As the weekend draws to a close, I find myself fidgeting and regretting not doing an update, so that brings me to now. This is going to be a Recap post with the links about our Hudson Valley Restaurant Week Fall 2012 guest blog posts on Journal News’ Lohud.com website, as well as our Christmas Tree buying experience with Kent Countryside Nursery.
So here are the direct links to our articles on www.Lohud.com’s food blog ‘Small Bites’ - for those of you who may have missed out:
Hope you guys read them all! We were extremely excited and honored to be able to participate in HVRW Fall 2012 and blog on behalf of the Journal News. I’ve always wanted to write but after high school I had a hard time at DCC with a creative writing professor and thought my ability and fondness for writing had literally dried up. But thankfully by getting into blogging thanks to a former friend, I’ve found my passion and inspiration again! It’s too bad the person I have to thank for this thought that Kevin & I were sabotaging her by starting our blog. It’s a shame and it makes me really sad because we’re all adults and this misunderstanding didn’t have to be the detriment of our friendship. But we haven’t heard anything back so Kevin & I have chosen to push ahead, doing what we love. And now that I’m loving writing again, I don’t plan on letting anyone get in the way of that.
So, enough of the dramatics and onto our next adventure! Kevin and I got a really early start (for a Sunday) at the laundromat and while we were waiting for the clothes to dry, we decided to take a ride over to the old Dills Best in Carmel where Kent Countryside Nursery was selling Christmas trees. We usually get our tree a little later in the month, but December is filling up quick with plans and parties to go to and I wasn’t sure when we’d have the chance again. I was kind of shocked that the Christmas tree stand was open already. It was just past 8am and we were the first ones there. There was a young guy who waved to us from a little booth and said he’d be right with us. Kevin and I went to check out the trees.
I had my eye on 2 Frazier furs. They are our favorite because of the silver coloring on the underside of the branches. I kept going back and forth between these two 5-6 foot trees, when we figured out which one we wanted, the young guy was happy to cut some of the bottom branches off for us.
He said a lot of families who come like to keep part of the trunk and put their last name on it and date it each year. I thought that was a really cute tradition. But you can read more on that later. So, of course when you’re in the great outdoors, the trees look small. But once we had chosen one, put on the car and brought it inside, it was HUGE! It’s okay though, I adore our tree. The trunk is a little crooked, but it’s beautiful and now our home smells like Christmas! Our friend and my fellow supergirl Rachael and her boyfriend Steven collect Christmas ornaments of all kinds. They’ve got Baseball ornaments, Pixar ornaments, Disney ornaments, Wrestling ornaments and they’re all sectioned off. It’s so cute! Well yesterday while Rachael & I were running some Supergirl errands she went into Dunkin Donuts and came back with 2 little DD snow globe ornaments, one for them and one for us! I was so excited. When Kevin & I went to Starbucks this morning I bought an ornament for us and one for them as well. And while we were buying our tree this morning I got a tiny little home made ornament there as well. That’s 3 new ones this year so far.
I plan to pick up a few more here and there. I decided as I put the lights on the tree and dug inside the Christmas bins for all of our stuff, that I wanted to only put our specialty ornaments up this year. No typical colored glass balls and the like. So we have several personalized ones’ in shapes of Christmas trees, little photo frames, our initials, etc. We’ve got several cat and animal-related ones and even a memorial ornament for my dad. We usually top our tree with a star, but since the tree nearly hits the bulkhead that runs through our living room, it just isn’t fitting. So I am going to put a bow on top this year, I’m just not sure yet if I’m going to attempt to make one or just go pick one up somewhere.
When we purchased our tree, which was $45.00, we were given a receipt which states “1 Free Perennial with this receipt for 2013 season” as well as a post card for 20% off our entire plant material purchase in the spring. I thought that was a nice bonus. In the past the D.A.R.E. program was running the Christmas tree sales at the old Dills Best so although I was a little disappointed that they weren’t there this year, I have to say, we had a wonderful first experience with Kent Countryside Nursery!
If you’re in the market for a Christmas tree for your home, we highly recommend heading over to the old Dills on Route 52 or you can buy directly from Kent Countryside Nursery right off of Route 311 on 61 Ludington Court.
You can contact them at 845-225-7766
Or on the web at: www.KentCountryside.com
Once we dropped the tree off at home, we took the netting off so the branches could fall a bit in the warmth of the house. We went back out to fold the laundry and pack it back into the car and then it was off to Frankie’s Burgers & Waffles for breakfast. Kevin was excited to try them out and I was excited to try something new and yummy.
The placemats make for really fun and interesting conversation! Kev really liked them.
Kevin ordered the Corn Beef Hash special which is 2 eggs (any way, he chose over easy) over corned beef hash, 1 pancake OR 1 waffle and hashbrown potatoes on the side.
I ordered the chicken and waffles which is a first for me at a restaurant.
Kevin has made it for me at home on one or two occasions though. The chicken was very petite, which was fine because my meal was supposed to come with FOUR pieces of chicken, which is an insane amount for one person, never mind the giant Belgian waffle! I really loved the golden brown (light) crunch on the outside, but I felt it maybe could have done with a little seasoning. I was glad it was a light fry and not heavily breaded.
Otherwise we both enjoyed our breakfast and don’t have anything really remarkable or negative to say about either dish. I think we’d try Frankie’s again, but next time would definitely be to experiment with the lunch menu!
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