Strawberry Festival - Peddler's Village - May 2 and 3, 2009

Peddler's Village hosts many different festivals throughout the year. I used to go to them when I was younger and always loved going to their Apple Festival. They had all kinds of apple goodies, my favorite being a warm apple dumpling served with vanilla pudding. Every strawberry season they celebrate the lushes fruit with a festival of it's very own. Yum.

Strawberry Festival 2009
Saturday May 2ed
Sunday May 3ed
10am - 6pm both days

Strawberry Festival plays host to delicious strawberry treats like pastries, strawberry shortcake, strawberry fritters, and strawberry jam but it's also a showcase for juried artisans. There's going to be live entertainment, pie-eating contests, and artisans demonstrating their trade. There will be great strawberry goodies to bring home too.

Peddler's Village is a great food and shopping destination. There are all kinds of little shops selling everything from kitchen goods (pots, pans, knives), a shop selling lamps, a wonderful toy store, hobby shops, and places with one of a kind artisan jewelry, woodworking, glass, and ceramics. There's also a nice coffee shop, a store with some beautiful cut flowers and flowering plants, and Giggleberry Fair (with a carousel, games, and obstacle course). It's a great place for the whole family on a normal weekend, but it's even better when there's a festival going on.

Peddler's Village is located at...
Routes 202 & 263
Lahaska, Bucks County, PA
215.794.4000

The festival is going to be a great thing to check out and a nice way to spend a Saturday or Sunday. If you're traveling from out of the area, there's an inn right in the village - Golden Plough Inn. The inn has 71 rooms and is in a great building.

Below is a YouTube video of highlights from the festival...

Here's to berries and full bellies.
- Cait

Farm Shop - Tanner Brothers

Photo by Caitlin M. Shurilla

So, Tuesday late afternoon I went to Tanner Brothers. It's a farm store that sells local produce (when in season) and all their dairy products are produced and packaged a mile up the road from the shop. Their specialty - ICE CREAM! There probably isn't anything much better than eating ice cream that is made from cows that are standing all of ten-feet away from you. Yup, the cows are behind the store, and on nice days in the spring and summer they'll be walking around and hanging out. When I was little my parents would take me to get ice cream and see the cows, which apparently lots of other parents continue to do. They've got at least two dozen ice cream flavors from traditional vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry to things like Amy's Wedding Cake and Graham Slam (made with graham crackers). My favorites? Mocha Chip and Butter Pecan. I treated myself to a scoop of butter pecan ice cream after I picked out my produce.

Photo by Caitlin M. Shurilla

What's great about shopping for produce at Tanner Brothers vs. the grocery store (Wegmans usually) is the price. I love red bell peppers, buying them for a dollar+ less a pound is a nice surprise. I brought home two bags of produce - including a hydroponically grown head of green butterhead lettuce which was grown 15 minutes from my house. I thought finding that was fun... I'm going to use it for a burger and some sandwiches. It's completely beautiful.

Tanner Bros. Market
Mon-Fri: 8:30am-7:00pm
Sat-Sun: 8:30am-7:00pm

1070 Hatboro Road
(Corner of Almshouse Rd. and Hatboro Rd.)
Ivyland, PA 18974

Here's to cows and full bellies.
- Cait

Spotting Dinner - Pasta Like a Rock Star

Spring produce is exciting after the cold winter months in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The freshness is welcome and long awaited and bountiful. A vegetable I most look forward to and reminds me of spring is asparagus. When I was TasteSpotting for dinner ideas I came across a pasta dish posted by thepinkpeppercorn. It utilizes there of my favorite ingredients - pasta, mushrooms, and of course asparagus!

Photo from thepinkpeppercorn

Pasta Like a Rock Star
via thepinkpeppercorn
Adapted from InStyle Magazine, creator unknown
(4-6 servings)

1-450 g package penne
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp dry marsala (or madeira)
1 bunch asparagus, cut to 3/4 inch pieces
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs - flat-leaf parsley, tarragon, chives
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
drizzle of white truffle oil (optional)

1. Bring to a boil a small pot, with 1 inch of boiling water. Add the asparagus for thirty seconds, only to blanch it briefly. Remove into a strainer, and briefly rinse with cold water just until cool. Set aside.
2. Cook the penne according to package directions, but more al dente than suggested (there is ample liquid in the sauce for it to absorb) Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
3. Meanwhile, heat the butter and olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Once it is bubbling, add the mushrooms, and cook 5 minutes. Lower the heat, and add the shallots and garlic; cook 4-5 minutes until the shallots soften.
4. Add the wine, and cook until evaporated, 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and cook until the mushrooms are tender and the pan is almost dry. Add the marsala, and salt.
5. Add the cooked penne, asparagus, reserved pasta water, chopped herbs, and parmigiano to the saucepan. Continue to cook until heated through, being careful not to overcook the pasta, but trying to have most of the liquid absorbed by it, 3-4 minutes (depending upon personal taste). Check for seasoning. Drizzle with white truffle oil, but truffle salt is nice too. Serve.

What wonderful spring flavors... If you wanted to, you could easily "beef" up this dish by adding grilled chicken breast to it. That would be perfect served outside with some cool white wine. Don't forget candles for your outdoor table. Oh what a lovely "date" night that would make. A crisp spring salad and perhaps a bowl of lemon sorbet with fresh berries would round off the meal nicely.

Here's to spring nights and full bellies.
- Cait

Plate Planning

My friend Patty likes to blog... and it turns out that she wrote a little bit about me. Her blog is called Colored Sprinkles and the bit about me can be found in her newest post. Patty lives in New York... In Oyster Bay to be exact and works in Soho. So, if you're in the Long Island area, her blog is worth a read. She writes about things she's up to, so you can learn about some different things to do and places to go.

I started working on a list of things I want to post about like "sherbet vs. sorbet', possibly "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" posts utilizing TasteSpotting (a great cooking inspiration), along with posts about what I'm cooking/have cooked, restaurants, and a bunch of other things. It's going to take hours to edit all of the food photographs I have and I want to go out on a nice day to take some pictures of the towns I love eating in around here. I also want to get some of the local farms and farm shops and farmers markets. There's a big farmers market that happens in Doylestown every week, and one in New Hope. I'm not sure if they are still going on now since the weather isn't great and spring is just rolling in - or if they are year round rain or shine kind of things. I need to do some research about that.

Here's to warm ovens and full bellies.

- Cait

Grab a Knife and Fork

Pull up a chair and enjoy my plate...

I've been working on the idea of a food blog for awhile now... The thought sprang into my mind one night, I'm not sure what exactly brought it on - but I knew it would be a fun idea. I love to cook and share the things that I make with others. I also love the restaurants around Bucks County and I'm always up for trying a new one. There's also an abundance of fresh produce from local farmers markets, farm stands, farm co-ops, and pick your own in the area.

I plan on posting daily (or close to daily) about the meals I've made (perhaps even just made that day), about some of my favorite cooking shows on Food Network, cookbooks I love and use often, cookbooks I'm looking forward to getting, kitchen tools/gadgets, restaurants I've recently visited, and any food adventures that happen to pop up (like apple picking, the Strawberry Festival in Peddlers Village, berry picking, etc). I've been wanting to plan days to post things like cookbook and restaurant reviews - but I haven't really settled on which day I'd like to do that...

I was going to start this blogging journey on a Sunday or Monday - but after messing with Photoshop CS4 and creating a header for the blog I had to post something. I was pretty happy with the result and excited to start sharing. I have a lot of pictures to edit and organize and I need to try and find links to some of my favorite restaurants. I also might head out with my camera and photograph some of the restaurant locations because some of the places are in amazing spaces.

Here's to warm ovens and full bellies.

- Cait