Another great dinner

[figarofigaro1]

We had a wonderful dinner at Hen of the Wood on July 10. It was the Vermont Fresh Network Farmer's Dinner Series.

I have the menu from this one so I don't have to recreate from memory.

Upon arrival they made a cocktail for everyone with Vermont-made vodka shaken with some local strawberry syrup garnished with some tiny strawberries and some mint. Tasty. And the servers were walking around with different tasty things: spoons filled with beef carpaccio, other spoons filled with beets in buttermilk sauce, and still other spoons with chanterelles and cheese (maybe), and also the canapés that Eric Warnstedt had made for one of his award things. All good. And we met some local movers and shakers in the Vermont Fresh Network. Molly Stevens was there and it was wonderful to be social with her. I ended up sitting across from her and one of the Vermont winemakers. For much of the time I was simply fascinated to sit and listen to them... the way they think and talk about food is very different from the perspective of an "eater." (And, no, I didn't sit there like an idiot and not talk. But I did listen a lot.) We were kind of  in the middle of a table and B's end was much livelier with conversation and laughing.

The menu:

Pete's Farm French Breakfast Radishes with 1/2 Pint Farm Baby Basil and Baby Fennel
'Vermont Butter & Cheese Co.' Feta & Mustard Vinaigrette
- Fleur de California, 'Vin Gris' Pinot Noir Rosé - Caneros, CA 2007

Sugar Mountain Farm Pork Cheeks and Maple Wind Farm Pork Belly
Pickled Rhubarb and Crème Fraiche
- Montinore Estate, Pinot Noir - Willamette Valley, OR 2006

Winding Brook Farm Lamb Loin Chops
Buttered Sweet Peas and New Garlic with 1/2 Pint Farm Baby Carrots
-Stephen Vincent, 'Crimson' Syrah/Cabernet Sauvignon - CA 2006

1/2 Pint Farm Heirloom Lettuces

Local Strawberries with Lavender Mascarpone
- Eberle, 'Estate' Muscat Canelli - Paso Robles, CA 2007

Yes, they did use single quotes like that on the menu, as well as the postal codes for states instead of abbreviations. Those things annoy me.

We're friendly with Mara and Spencer, the owners and farmers of 1/2 Pint Farms. Spencer was at the dinner and talked a bit about how they got their start and he was an amusing speaker. The entire dinner was rather intimate, with only 30 people in attendance. As a result, we did join the Vermont Fresh Network as "eaters" and will get notice of other things to do as a result.

Comments

[pubwvj.livejournal.com]

Cool... So that is what Eric did with our jowls.

-Walter Jeffries
SugarMtnFarm.com

[figarofigaro1.livejournal.com]

Um... I assume you're the farmer and not the pig. Of course, you are. A pig without cheeks wouldn't feel much like blogging now, would it.

They were delicious, by the way.

[loop.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely! I thought of you guys the other day, when Mark Bittman blogged about great eating in Vermont. And here you are, eating at one of the places he mentioned :)

Blogging Without Cheeks

[pubwvj.livejournal.com]

Aye, I suspect you're right, that the pigs don't feel like blogging at this point. They lived a good life here in our pastures eating milk (http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2006/04/booth-acres-dairy.html) and honey (http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2008/02/honey-biscuits.html), for real, as well as pasture, hay, whey and breaking the occasional bread and peanut (http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2008/03/ton-of-peanut-butter.html) butter (http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2008/05/peanut-butter-pallet-fork-lift.html).