Travels in the 2nd half

Union Square is one of my favorite place to come to in NYC. There are so many interesting aspects of this park, and I always find something new when I come.   It has a long history and has played key roles in New York’s past and present. Today it is a neighborhood backyard, a lunchtime outing, a marketplace and a soapbox, all wrapped into six and a half acres of urban open space. Originally a “potter’s field” that sat just north of 14 th street, which was the northern edge of NYC, this open space was designated as a public space in 1833 at the urging of Samuel Ruggles – founder of The Commerce Bank, and holder of land deeds to many properties the sat on the edge of the park to be. Its name comes not from the Union Army or many labor marches that that started or ended here, but from the fact that the park sits at the junction of the major thoroughfares of the time, The Bowery and Broadway. The park was originally laid out and planted in the early 1840’s and given a ...

The practice of taking the meat of an animal and cooking it in a liquid base goes back as far as recorded history. And it is done in some form everywhere that people cook food. That is right, the stew is ubiquitous. The website - www.Foodtimeline.org gives a short but comprehensive history of soups and stews here . One point that they make is that main difference between a soup and a stew is where in the meal the dish is served. Soups are an early course, while stews are a main course. The other difference they give is that the act of stewing is to cook in the smallest possible amount of water: [1952] The Master Dictionary of Food & Cookery , Henry Smith [Philosophical Library:New York] "Soup as a food consists of water in which meat, fish, poultry, game, vegetables or even fruits are stewed, to extract all the food value with the least possible loss of vitamins and flavour. Cereals and thickening agents are sometimes added to give body."---(p. 225) ...

NYS Boat Canal in Seneca Falls NY There are many really beautiful parts of NY State, but one of my favorites is the Finger Lakes Region. It is an area of the state that has natural beauty and fascinating past. It has an important place in history and it is unique in its geology. I like traveling around this area because you can start the day in a town like Seneca Falls, home to the Women’s Rights Movement, have lunch at a winery sitting along a beautiful lake, and finish the day in Ithaca, a town that sits in a gorge with lovely waterfalls all around it. The Finger Lakes are a group of 11 long thin lakes that run basically north-south in the western part of New York State. They started as north-flowing rivers, and were formed by the movement of glaciers from north to south and then back again during the last ice-ages. As a result the Finger Lakes include two of the deepest lakes in the United States – Cayuga Lake is 453 feet deep, which means that its bottom is actu...