Wine-ish weekend

I just received news about two local tasting events that sound like fine opportunities to discover some new favorite wines just in time for Thanksgiving ...

-- Madden's Fine Wine and Spirits, 65 Broadway, Kingston, will offer a champagne and wine tasting from 5-7 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 21). The new(ish) shop in the city's Rondout waterfront area will serve food and offer a 10 percent discount on all wines and champagnes tasted and purchased that evening. Madden's phone number is 845-340-WINE (9462).

-- Whitecliff Vineyard’s Red Wine & Chocolate tasting takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 22) at the winery at 331 McKinstry Road in Gardiner. An $8 tasting fee covers this "annual exploration of the wonderful, complex and complementary flavors of red wine and chocolate." Directions are available by calling 845-255-4613 or visiting www.whitecliffwine.com.

Here is more info:

Whitecliff’s Red Wine & Chocolate! tasting will offer a terrific line of Belgian chocolate by Newtree that made the “O list” in The Oprah Magazine in April. The chocolates combine unique flavor extracts with playful names, like milk chocolate Crave with apricot, or dark chocolate Sexy with ginger, and dark chocolate Renew with black current.

Whitecliff will pour some of its award-winning red wines, ranging from light bodied to full bodied, and dry to slightly sweet. With side-by-side sampling of chocolates with these different styles of red wine, people will experience a culinary adventure that allows everyone to get to know their own personal preferences.

Surrounded by 24-acres of vineyard, Whitecliff offers a great wine tasting experience: spectacular cliff views, fine Hudson River Region and New York wines, and friendly staff happy to share their knowledge of winemaking and grape growing.

Cocktails and Couture for NDH

The Northern Dutchess Hospital Mothers' Club annual fashion show, "Cocktails and Couture" raised more than $7,000 to benefit women's and children's services at the hospital. The event took place at The Rhinecliff Hotel and featured fashions and accessories from Rhinebeck-area businesses, including Changes, Pique, Winter Sun, Rhinebeck Department Store, Scruples, Haldora, Darryl's, Hudson Valley Footwear, Hummingbird Jewelers and Sugar Plum.
Thanks to NDH PR director Gina D'Angelo-Mullen for the following photos of the evening:

1) Haldora (center) flanked by two models wearing her designs.

2) Will Stanley, of WKZE radio, models an outfit from Rhinebeck Department Store.

3) Models showing designs from Pique Boutique.

4) A model dressed in fashions from Darryl's.

5) Several items were donated from area businesses for a silent auction and raffle- including FACE Stockholm, Basic French, Haven Spa, Phantom Gardener and Bella Fiore.

6) Denise George, President and CEO of Northern Dutchess Hospital, who modeled fashions from Rhinebeck Department Store, with James Chapman, owner of The Rhinecliff Hotel.

7) L to R front row: Mary Beth Pollis, Elizabeth Marvin, Ana Marvin, Marilyn Fitzpatrick and Stephanie Tucker
L to R, Back row: Joan Marvin and Joy Gross

Winewise opportunity!

Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine's wines columnist Michael Weiss will be talking about and signing his new book, Winewise, from 7:30-9 p.m. Friday (Nov. 14) at Oblong Books, 6420 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck. Winewise was published by Wiley, and was written for folks who "have an interest in wine but do not have confidence in their ability to select the 'proper' bottle. It will give them a basic introduction to wine: how to select different varieties and identify their flavors, how to read wine labels, and how to identify grapes from wine-growing regions all over the world." Michael wrote the book along with Steven Kolpan and Brian Smith. (All three co-authors are professors at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.)

Michael and his wife Jennifer Axinn-Weiss (who creates HVC magazine's wonderful Gourmet Giggles cartoon) will be at Friday's event. It's a great opportunity to pick up some personalized holiday presents!

Sharp shooters!

Brian Connor of East Fishkill is the first winner of the Poughkeepsie Journal's monthly Hudson River photo contest. His photo, "Guardians of the Hudson," shows a seagull resting on a Battery Park City dock with the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Elisa Shaw of Red Hook won honorable mention for her photo, "As the fog lifts at Bard Rock," depicting an early morning scene along the eastern bank of the Hudson at the Vanderbilt Estate in Hyde Park. The newspaper's staff photographers selected the winners. You can see the photos here.

Congrats to both of them!

Frugal and fantastic!

How about great live music in a beautiful venue? The best part -- it's free!

Bard College's Conservatory Orchestra, conducted by Melvin Chen, will perform Verdi's Overture to Nabucco, Debussy's Premiere rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra, selections for clarinet and orchestra drawn from the Klezmer musical tradition, and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Sosnoff Theater at Fisher Performing Arts Center, Bard College, Red Hook.

Clarinetist David Krakauer will be the guest faculty artist.

The event is free and open to the public and no tickets or reservations are required. This is on my weekend agenda -- I hope someone saves me a seat!

For more information, visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu

On the road (again)

I'll be on the road today in Dutchess County, blogging about the election for the Poughkeepsie Journal newspaper. This is a nice return, of sorts, as I spent almost 15 years working as a journalist at another newspaper (the first 7+ years as a reporter covering government) before moving into lifestyle magazine publishing. As much as I love my current job, there's nothing like spending Election Day working in (or for) a newsroom.

In addition to checking in at polls throughout the day, I'm going to try to get to a few Election Day community/social events, and a dinner or two. If there is something interesting going on, election-wise, in your Dutchess County neighborhood, send me a message and I'll try to mention it.

The car is gassed, the laptop is charged and the GPS is turned on. I'll be heading out as soon as I send my daughter off to school … come visit me at the newspaper's Web site.:-)

Time is running out!

Today is the deadline for the first contest in the Poughkeepsie Journal's year-long Hudson River photo competition, held in conjunction with the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial celebrations and the planned opening of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge pedestrian walkway project.

The contest began on October 5 and ends on Sept. 30, 2009. A winner and runner up will be selected monthly, with one grand prize winner chosen from the monthly winners when the contest wraps up in the fall of 2009. For more information on the contest, and to see the photos already entered in the contest, visit www.HudsonHappenings.com. There are some impressive entries so far.

You can also find a link there to my Quad Updates blog, which has information about the ways our region (and elsewhere in the world) is commemorating this event!

Auction features Hudson Valley artists

UPDATE: Save the Date! The Fine Art Auction at Locust Grove has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 26, 2009.

Four studies that had been made for the historic Poughkeepsie Post Office mural are among the works that will be sold during Locust Grove’s first-ever Invitational Fine Art Auction. Originally cheduled for early next month (see update), the auction will also include work by contemporary painters, graphic artists, sculptors and photographers of the Hudson Valley. Visit www.LGNY.org or call 845-454-4500 ext. 17 for more information.

“As we move toward the Quadricentennial celebration in 2009, there is no better way to celebrate our valley than through the vision of its artists,” Locust Grove Executive Director Kenneth F. Snodgrass said in a press release. During 2009, the region will mark the 400th anniversary of European exploration of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain.

“Locust Grove and fine art are a natural pairing,” Snodgrass said. Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie was the 19th century country estate of Samuel Morse, who founded the American Academy of Design and was a celebrated artist before gaining even more fame for patenting the telegraph and inventing Morse code. The Young family, subsequent owners and founders of the museum, collected art in Europe as well as from the Hudson River School and this collection can be seen in the mansion today.

Locust Grove will team with gallery owner James Cox, a regional art expert and the force behind the annual fine art auction at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM), to present the auction, online catalog, pre-sale exhibition and preview gala. A portion of every auction sale will benefit Locust Grove, supporting free public access to its gardens and hiking trails, educational programs for school children and preservation of the 40-room Italianate mansion.

The mural studies that will be sold were created by Charles Rosen, who was chosen to participate in a New Deal program administered by the US Treasury Department. Rosen died in 1950, and the studies were only recently discovered by his estate. There is an interesting article here on the Poughkeepsie Journal Web site about the Poughkeepsie Post Office and its historic mural. And if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial, be sure to drop by Hudson Happenings -- the Web site created by the Poughkeepsie Journal to share info about the Quad and the planned opening of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge linear park project, Walkway over the Hudson.

Tea thoughts

A nice cup of tea, preferably in good company, is one of those things that just makes life better. We in the Hudson Valley are lucky in that we have a wonderful tea purveyor, Harney & Sons, in northeast Dutchess County. You can buy their teas at lots of shops across the country, including Barnes & Noble, but nothing beats going to their tea shop and tasting room in Millerton and sampling their teas onsite.

I was in Millerton recently to explore the Harlem Valley Rail Trail by bike, so, of course, we stopped by Harney & Sons. I noticed they were selling something new -- the book Harney & Sons Guide to Tea, written by Michael Harney. I haven't read the book yet, but some more exploration on my part turned up a new blog written by Michael all about the tea world. It's quite interesting and I'm sharing a link. Thoughts on Tea

Foodie news

Patrick Decker, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and now lives in Ulster County, is one of Rachel Ray's on-air chefs. (Patrick was featured earlier this year in a Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine article about local folks who knit as a hobby.)

Here's a great new video clip with Rachel preparing a recipe for "Fancy French Cheese Puff Fake-Outs" created by Patrick. Look for him in the video!

I could definitely see using this recipe for get-togethers with friends, and around the holidays. I'd probably use the delicious grated cheese I've found at Leonardo's, an upscale Italian food market in Rhinebeck.

High School Musical 3 premier party!

The Associated Press reports that Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" topped the box office and brought in $42 million for its opening last weekend, a record for a song-and-dance film.

My daughter and her 8 BFFs were in line Friday evening to see HSM3 as part of her 10th birthday party. She'd been wanting to combine birthday celebration & this movie premier ever since she learned last winter that the movie would open near her birth date.

We started with dinner for everyone at Uncle Chippie's Gourmet Burgers in Red Hook (near the Lyceum movie theater on Route 9.) The restaurant serves freshly prepared, quality, casual food for kids and adults (they use local beef -- be sure to try the slider) and has a great fun atmosphere! Uncle Chippie let us bring in our HSM-themed cake from Hannaford to complete the meal. My daughter's friends gave her several presents with HSM themes, like this popular board game in the photo.
Then off to the movie at the Lyceum – thank goodness I bought the tickets earlier that week because there was quite a crowd (even tho the HSM3 movie was showing about every hour.) Popcorn for everyone (the theater has real butter now, just like at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck!) Then the film – these girls were so entranced by the entire movie. It was a sweet, family friendly film. I think even all the adults with us liked it.

Thumbs up – to Uncle Chippie's, Hannaford, the Lyceum & HSM3 for making this a super birthday party!

Did anyone else have a HSM3 party over the weekend – or see the film???

Voices of the valley

Poets Will Nixon of Woodstock and Matthew J. Spireng of Lomontville (an old friend and former co-worker of mine) will read from their work inspired by the region at 4 p.m., Saturday at the Olive Free Library on 4033 Route 28A in West Shokan. Their books will be available at the reading to buy (and have signed), with a portion of the proceeds to be donated to the Olive Free Library.

Here is more info:

Will Nixon, who grew up in the Connecticut suburbs and lived in Hoboken and Manhattan, moved to a Catskills log cabin and now lives in Woodstock. He is a widely published award-winning poet, journalist and essayist. His books of poems are My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse (2008), the award-winning The Fish Are Laughing (2001), and When I Had It Made (2001).

Matthew J. Spireng still lives in the house in Lomontville in which he was raised as a child. He is a widely published award-winning poet and journalist. His books of poems are Young Farmer (2007), Out of Body (2006) winner of the Bluestem Poetry Award from Emporia State University, Encounters (2005), Just This (2003) and the award-winning Inspiration Point (2002).

Local, local, local!

Several opportunities for foodies and especially, locavores, to enjoy themselves in the mid-Hudson Valley ... Tonight, from 6-11 p.m., is Specialty Craft Beer night at Terrapin in Rhinebeck. You can try Capt. Lawrence Smoked Porter, a New York artisanal beer poured from a wooden pin keg by Terrapin beverage director Chris Carbone. How cool is that?

And then tomorrow night, New World Home Cooking Co. in Saugerties and Ric Orlando present Local Food and Local Wine- A "50 Mile Meal"-- their first special dinner for the fall, featuring "wines and center of the plate items that have been produced within 50 miles of New World." You can see the menu (which sounds delicious!) by clicking on the photo above to make it larger. $55 per person, 15% discount for designated drivers. Reserve by calling 845-246-0900.

What a weekend!

Sooooo many choices ...

Here are some suggestions for fun things to do this weekend. (I'm not sure I am going to be able to get to all of these events, but I'll do my best!)

Art Studio Tours in the Rhinebeck-Red Hook area on Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 18-19) -- meet well-known and up-and-coming artists, view works-in-progress and purchase or commission art during this self-guided tour of more than two dozen artist studios. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. More info and maps at www.artsnortherndutchess.org

On Saturday, Michael Gallo Farrell's exhibit, "An Organic Octave Overture," opens at Mill Street Loft, 45 Pershing Avenue in Poughkeepsie. Michael is the associate director of the Art Institute of Mill Street Loft (and also happens to be married to one of my co-workers, Poughkeepsie Journal assistant local editor Barbara Gallo Farrell.) The exhibit runs through Nov. 20 and "is a now-and-then show embracing the themes of the natural world, the Hudson Valley and real organic music" through a combination of traditional and digital photography. The opening reception takes place from 5-9 p.m. with ethnic food, spirits and live music.

Celebrate the bounty of the Hudson Valley at Octoberfest 2008 -- from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday at Terrapin Catering at Dinsmore Golf Course, Route 9 in Staatsburg (just south of the village of Rhinebeck). The event, presented by Terrapin restaurant and catering and Fleishers Grassfed & Organic Meats, includes beer, wine and food samples from local producers. Additional food vendors will be selling "innovative pub grub and a slant on Octoberfest favorites like kielbasa and more." Live polka music from Brauhause Musikanten. Admission is $19.95 for advance tickets available at WDST.com and $25 at the door; $12 for designated driver/20 and under; kids 12 and under free (all minors must be accompanied by an adult).

This weekend is also the always-wonderful NY Sheep & Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, Route 9, Rhinebeck. This is the place for you, if you like crafting or eating (there are going to be fab chef demos this year!) Those into the fabric arts might also want to cross the Hudson River and swing by the Quilters Cornucopia taking place Saturday and Sunday in Stone Ridge. Quilts, quilted wearables, quilt-related vendors, demonstrations, and more. Exhibit of artist-made dolls. $6 admission. SUNY Ulster Senate Gym, Cottekill Road, Stone Ridge.

Whew. Have fun!

Gentle art of silhouette

This sounds like an amazing idea for a holiday card, gift or decor.

Artist Deborah O’Connor is dedicated to preserving the 19th century art form of silhouettes, and she will be at Boscobel House & Gardens in Garrison on Saturday, October 25 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a day of cutting shadow portraits of all family members, including pets!

“The silhouettes are perfect for those who like to make their own greeting cards,” Donna Blaney, Boscobel’s event coordinator, said in a press release. “They can add a truly old-fashioned feel to holiday cards made online...simply scan the silhouette at home and upload to your favorite card-making website.”

Here is more information:

Each silhouette created by Ms. O’Connor is a small work of art, created freehand using paper and scissors as the only tools. There is no drawing or tracing done first, making it a vanishing art form as far from today’s digital world as you can get. The resulting heirloom-quality portraits are stunning and perfect for framing, gift giving, and more. Matting and framing will be available on site. Prices start at approximately $40.

Call 845-265-3638 x115 to make an appointment for your silhouette sitting. Visit www.Boscobel.org for more information. Boscobel is located on scenic Route 9D in Garrison, New York. From April through October, hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the last tour at 4:15 p.m. The museum and distinctive gift shop are open every day except Tuesdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Strutting their stuff, for good

Want to help raise money for a good cause? Love fashion? Or just curious about what our local Realtors look like when they are all gussied up and strutting on a runway?

The Ulster County Board of Realtors fashion show takes place from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16 at Hillside Manor in Kingston and will benefit the Rosemary D. Gruner Memorial Cancer Fund at Benedictine Hospital. The Fund helps support local cancer patients and their families with gas and grocery cards, and medical supplies.

The fashion show will feature local Realtors on the runway modeling formal wear. Guests may enjoy appetizers and a cash bar while visiting vendors selling handbags, jewelry, cosmetics and glass creations. Tickets for the event are $30 and may be purchased from the UCBR office at 845-338-5299.

“It was important to us to keep the money we raise in Ulster County,” Broker Associate Jeanine Stoddard of Colucci Shand Realty in Gardiner, who chaired the event, said in a release. “We had a full house at last year’s event and we hope do the same this year.”

The organization represents more than 1,400 real estate professionals. In addition to helping in the fight against cancer, UCBR’s Community Services Committee has raised money for a number of local charitable organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, Ulster County Department of Social Services’ Child Protective Services, Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church’s Caring Hands meal program and People’s Place. The Committee’s next event will be a wine dinner in November to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

3 wagging tails

We give 3 wagging tails to this one :-)

My daughter and I (and our dogs) had a chance to check out the Dog Park at Thomas Bull Memorial Park in Montgomery (near Stewart Airport in Orange County) yesterday. What a great place! We met a friend who lives in the area and our dogs had a lot of fun running around off-leash and making doggie friends.

Here is a description of the place from this Web site. I sure wish there was something like this in northern Dutchess County (where we live). Anyone have info to share about any other good dog runs in the Hudson Valley?

Orange County opened its first dog park during the fall of 2007 at Thomas Bull Memorial Park. This fenced-in off-leash area is approximately 1.5 acres and features separate areas for "Small Dogs" and "All Dogs," water fountains, benches and shade areas. The landscape of the park has contrasts of flat open areas and rolling hills for dogs of all sizes to enjoy. This is a great venue for dogs to socialize and exercise. The dog park is open to the public, 7 days a week from 7:00 a.m. to dusk.

Community Foundation Garden Party

I enjoyed some great food & music, caught up with a lot of old friends (and made a few new ones) this past Sunday at the Community Foundation of Dutchess County Garden Party. The elegant event honored longtime local lawmaker Kip Bleakley O'Neill and attorney Arthur L. Gellert and took place under a large white tent on the grounds of Obercreek, the absolutely beautiful home of Alex Reese and Alison Spear in Hughsonville.

A few photos from the event are here at the Poughkeepsie Journal Web site.

Proceeds from the party go towards the Community Foundation's efforts to promote philanthropy in Dutchess, Ulster and Putnam counties.

River photo contest begins!

Have a passion for photography and the Hudson River? The Poughkeepsie Journal has launched a year-long photo contest to coincide with the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial celebrations and the planned opening of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge pedestrian walkway project.

The contest is open to residents of Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Putnam, Columbia and Greene counties. It began earlier this week and ends on Sept. 30, 2009. A winner and runner up will be announced for each month, with one grand prize winner chosen from the monthly winners when the contest wraps up in the fall of 2009. The winners will be announced at the newspaper's Hudson Happenings Web site each month. Full rules are at the Hudson Happenings Web site.

Photo entries must show the Hudson River or an identifiable location along the river. Of course, the photos have to be your own and cannot be digitally altered. Photos must be uploaded using the form on the Hudson Happenings Web site as jpg files (see full rules for sizing), and no photo prints will be accepted. You can enter as many times as you like (though you can only win once).

The contest will be judged by the Poughkeepsie Journal's photographers. (Some of their amazing river shots are archived at the Hudson Happenings Web site.)

Here's more about it:

“During the past 200 years, the river has been a beacon for both artists, who developed the Hudson River School of painting, and photographers, who have passionately camped out along the shore at sunrise and sunset to take a beautiful, one-of-a-kind picture,” said Spencer Ainsley, multimedia director for photography and videography at the Poughkeepsie Journal. (He also is photo director for Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine.) "We know there are many photographers in the region who are passionate about taking beautiful pictures of Hudson River scenes.

“This is a great opportunity and we encourage anyone with a camera to enter the contest."

Beyond the Woods

I was able to attend the opening of Beyond the Woods yesterday at Vassar College. I wish I could have stayed longer to really study the images. I'll try to get back.

Beyond the Woods is Spencer Ainsley’s collection of 31 black and white documentary photographs depicts the striking independence and self-reliance of inhabitants of the secluded Blue Ridge Mountain region of North Carolina in the late 1980s and early 1990s. If you recognize the name, it might be because he is Hudson Valley Connoisseur magazine’s photo director and director of Multimedia for Photography and Videography at the Poughkeepsie Journal. At left is one of the images in the exhibition: Recluse, 1991 -- Murph, 77, a hermit living near the remote and rugged community of Globe, North Carolina, peers out the front door of his license plate sided shack after flood waters washed it down a hillside. A one-time furniture factory worker, Murph lives alone with no electricity or running water. He chops firewood for a private hunting lodge in exchange for food.


Ainsley shot the series when he worked for the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group in Lenoir, NC. The exhibit runs through October 22 at the James W. Palmer III Gallery, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie. Gallery hours are Mondays-Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m; Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

Museum Day!

An e-mail from the Katonah Museum of Art reminds me that this weekend is Smithsonian Free Museum Day, when participating museums welcome Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian.com visitors for free. (The actual day of the event is Saturday, September 27 but those museums that are not open on Saturday will participate on Sunday.)

A number of cultural institutions in the Hudson Valley are participating, including the Katonah Museum of Art, Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum in Poughkeepsie, Gomez Mill House Museum and Historic Site in Marlboro, and Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz. (There are many more listed on the directory of participating museums.) You’ll need the free “admission card” in the Smithsonian magazine (or to print it from the Web site) for the free admission.

This is the fourth year for the Free Museum Day, which “reflects the spirit of the magazine, and emulates the free-admission policy of the institution’s Washington, DC-based properties.” Last year, upwards of 100,000 people attended Museum Day, with all 50 states represented in more than 650 museums, according to the release. It sounds like a great opportunity to introduce yourself (or reconnect) to the wonderful museums in our area!

Fall flower sale

Summer may be over but it's not to late to think about gardens. In fact, now is the time to put in some fall blooming plants (such as mums) and plant others that will flower next year (such as rose bushes and tulip bulbs.)

There is a fall flower sale going on in the main lobby of Northern Dutchess Hospital on Thursday and Friday (September 25 and 26) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The sale is run by the NDH Auxiliary and proceeds benefit their ongoing support of Northern Dutchess Hospital.

Organizers say they'll have a generous supply of bargain-priced plants in beautiful fall colors. The hospital is located on Route 9 in the village of Rhinebeck.

We're walking ...

Rain or shine, on Saturday my daughter and I will be walking in the Paws in the Park fundraiser for the Dutchess County SPCA. Our two rescue dogs are coming along. (One of them came from the Dutchess SPCA and so he'll get to wear a big yellow bow to mark that fact.) It looks like the day's forecast calls for it to be cooler than last year's event (which was a lot of fun -- but hot!)

Michael Woyton has more info on the event on his blog.

See you there? Or if you support the SPCA but cannot make it to the walk in person, you can also donate to the cause online.

Oustanding in this field!

Noting two opportunities to celebrate local food this weekend:

Acclaimed chef Melissa Kelly (who has local ties) will be guest chef at this Sunday's (Sept. 14) Outstanding in the Field dinner at Gigi Market at Greig Farm in Red Hook.

Outstanding in the Field says its mission is to

"re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it. ... the Field is a roving culinary adventure - literally a restaurant without walls. Since 1999 we have set the long table at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches. ... Wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table. Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table!) and generally prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the site, we all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table."

Kelly is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who has worked as executive chef at the Beekman Tavern in Rhinebeck and The Old Chatham Sheepherding Company Inn in Columbia County. She was named one of the upcoming chefs of the 1990s by Food & Wine magazine, and has been recognized by a lot of other national publications. She won the 1999 James Beard Foundation Award as American Express Best Chef, Northeast and also was nominated in 1998. Today, she is executive chef and proprietor of Primo in Rockland, Maine, along with Price Kushner. According to her online bio, in 2003 she partnered with JW Marriott to open a second Primo at the Grande Lakes Resort; Orlando, Florida. A third followed in 2003 at Starr Pass Resort; Tucson, Arizona.

The event, which starts at 4 p.m., costs $200 per person and will also feature host farmer Norman Greig, and the Biezynski Family of Northwind Farms. Limited seating is still available. Please call John Storm at 845-876-1007 to reserve.

And if you don't feel like forking over $200 to eat with Melissa Kelly, on Saturday (Sept. 13) from 4 to 7 p.m. there's also the opportunity to celebrate local food with the Green Pizza Fundraiser for the Family Farm Festival, with all-you-can-eat pizzas handcrafted using ingredients from local farms, at Epworth Center in High Falls. Suggested donation is $20 per adult, $10 per child ages 7-12. Kids under six eat for free. The menu includes everything you'd want for a meal, including dessert pizzas!

Here is more info from the organizers:

Pizza baked to crispy perfection in a wood-fired cob oven. Heirloom tomato tastings. Acoustic music. Tours of permaculture and edible forest gardens and straw-bale house. All in support of the continuation of the Family Farm Festival from 2009 into the future!

WHY: To gather together the initial funds necessary to incorporate the Family Farm Festival--originally organized by Dina Falconi and Jen Prosser--into a non-profit organization, and to raise money to begin staging the annual festival again in 2009.

I've been to the last few Family Farm Festivals as a member of Slow Food Hudson Valley and can vouch that it is a lovely family event that celebrates local farms and food producers. I'm looking forward to its return!
Directions and more info here: http://www.sunstoneherbs.com/festival

Fall for Art -- tonight!

It's never too soon to start thinking about holiday gift giving ... and here is an opportunity to find some unique items.

The Jewish Federation of Ulster County holds its 12th annual Fall for Art Juried Art Show, Sale and Cocktail Reception fundraiser tonight (Thursday Sept. 4) at Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, from 6-9 p.m.

Admission is $35 advance/$40 at the door. Call 845-338-8131 or visit www.ucjf.org for more info. Fall for Art’s donation recipient is The Children’s Annex, which will develop a visual arts program for children with autism spectrum disorder.