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Getting Political About Soda; Herbal Symposium Set

July 17, 2008

Red or Blue?

Which would you choose: raspberry soda or cream soda? Your choice may depend on your political leanings in the November election. Avery's Beverages, the oldest independent soda-bottling company in Connecticut, has launched a straw poll for president in the 2008 election. The New Britain company will track sales of Barack O'Berry (an electric-blue raspberry soda) and John McCream (a red cream soda). The beverages, bottled in glass, will be sold for $1 each at the bottling plant at 520 Corbin Ave. in New Britain. A portion of the proceeds benefit the League of Women Voters of Connecticut's education fund.

Learning About Herbs

The Herbal Cottage Garden, a symposium hosted by the Connecticut Unit of the Herb Society of America, takes place July 25 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Pond House and herb garden in Elizabeth Park in West Hartford.

Carol King Platt, Nancy Moore and the co-chairs of the unit will present three illustrated talks about the use of herbs in cottage-style gardens. An herbal luncheon will be served, and there will be herbs for sale, a pantry, boutique, raffle baskets, herb garden tours and more.

To reserve a place, send a check to the CT Unit HSA for $35 to Kathy Donohue, P.O. Box 1231, Litchfield, CT 06759. Include an e-mail address for confirmation and a phone number. For more information, e-mail jack.kathy@att.net.

A Vineyard Event

Stonington Vineyards will host its 8th Annual Summer Wine & Food Festival Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The weekend celebration will provide a look at the mid-summer stage of the grape-growing season as well as wine and food tastings and tours of the wine cellar at noon, 2 and 3 p.m.

Stonington's 2006 Sheer Chardonnay, 2006 Triad Rosé, 2004 Vidal Blanc, Seaport White and the newly released 2007 Cabernet Franc will be poured into a souvenir wine glass for sampling. Among the local producers who will be selling and sampling their products are Giff's chutneys, Bumpy Beer mustard, Ariston Greek olive oil, Shop at Home Food Service Steaks, Del Orto Italian olive oil, Farm River Honey, Norm's Best Marinated Mushrooms, Wicked Good Gourmet Condiments, specialty tea by The Tea Stop, and Beltane Farms' goat cheese. Also for sale will be plants from Pequot Plant Farm and organic produce from Wayne's Organic Farm.

Lunch and desserts will be available for purchase from Voodoo Grill, Pizzetta, Jeff the Chef and The Purple Pear will create lunches and desserts as well. The menus will complement wines served chilled by the bottle or by the glass. Besides listening to live music, guests also can view the "Conversation in Color" exhibit featuring quilts of Judith Larzelere and wonderful oil paintings by Elaine Mills.

The festival is free and open to the public and will take place rain or shine. The vineyard is at 523 Taugwonk Road, Stonington. Telephone: 860-535-1222. Website: www.stoningtonvineyards.com.

From Drinks to Pencils

Capri Sun and Honest Kids beverages have teamed up with TerraCycle, an innovative recycling company, to give used drink pouches a new life. The old pouches will be turned into pencil pouches that will be sold in the fall at Target, Walgreens and Office Max stores.

The companies are encouraging families and groups to send the empty pouches to TerraCycle. Also, the Capri Sun & Honest Kids Drink Pouch Brigade program will donate 2 cents for every Capri Sun, Kool Aid and Honest drink pouches and 1 cent for other drink pouches to the charity of the donor's choice.

Those interested can sign up at TerraCycle's web site, www.terracycle.net/dpb/dpb.htm, and will receive prepaid collection bags in return. For more information, visit the web site.

Food On Television

"New England Cuisine" — Host Scott Sommerfield celebrates National Ice Cream Month with Tony Bellafronte from Collins Creamery in Enfield. Leading a tour of the farm and creamery, Bellafronte describes how ice cream is made. The New England Cuisine Kids then make hot fudge, butterscotch, peanut butter cup and brownie sundaes. On Cox cable, Channel 15, Monday at 7:30 p.m., Manchester region; Thursdays at 8:30 p.m., Cheshire region; Wednesday at 7 p.m., Enfield region. On Comcast cable, Channel 5, Tuesday at 12:30 and 7:30 p.m., Simsbury region; Thursday at 8:30 and 11:30 p.m., Windsor region; and Monday, 10:30 a.m., and Thursday, 6:30 p.m., Vernon region.

— Linda Giuca

Contact Linda Giuca at lgiuca@courant.com.

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