Cooking With Ideas

Laura Childs' New Scrap-booking Book

As you all know, I love it when I get a pre-publication copy of a book so I loved the Laura Childs book before I even opened it. And, as you know, I am not a bit fan of scrap-booking, but have reviewed Laura Childs' books here before and liked them all -- including the Cackleberry club opener (Eggs in Purgatory), tea mysteries, and yes, even previous scrap-booking mysteries (which, it turns out, often include recipes). So, no surprise, I liked this one. I read it in one day, between cleaning the basement, and even with the interruptions, dust and sneezing, loved it. As always, this was set in New Orleans and featured her New Orleans' protagonist Carmela and occasional visits to her shop, Memory Mine. I admit I am not a scrap-booker. It strikes me as an odd hobby - though what they end up making is, on occasion swell. I am more tempted by Carmela's side kick's shop (her name is Ava) which is sort of faux voodoo. Total tourist trash, that's me.

This one, entitled Tragic Magic and not due out until October 2009,  made me look up a few things, including haunted houses, Mardi Gras krewes, New Orleans cemeteries, and the claim that scrap-booking is the number one hobby in the U.S. Here's what I learned:

Haunted Houses: While I think of these as a sort of Halloween theater, some people think there are "real" haunted houses. Yep. And some people love haunted house movies, and related things. For a site that takes you loads of "spooky places," check out http://www.hauntedhouses.com/  A similarly named site, http://www.hauntedhouse.com/  is much more halloween-y. But most amazing of all is the idea that there is a professional association organized to support the "haunted house industry." Who knew? And, without spoiling anything about Tragic Magic, I can say why all this matters: there is an effort to create a haunted house at the center of this mystery, including some pretty fun sounding special effects for a sort of hi-tech haunting. Should you care only about haunted New Orleans, click here or, for relevant tours, for example, here.

Mardi Gras krewes: Explorign this raised two questions, both of which I kind of knew answers to, but hey, you can aways learn more. The two questions: What's Mardi Gras? Here's wikipedia's answer. What's a krewe? Here's wikipedia's answer. Put them together and you get. . . . Anyway, for a list of krewes with links to their websites, try here. And yes, there are all women's krewes.

New Orleans cemeteries: Yes, I am a cliche. When I think of New Orleans (besides incredible food and Hurricane Katrina -- not to mention the drinks), I do think of above ground cemeteries. I do. But to learn a bit more about them, I found this site on New Orleans' "Cities of the Dead." Worth a read. Really.

Scrap-booking as a hobby: Somewhere in this murder mystery, the claim is made the scrap-booking is the most popular hobby in the U.S. And I thought it was blogging. Anyway, I thought this was likely nonsense so looked it up. I googled "most popular hobby U.S." and what came up? First. something from wikianswers.com which listed the first 10 in this order: golf, playing a musical instrument, skiing, gardening, swimming, snow boarding and mountain climbing. Odd. No scrap-booking. Here's the site if you do not believe me. When the question is about North America, you do get one addition - coin collecting. Hmmm. But then, I have no idea where these answers actually come from. Another site claims the number one hobby is gardening; it's a gardening site, of course. Based on Harris Polls, google.answer lists all sorts of other things. For that data, click here. Scrap-booking does not appear, though a sort of unspecified catch-all is crafts, which might include scrap-bookers, nd that is 2% of those polled. Not number one, which is reading, at 26%. (By the way, the lowness of this number for reading is a little scary to me.) Anyway, not matter what I did, I could not find confirmation that scrap-booking is the number one. Maybe I made it up that Childs says that. Hmmm.

Urban exploring as a hobby: This shows up in Tragic Magic (no, not a spoiler, trust me) and I had never heard of it. No, it is not the number one hobby, but Childs did not make it up. Here's the wikipedia on it. And here's a web-based network of urban explorers and related information. For a flickr site of urban explorers of New Orleans, click here. And then ask yourself: who knew?

What does all this have to do with Tragic Magic? A reminder, perhaps, that a good mystery writer does her research? Or, that procrastination comes in many forms? Perhaps the latter is more accurate.  In the end, though, the point is: I always enjoy a Laura Childs mystery. Hope you do too.

Eating in Harrisburg?

I do not think of Harrisburg as a foodie destination, but recently was there and had some very good meals. Among the noshes I had in places I cannot recall the name of: an heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad (which included some lovely green zebras) and some chicken kebabs with a mango yogurt sauce, a rather awful chicken with a (nicely hot) chipotle barbecue sauce (at a place called Spice to which I do not give a rave review; it was ok, but nothing to write home about), and several things (ranging from risotto to . . . more below) from a place called Bricco. Bricco was so good I went there for dinner after first having the aforementioned risotto for lunch. The meals I had there were very very good. For the second meal, I was on my own and service was still very good -- so I recommend it both for a power lunch and an on your own, reading a book, dinner.

What did I eat? Well, as I said the first time I had a lovely light risotto, and an espresso with two (unfortunately large) biscotti. I would skip those biscotti next time. Second time around, I had an amazing salad, described as watermelon and arugula. It featured very thinly sliced (carpaccio like) watermelon at the bottom, topped with arugula and a bit of pickled watermelon rind. The salad was dressed with a limoncello vinaegrette. There was also a sort of golf ball sized object, covered with nuts -- turned out to be goat cheese. A little odd and likely unnecessary, but ok. And, despite the oddity, this was the best salad I have had in ages. I followed this with sage pappardelle with braised duck (with red wine and pancetta). The duck was rich, with a brown sauce to die for. And the pappardelle were light and tasty. I got the smaller order on the advice of the waiter (for $11) -- and while he was correct I still yearned for more. Accompanying the salad and pasta: a pinot grigio. And, then there was dessert: a lemon curd, served in a square-ish white bowl and accompanied with some berries. I could have used just a tad more lemon taste -- it was a bit too sweet perhaps -- but all in all very good.

And here's what I both read -- and was told by my lunch companion: "Bricco is a collaboration between the Olewine School of Culinary Arts at Harrisburg Area Community College and Harrisburg Hotel Corporation." The Olewine name is also attached to a pastry shop and a meat and cheese shop. Hmmm.  

So: Bricco was a stellar restaurant, and not just because I did not expect it to be quite so good. It just was great. Nice music in the background, and great service.

Location: 31 South Third Street, Harrisburg

Phone: 717-724-0222

New Link Category Added

Yes, I started a whole new category of links on the right hand column of this blog: Murder on the Internet. This new addition was inspired by a new blog I discovered: Mystery Lovers Kitchen which features authors who write murder mysteries featuring food. designed just to be included here on Cooking with Ideas, authors include several already reviewed here such as Julia Hyzy, Krista Davis, and Cleo Coyle. Hurrah.

For those reviews, try here (Cleo Coyle) or here (Julie Hyzy) or here (Krista Davis). And thanks to scooterunderground.ca for the picture.

What Have You Been Preserving, Pickling and. . .

The end of summer comes too fast every year, and this year is no exception. And, along with it comes the deep seated desire to have those tastes extend into the winter. Tomatoes in winter from the grocery store are, well, so so very unsatisfying. And that's true of peaches, green beans and more. Preserving seems to me to be the culinary equivalent of hope.(Thanks to au.gardenweb.com for the image.)

So: a bit of this and that into the freezer, into canning jars and boiled, into. . . .

First tomatoes. Finger Lakes readers will know that the tomato harvest is really problematic this year. My first big batch came from the Rochester Public Market. And then I wanted more. And, alas, none at all at the Canandaigua Farmer's Market, so off to Ithaca's Farmer's Market we went. None really there either. A damp blight. (The Ithaca Market, though, is swell and has loads of meat vendors, cheese vendors, and things to eat. Not to mention arts and related things.) So, eventually it will be back to Rochester. Meanwhile here's what we did with the first big batch.

    Oven Roasted Tomatoes (recipe adapted from Tom Collichio (chef of Craft as well as 'wichcraft and Top Chef judge; for the original, see here)  via The Organic Cook's Bible by Jeff Cox). this involves slicing the tomatoes in half, and peeling some garlic, and snipping a few sprigs of thyme off a plant. Then, what I did was place the tomatoes, cut side down, on a lightly olive oiled pan, toss the garlic on top as well as the sprigs of thyme, and then pour a fairly large quantity of olive oil on. Into the oven they went, at 350 degrees. And, at 20 minutes, I opened the oven door, and removed the skins of the tomatoes (asbestos fingers) and drained some of the liquid. Then, I cooked them for another 1 1/2 hours (NOT the 2 and 1/2 hours as stated in The Organic Cook's Bible, but the 1 1/2 hours specified in the Food and Wine article where Collichio shared the idea cited form the web above). Actually, in the case of one pan I got so afraid of the blackening goo on the pan, I took the things out after about an hour. They were ok, but the ones I left longer were really really swell. So too were the roasted garlic cloves once popped out of their skins. And the oily juicy drained fluid that tastes like essence of tomato. We ate the tomatoes as follows: on night one we mixed them with pasta and then night 2 we made a fritatta with sauteed (pre-cooked) new potatoes and roasted tomatoes. They are also great on a pesto pasta. we hope to make more, and this time to a) use parchment paper and b) not so destroy a pan as to have to toss it. The black gooey stuff is great tasting but really ugly. Next time, parchment paper? And, possibly I will try out a recipe for slow roasted tomatoes which is not at 350 degrees but much lower, and the cooking time much longer.

    Fresh Tomato Sauce (from Deborah Madison) is a really easy thing to do (with one exception). All you really do is quarter tomatoes, add tablespoons of chopped fresh basil, and cook until they are soft. (I so totally filled the pot, it took longer than the 20 minutes Madison suggests.) After that you run the tomatoes and basil through a food mill (that was the hard part -- no, not the milling, finding a place to buy one!) and back into the pan, where we cooked what was a very juicy runny tomato essence for a very long time until it was reduced to a sauce consistency we liked. And then, into the freezer in little cups. MMMM. Our only problem: finding more tomatoes to make sauce with in upstate NY, also the land of blight this year.

And, a big batch of green beans? We did three things with them after blanching them all for 3 minutes or so. (Thanks to busymomrecipes.com for the picture.)

    Quick Curried Green Beans is a recipe from a relatively recent Food and Wine magazine. We made two quarts -- using hot madras curry, rice wine vinegar, and garlic. Here's the recipe.

    PIckled Dilly Beans (with a bit of added carrot) After searching the web a lot, we made a recipe which involved, basically, white wine vinegar, water, dill, garlic and water. In half the jars, we added a sprinkling of crushed red pepper. And in each of the jars, we added some carrots (we had lovely orange, white and red carrots from the Canandaigua Farmer's Market) which had been briefly blanched and then cut into quarters or left whole. We used recipe number three from this list, modified as noted.

    Freezer Beans Okay, the leftovers went into freezer bags and into the freezer!

Next, apricots (not my idea, but wow). We used 9 pounds of processing apricots from Red Jacket Orchards (and yes, the picture is of RED JACKET ORCHARDS APRICOTS, thanks to always hungryny.com ) which led to:

    Apricot Jam which involved sliced apricots, lots and lots of sugar, and lemon juice. The idea seems to be to place the sliced apricots together with the cups of sugar and let the juices run out over night, add the lemon, and cook away.I can;t wait to try it.

    Apricot Chutney is a modification of a tomato chutney recipe from a book entitled My Bombay Kitchen that I like a lot. The recipe is the author's tomato chutney recipe (which I have never made) which offers a variation for peach or plum chutney. I have made peach several years and it is swell. So, this year we also tried apricot. In this case we used dates (chopped roughly would be my recommendation) and made 2/3 of the recipe. I used a bit more than 4 pounds of apricots, 2/3 cup each of matchsticks of ginger, very thinly sliced garlic, and chopped dates. Added to this: 2 cups of cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of Indian red chilli (aka cayenne), 2 and 2/3 cups of sugar (I used half light bron sugar and half white sugar), and a few tablespoons of salt. The modification was using dates -- and I recommend halving them (I initially chopped them smaller and these really disappeared.)

So, winter will come and there will be a tiny taste of summer. Hurrah. And what are you doing to ensure there is summer in winter, the human twist on time>

One Eatery to Skip

So, I was in the Newark airport (and thanks to commons.wikimedia.org for the picture)  and passed by several places that I like in other incarnations (most notably a wine chain with really lovely wines named Vino Volo, absolutely swell though a bit price-y) in favor of a joint near my gate. I was wrong. So, here's advice: do not have the cheese plate at the Heineken Lounge nearish to gate C115 in the Newark airport. While the beer there is delightful (even if I ought not to have had a Newcastle Brown at 4 pm), the munching was awful. The cheese plate was actually an on the go plate, taken right out of their refrigerator and thus cold, cold, cold. The grapes (good) and apple (also crispy and nice) survived; the cheese -- well, it was likely not so great to start out with but really, cold cheese? There were three: a yellow cheddar-y thing which felt like processed cheese to the mouth, a smoked gouda thing (which tasted too much of smoke and too little of cheese), and a brie which if it ever was going to ripen was halted by the cold cold cold I have already mentioned.

So: pass this eatery by. Go back to one of the more humane places and then run for your plane.

For a review that disagrees with me, click here. Or don't. Just don't. Trust me, really. Ok, try it if you're just in it for the beer. But do not eat there. Really. Go to Vino Volo, trade up on the drink and trade really really up on the food.

Do You Have Good Luck?

For a while there, the notion of good luck seemed everywhere. Edible Finger Lakes even took it up. Yep. by good luck in this context I mean the restaurant in Rochester called Good Luck Restaurant. We visited it recently, and while it was good luck to get a reservation on very short notice, and we had an adventure, there were unlucky (aka aspects we were critical of) aspects of the night. A great place to visit, but well, that's partly because this is upstate NY.

What did we drink? Well, first of all they brought a nice bottle of water (unlabeled and presumably tap?) to our table. Why do I say nice? Well, it was not too cold, and it was in an attractive (clearly reuseable) bottle which had a sort of old fashioned feel. Then, eventually, we ordered -- in my case a "Black Cat Iced Tea" which involved earl gray tea and some liquor. It was good and I actually stuck with it throughout the meal, ordering two. (Not moving to wine was a mistake, alas.) Also tried at the table: a merlot.They do, by the way, have a nice list of beers; the phrase "hoptical illusion" made me smile.

What did we eat? Well, our waitress (see service notes below) started us with "Have you been here before?" And she followed common opening with something less common: "well, you better like each other a lot because we serve for sharing." Rude at best.  After that somewhat off-putting start, we ordered a small charcuterie plate, which is a large part of the reason we had come to Good Luck. (Yes, we love charcuterie.) Advertised as coming with pickles and vegetables, the plate had two sliced cheeses, two meats sliced thinly, and a bowl of assorted olives. One cheese was a manchego, the other a local macadam. The two meats -- one was a soppressata and the other, we learned from our server's response to repeated queries, was a pork based meat with peppers in it. (I admit I love pork; I found the texture of this unattractive, though in discussion it might be because I often do not like really fine grained meats.) We also inquired why no pickles. Turns out the chef chooses to give you either olives or pickles. In any case, the olives were swell, I liked the soppressata -- and it went well with our drinks.And, I should have read the menu (also our placemat) which did say it was a chef's selection of various items.

To follow, we ordered a carrot salad that had immediately interested us as well as a rack of lamb. The salad was described as "with shaved fennel, candied hazelnuts, and orange blossom honey vinaigrette." It came as 6 or so whole barely blanched carrots with the listed accoutrements beautifully interleaved. This was really really good, a sort of take on a moroccan carrot salad. We did debate the oraneg flower (one for, one against), but we both really really really liked this. The herb crusted rack of lamb with tagine of chickpeas was also good. We each had two chops (cut as one), and tomato/chickpea side encouraged a discussion of what exactly fresh chickpeas might be. The lamb, cooked perfectly, came atop a sauteed green, probably a red chard.

Yes, we had dessert. In fact, we had two. One was a fruit bowl, which came with two little bowls, one of cinnamon sugar (which we did not use) and one with basil syrup in it which we definitely (most definitely) used. The syrup was the best part of this dessert, not too cloying and quite basil-y. The fruit itself was a great idea, but served (alas) cold and the apricot was nowhere near ripe. The grapes, blueberries and cherries were swell. And the idea of the presentation was lovely. Tuned up, this would be a nice dessert. We also had a tart which was served in a quite large piece. The second dessert, which came as a fairly large slice, but was lighter than it looked and thus wonderful, was called "Blueberry Almond Butter Cake." The redundancy, which was not an error, probably explains its wonderfulness. I especially liked the crust, with a tiny bit of the basil syrup on it. . .

Service? As the notes with regard to the charcuterie plate indicate, our server left something to be desired. She simply could not answer questions -- or did so only after asking several versions of the same questions. It might now have been entirely her fault, since it is possible they are simply not training them to know enough about the food they are serving. For example, in asking about the herbs in teh vinaigrette on the carrot salad, we asked "what is in this?" And we got the answer "herbs." So we had to ask "can you find out what kind this is?" Yes, she was good enough to ask and it was a form of red basil. (very tasty by the way.

Ambiance and setting? Well, the building is near-ish and/or part of Village Gate in Rochester, which is nice. The interior is exposed brick with high ceilings, and it is quite roomy. If there were something to fix: it is noisy. There is nothing to cut the sounds or absorb them. And the mix of chairs, which seems to be everywhere trying to announce their hipness, wasn't really hip. But, having said all this, I liked the setting. The trees out the window were really dandy and the whole made me feel I had left upstate NY. 

Bathroom Review: The anonymous bathroom reviewer said, when she returned, you hav e to see the chef's tarles and cooking area, so off I went, with the excuse I wanted the bathroom. And yes, teh bathroom rates a review -- it has lovely small black and white tile, hand mirrors hung along one wall, nice wood doors, and . . . is nice. It could, like many things, use a bit of editing. On the other hand, the hallway to the bathroom had gvreat album art, including a very old Ike and Tina Turner album cover and a Nina Simone cover.

How much did we spend? With the cost of drinks, $120. Without, $70, Yes, it felt a tad over priced. 

Quibbles: well, most of these appear above. Mainly, teach your staff to know what you are doing more fully -- and edit your food to strengthen it. Do not serve cold fruit bowls with unripe apricots. And, yes, keep that Black Cat Iced Tea on the cocktails list.

For other reviews of Good Luck, try here. Or keep your eye on Urban Spoon!

Where is it and how do you reach them? 

    50 Anderson Avenue, Rochester

    585-340-6161

China Bayles . . . . Again

Nightshade. (Thanks to interhomeopathy.org for the image.) Everyone knows that's a poison, right? Well, turns out it is a plant family that includes loads of things we all love -- or I do -- potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants. No, deadly nightshade is not the only nightshade. Mmmm. And, it also is the title of the new paperback from Susan Wittig Albert, former academic and current author of the China Bayles murder mystery series (along with a more silly series devoted to Beatrix Potter and her characters). Nightshade. As usual, you can learn about the title plant in Albert's discussion throughout the book as well as her epilogue which focuses on the botanical, including reminders that several ornamentals (which appear in many gardens) are quite dangerous. And, you can find a few recipes at the end of the book as well, including, this time, a tomatillo chicken soup.

The mystery itself concludes a three book theme where Albert is doing what is essentially back story, by cleaning up the mystery of her protagonist, China Bayles's, past. More particularly, this focuses on her father's death. Written in what is a new way for Albert, in occasional chapters by Bayles' husband and private investigator McQuaid, this new twist does not quite work, in my view. Maybe I just prefer China's voice? Other series characters appear in minor roles (e.g., Ruby and her increasingly senile mother as well as her lesbian daughter complete with partner and newish child), but the main focus here is the mystery of 16 or so years ago and the death of China's father in a "car accident." China's "half-brotehr", who readers met in earlier volumes, also appears.

Not as foodie as some of Albert's books, this is still worth the read -- and can be read as a stand alone. Yes, perfect for insomnia on a hot summer's night or -- beach reading.

For a review of an earlier Susan Wittig Albert book, try right here on Cooking with Ideas.If you happen to be allergic to nightshade and all its relatives (poor you, no tomatoes!), try recipes here. Or, if you want to go with a drink called a Deadly Nightshade, try here.

Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty Dinner: WOW

I can't believe I heard this statement coming out of my mouth (and the mouths of several others foodies I know): this was the best meal ever in Geneva (other than . . . home cooked meals). It was unbelievable, both in general and because the meal was actually made in Geneva. Not only was it cooked in Geneva, but the ingredients were mainly local, the wines from the Finger Lakes, and the ambiance the weirdly distinctive Italianate place in the Finger Lakes with a dandy view of Seneca Lake: Geneva on the Lake. Walking distance. Amazing. Worth every penny of the $75 per person cost.(Thanks, by the way, to buyhereny.com for the logo. Recently, by the way, an acquaintance said: my ex-girl friend designed that logo. I was the model for it. . . Hmmm.)

So, what was this amazing event? The under publicized evening was the Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty's 4th annual gourmet harvest dinner on August 6. Wow. (Here's the pre-event press release.)

The event began with a pre-dinner hors d'oeuvre and wine tasting (along with the possibility of tasting gin and vodka from the (only) recently opened distillery in the region). The featured hors d'oeuvres were, basically, cheeses -- from a variety of Finger Lakes cheesemakers. There was a somewhat smokey gouda, a clove cheese, a sun dried tomato cheese, and a few others. The cheeses came from: Cowlick Farms, Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese, Lively Run, and Sunset View Creamery. One of these appeared in bouchees created by Fiddlehead Concepts Catering of Canandaigua. Along with this was a bit of music. I never did learn who the wonderful, under-attended to, quartet was, with a guitar, bass, and more. The sun had not set, so there was a beautiful view of Seneca Lake.  Felicia's Atomic Lounge of Ithaca served up a lovely sage and lemon infused riesling. Who knew that was even possible?  Wow. They have blog and I am adding that to the links to the left! Beyond that, we tried, during the pre-dinner reception, a mildly tart Billsboro Pinot Gris and an acceptable Lemberger from another winery. (There were loads of wines to taste.) 

The meal itself was served under a tent. Each course came with two (of course, Finger Lakes) wine pairings, usually a white and a red, and each was prepared by a different local chef. There were two openers, a salad, two entrees, and two desserts. Here's the menu with some comments:

The soup was described as a "Smoked Tomato Gazpacho Topped with Vodka Lime Granite, Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella and Shosop Leaf." Made by Chef Samantha Izzo of Simply Red Bistro at Sheldrake Point Vineyard, this was tangy, lightly smokey, and a real palate opening start to the dinner. The granita was very cold and opened every thing up.As one of our table mates noted, Izzo can really cook; she is now doing three course meals linked to various spices of various levels of exoticness at Simply Red. For an interview with Chef Izzo, click here.

Following the soup was something described as "Sunny Cabbage Roll-ups" from Chef Roxanne Kamayani Gupta (rumored, according to someone at our table, to have a Ph.D. in anthropology). Gupta is opening (very very soon) a place called Cayuga Sunrise Holistic Haven which will be a yoga B&B  -- and serve both heated and raw foods, in Romulus. Ok, I was fooled. I expected a cabbage roll of a more traditional sort. This was even better -- a raw food, sushi-like phenomenon, filled with various sorts of sprouts and a very distinctive sunflower mayonnaise. Mmmm. I picked it up and ate it with my hands. It both tasted -- and looked -- beautiful.(I have no idea if this is the same Roxanne Kamayani Gupta, but here are two potentially relevant sites: one and two.)

With these two appetizers: a Sheldrake Point 2008 Gerwurtraminer (a bit less than perfectly dry, but nice) and an Anthony Road 2008 Dry Rose of Cabernet Franc (which was swell). Both paired well with the two dishes, though I preferred the white with the soup and the rose with the surprise cabbage roll. As a side note (and a very oddly nice one), there was no expectation that one would drink every sip orf every wine, since so much was served over the course of the night. So, there was a nice bucket into which one could pour one's abandoned wine.

Salad: Well, this was created by Chef Heather Tompkins, formerly of Halsey's in Geneva and now (hurrah) of Fox Run Vineyard. Described as "Summer Greens with Goat Cheese, Baby Carrots & Apricots with Blueberry Riesling Vinaigrette," the salad had some delightfully hot tasting greens (perhaps wasabi greens?) that really added a snap to the dish. The blueberry vinaigrette was thick and sauce-like on the side of the plate. Mmmm. And it paired well with Bet the Farm's 2008 Gamay Noir (a winery near Aururao, New York) as well as the Fox Run 2008 Reserve Riesling. One of our table mates was a real fan of Bet the Farm's wine education programs and has participated in tastings there for 2 years. Another was the chef's mom.

'So, the two entrees. Amazing. First, a "Duck Confit Stack with Polenta and Chevre on a Bed of Asian Greens Drizzled with Blueberry Cabernet Sauce and Topped with Wasabi Microgreens" by Chef Debra Whiting of Red Newt Cellar's Winery and Bistro in Hector. Whiting is definitely one of the moving forces in the Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty work.  (Want to see Chef Whiting on Youtube? Click here or read a recipe of hers on line at Food and Wine, click here.) Her dish, paired with (not surprisingly) Red Newt Cellars Glacier Ridge Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Franc and a Ravines 2008 Dry Pinot Rose. (Not to be confused with Ravine Vineyards in Ontario, Canada.) This entree got rave reviews from all the diners at my table, especially for the shredded duck confit (which, it turns out, was local duck, as was the rabbit. The source: Autumn's Harvest Farm or try here for their actual site.) 

And, then, along came "Stuffed Rabbit Loin with Roasted Pepper and Cayuga Blue Cheese" from Chef Olando Rodriquez of Veraisons Restaurant at Glenora. I love rabbit.Having said that, I was not expecting much. Why? I am not a big fan of Veraisons -- the food is too cloying for me. Or at least it was the last time I was there. But this dish was, for me, great. While one person at the table thought the rabbit an odd texture, I thought it was lovely -- and the pairing with the Cayuga blue with its saltiness went well with the sweetness of the rabbit. I did, as did others, find the little carrot paired with it humorous. The wines were (again, of course) a Glenora 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and a Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Gerwurtramine, Both were dandy. (Though by this time, I was cutting back on my wine.) But THUMPER (aka the rabbit) was really really something that might even get me to go to Veraisons again. Though, I confess to thinking it unlikely he can match this there

Finally, desserts. First, theer were truffles from Chocolatier Renee Daldry of Renee Suzette's Chocolates in Watkins Glen. This was the only minor oddity of the evening, and it was not the tasty truffles so much as the plating. To be blunt, a bowl (shaped indeed like a cereal bowl) of smallish truffles was plopped in front of me, looking like blueberries or maybe even grapes in a dish. I knew it was the truffles, but I sat for ages waiting for them to serve others. I thought it was weird to get so many, but. . . and, of course, the bowl was for everyone at the table. Tasty, but not the best way to serve them -- or at minimum, perhaps they could have told us that was what was happening.And, after that came Chef Anthony Jordan (of Taverna Banfi, Ithaca; this, it turns out, is one of the dining opportunities at the Hotel Statler, of Cornell University) and his "Citrus Tart in a Pistachio Crust with Melon Sorbet and Berry Marmalade." This was the best lemony citrus tart ever. No doubt about it.

The desserts were paired with a Red Newt Cellars Hellbender Port and a Lakewood Candeo (which is a fizzty wonder). Both sufficed as did the coffee from Keuka Lake Coffee Roasters.

What might be improved? I would label the cheeses much better during the pre-dining reception (rather than one label for table with a list of cheesemakers, why not put the specific names with each cheese?). I would also (as was pointed out to me) use proper cheese knives. In this regard, having the cheesemakers pointed out -- one was incredibly rude to me -- would be helpful. Also, at the dinner itself, it was great having the chefs introduced at the end, and having them speak, but I think it would have been preferable to have them introduce their dishes. As noted, I would replate the truffles too. And, most crucially, if this is intended to really raise money, I would do much better publicity and make the silent auction more tempting. All these, though, were quibbles. It was a blast.

Other purveyors were listed on the menu -- which was a nice thing to do and I guess first with Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty's mission. I was glad to see, for example, recognition of Dustin Cutler's normal bread and various produce farms. One additional related bit of Finger Lakes web connectivity:

Finger Lakes Distillery blog

Check out the New Widget

Check out the new widget, toward the bottom right, which points you to other Blogher foodie sites. And the new widget at the top which reminds you to support ongoing efforts to defeat AIDS/HIV.

And thanks to solar-street-lighting.com for the red check!

Fox Run -- Garlic Festival

We stopped by the Fox Run Vineyard for the Garlic Festival on August 1. Yes that was a while ago, but you can go next year! It was a lovely day, a bit hot but hey! And we saw lots of folks we know. There were venders of various sorts -- jewelry, garlic in many forms, hot sauces, and . . . there was food. And music -- and I do not just mean "music" garlic.

A few notable things experienced and/or learned:

First and foremost, the former chef at Halsey's is now chef at Fox Run. We have been trying to figure out what was going on at Halsey's for some time -- and been disappointed by the food in Heather Tompkin's absence. So, it was great to find her surfacing, though we went especially for the pulled pork and, gasp, they were out of it!  The roasted corn on the cob, though, was swell as was our secodn choice, italian sausage with peppers. We had wine to go with it (of course); a dry riesling and a cabernet franc/lemberger blend.

One thing about the festival as it was definitely a garlic festival. There were many many types of garlic, including sicilian (milder), german red, german white, french and persian (which we missed as it sold out quickly). I wish there had been a bit more educational material about what the various types of garlic were, but there were bits out to taste. What did I buy? A type of garlic called "music." (And I promptly used a huge portion of it making peach chutney. Yes, the peaches are coming in in various places in upstate NY.) Among the cards I got: Upstate NY Garlic Farm which grows German White, French Red, Music, Russian Red, Italian Purple Stripe, and Italian Mountain Red. No, I did not buy from them but hey, what a long list of garlic. Where did I actually buy my music garlic? From folks I know at Seneca Vegetable Research, Inc. located in Hall, NY. (For some overview of garlic, click here. On Music garlic, which turns out to be a sort of hard necked porcelain garlic, click here.)

I also bought shallots -- one of three types I saw at the festival. The ones I purchases were yellow, smallish in size, milder in flavor, and sort of roundish (as opposed to long and narrow). I did see the biggest shallots I have ever seen at this festival. I have no idea if that is a good thing. (On shallot varieties and related information, try here.) The shallots came from Burdick Creek Gardens in Dimock, PA. They also had a very tasty "hot bobcat cause" and "chipotle bobcat csauce" which I tried and did not buy, though tempted!

And the music? The group was called the Lone Rangers -- and they were quite good. We especially liked the violin/fiddle player -- a woman who could really sing. All in all quite fun, followed by opera in Geneva.