All Photos By Gail (Click on Any Image to Enlarge for Detail)

Four times each year we get very excited in anticipation of our favorite food trade show, Food Fete, because it is so awesome. Winter Food Fete took place last week on February 25th and while it was on the small side, we discovered plenty of cool new products to tell you about.

Our first stop is the bar, where a featured vendor is always mixing up signature cocktails spiked with their potent potable. This season we discovered Ivanabitch: Vodka with an Attitude, which comes in 13 flavors, including Tobacco and Menthol Tobacco — which we imagine is popular with the smokers! We were not brave enough to sample the Tobacco flavors (though we were informed its taste is more “inspired by” the leaf than actually replicating it) but we did very much enjoy the delicious Peach Vodka cocktail you see pictured above. Produced in The Netherlands, Ivanbitch is comparable quality-wise to Ketel One, which is our favorite vodka! Needless to say, but you can see I am about to, we are looking forward to trying their additional delicious flavors, such as Red Berry, Dutch Apple and Coconut. Check them out at Ivanabitch Dot Com.

Seattle’s Best Coffee co-hosted the bar with its Maple-Tini, made with SB Coffee, Maple Syrup, Vanilla Vodka and Half & Half. This seasonably appropriate cocktail was a big hit with the crowd and we made sure to pick up a recipe card available at the booth.

When we are in Seattle, Seattle’s Best Coffee is our preferred brand to pick up on-the-go, so we made sure to take home a few of their Keurig cups to enjoy at home. Delicious!

Look at this amazing display from the folks at Burpee! Legendary for its seeds, plants and gardening supplies, Burpee has been around since 1876! Wow! These days, Burpee has all kinds of cool and innovative ideas for home gardening/farming even in a small space or indoors! Find out more about their vast selection of products, see photos of the World’s Largest Tomato and request a Burpee product catalog at This Link.

Mmm…delicious melty Cheese. Roth Wisconsin Gourmet Cheese hosted a popular booth where they gave out samples of  their insanely fantastic new Raclette Cheese (available in bold flavors like 5 Peppercorn, Roasted Garlic and Mediterranean with Sun Dried Tomatoes) which will be available in stores in the Spring. To serve the cheese, they first melted it in little iron skillets before draping it onto tiny slices of bread. Best. Cheese. Ever. It is no surprise to discover that Roth is part of Emmi, the company that makes the most awesome Cheese and Chocolate Fondues. Go a little crazy with the cheese love at This Link.

Another one of our favorite Booths was hosted by Horizon Mac & Cheese. Their Not Your Mama’s Mac & Cheese and Toppings Bar was an amazing idea executed to perfection as they invited Food Fete attendees to sample their organic White Cheddar Shells & Cheese dinner, which could then be topped with a variety of fresh add-ins including Chopped Tomatoes, Fresh Spinach, Red Bell Pepper and Shaved Parmesan Cheese. What a treat!

So Yummy. Horizon products are available Nationwide. Visit their website at Horizon Dairy.

Do you enjoy delicious chips? If so, may we recommend Late July brand organic (and gluten free) Restaurant Style Tortilla and Multigrain chips, which come in a variety of appealing flavors like Sea Salt, Lime and Mild Green Mojo — half a large bag of which I have eaten while writing this post. Late July Chips are crispy, light, delicious — and when  served with a bowl of fresh salsa (the one pictured here is from Whole Foods) or guacamole (alongside a chilled Cerveza) will make you feel like you are eating in your favorite Mexican restaurant! We also enjoy the name, Late July, which makes us nostalgic for summer weather that can’t come soon enough!

See those English Muffins up there? We made an egg sandwich with one the other morning that was just crazy good. Rudi’s Gluten-free Bakery not only offered samples of its delightful freshly baked Sandwich Bread and traditional English Muffins but also gave away whole packages to take home. Get a coupon for $1 Off your purchase of any Rudi’s Bread product, so you can try it for yourself, at This Link.

Ah, Cascadian Farm Organic, the subject of one our very Favorite Worleygig.com Posts of the past! What fun it was to run into them again at Food Fete, where they were promoting their new Protein enriched Chewy Snack Bars! Each of these indulgent bars packs 9 Grams of organic, plant-derived Pea Protein. Impressive! The Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip variety tastes like a Peanut-studded, Peanut-buttery Rice Crispy Treat, for a taste and texture that stands out from the legion of Snack Bars we have written about on The Gig.  Much healthier for you and just as satisfying as a Snickers Bar! Discover the joy of Cascadian Farm healthy Snacks at Cascadian Farm Dot Com.

Are you thirsty? Honest brand Lemonade (they also make Honest Tea, get it?) previewed a line of flavored Lemonade and Limeade drinks in family-size, retro style glass bottles. They have a new Half & Half (also known as an Arnold Palmer, after the famous Golfer) which is a popular blend of Ice Tea and Lemonade in one bottle, plus Mango and Berry Hibiscus Lemonades. All very refreshing!

Just because Duncan Hines brand cakes mixes have been around since you were an egg doesn’t mean they aren’t on trend. In fact, we’d say they are even a little bit ahead of the curve with three new baking mixes introduced at Food Fete: Blue Velvet and Pink Velvet Cake Mixes and Salted Caramel Brownie Mix! Holy Sweet Surrender! The Duncan Hines booth served tiny cake balls and brownie bites (recipes come on the back of each box) that we could not resist, and practically forced us (though they did not have to try too hard, because: Pink Cake) to take a box of Pink Velvet cake mix to bake at home. Duncan Hines, For The Win!

When you think Yoplait, you think Yogurt, right? Right! The latest addition to the Yoplait Yogurt and Frozen Yogurt Dessert family is their collection of Greek Frozen Yogurt  Bars with Granola, which will debut in Spring 2014. Fancy!

This is a picture of my hand holding a non-granola-embossed Yoplait Greek Frozen Yogurt Bar in the Raspberry Flavor. Doesn’t it look good? It tastes like a frozen creamy cheese cake with swirly fruit in it. After about a dozen licks of my tongue this bar escaped from its stick and flung itself onto the ground at the feet of the nice woman who was tending the Seattle’s Best Coffee Booth. She was kind enough to lift it from the floor into a napkin and dispose of it in the bin. Sadness! Anyway, you should check out these tasty bars of frozen goodness!

Look! Happy Little Spoons ready to serve up warm tasty samples of crunchy fruit-laden Modern Oats oatmeal. Modern Oats, which cooks with the addition of Boiling Water in just 3 Minutes and is of course Gluten free and Non GMO comes in crazy rad tasty flavors like Mango Blackberry (which we tried; Yum) and Chocolate Cherry! Perfect for Breakfast on the go or to take to the office!

And that wraps up our report on Winter Food Fete, another great and fun food show! Thanks to Jeff Davis as usual. See you for the next event in April!