The Country Home

Destination: Blairstown, N.J.

It seems the goal of summer for every New Yorker is to book it out of town as soon as the weekend hits. Never being shy of a challenge we’ve decided to follow suit and keep our car in the city for such escapes during the month of August. Our first adventure took us up the road to the birthplace of Derek, Blairstown, N.J. This isn’t an uncommon stop for us, but for the first time we visited what I will now refer to as the “Country Home” (aka – Lynn and Dennis’s house when the parents are away). We were accompanied to the Country Home by our Brazilian buddies, Renata and Felippe. If your roster doesn’t include any Brazilian’s I highly recommend you hop down to the nearest Consulate and meet a few, but make sure they know how to make Caipirinha’s (see below). Renata and Felippe’s laid back and fun loving attitude made them the perfect travel companions.

Highlights:
- Kayaking the Delaware River – what should have been a 3 hours into a 5 hour float thanks to a leisurely pace, sun soaked picnic lunch and as stop or two for refills.
- Farmer’s market feast – farm fresh veggies are plentiful in Blairstown and hard to pass up, especially the sweet corn. We couldn’t help but grow our list of side dishes’ as we passed the farm on the corner that had larger than life “zukes” and heirloom tomatoes for pocket change. Naturally we accompanied the veggies with huge steaks
- Me kicking the snot out of everyone at Apples to Apples. I rule!

Featured Cocktail: Peachirinha (pronounced [PEACH-UR-REEN-YAH])
We modified the national drink of Brazil, the Caipirinha to include farm fresh peaches and naturally had to change the name. If you can’t find Cachaça* you can substitute with Vodka

Serves 1
1 lime, quartered (1/2 peach cut and pitted, if so desire)
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
2 ounces cachaca*
Ice cubes - crushed is best
Mash the lime quarters and peaches in a cocktail glass with a wooden pestle. Do not remove the pieces of crushed lime. Add the sugar and cachaca. Fill the glass with crushed ice cubes and stir well.

* substitute Vodka if needed