative Cause was a little frisky.

And somehow I have no decent photographs of the race itself. I tried taking a video and I think that was probably a mistake and a misplacement of my energies. This was a good day at the races, but I was ready to go after the Preakness. The parking lot after the main even was just a crazy mess of humanity and honking and buses making incredibly daring angles and drunk women crying and drunk women stumbling and drunk women in golf carts. Thanks to my father for the two day experience, which was quite fun.