Food Preserving Workshop, Union Square Market and Artisanal Bistro in New York

This weekend I attended a workshop on food preservation called "Join the Canvolution" presented by blogger, scientist and local food aficionado Audra Wolfe of Doris and Jilly Cook (the only blog I know named after a pair of goats). It was a three-day event with about 18 participants at Omega, a retreat centre in New York's Hudson Valley, about two hours north of Manhattan.

It was a really pleasant experience, and it covered canning with a hot-water bath and a pressure canner, dehydrating, fermenting and a wide range of related topics having to do with the pleasures, challenges and compromises of tryng to eat locally sourced food. As an added bonus, I got to spend some time with one of my favourite food bloggers, Julia of What Julia Ate. I'm excited to try a jar of her Strawberry and Orange Pectin Jelly, which she kindly gave me.

I also managed to squeeze in some time with family members and about 10 km of walking in Manhattan, including a visit to Union Square Market, where I continued my ongoing apple variety explorations and ate (a pint of!) my first strawberries of the season. I also had dinner at Artisanal (2 Park Avenue), which specializes in international cheeses.

My cousin Dan and I shared a cheese-and-charcuterie platter, frites, salad, pissaladière (a tart with anchovy and onion confit), and lamb with apricot chutney. I chatted with fromagère Chantal Girerd and fromager Dan Utano (pictured below) about their noble selection of cheese, which did include a few Canadian choices. (I talked up Monforte Dairy too.) A fun bonus: Salman Rushdie had a table near ours.

As this post ends, so does my trip: I write from the return bus which is just passing Kittling Ridge winery at 7ish in the morning. Soon I'll be back in Toronto.