Foodie Tour: Driving and Hiking to Eat

Group shot: hiking in Rockland Count, a day trip from NYC

Hiking is fun but let's face it: the calories you burn are best replenished through by seeking out great food along the way. A recent hike in Rockland County led us to a few wonderful foodie destinations.

Rockland Bakery

Rockland Bakery: not for the gluten-free

This carb-heavy stop has incredibly cheap - and delicious - baked goods and you can actually go onto the bakery floor and flow your nose to the freshest baked goods. We trailed after bakery workers with bagels right off the conveyor belt, still piping hot and crying gout for coffee.

The Nissan Rogue hybrid in Piermont

Sadly, as a coffee snob, I couldn't drink the coffee, which was served in styrofoam. Note to self: ALWAYS bring a reusable cup.

The black and white cookies were properly soft and sweet and the muffins, pretzels and bread we tasted were all delicious. I don't regret a single bite.

Outside the Souk, The Outside In

We drove on to our hike, set a few hours communing with nature, then drove to Piermont, where The Outside In, an indoor souk, promised more tantalizing food.

Food, glorious food

Our first stop was The Coffee Bar, which featured coffee from Irving Farm, in Millerton, NY. I've had their coffee in NYC, but didn't know that the company is actually based in Dutchess County, even further than Rockland.

The organic, fair trade coffee was served in paper cups (yay!) with local milk.

Luckily we had a huge cargo area we we could load up on food; the Nissan Rogue hybrid has almost 40 feet of cargo space. There's even a hidden storage area where you can stash valuables and they won't be in few view. This is great if you are using the car in a city and don't want to expose your stuff.

Vegetarian black bean sliders

We bought thick Lebanese yogurt from Sohha Savory Yogurt, three kinds of cheese from The Cheese Guy (the honey goat cheese was outstanding; all the cheese is Kosher) and even more bread from Wave Hill Bread, because, well, bread. We also got infused olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Arlotta Food Studio. The blood organic infused olive oil makes an excellent dressing base, or dipping oil for that bread.

Sit down meal

Our group of six foraged from the souk and we shared spinach pie, falafel, vegetarian dumplings, black bean sliders and vegan tacos.

Note: Nissan loaned me the Rogue hybrid for this review. I was not otherwise compensated.