thanks to Jennifer at Savor the Thyme for the shots of the caramel pour & the dish of Chen Chen aboveYou know, when you go to pull together a blogger get-together for the first time, it's hard to know how it will go, what will happen. Will people even show up? What will we do - you know, besides eat?
You never anticipate the incredible generosity - not just of the blogger community - but also of varying food producers, artisans, kitchen gear makers, and book publishers. Jennifer of Savor the Thyme and I were provided with an assortment of goodies for the event, and we want to thank everyone who helped make it a success.
While talk amongst we bloggers ranged from working with brands, to how to position oneself for paid writing gigs, to contracts (deliverables and delivery schedule - you need both, ideally in writing, peeps), to food manufacturing and retail, to the publishing industry on the whole - it did also include chatter about a slew of interesting dishes. Kimmy of Lighter and Local's pumpkin whoopie pies were a hit, as was Michael of Books on the Nightstand's apple-caramel cake (alas, I have no microwave, so please see Michael in the shot above, working magic with lukewarm-ish caramel).
Jackie of The Leather District Gourmet made a fragrant Jamaican curry goat stew, David from David Dadekian Photography's Blackbird Farm brisket was savory and hearty, accompanied with loads of potatoes and root vegetables. Not to mention, bacon fat and beer. Mmmmm. Beer. And MMMMMMM, bacon fat.
Ann of Books on the Nightstand and Nora of Good Food Girl provided us with the intriguingly named Scotch Broth (lamb soup), while Jen of Jens' Dish brought along split pea soup, and all of the main dishes were complemented by the most adorable tiny savory corn muffins that Jayne of Barefoot Kitchen Witch baked for us.
Jexsy of Jexsy's Food brought Chen Chen, a Dominican pork and dried corn dish, accented with olives and tomatoes, and Lauren of Run Lift Chant Breathe somehow managed to craft butternut squash-filled wontons with maple mascarpone between book club in the morning and our noontime potluck (and all wontons made were devoured before she ran off to a yoga event later in the day. Ahhh, youth.).
Earlier that morning, a quick journey out to the Lippitt Park farmers market in Providence scored me two dozen Sugarush Truck cupcakes. Chocolate with vanilla frosting, lemon with lavender frosting, pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, and sweet roasted beet with orange cream cheese frosting were among the assortment.
clearly I was a bit enamored of the cupcakes, as these were the only photos I took during the early stages of the shindig. Whoopsie.Andrews McMeel (publisher of the Poor Girl Gourmet cookbook) was kind enough to supply the brand new (and of inherent interest to food bloggers, of that I can assure you, having seen the reaction here) Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook for everyone who attended. The variety of blogs represented in the book was a point of conversation for all, as were the recipes, with more than one blogger yelling out, "this is great!" We bloggers are an enthusiastic group, you know.
It's a silly pun, I realize, but if I'm going to employ cliche on this here blog, this is the time to do it. Everyone was green with envy when Jexsy walked away with the OXO Good Grips gift basket.
I might have been most green, as the shade of green in the gift basket is my favorite, and I am madly in love with that oven mitt. I have one in yellow (don't get me wrong. I like yellow, too. Just not as much as this green shade - Caribbean lime, I think we should call it), and it is in constant use at my house. Tongs are another all-time favorite kitchen utensil, and the ones in this gift basket are tipped with green - um, Caribbean lime - silicone. So good for non-stick as well as your metal pans. Or "stick" pans, as JR and I like to refer to them.
If you've been reading here for a while, you may have heard (or read) mention of the OXO liquid measuring cups before. If not, hey - now you have. I love them. I have them in every size from 1/4-cup to 4-cup. I could go on and on. And, of course, it seems as though I have. In any event, Jexsy was also quite happy with the loot, understandably so.
I love RegionalBest.com, for all of the great artisan producers they represent (and also because Marsha and Caragh are very nice people, to boot), and they generously provided three $25 gift certificates for our giveaways. I had purchased Shy Brothers Hannabells (cheese!), as well as Sunchowder's Emporia Raspberry Jalapeno jam for the event, so we were able to sample a few Regional Best specialties on the day.
David won the coveted Flour Cookbook from Boston culinary luminary Joanne Chang (courtesy of Chronicle Books), but seeing as he left before the drawing, I might - I said might - just test drive it before I hand it off to him (if you see David before I do, please let him know that the book will arrive in like-new condition. I promise not to splatter).
Olivia's Organics kindly donated individual salads as well as coupons for salad for all of the bloggers, which made the crew rather joyful (please see below, upper right). In all the frenzy of preparing the barn for the festivities on Saturday, JR and I were quite happy to have a couple of salads on Friday night as well.
Food Should Taste Good chips donated slews of chips and coupons for the goody bags - as well as the goody bags themselves. Some people who attended were extremely excited about the FSTG treats, and some markedly more so than others, but "they" shall remain nameless (mainly because he's already outed himself to Food Should Taste Good, so why out him further, I ask.).
You know that I don't normally accept freebies here, though it was a treat to be able to provide all of these goodies to the bloggers who attended, especially because they are products or producers from whom I have purchased previously (or, in the case of Andrews McMeel, with whom I have a relationship).
As for me, I made that pear and onion braised pork butt that I mentioned in this quinoa post, and that will be the next recipe to see the orange "publish now" button clicked here.
To return to the Poor Girl Gourmet home page, click here.
