Mindful Living in the Adirondack Alps

I became acquainted with Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon a couple of years ago when I was discussing food with a guest at my Lodge. Hearing the ideas I had and the “Old World Cuisine” that we promoted she thought that I might find it interesting.

Well – I feel that I had found “my missing link” ! And that started a change in the way I looked and thought about food – for my family and my restaurant.

I have been talking cooking seasonal for years – couldn’t understand why it was mostly all “steak and seafood” in the area. We have, for 40 years been offering “Old World” cooking. For the past 20 I have followed in my mother-in-laws footsteps (she is German and in her 80s now) and with my husbands ideas we have evolved our cuisine to what we call – Adirondack Alps Cuisine. We fuse our “Old World” traditions with seasonal Adirondack tastes (we live in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of NY State). Since sauerkraut is so typical of German cuisine I swore that I would never serve it – well that was before I had tasted “the real thing”! My challenge now is to incorporate the Weston Price way of cooking with a commercial restaurant and offer “products” for take-out. Beneficially, our place has always been different – we serve 40 or under guests by reservation only (and that is only the beginning!) anyway - - years ago I had an intern from the local culinary school who thought I was archaic. Last week I was asked to be one of the demonstration chefs. Not being anything near an “iron chef” I thought that I taught them a thing or two! Or at least introduced them to concepts they had never heard of. I also cook with essential oils – between that and passing out my Weston A Price brochures – even the other “big city” chefs took my handouts.

And that is another thing. A year ago, or more now – being so enthralled with Nourishing Traditions and the WAPF, I noticed that there was not a chapter in the Adirondacks so I started one. A person that I had known of in the area for years came for dinner. She saw my Adk Chapter sign and we decided to get together. One year later she and I host monthly meetings at my place and have approx 30 members – and growing each month.

Always wanting to do “gourmet take-out” I have two sections on my online store.
The main site is www.AdirondackSpirit.com . Here I offer gifts and favorite food items etc. At www.OldWorldEatery.com I offer foods that try to follow the WAPF way of cooking. Just up and running I offer orders twice per month – we’ll see how it goes! The area is just now really pushing the local farmer movement so this has been VERY timely. I am forming relationships with my local farmers. I now feed my family grass fed beef and have discovered the wonders of “farm fresh milk” from happy cows. While of course I can not use this in my restaurant my family and I certainly enjoy it – never saw a kefir grain in my life and now it has become one of my children that I watch over.

All fun aside – I have been doing my own “health research” for personal reasons. While blessed with good health all my life I have been operating a demanding, seasonal lodge and restaurant, taking care of aging parents, home schooling three children … you get the picture! I was exhausted more than half the time. The WAP and some other ideas totally resonated with me. Seven months after learning and doing - I feel much better.

About the Author...

Cathy returned to her Adirondack Mountains 20 years ago seemingly pulled by family and fate. She and her husband now co-own and operate a small resort on a lake that her family built it in 1886, her husband’s family bought it in 1965. Starting her “health” career with a BS in Occupational Therapy, she has been the Executive Chef at their resort for 20 years and between her WAPF work and play is pursuing her Doctorate in Naturopathy. She and her husband also home school their three children. She is the founder of the Adirondack Chapter of the WAPF.