Hyde Park

We spent Monday traveling south to Plattekill, NY (only a two hour trip and we got to use our new EZ Pass transponder for the toll road!) and spent the rest of the day settling in and enjoying a great Italian meal prepared by Team #2.

On Tuesday we had a busy day out and about, visiting the historic homes of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
















After touring the mansion of FDR, Mitch took some time to give Eleanor and Franklin a piece of his mind.











We also went in the first Presidential Library began by FDR, but the guy at the desk said our pass wasn't good for the library and we had to leave. Oh well!

After a lovely visit to the rose garden, we had an opportunity to visit Val Kill, Eleanor's home on the expansive estate, and then to visity Top Cottage, FDR's get-away home overlooking the Hudson River. We had a chance to sit on the porch and get quite a thorough education on the personal life of FDR. Very interesting!

We ended the day visiting the home of Monaco International friends Jack and Terri, who invited all 32 of us to visit their home for a cook out. They have a lovely home and a beautiful yard for entertaining.

Wednesday we traveled again to Hyde Park to have a tour of the Culinary Institute of America. What a gorgeous campus full of flowers and fountains.















Again the view of the Hudson River was spectacular.

We had a chance to tour the facility visiting both the baking and the culinary kitchen areas. We even got to sample some goodies while stolling down the halls.








We ended our tour with lunch at the Caterina D'Medici Restaurant which was very tasty and ended with a delightful flourless chocolate cake.










After lunch we headed for the Vanderbilt Mansion (built by the younger brother of the Ashville Vanderbilt mansion), one of the 43 Vanderbilt mansions. It's amazing what too much money can buy.










This is cooking team #4 headed by Mitch and includes Linda, Bob, Rita, me, and Art. We are on for tomorrow night and tonight we made potato salad for 32 from scratch.