An evening in good taste

Sometimes Christmas comes really early, even though you do not realize it. Or maybe one good turn just might deserve another... When, I met Christina R, she invited me to attend the Food Bank annual benefit telling me that it would be a good opportunity to find out about her organization .

She truly was happy about my love ok indecent obsession with food, (I mention one good turn coz, she found out about the food think because I had donated classes for the raffle of another auction of a charity_

Well, I do attend my share of these events, some out of choice and some because that really is what pays the bills and things. I certainly thought anything food related would be nice, but had not realized how much fun I would have. OMG, for me it was like being a child in a huge candy store. I have never been to a place where I felt I touched just the tip of the ice berg in terms of checking out the food. I have to write this, because as they say - the first time the earth moves! I will probably have to do this again, but I am not sure if the wonder will be the same... Well, let me tell about what I ate, the pictures that I took and what I could not cover. The pictures are from the 80 West Display , They featured - Citrus Crab Salad, served in those cones that you see, Braised Oxtail with Candied pumpkin topped with microgreens. I loved the Citrus Crab Salad and the oxtail, the pumpkin was a little too sweet as a contrast.

The next table down was Abigail Kirsch, this display was very elegant and well coiffed. They were presenting on a theme of Hudson Valley Cheese and using seasonal ingredients. The gooey potato thing, was Nettle Farms Goat Cheese Gnuddi. I shall just show my colors and refer to it as a heavenly cheesy mashed potato blissful thing. The spoot things were Old Chatham's Ewe's Blur Parfair, Carmelized Fig Beet Relish. The balance of flavors, colors and tastes were just amazing! Their third cheese was Hawthorne Valley Cheddar Apple Bite, Bacon Praline. The next display was AJ's Burgers and America's Favorite Food's that features Eggplant Rolatini and AJ's Sliders. While the display looked good, I passed this really thinking the selections were not especially novel and even I would not be able to sample all that the evening offered.

The next table I stopped at was the Bedford Post table. The farmhouse here is one of those places I would love to go to but just have not been able to make the time and occasion to visit. Well, they had a Kabocha Squash soup that was seasonal and perfectly smooth and luscious. Anshul and I had different feelings about the sprinkled spices on the soup. They has something star anise and black pepper like, that I felt clashed a little with the silky smoothness of the soup of course my better half felt that it enhanced the flavors just adequately!

The next stop was Caperberry at Mapleston/CV Rich Mansion. These folks had a nice risotto coake with grilled shrimp, expresso pannacotta and cheesecake lolipops. Both the desserts were chocolate covered and were like porable pops, this was actually a brilliant idea for this kind of a setting. Cute, fairy tale meets candy store like display.

Cellar 49 - I somehow missed this display, I am not a huge fan of red meat, but make a very special exception for lamb. So I passed on the mini veal OssoBucco that they were serving.
Connie's Bakery & General Store had some interesting goodies, what was a pretty and cute hit were the mini candy apples. These apples could literally be popped into your mouth in one bite. Another thing to think of - bite sized apples!!!
Well, since most of these restaurant hand out cards and pitch you to visit them, I did not feel too bad when I sampled these really crabby Marylan Crabcakes being presented by the FISH restaurant, since I could tell them without much fuss that we did indeed visit them not too long back.

An ice-cream stop - Longfords Own Made Ice Cream that also, I did not have the time to try also passed, Lulu Cake Boutitique, that claimed to have Retro desserts that actually had this lovely wedding cake looking item!' Also passed Morton's Steak House, coz, I just ended up missing it in the crowds! I went right off to Mt Kisco Seafood, that won the Lobster Sandwiches Fest. I shall explain this in a little bit, they had this lovely Lobster roll, that was actually created on these lovely grilled butter griddled toasted bread and sandwiches. There was another lobster roll on the menu, but this one with the buttered toasted bread worked better for the evening.

Next to, Mulino's of Westchester, that was serving good pasta in a somewhat strange plastic pumpkin container. This restaurant I actually remember for an office Christmas party where I had ordered spicy pasta dish and let me tell you they took the spicy part seriously!

Another display was by a vendor who I have never heard of called, Myong private label gourmet, they were serving poached salmon and cello wrap with curry chicken and vegetables. Anshul liked the salmon, I was indifferent to both these items.

Next onto one of my favorite restaurants, Sonora,
I have had several really innovative meals here. They were serving something called Reyna Pepiada which essentially was a creamy avocado and seafood topping on warm mini tamales.
Sunset Cove restaurant had braised mini-short ribs, that were well appreciated by the crowd. Friendly staff at that table.

Tarry Lodge, also offered appropriately seasonal fare with Beets with a sweet sauce and mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes.
The Atrium was the second folks offering mini-lobster rolls also nice but the kisco folks won this one. Their autumn organic vegetable caviat was a little goat cheese tart topped with seasonal vegetables.

The gourmet taste had amazingly good lamb ragu with rissoto cakes. Lots of great dessert, did not have space for it. The wine and spirits were a plenty too. However, fun as all of this was it did ring home a scary thought that in the mights of plenty several people in our county go to sleep hungry.