About Susan McKee

Recent Posts by Susan McKee

Fredericksburg Crawfish Festival

It’s not often one hears “laissez les bon temps rouler” in this part of the U.S., but there’s a distinct Cajun flavor to the annual Crawfish Festival in Fredericksburg, Texas.

The foodie fest takes place Memorial Day weekend on the Downtown Marktplatz. Hours are 6 p.m. til midnight May 25, 2012, 11 a.m. til midnight May 26, 2012, and 11 a.m. til 5 p.m. May 27, 2012.

On the menu are red beans & rice, boudin, gumbo, and — of course — crawfish. Other Cajun delicacies are also available, and for those unlucky few who don’t like crawfish, there will be hamburgers, corn dogs, and plenty of German sausage (that’s what Fredericksburg is known for, after all).

In addition, the 6th annual Gumbo Cook-off takes place on the Saturday of the fest, and visitors can taste the entries stirred up by seven different teams.

Velvet Ice Cream & 38th Annual Ice Cream Festival in Ohio

Why just stop for an ice cream when you’re traveling, when you can steer the car to a place that not only serves fabulous ice cream but shows you exactly how it’s made?

Velvet Ice Cream, 11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica, Ohio, has been a family-owned and operated business for nearly 100 years, Joseph Dager founded Velvet Ice Cream 1914 and four generations of Dagers have since run the company.

Velvet produces more than five million gallons of ice cream every year from its headquarters on the 25-acre grounds of Ye Olde Mill (open to the public from May 1 through September 1 each year).

Ye Olde Mill also houses an ice cream and milling museum, a restaurant, playground, picnic area and catch-and-release fish pond. It welcomes 150,000 visitors each year for tours, tastings and events.

The Mill kicks off its 2012 season at 11 a.m. May 1, offering a scoop of ice cream at 1970s-era pricing. Guests can enjoy the free tours or watch ice cream being made from the viewing gallery.

Insider note: there’s free WiFi. If you happen to stop in May 26, 27 or 28, 2012, you’ll be just in time for the 38th annual Utica Sertoma Ice Cream Festival.

(Photo courtesy of velvet Ice Cream)

Frankfort Indiana’s Hot Dog Festival (With a Nod to Its German Ancestry)

What’s more all-American than a hot dog? And (with a nod to its German ancestry), the Indiana town of Frankfort holds a Hot Dog Fest each summer.

This year’s edition is the 18th event. It’s scheduled for July 27 and 28, 2012, in downtown Frankfort, Indiana.

You never know what’ll be rolling into town for the foodie fest. Last year, the “top dog” was a semi-truck-sized grill weighing in at 53,000 pounds and measuring 65 feet long, 20 feet high and 6 feet in diameter. Using 10 grillers, it prepared 2,500 sausages an hour.

(Photo by Piret Tamm)

Gourmet Walk in Six Stages: Les Amorioles de Maury in Southern France

If you’re going to be in the south of France on May 27, 2012, consider joining a gourmet walk in six stages designed by Chef Pascal Borell.

The third edition of Les Amorioles de Maury is a 5 km walk accompanied by local wine growers at the foot of the last Cathar stronghold, Quéribus Castle.

Each participant/walker will be given a small bag to put over their shoulders containing a wine glass, cutlery, a tasting booklet and a straw hat. At six gastronomic halts along the way, the walker can sample combinations of different foods and wines.

More than 40 different wines including Maury, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, Côtes du Roussillon, Vins de Pays, will be presented by the local wine growers.

The menu for the gourmet walk has been developed around the wines of Maury and prepared by Chef Pascal Borell from the Michelin-starred restaurant La Maison du Terroir. The cost? €39 for adults; a child’s picnic is available for €10 for ages 10 and younger. There’s more information online.

The Portuguese Love Affair with Egg Yolks

The love of egg yolks used in traditional pastries is said to be a result of making wine! When the Portuguese started to export their wine, they quickly realized that filtered wine was preferred over unfiltered. After experimenting with many different options, using egg whites was found to filter wine most effectively. All theses egg whites were being used, but what happened to the egg yolks that were left?

It is common belief that the medieval nuns used vast quantities of egg yolks to iron their habits as well as develop endless dessert recipes to use all the surplus yolks.

Today, the Portuguese still enjoy rich, egg-based desserts that are often seasoned with spices such as cinnamon and vanilla. Perhaps the most popular is leite-crème or egg and milk custard. It consists of milk, flour, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and seven egg yolks, but the intriguing part of this recipe is the need for an iron. Yes, an iron. After the custard is done cooking, heat the base of a flat or cast iron over a high flame and apply it to the sugar for a few seconds to allow the sugar to caramelize. Using a blowtorch is also an option, but when given the chance, who wouldn’t want to iron their dessert?

Another popular dessert is called Arroz Doce or rice pudding. This dish can be seen during Christmas time in Portugal at many festas (parties). Aletria is a similar holiday dessert but is based upon vermicelli, and both are often decorated with elaborate stenciled patterns of cinnamon powder.? ?Originally from Lisbon, the ever-popular pastéis de nata have made a name for themselves nationwide. These are small, extremely rich custard tarts often sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. These two bite treats supposedly go back almost 200 years with a recipe that is still a secret to this day.

In the southwest section of Lisbon, you can find a bakery and coffeehouse called Pasteis de Belem, which is another name for pastéis de nata but under a trademark since 1837. The Portuguese claim to know the difference between the two, pastéis de nata being the more popular name worldwide and Pasteis de Belem claiming to be the original Portuguese treat from Antiga Confeitaria de Belém where more than 10,000 units are produced and sold daily.

The word on the block is that only three or four people know the secret ingredient. Some say it’s in the shell and some say it’s in the filling, but no matter where you try them, you are bound to go back for seconds.

Other popular pastries found in cafés, bakeries and pastry shops across the country include the bola de berlim, similar to a donut, the traditional sweet cake or pão-de-ló, papos-de-anjo and ovos moles- both with a sugar and egg yolk base. In the south, especially in the Algarve region, recipes may also include almonds and marzipan.

Most towns take the typical egg or cream-based pastry and create their own local specialty. Take queijadas for example.

Queijadas de Sintra: These small egg pastries are made with fresh cheese as the main ingredient. They start with a thin, flaky crust, which is then filled with a mixture of flour, sugar, egg yolk, fresh cheese and cinnamon. Queijadas de sintra are easily recognizable by their hand-wrapped artisan paper packages that come in rolls complete with around seven queijadas. Despite the unique variations, queijadas de sintra appears to be a local favorite in and around Lisbon.

Fradinhos: These are queijadas made with marzipan from Mafra, Portugal. It is lesser known, but equally as mouth watering!

Tortas de Azeitão may be better well known as queijadas partly because of the large billboards that display these finger-licking treats along the Portuguese highways. Tortas are practically a household brand in the little town of Azeitão, located south of the capital. Completely different in looks and taste from Queijadas, it’s surprising that they use virtually the same set of ingredients (except for the cheese). Consisting of a sweet egg yolk paste spread on sheets of soft, sponge cake-like dough, sprinkled with cinnamon, and then rolled up and cut, Tortas look like a healthier version of a Twinkie.

As for the Azores, the highlight may be the Queijadas Dona Amélia, pastries made with honey and cinnamon – they are dense and packed with flavor from spices and molasses. According to the history books, the name of this pastry was crafted to honor the visit of Queen D. Amélia and King Dom Carlos to Terceira.

Secret recipes seem to be a theme when discussing Portugal’s tasty treats. Tentúgal pastries, shaped like a cigar, are baked puff pastry sticks filled with a sweet custard comprised of- you guessed it- egg yolks and sugar.

By 1890, the guesthouse Hospedaria Dona Maria da Conceição began to bake and sell these pastries. Being the only place that sold them between Coimbra and Figueira, the guesthouse was visited frequently by travelers. This family recipe was kept secret until the 1950s when a new baker began to massively produce these popular sweets. The production of Tentúgal pastries turned out to be quite profitable, helping restore the struggling town of Tentúgal, Portugal.

A video (in Portugese) demonstrating how to make Ovos Moles: “Visita à Fábrica de Ovos Moles de Aveiro”.

(Photo of ovos moles de Aviero ©2008 by Susan McKee). Guest post by InsidePortugaltravel.

Gourmet and Grapes Weekend in South Carolina

The Fourth Annual Gourmet & Grapes Weekend takes place May 4 through 6, 2012, at the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

Proceeds benefit the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Headlining the signature black tie event is Executive Chef Sean Brock, of Husk and McCrady’s of Charleston, South Carolina. An all star team of noted chefs will join Brock in preparing a multi-course wine dinner featuring Row Eleven Winery, Heitz Wine Cellars and Trinchero Wine Estates while being served in The Sanctuary’s Ocean Room.

Other highlights of the Gourmet & Grapes Weekend:

Luncheon & Wine Trail: (May 5, 2012) Participants interact with a guest chef as a multi-course lunch is prepared in front of them. After lunch, participants can explore the gardens of The Sanctuary while tasting wines from international wineries and meeting the winemakers.

Wine Odyssey Gala: (May 5, 2012) Participants enjoy food stations presented by local and regional chefs along with wine pairings.

Farewell Brunch: (May 6, 2012) Participants celebrate the weekend and salute the chefs at this seaside brunch. Since its inception in 2009, Gourmet & Grapes has raised close to $500,000 dollars for cancer research programs at Hollings Cancer Center.

Licorice Festival Yorkshire Style…

There’s a Liquorice Festival in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England on July 8, 2012. Call it licorice or liquorice, it’s still an unusual plant that’s used in this district to make its famous and distinctive sweets.

There will be lots of liquorice food and drink to sample and, for those that like history and heritage, talks on the history of liquorice. Of course, there’ll also be more food and family activities. Craft and gift stalls will offer products from around the region.

According to the organizes, Pontefract is rightly proud to celebrate its association with this famous plant from the Middle East. It may have been brought to Pontefract from the Crusades by a member of the De Lacy family who built Pontefract Castle or perhaps by the Benedictine monks that came to the town in 1090.

However it arrived, its initial importance was as a medicine whose benefits had been known for thousands of years. It is only in the last few hundred years that it was turned into a sweet and it was the famous Pomfet (Pontefract Cake) or Yorkshire Penny that marked the cross over from medicine to sweet.

By 1885, there were 10 companies producing liquorice sweets in Pontefract. The most famous of these: Wilkinsons (now part of Tangerine Confectionery) is still producing millions of Pontefract Cakes, each stamped with a seal representing the history and legend of Pontefract.

(Photo courtesy of Pontefract Liquorice Festival)

Montgomery Alabama Kicks Off First All-Star Food Festival

Heading to Alabama next month? The first Alabama All-Star Food Festival takes place from 3 to 7 p.m. May 12, 2012, along Commerce Street in downtown Montgomery, Alabama (map). Road Trips Foodies can join chefs, farmers, breweries and musicians from across the state to celebrate local cuisine.

There will also be tastings from featured restaurants, chances to meet Alabama chefs, peformances by homegrown musicians, a variety of on-stage demos from guest chefs, farmers and producers plus hands-on gardening and nutrition workshops.

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