Monday, June 13, 2011

Agritourism: a new wrinkle for the small farmer

The New York Times wrote about agritourism, a way for small farms to supplement their modest income. Great idea. I will be looking into how this is applied.

Read their article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/business/10tourism.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=agritourism&st=cse

or check out this web site:

www.farmstayus.com

Sunday, June 05, 2011

CAFE C: "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good" (thanks to Peter Noone)


I have heard rumors that Cafe C was a fine local lunch spot, but, for some reason I had not gone by to find out first-hand. I had been lured past the wildly colored restaurant by the loves of my culinary life: Satchel's, The Jones, Ruby's, and East End Eatery. I was way-late in trying out Cafe C and was thrilled to find another restaurant option on the east side of Gainesville. Like the above restaurants, Cafe C has the WOW factor fully in hand.

We used a Living Social coupon for the cafe that I had bought from an e-mail and Cafe C "knocked our socks off" big-time.

First, Cafe C is an off-shoot of Celebrations Catering, long revered by all who have sampled their wares at local receptions and events. Celebrations' reputation for creative, quality local food is the highest and it carries over to their cafe.

Cafe C features local, fresh ingredients that are good for you and are like fireworks of the palate. We both remarked that everything was served at its optimum freshness. Nothing was wilted, all was at peak flavor. Cafe C "takes you there."

I ordered the Tango Chicken Salad Plate which their menu describes as "our crunchy Chicken Salad...sprinkled with Toasted Almonds and Sliced Mangos, Grapes, and Flatbread Wafers." I ordered their ginger dressing on the side. It was so good that it might be a go-to dish hard to work around to savor the rest of the menu. Every dish I saw was beautifully presented and full of fresh ingredients.

Menu descriptions often over-state the case for a dish and, more often than not, what you get is not what the menu claimed you would get.

In the case of Cafe C, the chicken salad plate was way better than the menu description. It was crisp, sweet, and sophisticated. A collection of flavors in harmony. As tasteful and tasty as it gets.

The service was welcoming and embracing. Our server was proud of the restaurant and its offerings and was gleeful in turning us on to the cafe. We followed her advice willingly and were delighted that we dined at Cafe C.

The owner told us about their Sunday buffet which I am betting ahead of time that it is a knock out. We hope to try it next week end.

Make plans to go to Cafe C. I will be shocked if you do not become a regular customer.

As for the "loves of my culinary life," be assured that I will not be seduced away from you. We are just going to add another meal out to accomodate the many wonderful options for fine dining on the east side of Gainesville.

EXCELLENT NY TIMES ARTICLE ON MISLABELING OF FISH

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/science/earth/27fish.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bar%20coded%20fish&st=cse