The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Family

Kittle House: A Traditional & Fun Gathering Spot

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Story and Photos By Karen Talbot

kittlehouse

John Crabtree and his family purchased this European-style country manor house and restaurant in 1981. The structure originally built in 1790 as a barn has an illustrious history dating back to the origins of Chappaqua. Farm-to-table dining literally started here and Kittle House maintains an excellent reputation as an outlet for the finest sustainable, naturally raised and grown products from small artisanal farmers in the area.

The beautiful grounds and gardens provide an idyllic setting for both dining and special occasions. The Kittle House offers 12 guest rooms for overnight stays, and dining primarily in either the main dining room or the historic Tap Room which are open every day for lunch and dinner and Sunday for their famous brunch.

Chef Jay Lippin creates noteworthy food using traditional French techniques. For lunch, the Maine lobster roll is a favorite with avocado, tomato, firecracker slaw and roasted garlic potato chips. Jay specializes in game dishes for dinner such as Highland Farms Venison Osso Buco with creamy wild chive polenta, broccolini in a red wine sauce, or Helder Herdwyck Farms Guinea Hen with scarlet blush corn, local bean and sweet pepper hash in a red sorrel sauce. The Kittle House’s dessert classic is the “Chocolate Gift” which combines pastry and cake shaped like a gift box. The Holidays are especially festive at the Kittle House and the restaurant has been a traditional and fun gathering spot for family members over many generations.

The Kittle House has a wine cellar of over 60,000 bottles. It has been the recipient of The Grand Award from The Wine Spectator since 1994 and the Award of Great Distinction from The Wine Enthusiast since 2006.

11 Kittle Road, Chappaqua
914-666-8044
kittlehouse.com

Karen Talbot is a Westchester-based personal shopper and restaurant reviewer. The love of cooking runs in her family! Karen’s son Alex and his wife Aki Kamozawa started a food blog “Ideas in Food” in early 2000, and they have just opened “Curiosity Donuts” in the Stockton Market in Stockton, New Jersey.

At Squires: Year-Round Fashions for the Entire Family

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Squires owner, Michael Kushner
Squires owner, Michael Kushner

By Matt Smith

During a recent trip to Squires, one customer is browsing through winter jackets, while another customer is at the register asking about flip flops and beachwear. Behind them, at the back of the store, yet another customer is being fitted for dress shoes, because he’s got a wedding to attend. And next to him sits a family trying on various hiking boots for their excursion in the mountains. The endless and “seasonless” variety may appear strange to some, but for the Squires’ team, it’s perfectly normal — every day of the year.

Squires’ Family Clothing and Footwear on South Greeley Avenue in the heart of the downtown area, prides itself on this diversity, and being a year-round, multi-purpose establishment, regularly stocked with “a tremendous selection” of “quality name-brands” for any season.

Says owner Michael Kushner, who took over the store in 1987, of Squires’ appeal to the community: “We’re a good alternative to the big-box stores. We offer a full service, and not just a little bit of this and a little bit of that.”

Much of the community is aware of all the store has to offer. Squires has enjoyed consistent business from local residents since it opened in Chappaqua in 1949. “Many of our customers are the same customers,” notes Kushner, adding that the store’s popularity most likely stems from their ability to be reliable/their reliability to carry items. In a given season where other stores may only offer products which are exclusive to that season, “it’s nice to know you can depend on a store [to have what you want].”

Kushner’s warm smile as he speaks those words indicate that Squires certainly fits into that category: “When you come in here, 99 percent of the time, we’ll have what you want.”

Additionally, in keeping with its reputation for customer loyalty, Squires is also equally loyal to its products and merchandisers. Believing a product should continually be sold–regardless of if it’s out-of-season, or, perhaps, an older model of an updated item–if the company still manufactures it, and the customer still has interest, Kushner explains, at his store, “if something’s moving well, we continue on with it year after year after year.”

He goes on to say that most stores tend to change inventory with the season, “which is good, but you don’t want to change necessarily [just to change].” For that reason, again, ever dedicated to the customer, Squires has a selection of core products on hand all the time–which is presumably the key to its success.

Finally, new customers may be enticed by the year-round sales rack, located just outside the store, offering a variety of seasonal items at a lower price. which changes offerings by the season. Kushner notes “we do have about six to eight sale racks” inside the store, containing the occasional overstocked items–at a discounted rate.

Important to note, too, that in addition to their booming business, Squires is also extremely active in terms of community outreach. They donate to many churches and synagogues throughout the year, including the First Congregational Church’s semi-annual Barn Sale. On the topic, Kushner recalls, in particular that “after 9/11, there was a need for [help] for some first responders down in the city–clothing, socks, things like that–so we loaded up some trucks and helped them out.”

There you have it. A one-stop shopping experience perfectly positioned in the center of town, where you can buy a bathing suit, a winter fleece, and be fit for a tuxedo, all in the same place?! And the generous staff gives back to others in the community? Sounds like you can’t go wrong! So, head down to Squires today!

Squires’ Family Clothing and Footwear is located in Chappaqua, at 41 South Greeley Avenue, as well as Katonah, at 193 Katonah Avenue. The store boasts such name-brands as Patagonia, Sperry, North Face, Tommy Bahama, K-Swiss and Christopher Blue. www.squiresny.com

Reframing Loss and Gain

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Apple picking with the family in 2014: From left, Timothy Radice, Gabriella Radice, Gavin Radice, Kourtney DeRosa-Radice.
Apple picking with the family in 2014: From left, Timothy Radice, Gabriella Radice, Gavin Radice, Kourtney DeRosa-Radice.

By Kourtney DeRosa-Radice

Not too long ago, I was 85 pounds heavier than I am today. I moved to Westchester, had two children back-to-back and pretty much put my needs and wants on the back burner.  I prepared my children organic baby food, dressed them in the cutest little outfits, brought them to those fancy gym classes for little ones and LOVED them beyond words.  However, my self-care was another story. I started eating frozen processed foods, traveled around in faded black sweatpants, canceled my gym membership, and pretty much stopped caring for myself. My days of being that women I once was were now gone; this was the new me, the new mom me. My priorities were different and that was okay, or so I told myself.

One day, after getting a glimpse of a picture of my kids with a “stranger,” aka mom, I decided to take action and started a journey down a road that would eventually lead me back to the women I once was, the women I loved and knew so well. Ironically this journey pretty much mirrored all that I had been doing for my children. My days started consisting of eating mostly clean, non-processed foods (similar to what my children had been eating), completing daily workouts (though not at fancy gyms like my kids) and dressing like I was leaving the house (even if I wasn’t).

The result of my efforts was a huge weight loss, which I am congratulated about daily. Each day I hear the words, “Wow, congratulations on your loss…” “Awesome job with your loss…” “You must be so proud of your loss…” Hearing the word loss day after day, used in such a positive manner feels odd. I had been programmed from a young age to think of loss as a negative. I’ve always connected loss to sadness. I’ve connected it to stress and aggravation.  I’ve viewed it as loss–not gain.

Then, one day, after being at a Moms Night Out and talking about my loss yet again, I had that “ah hah” moment.  You know, those moments when you realize you need to rethink our thinking! Wait, I thought. my weight loss isn’t the only loss in my life that has been positive. I quickly went through the moments in my life where I experienced sadness as a result of loss.

I thought about my husband losing his job on the trading floor when the markets went electronic. I thought about losing a beautiful home in Pleasantville in a bidding war. I thought about losing out on what I thought was my dream teaching position in Westchester. Then I thought about what I gained from each of these experiences. My husband losing his job led me to become a nutrition coach which has allowed me to support hundreds of people with their weight loss. Losing our dream home in Pleasantville encouraged us to expand our search and this led us to finding a home in Armonk. And that dream job–well, had I been offered it, I would have never decided to stay at home part time with my children. This idea that a loss could actually bring you to a happier place, a healthier place, an all around better place was now clear in my mind.

As we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday and I continue to think about this whole idea of loss I can’t help but wonder if everyone already knows what it took me 36 years to figure out. Do people know that loss, though negative in some aspects, can also be positive as well? Do people know that sometimes a loss is actually just a gain in disguise?

This year things will be different at my Thanksgiving table for sure. For one, the food I typically prepare will be getting a facelift. There will be no marshmallows on my sweet potatoes and no cream in my corn. There will be no green bean casserole with cream of mushroom soup and no gravy on my turkey. There will, however, be a revised list of what I am thankful for. This year I am going to take a step back and reflect on all that I have lost. I plan to give thanks for all the loss in my life that has brought me to the place I am today. Sometimes it is hard to see the positives in loss, but, when you put on those special lenses, they begin to jump out at you.

With this I challenge you to go beyond only giving thanks for what you have gained this year and, instead, think about what YOU have lost. Have you experienced a loss this year, which has inadvertently led to a positive in your life?  As you sit at your Thanksgiving table and you give thanks for all the gains you have attained, remember to include your losses too. After all they deserve to be thanked as well.

Kourtney DeRosa-Radice is an Armonk mom, public school teacher and Team Beachbody Health and Fitness Coach.  When not enjoying her children or teaching her students she devotes her time to assisting clients in reaching their health and fitness goals. Kourtney can be reached at: Kradice@beachbodycoach.com

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Thanksgiving Traditions

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Volunteering, Shopping and Turkey OH MY!
By Heather Skolnick

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season for many. Thanksgiving triggers autumnal images of softly falling leaves and a feeling of chill in the air–a sure sign of what’s to come weather-wise. It signals the beginning of the holiday shopping season for those in retail with a daily countdown to Christmas. And for many, it evokes memories of meals and unique traditions that encircle the meal. These Thanksgiving traditions can be pretty wide and varied.

As a child, my Thanksgiving traditions were pretty straight forward–extended family came to eat. And eat we did. We enjoyed turkey with the standard carbohydrate-laden fixings, and enough desserts to satisfy the sweet tooth of a small nation. The meal was not complete until we all suffered from indigestion–all before 7 p.m. It was what we did before the meal that was different. Each year, my father and I awoke earlier than most on a holiday, put on sweats, and took a short drive to a neighboring town. We then participated in a local “Turkey Trot”–a five mile run in an attempt to help offset the meal we’d be eating a few hours later. That was our tradition.

My husband’s family didn’t believe in the “Turkey Trot”–instead, Thanksgiving was all about football. Neal, his brothers, cousins, dads and friends all got together to play a serious game of touch football. The colder, wetter and muddier it was outside, the better the game. While their game would end before dinner, the trash talking around that game could last an entire year. Area resident and brother Lyle said, “We would even keep track of records, from most touchdowns, consecutive games with a reception, best play, to worst mistake, and most times ‘giving in’!” Building on the football theme, after playing, they would all return home and begin watching the football games on TV before indulging in their meal.

Other Thanksgiving traditions abound as well. The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is, of course, available to one and all on TV. However, heading in to the city to watch it “live” is a popular tradition for some in our area. From seeing the balloons to watching the performers, the parade route is packed with onlookers of all ages.

Signaling the official start of the holiday shopping season, Black Friday shopping has long been a tradition for some. Amazing short-lived deals often abound on that day, with stores opening early and staying open late. Eager to squeeze an extra shopping day in before the holidays, shopping on Thursday evening has more recently become another (albeit, controversial) option. Many big-box retailers and shopping centers are now open for post-dinner shopping.

turkey paradeKatonah mom Samantha Holcman and her family spend their Thanksgiving doing a little bit of each of these things. They start celebrating at the Thanksgiving Parade. Samantha said, “It’s such an exciting, iconic way to spend the holiday and so easy for local New Yorkers…my kids love it and we love to watch the parade through their reactions.” Later, the Holcman family dines back in Westchester at one of our fabulous local restaurants, choosing a different restaurant each year. Lastly, Samantha’s husband Brad and his mother go shopping and scour stores for bargains, sometimes not returning until 10 a.m. the next day! Of shopping Thursday night, Samantha said, “For people that like a deal, it’s a unique and very fun experience.”

Volunteering is a wonderful way to enjoy the spirit of Thanksgiving while enjoying some quality family time. One option is to spend part of the day together, helping to provide a meal for others. Neighbor’s Link coordinates a food drive in anticipation of the holiday. On the actual day, they provide a full Thanksgiving meal and a full bag of groceries to take home.

Armonk mom Abby Hollander will be doing just that. She, along with her family, will be serving Thanksgiving meals in coordination with local religious affiliates. Abby decided to begin volunteering on Thanksgiving because “I thought it was really important as my son turns five this December to expose him to those less fortunate and show him what he can do to help. “ She continued, “We want to teach him to appreciate and be thankful for what he has. We really want him to see how he can help make the world a better place.  It’s a tough concept to explain to such a young child so we hope by showing him and participating he will also feel proud that he helped even in a small way.”

The common theme threaded through all of these traditions can clearly be identified as spending quality time together as a family and/or with those who are most important to you. So whether you are a traditionalist in your Thanksgiving approach or not, let’s remember that Thanksgiving is about being surrounded by those who are important to you and appreciating the moment.

Heather Skolnick is a New Castle resident with her husband and three young children. They will be enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday surrounded by family and food, with a little football mixed in.

Latch-Key Love (Thanks, Mom!)

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hand-key-pixBy Dan Levitz

When I was in first grade, my Mom went back to work and informed me that I would be coming home to an empty house two days a week. She assured me that she’d be 20 minutes away by car and would come home immediately if I ever needed her. She gave me a house-key tied to a shoe-string and put it around my neck. She told me that if I didn’t lose it she’d upgrade the string to a silver chain before long. The only time she ever actually had to come home was when I fell off my bike, and, by then, the string had progressed to a gold-filled chain. Years later, a father to small children myself, I asked her if she was out of her mind having a six-year-old come home to an empty house. She replied with absolute certainty, “I knew you could handle it.” She was right, and I believe that experience nudged me in the direction of being an independent person.

In 6th Grade, our teacher assigned a 50-page term report about a specific country. This was way beyond anything I felt I could ever accomplish. 
I knew I’d have to write a lot of words about Japan but, beyond that, I had no clue. We had almost the whole year to work on it and, literally the night before it was due, I approached my Mom, handed her my wildly chaotic and disorganized notes and asked her to turn them into at least 50 typed pages, single-spaced please. At the time, I couldn’t really understand the pained expression on her face, but I clung to the fact that months earlier she’d said she’d type it. It never occurred to me that she might have needed more notice. My grade wasn’t great, but 
I’ll never forget that she stayed up most of the night typing for her 
screw-up son.

Just as high school began, along with all new freshmen, I was evaluated by the school speech therapist who quickly determined that I needed to come see him three times a week to work on my serious speech impediment. Throughout my entire education this had never come up. Terrible penmanship? Sure. Sloppy work-habits? Absolutely. However, I had always thought that my ability to enunciate was one of my few natural gifts. That this professional, who, I might add, happened to lisp himself, so fervently believed that I needed to work with him was horribly upsetting. As I was self-conscious to begin with, and now terrified, I told my Mother about the situation and she said quite calmly, “He’s out of his mind; you have my permission to not go at all.” That was enough for me. I never went to see him, and, although he did become something of a nemesis, the welcome support from my Mom enabled me to defy that particular authority figure (which was not a natural thing for me to do back then).

In college, I was amazed at how some of my peers were just going berserk with new-found freedom–crazy over-indulgent behavior that sometimes evolved into self-destruction. 
I was having a great time, but didn’t feel drunk with freedom because I had actually been afforded a lot of independence while in high school. No hard curfew and a general policy that, as long as I was responsible, I could pretty much do my own thing. I had friends whose parents would flip out if they weren’t home by midnight. I remember my Mom’s explanation about why she didn’t worry if I was out late, “If something happens to you I’ll hear about.” This was a simple and coolly logical approach; it’s one I may have trouble replicating as a parent, but it worked for her and ultimately was a gift to me.

My Mom was an entrepreneur. She went into business with her kid sister, which is why I sometimes came home to an empty house as a kid. The business lasted for 35 years and, besides my Father, it was clearly the passion of her life. She traveled all over the world in connection with the business, met a myriad of interesting people and forged her own path; this after her previous life of being a doctor’s wife which she found unfulfilling until she went off to work. She’s retired now but she keeps busy wheeling and dealing, happily selling the art, books, jewelry and other collections that she’s so happily accumulated over the years.

I can’t say that my Mom always knew exactly what she was doing as a parent, but I now understand that no parent ever really does. I do know that she’s always seen the best in me no matter what, and that’s not a bad place to start.

Dan Levitz has been a Chappaqua resident for 11 years. Lorraine Levitz, at 88, can most likely be found in Lower Manhattan on her daily two-hour walk.