Wine and Food Festival, A.K.A: Gluttony-Fest!

Our friend Jon talked us into going to the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival this year, and we're sure glad he did! We had a fantastic time making pigs of ourselves. Sponsored by Savoir, the annual festival draws not only the local food afficionados, but even a few nationally recognized "celebrity chefs" - we saw Bobby Flay doing a cooking demonstration - Yippie! The event actually runs all week long the first week in April, offering seminars and cooking classes on everything from wine pairing to gourmet cheeses. One of the more casual events during the week was a Beer, Bus, and BBQ crawl through the surrounding hill country to sample the area's best Brews, Brats, and Briskets. The week culminates on Sunday from noon until 4:00 with a huge gathering of food and wine vendors at the Salt Lick, one of the better BBQ joints in the area which is south of Austin in a beautiful outdoor location. Upon entering the grounds, you are issued a wine glass and a big plastic bag for the free goodies that are being handed out. From that point on, it is a race against time to taste as much as you can before time is up, or you can no longer move, whichever comes first! And of course, this being Austin, the communal binge is accompanied with a side of great live music to make it all wash down pleasantly!

Kearson on Jon's deck, pre-festival.

Jon's folks and his sister and cousin also joined us for the festival, in addition to another co-worker of Kearson's, Vee, and his fiance whose nickname is "Berger". I'm sure she has a real name, too, but Berger is the one that stuck! :) Here's Kearson (ever cheerful to have his photo taken), Jon (taking a picture of me taking a picture of him), Berger, and Jon's dad (who probably also has a first name).

These are the increasingly popular "beer-butt" chickens that you may have heard of. Or, in this case, rootbeer-butt chickens. Basically, you shove the 1/2 full can of beer into the body cavity of the chicken and then place it on the grill to cook. The steam from the beverage keeps the bird moist and imparts a subtle flavor. These have also been rubbed with a blend of spices. Haven't tried this cooking method myself, but I hear it is delicious! Let's just hope that none of the research linking aluminum to Alzheimers turns out to be true!

Now THAT's a grill!!! Actually, it's a smoker. And it was HUGE!! This was one of the rolling smokers used by the Salt Lick when catering. Despite the photo, there was much more than BBQ to sample. Delicious cheeses, artisan breads, herb-infused vinagars, shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, ice cream, pasta, and on and on. And of course, a huge variety of wines from all over the US, as well as handmade Vodkas, and microbrews. One vendor was even handing out handrolled cigars!

This fellow cooking his giant pot of chili looked so stereotypically Texan that I just had to get a photo of him. The chili was ok - not spicy enough to be called real Texas chili, but at least it had no beans. Putting beans in chili is apparently a cardinal sin to the chili purists here in the lonestar state, and punishable by severe taunting and chili-bashing.

One of the best parts of the festival is at the very end. If you are still standing by 4:00 when things shut down, the vendors start giving stuff away. We took home boxes of crackers, whole loaves of bread, and trays of fresh fruit. Here's Jon with a bag of crostini strapped to his pack, and Vee looking a bit like Santa with his bag of goodies.

Fat and happy, we made our way back to Jon's house for...what else...a snack! Ah, Gluttony-Fest, you bring out the Homer Simpson in all of us!! :)

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