Dinners on the Farm
Excerpt from LymeLine.com
Published 06/26/07
Do
you happen know where culinary master Jacques Pepin, pictured right, was hanging
out last Friday? Hard to believe but we can testify to it ourselves (because
we were there!) ... yes, you've guessed, he was at Ashlawn Farm attending a dry
run (but Chamard Vineyards ensured it was not so very dry!) of a venture that
the inimitable Chip Dahlke of Farmers Market fame has put together with Jonathan
Rapp of the River Tavern in Chester, and Drew and Claudine McLachlan of the Feast
Gourmet Market in Deep River.
Starting July 6, a series of 10 Friday night dinners called "Dinners at the Farm" will be held at which, according to the press release, "locally grown produce sold at the Lyme Farmers Market will be transformed into a sumptuous feast prepared and served on the grounds of a selected farm."
As
always with our Chip (left), there's a twist to the whole deal, and this
time it's that each dinner will designate 20% of its proceeds to a selected
non-profit organization. For example, the inaugural dinner, which
happens to be at Ashlawn again, benefits SLOW FOOD Connecticut. Later
dinners benefit the Terry Brodeur Cancer Foundation, the Connecticut Farmland
Trust and the Lyme Art Association. For more information and reservations,
visit www.RiverTavernChester.net
Our own verdict on the evening was shared by an 87-year-old guest visiting from England, who described it as, "absolutely amazing - truly wonderful food served in a delightful setting." We'd add to her words that when Monsieur Pepin is drifting around it somehow adds a certain "je ne sais quoi" and makes everything taste even better - if that's possible!
Excerpt from: DorieGreenspan.com
Sunday, 24 June 2007
They’re being called Dinners at the Farm, but they might just as well be called a community revolution, since these summer meals could change everything about the way the people in our little stretch of Connecticut think about what they eat and whom they eat it with.
From now through early October, there will be ten dinners, each held on a farm, each benefiting a local non-profit organization and each serving only the foods sold at the Lyme Farmers Market – translation: foods from within about a 30-mile radius of dinner.
The series is the brainchild of Chip Dahlke, owner of Ashlawn Farm and host of the Farmers Market; the gifted Jonathan Rapp, chef/owner of River Tavern in Chester, Drew and Claudine McLachlan, who own Feast Gourmet Market in Deep River, and, of course, the farmers.
Friday night, under a sky that was alternately threatening, wet and gorgeous – we had a ray or two of sun, a couple of downpours, a rainbow, black clouds, then stars and a peek-a-boo moon – there was a kick-off dinner for the farmers and winemakers whose products we would be savoring all summer, organizers from the groups that will receive donations from the dinners, and local press.
Read more at: DorieGreenspan.com
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