The Culinary Institute of America

The CIA (New York not Washington, DC) is delicious, savory, mouthwatering, delectable, heavenly, luscious, scrumptious, toothsome, yummy, etc. It took a thesaurus of words to describe the luncheon we enjoyed after our tour of the CIA. Founded in 1946, it is dedicated to providing the world with outstanding chefs. The school has two sections, culinary arts and baking and pastry. Students specialize in one or the other. Then they go on to restaurants and hotels or get further degrees in the field.



Some of us just could not wait for the tour or the lunch. We had to try something now and the Apple Pie Bakery just fit the bill.



Our tour took us in front of large windows of demonstration kitchens that let us see students in action and past lecture halls where note taking alternated with wine tastings. The class that appealed most was chocolate because the students had to take home their creations at the end of the day.





Walking the halls of the CIA caused us to build up quite an appetite. This was sated at Catrina de Medici where we started with crepes with spinach and ricotta followed by pork loin. Our Torta di Cioccolato con Panna Montata was a plate-licking flourless chocolate cake.

With satisfied palates, we then raided the gift store buying cookbooks and utensils.

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site

The Vanderbilt’s, starting with “The Commodore,” rose from modest means to the very richest of the very richest. Making most of his money in shipping and railroads, the Commodore was the one who standardized track gauge, created a continuous track from New York to Chicago and made the trains run on time. He and his descendants built forty-three mansions, with the one we saw in Hyde Park being the smallest.

Built in 1895 by Frederick and Louise for $2.25 million, the mansion has fifty-four rooms and is a modest 56,000 square feet. It has central heating, flush toilets, and was the first to have electricity (even before neighbor FDR). The couple had no children and their niece tried to sell the property in the late ‘30s for as little as $250,000. With no buyers, she donated it to the National Park Service where today it is a prime example of the Gilded Age.

Hyde Park

We spent a day with the Roosevelt’s starting with an excellent tour of Springwood, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home from childhood. As an only child, FDR lived a most privileged life doted upon by his mother Sara. After college he returned to the home with his new bride Eleanor. The house contains his collection of birds he had shot, naval pictures, political cartoons and an extensive library. Through his terms as Governor of New York and President of the United States, it remained his home.



Eleanor was never comfortable in the home run by her mother-in-law so Franklin helped design her own home known at Val-Kill. Where Springwood was a more stately manor, Val-Kill was a comfortable cottage, though originally it was a factory where local men, unemployed during the Great Depression, learned to make furniture. Eleanor entertained such luminaries as Churchill, Nehru, Khrushchev and a young candidate named John F. Kennedy. She continued to live in the home until her death. Both FDR and Eleanor are buried in the rose garden near Springwood.




The Stone Cottage near Val-Kill was home to Eleanor’s assistants and later her son.

The library and museum chronicle his early political career through his four terms as president. The private study and oval office desk contain items from his time in the White House. The map room where he followed the action of World War II is replicated in life scale.

Dinner at the Brewster's

As mention repeatedly, this caravan is well fed. We were the fortunate guests at the beautiful home of Jack and Terri Brewster. He is first vice-president of Monaco International. It may not be listed in his official duties, but he and his wife treated us to an amazing dinner of hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs and chicken accompanied by four salads, beans, and corn. The green salad included savory tomatoes from their garden. The vegetable garden also contributed zucchini to a wonderful zucchini bread. Dessert was as colorful as it was delicious. We send them a huge thanks for such generous hospitality.
















On a side note, it is great to travel the country with a personal chef and Mitch is ours. Great cooking sir.

Relocation Day

We left Saratoga for Plattekill, near the Catskills. According to leader Steve, Kill is Dutch for waterway. Today is a day of rest in preparation for going non stop from here on out.

This is a good time to explain a caravan for those of you who do not know what we are doing. If you do know, feel free to skip this explanation.


Our caravan consists of sixteen motorhomes following leaders who worked for over a year to plan our trip. These leaders are volunteers who work to develop a route filled with outstanding sites to visit, meals to relish and campsites that we can fit into. Generally the caravan is based upon a theme, this one the 400th year celebration of Henry Hudson going up the river. There are paid professionals who do these same trips for a lot of money but they are no more “professional” than our volunteer leaders. To say this is a lot of work is an understatement; but the leaders call it a “labor of love.”

We travel in waves, four coaches to a wave, so as not to obstruct traffic. Each wave leader has a map of our fairly brief route. We stay in touch via walkie talkies and cell phones. Getting lost is a rare occurrence. The first wave consists of “parkers” who are responsible for helping everyone get into their site without incident. The parkers help each other first for practice.

In addition to meals at places described in the blog, teams from the caravan take turns preparing several breakfasts and dinners. It is surprising how many great cooks can prepare gourmet meals in a motorhome kitchen. Tonight we enjoyed an Italian dinner with a large salad, ziti, meatballs, bread and an array of lush desserts, all but the desserts prepared in the wee kitchens of a motorhome.

As we go out each day to see more and more historic and cultural sites, we carpool in our tow vehicles. The leaders have set up a rotating list so that we all get to travel together at least once on the trip. This gives us a chance to get better acquainted.

We also socialize most evenings as a group, sharing libations and appetizers. Some of us arrived as strangers but at the end of the caravan we all leave as great friends looking forward to future travels together.

And They’re Off

As mentioned earlier, Saratoga Springs is horse race center during August. The facility looks great for a hundred-year-old track. The buildings and lawns overflowed with about 30,000 racing fans. We were fortunate to have our own area in the Paddock Tent where we again enjoyed a great buffet lunch and watched the saddling of the horses right out the window. Everyone got a free long sleeve Tshirt as a souvenir. We were all winners in a day free of rain and filled with good fun.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

For three weeks every summer, SPAC, as it is called, is home to the Philadelphia Orchestra. We were there for the final performance and what an amazing experience. The theater is open to the air, with a covering over the reserved seats (like the Concord Pavilion). The strong storms we have had throughout the trip hit before intermission and the house invited those seated on the lawn to find dry seats.

The concert included the Overture to William Tell, Rachmaninoff, Grieg, and Falla. It concluded with a breathtaking Bolero. The sky lit with fireworks as the concert ended and we made our way out of this impressive venue.