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Category Archives: Event
All-Star Chefs Bring Their Shows and Skills to Life at Austin Food & Wine Festival
Over the weekend, the first Austin Food & Wine Festival breezed through town, bringing with it a myriad of cooking demos, all-star chefs, parties, and flavors from the world over. With a lineup of talent like Masaharu Morimoto, Gail Simmons, Marcus Samuelsson, Andrew Zimmern, Michelle Bernstein, Tyson Cole and, of course, Top Chef Texas winner Paul Qui, it was like the cooking shows came to life in the heart of downtown Austin.
For the festival Auditorium Shores was outfitted with 10 big white tasting and stage tents and, despite some pushback from Mother Nature via wind and dust, the conditions were sunny and pleasant. The majority of the day was a schedule packed with demos from the star chefs on informative topics like how to perfectly gut a fish and plate sashimi with Morimoto, master wine 101 basics with Ray Isle, create divine tapas with Michelle Bernstein, bake a transcendent cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie with Christina Tosi and grill a steak to perfection onsite with Tim Love.
Expensive ticket prices ($250 weekend/$850 VIP) lent the event to a higher-end experience and crowd of 3000 each day, who was there mostly to enjoy learning from the Masters, in addition to sampling Texas wine and eats. While some chose to primarily just kick back in the sunshine, enjoy the weekend as a two-day cocktail party (ticket purchase included open bar beer and wine) and hold out for the tastings, the demos attracted full crowds of spirited food lovers, there with a beverage in hand, to see extraordinary culinary talent and charisma in live action.
In return, the experts did not disappoint. Iron Chef Morimoto, for example, demonstrated his awe-inspiring skills and surprisingly bold personality at the festival on Sunday as he sang a Japanese ballad with gusto on two different stages, hacked a branch off a nearby tree for sushi garnish, waxed poetic about fish cuts and prices (albeit in a way that was charmingly hard to understand), shouted “TEXAS!” repeatedly to rowdy applause, joked with the audience, sliced into a red snapper with hypnotizing fluidity and chopped ingredients to smithereens with his eyes closed. Like many of the chefs at the festival, he was a true showman and it was both captivating to watch him cook and hilariously entertaining to experience an animated version of him that does not appear in Kitchen Stadium.
As for the food and wine tastings, they were limited to a few hours each day, during times that did not conflict with the demos, where attendees could navigate through three tents full of local food and wine. Highlights from the onsite samples included the Golden Eggs from Walton’s Fancy and Staple: a nutmeg cake, painted with butter, and rolled in cinnamon and sugar; the cocktail from Veev made with the Acai spirit, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, topped with raspberry, blackberry, mint or basil and cleverly served in a small mason jar; the St. Germaine Texas Sipper made with grapefruit juice, Tito’s Vodka, grapefruit soda and topped with mint; and the homemade Maple Bacon ice cream from Amy’s that was shamefully delicious and once again proved that in Texas and beyond bacon goes great with everything.
The VIP tasting events, which took place mostly offsite in the evenings, offered additional celeb chef samplings set to live concerts from bona fide talents Lucinda Williams and Mayer Hawthorne. On Friday night, Republic Square Park hosted The New Taste of Texas event, featuring creations from Paul Qui and Sara Gruenberg of Top Chef, in addition to other James Beard Nominees and “Best Of” restaurant winners like David Bull, Laura Sawicki and Bryce Gilmore. Standouts from that night included Sarah Gruenberg’s house marinated sardines with orange and olives on toasted rye, and the fatty brisket served at the booth next door that the came straight from heaven by way of Aaron Franklin.
The Saturday night VIP event was also a highlight of the festival, as the established greats competed in a Rock Your Taco competition judged by Top Chef’sGail Simmons and Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Eats. Memorable offerings were Michelle Bernstein’s crispy sweetbread taco and Morimoto’s tar tar interpretation, but the deserving title went to Uchi hometown hero Tyson Cole for a moo shu pork jowl creation that seamlessly fused spot-on Asian flavors in trademark form.
From demos to tastings and beyond the Food & Wine festival was a delicious weekend and a smooth production (especially for a first year endeavor). It was also an affective way of building local excitement for the culinary arts and I learned so many things like how to use the finger test for perfectly cooked meat and what kind of rice works best for risotto. The gathering provided a great outdoor occasion for food lovers to dork out, exchange tips and tricks, and especially with all the culinary momentum of Texas, it proved a welcome addition to Austin festival spectrum and great way to celebrate the evolution.
Annual Maple Syrup Festival held at Argyle
An unseasonably warm winter led to an abundance of sweet sticky stuff at Argyle Lake State Park’s 15th Annual Maple Syrup Festival on Saturday. According to Bridget Hinchee, park naturalist, about 120 gallons of sap were collected over a four-day period before the festival.
“We tapped the trees about two weeks ago, tapped 15 trees, and with the nice weather in one day collected 45 gallons of sap,” she said. “So over four days we had all the sap we needed for the event. Normally the rule of thumb is you get one gallon of syrup for every 40 gallons of sap. But this year it may take 60 gallons, because the sugar concentration as you get later in the season gets lower.”
The event included tours of the park’s “sugar grove” of maple trees and demonstrations of sap collecting, a “sugar shack” where the sap was boiled into syrup, a shelter area set up with children’s activities and educational displays about maple trees, and a campfire area where local Boy Scouts read out loud to children.
Maple syrup and maple candy were also for sale and the Macomb Rotary Club ran a concession stand.
Hinchee said it’s difficult to know how many maple trees are in the park but most of them are located along the lake.
“This is traditionally an oak-hickory forest,” Hinchee said, “so the area that we have maple trees in, we have an increase in maple trees due to the fact that we suppress forest fires now. Maple trees used to be kind of controlled and girdled out of the oak-hickory community because of forest fires.”
The maple syrup made at the park Saturday was bottled and given to the numerous volunteers, from the Rotary, Friends of Argyle Lake State Park, Volunteer NOW, Western Illinois University’s Recreation, Parks and Tourism Department, and the Horn Environmental Learning Project (HELP), who help run the event.
The syrup sold to festival visitors and bottled with a Friends of Argyle Lake State Park label, was purchased from Maple Hollow, a Wisconsin company.
“We don’t generate enough to sell it as a fundraiser,” Hinchee explained. “But their (Maple Hollow’s) syrup is comparable to what we end up with, which is a mid-grade amber syrup.”
Volunteer Eric Moe, who has helped with the event for about 10 years, manned the wood-fired boiler in the sugar shack during Saturday’s festival and offered drop-size tastes of the sap, which is safe for human consumption, and the finished syrup. Moe said boiling the sap into syrup takes hours, depending on the sap’s sugar content.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to get it all today because we’ve got too much,” he said. “We might be able to boil down about 80 gallons today.”
The sap is poured into the boiler through a sieve to eliminate bugs and other particles, and whatever isn’t boiled down at the festival is taken home by volunteers and finished in outdoor kettles.
Several hundred visitors attended this year’s Maple Syrup Festival.
First County Bank Maple Sugar Festival is this weekend
A sweet tradition returns to the Stamford Museum & Nature Center on Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4 – First County Bank Maple Sugar Festival Weekend. The annual family event focusing on the deeply-rooted New England tradition of maple sugaring, will be held rain or shine at Stamford Museum & Nature Center from 11 am to 3 pm on both days.
With plenty to do for the whole family, including tasting many sweet maple syrup treats, visitors can see maple sugar and tree tapping demonstrations, make a maple-themed craft, vote for their favorite chef in the Chef’s Challenge, enjoy the popular pancake brunch, and go on a scavenger hunt. First County Bank is entering its 12th year of support of both this favorite family festival and Stamford Museum & Nature Center’s educational programming.
At the festival, visitors can stop by the little red sugarhouse on Heckscher Farm and see firsthand how sap is turned into sweet maple syrup and learn about the different methods used to turn sap into syrup through a variety of demonstrations. Visitors can see how to tap a tree to harvest its sap, how colonists made maple syrup, the Native American “hot rock” method, how the SM&NC uses the modern evaporation method to produce the maple syrup sold in the gift shop and how to even tap trees in their own backyards.
In conjunction with sponsoring Maple Sugar Festival Weekend, First County Bank will host its third annual Chef’s Challenge on Saturday, March 3 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm during the Maple Sugar Festival. Four local chefs from David’s Soundview Catering, A Dash of Salt, EOS Greek Cuisine, and Susan Kane Catering will compete to create the best tasting recipe, as judged by the public, using maple syrup as an ingredient. The winner will be announced at 2 pm. On Sunday, the SM&NC will host its Pancake Brunch from 11 am to 2 pm.
Each February, the Stamford Museum & Nature Center taps its trees. When the temperatures are below freezing at night, but above freezing during the day, conditions are just right for SM&NC to make its very own maple syrup. Maple sugaring is the first sign of the annual agricultural awakening. The maple sugar season peaks in March with the annual First County Bank Maple Sugar Festival Weekend.
Maple Sugar Festival Weekend is supported by media sponsors StamfordPlus Magazine and 95.9 Fox. Daily admission fees are $5 for members, $10 for non-members. All children three and under are free. There is an additional fee of $5 per person for the Pancake Brunch.
Stamford Museum & Nature Center is located at 39 Scofieldtown Road, Stamford, CT (3/4 mile North of Merritt Parkway Exit 35.) For more information call 203.322.1646 or visit www.stamfordmuseum.org.
Indiana hosts National Maple Syrup Festival
The fourth annual National Maple Syrup Festival begins at noon Saturday at Burton’s Maplewood Farm and Medora Community School, Medora. After Saturday’s noon opening, festival hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. the first two weekends in March.
Though there are about 100 maple syrup producers in Indiana and countless festivals, this is the first and only national maple syrup festival in America.
The festival starts at Medora Community School, 82 S. George St., where pancakes and sausage are served and the Sweet Victory Challenge baking and cooking competition takes place.
Then visitors ride shuttle buses from the school to Burton’s Maplewood Farm, where they’ll see the more than 700 sugar maple trees, Pat’s Snack Shack and the famous Mellencamp Maplehouse.
Children’s activities include a farm animal petting zoo, rope-making demonstrations by Cowboy Ron, a ventriloquist, face painting, crafts and more. Live music is located in Pat’s Snack Shack and will include a variety of bands.
New this year is a Dutch Oven Cookoff and church services by the Christian Country Cowboy Church at 10:30 a.m. Sunday and March 11 at the Mellencamp Maplehouse.
Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for ages 5-15 and free for ages 4 and under. Bring a canned good for local food pantries, and get $2 off admission.
Proceeds from the festival benefit the Heads Up!!! Foundation, which will use the money for the Riley Hospital for Children’s “Camp About Face” at Bradford Woods, a summer camp for youth with craniofacial anomalies.
Maple syrup festival runs two weekends
The 36th annual Maple Syrup Family Festival is set for noon to 4 p.m. daily March 3, 4, 9 and 10 at Malabar Farm State Park.
This free festival includes demonstrations of sugaring techniques from the early days through today. A self-guided tour of the sugar camp and sugarhouse will show the evolution of sugaring equipment and how sap is turned into maple syrup. Thanks to the Richland County Museum, the summer bell house behind Pugh Log Cabin will give park visitors a chance to participate in pioneer life by washing clothes, tending fire, making candles and cooking. The Central Ohio Draft Horse Association will provide horse-drawn wagon rides to the sugar camp.
Free samples of maple syrup will be available at the sugar house. Pure Ohio maple syrup, homemade maple walnut fudge, maple cotton candy, maple popcorn and other maple products will be available for purchase, along with light refreshments and snacks. Live musical entertainment will be provided. Louis Bromfield’s 32-room mansion will be open for ongoing tours.
The Malabar Farm Restaurant will open at 11 a.m. each day of the festival and offer lunch and dinner specials featuring Malabar Farm products and maple syrup both weekends. For meal reservations, call 419-938-5205. Overnight accommodations for individuals, group, and families are available at the Malabar Farm Hostelling International, 419-892-2055.
Weather Could Affect Maple Syrup Production
Some local maple syrup producers began tapping trees this weekend, earlier than usual because of the mild winter. Some fear warmer temperatures may effect sugar content and the quality of syrup. Chris Schoff owner of Schoff’s Sugar Shack and Greg Keyes owner of Trout Brook Sugar Shack were out Sunday putting in about 800 taps. They usually aren’t out until mid February at the earliest.
“Without question this is the earliest I’ve ever tap,” Chris Schoff said.
New York was the second largest maple producing state in 2011, making more than 560,000 gallons of maple syrup.
Schoff and Keyes family businesses only make a few hundred gallons. Producing syrup isn’t their main source of income, but they still are worried because of the cooler weather.
“Sugar Maple trees thrive when you have cold weather,” Keyes said. “I hope to see sugar around 2 when it gets down to 1.8 or 1.5 percent that concerns me.”
“A lot of the old timers that have been doing this for 50 years or so say the only weather that matters is the weather during the season,” Schoff said. “Then other research from Cornell is suggesting sugar content will be lower, the season will be shorter because the trees will bud soon.
That’s not the only worry, if it stays too warm outside the sap coming out of these trees won’t be clear. Instead it will be a yellowish color which means it’s collected bacteria and won’t make high quality maple syrup.
“The quality will be down then you start making commercial grade,” Schoff said. “Which is not the stuff that you sell retail.
The New York State Maple Syrup Producers Association said producers across the state are tapping early and also worried. However, all producers local and throughout the state are hoping for the best.
Maple syrup events coming to city parks
ou may think of maple syrup as a product of New England and Canada, but it can be produced here , and the Cincinnati Parks are about to prove that. Here are three programs involving maple syrup:
Do It Yourself: Backyard Maple
Saturday, February 11, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. at California Wood Nature Preserve
You don’t need acres of maples trees and a large savings account to begin “sugaring” in your backyard. Receive detailed guidance at this FREE program. Tree spouts (spiles) will be available for sale. Call 231-8678 by Feb. 9 to register.
Maple in Mt. Airy
Saturday, March 3; breakfast seatings start at 10:00 a.m. in Mt. Airy Forest
Start with a free pancake breakfast, ride a hay wagon, interact with historical sugar makers and enjoy hands-on, audience participatory activities. Program fee: $8 per person. Program length: 2.25 hours. Reservations are required. Register online at https://parks.cincyregister.com/maple2012
Pancakes in the Woods
Sunday, March 11, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at California Woods Nature Preserve
Enjoy pancakes and sausage grilled by celebrity chefs. Stay after breakfast to learn about the process and participate in crafts and games. Reservations NOT required. Donations: $6.00 adult and $4.00 children. Call 231-8678 for more information.
Last Marblehead Farmers Market is Saturday, Nov. 19
After a week off, there will be a final Marblehead Farmers Market this Saturday, Nov. 19. The market will be held at the usual location behind the Marblehead Veterans Middle School, off Vine Street, and at the usual time, 9 a.m. to noon.
According to organizers, there will be seven farms participating: Bear’s Best Farm with dried beans, Cider Hill Farm with fruits, vegetables, eggs and baked goods; Crystal Brook Farm with goat and cow cheeses, Folsom’s Sugar House with maple syrup and maple candy, HERB FARMacy with culinary and medicinal herbs, eggs and salad greens; Middle Earth Farm with vegetables, and Open Meadow Farm with chicken, pork, beef, beefalo and honey. There should be plenty of fall crops like squash, pumpkins, apples, beets, cabbage, brussel sprouts, carrots, potatoes, onions and kale.
There will also be five food vendors: Ellie’s Going Green with basil vinaigrette salad dressing, Fille de Ferme with jams and relishes, Sweet Adeline’s bakery, Valicenti Organico with fresh pasta and tomato gravy, and finally Curtis Gould, the Soup Guy. Craft vendor Sally Marcy will also be on hand with arm warmers.
This is the last market of this season. Organizers said the farms and other vendors would like to thank those who have attended. All the farms are small, family farms, and sales at Farmers Markets make a huge difference for them. Several food vendors and craft vendors have become quite successful, having used the market as an incubator for their businesses. Eleven farms and 58 food and craft vendors participated this season in the Marblehead market.
PRAIRIE GARDENER: Bus tour of Vermont includes sights of fall splendor and devastation
What better place to kick off a visit to see the fall color than the quaint villages and rugged mountains that make up the Green Mountain state of Vermont. Vermont, along with neighboring New Hampshire and Massachusetts have had the welcome mat out each autumn for decades.
But that region has an earlier visitor, Irene. No, Irene wasn’t your typical tourist, she was first a hurricane that swept up the East Coast and was later down-graded to a tropical storm before delivering the worst deluge in 500 years to New England.
Damage
More than a foot of rain fell in the mountains. The rain then washed down the streams, carrying everything in its path including houses, railroads and businesses. Highways and roads were washed out and streams and rivers were scoured of all silt, leaving only rocks and boulders.
When a group of 40 Minnesotans and Dakotans, including the Prairie Gardener, took a 12-day bus trip, sponsored by Judy’s Leisure Tours, Fargo, they weren’t prepared for the devastation they would soon witness. The bright, autumn colors, just starting to color the steep mountains gave way to the viewing the worst flood damage than many ever had seen.
The trip was made worst by the large number of detours as the bus was forced to stay on the main roads and interstate highways, adding considerable time to any stop. Some sights on the schedule were replaced by others that were more accessible.
Fall color just was starting when we made the trip (Sept. 23- Oct. 4) while peak color would be experienced in Wisconsin on our return trip back. Warm weather held back peak color in New England until later.
Tour
The trip started with a stop at Niagara Falls, N.Y., with a step-on-guide for a city tour. We visited Prospect Point Park, where we walked along the falls and watch the falls approach the brink. The river was high due to lots of rain earlier. We only toured the American side of the falls. We spent several nights at the Greenbrier Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast near Killington. Situated in the Berkshire Mountains, Norman Rockwell spent the last 25 years in this region where he painted.
We visited the Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, Vt., where we had a chance to see a gentleman’s farm, which is still operates with a Jersey milking herd. The operation was once owned by Frederick Billings, a native son who went west to help in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad between Lake Superior and the Puget Sound. He also served as president of the railroad. Billings, Mont., was named in his honor.
Other sights
Another visit was to the Coolidge Historical Site. This birthplace and boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States is virtually unchanged since the 1920s. Rounding out the day was a visit to the Vermont Country Store, stocked to the rafters with hard-to-find products and brands from your past.
Imagine a giant hole that is nearly 600 feet deep. That’s the Rock of Ages granite quarry. We also saw master craftsmen creating grave makers and other products. Maple syrup is found at every tourist stop including the Morse Maple Sugar Farm, the oldest family-run maple sugar operation in the state. We were told how maple syrup and sugar is made, including a taste test of the different grades. Vermont produces about 500,000 gallons of syrup, or 50 percent of the nation’s total.
Von Trapp visit
The Von Trapp family of “Sound of Music” moved to Vermont during World War II after fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria. There they built the Trapp Family Lodge, on their home, into a gracious alpine resort continuously operated by the family for 55 years. We met a granddaughter of Maria Von Trapp who told us about the family. We saw the on-site family cemetery where most, including Maria, are buried.
Rounding out the day was a visit to Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory where we ended up with a tour and a free ice-cream cone. We also stopped at Quechee Gorge, acclaimed as Vermont’s little Grand Canyon. Next we explored New Hampshire’s White Mountains, which included a ride on a ski gondola to the top, a first for many on the trip
A rock formation, known as Old Man of the Mountain was once located near Franconia Notch. It became the trademark for the state. In 2003, the formation slipped from its perch, leaving only the forehead intact. There are plans to create a memorial; New Hampshire will continue to use it as a trademark.
After a visit to the Castle in the Clouds we traveled down to Lake Winnipesaukee where we took a boat ride across the huge body of water. Later, we boarded a dinner train on the Winnipesaukee scenic Railroad and enjoyed a turkey dinner while slowly meandering along the lake shore. It would be our second turkey dinner — the first served by a group in a church basement. It was like being back in the Midwest.
More states
A visit to Maine brought us to Kennebunkport where we saw the summer home of former President George H.W. Bush and wife, Barbara. The home is out in the Atlantic on a peninsula known as Walker’s Point. The Atlantic was beautiful with its huge breakers.
Salem, Mass., is famous for its 17th century witch trials and we experienced first-hand the reign of terror and hysteria here in the 1690’s as we visited the Salem Witch Museum. Rounding out the visit to Salem was a stop at the House of Seven Gables, which was built in 1668 and site for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famed book by the same title,
After a visit to Boston with its many sites including Quincy Market, Old North Church and the Concord-Lexington battle fields, it was time to head on a three-day bus trip back home.
Source: GrandForksHerald.com
Maple syrup production workshop set for Oct. 15
TTICA — A maple syrup production workshop for beginners will be conducted Oct. 15.
The session will be conducted 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hofheins Maple on 1058 Attica Gulf Rd. It will provide valuable information on methods, materials, management and more.
Featured specialists will include state Maple Specialist Steve Childs and state Maple Producer Eric Randall. The workshop will also include a walk in the woods, so attendees are asked to dress for the weather.
A $10 fee will be charged to attend, and will include lunch. Registration is required by Oct. 10 so planning can be made accordingly.
Those interested may contact Deb Welch at (585) 786-2251 or e-mail wyomingcountycce@cornell.edu. The registration form can be downloaded at http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/wyoming/calendar/pdf/2011-10-15_Maple-Syrup-For-Beginners.pdf.
