TomatoFest is no more…sob!

Bill and I have been going to the TomatoFest in Carmel at the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley for 5 years. We poured wines for our cousin’s winery, Wines of Carmel and then took turns to walk around and taste wines, various gourmet dishes prepared with tomatoes by local restaurants, enjoy the great live music and basically have a fun afternoon! Cynthia Saunders, Manresa Restaurant’s kitchen gardener and owner of the Love Apple Farm, contributed a large amount of the tomatoes that you could taste and purchase at the festival. There were several vendors selling everything from olive oil & heirloom tomato seeds to tomato themed knick-knacks. Unfortunately, the TomatoFest has it’s last year in 2008 because Gary Ibsen, the founder, retired.
During its tenure, The TomatoFest was indeed America's most spectacular tomato harvest festival. It embraced the celebration of the season's tomato harvest, and in its sharing of chefs, farmers, winemakers, wine & food lovers, and the family (including children), it celebrated community. During it's 17 years the Carmel TomatoFest® has donated more than $240,000.00 to local, regional and national charities to benefit children. www.tomatofest.com

You can still go to the tomatofest website and buy heirloom tomato seeds….or take a drive and buy seedlings or take gardening classes from Cynthia’s Love Apple Farm.

The TomatoFest is being replaced by an event called “Harvest – a 2-day farm-to-table event celebrating agriculture, viticulture, cheese and good times." The website is "under construction" but keep checking www.harvestcarmel.com for current info.

I assume it will continue to be at the Quail Lodge since they are one of the sponsors. I have no idea how much it will cost since it is now a 2-day event and no longer focuses on tomatoes (the TomatoFest was $120 for the day)but when I talked with my cousin, she thought it was going to be cheaper this year...like around $85 for the day..you'll just have to keep checking the website for accurate info.

It is being run by the same people who put on the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Event. If it is on the same level as the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Event, it will be an “affair to remember.” I haven’t decided yet whether to volunteer at this event or not. Being another “first” event tells me that it won’t be a smoothly run operation (“firsts” never are…) but it could be a fun…it’s how I met Tina so it was definitely worth my time to volunteer at the Pebble Beach affair! Which reminds me, did you know that some events CHARGE volunteers to volunteer? Tina mentioned that one must pay anywhere from $150-200 to volunteer at the US Open tournaments since it allows the volunteer to watch the event when they aren’t working. They even have a waiting list of a 1000 people! I checked to see if any of us can volunteer at the Harvest event but apparently they are trying to only use local residents for volunteers or ones they’ve used in the past (maybe that makes Tina & I eligible!!).

If you are interested in the Harvest event, mark your calendars for Sept. 26-27 weekend! It should be a fun event and the restaurants and wineries are no longer local but from all over California so I understand that there will be restaurants and wineries from Napa, San Francisco, Sonoma, etc. as well as Monterey County.

My tomatoes are just beginning to ripen so the best season of the year is about to commence! There are tons of "Tomato menus" at various local restaurants coming up as well but they are pretty pricey. Especially when I just like my tomatoes with just a touch of salt, just off the vine! I planted some heirloom tomato plants from Cynthia's Love Apple Farm and they are still really green so I will have tomatoes to harvest for quite a while and can make "Fried Green Tomatoes" with some of the beefsteaks that I planted just for that purpose! Ahhh, I just love this time of the year!

Bon appétit!

Eternal Searches

Is there a food that you remember from your past that you keep looking for again in your travels? Doughnuts are mine. I remember a doughnut from my childhood that I can’t find again. It’s really crispy on the outside, lightly glazed (i.e. not white, goopy glaze) and very light and airy on the inside. I came close in Hawaii...but "close" is not "IT!" Most doughnuts to me are too heavy, not crispy enough(not even freshly fried Krispy Kremes!!) and have too much goopy glaze. I’ve gotten to the point where I can look at the doughnut and see if it’s even close to what I’m seeking or not. The search goes on. . . so if YOU know of the perfect doughnut somewhere, please share the info~PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!

At one of our last cookbook club dinners, we were talking about another eternal search of mine…it’s the New Orleans, Cafe Du Monde Beignet (what can I say, I love doughnuts!). Again, crispy on the outside, airy and hole-ly inside with a dusting of powdered sugar. Many of us have tried the Cafe Du Monde Beignet mix only to be disappointed in the result…definitely not the same! Many restaurants put beignets on their menu and EVERY time I get suckered in and order it, hoping to find that elusive replica without flying to New Orleans! Well, GOOD NEWS! I have found a beignet that equals or possibly surpasses the Cafe Du Monde Beignet. BAD NEWS. . .it’s not close either but somewhere we go much more often than New Orleans. Rovers restaurant in Seattle, Washington prepares a brunch that always (or at least that’s what the chef/owner’s wife, Kathy, told me) has beignets on the menu. You only get two but OMG, pure ecstasy! Actually, the whole meal was fabulous and if you are going to Seattle, and are a foodie, you must try this place. The presentations were so beautiful that I took photos of the dishes that we tried. The brunch is not a buffet, needless to say, and the cuisine is Northwest with Pacific Rim influences. Use a GPS to find it because it is in a neighborhood rather than downtown Seattle. Thierry Rautureau is the James Beard Award-winning chef/owner and if you go to the website, you’ll see an icon of a hat. . .yes, a hat. And when you go to the restaurant, Thierry is wearing that hat and is known as the “Chef in the Hat.” He has published a cookbook called Rovers but he published it before he started serving brunch so the beignet recipe is not in it (believe me, I checked!)

I ordered Spot Prawns because whenever I can get them, I order them. They are the most succulent and sweetest prawns~I just love them! They were presented with pickled vegetables, Japanese style, with a pea puree. Just look at this presentation! It is so artistic! They were as delicious as they looked. Bill ordered the Foie gras served with apricot chutney, honey and a cherry, prepared to perfection with a glass of sauternes. It was a healthy (or maybe I should say unhealthy?) sized piece of foie gras, along with the sauternes, was truly decadent. Then came two beignets that I ordered…graciously sharing one with Bill (I could have eaten both of them by all myself!!) They were served with a blueberry compote and Chantilly. “Imagine my surprise” when I bit into my beignet…I think I actually groaned!! I had found my source for beignets!! Hallelujah!

My main course was Two Poached Eggs atop Braised Pork Belly, Sauteed Spinach and Harissa Hollandaise on toasted slices of baguette. I didn’t think I could finish both eggs but my plate was shiningly empty by the end of the meal. I didn’t have wine with the meal but did order a glass of their fresh squeezed orange juice…don’t you just love really fresh squeezed OJ?

Bill was served a Vegetable Omelette that was also a perfection, topped with herbed goat cheese with a side of potatoes and caramelized onions. Omelettes, although we get them all the time in restaurants are rarely prepared well. The eggs are usually too dry. But this omelette was truly perfect! He had ordered the omelette with pork belly and spinach but the vegetable omelette was so good that he didn’t send it back to the kitchen. Our server noted the error and brought a side dish of smoked pork loin for Bill, as an appeasement. The service, besides this one glitch, was very good. So to make a long story short, make a reservation on opentable.com the next time you go to Seattle.

Bon appétit!