It's my final semester of college, and I'm taking Literature of the Great Depression to finish my English major. I think that my professor often feels badly, though, about assigning texts that are just so darn depressing, so she often opens class with a cheerful question like, "What's your favorite type of pie?" or "What's your favorite breakfast?" Recently, she asked us what our favorite thing about Spring is, and I knew instantly that mine is the delicious new food and produce that Spring brings. Clearly, there's no better way to celebrate these bright new ingredients than with entire festivals dedicated to them! This weekend, we have homages to asparagus, seafood, beer, more seafood, seafood and (my favorite) maple.
Read on after the jump to see where to go for the party, and meanwhile check out these lovely photos from last week's Great American Pie Festival.
It doesn't get any better than this. If I had magical powers and could transport myself to any food festival in the country this weekend, I don't think I'd be able to decide where to go! We've got BBQ in Missouri and Pies in Florida, and starting next Wednesday (4/23), Texas is the place to be with festivals in both Houston and Dallas.
Read on for details about all of these yummy events, and check out the gallery from last weekend's Scottsdale Culinary Festival!
There are always excuses to eat, but I find that there are rarely opportunities to just completely go nuts and eat everything in sight. So when these opportunities do come along (vacations to Europe, birthdays, Thanksgiving), it's best to take complete advantage. For me, food festivals definitely qualify as all-you-can-eat events. I remember my parents bringing me to Taste of Bethesda every year when I was growing up, and how exciting it was to chow through streets and streets of delicious foods.
Starting right now, I'll be giving you guys a weekly heads up about upcoming Food Festivals from around the country. Sadly, we don't have too many in the Philadelphia area, so I'll be living vicariously through the comments of those of you who are able to attend -- please relay all of the juicy details!
There are details about this weekend's festivals after the jump. For those who can't attend, perhaps this sweet gallery from Taste of Vail (April 2-5, 2008) will carry us through. Expect more to come!
I'm not a huge tour person generally -- I get antsy and like to explore new cities on my own (or maybe just go shopping). But a food tour is something I definitely think that I could handle. I've been hearing about them a lot lately, as many cities now offer them. More recently, I've come across City Food Tours, which offers both walking and coach tours in Philadelphia and New York City. This company has gotten a bit of press, and they even offer personalized group packages. Philadelphia also offers tours of Reading Terminal Market, one of my favorite spots in the city, and Chinatown tours with some foodie destinations.
I've never taken a food tour, but I'd love to hear accounts from those of you have had -- especially tours that you found especially great or awful.
Sit down with a few dozen freshly-baked pies, and you quickly get a sense of what makes a great frozen pizza vs what's just mushy stuff on bread. A panel of intrepid tasters chomped their way through the excellent, the average, and the downright nauseating, assessing crust, sauce, cheese, toppings and overall appeal in search of the best frozen pizza in all the land. Our findings are divvied into cheese pizzas, topped and specialty pies, ranked from worst to best in every category. Did your favorite make it into the upper crust? Read on.
(Note - in response to some of the comments - none of the pizzas were burnt. We just all happen to like the edges of our cheese a little bit browned. Why didn't we use a pizza stone/pizza oven? Simple -- the vast majority of people cooking pizza at home are going to just use a rack or cookie sheet in their oven, and we wanted to approximate the results. And why didn't we include some brands? Our standard rule of thumb is that if we can't easily find it in our local supermarket, we're not going to include it. We don't want to frustrate all the folks who won't be able to get it in their part of the country.
But that's where the blog comments come in. We may not have access to all these pies, but we love finding out what you all are thinking, and we take your suggestions to heart. Stay tuned, 'cause we'll probably do a Part II within the next couple of months.)
Not long ago I posted about an event at the Astor Center in NYC, the annual Head to Tail Dinner put on by Chris Cosentino of Incanto restaurant in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to attend and want to tell you all about it. We'll go behind the scenes in the kitchen before, and just prior to the meal; and follow all the way through the dinner itself. It all started three days prior when I was invited to join the chefs in the kitchen as they started prepping for the dinner.
Chris and his pal, Chef Jonnatan Leiva of the Jack Falstaff Restaurant in San Francisco had flown in on a red-eye after finishing work late the night before. With what little sleep they had on the plane, they went straight to work in the Astor Center kitchen, as they engaged on a three-day binge of Red Bull to keep them alert and local microbrews to keep them sane. Other chefs from around New York state showed up to volunteer and help put the event together.
Yesterday, Marisa told you about the 2008 Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting this past week (what - you didn't attend?), Los Angeles and Clearbrook, British Columbia beat out 120 other entries, including ones from Macedonia and the Philippines, for the title.
Here's a closer look at the competition: the 10 judges based their selections on five criteria: taste, smell, texture, aftertaste, and clarity. They downed water from three categories: municipal, bottled, and the newest, purified.
In case you were wondering, the bottled water winner was Tumai Water from Martinsburg, West Virginia, the purified water winner was from Federalsburg, Maryland, and the carbonated bottled water winner flowed all the way from Emsdetten, Deutschland.
All of this begs the question: if you're tasting water, is it necessary to cleanse your palette between sips?
I just have to tell all you Slashfoodies about the new Astor Center in New York City. Some of you may have heard me mention one of my favorite shops, Astor Wine & Spirits before; like when I reviewed St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. When I lived in NY I stopped by there on a weekly basis, now it's more like 6 times a year, which is pretty good when you consider it's over 400 miles from my new home in Mid-Coast Maine.
For the past three years I have been hearing rumors about the Astor Center being developed by Astor Wines & Spirits and they finally opened just last month. The Astor Center is a state or the art culinary education and events center where they have panels, workshops, symposia, seminars, courses on every aspect of the food and beverage world. They have three beautiful spaces for their events, courses, and seminars. The Study- a seminar hall with stadium seating looking down to a teaching kitchen and podium from comfortable seats set at counters set up for professional tastings; with a light box, running water, and a sink for every seat. No spitting in nasty slop buckets here. The Kitchen- A huge, top of the line teaching kitchen with every gadget you can imagine. The Gallery- a multi-use space for wine pairing dinners, food festivals, lectures, and other events.
Their presenter list is nothing short of amazing with top experts in all areas of the culinary world joining together to explore both the cutting edge and historical aspects of food and beverages. There is a strong focus on wines, spirits, and cocktails; something you would expect from the Astor Wines folks. F Paul Pacult, Jim Meehan, Maximilian Riedel (of Riedel Crystal), Kara Newman, Brian Van Flandern, Timothy Sullivan, Henry Sidel, and more experts on various libations are on hand to delve into the glorious world of all that is wet and tasty; for beginners and experts, consumers and those in the trade.
If you are Marilyn Manson and you decide to launch a line of absinthe, what do you call it?
Why, Mansinthe, of course.
The drink is made in Switzerland, and, despite the U.S.'s recent lift on the absinthe ban that has been in place for 80 years, is not yet legal in America.
Epicurious recently conducted a taste test of the drink, and the results were less than desirable. Several tasters described Mansinthe as "oily," one called its color "pale and green in color, like the fourth horse of the Apocalypse."
Some eloquently compared the aroma to "sewage" or "swamp mud." And the overall responses in the test's "flavor" category were so hilarious, I had to print them here, word for word:
"Main flavor is just plain." "Yuck. Sour + bitter" "If you don't smell it, the taste is good. A little woodsy, but not too much" "Holy sh*t, is this poison?"
So, there you have it, folks. Everyone thought it reeked of bathroom waste and three out of the four tasters thought it tasted like crap. Drink at your own risk...preferably while brooding and listening to "The Dope Show" at full volume.
Cook. Eat. Drink. Live. is a premier food event on the scale of Aspen or South Beach being held at Pier 94 in New York City. Thursday October 25th 12pm-5pm, Friday & Saturday October 26 & 27 11am-5pm. This is a foodies wishes come true with an experience unlike any other event; with dishes by New York's top restaurants and over 300 wines, beers, spirits, and champagne from around the world.
You can attend the mini-Oasis day spa, check out the latest models of Ferrari's and Lamborghini's (OK, nothing to do with food, but fun), see the latest culinary and kitchen gadgets, hang out in the cigar lounge with a fine stogie and watch cigar rollers plying their trade, try exotic coffees and teas, and make coffee, chocolate, and tea cocktails.
Watch and learn at fifteen cooking classes a day, five wine-tasting classes, and five mixology classes and attend dozens of workshops as over 40 top culinary talents demonstrate new techniques and top mixologists teach you about and mix for you new, cutting edge cocktails. Take a spice lab and learn to make exciting spice mixes, learn to make sushi, enjoy focused wine tastings and meet the wine makers, take seminars on Aging Wine Gracefully, Terroirs of Sangiovese, Piedmont Beyond Barolo, and Wines of Australia.
There will be a food pavilion, chocolate pavilion, children's pavilion, and more; where you can check out and try cheeses, house cured meats, caviar including Tsar Nicoulai, spices, artisan olive oils, balsamic vinegars, desserts, and sample high end bottled waters at the Water Tasting Event on Friday October 26th at 2pm.
This incredible event is limited to 3,000 guests and it's not cheap, but 5% of all ticket sales will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Advanced tickets begin at $200/day ($325 at the door), $400/weekend ($625 at the door). For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.247365nyc.com. But first go to New York Magazine's Grub Street and get the code for discount tickets courtesy of New York Magazine then when you buy tickets at the site you can enter the code and you will get a reduced rate of $175 a day or $350 for the weekend. I'll see you there.
Recently I was invited to The Pink Party, a Rosé wine tasting event co-sponsored by Maximilian Riedel, CEO of Riedel Crystal of America and Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC), an education and support organization for breast cancer survivors.
For the past few years Riedel Crystal has been making special wine glasses from which a portion of the proceeds are donated to LBBC. This year the specially designed glasses are made especially for drinking dry Rosé wines and showing off their attributes to the best advantage. This event premiered the new Riedel limited edition Pink Vinum Rosé glass, that sports a light pink stem, benefiting Living Beyond Breast Cancer.
The party was held on Wednesday September 26, 2007 at Duvet, a lounge in NYC with a bed theme. I have heard about places like this, where you and a group of friends and new acquaintances can loll around on enormous beds, getting toasted while you try not to spill your cocktails and wine all over yourselves and the bright white sheets. Have you ever had one of those enormous and trendy cocktails, served filled to the brim and it slops all over as you try to take that first sip? As I was driving down to NY from Maine on my way to the party, all that kept going through my mind was Rosé wine and white sheets. I expected to see quite a lot of pink by the end of the night, and not just from the pink ribbons supporting LBBC sported on shirt and dress fronts.
I'm a sake fanatic and I just have to tell you about the Joy of Sake: New York, an event celebrating the art of sake brewing will be held this year on Thursday September 27, 2007 on two floors of the Puck Building in New York City. These annual events are held once a year in Honolulu, San Francisco, and New York, and are the largest sake tasting events in the US. More than 300 sakes will be tasted and enjoyed by over 3,000 guests in a bash that makes sake lovers swoon. Some of the best NYC restaurants supply the food including Bao Noodles, Bond St, EN Japanese Brasserie, 15 East, Geisha, Kai, Kyotofu, Matsuri, Megu, Nobu, Oms/b, Riingo, Sakagura, SushiSamba, Tocqueville, Woo Lae Oak, wd-50, and more.
The sakes are absolutely fresh and in peak condition with many being ones that aren't available in the US. So this may be the only time you will get to try them unless you go to Japan. There will be silver and gold award winning sakes from the annual U.S. National Sake Appraisal blind tasting competition and every style imaginable like pure junmai, premium ginjo and daiginjo, various makers tonkubetsu sake (special/exceptional sake) and some of the more unusual ones like sparkling sake, aged sake, etc. I can't wait, especially since I missed the Joy of Sake the past two years. This year I am driving over 400 miles, so I can sip the night away with fine sake and fine food.
Tickets tend to sell out so if you are interested go online right away or give them a call. Tickets are $75 in advance, $90 at the door (if there are any still available) and may be ordered online at www.joyofsake.com or by calling 212-799-7243.
This past weekend the Maine Fare was held here in Mid-Coast Maine. A celebration of the bounty of all things food in Maine. It was three days packed full of tasting events, cooking demos and classes, fine food, interesting new food products, the good company of other food aficionados, and fascinating panel discussions on everything food related in Maine. Add in the top 30 chefs in the state and it was most definitely the food event of New England this weekend.
Last night I was invited to a special Maine Fare Chefs' Table Dinner at The Edge, the cutting edge restaurant at the luxurious Inn at Ocean's Edge in Lincolnville, ME. It was a special tasting dinner put together by six of the best chef's in Maine, each creating an outstanding dish that would both complement and contrast with the others. Along with the dinner was the option of a matching flight of truly excellent Bell wines from Bell Wine Cellar in Yountville, Napa Valley, CA. As you can see from the menu it was an intriguing , fun, and delicious meal.
Maine Fare- Celebrating the Bounty of Maine! Is a three day event held each year in the mid-coast area with tastings, book signings, cooking classes and demonstrations, great food and beverages of all kinds, and over thirty of the best chefs in the state getting together to show off the bounty of food in Maine. If you are a foodie, then this is the place to be the third weekend in September, Friday 9/14, Saturday 9/15, and Sunday 9/16/2007.
Originally this event started out as the 2005 Camden Food and Wine Festival but it grew so rapidly that the focus had to widen as well. Now Maine Fare is coordinated by Maine Festivals and Events, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to preserving, protecting, and sharing the cultural resources of Maine through a wide range of educational programs and special events.
Who says that you have to spend $90 for a good bottle of wine? Or even $20?
A 2005 Charles Shaw Chardonnay, aka "Two Buck Chuck," was named the Best Chardonnay at the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. The wine is sold for $1.99 at the Trader Joe's chain.
This article at the San Jose Mercury News says that it's not really a surprise that the inexpensive wine won, since judges often try to be contrarian at these events (especially if it's something fruity). The article also says that if you want to go down to Trader Joe's and buy a case you should be aware that the quality of the chardonnay can vary from bottle to bottle.
I'm not a white wine guy, but for $1.99 it has to be worth a try; and I'll still have money left over to buy some Doritos and Yodels!
It sits alone and untouched at the end of a long buffet table -- a bowl full of apples and bananas, maybe a seedy orange tossed in as an afterthought. Don't let your fruit salad meet this awful fate, spruce it up instead!
It's my final semester of college, and I'm taking Literature of the Great Depression to finish my English major. I think that my professor often feels badly, though, about assigning texts that are just so darn depressing, so she often opens class with a cheerful question like, "What's your favorite type of pie?" or "What's your favorite breakfast?" Recently, she asked us what our favorite thing about Spring is, and I knew instantly that mine is the delicious new food and produce that Spring brings. Clearly, there's no better way to celebrate these bright new ingredients than with entire festivals dedicated to them! This weekend, we have homages to asparagus, seafood, beer, more seafood, seafood and (my favorite) maple.
There are always excuses to eat, but I find that there are rarely opportunities to just completely go nuts and eat everything in sight. So when these opportunities do come along (vacations to Europe, birthdays, Thanksgiving), it's best to take complete advantage. For me, food festivals definitely qualify as all-you-can-eat events. I remember my parents bringing me to 
Not long ago I posted about an event at the Astor Center in NYC, the annual 
I just have to tell all you Slashfoodies about the new 
Cook. Eat. Drink. Live.
Who says that you have to spend $90 for a good bottle of wine? Or even $20?
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