Clifton Park

Moby Rick’s, Olivia! and some fun food events this Sunday

There are a couple of new businesses that have opened up just recently and both are worth checking out.  The first one is Moby Rick’s located at 173 Lake Ave in Saratoga Springs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moby Rick’s is a seafood market offering top-quality fresh seafood.  Rick Lofstad Jr., owner of Pura Vida Fisheries has been a regular vendor at The Saratoga Farmers Market for over two years and has decided to open up a retail location.  Rick says that they will offer all different kinds of seafood like shrimp, crab or anything else his customer’s request.  Don’t expect the market to look fancy though.  The main focus for this fish man is the quality and freshness of the seafood.  Another business that just opened this past Saturday is Olivia!, located in Clifton Park Center (or as I affectionately refer to it as CCM).  Olivia! is a family run business offering an extensive collection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars from around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They import their products from both hemispheres in bulk allowing them to provide customers with fresh extra virgin olive oil all year round.  Stop in to sample a variety of their products before deciding on which olive oil will be coming home with you.  I plan on swinging around the corner to pick up a loaf of fresh bread from The Meat House and maybe some craft beer to round out my dinner of champions.

Are you looking for something to do this Sunday?  The 4thannual Harvest Festival is happening between 12-4 at the Washington Park Lakehouse in Albany.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This festival first started in 2009 as a way of bringing a lot of the amazing local vendors in the Capital District together for one event. There will be over 45 local businesses and bands including Bake for You, Mingle, New World Bistro, All Good Bakers, 3 Chicks and a P, Bro’s Tacos, Creo, and many many more.  If you haven’t filled up on all of the incredible food at the Harvest Fest, head up to Saratoga for the Henry St Festival which is also from 12-4 happening on none other then Henry St. :) This is a fundraising event for Ballson Spa’s Gateway House of Peace.  There will be a wine tasting at Scallions, a beer tasting and The Forthlin Road Band and Irish music by The Saratoga Celtic Music Session at The Parting Glass. Several local vendors will be in attendance as well including Eat Good Food, Sunnyside Gardens, Thousand Island Winery, The Chocolate Spoon and Chane’s Deli.  There are lots of great local places to check out this week so enjoy your fresh fish sautéed in some EVOO from Olivia!  You’re going to want to eat light leading up to Sunday’s food festivities!

To discover great local food businesses, "Like" me on Facebook and Twittter.  Thank you!

 

 

Thanks MAMA!

So I was asked to do a guest post for the popular blog www.SaratogaMama.com which meant I had to find a business that was not only local, but it had to be food related and kid friendly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have any kids of my own so there was a slight challenge involved.  After asking some of my friends that are moms what they recommend, I kept hearing about Tiny Tots Tea Room in Clifton Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great find!!  To read more about this great local business and the amazing local food products they carry, including their own brand of tea, check out www.SaratogaMama.com

Thanks so much to Colleen at Saratoga Mama!! If you have kids, her website is a great resource with tons of information.

To discover great local food businesses, follow me on Facebook and Twitter.  Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Shortcake ice cream from Bowman’s Orchards

Strawberry picking has been a wonderful tradition for me and mom since I was a little girl.

For many years we went to Oranacha Farm in Clifton Park where we could get some of the most delicious bright red strawberries.  Our reward for all of our hard work would be the frothy strawberry lemon cooler they made in the quaint little shed on the property from their fresh strawberries and just squeezed lemons.  It was summer in a glass.  When the farm closed many years ago, we were on a mission to find a good replacement and Bowman’s Orchards was it!  The strawberries in their fields are so wonderful, sweet and perfectly ripe it’s hard to pick them without eating more then you save.  What’s even sweeter is our reward has gone from a “strawberry cooler” to “homemade ice cream”- upgrade!! After we picked 12 pounds of strawberries, (I use the term “we” lightly because this adventure usually consists of my mom pointing to “the best” strawberries and I get to fetch them :) ) we headed in to check out the ice cream selection.  Now I have had their ice cream before and it’s out of this world.  The flavors I usually get are some combo of the Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie or Cider Donut which has chunks of their homemade donuts mixed in! I know, I know it’s not even right it’s so good!  I was determined to get 2 out of the 3 aforementioned flavors until I saw a new summertime treat that I Had. To. Have!

Strawberry Shortcake ice-cream made from just picked strawberries, pieces of pound cake and cake batter all swirled into their frozen homemade concoction.  These were no small bits and pieces either.  There were huge chucks of cake and strawberries that made this the ultimate picking reward.  To read more about what I thought of the ice cream, please visit http://www.saratoga.com/bitten/  Thank you!

Raspberry Rugalagh from Cinnamon Spice Bakery

Another bakery being featured on “Bite Me” means another delectable treat!

In my world, bakers are enablers since they make such wonderful creations and I'm forced to eat them :)  I had the pleasure of trying raspberry rugalagh from Cinnamon Spice bakery and boy am I glad I did!  The raspberry preserves were incredible!  They had the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and the brown sugar made me wish rugalagh weren't so small (although small cookie = many servings in my book).  The outside was light, flaky and still warm which took this cookie over the top!  John, the owner of Cinnamon Spice, has been in the bakery business a long time.  He said that baking is his passion and he never feels like he's going in to work.  John originally had a bakery downstate but moved to the Clifton Park area and continues to bake his goodies for all of us in the Capital District.  It’s definitely to our benefit that he decided to move his bakery here and I hope they have continued success for many years to come!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/42519537]