I tried to map the distance from my house in NYC to Fäviken, Magnus Nilsson’s remarkable super-naturalist restaurant in Fäviken, Sweden. I’m not very good with Mapquest; I’ll estimate that it's more than 4,000 miles away (but only about 200 miles to the Arctic Circle). Nilsson saved me the trouble of going all the way up north to see him by cooking at a festival I went to last week, the super-fun International Gourmet Festival in Portugal.

What did Nilsson and his team haul from Sweden for the meal? Not much: some cheese, reindeer lichen (it’s delicious!) and a few lingonberries. Instead, Nilsson shopped locally, scoring some Atlantic bonito at the local fish market and some awesome pork from Mahladinha, a winery that also raises black-foot pigs. And then he foraged a bunch of ingredients from the beach right below Vila Joya, where his dinner took place. He said I could help him find wood sorrel to garnish his pine bark cookies. How thrilling that I’d get to help one of the world’s most brilliant chefs make dinner. But I bailed (clothes shopping emergency). And then happily ate those cookies and the rest of Nilsson’s dishes.

Here are some highlights from that meal. Special thanks to the Russian billionaire who flew his plane to Paris to pick up some caviar and vodka for the cocktail hour.
 
Blood, Roe and Lichens: This dish featured pig blood tartlets topped with trout roe, two things I don't generally eat together (and one thing I don't generally eat, period). Please believe me—it was delicious.
 
Tuna: Atlantic bonito marinated in mushroom juice and served with a brown-butter-toasted-oatmeal sauce.
 
Porridge: Oat, rye, wheat, flax seeds and sunflower seeds made into a creamy, cheesy porridge and served with kale sauce.
 
Heart and Marrow: A sublime meat salad with pieces of beef heart tossed with chunks of bone marrow and an herb that included herbs foraged from the Algarve.

It’s a busy time for food-festival groupies. South Beach Wine & Food Festival is coming soon (February 23–26!), then you've got to get to California for Pebble Beach Food & Wine (April 12–15) and before you know it, it’s the 30th anniversary of the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen (June 15–17).
 
Now I’m obsessed with the just-wrapped International Gourmet Festival. The 10-day festival, at Vila Joya in Portugal’s beachy Algarve region, featured dinners with a million Michelin starred chefs. Well, 33 of them, and they came from all over Europe and the US (The Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield, SHO’s Shaun Hergatt and Laurent Gras all represented for USA). Also running around were awesome food-loving celebs like Adrian Grenier, who, with filmmaker Peter Glatzer brought his new eco-friendly SHFT house wine (you’ll hear more about it the April issue of F&W), Sheryl Crow and Michael Imperioli. Plus a Russian billionaire who flew his plane to Paris to pick up some vodka and caviar for a party. Here are a few highlights from this year’s International Gourmet Festival.
 
Epic Dinner: In my idea of the ultimate potluck, a dozen elite chefs worth 20 Michelin stars combined to cook a 10-course dinner. That meal ran the gamut from a gorgeous foie gras starter topped with shredded crab and fermented cabbage sauce, from the three-starred Dutch chef Jonnie Boer, to a hearty main-course goulash from the Frankfurt chef Mario Lohninger (whom I still miss from his time at NYC’s Danube).
 
Epic After-Party: Adrian Grenier’s late-night DJ gig at Le Club, one of those awesome, cheesy Euro discos that becomes a lot better when someone’s playing decent music. Extra credit to Grenier—he’d spent the afternoon pouring his SHFT wine, and then woke up early the next day (well, at 1 p.m., which is early in the Algarve) to race go-karts.
 
Epic Day Trip: An expedition to Lisbon (it’s two hours away, when a German guy is driving a BMW). There we got to have the insane, custardy de Belem pastries for breakfast, a killer lunch at chef Jose Avillez’s 10-day-old Belcanto and a ride around the city in one of those adorable 1920s cable cars.

San Francisco indie rockers The Stone Foxes were in New York recently for the annual CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival. Haven’t heard them yet? You probably mistook them for the Black Keys in a recent Jack Daniels commercial in which they covered Slim Harpo’s bluesy “I’m a King Bee.” I sat down with the band between shows for a rundown of their favorite eats from their last few months of touring (they’re also documenting the tastiest bites on their Facebook page).


Where's your favorite preshow meal these days?

Aaron Mort, bass: Being a vegan on the road is definitely pretty challenging. Going through the South for a week, iceberg lettuce with barbecue sauce was pretty much all I ate, but The Grit is an amazing vegetarian place in Athens, Georgia. Spence got the Mediterranean platter, and the hummus was insane.

Spence Koehler, lead guitar: The Shed in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, is just a shack on the edge of a swamp with a barbecue pit and picnic tables, but its baby back ribs are some of the best I’ve ever had.

Shannon Koehler, drums: I tried blood sausage for the first time at the Sweet Afton pub in Astoria, New York. It freaked me out, but I had to trust my bartender’s recommendation. It was glorious. Amen.

Elliott Peltzman, keyboards: I tried the vegan “Chik’n Parmigiana” at Foodswings in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and I swear it tasted exactly like a real chicken parm. It even flaked like real chicken when you pulled it apart.

 

What are you washing it all down with?

Spence: I was blown away by the Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish style ale we tried in Phoenix. It’s superstrong but extremely flavorful.

Elliott: We took the locals’ advice and tried Terrapin Brewery in Athens, Georgia. Its IPA is excellent.

Aaron: And of course, the Bay Area has great beer. I love Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Elder.

 

What are you excited to eat when you get back to San Francisco in a few weeks?

Spence: I’m baking pumpkin pies as soon as I get home. That’s number one.

Joe Barham, band manager: I’m stoked for organic Mexican food at Gracias Madre. It’s a block from my house, so I go there I lot.

Aaron: I’m going to break my vegan streak for the boozy Secret Breakfast ice cream at Humphry Slocombe. It tastes like the bourbon pound cake my mom always makes for Christmas.

It’s a tough time for anyone with at least one eye on the wildly fluctuating stock market. So here’s something to make everyone feel better – or at least those adults who want to drink like children, and have valid id in case the bartender asks. Adult slushies (aka shaketails) have become wildly popular around the country. Here are a few great places to find them.

Tristan, Charleston. Cocktail popsicles are available in weekly changing flavors like Watermelon, White Balsamic Mojito and Firefly Southern Peach. Whether you want to down them as an aperitif or an extra chilled Happy Hour snack is your call.

Holsteins Shakes & Buns, Las Vegas. Located in the super-fun Cosmopolitan, Holsteins has a whole section of "bam-boozled" milkshakes on their dessert menu like the Cereal Bowl with vanilla vodka, Cap’n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles. The brand new "sorbet" shake is made with watermelon, bubblegum vodka and, surprise, liquid nitrogen. 

The Ritz-Carlton Downtown, Atlanta. Atlanta summers are so hot, it’s no surprise that the local Ritz came up with a super fun adult slushie. That would be their boozy, vibrantly colored snow cones,like Passionfruit with Lemon and Bourbon and the locally minded Moonshine-spiked one with Blackberry and Honey.

Village Whiskey, Philadephia. In July, chef Jose Garces premiered milkshakes at his two-year-old spot, which guests can order spiked or not. The long list of ingredients in the Irish Car Bomb includes rum-soaked devil’s food cake, whiskey-infused chocolate pastry cream and vanilla and chocolate ice creams; to make it even more appealing (to me anyway), it’s topped with a piece of cake.

Burger, Tap & Shake, Washington DC. Jeff Tunks, chef at this soon-to-open tavern, coined the term ‘shaketails’ and he’s taking it seriously enough to make almost everything in the drink in-house. The Dr.’s Cure mixes vanilla bean vodka with coffee liquor and vanilla ice cream. I’m not sure how the Teacher’s Pet got its name, but it combines apple brandy, ouzo, root beer with more vanilla ice cream.

La Esquina, Brooklyn. At the new outpost of the groovy Mexican restaurant in New York City, pastry chef Pichet Ong is creating a list of alcohol-soaked ices to serve to the Williamsburg locals. He’ll start with shaved ice and flavor it with tropical fruits like a pineapple margarita, flavored with fresh fruit puree, cilantro, tequila and, as is necessary for all good margaritas, salt.

Related: 20 Refreshing Drinks
Best Ice Cream Spots in the U.S.

I hate to miss a good party. And it sounds like I missed a pretty spectacular one last week, as the Mandarin Oriental Paris celebrated its official launch. Among the people I would have liked to hang out with: Liam Neeson and Maggie Cheung, and Pierre Gagnaire, one of the world’s all-time great chefs). Michelin-two-starred chef Thierry Marx did the party food—of course he did, he does all the food for the hotel, most especially the impossible to get into Sur Mesure par Thierry Marx.

But don’t feel too sorry for me missing the party, because I did get to see the Mandarin Oriental Paris earlier this summer and was just fine. I loved the Swarovski-crystal-lined walls in the lobby, the Diptyque shampoos in the bath and the outrageous brioche in the breakfast bread basket and at the Cake Shop. And I found my new hero, hotel concierge Adrian Moore, who knows every single thing about the Paris food scene and has an excellent blog to prove it.

For more on the Mandarin Oriental Paris, and the fantastic hotel scene in Paris right now, check out the awesome Paris Travel Guide in the October issue of Food & Wine.

Harvest season started in August for much of the wine world, but Reuters reports that vintners in Burgundy and other French regions are currently divided over when to haul in the grapes. While waiting increases ripeness (which could result in better wine), it also raises the risk that storms could damage the bounty. Something easier to agree on: Harvest time, which can run into October in some climates, is a great chance to tour wine country. In addition to temperate weather, regions bustle with celebratory events like Bordeaux's annual festival in Saint-Emilion, taking place this weekend. Napa offers a string of wine-release parties (like those at Duckhorn and Beaulieu Vineyards this Friday and Saturday), grape-stomping competitions (like Castello di Amorosa's on September 24) and harvest dinners (Pine Ridge Vineyards will hold one on October 8). To help you plan, F&W presents guides on where to eat, sleep and, of course, drink in top wine regions.

WINE REGION GUIDES

FRANCE
Champagne
With picks from Master Sommelier and Champagne fanatic Laura Maniec

SPAIN
Rioja
With picks from El Bulli alumnus Lucas Paya

UNITED STATES
Santa Barbara
With picks from Addison sommelier Lucas Paya

Napa
With picks from chef Michael Chiarello and winemaker Jamey Whetstone
 
Sonoma
 
Oregon
 
Washington State

Maybe you heard about this: A few weeks ago, police shut down a lemonade stand in Midway, Georgia. The stand wasn’t a front for drug dealers; it was a money-making scheme by three young local girls who wanted to go a water park. Apparently in Midway you need a business license for a lemonade stand.

In honor of the Midway Lemonade Girls – who are now selling their product at the Richmond Hill Farmers Market on Tuesdays, no permits necessary — let’s look at some fun lemonades that are keeping folks cool during this long, hot summer.

Lemonade, Los Angeles. Yes, that’s the actual name of the place, which has three locations around LA. They offer 6 or so types of lemonade daily with rotating flavors, like peach-ginger, andblueberry-mint; the newest and most popular one is hibiscus. If you’re looking for a deal, all lemonades are $1 on Tuesdays the downtown Flower Street shop. And if you need relief from lemonade, there’s assorted salads and paninis on the menu, too.

Del's Frozen Lemonade, Rhode Island. I knew lemonade was classic but I didn’t know you could trace it back to 1840, Naples, Italy. At least that’s the origin of Del’s, which claims that the first version of their refreshing sweet-tart drink was made by someone’s great grandfather with wintertime snow, big fat ripe lemons and sugar. Fast forward to now, Del’s has branches in over a dozen states and flavors like watermelon. Their brand newest flavors are grapefruit and pomegranate.

Big City Grill & Lemonade, Indianapolis. Lemonade isn’t the point here: most people focus on the Philly cheesesteaks (or the Philly buster, made with steak, chicken and ground beef) and the nachos, which you can get with extra cheese by the cup. But everyone loves the lemonade, too, which they say is made with real lemons and a great deal at $2.09 for 20 ounces. I’m not asking if flavors like fruit punch are all-natural.

Mario's Italian Lemonade, Chicago. When its super hot, like it often is in Chicago in summer, it’s great to have a lemonade that’s really a shaved Italian ice. The classic is especially good and it’s dotted with little pieces of lemon, but there’s also melon and even pina colada if you’re going fancier. The place is open straight through from 10 am to midnight, which is a good thing because nights in Chicago are pretty hot, too.

Mister Parker’s Lemonade Stand at The Parker Palm Springs, Palm Springs, CA. You’re poolside at The Parker, thinking you might want to play a game of croquet on the nearby court if only you had some refreshment. Luckily for you, the Lemonade Stand is right there, making drinks like their their excellent frozen muddled vodka lemonade with lemons grown right on the hotel grounds. If you don’t have the strength to get to the stand, they will deliver your cocktail to the hammock area by bicycle.

Related Links:
Lemonade Recipes
Awesome Summer Drinks
Party Punch Recipes

(Pictured: Tarragon Lemonade)

The September issue spotlights an incredible destination for wine and art lovers.

Museum of Old and New Art; Tasmania, Australia
There aren't many places in the world where you can drink world-class Riesling and see a piece of art that caused a culture war. A new destination is this $80 million, 64,500-square-foot new art museum, built by gambling mogul David Walsh to house his massive contemporary-art collection. On display are works by Damien Hirst, Sir Sidney Nolan (his Snake, pictured, consists of 1,620 paintings) and Chris Ofili, whose elephant dung–encrusted portrait of the Virgin Mary was called "sick" by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. Located on-site are Walsh's excellent Moorilla winery, brewery, restaurant and eight artist-designed "accommodation pavilions"—even more reasons to make the trip. mona.net.au.

Insider's Tip: The best and most scenic way to reach the MONA complex is a 45-minute ferry ride up the Derwent River from the Tasmanian capital, Hobart.

Related: Chardonnay Wineries With Art Galleries
Wine Bottles Worth Collecting
They Draw & Cook

The September issue reveals some of the best new shops for food-obsessed readers.

Charleston, SC: Heirloom Book Company
For people who want to eat their food and read about it too, this new shop has books on food and wine and out-of-print cookbooks, alongside antique kitchen tools and seeds from local chef Sean Brock of McCrady's. After-hours, the homey Heirloom hosts small in-store dinners cooked by chefs from all around the South.

London: V&A Reading Rooms
This stand-alone shop run by the Victoria and Albert Museum lures in readers with its books on design and art. It gets them to stay with a small menu of snacks (olives, lemon almonds) and organic wines chosen by Duncan Ackery to drink while (carefully) perusing the stacks.

Related:
Marvel Superheroes' Cookbook and More Comics
Healthy Italian Recipes from Cookbook Author Jessica Theroux

It’s hard not to feel a tinge of guilt eating and drinking around Bordeaux and Paris while the Tour de France is going on. Every morning I’d hop on the bike at our hotel gym and ride along to the Tour coverage on the TV before going off to stuff myself with stinky French cheeses, buttery croissants, macarons and wine from Château Smith Haut Lafitte. After watching the grueling mountain climbs and speedy sprint trials, I have a whole new respect for cyclists. So a huge shout out is in order for Boston chef Jody Adams of Rialto, who is training for the Pan-Mass Challenge bike ride. The two-day ride takes place August 6 and 7, and covers 192 miles from Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Jody has been training with Sean Griffing and Eric Papachristos, who are partners in Trade, her new restaurant which opens this fall. Their team has set a goal of raising more than $50,000 to donate to the cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Click here to make a donation and support their ride.