Food and Travel Blogger Meemaw Eats (a.k.a. Patty Mishler) being interviewed at the Inn at Stone Mill.
by Dave Warner
You never know who is going to show up visiting in the City, and sometimes, you’ll never guess how they got here. That’s certainly the case with Food and Travel Blogger Meema Eats (a.k.a. Patty Mishler).
She’s been writing a food and travel blog for more than ten years now and started it as a love letter to her grandkids. “My family were all wonderful cooks and I wanted to make sure that our family recipes and stories about our family would be passed on.”
She went to a country school in Iowa and sometimes rode her horse to that school. “These are all stories that a lot of people are interested in hearing about. That’s kind of where my writing came about.”
Her family used to travel a lot when she was growing up before there were interstates that made traveling from Iowa to California easy. “My brother and I would be in the back seat with no air conditioning and no freeways. My parents really made sure that we got to see a lot of things growing up.”
Mishler had previously owned a cruise travel agency and that’s what got her traveling and meeting people. “I really enjoy meeting people and going to places that might be a little off the beaten path. The way we found this place is really an interesting one.”
“I think if people travel, and sit down to share a meal with people, there are a lot of problems in the world that could be solved,” she stated.
Mishler got out of the travel industry business after 9/11. “Everything changed. I used to take groups on cruises and I remember taking a band onboard a cruise with all of their equipment and all and I can’t even imagine what it would be like today with all the security. How hard it would be to do that sort of thing now.”
She was at that point where it wasn’t fun anymore, so she loved to write, loved to travel, and enjoyed cooking, and it seemed natural to combine those talents into what she is doing now. “Some of my happiest days are spent in the kitchen.”
While spending time in Fort Lauderdale, Mishler ran into someone who told her she just HAD to visit Little Falls in New York.
“Both of our kids played college baseball, so that’s one of the reasons we ended up there. I also used to go to Fort Lauderdale a lot for ship inspections, so we started staying in that area,” she said.
“There’s a restaurant and bar right across from our condo called Shooters and that’s where we were when we sat down next to a lady, and that’s how the whole conversation came up about Little Falls.”
The woman told her that if she liked to write and liked food, then she had to visit the area. The woman told her that a movie had been made here and she said, “It’s just a picturesque Main Street, you just need to go there.”
Mishler said that she pulled out her phone and made a note to visit the City. “I didn’t put her name or anything else about her. This was about three or four years ago. It was just the craziest thing.”
“We had been talking about the stereotype of all of New York being like New York City, and now I know this could not be further from the truth,” she said.
Mishler said that Little Falls is exactly what they look for when traveling. “The thing about small towns is there is just such a connection. Here’s an example. I get out of the car because I’m a drowned rat and I hear ‘Meemaw’ and it was Katy (Tomei) downstairs telling me she had something for me.”
“She had brought me a book on Little Falls and just that small town ‘all of a sudden I feel like I belong here’ feeling is what you find,” she said.
The next morning, she was eating across the street at Ann Street Deli and she said that the waitress asked her where she was from and where they were staying. “When I told her, she said, what room, and we told her and she said ‘Oh I think I cleaned that room right before you came in because I also work there.”
Mishler said that she had told her husband the night before that the room was the cleanest that she had ever stayed in. “So I told her about that and I think it made her day. It’s things like that. Everything is just connected in a small town, and it’s wonderful.”
She and her husband rarely go out for an expensive meal because she loves to cook, so when they do, they go for bar food to meet people.
They made several stops in town, including Canal Side Inn (where she said Chef John is a character), the food at the Cafe, which she said was wonderful, and pizza at Ed’s, which was fantastic. “Ben made the pizza and he was great.”
She was surprised that things were closed up on Mondays and Tuesdays. “We got a salad to go from Price Chopper. Even in Iowa, I can’t imagine not being able to go out to eat certain nights of the week.”
Mishler says that Little Falls is a hidden gem. “It’s filled with friendly people and so much to explore. It’s exactly what I look for, especially because of a place like this, where you feel so at home, the minute you walk in the door. They have gone above and beyond to make sure that whoever checks in here feels like it’s their home while they’re here.”
She also said that she likes the fact that you can step out the door and walk to so many things. “That’s a real plus for us too. When we get finished driving, we really want to be finished driving and be able to just explore. If you’re in a car just whizzing past everything, you’re not getting a picture of what’s around you.”
To see more about her and check out what she ends up writing about her trip to Little Falls, visit her blog at meemaweats.com