Fall Bites 2015

Colder temperatures definitely call for comfort food, as if that wasn't enough of an excuse to indulge in a few extra calories. Here's a look back at some of our favorite fall bites:

Cider Sunday: Ninepin Ciderworks organized a PYO apple and cider festival at Samascott Orchards. It featured a delicious pig roast by Lovers Leap Farm complete with sweet potatoes and and corn right from the farm and an icy glass of fresh pressed cider and apple cider doughnut for dessert.

Things got pretty meta when we started drinking in the orchard. Nine Pin sources a majority of their apples from Samascott and it was pretty awesome drinking in the very place where the fruit comes from. 

Twin Peaks Coffee & Donuts: We found ourselves at a doughnut shop while exploring the Catskills and its beautiful foliage. On a whim we stopped by this charming place in Tannersville for hot old-fashioned cake donuts. Each batch is fried to order by a donut robot and freshly glazed as it comes off the conveyor belt . Couldn't go wrong with the maple bacon but it was the Boston creme and samoa doughnuts that had us devouring half the order. 

TC Paris Bakery: Our favorite French bakery is back after a brief hiatus. You can now find them inside the Pavilion Grand Hotel serving breakfast and lunch daily alongside their decadent confectionaries. For the ultimate comfort food duo, go for the buttery mac 'n cheese made with imported gruyere and aged cheddar and a to-die-for ham and cheese croque monsieur made with a rich and creamy bechamel. Oooey gooey cheese hits the spot. Be sure to leave room for a macaron or two. 

Bees Knees Cafe: After Supper Club, I knew I wanted to return to Heather Ridge Farm during the daylight to not only enjoy the fall foliage but the weekend brunch. The menu changes every weekend and on this particular day we enjoyed a farm-fresh egg breakfast plate with and house-made corned beef hash and Irish bangers braised in cider with local potatoes and side of brown bread to mop it all up. Flavors were so fresh and knowing the meats were made from pasture-raised and grass-fed animals right from the farm made the experience even more special. 

Cafe Capriccio: I can't believe it took me 8 years to finally make it here. This Capital Region institution has been serving regional Italian cuisine for more than a quarter century and and we only recently made it here for THE BEST plate of pasta. Handmade tagliatelle is tossed in a robust ragu made with tender, melt-in-your mouth wild Icelandic lamb, root vegetables, garlic, cabernet, and tomatoes. The fresh pasta was a wonderful canvas for the sauce. Each bite unfolded layer upon layer of flavor. You'll be seeing us carb loading into the winter months at Cafe Capriccio. 

currently snacking on...

... freshly picked blueberries from Samascott Orchards.
Open for pick-your-own fruits and veggies. 

Pass The Thyme Cafe

Where did summer go? It's hard to believe that fall flavors are in full swing. The Capital Region is blessed with an abundance of pick-your-own orchards with a variety of apples and even better, cider doughnuts and fresh-pressed cider. One of our favorite orchards is Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook, NY. Now that  autumn apples are calling our names, a hearty brunch is a must before doing some picking. We've driven by Pass The Thyme Cafe numerous times on our way down for PYO summer blueberries and just recently stopped by for a fantastic meal. You'll find this sweet charming spot less than a mile down the road from Samascott Orchards serving a classic variety of breakfast fare and lunch items. 

Omelette of the Day: J went with the special of the day, an omelette with spinach, avocado, tomatoes, bacon and cheddar with a smashed potato cake, toast, and fresh fruit. For $10, this was a huge breakfast! Eggs were fluffy and generously filled with fresh vegetables. The most interesting element of this feast was the potato cake, a unique hybrid of creamy mashed potatoes sprinkled with scallions  and encrusted with a thin, golden crunchy layer of cheese on the bottom. The cheddary tuille of sorts was one of the best, memorable bites. 

We also shared a side of hash. I was perplexed by the dish of thinly sliced potatoes but somehow it worked. It wasn't potato chip thin but had just enough toothy bite yet satisfying crisp. 

Samascott Orchards

I don't have a green thumb. My basil plant is barely surviving this summer. When it comes to gardening, I'd be happy to leave that to the professionals. When it comes to eating, we're pros but harvesting was a whole new adventure. We've gone apple picking before and that seemed easy enough; why not try berry picking? Samascott Orchards always has a beautiful farmer's market spread of fruits and veggies. When we heard they did pick your own, it was a chance to put on our foraging hats. Samascott Orchards is only a 30 minute drive to Kinderhook from Albany. Bring your own containers or bags for picking or it'll cost you a quarter for a couple of plastic bags or $0.75 for a cardboard container. Right now blueberries are flourishing and we were happily eating sampling for quality control along the way; they kind of discourage you from not eating before paying.

Sweet, plump, and still warm from the sun's kiss; it's so satisfying tasting what Mother Nature has to offer this summer. The best picking method? Cup your hands and pick with your thumbs and a bounty of blueberry jewels will fall into your palm. Sure you can easily stop by the Samascott Garden store on the way down but there's something to be said about working hard for your food. No sweat, no berries. There were still plenty of blueberry bushes awaiting ripening but strawberries and sweet cherries were at a premium and already picked over. We were able to find a handful of strawberries but it was more of a scavenger hunt. J grew up on sour cherries and while most people overlook these rubies, we appreciate its tart flavor and harvested a bucketful for a pie to be. But really all these berries are just as good, if not better, on their own.

Created with flickr slideshow.

A couple hours and a sunburn later, we walked away with $20 worth of blueberries, sour cherries, and strawberries. All the berries were priced at $2.00/pound, with the exception of black raspberries at $5.00/pound which we somehow missed. You can also pick for peas, squash, and cucumbers at $1.25/pound. 

At weigh-in, you'll find a variety of homemade jams and jellies, cold apple cider, frozen meats, and cider donuts at the farmstand. We decided to end our pick-your-own trip on a sweeter note with a scoop or two of homemade ice cream. We topped scoops of raspberry and peach ice creams with our freshly picked prizes. Delish! As an added bonus, we stopped by Ninepin Cider for a bit of libation. Ninepin uses apples from Samascott for their cider so it was only fitting that we completed the full circle with a tasting and growler to go. This summer is shaping up to be pretty sweet!