Hibernatin'

Ye old outback is hibernating in this freezing cold. When it warms up to more than negative 20 degrees, it might wake up.

It did get some fun tuning tho, a nice pair of new struts $1000, and a new battery and alternator, *sigh, ouch my credit card.

Water Taxi Beach -- LIC

ooh, Update!

"We are now open Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday til Oct 10th.. "
Thanks for fillin' us in mr."Hey Chef"

We'll be there with Bells on, and no shoes....

Bohemian Hall

There's not much to be said about Bohemian Hall that hasn't been said already. Ms.Outback is particularly fond of it seeing as she is half Czech. The food is a taste of home. (Not quite mom's homemade) but still full of stick to your ribs and make you burp later eastern european fare. And of course, they serve beer.

mmm. beer.



So pull up a picnic table, sit in the sun or the shade, buy a $12 pitcher of beer, bring a deck of cards or a board game and while away an afternoon with friends beer and Knedle (KEN-ed-ly) with Mushroom Gravy or Chicken Paprika. For quick service go to the grill, for burgers fries and of course bratwurst and saurkraut.

Apparently it gets crowded at night, with lines reaching around the block. But we far prefer the more family oriented, slightly older crowd that comes with the late afternoon. This feels like a place to chill, rather than rage against the machine. mmmph, rage against the machine, we date ourselves with that one.

Jersey Fresh

In case you haven't noticed, we have a thing for barnyard animals. We also have a thing for driving way the heck out of our way for a couple of things to do.

This weekend we headed out to Jersey, Ms Outback wanted a farm expirience, walking out in the sun, Mr.Outback, he wound up chasing ducks. (Who knew, boyfriend, and hearding animal )

We went Peaceful Vally Orchards and Schaefer "We produce Smiles" Farms. Both located in the Jersey Skylands.

Early september is the last of the corn, and peach season. Schaeffer said they were still doing berry picking, but we got there too late in the day. We did find Lots of animals willing to eat out of our hands. (or more accurately, EXPECTING to eat out of our hands). Tons of heirloom tomatoes, squash, pickling cucumbers, peaches.



Peaceful valley had two sheep and a billy goat to feed. See Mr.Outbacks sticky goat hand above. In gearing up for fall they have a moon walk (remember those?)

Schaefer farms had a much larger petting zoo with Ducks, geese, swans (they bite---they're mean), goats, a pony, chickens, turkeys, pigs (kinda stinky) and more....Shaeffer is definatly set up for more family fun. Both farms have corn mazes although we only got to see Schaefer's first hand. Schaefer will also be offering free hayrides to their pumpkin patch, and turning their barn into a creepy/silly looking haunted house. Both have farmstands selling, duh, produce, and both have cut your own flowers.

Shaeffer is also doing a trilogy of fright/haunted house/night time hayride kinda thing, Fri/Sat/Sunday nights from 7-10. According the their website, it's not recommended for kids under 10 and will "scare the yell out of you,"

More good info on Jersey Farm Trips, can be found on the Jersey Fresh Site.
Also check out: njskylands.com


Getting There:
Schaefer Farms :: 1051 County Route 523, Flemington NJ 08822
Get to I-78W either by way of the VNB or Holland Tunnel
Take the CR-523 exit 24 to Oldwick (CR-517)/Whitehouse - go 0.1 mi
Take the CR-523 S ramp to Whitehouse - go 0.0 mi
Bear left at Oldwick Rd - go 2.1 mi
Turn left at US-22 E - go 0.2 mi
Turn right at Main St - go 1.0 mi
Continue on CR-523/Flemington-Whitehouse Rd - go 5.6 mi
Ph: (908) 782-2705

Peaceful Valley Orchards :: 150 Pittstown Road,Pittstown, NJ 08867
From route 78 (see above directions to Schaefer):
Take exit 15 (Pittstown exit). Turn left off ramp. Go 1.8 miles. Farm market is on right.
Ph: 908-730-7748

Happy Labor Day :: Alt Side Suspension

Oh the joy.
Alt Side. Suspended on Monday,

This is the only suspension in September, so Park in a Monday Spot! Heck, park in a Monday spot twice!!

Good Things to Come :: NYS Sheep and Wool Festival

It's hard to believe that summer time is almost gone, and that fall is around the corner. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing given all the great stuff to do in fall. Like for example, the New York State Sheep and Wool festival.

This year's Sheep and Wool festival will be on October 15th and 16th.
The festival is held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck NY. (good 1.5 hours up there).

From the website:
"Sheep, fiber, crafts, education and family fun all blend with a beautiful fall backdrop. New and improved attractions this year. Family Fun includes petting zoo, haunted house and dog frisbee! "

Horay for Fall!

BBQ-NYC

This weekend marked the Third Annual BBQ-NYC Event

BBQ-NYC is a private picnic event for people who love BBQ. This years event was on Randalls Island and was sold out to the lucky 350 people who got tickets. Damn, the food was good.

The event is set up by volunteers who love BBQ and wanted to bring great BBQ to the city. They were just ahead of the wave of BBQ awareness everywhere. Meal tickets were available for a donation of $45 which covered super tasty, all you can eat 'cue, and all you can drink wine, beer, sangria, iced tea and water.

On the menu was: Brisket, Whole Hog, Chicken, Elgin hot links (beef and pork sausage) and Alderwood smoked salmon. All were excellent. (even ms no red meat ate some of everything). The sides were even great. Ms Outback wants the recipie for the spicy slaw.

Deserts were Pot Luck, and the traditional Drakes Cakes, and watermelon.

Get on the mailing list, and you too can go next year. for some 'fine, 'fine good 'cue.

Stew Leonards - Yonkers

We'll be the first to admit that driving 45 minutes to go grocery shopping in a City as dense as ours is flat out weird. But, Stew Leonards is not just a grocery store, it's a destination grocery store/petting zoo/nursery/Dariy Farm/BBQ/Home made Ice cream shop. We like to think that the fact that it has it's own exit to "Stew Leonards Drive" off of NYS Thruway says something about the place.

Stew Leonards started out as a Dairy. Now, according to their website, they are the world's largest dairy. They're also amazing grocery stores.

The store itself is not set up like your typical long aisle, deli department, kind of grocery store. It's set up more like maze, where products are placed in an order that is at times completely ideal (stuff that should go together like veggies, and dip) are placed together. Intersperced throught the store are anamatronic displays, like a singing chiquita bananna, and the poland spring water singing tree.

Outside, during the summer there's a petting zoo with goats, and the worlds sweetest cow, ducks, chickens, roosters, as well as a BBQ with a tasty looking lobster special, and Stews homeade soft serve ice cream (which is very tasty).

If you spend $100 at Stew's, you get a free ice cream or soda from the food stands ouside--woo hoo! free ice cream!

Getting There:
BQE --> Triboro
to 287 --> I 87
to Exit 6A (last exit before the tappan zee)

Water Taxi Beach -- LIC

Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City has been creating quite a stir lately. It's been getting write ups all over the place.

New York Magazine – Harry's LIC at Water Taxi Beach
New York Times – Water Taxi Beach
Gridskipper – Water Taxi Beach
New York City Diary – Water Taxi Bech
Daily News – Water Taxi Beach is ferry easy to reach

The beach, is an empty lot next to the Hunters Point water taxi stop. The owners, trucked in sand, set up a food stand (run by the same people who run shnack, in red hook), set up picnic tables and a beach vollyball net.

It's right on the bank of the east river. No swimming. (who in their right minds would want to?). It's just plain a great place to hang out. The crowd is twenty somethings to late thirty somethings. It's chill. There's a mix of singles, couples and young famlies with small children. The best deal is the 24oz can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, at $2. The food is only okay. But we go there for the atmosphere and one of the best views of the manhattan skyline we've ever seen. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Lately they've been staying open well past midnight (up till 3am) on weekends.

North Jersey, Land of the Fried Hot Dog

Just saying the words, Fried Hot Dogs, is enough to clog an artery. We were introduced to this concept by the Anthony Bourdain "No Reservations" Show on the Travel Channel. He visited Hirams in North Jersey, ate a dog, lived, and we thought well, why not?

Fried Hot Dogs, also called "Rippers"are apparently not unique to North Jersey, but according to my weak sources this is where they were first cooked in a deep fryer.

At this point ms.outback has to give the lame cop out, that she don't eat red meat, so hot dogs are purely a mr.outback thing.

We ventured on to Fort Lee New Jersey, home of two rival Burger Joints, across the street from one another. Both serve Fried Hot Dogs. mmm.nasty. Hirams and Calahans are remarkedly similar in concept, close enough that they could throw relish at one another, and worlds apart in terms of ambiance. Rumor has it that you can get beat up if you're caught going from one to the other. After seeing the crowd at Hirams, We buy it.

We started with Hirams. Hirams seems to attract a much seedier crowd.Even the counter staff looked like they could kick my butt. It definatly attracts a seedier crowd. Yuppie intimidation factor = high. Mr. Outback had the chili dog, and gave it high marks. Ms.Outback had the grilled cheese. (Processed American grilled on an inside out Hamburger Bun).

We then drove from one parking lot to the other, making sure no one was looking. An Amublulence for the local cardiac hospital was parked in Calahan's lot. Unsure if that was an endorsement, or a warning. we continued. If it was night at Hirams, it was daytime at Calahans. Calahans "so fresh so big", serves foot long fried hot dogs, glistening in their pure exploded cooked state. An already full Mr.Outback had the jr. chili dog. He also gave it high marks, noted that the chili was milder but that he loved the saurkraut.

Apparently there's a whole host of these places dotted througought North Jersey.
Photo of Hot Dog Above is the JR Hot dog from Calahans.