Food Notes

By The Daily Progress Staff

Published: September 23, 2008

Harvest Festival celebrates food of our region

The Blue Ridge Harvest Festival, from Sunday to Oct. 5, will showcase the foods of Central Virginia.

The inaugural event is designed to raise awareness about the benefits of eating locally. It’s sponsored by the Blue Moon Fund and Locallectual.

Participants include Albemarle County Public Schools, Feast! Cafe, Jefferson Area Board for Aging, St. Anne’s-Belfield School, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, UVa School of Architecture, UVa Dining Services, UVa Health System, Walker Upper Elementary School and Charlottesville’s Buy Local Program.

Events include the following:

l Monday-Oct. 4, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.: Feast! will offer samples of local foods and feature local produce in casual lunch cafe specials. 244-7800.

l JABA will have lunches featuring local foods at its centers.

l St. Anne’s-Belfield School will have a presentation by Susan Moser, a lifelong gardener from Olympia, Wash., on Tuesday.

l UVa School of Architecture will present author Mark Winne from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday in Campbell Hall, Room 153.

l UVa Dining will celebrate with an educational brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 5 at Observatory Hill Dining Hall. The menu will include Glenwood Farms cage-free scrambled eggs, Virginia ham, French toast made with local bread and topped with cinnamon stewed apples or roasted peaches, Red Hill Farms salsa and organic cheddar cheese and Twin Oaks tofu.

Brunch is $9.50 plus tax, and everyone is welcome.

l UVa Health System is inviting employees to purchase Community Supported Agriculture shares to be delivered Oct. 2, with produce from Horse and Buggy Produce and locally roasted coffee from Trager Brothers Coffee, delivered in a reusable market bag from Locallectual.com.

l Darden School of Business will have a lunch from locally sourced ingredients from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in Flagler Court.

l On Oct. 2, Walker Upper Elementary School will bring local farmers together with the Schoolyard Garden and Creative Cooking clubs.

Learn more at http://www.locallectual.com/blueridgeharvest.

Pancakes benefit Ronald McDonald House

The Preceptor Kappa chapter of Beta Sigma Phi sorority will have an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Applebee’s on U.S. 29.

Proceeds from the breakfast will help the local Ronald McDonald House.

Tickets, $5, are available from sorority members and at the door. For information, call 531-6198.

There is dancing on tap at James River vineyard

Z Mullins Dance Company will perform in the third annual Dancing in the Vineyard event, which will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 28 at James River Cellars in Glen Allen.

The event features the Richmond premieres of two of the dance company’s pieces and works by inFlux, a Charlottesville-based dance company.

Tickets are $15, $12 in advance. For details, send e-mail to or call 513-3976.

Artful Escapes raises funds for Orange center

The third annual Artful Escapes Evening to benefit the Arts Center in Orange will be from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Hosted by Far Hills on Rapidan Road, the event will include a pig roast, barbecue with all the fixings, live music and a kids’ corral. The pig roast is $20, $10 for children younger than 16.

Proceeds will support programs at the Arts Center in Orange. For reservations, call (540) 672-7311.

Earlysville prepares for annual fall barbecue

Earlysville Volunteer Fire Company’s annual Fall Barbecue will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the fire station at 283 Raes Ford Road in Earlysville.

The event is $9.50, $8.50 for seniors, and a child’s barbecue or hotdog plate is $5. Carryout meals also are available. For details, call 973-8862 or visit http://www.earlysvillefire.org.

It’s Federweisser time at Keswick Vineyards

Keswick Vineyards will present its first Federweisser Fallfest from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 28.

The vineyards’ version of traditional European wine festivals will pair newly fermenting wines fresh from the harvest with zweibelkuchen, a hearty onion tart.

Keswick Vineyards recently received eight medals at the fourth annual Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition, will best-of-category awards and gold medals going to its 2006 Cabernet Franc and 2007 Touriga. Other gold medals went to the 2007 Chardonnay and 2007 Verdejo.

For details, call 244-3341.

There are dangerous doin’s happening in Greene

Entree Act will present “Dangerous Doin’s in the Club D’Ville,’’ an interactive murder mystery, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Blue Ridge Cafe in Ruckersville.

The event is $50, which includes the show, a four-course dinner with wine, tax and gratuity. For reservations, call 985-3633.

German food takes spotlight at Oktoberfest 2008

Wintergreen Performing Arts will present Oktoberfest 2008, a celebration of German culture and food, from noon to 5:30 p.m., Saturday at the Evans Center at Wintergreen Resort.

There will be local microbrewery beers, brats and other wursts, German potato salad and kraut, as well as American hotdogs and hamburgers.

Tickets are $20, which includes eight beer coupons, or $5 for two root beers. Proceeds will support the musical and educational activities of Wintergreen Performing Arts.

Visit http://www.wintergreenperformingarts.org or call 325-8292.

Region’s biggest wine festival begins Saturday

The annual Virginia Wine Festival, the oldest wine festival on the East Coast, will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Prince William County Fairgrounds in Manassas.

Gourmet fare will be available, and there will be wines from 55 Virginia wineries.

Tickets are $25 at the gate or $20 online for tasters ages 21 and older. Get tickets at http://www.virginiawinefestival.org or call (703) 823-1868.

Cape Charles ushers in first Tomato Festival

The inaugural Fall Tomato Festival, set for Saturday in Cape Charles, seeks cooks and bakers to enter the Tomato Recipe Tasting Contest.

To get an entry for or information, send e-mail to , visit http://www.escvaccfall

festival.com or call (757) 331-4884.

From staff reports