Home & Camp

Morel and Wild Leek Soup

To learn how to sustainably harvest wild leeks, also known as ramps, see “To Take a Leek” at www.adirondacklife.com. Use a reliable guidebook to identify any foraged food before consuming.

Addition and Subtraction: Are Mergers the Answer for Adirondack Schools?

On a Friday morning in March, Devon Harris—one of the original members of the Jamaican national bobsled team—addressed a group of about 100 K–12 students in Minerva Central School’s gymnasium. A motivational speaker, Harris told the story of his improbable journey from the streets of Kingston (“I was just a kid from the hood,” he said) to the national stage. And of course the team’s immortalization in Cool Runnings, a 1993 film starring John Candy.

Frankie’s Chicken Riggies

Chicken riggies—mouthfuls of chicken, sweet and hot peppers, onions and rigatoni smothered in a white-wine marinara—is an upstate favorite born in Utica’s deep-rooted Italian community. Start your own love affair with the dish at Frankie’s Taste of Italy, in Old Forge, where owners Frankie and Tina Zammiello—now joined by their son, Julian—serve up meals inspired by their family’s Sunday feasts.

Adirondack Reads 2025: New Books of Regional Interest

The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks (North Country Books, 2025), by James Appleton, offers a strategic roadmap to tackling the High Peaks.

Rustic Invention: The Art of Paul Lakata

Artist Paul Lakata brought home one of the most coveted honors at the Rustic Furniture Fair in September 2024. The annual exhibition, mounted by Adirondack Experience, in Blue Mountain Lake, showcases artisans who specialize in crafting classic and contemporary rustic furnishings.

Character Study

Every Adirondack small town has its own cast of characters whose presence becomes as familiar as its landmarks, and just as entwined with its sense of place. For the better part of five decades, the affable Keene Valley artist Frank Owen has played a recurring role around town, with frequent appearances at the Ausable Inn, where you may find him chatting up hikers, contractors and anyone else who happens upon the only local watering hole.

Maple Tiramisu

No coffee-soaked ladyfingers or slices of poundcake in this light dessert. Use ramekins or pretty glasses. Makes 4 servings and can be doubled.

Hanukkah Latkes How-to

The traditional Hanukkah latke is made with white potatoes—the most inexpensive food common in central and eastern Europe, where most Ashkenazi Jews made their home for centuries—and a minimal amount of matzo meal or flour added.

Adirondack Field

Ever give in to a “great deal” for clothes online and, when you open the package, you’re hit with a face full of eau de chemical? It’s the price of fast fashion—throwaway pieces that sacrifice quality, workers’ rights and the environment for rock-bottom price tags.

Regional Reads 2024: New Books of Local Interest

Lake Placid–based guide James Appleton recounts “The Haunting of Eagle Cave,” “The Five Ponds Bigfoot” and other spooky legends in Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line.