Okay, it’s time to start recapping my weekend adventures out in the Finger Lakes!
First things first, I have a give a big thank you to the America Dairy Association and Dairy Council for inviting me along on the trip, covering my stay and expenses, and also allowing me to bring a guest. It was an incredibly generous offering, and I was very grateful to have been able to go. Thanks again, ADADC!
Since Jay was unable to join me for the weekend due to some work obligations, I invited my friend Kanika tag along and experience her first ever “blog” trip. You guys know Kanika, she’s been around these parts for a while now.
So we didn’t wind up leaving Albany until after 5pm on Friday evening, which meant we didn’t arrive in Geneva until just before 8:30pm…which was actually perfect timing, since we just made our dinner reservations!
So romantic, right? I texted Jay that picture and told him he was totally missing out.
For the weekend, we stayed at Geneva On the Lake, which is a beautiful, historic landmark located on Seneca Lake. And the thing that totally impressed me the most with their resort was the food, which you’ll see more of throughout this post. WOW was it good.
So by the time we sat down at our table on Friday night and ordered a couple glasses of wine, neither of us were really in the mood for a big, full size entrée. We’d also snacked a bit on the car ride up, so we decided to keep it simple and go with two of my favorites: appetizer and dessert!
For an app, we ordered the Crab and Spinach Fondue which was absolutely incredible.
Although, I will say…both of us were rather surprised to see fondue served over one slice of toast rather than in a large fondue pot. Is that just us or is this a normal thing? Or maybe we’re just not fancy?
For dessert, we couldn’t decide on just one so we ordered both their flourless chocolate cake and local vanilla ice cream served with warm raspberry sauce and homemade whipped cream.
Oh. My. God. Soooooo good.
After “dinner,” we finished our check in and made it back to our room, where we found some more wine waiting for us in the fridge. Don’t mind if we doooo!
We didn’t last too much longer after that (I’m useless on Friday nights) so we called it a night, knowing that we had a full day ahead of us.
On Saturday morning, our day started nice and early with a continental breakfast buffet served in the same room we had had dinner the night before.
They had all sorts of goods, so I stocked up on a good mix of my favorites: toast with butter, oatmeal, yogurt with fruit and granola, hardboiled egg, and coffee. Lots of coffee.
And although I didn’t take any photos, we also had brunch here on Sunday morning and the food was even MORE impressive. They had a wider spread, AND the most incredible Nutella crepes, homemade streusel muffins, and more. Man, if only I could eat like that ever morning…
After breakfast, our group boarded a bus and headed to our first stop of the day. Talk about a beautiful, scenic drive, right?
Our first stop was Cayuga Milk Ingredients, a brand new (opened in June) $101 million plant which has been described as a one-of-a-kind facility in the US.
(picture via American Dairy)
When we first arrived, we were given a bit of an overview of how the plant came about, who they are, and what they do.
Before we arrived, I had just assumed we’d be visiting a milk plant that simply…produced liquid milk. But that is totally not the case here. Simply put, what makes Cayuga different is their use of cutting edge technology to separate high quality milk components that are added to other products to boost nutritional value. Think products such as baby formula, chocolate, cheese, etc…
There was a lot of information that we learned and I know I’m going to inevitably miss some, but here are a few of my bigger takeaways:
- It was evident that CMI does everything possible to ensure quality milk ingredients from a highly traceable source. Fresh, raw milk is delivered directly to their processing facility from local dairy farms and is immediately tested. If there is any evidence or positive testing of any sort of bacteria or antibiotics, the truck is denied and sent away.
- Their farms are close to the processing facility, so the cost of milk transport is greatly reduced. This helps to lower costs of the finished products, and due to shorter transportation distances, emissions are greatly diminished, reducing the total carbon footprint of the company.
- The plant removes water from milk to produce dry ingredients, which can extend shelf life up to 18 months. That means the ingredients produced today can be feeding children in South America and the Middle East in just a few months.
- The plant recycles the water that it removes from the milk to clean their facilities.
So once we got a little bit of the low down on the plant, it was time to take a tour!
Unfortunately, there were no cameras allowed inside the plant itself, but it was quite impressive and I’m intrigued to see just how this plant is going to take off a year or two from now. It just seems like it could be a really huge, awesome thing.
Once we finished up our tour of CMI, we were back on the bus and headed to one of the nearby farms that contributes to the plant, Patterson Farms.
Oh, hey cows!
Since it was pretty cold, we didn’t take a full tour of the farm, but we did get to see some of the areas where the herds of cows stay, where the cows are milked, and then on our way to visit some of the baby calves we encountered some of the biggest tractors I’ve ever seen in my life.
I had no idea they were this huge?!
But yes…I did mention baby calves. Just look at these little cuties!
We learned that they had only been born the day before, which just absolutely boggled my mind. What’s up with us humans not coming out of the womb being able to walk? Bahaha…anywho.
So yeah, I can now successfully check “feed a baby calf” off of my bucket list.
So cute!
Once we were done visiting the farm, our group made our way back to Geneva on the Lake for an incredibly delicious lunch.
The root vegetable and pear soup was amazing…
The entire lunch buffet spread was out of this world (including those sweet potatoes…OMG)…
And the apple crisp with local vanilla ice cream for dessert totally hit the spot. Even if I was plenty stuffed before it even arrived at my seat.
I’m going to cut things off here since this is already getting fairly long, but I’ll be back tomorrow with part two of the Food and Wine Weekend Getaway! Before I go though, I’m curious…
- What are some of your favorite ways to enjoy dairy?
- Have you ever visited (or worked on, or anything else) a dairy farm?
- For the dairy fans, I’ve gotta know: Cheese or Ice Cream??? I think you know my answer.
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P.S. – The 3 winners of the Crest 3D White Whitestrips Giveaway have been chosen! The lucky entrants are:
Congrats, ladies! Please email me at sweettoothcourtney at gmail dot com with your shipping info so I can get your goodies sent out to you!
Linz @ Itz Linz says
those baby calves!! so cute!! i’m actually surprised at how small they are – guess i never realized how small big ol’ cows started out haha looks like an awesome food and a really neat experience!
Elizabeth says
Not sure if you’re an Aziz Ansari or Parks and Rec fan, but your dinner the first night reminded me of this video, it’s a personal favorite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgf11jimN9s
Elizabeth says
Oh, and skip to 0:35
chelsey @ clean eating chelsey says
Looks like a fun weekend! I can’t say that I’ve ever fed a baby calf before – guess I need to put it on my bucket list!
Heather Brown says
Cheese!! Haha I need cheese in my life. I have fed a baby cow before but never been on a farm like that. How fun that you could bring along a friend for the weekend!
Brynn says
Ice cream!! How fun you fed the baby! As odd as it sounds, that is one thing I’ve always wanted to do. Don’t ask me why :)
Britt@MyOwnBalance says
Oh my gosh feeding that little baby calf is so adorable! I don’t think I could choose between ice cream and cheese they are both so delicious. I think I would lean slightly towards cheese because I put it on everything!
Mikaeya says
Sounds like you had a great time, not that anything could ever go wrong with food and wine!! For me it’s cheese, all kinds, just give them all to me!
Ashley @ My Food N Fitness Diaries says
Oh my goodness, those little calves are adorable! Sounds like a fun weekend! And to answer your question – ice cream wins, but cheese isn’t far behind. I could never be vegan…
Liv @ Healthy Liv says
Cheese or ice cream? Ice cream, for sure!
I could live without cheese if I HAD to, but no ice cream would be tough.
haley @Cupcakes and Sunshine.com says
that fondue!!! holy moly! SO much fun!!!
Carrie (This Fit Chick) says
What a lovely date night!! Love all the wine:) hehe I love dairy with chocolate and peanut butter- always sweet!
Sara says
i live in Rochester and recently heard greatttt things about Geneva on the lake. My fiancé and I were thinking about getting overnight stays for our parents for there for Christmas!!
Patty says
I get to visit a dairy farm pretty regularly. My family owns a hay and vegetable farm but our neighbors own a dairy farm. The 2 farms help each other out.
I don’t know how dairy farmers do it though. It takes so much work to run a farm. Especially for the small family farms, they never get a full day off. Those cows depend on them every day to do their job.
Tough choice between cheese or ice cream, but I gotta go with ice cream.
FYI Ben and Jerrys is BOGO at Price Chopper this week.
Chantel says
My husband and I stayed in Geneva last month for our 2nd anniversary and went on a wonderful wine tour all day Saturday. We had a great time! That area is beautiful!
Ashley @ A Lady Goes West says
This looks like such a fun trip and how cool you could bring a friend for a little educational girl’s getaway. I love dairy. I love yogurt, milk, cheese, you name it. Oh an of course, REAL ice cream! :)
Melissa says
Aw, I miss Geneva (I lived there for four years). If you ever go back, you MUST go to Ports Cafe (http://www.portscafe.com). If they have their baked brie (their specials change frequently), GET IT. I promise you it will change your life, lol. My best friend’s parents have a dairy farm in Geneseo so not too far away. They recently got chickens so whenever I visit they send me home with fresh eggs. So glad you liked your trip and the FLX…I hated it at first (I love the ADKs) but grew to love it and miss it quite a bit.
jillian says
sounds like such a great weekend! full of so much awesome food! xo jillian – stop by! I’m hosting a great jewelry giveaway on cornflake dreams
Nicole says
I love ice cream, though lactose intolerant. Thank GOD for DairyEase that makes it a lot better for me to digest!
My Mom was raised on a dairy farm, so visiting my Grandparents as a little girl always involved going to their farm in Minnesota. My Grandpa would let us throw apples from their big apple tree in to the field where the cows were grazing. One time (I was about 3 or 4 years old), I had bent over to pick up an apple and a cow nipped me in the butt! I was sooo traumatized. Hahaha – I just remember going back in to the house crying and telling my Mom a cow bit my butt in front of a kitchen-full of relatives and having them laugh at me for such a small nip in the backside. #farmdrama :D
Furonda says
I love the pose you and Kanika have in that group photo! FIERCE! Hope you had a lovely time – super jealous about the food!
Aine @ Awkward Irish Girl Blogs says
Has to be cheese! Which is lucky as I’m lactose intolerant and can’t handle ice cream at all, whereas I can tolerate most hard cheeses (phew!) :D
My favourite dairy is probably a dollop of greek yoghurt on top of my porridge, I love the contrast!
Andrea @ pencils and pancakes says
Geneva on the lake is so nice!! Wicked jealous!
Jessica @ Prayers and Apples says
I’m an ice cream girl all the way! And wine, appetizer, dessert and more wine is my PERFECT idea of a girl’s night out lol :)
Kay @ Kay Bueno says
This looks so cool. I love the baby calves, how adorable!
I want both ice cream and cheese. Delicious. :)