Summerside Vineyards' Harvest Party

I'm back! I wont bore you with excuses of my absence- I just hope you'll keep reading! Forgive me, pretty please.

This past weekend we celebrated my lovely mother's birthday:

(She'll kill me if she sees this!)

It just so happened that Summerside Vineyards' 10th annual harvest party fell on the same weekend offering the perfect opportunity to celebrate with family and enjoy some of my mother's favorite things: wine, jazz, and the outdoors.

Summerside is about an hour northeast of Tulsa on Historic Route 66 and, with over two dozen types of wine, mead and juice it was quite the popular place to be, even early on a Saturday. We were greeted with live music, breakfast treats and a delicious glass fo grape juice before learning more about the winemaking process. For instance, only red wines are fermented with the skins left in the juice, port will be the only thing you find in the winery's oak barrels and all the wines get filtered through increasingly fine filters until even bacteria cannot pass through. And thanks to my mother's battery of questions, we learned a lot more! I'm not convinced she's not going to start a botteling operation in the basement.

Next it was time for grape picking- my favorite part of the day. All 60+ guests caravanned to a small vineyard minutes from the winery and in the beautiful 80 degree weather we began the hunt for The Big Kahuna- the largest bunch of grapes.

Even though the crop was down this year by 75%, it was still beautiful and serene and there were plenty of bunches to keep me entertained. You just had to peek your head up under the vines and there you'd find gorgeous clusters begging to be picked.

At one point, my aunt and I were tied for the lead for The Big Kahuna. We managed to find a six ounce cluster each but were beat by a six-to-seven-ouncer. So close! Even though we didn't walk away with the title we did taste the freshest grapes of our lives and gather a fair amount of fruit. There's always next year...

Aren't they gorgeous? They're like jewels!

The fun didn't stop there! Next it was time to get dirty and do something we had only seen in the movies- stomp grapes!

Even though it was just a few stomps, it felt satisfying to see the rich, purple juice stain your feet. And as a cute memento, we got to leave our footprints on a souvenir T-shirt- clever!

Over a tasty brunch, we were serenaded by Tulsa's own Rebecca Ungerman with sultry jazz tunes and entertained with her witty banter- what a darling woman! And the cherry on top that made my mom's birthday perfect- my cousin, a former student of Rebecca, got to sing a number.

Be sure to look for Summerside's wine the next time you're out or if your looking for a close getaway, dine at their bistro and do some wine tasting- the blackberry wine in beyond amazing! Also delicious that I sampled: raspberry wine, hard apple cider, Beautiful, and their pinot grigio.

Summerside Vineyards

Address: 441251 E. Historic Route 66
                Vinita, Oklahoma 74301
Phone:     888-508-9463

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Porter Peach Festival

The peach has a short window in which to find that perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy specimen. So it's no wonder that the Porter Peach Festival in Porter, Oklahoma was crawling with visitors even with temperatures soaring into the 100s.  For the past few years I have been itching to go to the festival, held the second weekend in July a short drive from Tulsa, and this past weekend I got to try all the peach goodies I could find.

We arrived on Main Street, Porter shortly after the parade had finished to find a charming street lined up and down with amusement rides, artists, vendors, and lots and lots of food, including all of your fair favorites. This was my kind of place! We perused the stands and formed our plan of attack for trying as many peach-flavored treats as possible. But first- lunch.

An Indian Taco. Chewy fry bread topped with seasoned ground beef, beans, lettuce, cheese and salsa. No, there were no peaches in this. It's a crime I know, but it was so good!

While enjoying our most healthy meal we sipped on peach iced tea. This wasn't peach-scented tea like you can buy at the store, this was tea bursting with peach flavor and made with fresh Porter peaches. Absolutely incredible.

After the tea, I was excited for dessert. Warm peach cobbler, rich in cinnamon topped with ice cream and peach ice- like a fresh peach icee and packed with flavor.

If you were looking to take some of the festival home with you, there were plenty of local organizations selling homemade cobblers, breads, butters and jams all celebrating the Porter Peach. I searched my hardest to find a copy of the festival's cook book but no luck. They must have already sold out!

But the festival isn't all about digging into peachy dishes. Miss Peach and her court helped auction off bushels of peaches to raise money for local organizations- and they went for hundreds of dollars! Those are some good peaches!

Also part of the festivities was a 5K run, Miss Peach Pageant, dog contests, car show, live music and turtle races to name a few. Yes, turtle races. I'm sad I missed that one!

As you can see, this is no small affair for the Peach Capital of Oklahoma. And they have reason to be proud of their delicious fruit! Want to buy some peaches of your own? Get them while they last at Livesay Orchards and The Peach Barn and Orchard.

Not sure what to do with all of your peaches? Check out these recipe collections:

• AllRecipes.com
• Hill Country Fruit Council's collection of peach dishes
• You can always count on Martha Stewart for something delicious
• And Bon Appétite will give you delicious recipes with a sophisticated touch

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