On our trip last week to Ithaca, NY, we stopped off at our favorite Farmers Market... The Ithaca Farmers Market. http://www.ithacamarket.com/
We always find something new there to try and this time was no exception. We happened to notice people checking out and buying these curly looking scallions (or so we thought). They were buying a TON so we knew they couldn't be scallions because REALLY, what do you do with a TON of scallions. We kept walking around and found another 'farmer' that had these interesting curly things. We asked him about them. He explained that they are Garlic Scapes... the stems and seed heads of the garlic plant. For about 2 weeks in June, they curl and that's the perfect time to pick them. He explained that if they don't look like a pigs tail, they aren't ready! He said that people can't get enough of these things and will travel for hours just to get them! I read on someones blog that they actually drove 451 miles (8 hours EACH WAY) to get them! Another guy liked them so much he started his own business pickling them. He goes throughout N.Y. state gathering up whatever he can to use for his Pickled Garlic Scapes. http://www.lukesmillcreekfarm.com/
People saute them, pickle them and make pesto with them. Well, PJ and I LOVE garlic so we HAD to get some of these and give it a try. It was too early in the week as we weren't going home for 5 more days so he told us where his farm stand is and he'll pick some Tuesday night for us so they would be nice and fresh for us to bring home.
Throughout the week, we became more and more intrigued with these things. Thoughts were running through our heads of using our land in Ithaca to grow garlic and then have a side business of Pickled Scapes etc. This is even before tasting them! Just the thought that people can't get enough of these things made us get our brains rolling. Of course that will never happen but it's always fun to dream!
We ended up buying 5 POUNDS of these things. I LOVE canning so my plan was to make pesto and pickle some.
After making these, I must have really smelled like garlic. I shower twice a day but that didn't help. I had a dream that PJ pulled the car over so we could sleep (in the dream we had been to the wineries). I didn't know where we were though. I remember opening up my eyes (even though I was dreaming) and it was completely dark. I didn't know where I was but smelled the garlic. PHEW! I thought he pulled the car into a field of Garlic Scapes! Then I woke up to realize I was in my bed, in a dark bedroom smelling the garlic still on/in me! I thought it was pretty funny!

I have put the recipes on my cooking blog... http://mamazukecooks.blogspot.com/
I made 6 jars of pesto...
and 9 jars of Pickled Garlic Scapes.

I love learning about new culinary things!

GREYHOUND WINE TRAIL EVENT ON CAYUGA LAKE

June 25-30
We're so excited to be heading to our home away from home... Cayuga Lake country! This week is the Greyhound event with the Cayuga Wine Trail. This is the 2nd year in a row that we've gotten free tix for this and it's the perfect excuse to get away! We're not 'dog people' but there's not many around so it's ok.
We left on Friday morning and arrived at Robert Treman State Park by 11:00. We made GREAT time! They allowed us to check in and set up our tent right away. As we were checking in, I was watching some guy do his yoga moves or something under a tree. Someone said they thought he was praying for rain because it's been so dry in the area.


We started at our check-in winery... Six Mile Creek. Being that it was lunchtime, we decided to have lunch and a glass of wine and sit out on the balcony. We love the view.We went to a few garage sales and then did our sampling at King Ferry, Long Point and Montezuma Wineries. Those 4 were participating in the event for tonight (Friday).
For dinner we went to The Plantation... one of our newest favorites. We love that it's a kick back attitude and you can sit outside and enjoy the view of the mountains.

After dinner, we drove to Sunset Park to watch our first sunset of the week. It was a little cloudy but still was good. I heard someone approach on a bike and I turned around and who should I see but John H. (last name withheld by me)! We met him 2 years ago right here at Sunset Park... right after Cornell layed him off after working there for 28 or so years! He now lives in Hawaii but comes back every summer to try to get a retirement package. It was a lot of fun talking with him again. He has the coolest, strangest stories! He's quite a character , kind of like a weird scientist sort of way!

Our first night we had the most awful thunderstorm with constant treacherous downpours. I thought we'd either be killed by lightening or float away in our old 1979 tent!
All was well the next morning. The tent didn't even leak!! I guess that guy WAS doing a rain dance or something!!!
We took a ride to see our property. It looks the same as far as the weeds go!
PJ planted some pumpkin seeds for the fun of it. The rest of the week he kept saying "I wonder how the seeds are doing"?
Our street, Piper Rd, looking toward our lot. A few more people have started construction on their lots.
Off to our morning ritual of breakfast at Wegmans. It's so relaxing there. We always get the same table overlooking the Sushi guys. It's fun to watch them start the day making their specialties.
We went to a few more garage sales. One of the couples that had a garage sale were wearing the weirdest sandals. I had to get a picture of them. The guy even commented that he's lucky to have an easy going boss because he wears them to work! PJ's comment... "I guess you're not in construction".
There was a block garage sale where the street was closed down for the event. I have to say, we LOVE garage sales up there. The prices are always GREAT and every one of them has boxes of free items. We even got a free, full bag of Kingsford charcoal from one of them!
This little 'house' was just adorable. The tree was cut down and part of the inside was rotted out. They turned it into a little house for their child to read in. Very creative!!
The G.H. event starts at 10 today but we wait until around 12. Our first stop had a Greyhound that was already exhausted!

This was so typical of Ithaca. This 'piece of art work' was rocks on sticks!

We took a ride to the Cornell campus to go to the bookstore. I love the clock tower.
The view, overlooking the lake, is always beautiful.

We walked to the 'Suspension Bridge'. This overlooks a gorge that is just beautiful. I always took pictures of the waterfalls under the bridge. We used to swim in it! Now, you can't even take a picture! They put up really high fencing on this and ALL of the bridges around the campus. It turns out that this year they had 8 students commit suicide by jumping off various bridges.Next we walked to Mimm's Garden outside of the Plant Science Building. We love this garden. Besides the beautiful plants, we love the gates that they have. They are wrought iron and cast to be tree trunks, vines, flowers etc. This is the entrance.


This is my favorite gate. It's on the side and cast to be some of the flowers that are grown in the garden.
PJ in his glory!

This is PJ's favorite gate. It's the entrance from the sidewalk. It's made to be a bunch of vines creating an arch.

On our way back to the campground, the radio was interrupted with an emergency announcement of a tornado warning, which was actually for an area east of where we were. The sky suddenly got really dark and scary. It started to rain pretty hard. Instead of going somewhere that we could take cover, we headed to Sunset Park. Looking out toward Ithaca College (WEST) , it was still dark but there were 2 rainbows.
This was a little east of Ithaca College.
Turning our bodies to the west, we saw a beautiful sunset over Cayuga Lake. Very strange weather!!! It turned out that there was a tornado about 40 miles away from us.
We headed back to the campground and had our last campfire.

The last morning we wanted to go for a swim under the falls that are at the campground. Because it rained so hard the day before, the water was too cloudy and they closed it to swimmers. Oh well. We walked back to our site, packed up within 25 minutes and left. We had a GREAT, peaceful and yet adventurous 5 days!

What a Father's Day Alyssa and I had!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

PJ had to work today so Alyssa and I decided to enjoy Father's Day by ourselves. We headed to Amityville to an 'Ecuadorian' Garage Sale. I must have misunderstood the nuns from Saturday's sale that told me about this sale. When we got there we realized that there was no sale! Oh well. There was a park a few blocks away that I had wanted to check out so we headed there. This is a very cute small park. It would be the perfect place for a picnic or to read a book. There are benches to sit in and also a gazebo.

There is a Memorial wall and 2 benches dedicated to Peter O'Neil. He was killed on 9/11 and his friends built this memorial in memory of him.


I'm glad that we checked out that park. It's one of those 'gems' that are often missed!
NEXT we headed to Tackapausha Museum. We weren't going in the museum but were going on a hike in the woods. We were on our first LETTERBOXING adventure!! I wanted to try this for years! I printed out our clues from http://www.atlasquest.com/ . I found this one and the box was hidden by Vera, one of our St Williams scrapbooking buddies!
We entered the trail.....
... you will see a tree that fell over with the most unusual root system...
... keep heading North.....
.... continue walking until you see a large wooden bridge on your left.... Is this the large wooden bridge?
NOPE! This is the large wooden bridge!
... cross the bridge....
... and in the NW side of the bridge, you will find the Spider under the bridge!!
We found it! The box was about 6" down under the bridge. It had a spider stamp in it. That was so much fun! I can't wait for the next one. There's a few in my town so I will have to check them out!
Next, Alyssa and I headed to a craft fair at the Seaford Train Station. She saw a sign for pickles and just had to get one!
Then we went to 3 stores looking for Lobsters. Alyssa was buying one for PJ for Father's Day and cooking dinner. When we got home she put one on the floor to see Huckleberry's reaction. If there was a fight, I think the lobster would have won. Huck was a little afraid of the lobster.
Then we went to visit my father for a little while.
PJ digging in!
We had a very adventurous day today.