Watching the prosciutto cure.....

Winter in the 'Dacks is a long slow process. A lot like watching my house cured prosciutto age to perfection. After the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival is long gone, the cold snowy winter presses on....and on. But there is a glimmer of springtime activity nipping at our heels. Sugaring season is right around the corner, and maple trees will soon yield their sweet sap for producers to slowly cook down to the mountain gold known as maple syrup. The sugary bliss seems to lift peoples moods out of their wintery blues and cure their cabin fever, as the morning air is perfumed with the smell of pancakes and French toast, bacon and coffee. Folks become more active, and begin the spring cleanup that puts our town in shape for the coming summer high season. Daffodils will start to bloom throughout Saranac Lake, as the snow recedes, and kids will soon be seen readying their soap box cars for the Daffest Derby.
I look forward to the spring, as my larder shelves empty of canned tomatoes, dry beans and root vegetables. Soon there will be fresh herbs and greens coming in the door from Ken Campbell, who assures me that he has been planting baby lettuce and readying soil beds for cool weather crops like fennel and spinach. He will dig up parsnips that have grown sweet over winter. Michelle at Harmony Hills Farmstead is welcoming piglets to their new spring pastures. My mind wanders to thoughts of pork belly with wild leeks and morels. Scottish Highland cattle that have grown fat over the winter at Atlas Hoofed It Farm in Vermontville, will soon be on the menu as grilled ribeyes and porterhouse steaks. Fishermen and women will soon take to the local waters with their fly rods and creels. They have been busy all winter re stocking their fly boxes with hand tied flies, toiled over in their winter dens. Joe Hackett will show up at my door with a couple of huge brookies that seem to have been waiting just for him. I will cook them his favorite way - lightly curried with a bit of ginger and a few side dishes to round out the meal. My son will hopefully put down his video game controller, and pick up his fly rod when he sees those glistening trout. He will suggest that I take a day off, to drive him over to the Ausable for some spring fishing. Our good friend Micky will arrive shortly thereafter, to relieve me of this duty, and take Nate out for some early Pike on Oseetah Lake. He will once again ask me if this is the year that I follow him up to Canada, to his secret Musky river. I will of course be too busy, readying the restaurant for the summer rush, and dreaming of daily menus that can attract our cosmopolitan visitors. But for now, I guess that I can enjoy the last of the Adirondack winter, catch some last ice fishing on Jone's Pond, and dream of the day when that prosciutto will be perfect......