2010 Farm to Table Conference--Food Tasting Edition

We attended the 4th annual Farm to Table Conference Friday Night Food Tasting event this weekend. Set against the pretty backdrop of the city skyline, it was a festive and delicious sampling of local (mostly PA) wineries, specialty stores, farms, and personal chefs/caterers. Here's a photojournal of some of the things we tasted and saw:

Little communion-sized cups for the wine sampling. I found that I tolerated and liked the dessert wines much better than regular wines, of which I have a hard time finishing even a small glass because they're too strong for me. I drank much more wine in one go than I have in years at this event. I bought a bottle of "Sweet Sensation" (A sweet sparkling red wine. Jammy aromas with hints of dark berries entice you to taste its velvety full body and mouthwatering finish. Best served chilled.) from the Thistlethwaite Vineyards. Bonus: I must have been wearing adult-looking clothing because I did not get carded once, while a friend that came with us got carded twice!

Cheese. It was delicious. Smooth, flavorful, rich. And I don't even like cheese (not usually by itself anyways)!!! I'm starting to sound like Jess (who loves cheesy items such as grilled cheese and mac and cheese but then denies liking the stuff in general....hehe). It just shows that one just has to find the kinds that you like, and that quality does make a difference in how you perceive a product...

Michael was tempted to take this block of portabello-studded cheese home. After contemplating various strategies of getting the block out of the building unnoticed, we decided that it wasn't a good idea...and we went off to get more wine.

Oh yeah, there was also beer. Their samples were sizable, about half a cup, and they had a few different varieties.

More cheese, although we didn't get to sample their products, sadly.

Organic vegetable miso soup with a compostable spoon!

I was taking pictures of this appetizer (playing the role of the annoying foodie with a camera) and the personal chef whose stand it was asked me to send her the pictures because she needed more good pictures of her work.

Various berry jams from Triple B Farms. Yummy.

Meat (lamb shoulder) and potatoes from the Market District stand. The lamb was from Jamison
Farms (see below for a picture of their stand and food). The lamb was tender, rich, and just a little fatty. We went back for seconds, and happily by then they'd run out of potatoes and bread and only gave us meat. Which was good, since that's primarily all that we were after anyways.

Another caterer's crostini appetizer. This one was good because of the caramelized onions and balsamic glaze on top.

Honey! After tasting them, I actually went back to buy two flavor-infused honeys from the owner of Apoidea Apiary: rose petal and orange, and ginger marmalade. I'm planning some killer honey butter with these flavors...

More lamb. This time, a hearty soup of ground lamb and rice at the actual Jamison Farm stand. So flavorful and delicious. These people apparently are THE lamb experts, they had articles and awards and pictures with Julia Child, etc.

A stand dedicated to dairy items! We were offered 2% milk, cottage cheese, or buttermilk to sample. Um, no thanks. If I could have brought some home, maybe...

All in all, it was a good time. I liked the variety of foods, and it was enough booze and food to make the entrance fee worth it. Yay for local artisan foods!