The other weekend I found myself attending The Hudson Valley Wine & Food Fest which was about 2 hours from Manhattan by car.  It was one of those hot and humid days but being at the fair was awesome (just getting out of Manhattan on this humid day) was reward enough!!

Now the fest was primarily a celebration of all things wine.  The event’s main focus was in highlighting the wonderful wineries that are found in the Hudson Valley and all over New York. However, the fest also held wine seminars, showcased Craft Beer and their local breweries, showcased Hard Apple Cider, Distilled Spirits, food as represented by a lot of fun food trucks in addition to Gourmet Specialty Foods, Cooking Demonstrations, live music and let’s not forgetLOL-the shopping.

So true confessions, I don’t really drink and so for me it was more about the food and the shoppingLOL.  However, I did wind up tasting a few smoothie types of drinks that you can put wine in but other than that (combined with the heat and the very high humidity) I basically kept my trusty bottle of water at hand 🙂

So now let’s go to the fest and check out the grounds…

Then I met these two adorable guys who represented Greig Farm www.greigfarm.com which is a Hudson Valley Farmers Market. There’s a restaurant, you can picnic on the grounds and you get to pick the fruit or vegetable in season and only pay by weight.  In addition, you get to feed the animals as well as the fish. Sounds like a very fun and relaxing day to me!!!

Then I ran into Chef Vincent Tropepe, an award winning chef whose line of biscotti was awesome and who as also signing copies of his recent book, In My Whites, A Matter of Culinary Perspective.

Then it was off to taste some barbecue sauce at Roger’s Rustic-Booth 147.  Displayed at the booth were BBQ sauces, dry rub, salsa and pepper sauces.  You can check out their site at www.RogersRusticBBQ.com to see what you might like…

Then Oh My Goodness, I came across Ms. Vee’s Sweet Treats http://msveessweettreats.com/

I must confess that all the mini cupcakes that were on display were so tempting that I didn’t know which one to try.  But then I was offered a mini cupcake which was made of maple butter and topped with bacon.  Let me tell you that it was Beyond Divine.  I’m really picky when it comes to baked goods but I have to tell you that Ms. Vee’s Baking is off the charts.  I am not kidding-it is off the charts!!!

I took a photo of the mini Maple Bacon cupcake just to immortalize it.SoLOL!

And then where did I land up but in Peanut Butter Land where I cam across a company called The Peanut Principle www.peanutprinciple.com .

Look at the different kinds of peanut butter they sell. It was amazing just to look at all the choices..

Let’s check them out…

So if you have an opportunity to visit the Hudson Valley area I totally recommend that you do so even if it’s just to go exploring. You might also want to attend next year’s Wine & Food Fest and I’m sure that you’d have a hoot!!!