HaverstrawLife.com

A Vacation Island in the ‘Burbs . . . with “Shocking” Food

HaverstrawLife.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:00:40 +0000

Bella Rose Lasagna - Borrowed from the UN of Food

A feisty food blogger from the United Nations of Food (one small man’s attempt to eat food from every country without leaving NYC ) took a weekend excursion with his fiance to Haverstraw where he was admittedly “shocked” by the wide selection of uber-awesome, unpretentious, Hudson Valley, non-yuppie, blue collar Latin/Italian, etc. food. Several times he exclaims in as many ways as he can: “And guess what? I had it all wrong. Haverstraw, formerly known as the brickmaking capital of the world, is a mostly working-class town, featuring a gravel mine and a gigantic oil-fired power plant. No silly, pretentious food here. Not even in the prettiest cafe in town.” That pretty cafe he mentions? Well, that’s the Bella Rose Cafe on New Main Street. And where did they sleep while staying in the Village? In the best bed and breakfast in the County, the Bricktown Inn on Hudson Avenue.

“For our first Haverstraw food shock, we stopped by a seven-table tacqueria called Tacos Marianita, thinking that we’d enjoy another mediocre east-coast burrito. Nope. This was roughly my 200th attempt at eating Mexican food in NYC and DC, and I finally found a spectacular plate of huevos rancheros, a jaw-droppingly tasty green salsa, shockingly fresh horchata, and the best chicken mole I’ve eaten east of the Rockies. In a Rockland County restaurant with exactly zero yelp reviews. Huh?” He’s talking about Tacos Marianita at 10 West Street, just off the Bank Corner (Broadway, Main, New Main). Could it be? The best tacos east of the Rocky Mountains is at the center of the Village of Haverstraw?! Looks like a new Yelp review just popped up. . . This post isn’t even long enough to touch on the fusion awesomeness that is Antoine McGuire’s and Union Restaurant.

“And completely by accident, we found my new favorite New York Italian restaurant. . .” the blogger boasts. This is coming from a guy that’s eaten in thousands of restaurants in New York City. While Rocklanders all but ignore this blue collar pearl on the Hudson, New Yorkers take heed. Downtown Haverstraw is the mecca for authenticity in the Hudson Valley. You just don’t know it yet.

HLife Welcomes a New Contributor: Donna Schmidt

HaverstrawLife.com — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:27:03 +0000

Donna Schmidt’s first job in High School was writing for the Enterprise Newspaper in Westchester County, New York. She has always been fascinated by the written word and the smell of newsprint. Both her father and grandfather were printers. Schmidt grew up in an Italian-American family in Westchester where sauce was always called gravy.

Schmidt is currently the President/Owner of a small publishing company, Donnin Publishing; a freelance writer specializing in feature and human interest stories; a writer for AOL’s New City, Nyack-Piermont, Pearl River and Nanuet Patch.com, Rivertown Magazine, and The Valley Table.

Schmidt is active and part of a Core Group for a local CSA–Cropsey Community Farm in New City, NY (at the historic Cropsey Farm) and was the 2011 Co-Chair for the Cultural Arts Festival at the JCC of Rockland. Donna’s two small children are now teens, her husband is her best friend, and her two mini-dachshunds are always at her feet.

Schmidt’s step-brother is Peter McGuire, owner of Antoine McGuire’s restaurant in Haverstraw. When the restaurant first opened, Schmidt asked McGuire, “What can i do to help?” McGuire’s answered “bring New City.” And so she did. . . weekend after weekend for two years, showing up with friend after friend. During that time, Donna discovered Haverstraw and fell in love with the Village, its history, architecture, people – and of course, its emerging culinary scene.

Keep an eye out for Donna’s upcoming posts!

http://schmidtwriter.webs.com

Pop-Up Everywhere

HaverstrawLife.com — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:50:48 +0000

I found a fun post on streetsblog yesterday. “Pop-Up” cafes are springing up in downtowns across the nation. New York City is pioneering a pop-up program, where parking spaces are given over to restaurants that are then granted permission to install basic outdoor seating platforms, which create an intimate pedestrian environment. Some of these restaurants are even offering WiFi and table service at their pop-up lounges or dining areas. What is normally just a parked car, baking in the sun, becomes a hive of activity. The major question is: What Haverstraw restaurant will be the first to get in on the trend? Here’s lookin’ at you, Antoine McGuire’s and Bella Rose Cafe! Enjoy a cool time-lapse video of a new pop-up cafe on Sullivan Street in Manhattan:

Lower the Floor in the Haverstraw Tunnel?

HaverstrawLife.com — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:05:09 +0000

W Haverstraw Station - NY Central Line

The great Cap’n Transit wrote a blog post on the virtues of lowering the floor of the Haverstraw Rail Tunnel, which is seen by State officials (and the CSX freight rail company) as the biggest impediment to restoring passenger rail service on the West Shore Line. Before 1959, New York Central ran passenger service from Hoboken/Jersey City to Albany, New York on the line, stopping in the Village of Haverstraw, West Haverstraw and Stony Point. By lowering the floor, a cheap alternative to blasting a larger tunnel cavity, vertical clearance is increased allowing for double-tracking through the tunnel. It seems suspicious that the tunnel is the biggest deterrent to restoring passenger service. It is more likely that CSX doesn’t want to share its tracks with passenger services, as this would limit the number of freight trains that can use the line per day. Since 1990, New Jersey Transit has been studying passenger service restoration to West Nyack with the option of building a terminal in Haverstraw or West Haverstraw.

A Facebook Vignette: Urban v. Suburban

HaverstrawLife.com — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:51:08 +0000

I love the Haverstraw – Our Hometown Facebook page. It features several discussions on the history of Haverstraw and brief accounts of life in the Village, today and in the past. Renee, a member of the page recently gave an account of her experience while visiting Downtown Haverstraw. She describes perfectly the relationship between density and a vibrant street life, which is all-too-often missing from the suburban strip mall. Haverstraw is not suburban. It is a uniquely urban place with a breathtaking view of the Hudson River, sitting in the shadow of the towering peak of High Tor. Because of this, many existing residents of the sprawl areas of Rockland County fear the Village. They cannot understand the benefits of living in an urban environment, because they have become so familiar with an inhuman, car-dominated sprawl landscape. Here are more excerpts from Renee, Dianne, Peter and other members of Haverstraw – Our Hometown.

Sound Off: How will high energy costs affect the Village in the future?

HaverstrawLife.com — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:50:47 +0000

Oil Depletion & Production Decline

More and more analysts are blaming financial market turmoil, real estate market stagnation and decline, and high rates of unemployment on expensive and volatile prices for oil. Since oil and other sources of energy are embedded in every aspect of our economy, this claim has a lot of teeth. In your opinion, how might the growing price of oil affect the Village of Haverstraw? Might we see an influx of new residents as suburb dwellers seek ways to avoid driving expensive cars? Might a rebirth in local manufacturing and commercial river traffic emerge? Perhaps the future of the Village will look much like its past?

Village Resident Honored by REDC

HaverstrawLife.com — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:43:36 +0000

Mia V. Marsh

Mia V. Marsh, a resident of New Main Street in the Village of Haverstraw was recently honored by the Rockland County Economic Development Corporation (REDC) “Forty Under 40 Young Business Leaders Recognition Program” for her work in non-profits and for jump starting the Haverstraw Farmers Market. Mia is currently restoring a beautiful Queen Ann house in the Village, on New Main Street, and is running for local government for a Village Trustee position.

MAKING A POSITIVE MARK ON ROCKLAND COUNTY

Our County’s future leaders are working to achieve great things in their fields as well as finding time to give back to their communities.The Rockland Economic Development Corporation (REDC) honors these individuals. The Forty Under 40 Young Business Leaders Recognition Program features a wonderfully diverse group of very deserving people. They have embraced their own philosophies and pushed their talents and skills to help make the Rockland community a better place to live and work.

Each candidate was nominated by his or her peers, employers, clients and community organizations, based on their dedication and commitment to their jobs and communities. A distinguished committee of individuals who live and work in Rockland County selected 40 recipients from the nominations that were received. The Selection Committee based their decisions on three general areas; professional and entrepreneurial accomplishments, community involvement, and the nominee’s positive impact on the Rockland community.

The Forty Under 40 program was established in 2002, to recognize the bright up-and-coming young members of the Rockland County business community. Young men and women who are taking Rockland forward in an encouraging and responsible direction.

Haverstraw Village Local Currency Plan

HaverstrawLife.com — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:21:49 +0000

The Concept: Haverstraw Notes

Local currency is a powerful, local economic development engine. The problem with national currency like the U.S. Dollar is that value is quite often removed from a local economy, as that value is transferred to national retailers (chains) or is spent elsewhere, in other communities. By creating a local currency system value is retained within the community, and additional value may be funneled into the local economy. The United States Constitution explicitly states that bank notes or paper currencies are legal, however, minting coin is prohibited.

How it Works

Village patrons can use the currency in the same way they use the U.S. Dollar; they can use the Haverstraw Notes as a replacement for, or in addition to, the Dollar. They might receive a discount for using the Notes at a local restaurant. The Haverstraw Note will grow in value over time, which is its interest rate. Essentially, a Bank of Haverstraw is created to administer the Haverstraw Notes.

Local Currency Plan for the Village of Haverstraw

One concept that can provide value to the Bank of Haverstraw, and allow the bank to pay an interest rate on its Notes, would be to invest the Bank’s holdings of U.S. Dollars into growing the fresh produce for the restaurant. The Bank would accept Notes as payment for produce, and can also sell the produce in exchange for U.S. Dollars in order to increase the value of its holdings. This means we are “pegging” the Haverstraw Note to both the value of produce and the U.S. Dollar. The Note’s value is literally backed by fresh produce. Cool huh? Remember the Gold Standard? This is the Produce Standard.

We can start this process by calling the Notes “Gift Certificates.” This allows the conversation to run more smoothly, and more people would feel comfortable adopting this concept. Have any questions?

Actual National Bank of Haverstraw Note, 1875

What’s in a Name?: “Short [and] Long Clove”

HaverstrawLife.com — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:04:31 +0000

Believe it or not, the origination of the word “Clove,” which is featured in the names of two prominent mountain passes at the southern end of Haverstraw, Short Clove and Long Clove, begins in Dutch-influenced Afrikaans. A “Kloof” is a deep ravine or mountain pass in Middle Dutch tradition. “Kloove” is directly translated as a “cut or gash in the body of Mother Earth” in Old Dutch. The Dutch, in their conquest of new worlds settled many regions including the Hudson Valley, parts of the Caribbean, and Africa. The use of the term arrived with the earliest Dutch settlers as they settled Haverstraw. “Clove” is an anglicized version of “Kloove” or “Kloof.” The Short and Long Clove are rifts in the Palisades Escarpment south of High Tor Mountain, which became the most obvious locations for Native American then Colonial paths out of Haverstraw and south in to Clarkstown and the Nyacks. Today, the Long Clove hosts Route 9W and the Short Clove allows the passage of vehicles on Haverstraw Road past the Quarry and toward South Mountain Road.

Quote of the Week

HaverstrawLife.com — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:23:30 +0000

“We realized that if we were going to live in NYC it would have be in the West Village or Chelsea or something. Obviously, that’s cost prohibitive. So, we just decided to live in Haverstraw.” — Anonymous Brooklyn Transplant