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Author: Kacie Cotter-Harrigan

Get Active with Guided Walking & Biking Tours Through Saratoga Springs

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Sports.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — As Saratoga residents begin to blow off the dust on their bikes and running shoes after the long quarantine, the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation (SSPF) is offering a fun and educational way to get back into being active. Throughout the summer, the SSPF is offering guided walking and biking tours throughout Saratoga to give you the full story on this historic city.

The annual Bike Tours are returning again this summer to give people the full scoop behind the Saratoga Spa State Park. Join Linda Harvey-Opiteck, the SSPF Secretary as the path takes you along old roads, carriage paths, and trolley lines. By biking and walking these paths, the community will gain an understanding of the historic development of the area through the 1900’s. The trip will highlight the significant architectural and landscaping changes the springs and spas went through throughout this period. Even today the park remains a staple cultural and amusement spot for locals and tourists alike. The SSPF highlights the preservation of the spas and the local beauty of the quiet and off-the-beaten-path springs. Ever since their founding in 1977, the SSPF has worked for the protection and enhancement of the Saratoga’s cultural heritage.

The tour starts on South Broadway at the Lincoln Baths near the early bathhouses before moving along to some lesser known springs along Route 50. Afterwards, the tour will head to the serene Geyser Park area before finishing up at the complex of Beaux Arts building in the center of Saratoga Spa State Park.

Harvey-Opiteck says that her favorite part of the tour is “making people aware of the significance of this park that is in their backyard and helping them find new parts of the park that they not have explored before. Everyone puts a focus on the historic architecture in Saratoga Springs but here we have a National Historic Landmark, which there is no higher significance in the United States.”

Tickets for the tour are $20 for SSPF members and $25 for any non-members and space is limited to around twenty participants so sign up in advance. Also, for those who are interested but might not have a bike can rent one through the many CDPHP Cycle stations throughout Saratoga. The course is mostly flat so people of all ages and fitness ranges are welcome to attend. Tours are offered on Saturday, July 11, Saturday, Aug. 22, and on Sunday Sept. 27.

The SSPF is also offering their “Summer Strolls” again this summer which take you through multiple different neighborhoods and locations around Saratoga to learn more about their cultural history as well. There are twelve walks scheduled throughout the summer and like the Bike Tours, space is limited so registering for a ticket in advance is required. A guide who is well rooted in Saratoga’s rich history will lead the tour and the locations visited range from elegant streets of Saratoga’s downtown to the tranquil, hole-in-the-wall springs. These tours are offered every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. all the way through Sept. 6.

For those looking to get active this summer, try signing up for a Bike Tour or Summer Stroll. The two not only give you an in-depth guide on the city’s rich cultural history, but also are a great way to make being active fun.

For more information on the tours or to make a reservation, call the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation 518-587-5030 or visit their website at www.saratogapreservation.org.

Just Muddling My Way Along!

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Food.

Hello my Foodie Friends!

This Fourth of July weekend during Covid-19 restrictions will hinder but not stop our family and friends from getting together safely. Our gatherings will be more thought out and the right people will be with us. A toast or two will be made and what will you be holding?  The drink I will be requesting is the Mojito! If you like Mojitos, and you’re like me, then they have to be made right. This is a classic summer cocktail and if it’s made correctly it’s delicious. 

An essential tool to use to make a Mojito is a “muddler.” The muddler is basically a stick you use to smash ingredients into a bottom of a glass. It is used like a pestle to mash or muddle fruits, herbs, and spices. The classic muddler is a rod with a slight flare on one end and a flat surface or teeth on the other side. Both the flat surface and the teeth surface are appropriate for “muddling.” The purpose to “muddle” is to release fresh flavors to the liquid that will enhance your drink. Bartenders use a muddler to crush ingredients such as lemons, limes, and mint against the glass before pouring ice in. The muddler can also be used to stir a drink. Here are some tips of “muddling.” 

• In most cases, the point of muddling is not to smash the ingredients into a messy pulp, but to gently caress the essence out of it and this is where a lot of new bartenders go wrong. 
• Place your ingredients in the bottom of a cocktail shaker or mixing glass. Some cocktails are muddled directly in the serving glass as well.
• Gently press down and give a half turn of the muddler.
• Release and continue this motion until sufficiently muddled. This will generally take about 4-6 turns.
• Don’t muddle in a shaker that has a plastic bottom because they are prone to cracking, even under the lightest of pressure.
• Muddle before adding ice or you are just crushing ice, potentially over diluting the drink, and not properly muddling the ingredients that need it. 

Ahhh…I love summer. 

Being outdoors and enjoying fun times with family and friends (safely) creates those memories that last a lifetime. 

This Fourth of July weekend, don’t get caught trying to “muddle your way through” making a Mojito without a muddler. Stop by Compliments to the Chef, Saratoga Springs’ true kitchen essentials store located at 33 Railroad Place to pick up the tools you need to make your weekend an enjoyable one! Remember; “Life Happens in the Kitchen.” Happy Fourth of July!

 Take Care,
John & PaulaREARDON Mojito

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Instant Pot

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Food.

What are we having for dinner? This daily asked question requires a different answer each time, but the response must always sound delicious, nutritious, and most of all, be easy to make.

These exact requirements crossed Mary Song’s mind before she started Healthy Gourmet Kitchen. Prior to opening her business, Song worked as a business analyst designing large scale computer applications. She helped improve life for people around the world, but she never met any of them. She was working long hours and found it challenging to cook healthy dinners.

This inspired Song to create her business selling packaged seasoning blends, dips, soup mixes, and meal starters that can be made in a slow cooker, pressure cooker, or simmered in a saucepan for those who are too busy to spend much time cooking.

“I’ve loved to cook my entire life,” says Song, recalling how living in the Middle East and France influenced her cooking style. In the Middle East, she lived in an international expat community, where cooking was “like an art with a lot of heart.” While in France, she was taught traditional French cuisine and to use the freshest ingredients, stating that the process was “a bit fussy – but this was the 1980s after all!”

Song learned to combine the Middle Eastern and French food cultures and not to be afraid of spices, herbs, and flavor. She advises her customers to step outside their comfort zone when it comes to food, so rather than offering bland mixes, Healthy Gourmet Kitchen invites you to make flavorful and exciting dishes like a “Coconut Curry Chickpea Stew” or “Chicken Marengo.”

Everything is blended and mixed by hand and packed into clear packaging so customers are able to see the ingredients they are buying. Plus, there are no unnecessary added ingredients like you find in store-bought mixes. “When I first started Healthy Gourmet Kitchen there were few or no low sodium, low-fat options that also tasted great,” says Song, “I felt there was an opportunity to create healthy, delicious meal starters that didn’t rely on salt, sugar or chemicals for flavor.”

When she created her business, Song knew she wanted to participate in the Saratoga Farmers’ Market to finally be able to meet the people she helps. Healthy Gourmet Kitchen attends the market on Saturdays and will be back at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market on July 11!

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Wilton Mall. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/weekly-newsletter.

FM InstPotBolognes

Watering Your Garden

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Home & Garden.

IT WOULD SEEM that nothing could be simpler than watering your garden, but I’m always amazed that so many gardeners, even experienced gardeners, continue to make the rookie mistake of spraying their plants with water. Spraying your gardens with water can turn even a great growing season into a struggle.

Here’s why:

1. Spraying chills the leaves, shocking the plant. On a hot day we might think that our tomato plants would enjoy a cooling spray from the hose. Actually, tomatoes love their leaves to be hot. On a 90° summer day, the leaves of the tomato are evaporating moisture. The tomato (or any of our garden plants) replaces that moisture by drawing it up through its roots. Along with that moisture come the nutrients the plant needs to grow, flower and produce fruit. Wetting the leaves shuts down that process. When the leaves get hit with that 50°F water from the hose, it shocks the plant and it takes a couple of days to recover. Every time you chill your tomato by spraying it with water, you’re cheating yourself out of at least couple of days of growing. Our season is short enough without being cheated by spray watering.

2. Spraying our plants with water creates a perfect environment for fungal diseases to incubate and thrive. Folks are always worried about late blight, powdery mildew and a host of other diseases but they’ll continue to water their vegetable and flower gardens with a lawn sprinkler. Roses and tomatoes are especially prone to fungal diseases so special effort should be made to keep their foliage dry as much as possible. Plants with dry leaves are always going to be healthier. Wet leaves are an invitation to the spores of fungal diseases.

3. Spraying our plants with water washes the pollen out of the flowers. Once that happens, the plant will abort that now-useless flower. In the case of flowering ornamental plants, this means that a flower that could have lasted several days will now turn to mush by the next morning.

In the vegetable garden, spraying the pollen out of the flowers means that no fruit will form until a new flower opens and gets pollinated. All the effort we put into our vegetable gardens is undermined when we water with a lawn sprinkler or spray them with water from a hose.

4. Spray watering wastes water. Plants absorb water through their roots and that is where the water should be directed. Water sprayed on your garden evaporates into the air, doing little good for your plants and a great deal of damage.

Right about now you may be thinking “Rain wets the plants though.” That’s true but it rarely rains when the sun is shining and it is usually a bit cooler. Rain also falls from above and many flowers have adapted with downward facing flowers. Morning Glories will actually close before a rain to protect the pollen. A rainy growing season does create lots of fungal disease problems for plants. There’s no good reason to replicate the miseries of a soggy growing season. 

So, how do we water the gardens without wetting the plants? Use a watering wand. A watering wand allows you to direct the water to the soil at the base of each plant so the roots can be soaked while wetting the foliage as little as possible. For a deep soak, let the wand trickle slowly at the base of each plant for a longer time. If you haven’t the time or patience for wand watering, you can use oozing soaker hoses so all you have to do is hook up your hose and walk away.

Watering your gardens isn’t difficult but make sure that it helps rather than harms your plants.

THANKS FOR THE READ!

POP Club Offers Children’s Activities To-Go

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Food.

Summer has officially begun and throughout the state, summertime activities have been re-imagined to ensure safety and to stop the spread of COVID-19. The Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s Power of Produce Club, or POP Club, will continue to offer children nutrition education with new take-home activities and online support..

Beginning on July 8, children can participate in POP Club by visiting the Saratoga Farmers’ Market on Wednesdays with their parents or caregivers. At the market, they will receive an activity bag “to go.” The POP Club activity bag will include a take-home activity, recipe cards, and a $2 POP coin that can be used to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmers’ market. POP Passports will not be handed out and stamped this year, but families can anticipate nourishing activities with complete directions and supplies. Although the club is open to children, it is especially geared toward those aged 5-12.

In addition to weekly POP Club ‘to go’ bags, parents and caregivers can visit the farmers’ market’s website for video tutorials and photos that pair with each activity. This online platform will give children and parents the opportunity to ask questions, share experiences, and connect with the farmers’ market for additional support.

“We are very happy to host our fifth season of POP Club with the generous support of the Christopher Dailey Foundation,” says Emily Meagher, market administrator. “It’s important that we give children the tools to be involved in agriculture and community, to help them understand that food and farming are intrinsically connected.”

POP Club continues to be a free program and will run for 8 weeks beginning on Wednesday, July 8, and running through the end of August. POP Club activity bags will be available at the green market information tent on Wednesday, 3-6 p.m. at the farmers’ market.

This season’s take-home activities include crafts, recipes, experiments, and information using seasonal fruits and vegetables as POP Club continues to give both children and their parents a chance to learn about local foods and farming in a hands-on way. 

Buying produce with a POP coin gives children a chance to meet farmers, learn money skills, and make smart food choices.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Wilton Mall. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/weekly-newsletter.

FM StrawberryShortcake

Controlled Spiral

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Food.

Hello my Foodie Friends!

Sunny days and warmer weather remind me of some of my treasured childhood experiences. Getting to spend more time outdoors was my favorite for many reasons; sunshine and swimming, the feel of grass on my feet, the sound of the ice cream truck, melting pop sickles and ice cream cones, and playing baseball outdoors until dark. The weekend days allowed me and my brothers and sisters to sleep in a bit. However, we would always awake early and would roll over and talk until my mother came in to get us moving to eat breakfast. 

Our yard was always full of the neighborhood kids. Some of them were there before we even finished breakfast, just waiting for the five Reardon children to come out to play. Among my childhood memories include the visual of the beautiful vegetable gardens that almost every family in my neighborhood had. Don’t get me wrong because as a child I did not like working in the garden. On hot n’ humid days my Mom ordering us to weed and remove bugs from her vegetables was beyond fun!  The bugs looked cool though. My mother and my grandmother took much pride in how big the tomatoes or the eggplants were. When we would come in from playing for lunch or a snack, vegetables were always part of what was served such as a wonderful cucumber and tomato salad, zucchini, or carrot sticks (all that came from the garden). Recently, I was reminiscing with my sister about our childhood friends and us playing Hide N Go Seek in the corn fields next to our neighborhood, the outdoor fun we had, and shared our ongoing challenge of eating those vegetables as adults that we so often were eating as children. 

During the warmer weather, none of us want to be in the hot kitchen for too long. This time of year is all about feeling light and healthy to combat the hot and humid temperatures. The last thing we want to do is stand over a stovetop or turn the oven on. With gorgeous weather and heat waves, we want to spend as much time outside as possible, soaking up the sun rays. However, we still want to eat healthfully. If you want to minimize the time you’ll be in the kitchen but still feel good (from the inside out, of course), then we have a cool tool that may help you feel inspiralized; the Vegetable Spiralizer. Vegetable Spiralizing is your key to healthy and light meals. The spiralizer is a kitchen tool that turns vegetables and fruits into noodles. Those noodles can then be used to make healthy pasta, noodle, salad dishes and more. While these veggie noodles can be cooked, they’re equally as delicious in their raw, cold form – perfect for easy, no-fuss, no-cook meals. By spiralizing, you’re naturally eating more vegetables – without even noticing (especially when they’re covered in a delicious tomato basil sauce!). Vegetables are high in water (such as zucchinis) and help detox your body, ridding it of unwanted toxins and leaving you refreshed and hydrated. Vegetables have an abundance of dietary fiber, which helps keep you fuller longer and help with your everyday digestion. Certain vegetables even help spike the metabolism, such as zucchinis. 

What are the Best Veggies for Spiraling? You can transform all sorts of vegetables into noodles, but the best candidates are those that are firm (not floppy) and long or that can be cut long (if you want long spaghetti that you can easily spiral). One of the best aspects of veggie noodles is their spectacular names. Here are some of the best vegetables for spiraling (Paula found these terms not me):

• Zoodles (zucchini noodles) • Coodles (carrot noodles)
• Swoodles (sweet potato noodles) • Squoodles (squash noodles)
• Boodles (broccoli stem noodles) • Poodles (parsnip noodles)
• Toodles (turnip noodles)

At Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Pl., we carry several brands of Vegetable Spiralizers and even small hand held ones you can bring with you camping or to a friend’s or relative’s house to assist you. Enjoy the outdoors – maybe even start a garden. It will make for some lifelong memories made with family and friends while sharing your culinary creations.  Remember my Foodie Friends, “Life Happens in the Kitchen.” 

 Take Care,
John & PaulaREARDON IndianSalad

Low Risk Youth Sports Slated For Early July

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Sports.

SARATOGA COUNTY — During Governor Cuomo’s announcement on June 14 regarding the shift to Phase 3 of reopening, he stated that low-risk youth sports can begin again on July 6. This was a pleasant surprise for many families around New York as it gives their kids an outlet to get outside and stay active during quarantine.

Since early March, many local Recreation Departments have been forced to shut down annual sports and youth-enrichment programs. The Saratoga Recreation Department was forced to cancel its spring soccer, fishing, ice skating, and bowling programs due to the escalation of the COVID-19. While necessary at the time to protect athletes and families, many were sad to hear that another community outlet was shut down until further notice. As summer grew closer, many questioned the potential of these Recreation Departments and their programs being closed for another season. However, with New York’s almost complete shift to Phase 3, this question is now answered.

Many local recreation departments have begun to announce the reopening of summer leagues for lower-risk youth sports. Popular sports included in this category are: soccer, crew, individual swimming and diving, baseball, softball, track and field, and golf. While many kids are excited to regain a bit of normalcy in their lives, there are a lot of precautions being taken to ensure that both kids and spectators can be safe. The sports that were given the green-light to open back up contain minimal contact and share little equipment. Furthermore, most of these can be done while practicing regular social distancing rules.

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While it is up to each state or community to enforce and mandate certain safety precautions, local recreation departments such as the Ballston Area Recreation Commission (BACC) and Saratoga Springs Recreation have taken many efforts to ensure that people are maintaining proper safety when getting back out on the fields this summer. One change that will be implemented for the summer and fall leagues is a limit on the number of spectators allowed at each game. They ask that there only be two spectators per child participant. As well, these Departments have begun to discuss with league directors about keeping players safe during games. Some private leagues have already started posting their own health and safety guidelines during COVID-19. The Ballston Spa Jr. Baseball League is requiring that all coaching staff must wear masks in and around the playing field and that players are required to have masks on in the dugout. The traditional after game handshake is being replaced with both teams lining up on their base path in front of their dugouts and tipping their cap to opposing team.

However, while things may look bright for Saratoga and Ballston Spa in regard to the reopening of summer youth sports, Glens Falls has decided to keep their sport leagues closed for the summer. In a release by the Glens Falls Recreation department, “In wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the Covid-19 threat, and in the interest of maintaining public health, the Glens Falls Recreation Department has cancelled the bulk of its summer programming.”

While the concern of COVID-19 will not go away anytime soon, it’s a step in the right direction for local communities as they try and not only restore some normalcy to kids’ lives, but also some smiles.

Hot Fudge Birthday!

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Food.

Hello my Foodie Friends!

June 16 was our daughter Aubrey’s birthday. It was also National Fudge Day! How old is Aubrey do you ask? Well, I’m not supposed to say but to me when I look at her, she is still five years old and she still would like more than the wrapping paper for a gift. Aubrey had a request that we use Sundae’s Best Hot Fudge for her Birthday dessert. In the past several months, we have all been sharing a lot of stay “in the house” family time, so her party was small. 

However, it was with those that made it sweet. Paula and I love to use products from family-owned businesses, especially if they are locally owned. Among our favorites is a wonderful product of Katie and Jeff from Sundae’s Best Hot Fudge Sauce, which is a product of Greenfield’s Greatest Food Company, Inc. They use only the very best ingredients including real chocolate and cocoa. They also use award-winning NY State (Dake Family Owned) Stewarts® wholesome milk, cream and sweet butter. Sundaes Best Hot Fudge Sauce is great on ice cream, fruit, cake, in recipes or just grab a spoon and dig in. Jeff’s mom has been making this homemade hot fudge for family, friends and her church congregation for more than forty years…and she still does. Katie and her grandmother have had a Saratoga tradition enjoying hot fudge sundaes from ice cream shops since Katie was a little girl. They’ve combined mom’s recipe with their love for hot fudge to offer Sundaes Best. Katie, Jeff, Paula, John and Aubrey encourage you to start a Sundae Tradition of your own. You should see the smiles from those that receive Sundaes Best Hot Fudge Sauce as a gift. Did you see our Katie on Good Morning America on Saturday, June 13, 2020?

Stop by our family-owned Compliments to the Chef, downtown Saratoga’s neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located on 33 Railroad Place to get some of Sundae’s Best Hot Fudge Sauce. Remember my Foodie Friends: “Life Happens in the Kitchen” especially when that special someone has chocolate to share.

 Take Care,
John & PaulaREARDON BrownieDLight