Fourth Annual Connecticut Wine Festival happens July 28-29

“Have a Grape Day” at the Fourth Annual Connecticut Wine Festival, Goshen Fairgrounds
July 28 and 29

This year, the Fourth Annual Connecticut Wine Festival will be staged again at the Goshen Fairgrounds in Litchfield County, on July 28th and 29th. Sponsored by the Connecticut Vineyard and Winery Association (CVWA) and presented by the CT Wine Trail, the festival features fine wines from a wide variety of local vintners, making it one of the “must attend” events of the summer. The festival also features wine classes, specialty food vendors, artisanal crafts, as well as a variety of live musical entertainment.

Daily admission to the CT Wine Festival is $25 in advance, available from early June through July 21st at any participating CVWA winery, online or by phone; $30 at the door. These tickets include free wine tastings, a commemorative festival wine glass (for the tastings) and a tote bag. Guests under 21 and Designated Drivers can attend for a reduced admission price of $10. Photo ID with proof of age is required for the wine tasting. Hours for the Festival are 12pm to 7pm, Saturday, July 28th; and 12pm to 6pm Sunday, July 29th.

Vote for dee Cuisine in Urbanspoon's Island Hopper Blogger Contest

Aloha! dee Cuisine has been selected as a finalist in Urbanspoon's Island Hopper Blogger Contest, a contest where the blogger with the most votes will receive a four-day foodie trip to Hawaii! If we win, we'll be blogging for Urbanspoon each day we're there. Imagine the tasty posts that we'll publish, like the Red Carpet Waffles pictured below from Honolulu's Yogur Story.

Here's the link to vote: http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/234973/voteable_entries/51658086

Red velvet waffles topped with taro cream cheese and red velvet croutons, and drizzled with Belgian chocolate sauce

You are allowed one vote per day. Voting will be open until Sunday, June 3rd at Noon PT.

Mahalo!
dee

NYC: Pranna's New Spring Menu

Pranna, a modern Southeast Asian restaurant/lounge within the Flatiron District of NYC, is one of my go-to spots for a great cocktail and appetizers, especially during happy hour. When I was invited to sample the latest additions to Pranna's spring menu, I was pretty excited.

The food at Pranna is inspired by Executive Chef Chai Trivedi's travels through the countries of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and India. These flavors of each country's influence can be tasted through each dish.

Chicken Samosas

Recap: TECHmunch NYC 2012

Last Friday, we attended TECHmunch, a food conference sponsored by Bakespace, the creators of the iPad app Cookbook Café.

Here are photos from the event:

Driscoll's berries to snack on. We also had a chance to sample delicious berry smoothies.

The Cheeses of France Pop-Up Store in NYC

Last night I had a chance to attend the exclusive media preview of the The Cheeses of France Pop-Up Café on 159 Bleecker Street in NYC. On the menu was a vast selection of French cheese, as well as American dishes prepared by Top Chef contestant Ash Fulk.

Upon entering the space, I spoke to food sculptor named Krai as he etched flowers into a cheese wheel. He explained he started the food sculpting in Thailand with fruits, and he's moved on to other foods, like cheese. Here are photos of his gorgeous works of art.

Food sculptor, Krai

Behind the Scenes: Shor Restaurant in Curaçao

We had the opportunity to go behind the scenes, or shall I say behind the glass and into the kitchen of Hyatt Regency Curaçao's seafood restaurant, Shor. Executive Sous Chef Stephan Rinzsch gave us a tour of the kitchen and cooking area. Chef Rinzsch, hailing from Germany, was the chef who prepared our delicious jerk-seasoned wahoo a couple nights before our meeting (a preview of what was to be featured on their menu starting in the month of May).

From Sea to Plate - The Chef at Shor Prepare Our Wahoo

Whenever we go on a fishing charter, we make arrangements with local restaurants to have the chefs cook the catch for us.  In Roatan, we've had fried red snapper with sauteed chayote and local vegetables. In Hawaii, we had fresh caught black fin tuna sliced into sashimi.

In Curaçao, we went on a fishing charter and caught a nice looking Wahoo which weighed about 20 pounds. Prior to booking the charter, we called Hyatt Regency Curaçao's seafood restaurant, Shor, to see if they'd cook our catch (Yes, I was very optimistic we'd catch something). I was informed that the chefs will prepare the fish any style we'd like, and the cost would depend on how much we ordered for dinner.

Wahoo filet with jerk seasoning paired with pineapple mango salsa

Adventures at Sea: Catching Wahoo in Curaçao

Whenever we go on vacation, we try to go on a fishing charter, especially when you can eat what you catch. In Curaçao, we booked a 4.5 hour charter at Ocean Encounters in the Hyatt Regency Curaçao.