Wednesday 15 April 2009

Orient, Long Island











Last week when it was suggested that we spend a few days with friends who had an artist's residency in Orient, NY,  I was elated. So off we went towards Orient - a little hamlet located in the North Fork of Long Island.  Our friend Alanna is an artist and her husband Garth a writer. Between the two, they have been the artist and writer in residence at the house of the artist William Steeple Davis for the past two years.  Davis was best known for his essays on photography and established a career as a commercial illustrator.  His house is part of a trust that allows an artist or writer to live on the property and concentrate on their work for a year.

Besides being artists the couple share a love for food, wine, animals, organic farming, and both are darned good cooks. For the time we were guests, we were offered the most delicious fresh milk, coffee, eggs, soups, recently shot venison, beef, greens freshly picked from their greenhouse, freshly baked bread, east bay oysters and pot au creme. New York city has dozens of gourmet stores that sell fresh produce but nothing compares to reaching out and picking greens for dinner,  holding soft recently laid eggs in your hand, or sipping thick, creamy milk from cows that were freshly milked just an hour or so ago.

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