One of the opening scenes of the play, Titanic, has the pursar singing the items that were to be loaded on to the ship to feed the passengers during its transatlantic voyage. This song went through my head as I loaded our Ford Flex for the trip to the QVC headquarters. David Venable, the host of "In the Kitchen" was running a sweepstakes with an I Love NY culinary theme. The Finger Lakes was to be featured in the getaway with package including Brown Hound Bistro Chef Trish Aser, the New York Wine and Culinary Center, and some local food favorites, like Monicas Pies!
My job was to deliver some samples to QVC so that the SynQ team would be really familiar with what we had. "26,000 loaves of bread, TITANIC" was ringing in my ears. Well, I didn't have that much bread, but I certainly could have stopped and provided an upscale picnic for several families along Rt. 15 as I packed it in.
"36,000 oranges, TITANIC". Nope, no oranges grown locally in the Finger Lakes, but I bet you wish you were in that QVC headquarters when we delivered a week of "Foodie Samples" to West Chester, PA.
My car smelled like a fresh bakery, thanks to Monks Bread from neighboring Livingston County. My neighbors to the east, Seneca County made sure that I had some of the great Muranda Cheese - Red Buddy, YUM! Of course, there was wine and grape things galore: grape stuffed chocolates from Sweet Expressions, grape twists from Arbor Hill Grapery! That was day one - code name: Sweetness Trail.
Day 2 - you ask? Breakfast - buckwheat pancakes, some Wohlshelegals Maple Cream and Syrup, Blueberries are a specialty down near Gorham, and of course, some healthy juices from Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva.
Day 3, 4, and 5? I had Naples Valley Mustard, Mountain Rise Granola, New Hope Mills pancakes, Naples decadent dippers, and Hartmann's Sausage, and last but not least: Naked Dove Beers and Canandaigua Wine Trail wines. Wondering what was served with what? Well a better question was - how many dishes of Wizard of Clay pottery did we display this these Fingerlakes food favs on. We have to include the local pottery too, just like the first class cabin on the ship.
Wish you were in on this? Well check out the trails of everything that the QVC folks tasted and you'll see why one of the SynQ team joked with us to "stop the madness" and then with all the purple grape based things surrounding her - she said she'd have to rename herself, "Violet Beauregard". I'm not kidding at all! That was a compliment extraordinaire as we noticed every day more and more people had heard that The Finger Lakes was delivering again! Next stop, we told them was to come to the Finger Lakes to taste it fresh! 
It's probably not a great idea to have the Titanic songs going through your head when you're trying to promote great travel and tourism opportunities, so the song ends. But, the good news is - the culinary bounty of our Finger Lakes is alive and bountiful and filled with variety, and that's something that we who promote tourism love to sing about!
