The Saint Simons Food & Spirits Festival

I know I may be a little prejudiced, but, I have to say - this was one great festival!  I wanted to share some pictures with you ... but, next year - y'all have to come on down and experience it for yourselves!!





Our market featured local artists, farmers and specialties. 
Guests strolled through the market before entering the tasting tents.



Gascoigne Bluff was a beautiful setting for the festival.  The moss-draped trees
provided a lovely canopy for our tents and shade for our guests. 

Over 25 local restaurants prepared dishes for our tasting tents. 

It's the Georgia coast - there had to be oysters!  The entire festival
highlighted local cuisine prepared by local chefs - so, of course everything
was fresh and genuine Southern!

Trust me - nobody went away hungry!

One of the best parts of working on the Festival was meeting some of the 
talented chefs on The Golden Isles. Chef Matthew, from Little Saint Simons,
is a lovely person and gifted chef who is building an amazing
garden and restaurant featuring fresh, local foods. 

Cheers to a great day! 

There were plenty of "spirits" flowing.  One of the great mixologists from the
King & Prince serves up specialty cocktails featuring Southern artisanal spirits. 

On Saturday I was responsible for our demo tent - The Culinary Creations
Cooking Stage.  It was a great job - I got to work directly with
our invited culinary talent, and some super volunteers!

Here's the line-up - Ted Dennard, Ford Fry, Libbie Summers,
Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart - WOWZA!!

Ted Dennard, the founder of Savannah Bee Company was a blast - fun and
laid back.  His demo featured some great smoked salmon with a honey glaze,
a honey cheesecake and a honey-sweetened lemonade with mint. 
He's the hometown hero and an all-around great guy!

Chef Ford Fry from Atlanta (JCT Kitchen, no 246, The Optimist) served up
creamed Carolina Gold Rice with local shrimp - of course, it was delicious. 
Here's a shout out to Timmy Stubbs, Native Seafood, for providing our
shrimp.  Looking forward to a ride on the shrimp boat sometime soon, Timmy.

Libbie Summer is one cool chick!  She's a food stylist, cookbook
author and blogger who preaches the gospel of "food-inspired living". 
She put together an amazing "food-inspired table" with corn as
her theme.  It was a true WOW!

Libbie and her husband Josh - signing books and chatting
with guests under the oaks.

There she is - Nathalie Dupree the Grand Dame of Southern Cooking - holding
court, cracking jokes and making biscuits.  Working with Nathalie was
absolutely one of the highlights of the Festival for me.

That's me - prepping tasting portions of Nathalie's biscuits for guests
in the demo tent. Nathalie Dupree's Two Ingredient Biscuits
with a dollop of honey butter and a drizzle
of Savannah Bee honey on top - that's pure heaven!

The day ended with a Low-Country concert featuring The Mosier Brothers
and Mudcat.  Mudcat roused the crowd with their lively march around
the grounds before taking the stage.

A great end to a great day of food and spirits.  Mudcat brought it home
with a concert -- music flowing through the oaks and a backdrop
of a colorful sunset over the water. 
It just doesn't get any better than this!