Seeing Ithaca

Yesterday was a gloriously laid-back, vacation day! I tried to sleep in, but being the morning person that I am, "sleeping in" means no later than 7:00 a.m. Bridie's been really cranking at school lately, so I sneaked out for coffee and let her catch up on some much needed sleep. This may make me sound like a great friend, but Bridie doesn't drink coffee, so my jaunt down to the coffee shop was just as much for me as it was for her!

For lunch, we went to the Ithaca Farmer's Market. What a great place! It was pretty large with lots of locally produced vegetables, preserves, prepared foods, and crafts. As we walked through, the longest line was at a place called Macro Momma's, so of course we decided to get some lunch from that booth! What a great lunch it was! It wasn't posted anywhere, but I'm pretty sure it was vegan food (the strictest form of vegetarianism). Apparently it's quite popular- there were lots of folks standing in line with their own food containers from home to get filled up! I don't know if it's because Ithaca is a college town or because it's so close to Vermont, but there are a lot of what my buddies would call "granola people" here! What a great place!
Here was what was on the sampler plates we had for lunch:

Brown & Sweet Rice with Gomasio

Miso-Apple Butter Baked Beans

Roasted Root Veggies with Rosemary & Lemon Zest

Steamed Delecata Squash with Roasted Pecans

Kale, Cabbage & Califlower with Sauteed Shitake Mushrooms, Roasted Pumpkin Seeds & Gingered Soya Sauce

Pressed Mustard Greens, Cabbage and Fresh Herbal Salad

Hiziki Rolls with Sweet Potatoes

Field Greens with Lemon Poppy Dressing

To a lot of my friends, this may not sound like an ideal lunch, but it was absolutely scrumptous! We sat next to Lake Cayuga and enjoyed this leisurely lunch. It was a bit chilly though, so we didn't linger for long. I had my first ever cup of hot apple cider (no Dave and Jim, it wasn't HARD apple cider!). It was good, but way too condensed for me and I couldn't drink all of it.

In the afternoon, we hiked down one of the gorges on campus and toured the Cornell museum. From the top, there's a great view of the Lake. Joe, you were right, it's beautiful, especially with the leaves changing. Since this was a lazy Saturday, we went back to Bridie's apartment and took an hour and a half nap!

We ended the day by having dinner with some of Bridie's friends at a restaurant on the Lake. It's now Sunday morning as I do this post, and I'm about to pack up my stuff for the 3 hour drive back to the airport in Albany. I have to go through Chicago, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not delayed in the airport infamous for them!