On Tuesday at 2, B picked me up from work and we drove North for a short stay upstate. (I work at an Orthodox agency, and Tuesday- Thursday was the holiday of Shavuot, so I had a couple days off.)
Although I brought my schoolwork with me, I knew I would spend more time reading, driving around with B, and snuggling with BunBun, Floppy and Mutsy.
On the first night, we’d made a reservation at Table for dinner, which opened just last year.
My parents and B had all been there before, and were enthusiastic about the seasonal, locally-sourced menu that changes daily.
The wine and beer list has many local offerings, most of which we’d never heard of before. B’s IPA from nearby Glens Falls was delicious, as was my (far-away) Argentinian Cabernet.
We’d called the restaurant in advance to see if there was anything on the menu I could eat. Rather than give the chef an impossibly long list of my restrictions, I simply said “no dairy, no gluten,” and he really delivered. On a bed of polenta, he placed seared sea scallops with scallions and sautéed broccoli rabe. I’ve been craving scallops- and all seafood, really- lately, and these were just what I wanted.
For dessert, Chef Aaron surprised us with sabayon, a traditional French dessert made with egg yolks and wine. While dairy-free, it’s an extremely rich dessert, but we managed to lick our glasses clean! It was garnished with orange zest and toasted hazelnuts, and was such a surprising treat we both agreed we wouldn’t have thought to order had it been on the menu. We may need to recreate it for our next dinner party!
The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed to the diner for breakfast. B had blueberry pancakes, and I had scrambled eggs with home fries and raisin toast. Real, glutinous toast. I have a theory that toast tastes best when eaten at a diner, slathered with butter- or “butter”- so I cheated on FODMAPS.
I tried another off-limit high-FODMAPS food for lunch, and I think my body handled it well. (It’s all so hard to tell!) We fancied up a can of lentil soup that was in the pantry, serving it over brown rice and garnishing with local feta cheese, smoked paprika and chili. The flavor and texture combinations made it a deliciously hearty, but simple, lunch, which we enjoyed while watching the last episode of House of Cards. (This may have been one of the most frustrating ends to a series I’ve ever seen….)
We went to the grocery store for dinner and shopped for ingredients to make this pan-roasted salmon with tomato vinaigrette from the 2008 Food & Wine cookbook.
Can I just take a moment and tell you how much I love these cookbooks? A new one comes out every year, with the best recipes from the past 12 months. The book is divided into seasons- I think the salmon we made came from Spring- and all of the recipes are fresh but approachable. While I love blogs- and read about 1339 food ones- there’s just something exciting about getting a glossy paper collection delivered to your doorstep every month. In fact, just this morning I signed up for a year of Cook’s Illustrated!
But back to this fish. It was so easy, and now that I know the technique, there are so many possibilities for variations. We’ve eaten a lot of salmon lately- I’ve had it four times in just as many days- but it’s one fish I never really tire of. On the side, we had kale sautéed in mustard seed, garlic and rosemary. While watching Django Unchained – much much better than I’d thought it would be- we shared a bottle of zinfandel and munched on chocolate chip cake (I substituted gluten-free cornbread mix for the flour and it worked wonderfully).
On our way back to the city, we stopped in New Paltz for lunch at the Village Tearoom. My mom and I had come here on a mother-daughter trip two years ago, and I wanted to show it to B. The cafe specializes in local, seasonal fare and has a blackboard listing all of the nearby farms whose products are on the menu.
Despite the frigid weather just the day before, it was absolutely lovely out! We sat on the outdoor deck and enjoyed a drink in the breeze. I sipped a delicious Chardonnay/ Vouvray/ Gewurztraminer blend from California (for $5/ glass!) and B had a malty Belgian ale.
I’d been thinking about the goat cheese sandwich with roasted vegetable spread and pesto my mom and I had tried last time, so I decided to put FODMAPS aside for one last meal and share it with B. We also had the gravlax salad with house-cured salmon, mesclun, cucumber, red onion and capers. The sandwich wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it- the ciabatta roll didn’t taste like much- but I also didn’t feel completely stuffed, either.
So… room for dessert! We shared a slice of lemon lavender cake with raspberry layers, which sounded amazing but didn’t quite deliver. I don’t know if it was because the frosting- which fell off in a sheet- was too cold, but it just wasn’t our favorite. Still, it was such a pleasant day and the perfect point in our drive to stop.
In other words, it was the perfect end to a perfect (mid-week) weekend.
