A whole month has gone by already! I can't believe it has been so long since I posted last. Thankfully,I know you all will forgive,as you know it's a crazy time of year,and here is no different.
Let me preface this post by stating that I am a BeekGeek. I say that loud,and I say that proud. ( I saw BeekGeek on a license plate and figured it was appropriate)
What,you may ask,in the wide wide world of sports is a BeekGeek? It's a fan of the Beekman Boys (AKA Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell).I first became aware of them when I saw their show,The Fabulous Beekman Boys,on Planet Green a few years ago,and I immediately fell in love with them. Sadly,their show didn't last,but it created a very strong and devoted group of BeekGeeks. I have their series on my Kindle,and I have all their recipe books-each one autographed in person,of course!
Why my love for the Boys? Well,I found the show and their philosophy very inspiring.Their story in a nutshell: they were driving out of NYC to pick apples,stumbled onto Sharon Springs,NY,liked the town,and happened to see the Beekman Mansion was for sale,which they fell in love with. They bought the mansion,and started a farm with a gentleman named Farmer John and his goats,which started them making goat milk soap. They support local farmers. They raise heirloom veggies. They won the Amazing Race. Right now through the sales of their Mortgage Lifter Tomato Pasta Sauce they are donating money to small farmers to help them out.
Thankfully,My Dear Friend Michelle is also a BeekGeek ,so she gets it. Last November,we went down to Stonewall Kitchen in York ME where they were doing a book signing:
They were very kind and friendly. It was like we were old friends.
I get their email updates,and one that came through was about the Sharon Springs Garden Festival on Memorial Day weekend,and they were going to have a tour of their property. i really wanted to go. Rick said he had too much to do,but I should ask Michelle if she would like to go. Girl Trip!
Thankfully,her scheduled allowed for it,and we made plans for the 4 hour drive to Sharon Springs,NY. Even though it was Memorial Day weekend,we were lucky that we didn't hit any traffic ( we did avoid all the big highways,though). We got to our room in Cobbleskill,NY,unloaded our bags,and went to Sharon Springs to check things out.
I failed to mention that My Dear Friend had broken her leg in a sledding accident and had to have surgery on it,and she was still on one crutch/boot. She's a trooper!
It had rained,so apparently that drove the crowd away by the time we pulled into Sharon Springs. I saw the store,and saw Josh in front,and exclaimed,"Josh is in front of the store!" Michelle stopped the car immediately,screamed,looked,and pulled into the American Hotel parking lot,which was right across from the store. By the time we got out and walked to the sidewalk,Josh had gone inside,but we still took photos of their store:
We went into the American Hotel,run by Garth and Doug,who we had seen on the series. We were going to try and get into there for brunch the next day,but to our surprise,they had seating available for dinner. Doug,who is also the mayor of Sharon Springs,took our reservation,which Michelle put under her name,and Doug serenaded her with a few lines of "Michelle" by the Beatles,which made her blush. We couldn't believe our luck-dinner at the American!!!
Here is a pic of the front of the American Hotel:
We had some time before dinner,so we went over to the Beekman 1802 store,and Brent happened to be in there . It was really neat to be able to chat with him with out a line of people behind us,and he was just as nice and friendly as he was back in Nov. We each bought a "Goat Tote" bag,and he was so very kind as to sign them,and,since Josh was in a meeting,hold our totes out back so Josh could sign them and we could pick them up the next day when we came for the book signing.He also gave us a meal recommendation-beef tips with mashed potatoes and blue cheese. We took his advice and it was delicious! Our appetizer was a sampler plate with crab cakes that was excellent,also. We each tried their House Garden Martini-neither of us having had martinis before-and it was a wee bit strong for us. We are not martini girls,but the onion and the pickled green bean in it were very good :)
The next day was the tour,and their property is GORGEOUS!!! The mansion was built in 1802 by Judge William Beekman (hence the name of their business Beekman 1802 and the name of their show,The Beekman Boys). We were not allowed inside the house,but we could stay on their property as long as we wished,which was great.
This is the view of the front of the house.....
And the back....
And part of the view from the back...
We also got to meet Roger Hazard,from A&E's " Sell This House!" I love that show,and it was really cool to chat with Roger:
Farmer John took us on a tour of the barn and answered questions about his goats. Sadly,Polk Spot,the Diva Llama,was not having any of this and stayed hidden,which bummed me out greatly. ...
After the tour,we got on the shuttle and headed back to town,where we were able to chat some with both Josh and Brent.Josh signed our bags,and they both signed our cookbooks. I love this photo of the four of us. I have it framed above my computer. You can see my post its on pages of recipes that I tried. (they were very good,by the way!)
Josh,Brent,me,and Michelle:
It was an awesome trip!
