Food Shows, Farmers Markets and The Governor's Mansion

Well, Monday night was the Rochester Festival of Foods and we participated this year for the first time. It was a lot of fun, and the people that visited our booth were really great. We took olive oil bread dips and Sofrito Salsa. As usual, the Garlic, Basil and Parmesan Cheese Dip blend was the most popular, but we saw a great deal more interest in the Chicago Everything blend than we have before. Someday I would love to do a study between rural and metropolitan eating habits. The diversity offered in a metroplitan area really does impact what people [will] eat.

Trish Aser, a friend of mine and owner of the Brown Hound Bistro, also went and took her Grilled Seafood Bisque. It was a great hit and we heard many favorable comments about the bisque. Her booth was right next to mine. I took a few minutes to tour the festival and enjoyed the food from India Palace in Rochester, but my favorite food at the festival was the pulled pork in a green pepita sauce from El Rincon Restaurant. Gabe and Rafael, brothers that own the restaurant, really create truely authentic mexican dishes that always delight me. Visit them, if you haven't. They are on Beeman St in Canandaigua.

Later this week we will participate in a fund raiser for the Wood Library here in Canandaigua and also a Farmers Market at Finger Lakes Community College. 3 shows in 1 week. It is a great deal of preparation, but when in business, you MUST get your product and name out in front of people.

A good example of that was the opportunity this past week to provide products for the Governor's chef to sample. Finger Lakes Visitors Connection had called to say the governor's chef was visiting and wanted to try products made in the Finger Lakes, would I like to provide some of my products. OF COURSE I WOULD! So we packaged a Finger Lakes Rub Collection, a few tea blends that we make, a collection of sour cream dip blends, and a package of the olive oil bread dip mixes and submitted them for the taste testing. How exciting it was to hear back that the chef had taken the Finger Lakes Rub Collection, the dip collections, and one of the teas back to the mansion to sample.

Until next time, when I will talk about our Soup Making Class and give you a recipe!!!!

Michelle

http://www.canandaiguaspice.com/