Better late then never right? ☺

IFBC Day 3 was a smorgasbord of seminars:

• Farm to Glass: Cider Tasting
• Insects as the Next Superfood
• Cultivating an Edible City
• Tea and Dim Sum
• Blind Olive-Oil Tasting
• Putting Flavor into Words
• Culinary Travel Writing
• Deep Dive into Snapchat

I was initially looking forward to the culinary travel writing seminar; however, I ended up finding the cider tasting and dim sum seminars much more interesting and informative.  Gowan's Heirloom Cider conducted the cider tasting and I felt that they did a terrific job of providing a lot of info in a relatively short time period. It was a nice balance of lecture and cider tasting. We learned about how ciders are made, the differences between mass and craft cider; where the apples come from; what 'local' means and how to identify different styles of cider. We also learned that there's a California Cider Competition . Who wouldn't want to be a judge for that panel? Sign me up!


At the tea and dim sum seminar,  the Confucius Institute at UC Davis shared a lovely presentation on the history of tea and dim sum.. We tasted several different kinds of Chinese teas and learned how the various teas are grown and processed. We also gained insight as to the role of dim sum in the Chinese lifestyle and were given samples of the most popular dim sums.

"Farm-to-Fork," "Farm-to-Fork," "Farm-to-Fork,"...if you live in the vicinity of Sacramento or it's outlying areas I'm sure you've heard a lot about "Farm to Fork," the last few months. Well, Farm to Fork week has finally arrived to the City of Trees and it started with a fresh wash of rain and several fun food-centric activities. The festivities kicked off with a Farm to Fork Train dinner, a Grape to Glass wine crush at the Old Sugar Mill, the Soil Born Farms Autumn Equinox celebration and Feast at the Fort. Who says Sacramento doesn't know how to party?



Mr.S. and I were gifted tickets to the Farm to Fork Train event Saturday afternoon hosted by Produce Express and were quite excited about a date night away from the kidlets. We were a little worried as the clouds still looked dark and ominous and it was pretty wet outside; but luckily, the storm broke up just before boarding time. The evening's itinerary included a 4 ½-hour train ride on the Sacramento River Train, a 5-course gourmet meal prepared by Chef Gabriel Glasier of Maranello Restaurant in Fair Oaks along with wine pairings and a tour of Peabody Farms (Del Rio Botanical) by Suzanne Ashworth. Mr.S. and I ended up running into some friends on the train and had a blast. I especially loved the tour of Peabody Farm. The grounds were just so serene and beautiful and Suzanne is a wealth of knowledge. She let us nibble on various herbs and plants from her garden and wander around. My favorite tasting was the Sichuan buttons (aka "buzz buttons"), they're a bright, little yellow happy-looking flower that when rubbed on your mouth/lip/tongue creates this electric "buzzing" sensation. It was totally wild!




I also fell in love with this little goat. If you know me, you know I'm a total sucker for baby animals. Mr.S. no longer allows me to look at cuteoverload.com or go to the zoo. I tried my hardest to steal the little guy but I just couldn't fit him in my purse!



There was a variety of organic produce growing at Peabody Farm including melons, cherry tomatoes and edible spineless cacti.




We enjoyed a few hors d'oeuvres then got back on the train to relax. During the rest of the ride, we got to view some gorgeous scenery from the train windows including some local farms (and a big fat rainbow). One of the farms we passed turned out to be owned by a friendly gentleman we had been chatting with on the train- Ray Yeung of Yeung Farms. He grows many of the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes that Produce Express supplies our area restaurants.

For the dinner portion of the train ride, we were moved to a slightly fancier car.






Spiced Mexican chocolate pots de crème, prickly pear dulce de leche, star anise spiced churro, Aleppo chili and pumpkin seed brittle. I said churro, chocolate and brittle in the same sentence...need I say more?

So that was your sneak preview. This should be an exciting week for Sacramento! I've heard a lot of buzz from friends who are eagerly anticipating Broderick's "Off the Bridge" dinner scheduled for Sunday night, the family-friendly (free!) F2F Festival being held on Capitol Mall Saturday and Restaurant Week, where dozens of participating restaurants will be hosting special events, menus and tastings. Which ones do you plan on checking out?