I had planned our stay in Ithaca during NY Cider Week hoping for some cider-filled fun but didn’t find any events until a week before our trip, not really my style. There was supposed to be an Apple Harvest Festival at Ithaca Commons, so that’s where we headed first.
It was much more than the small harvest festival I was expecting. There was live music and diverse food trucks. We were unimpressed by the eating apples compared to our Michigan ones, they were also very small. But the vendors were so friendly, excited to talk shop, and eager to offer an apple to try.
The arts and crafts section was huge, 3-5 blocks. The art was so unique and I got some lemongrass soap, I’ve been trying to find some for a year. There were so many food trucks but I only went to 2, my choices of Venezuelan empanadas and a Trinidadian rice dish were worth the long lines.
The next day, we went to Ithaca Farmers Market, it’s the best one I’ve ever been to. Although the dirt parking lot was muddy it was beautiful in a covered market right on the lake. My mom got custom felt mittens and I got us citrus pastries for breakfast the next day. The best thing there was this Japanese vendor, I got a mushroom onigiri that was made fresh right in front of me. I didn’t think I’d eat one until I traveled to Japan. It was amazing and made me want to travel there even more!
After that we attempted a biking wine-tasting tour, my favorite type of bike ride. My bike didn’t weather the drive from Maine well so we picked 2 wineries to drive to, my favorite was Sheldrake PointWinery. We sat outside with views of the lake and we both bought a bottle of Wild-Fermented Riesling and I bought a Muscat Ottonel.
We also went to South Hill Cider for their special flight created for Cider Week. It was a cute small place on a hill that even provided blankets if you wanted to sit outside, because our flight was paired with cheese we sat inside. The whole flight was innovative and different from most other ciders I’ve ever had. I bought a Pommeau, an apple brandy that tasted like a sweet apple whiskey, and Patina, a sparkling cider that we couldn’t believe wasn’t wine.
Dinner was a farm-to-table event with cider pairings on a farm on the other side of the lake. My mom questioned why we were traveling so far for dinner but once we passed the village of Moravia, she agreed it was worth it just for the historic buildings.
The dinner was really interesting. We were given a welcome drink before touring the orchard. The couple that hosted were veterans who started farming in retirement. We had dinner in their basement garage where they stored the cider. The food was catered by their daughter, who does it for a living. She joined us for dinner along with her husband and six-year-old daughter. A few other couples were there but we were the only ones not from the east coast. The company was interesting with talk about farming and history of the area. We also talked to the hosts about picking the finger lakes to retire, Leelanau Peninsula was their second choice.
The food was amazing, my mom kept telling me to stop getting extra servings and save room for the next course. There were a few no-shows so there was plenty of food and I made room for everything.
To start we had apple soup, it reminded me of a cider soup I had in Middlebury, Vermont. The meatballs with apple cabbage slaw were delicious! The slaw had me going for seconds. Next was cider chicken with potatoes and shallots. The potatoes are in the top 3 I’ve ever had, I had 3 servings. The feta blackberry crostini was so good I thought it was dessert. Next, we had apple butternut squash cranberry salad, and for dessert an apple bar with caramel praline ice cream. This night exceeded my expectations.
