California Week: Santa Barbara Area

After our quick trip in LA, we headed up the coast to visit our dear friends who live in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. On our way, we took a quick detour over to Ojai. I'd never been, and wanted specifically to see The Farmer and the Cook, which I'd heard about for years. It's very much a healthy, organic (my husband says "hippie") spot, that has a great salad bar, and vegan options. We all love the salad dressing that they make—you can buy bottles of them.

Our friends brought us to this new coffee shop, the Handlebar Coffee Roaster. They make a nice iced coffee, and just across the street from it (and next door) is the El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Park. Although I didn't take pictures this time, our first stop whenever we go to Santa Barbara, is Rose Cafe, and we always get their Huevos Rancheros.

I Love: Hotels With Organic Gardens, Part 3

I wrote about Mar Vista last March, as a spring break idea, and am reminding you of it now, since I'm in this 'hotel with organic garden' mode. We went to Mar Vista a couple of years ago, and it was such a great trip.  We had our own little cottage, with a fully equipped kitchen, and a porch, and plenty of space around it so we never felt like our neighbors would be inconvenienced if Clara was having a meltdown (or if we were). All of the cottages are all situated around a large grassy meadow and garden, with tons of room for kids to run, a rope swing, animals to look at, and a fantastic soaking tub. Then there are the chickens to gather eggs from, and the organic edible garden to harvest whatever is in season. (It's also where Clara pulled her first food out of the ground.) Across the road is the Pacific Ocean, so you have views of it from the property, and in five minutes walk, you are on the beach. Yes, it's a schlep from San Francisco (close to three hours), but it's so worth it, as long as you build in plenty of time to get there, and some stops along the way in Point Reyes to pick up some provisions for your kitchen at Mar Vista at Tomales Bay Foods and Toby's Feed Barn. After all, this is the kind of place you won't want to leave--you'll probably eat breakfast and dinner at the property, and go out for lunch and a little adventure. 

Prettiest Farmstand in Sullivan County

We try to get up to our house in Sullivan County every weekend, and we're lucky enough to have some really great farmers markets up there, and a couple of farmstands, that make it so we don't have to bring up food from the city. Probably five years ago this was not the case--we would have had to bring up bread, cheese, wine, meats...now we have a two great local bakeries, Beach Lake Bread out of Pennsylvania, Flour Power Bakery out of Livingston Manor, NY. We have a great wine and cheese shop in Callicoon, run by a great guy named Robin, who moved up from the city with his wife and daughter a couple of years ago. There's the Catskill Harvest Market, in between Liberty and Youngsville, that has a great selection of everything you'd need to cook for a weekend, and then some (just bear in mind all their meats are frozen, so you can't show up on a Friday at 5pm and think you're buying burgers there to make that night). And the Pecks Market in Callicoon has excellent product (the one in Jeffersonville however does not), like naturally raised local chickens, local cheeses and milk from the local Tonjes Dairy and Calkins Creamery. As for farmers markets, there's one on Fridays from 3-6pm in Liberty, and one on Sunday in Callicoon from 11am-2pm. However, what if you don't get up there til late on Friday night? Well, there's Alice's River Brook Farm. It's open from 10am to 2pm every Saturday and Sunday, and two Fridays during the summer (the one before the 4th of July, and the one before Labor Day weekend). It's an organic farm, and she has probably the best produce I've seen since I've been to the precious San Francisco farmers market. It's just that good. She has things I've never even heard of--Vitamin Greens? She makes her own salad mix, that really feels like it was put together with love. I know that sounds corny, but it's true. Most salad mixes can taste too aggressive or grassy--hers is perfect. And the setting is too. She's got everything in a beautiful barn, which sits next to a stream, and a bridge, and on the other side are her gardens, her chickens, goats, sheep, ducks, and her new donkey Hannah. She also sells Beach Lake breads and pies, local cheeses, homemade quiches, and organic meats (frozen). It's a fun field trip for Clara, because she gets to run around with the animals while we shop.

Farmers Market LA

I'm not talking about 'a' farmers market....I'm talking about the Original Farmers Market...the one that's been around since 1934, and is completely caught in time, provided you cover your eyes when you pass the outdoor mall (The Grove) that's right next to it.  I love this place.  I hadn't been in a while, but I brought Clara here on our trip a couple of weeks ago, and I could just go there for the signage. We had a really mediocre breakfast at DuPar's, which has their pancake accolades front and center on their menu, which worked, because we thought we had to order them, and they were really not so great.  Unsatisfied, we needed to try something else. Since it was too early to get tacos at the place my friend recommended, we just kept going on the breakfast sweet theme, and went to Bob's Donuts.  Delicious glazed donut. This place is a must stop on any LA itinerary.

(the mediocre breakfast as mentioned above)

(satisfaction!)

(Loteria is supposed to have great tacos)

Northeast Indoor Pool Series: Rittenhouse Hotel Philadelphia

I am so looking forward to going to Philadelphia sometime soon.  Since we did a story on it in Cookie last year, and I learned about the Please Touch Museum, the Reading Terminal Market, and all of the great food and shopping, I've been meaning to get there.  The Rittenhouse Hotel has a really thoughtful family program, which includes a gift for each child from the 'treasure chest' at check-in, to a "Goodnight Philadelphia" book put on their pillow at turn-down.  And, in keeping with the series, it has an indoor pool. 

Montreal Half Day

We really wanted to go back to Montreal, to the Jean Talon Market (a vast food market, even in the winter months), and bring Clara, since we had gone on a weekend trip without her last January.  It was just an hour and 15 minute drive from our hotel here, so we decided to go there for lunch.  We were hungry so we ate lunch first, at the Premiere Moisson bakery there, and had a delicious ham sandwich, soup, quiche...and creme brule for dessert. 

Everything looked amazing.  The market was as perfect as I remembered--we bought mushrooms, raw milk cheeses, beautifully canned maple syrups, dried mushrooms, and a hand-made lanolin lotion. I gave Clara $20 and we had a math lesson the whole way--and even if her subtraction wasn't the best, I think she was starting to get how much things cost and how it all works. 

 Then we went a couple of blocks away to Petite Italie (their Little Italy is the best I have ever been to--it feels just like Italy--old men sitting around, soccer games blaring on the TV, and Italian posters and soccer balls), and had a perfect macchiato at Cafe Italia.  Afterwards, we stocked up on all sorts of pastas, olive oils, anchovies, and mustards, at Milano, a great Italian supermarket a couple of doors down.

(homemade pasta at Milano)

(photos matthew hranek )

Harley Farms, Pescadero

We were just in the Bay Area last weekend, and had a perfect Sunday afternoon at Harley Farms.  Dee Harley, the owner, is a passionate farmer who raises goats and makes some really lovely goat cheeses, and even soap and lotion that has her goat milk in it, as well as the lavender she grows. Every weekend they have two hour tours, twice a day (kids welcome), and you get to see the whole operation in action, and even make your own cheese at the end.  It is so much fun, so inspiring, and so easy to get to--just 45 minutes from the San Francisco Airport (and a lovely drive at that, past all the beaches on Highway One).

Blooming Hill Farm, NY

One of the most idyllic farms I have ever been to is Blooming Hill Farm, which is pretty close to the Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets in New York, off of Highway 17, 60 miles north of Manhattan. They are open on Saturdays and Sundays, and not only do they sell the most beautiful organic produce you have ever seen in your life, they also serve a couple of brunch-ish options -- usually a delicious waffle, a frittata, or a quiche, sometimes a chili. They also have Gorilla Coffee (my favorite), delicious ice teas, and amazing desserts.  If it is warm enough, you can sit at tables by the stream, and sometimes if it is really cold, they make a bonfire outside, so you can still hang out there without totally freezing. They also sell Balthazar bread, and lots of local cheeses, yogurts, and milk.

Day Trip: Franklin NY

One fall weekend, our family took a meandering drive through upstate New York, and came upon Franklin, a sweet little town filled with stunning Greek Revival homes and just the right amount of things to do.

What originally made us stop was a sign for a farmers' market (Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); when we parked for that, we found ourselves right in front of Poor Richard’s Book Barn (607-829-8762). It had an amazing collection of vintage children’s books, many of them very cheap, and such a great collection for adults that we could have stayed all day.

Richard, the owner, told us we should wander next door to his neighbor’s rock garden, which was like Stonehenge meets Willy Wonka meets Andy Goldsworthy.

Then we made our way over to the antique stores, one of which, The Squire’s Tankard (607-829-6885), had tons of cute and reasonably priced vintage kids' clothes. There is also a nice café, the Bee Hive (607-829-5424), right on the main drag.