Cooking has been the key ingredient of our lives for generations dating back to Ernest's family in Old World Europe and Cathy's lineage as one of the early Adirondack pioneers. As such we are proud to present our inaugural Adirondack cookbook - Old World style! Many of these recipies you can try first hand at one of our seasonal cooking classes and cooking demonstrations!

Four generations of Old World & Adirondack traditions with ingredients of family, fate and 21st century natural essences are how proprietors and chef Cathy and Ernest Hohmeyer describe the Adirondack Alps culinary experience. As a 19th century Adirondack pioneer, Cathy's Great Aunt and Uncle built our 1886 Lodge as a trading post, post office & guesthouse. Thus, some of the recipes have an Adirondack pioneer origin. With one other family ownership in between, Ernest's family, all born in Europe, bought the Lodge in 1965. His family's culinary & hospitality involvement date back to old world Europe. Brought back together at the various crossroads of their lives (since grade school), and totally unaware of family histories, fate continued to show its hand. Today, we have fused these traditions and passions with our own touch of 21st century flair. We welcome you to the spirit, essences and family inspired ambience that creates our Adirondack Alps fusion cuisine.

Thus, cooking has not just been a part of our lives; it has been our way of life for generations. From the heart-driven passion and satisfaction of providing an unforgettable culinary experience to guests to discussing philosophy and cosmic fatalism while gathering around as a family to prepare our own dinner, cooking has always inspired us to think bigger its essences have always reinforced positive aromas. Still to this day we gather around the kitchen more than any other room in the Lodge estate and often on a cold winter night we turn up the cooking stoves and prepare meals with conversations rather than turning up the heat.

As a more personal backdrop to this inaugural cookbook are the emphasis on our family's experiences and thoughts. The stories here we feel are more important than the recipes as the art of cooking is more than the ingredients found in the dish but the whole ambience of conversation, communication and thinking about what is truly important. When you cook something you are creating and we believe that if you allow yourself this very process generates new ideas Ð that the aromas and essences of cooking are stimuli to human thought, love and passion and thus human advancement.

Cathy and I now have taken these Old World and Adirondack pioneering traditions and have created a fusion cosine we call Adirondack Alps. The love, passion and belief that cooking is an art to stimulate human prosperity are a collective voice from within us from generations of our families.

Thus, this cookbook is an analogy of life in terms of cooking. It represents the many trials and tribulations that bring to the reader's table a full menu of laughter and tears, which are the key ingredients to all these recipes. The result we hope of the following pages is that it brings you and your family new tastes, new experiences, or at least the will to try. We have found, that to try something new, keeps one's palate young and fresh and if nothing else, brings the pride of accomplishment - something more important than the final culinary product. We encourage you to add your own twists and turn to this plot, for cooking is a culinary art and like life, is subject to one's tastes and views. We encourage you to try, and if you do, than this book is a success. As you experiment, send us back some of your own recipes but more importantly to us perhaps a sharing on how this "analogy of life in cooking" may have helped to bring forward you own life's aspirations.

Ernest S. Hohmeyer Jr.

A Story While you Cook...

Food & the Mortgage

My parents having invested everything they had and then some, ran a very tight ship in those early days. Christmas, birthdays and vacations were the exception.

To our guests we served the finest items: veal schnitzels, escargots, chicken liver pate, roast pork loin, lobster Newburg, fresh sirloins, etc. In the first 15 years, except for very special occasions we could not partake in any of these delicacies. It was extremely difficult for us as everyday we served this to guests and we had to see, smell and touch these delicious items. Add my mother's touches and it really created a wanting desire.

Our meals instead consisted of my father's nightly (and I mean required nightly) boiled potatoes and what was often called "eintopf". This was often a collection of the leftovers form the evening's dinners. Now, you need to understand that my mother did not believe in any waste so the eintopf was really made from scraps. Luckily, she always added an extra element of herbs, spices and sauces. However, after eating various concoctions of eintopf over many days, you were sure happy when Tuesday came around. For even in the early days, Tuesdays was the day we were closed and my father was adamant about getting my mother out of the kitchen so that was the night we went out to dinner. And while it was a 4-hour affair, the ability to eat something different was well worth the wait.

Then one day, I remember my father asking me if I wanted crisp Roast Duckling for dinner. I quickly became angry with myself for forgetting someone's birthday and not getting a card. I was really scratching my head trying to figure out whose special day this was. I could not figure it out but I was not about to say anything to potentially jeopardize this fine opportunity. The next night we had fresh sirloin steaks and now I was really perplexed by the situation since there were no twins in the family. On this went for a week. Finally, I could not suppress my curiosity any longer and I had to ask the question of why suddenly we were eating as well as our guests (well almost). My father responded by simply announcing "we paid off the mortgage".

Ernest S. Hohmeyer Jr.

You are the visitor. Thank you for stopping by.