Food, Wine and Father’s Day

I’ve been really busy lately—which is good—I never complain about having work. When I have a spare minute here or there, I like to look into what is happening in the world of food and wine. During one of these moments, I came across an article about the Food and Wine Classic, an annual event sponsored by Food and Wine (of course)–celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year—this weekend, to be exact.

Talk about having a lot to do, the folks that put on this event seem to be really busy with all the things that must come together to make it a success. It looks like a really cool lineup, with seminars, concerts, late night dessert parties, 5k runs and some of the best-known chefs to cook it all up. In a different life, I might have made the trek down to Aspen for the festivities.

But in this life, I will remain intrigued by the latest trends in the food and spirits world that will likely gain more exposure at The Classic. Apparently, Smoke is kind of a big deal. Smokey spirits like mezcal are finding their way into drinks and chefs are smoking glazes and other ingredients to enhance their plates.

People are also eating with their hands a lot more (which is not that unusual around here, anyway), but restaurants are actually creating sections of their menus around the idea of silverware-free dining. When I read this I think of “finger food,” but I imagine that contemporary chefs shy away from that terminology because it may not honor the quality of the food they are presenting.

Gourmet sandwiches and cleansing juices are also gaining popularity—and these aren’t your run of the mill PB and J or OJ. They are based around superior, flavorful, real ingredients.

There will be 300 purveyors at The Classic this weekend and 40,000 bottles of wine poured for the 5,000 people in attendance. I can’t help but think that my wine thermals would be the hit of the party. Who knows, maybe next year?

But, this year, I am happy to spend the weekend with my family.  We can honor The Classic our own way. Maybe drink a bottle of wine. We could smoke some trout and roast marshmallows, my daughters pushing them onto sticks with their small, bare hands. We could pack sandwiches and have a picnic along the river. I can stockpile my spare minutes into a day with my kids and know that it will outlast any trend. And that’s enough.

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