Christmas Gumbo

After each failing to consume the ten plus pounds of smoked turkey from Thanksgiving we opted for a slightly different meal for Christmas.

My wife Charl said the gumbo was remarkably authentic;

considering it was made by a "Yankee". 

Having won approval from a "citizen of the Republic of Texas" I feel a might proud.

St. Nic galleries are up

If anyone hasn't had enough of the St. Nic events and wants to see tons more...

I have a very rough edit up at Photoshelter-

http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000ihNRz609q9A

Merry Christmas!

Me, I'm a Santa Claus guy; but you have to love this art work

from the Episcopalian Church in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Starting in the new year I will be working with the church and community documenting their lives and worship. Expect to see much more of this work.

Last Roma

more Roma

Roma Importing

Located at 222 Washington St., Saratoga Springs, NY.

I would die without this place! 

Being from Utica I can not do without all sorts of Italian groceries and Roma has everything; plus a lot of surprise stuff.

The selection of meats is great with many dry cured products that have become very hard to find.

Without a doubt the sandwiches and salads are a huge draw. 

I always get my wife sliced soppressata and a salad while I can't leave without a capocola and provolone sub.

The pasta and tomato section rocks. There is plenty of my favorite pasta; DeCecco.

I will eat no other commercially prepared pasta! 

There is so much to cover like the sweets, olive oil, pasta makers and Mediterranean  products.

Roma even has a selection of fine salts!

If that were not enough the service is incredible.

The manager/owner(?) once opened the store back up for me when I bought the wrong olive oil at closing time. To top it off the guy sent me home with a pricier oil out of the kindness of his heart!

All of the employees are really helpful and give that rare personal touch.

The art of the submarine sandwich is not lost at Roma.

Dogs sense the snow storm early

Monkey-Anne and Violet-Alligator can always tell approaching storms.

Monkey get very sleepy and lazy while Violette gets all nervous and wound up.

Mr. Plow 1/ stump 0

This is my "Mr. Plow" - Ken.

Ken and his son tore out that stump like it was nothing!

If you live around Schuylerville and need plowing his number is 695-3890.

Ken like many of us around here does a little bit of a lot of things including run a gardening center, a farm and an awesome corn maze in the fall. I'm sure we will be seeing plenty more of Ken as the year goes on.

Stump 1/ David 0

The stump shown from the ice storm refuses to budge despite my best efforts!

address change

 the blog is now at  upstatenytreasures.blogspot.com

You may be reading it from the above address already.

how to eat with no power

Here is what I did for both food and entertainment while the power was out.

That's a pork shoulder being slow cooked on a charcoal and hickory fire.

Accordion Music

This is Ralph Brooks who was somehow left out of all the St. Nic whoopla despite his awesome accordion music and those bright red pants!

Ralph has several bands including the Hoosick St. Hoot who will be playing on Tuesday at the Woodlin Club in Glenville. The maestro will be belting out half Christmas tunes and half of his "regular stuff" for this event.

We will revisit Ralph in future blogs...

Careful what you wish for...

If anyone reading this is thinking of giving up life in the city and moving to a little cabin...

I woke up this morning to no power and this in my driveway. I miss my co-op in NYC!

Hamburger at Mac's Diner

It was dark and rainy today so I thought I'd lift my spirits by going to Mac's Diner in the center of Schuylerville for a really dependable Hamburger, onion rings and a Coke. This food trinity is a real measure of a place and Mac's more than passes!

Mac's is a great example of a remaining independent diner that has it's own unique character. 

I hadn't been seated at the counter for five minutes before meeting a Ms. Shirley White who like me "has never met a stranger". 

Making friends while eating is in my opinion one of the best things a restaurant can offer and usually a sign of good food.

The burger is large and the onion rings are always hot and a generous helping. There are plenty of other good things at Mac's so I'm sure there will be many future posts.

More horses!

This will be the last Schuylerville "Evening with St. Nicholas" entry.

Here are just a few more shots of the horses.

More horses

Horse Folks

There were so many horses that showed up to make St Nic's visit to Schuylerville, NY a great event. 

Here is a small sample of the people and their beautiful animals. 

If I knew their names I would give them credit; maybe a viewer knows who some of these folks are?

More St. Nic

We have it all! Burgermiesters, St. Nicholas and his little helpers the Piets.