Taste of St. Croix.

Friday night my neighbors -- Marcia and Mike, the ones who live across the lake and who turned off their lights with me during Earth Hour -- and I went to Taste of St. Croix, a festival of local eating held at the Chateau St. Croix, a nearby winery.

Why, yes, we do have wineries in northern Wisconsin. Why do you ask?

(From the Chateau's website: "As we value our precious environment, we have chosen an electricity-free fencing method to counter the bears and deer that could potentially harm our grapes." This is the north woods, after all.)

There was lots of good food.

This is cannoli. You cannot tell from the photo, but this was close to the best thing I have ever eaten. It was definitely the best savory I ate last night. Pasta, cheese, cream sauce, spinach, shredded chicken, and enough garlic to vampire-proof the entire western hemisphere. Mmmmm! I predict a meal-time outing to Valley Pizzaria soon.

Hummus and delightful things upon which to spread it from the natural foods store in St. Croix Falls.

Some of the offering from the supermarket -- the olives were especially good, as were the little munchables on tiny bread just visible in the upper left corner. We were a little surprised to see the supermarket's catering service exhibiting, but the market is not a huge chain but rather is regionally owned.

Fresh vegies from a local grower.

I didn't get photos of the pizza or lasagna or cheeses or canapes or Vietnamese delicacies or variously flavored meatballs or the tiny squares of prime rib with horseradish sauce. But I did taste them. They were all good.

Guess what? There were desserts, too!

The brownies being dispensed by these two women had four kinds of chocolate. If I were standing behind those brownies I would have been smiling, too. They were... to die for.

The chefs from Paradise Landing were happy to pose for me, too. Aren't they cute?

What Wisconsin gathering would be complete without beer? (Even though the brand is Viking rather than Packers.) I cannot vouch for this stuff in any way; I stuck with the wine. The Merlot and the zinfandel were both excellent, btw.

And who is this, sitting so forlorn and lonely with their food way off in a back corner?

Local people, perhaps, but definitely not local food. (/snark)

Note: I wore the gray alpaca shawl that I won in Claudia's MS fundraiser last year. Numerous people complimented me on it, many of them knitters, all of them blown away by its beauty. You can be proud of my honesty: I did not claim to have knitted it myself.

Comments

[Amy]

Seriously? WalMart?

How was the wine? I find MN wines to be too sweet for my taste.

[Carrie]

Bwahahahahahahahahah walmart....
That was cannoli? Or cannelloni? I've only ever seen sweet cannoli. Looks/sounds good, though.

[Sheepish Annie]

That's it. I'm going to have a brownie. Maybe two. They won't be as good as the ones in that picture, though. I think I may have gotten the mix at Wal-Mart, now that I think of it... ;)

(not really, I promise!)

[Chris]

No way - WalMart had the gall to be there?!

[Angie]

Mmmm, food! It looks lovely and, of course, I know you can get marvelous food all over Wisconsin but I'm jealous of your spread there. Four kinds of chocolate. Yum.

[Diane]

Are you kidding me, Wal Mart was there? How weird. I can't imagine a better meal, starting with the cheese and pasta and spinach thing and ending with brownies with 4 kinds of chocolate. And wine. Oy. Perhaps a good strong cup of coffee to go with the brownies.

[dale-harriet in WI]

Well, any who say there's no elegance in northern Wisconsin can 1) kiss my grits; 2) be thus informed; 3) feel powerful jealous. What a lovely 1) event; 2) shawl; 3) blogpost. I have to say, I had a lovely Pastry Moment today myself, it's called "Mrs Sarah's Mom's Baking for History Day Again". So I'm a little less jealous than I might be...........

[Cookie]

Yum!

Now I'm hungry.