A Page County Grown Dinner

Last week:  Best week ever,yes?  It was brutal.  

I had the best of intentions to put up some posts about the bike races in Page County, about the fires in Shenandoah National Park and on Massanutten Mountain, and about some upcoming events, like the New Riders of the Purple Sage show in Luray, but I just wasn’t able to get them done.  There was the power outage for one thing, and the oppressive, record setting heat wave for another – good enough excuses, but still, I do try to post more often than I was able to, and have been able to even with more difficult challenges than these.

I may return to those topics, but in the meantime, we’ll press ahead.

After a short work week, Mary and I planned to head out to Hawksbill Cabin for a five-day weekend beginning with the 4^th of July.  We were surprised to find that our neighbors Steve and Noelle were in town from New Mexico, and they stopped by to make some plans for dinner at the Mimslyn Inn.  We joined them for a fine “Page County Grown” themed meal – menu photos attached – and with accompaniment of wines from Wisteria Farm and Vineyard, our neighbor.  Having enjoyed the farm tour dinner last year, and after the event a few weeks back, I knew that everyone would be happy with their meals, and indeed they were. 

Mary and I followed the same choices: 

• ·         Amuse – the Watermelon and Strawberry soup, served in demi-tasse cups
• ·         Grilled Peach Salad – with goat cheese, arugula, and those wonderful pralines
• ·         Grouper – the main course, obviously not caught here in the county though
• ·         Strawberry and Blueberry Pie – for dessert

Noelle followed suit, except she opted for the chocolate pie for dessert, and Steve adventured further with the Peanut Soup, the chicken plate for his main course, and the chocolate pie for dessert.  Everybody was happy with their meals.  The dining room was around a quarter-full, probably 20 diners for our seating, and I’d say that from the looks of things, everybody enjoyed the dinner.

The wine was another high point – mostly from Wisteria, they were carefully chosen to match up with the meal selections, and Wisteria has a range of offerings that can accommodate just about any entrée.  I was glad that Velvet and the Viognier were going to accompany my choices, and then we also were able to enjoy the Steel Chardonnay with the appetizer for good measure.

I’ll close the post today with a note about the annual Page County Grown Farm Tour and dinner – these events are coming up on August 4, 2012.  I am unsure of the price just now, but tickets should be available from any of the members, or at the Chamber of Commerce.  If you are undecided, check the farm tour label at the end of this post for my posts about last year’s event.