I HAD to choose the HOTTEST day of the year to come back!?!?!

Well, I've finally made my way back!!! Some months back, I took what I planned to be a short hiatus from writing this blog. Turns out "short" is a relative term.

Of course, I would pick the hottest day of the year (so far) to debut my cooking ideas!! Okay, again, I've lost focus. The goal here is FOOD, not necessarily cooking it.

My best suggestion for today is "Keep it cool!!!" It's 98 degrees outside, with a heat index of 107!!! The most strenuous food prep I wanted to do today was cut this cold melon.

I think there is nothing more refreshing on a hot day than a nice chunk of cold melon. I also find, we're much more likely to eat it up when it is already cut into chunks in a bowl as opposed to slices which can make for some pretty sloppy eating. Watermelon does tend to keep better, though when it is not cut. (This is NOT a problem at our house. It IS a problem making sure everybody gets a fair shot at the bowl before it's gone!) So, If it's going to take a few days to work your way through it, maybe you'll just want to cut a half at a time.

Want a quick cooler suggestion? Frozen grapes!!! Any grape will do and they're super simple. Simply rinse the grapes and drop them in the freezer for a bit. I like to spread mine out flat on a tray so they are frozen individually. You can grab a few by the handful for nibbling or, and I LOVE this, take a few of those frozen bits and drop them in your beverage in place of ice. I believe they stay colder longer than an ice cube AND they add a sweet touch. They look pretty, too!

Most important advice for the day: STAY COOL !!!!

In that vein, we're going out to eat tonight. why should I slave over a hot stove when we can pay someone else to do so? Seriously, our AC is malfunctioning so we just need to get out of the house.

What cool nibbling suggestions do YOU have for such HOT, HOT days?

What sounds good this weekend?

Some of the more unique events around this weekend include darting turkeys, pecans and a Jewish food festival.

The Annual Dart the Turkey & Dessert Baking Contest in Clearfield City, Utah takes place Friday evening where darting begins at 6:30 p.m. This is quite a variation on the turkey shoots I've attended here on the East Coast. I've seen both guns and bows used but never darts!

Apparently the dart shoots include classes of competitors as young as 6 years of age! Targets can be purchased for 25 cents each and winners of each age category win a free turkey.

I'm guessing the companion dessert competition draws just as much (if not more) interest! Now in it's 21st year, this part of the competition will accept entries from 6:45 to 7 p.m. with judging beginning at 7:15. Categories include Best Pie, Best Cake, Best Dish, Best Cookie, Best Candy, Best Student and a new category this year - "Best Cooking Light Recipe." That last one is, oh so important, when competing in a dessert category!!

Do you think my KCBS BBQ judge credentials will get me a seat at the judging table here?

><> ><> ><> ><> ><>

Then there's the Pecan Fest in Chetopa, Kansas. among the events here are all day musical entertainmant, a 5K run, a talent show, arts & crafts show, quilt display, car show and inflatable games (?) !! For us Foodies, the day begins with a Pancake and Sausage Breakfast at the Masonic Lodge and features an All-You-Can-Eat Smorgasboard Luncheon for just $6. (Desserts will be sold separately.) They warn attendees to "come on time! We'll seve until the food is gone!" Tickets for this go on sale at 10:30 a.m.

Of course, there is a Pecan Cooking Competition. The single Adult category includes cakes, pies, cookies, candies and assorted entries. The Children's category is actually split into the four categories of cakes, pies, cookies and assorted entries. Age Divisions include adults, 8 and under, 9-12 and 13-16. There will be ribbons for winners of each of the individual categories and special awards for "Best in Show" and "Most Unusual Use of Pecans."

><> ><> ><> ><> ><>

Rounding out the weekend's menu is the Nosh Fest in Cooper City, Florida. A "nosh" is a taste. So come nosh on traditional Jewish style foods such as corned beef and pastrami, lox and bagels, falafel and Israeli salads, matzo ball soup, potato pancakes (latkes), noodle kugel and more. There will be a cooking competition, cooking demos and music throughout the day.

So, go out and have tasty weekend, y'all!!

Let's go "Gourmet" in Vegas this week!

The World Gourmet Summit is happening now in Las Vegas.

This sounds like something I can really get into. I mean, it contains the word "GOURMET" in its name and takes place in Las Vegas!! Do I need more incentive?!?

Well, my husband has demanded more info before making a commitment. Never let it be said he leaps before looking. Okay, to be real, I don't believe he has any intentions of signing us up for this one but "Las Vegas" did catch his attention! He does like Vegas. I always say I have a better shot of going anywhere if I can bribe him with a nearby casino.

So, what is the World Gourmet Summit?

According to the press release it's "a food and wine extravaganza including culinary demonstrations and wine -pairing classes, gourmet dinners, and a Grand Gourmet Safari, with over 80 wineries presenting in excess of 150 wines and internationally renowned Master Chefs presenting their favorite specialties." It goes on to bill the event as an opportunity to "rub shoulders with fellow devotees from around the world." Ooooh, great food and wine and a good shoulder rub, what's not to like? It's happening today through the 20th.

The events list includes such activities as a Culinary Master Class & Wine Pairing Seminar, a Master Chef's Dinner, Panel discussions of Food & Beverage topics, a "Chateau Musar" Tasting Session, The Las Vegas Grand Gourmet Safari, and the Food & Beverage Hall of Fame Gala. Each day ends with a Get Together at the "Fire Pit" of the Signature at MGM Grand for socializing. I'm particularly interested in that Safari!!

The main goal of this event is to raise scholarship funds for hospitatlity students. Attended predominantly by members of the Food & Beverage Forum, all events are open to the public. There are auctions featuring items such as stays in luxury hotels around the world, dinners in some of the best restaurants in the industry, fine wines and more. While there is an online auction associated with the event featuring the most coveted lots, there are also a number of live auctions conducted on site. Since 1996, a total of $550,000 has been distributed to students at a number of colleges and universities around the country.

Fall Festivals Are Still Happening ...

One of my favorite entertainers will be heard in Basile, LA Friday night when Chubby Carrier takes the stage for some of his zydeco party sounds. One has to bear in mind, "a Chubby party just don't quit!" Chubby will get things rolling at the LA Swine Festival on Friday night and the party will roll on through Sunday (11/5-11/7).

In addition to all the standard festival fare of music, games, car show, etc, there will be a Queen's Boudin Eating Contest, the Queen's Greasy Pig Chase, a Hog Calling contest and, of course, a Pork Cook-Off. The Cook-Off will feature the four categories of Pot, Pit, Cajun and Cracklins. Cook teams can enter one or more categories. A secondary competition will be held among the cook teams for the Chug-A-Lug Champs. Additional awards will be given to the cook-off team who chug-a-lugs the most beer purchased at the beer booth. (Tally will be kept at the beer booth.)

Hmmm, this could provide just the inspiration I need to put together a cook-off team. Think it's too late?

><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>

Feel more like a nut ?

Then head on out to the 13th Annual Pistachio Festival on 11/6 in Newberry Springs, CA where you'll find Food - Fun - Live Music - and ...PISTACHIOS!

Or ...

You could head on down to the 7th Annual South Carolina Pecan Festival in Florence, South Carolina on 11/6. There you'll be able to check out the Pecan Cook-Off, trot along in the Run Like A Nut half marathon or simply sit back and enjoy the entertainment of more than 30 performers on this event's 7 stages!

If that's not your cup of tea, so to speak, check out

the Society Hill Catfish Festival just down the road in Darlington County, SC, also on 11/6. Some folks come for the music, some for the crafts and games and even more just to get together with old friends, but ALL end up eating some of the delicious catfish served under the big tent at St. David's Academy. The catfish stew is so popular that the organizers start selling it by the quarts and gallons the night before this free, one-day festival!

Whatever you choose to do, get out there and enjoy this Fall weather as the outdoor festival season is quickly coming to a close for many of us in the cooler part of the country.

Go out and get yourself some good festival food while you can!!!

Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween, Y'all!!!!

I'm off to get the pumpkins ready to greet our Trick or Treaters this weekend, so I thought you might enjoy this take on carving pumpkins.

Not as many festival choices this weekend!

Much of the country is beginning to move out of the outdoor festival mode as we reach mid-October but there are still a few great events happening out there in the fresh brisk air. Won't be long till I'll be directing you into armories and church halls and such for food events. That is, if we can make our way around the snow and slush!!! (It's not far off, you know.)

There are, as usual, numerous wine events in just about every state and much of the Northern half of the country is celebrating the apple harvest with various apple festivals. There's a new orb in town, though, and it's taking over the spotlight. Yes, folks, I'm talking about the Great Pumpkin!!

Yesterday marked the opening of the Circleville Pumpkin Show in Circleville, Ohio, the oldest and largest festival in Ohio. This little town of 12,000 residents is invaded by over 400,000 visitors over the duration of this 4 day festival (10/20-10/23). That crowd is hungry, too, eating over 100,000 pumpkin donuts and buying 23,000 pumpkin pies among all the other festival eats!! They come to watch the parades - 7 different parades, each with a different theme. They come to compete in contests like the Prettiest Pumpkin, Pumpkin Pie Eating, Hog Calling and Egg Tossing. There's lots of stage entertainment, live music, the usual festival booths and rides and Gus, "The Squash Carver," will demonstrate at the Great Pumpkin Carving!

This year's biggest pumpkin weighs in at 1,622 lbs !!!! I wonder how many pies that'll make?

An added bonus: The festival's website has pumpkin recipes, too!

October 23 marks National Bulk Foods Day throughout the country. Now, I admit, when I first saw this on the calendar I thought it was a brilliant marketing ploy by those big warehouse stores like Sam's and Costco. My mind immediately went to defining "bulk" as meaning huge packages. I was wrong. They're not involved in this one at all. In this instance, we're talking about foods purchased unpackaged from bulk containers like barrels and such. Promoted by the Bulk Is Green Council, an organization dedicated to helping consumers, food makers and grocers learn about the many environmental and economic benefits of bulk foods, people around the country are encouraged to celebrate by buying everything from spices to almonds to rice in bulk at their nearest grocery store or co-op. Bulk foods provide the 30% to 60% savings to the consumer by eliminating the added costs of packaging and promotion. Packaged goods require signigicantly more transportation to make their way to the shelves of our local stores. The manufacturing of packaging kills trees, dumps contaminated water into our streams, uses tremendous amounts of energy and shoots tons of CO2 into our air. Packaging is a burden to our landfills.

While I can't claim I buy a lot of my foods this way (It's simply not easily available to us in our community.), we do buy some things like powdered milk, nuts and such from barrels at an Amish market we frequent. We also buy and use mostly fresh veggies and fruit over prepackaged ones. I tend to freeze my own veggies in season for later use.

So, even if it's just for that one day, why not try to buy some "un"packaged foods. After all, who really needs more plastic wrappers for the trash man?

Hope you manage to find some good eats this weekend wherever you are!

Accidental Rib Judging

Yesterday turned out to be a fantastic Fall day, though a bit on the windy side. The temps were in the low 60s and the sun was extremely bright. We found ourselves drawn to a festival on the banks of the Susquehanna River and it was absolutely beautiful! We stopped in at Smokin' On The River in Port Deposit, Maryland just to hear a little music and maybe grab a bite to eat on our way to our evening destination.

This was not an official KCBS BBQ competition so we weren't involved in the judging of this Tail Gate Cook-Off. As it turned out, we were recognized and drafted into judging anyway. (The cooks had been promised KCBS judges and KCBS judging standards.) There were 17 talented cook teams that had fought the cool wind all day to produce some high quality ribs and there was an extreme shortage of judges. Turns out we only had 5 certified KCBS judges and one "celebrity judge", the St. Pauli Beer Girl ! (The guys voted her in. Big Surprise!)

It wasn't in our plans but took only about an hour to sample and score these eats and we were glad to do it. Oh, and The Big Guy was thrilled to pose with the St. Pauli Girl, too!