The Minted Vintage Market was held this past weekend. The Minted Vintage Market is a curated collection of local talent that can be found in the Mid-Ohio Valley area and beyond. The event is located on the grounds of the Wood County 4-H Camp ... it's a A gathering of 100+ makers, artists and curators from the MOV & beyond with live music + food trucks. Theee open-air shopping event showcases local artisans and small businesses, according to the website.



There were so many vendors, but these were some that were on the top of my list to check out: Royally Baked, DJs Creations, Munchies, Sugar Rae’s Cotton Candy, Ben Haven Farms, Heavenly Treats WV, Rollin In The Dough, Timmy’s Original Food Truck, Crown Florals & Gifts, Valley View Apiary, Philly Twist, Sweet Ash Cookies, Howe Sweet It Is, and even more.



Munchies Truck - tacos, desserts and some fried apps. I went with a pork street taco. These were pretty tasty, minus the stems from the cilantro. But these did have some sauce, which I was concerned would be nonexistent.







Granny Mae's - I got a corn dog here! Pretty straight-forward. The drizzle of ketchup here looks beautiful! It was fine.





Heavenly Treats - these freeze-dried treats are becoming super trendy! This little neopolitaan ice cream might have been my favorite one I've tried so far. It was sweet but actually had flavor.





Sugar Rae's Cotton Candy - there need to be more grape-flavored things in the world. This flavor reminded me of Bubbalicious bubble gum. But in edible form.





Rollin' in the Dough - beautiful sugar cookies! These all usually have a similar light sugar cookie flavor.





DP Concessions - I think this is a food truck from DiCarlos, which of course I had to try. They did have some pizza slices, but with the cheese was melted. Still good.







Crown Florals & Gifts - fudge! The caramel toffee was soo sweet and delicious that I can only handle about a bite at. a time.









Royally Baked - deliciously, slightly spicy pepperoni rolls that I can't wait to try more of!

The WV Food Truck Festival was held this past weekend in Eleanor and there were a bunch of trucks on the lineup.



Here are just a few: Family Affair, Bite Mi, Country Fair Lemonade, Country Roads Tap Truck, Crafts of the Coal, Dave’s Famous T&L Hot Dogs, Emma’s Cool Treats and Snacks, FarmHouse Fixins, Gritt’s Farm, Holy O’s, Jimmy Crack Corn, Kevin & Cathleen’s Snack Shack, Kona Ice, Lobster TrappN SouthEast, Local Eats Truck, Muncheez, Phat Llama, Putnam Provisions, Shape Shop and Wild & Wonderful BBQ.



Wicked Cool Shaved Ice & Lemonade - I started off with a cherry lemonade, and I was served like a whole soup container full of the drink. Super sweet, so delicious on a hot day. I love lemonade, but with the cherry flavoring, it is far less tart. But don't expect this drink to fit in your cup holder. 







Feather Ridge Farm - this local farm provides quail eggs, fruit, and vegetables. But, they also have some thing different than most others: candy. They create freeze-dried candy of all types. There are fruity candies, chocolate candies - any candy you can think of - freeze-dried into crunchy bits that you can try for a unique spin. I've tried some of the Twix candies, and while I don't know that I prefer it over the actual candy bar, it was a little bit different and made for a fun new texture.







Farmhouse Fixins - This food truck was brand new to me, so it was at the top of my list to check out. On this particular day, they had meatloaf, which was hard for me to pass up. They did also, however, have barbecue pork sandwiches, which caught my eye on this day. I do enjoy a good pulled pork sandwich that you can determine how much barbecue you want on it. But I also really enjoyed this tomatoey/BBQ-based pork mixture that was just perfectly situated inbetween a bun. Well-seasoned, a good consistency, and a really satisfying sandwich.







Phat Llama - based out of Ravenswood, this food truck serves items like Philly cheesesteak, tacos, sandwiches fries and more. I went for the Philly cheesesteak, which was huge and full of large green bell peppers and onions and cheese. I only wish that it had more sauce or juice from the meat to make the whole sandwich a little bit more moist. The fries were good and crisp; I wish I could have had more of them while they were fresh because after taking them home, they're not quite the same.









Muncheez - Last one! Muncheez offers burgers and fries and variations of the two. I kept it simple with a cheeseburger with onion, ketchup, and mayo. This Location was a bit more hectic as they struggle to operate their card system. But we got it sorted out and I was happy to scarf down my burger. It was a decent burger; I think the patty could use some more seasoning and maybe the onions an extra wash. But not bad.

One of my life goals is to visit all of the country's national parks. I'm making my way through many of them and traveling lots. It's not always common, though, to find restaurants within the parks themselves.



Even less common is food being produced in the park itself. That's the case with Capitol Reef National Park, which has orchards full of apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, and plums.



You could go into the orchards and pay per lb. for the fruits. While I was there, the apricots were ripe and I just wanted a single one to try. I walked into the orchards to check them out. But I actually ended up picking my apricot up on the ground beside my car.



What a cool experience!

I've been to a few Husson's locations, and finishing out the remainder is on my list. So here's some background on the restaurant from their website:



"Husson's Pizza is primarily situated in the Charleston, West Virginia area. We feel proud that our business is family owned, family operated, and family oriented. Our first location was in St. Albans, West Virginia. It was opened on March 23, 1977. This store was a Dine-In or Carry-Out Location only. We built our business on this: "A QUALITY PIZZA, SOLD AT A FAIR PRICE WOULD CREATE ITS OWN PLACE IN THE MARKET." In the beginning we made pizzas on a Formica kitchen counter. All of our equipment, food, and supplies were paid for C.O.D. We wanted to make sure that we stayed ahead on everything. Our advertising was very limited; there was only good Word-of-Mouth advertising. We counted on a great product and friendly, personal service to bring customers back to us. I worked every minute the store was open and my father (employed at another job during the day) worked every evening and on weekends. We touched every pizza that we sold, talked to our customers, and built a reputation that has lasted through the years. After the first year, the company was solid. People would travel from the surrounding areas for our pizza. In December 1978, we opened our second store in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. In June of the following year my wife, Sharon, and I got married and we worked every night. After we had our first child, my wife wanted to stay involved in the business, so she took over all the bookkeeping functions. She has a conservative nature that helped the business continue a controlled growth. In March of 1982 we opened the Kanawha City store. It was the Turning Point for the company. The volume at this location was about double that of the other locations. The increase in cash allowed for a little faster expansion. The Spring Hill store opened in March of 1984. After taking 1985 off, we came right back and opened the Teays Valley and Pinch locations in 1986 and in 1987 the West Side (Charleston) and Sissonville locations were opened and we built new buildings for our St. Albans and Cross Lanes stores. In September of 1986, we began delivery in the Kanawha City location and by mid-October we were delivering out of all of our stores. This was a good move for us, but it is much different business from the dine-in and carry-out business. We weren't used to that. We studied the market to a great extent to see where we could do better than our competitors. All of 1988 was spent consolidating our position and improving our operations. We changed our marketing approach and began offering more discounts and specials than before. In June 1989, we opened a store in Greensboro, North Carolina, although in February of 1990 we closed this location and re-opened it in West Virginia on Bridge Road in South Hills. It is our continued expansion that offers our manager continual advancement within our company, or as a franchisee. By working hard and maintaining a high profile in the community, we are able to maintain our market share and enjoy watching it increase as we continue to polish our service and quality to the customer's door."



So let's talk about this individual location. It was a little rough around the edges - with a custodial sign on the front door and some folks hanging in the parking lot. Inside, there is a lot of seating for dine-in and TVs to keep you entertained. I had placed an online order, so I picked that up and headed home. I kept it simple with just some cheesy breadsticks. Cheese + bread + sauce always make me happy. The sauce is sweeter.  The cheese did a terrible job at staying on the individual bread sticks, but luckily no one had to see me scavenge for bits and pieces to make a bite. Eh in construction, Ya to flavor. 

Grade: B

Just a quick little post highlighting Stinson Grocery, a small neighborhood grocery that carries a little bit of everything: frozen foods, candy bars, household essentials and more. The "more" includes goodies from Bop & Nanas, located just up the road. Frozen scones, sandwiches and they even had a batch of ramp caramel brittle. Have you been?