The Great American Cooking Expo

Sunday finally came and we went to the Expo; this was the third one that I have attended (the first two were in Philadelphia, PA) There are so many things to enjoy here that you would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't enjoy it. It is three days of food, fun and festivities. That said, it was the first one that offered alcoholic beverages in the form of wine and beer tastings; they actually made up a good portion of the vendors represented. But I was more interested in the food. There was plenty of that too!

Each end of the room was anchored with a large demonstration area; this is where noted local chefs would prepare their signature dishes for you and serve it when the demonstration was completed. They had a demonstration going every hour at each spot. You could spend your time walking back and forth and attending these shows, eating and learning new things. A lot of people do.

That's not for me though; I like going to all the booths and getting samples of the foods that are being represented...it's all free and you can sample more than one--but etiquette says you should walk away and return for the second (or third) taste!

Without further ado, here are the pictures of some of the stands that I stopped at:

This was the Nespresso stop...deluxe espresso/latte/cappucchino machines made by the Swiss Company Nestle. There were three models on display each one having a few more options than the previous one. They made me a cappucchino by inserting a vacuum packed coffee bullet (you pick the robustness etc) and in less than 2 minutes I had a wonderful individual coffee and NO CLEAN UP! I was really tempted with this one; it will be available in the States in the Spring. You can enlarge the photos to see the three different models and the coffee bullets.


I saw the sign here for Ostrich and decided I would only look...I was a little put off by the thought of eating a really big bird! but Chuck had some and was really impressed with it so I had one. It was very delicious and was very much like....no not chicken, but steak.
We had to stop by some of the local restaurant tables; here is Maggiano's offering wonderful meatballs and lemon cookies. I walked away and back twice on this one!
Nuthin' could be finer than a Sweet Baby Ray's pulled pork sandwich...MMum Good!
This is a demonstration plate prepared by don roth's Blackhawk; a Prime Rib - Steak - Fresh Seafood house. It was Beef Tenderloin with mashed potatoes and asparagus.
We had samples of the tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes.

This was my favorite stop of all! I was intrigued by the name Eponymous. See, I took a picture of the bottle; that's because it is the best wine I have EVER tasted! I am embarrassed to tell you how many times I "walked away" and came back to this booth! The bad news is that it sells for $54 a bottle.
I thought this was kind of cute...chocolate everything! Even shoes.
Here is demonstration given at the Viking Cooking School demo spot present by Birch River Grill. the specialty was Crab Cakes. Prepared excellently.