Foodbuzz 24 24 24: Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I hope you all had wonderful days filled with family/friends and good food! I know I am so very thankful to have a loving family, a job, a warm place to sleep, and so many good things to eat. I think it's easy to take simple pleasures like cooking and eating for granted. It was this inspiration that lead me to this month's 24 24 24 proposal. I proposed a giving of a celebration to families in need. With the help of Dimitri House who paired John and I with the families, we were able to "adopt" two families for Thanksgiving this year. Both families are headed by strong women raising their kids alone, one family with 7 children ranging in ages from 1 to 16 (2 sets of twins!!). The mission is simple: provide the families with everything they need in order to celebrate Thanksgiving without any burden or worry.

Celebrating Thanksgiving with food is not a given for many families, there just isn't room in an already tight budget to splurge on such things. On a day that is filled with so much glutton and excess, it is so wonderful to be able to give something back so that they may celebrate and give thanks for all of the good things they do have.

With $250 from Foodbuzz we were able to give these families enough for Turkey day along with more food to use up later!! Actually, even with a full trunk and back seat filled with groceries we still didn't hit the $250 mark... what to do?? Wegmans giftcards!! This way the families could get whatever else we didn't pick up that they were craving. Hopefully they picked up something extra special :)

As for what we did pick up... we gave each family a call first to see if they would rather have turkey or ham for Thanksgiving... both were ladies after my own heart and picked ham!! MMMMM ham!!! John and I headed to Wegmans for a late night attack on the ailes! We filled two large carts to the brim with huge hams, stuffing, 10 lb bags of potatoes, yams, onions, all types of veggies, fruit, salad fixings, bread, milk, eggs, pumpkin and apple pies, cheese, crackers, PB and jelly, pasta, sauce, cereal... and so much more!

I was heading to NJ this past Sunday so John was left to deliver all of the food on his own. He was a trooper though and after a dozen or so trips back and forth to the car had all of the bags in the homes of the two families. Both families were overwhelmed with the amount of food we had for them, and totally floored with the giftcards.

Thank you Foodbuzz for making these events possible! Although John and I didn't take part in the actual Thanksgiving day event with these families, I think it was the best and most rewarding 24 24 24 participation I've had so far!

What would you say is the thing you are most thankful for?

Ohmmmmm

So Stoneyfield Oikos yogurt asked us foodbloggers what makes us say ohmmm for a chance to win a crazy spa vacation (it's a Na-Moo-Ste Giveaway.. HA). Of course I want to win and need to enter!!

How to enter...
A) Share an original story about why you need to say “Ohm”
B) Post a photo of you doing yoga in a toga (Oikos is Greek yogurt after all!)
C) Share a recipe you created using Oikos yogurt as an ingredient

Hmmm as much as I love baking up new things.. it's kinda crazy thanksgiving time so I want to go with B... cause seriously... do I really need an excuse to make a total fool out of myself?? but it seems i've run out of time and people to take a silly picture of me... so you'll have to settle for A I guess :)

I like to think about life like they say about those oxygen masks on airplanes.... put yours on first and then help the person next to you... I take this to real life too, if you aren't sound mentally and physically how are you going to take care of the people you love? I've been called selfish when I've voiced this opinion... I say take some time for yourself, relax, have fun and say Ohm in your own special way :) For me, it's going to the gym, crocheting, sewing, or watching some really bad reality TV hehe :)

How do you say Ohm???

You can see more here about Oikos :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! I have a fabulous 24 24 24 post in the works as we speak!!! Can't wait to share it with you all!

Hope you are all enjoying some:

Be back soon!

Strawberry POM jam

So I had an idea... take the strawberry agave jam I made a little while ago... and add in pomegranate seeds!! I mean I already used POM juice in the jam... why not go full on with the seeds!?

So what do you think? :) An even tarter jam, with a little added snap of the pom seeds! Wicked fun!

check out the cute POM logo on the labels... LOL oh wait is that copyright infringement??? It's not like I'm selling these so no worries right? :D

Tart Strawberry POM Jam sweetened with Agave
recipe by steph chows

2.5 lb bag of whole frozen strawberries
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup pomegranate and nectarine juice or strait up POM juice
1 package Ball no sugar fruit pectin
1 pomegranate, seeded and skin/pith discarded
7 sterilized 1/2 pint jars

Place frozen strawberries in a large pot, heat on medium until they start to thaw and sauce up. Once they are soft enough mash them with a potato masher. Add agave and juice and turn heat to medium high. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring the whole time. Keep stirring and let it roll for 1 minute. Gradually add in pectin and continue to stir and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in POM seeds, pour into sterilized jars. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove from water and let cool undisturbed overnight. For more specifics on canning check our this post here.

This jam was super flavorful and the pom juice gave it a nice tart kick!

Goat cheese appetizer

Sometimes you need a quick and easy appetizer for a get together, enter in these stacks. Beautiful, simple, clean flavors, and easy to assemble! Enter in Ile de France goat cheese. They are having a recipe contest for a delicious appetizer involving their cheese.


I know some of you will recognize this recipe from a previous post, but it's just so darn good I couldn't pass up making it again! Ile de France mailed me a log of their goat cheese and I knew straight away that I would be making these with in... I think I'm going to try a pumpkin goat cheese cheesecake with the rest of the log... mmm cheesecake :)

Tomato, Spinach, and Goat cheese stacks
Take a big juicy tomato and slice it up.
Place some baby spinach leaves on top of the tomatoes.
Top off with the fried goat cheese and drizzle with some balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, crack some fresh pepper on top for good measure.

To make the cheese
Slice a log of goat cheese into medallions, dunk into a bowl with a beaten egg white, then dunk into a bowl with whole wheat bread crumbs/salt/pepper. Dip back into the egg white and then back into the breadcrumbs. Place in a frying pan with a spray of olive oil. Cook one side until browned, flip and brown the other side.

More pumpkin granola

Who wants more granola?? ME ME ME!!! I've been chowing up all kinds of homemade granola as of late, tossing in whatever I have on hand! Seriously that's why I love granola so much, toss in whatever you like and you are good to go! Here's my latest version:

So this picture isn't of the below recipe granola... it's the batch previous... but I never took pics of this last batch... whooops!

This is my go to wet mixture:
Mix the following in a small bowl:
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar

Then this is my random whatever on hand dry mixture basics:
In a very large bowl toss together
5 cups old fashion oats
2 cups kamut puffs
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped nuts of some kind

Mix wet into dry, toss to coat, bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, tossing every 10-15 minutes so it doesn't burn. Let cool and then toss in raisins or other dried fruit.

I just love the pumpkin mix, and I LOVE LOVE the addition of the coconut.

CHOW!!!

Gingerbread bagels

So remember last year when I went nutzo trying to find gingerbread bagels at Panera? To the point I had my dad in NJ go buy me some and freeze them to give to me? My dad rocks :) (Mom you rock too don't worry, plus she's the one to give the message to my dad to pick them up!).

Well I've been craving them something fierce so I attempted to make my own again... the good news, the texture was spot on! The bad news... they did not look or taste like Paner's gingerbread bagels... but you know what? It's all good... because the gingerbread bagels are back at Panera!!! Seriously go chow some!!! They are like crack with hazelnut cream cheese... yes please... bring them ON!!!

OK back to my bagels, my coworkers were surprised that the texture was so good considering they didn't look so hot LOL. Darn you gingerbread bagels... I will master you one of these days!

Raspberry Almond Quick Bread

John had a slice of this and said "I think this is the best thing you've ever made" awesome!!!!

So I mentioned the other day that November 17th is National Bread Day, and the people at Driscoll's asked if I'd like to try a recipe featuring their berries (bonus they would send me a coupon to buy their berries) Of course I said yes!! But you all know I can't follow directions... at all... The recipe is by Dede Wilson. Dede, I'm positive your recipe would be over the top delicious, and I'm going to post her original recipe at the end of the post... but I kinda... ok TOTALLY remade the recipe...


The blackberries were swapped for Driscoll's raspberries (come on raspberries kick butt) the walnuts tossed to the side in favor of almonds, all butter taken away (I replaced the melted butter in the streusel with agave!), whole wheat flour replaces white, and reduced fat sour cream stands in for the full fat variety. Dede I really mean no disrespect, I hope you don't mind that I healthed up your recipe, it had great bones so I knew it would translate well! This loaf was super tasty, the coworkers were amazed there was no butter in it, it's super moist!

Want to see the nutrition stats side by side? This is for 1/10th of the loaf:
We dropped over 150 calories and more importantly took out 17.5 g of fat along with 9.4 g of saturated fat per serving!!! I used calorie count recipe analysis for both my version and hers, Driscoll provided stats with her recipe and the ones I calculated are pretty close to what they said. But the most important part is this loaf tasted DELICIOUS!!!


Raspberry (or blackberry) Almond Streusel Quick Bread
recipe redo by steph chows
Makes 1 9x5” loaf

Streusel:
1 cup lightly toasted almonds, finely chopped
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons agave nectar

Bread:
2 cups fresh Driscoll’s Raspberries (or blackberries), divided
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash fine grain sea salt
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (I used Musselman's)
1/3 cup granulated organic zero (or granulated splenda or white sugar)
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup reduced fat sour cream

Make the Streusel: Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add agave and stir until combined. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: Arrange oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Chop (I just used my fingers and pulled them apart gently) 1 cup of Driscoll’s berries and toss them with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.

Beat together apple sauce and sugars. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. Top with streusel/chopped berry mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining whole blackberries evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.

Bake for about 55 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely.

Original recipe by Dede Wilson:
Blackberry Walnut Streusel Quick Bread

This quick bread is very easy to make with the additional benefit of being a very good keeper; it stays moist for days at room temperature.

Makes 1 9x5” loaf

Streusel:
1 cup lightly toasted walnut halves, finely chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Bread:
2 cups fresh Driscoll’s Blackberries, divided
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon), at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup sour cream

Make the Streusel: Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add melted butter and stir until combined. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: Arrange oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray; thoroughly coat with flour, removing any excess.

Chop 1 cup of Driscoll’s Blackberries and toss them with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.

Beat the butter with an electric mixer until soft and creamy. Add sugar and brown sugar and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. Top with streusel/chopped blackberry mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining whole blackberries evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.

Bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely. Wrap in aluminum foil to store at room temperature for up to 4 days.

FInal wrap up

I had to take a break from the Foodbuzz write up yesterday... I mean it was over a week without a recipe... that's unheard of!!! We are finally wrapping the weekend up (can you tell it was packed full??) The final dinner was hosted by Outstanding in the field and it was delicious. There were over 300 of us all sitting at one VERY long table. I had a total rock star moment meeting Mike of Food Muse... I introduced myself and he got all excited that he was meeting me!? Seriously?? little old me?? rock on!! He had taken part in my jam exchange and we had a great time chatting it up!


I didn't have my mini tripod (how did I leave that at home?) so most of my pics are a bit shaky... sorry about that.

Mushroom dashi, maitake, shimeji, enoki muchrooms (there was a whole bowl of soup but I took a pic of just my spoon)

Udon, grilled monterey calamari in a browned butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisee & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette (MY FAVORITE THING OF THE NIGHT!)

Salmon baked with sashikombu, fried garlic and Japanese curry powder

Soy braised beef cheeks and oxtails, baby carrots and fingerling potato (if you look to the right of the picture you can see the other end of the table wrapping its way around the room)

Roasted brussels sprouts, ponzu fried garlic, guanciale, bonito flakes recipe here!

We had a fabulous meal and I was lucky enough to find my buddy Shoshana of The Making of a Natural Chef and sit next to her for the meal. We met for the first time on saturday and were like two peas in a pod, totally hitting it off! Don't you love when that happens? She's a fantastic girl and I know I'll be keeping in touch with her for years to come :) She's like me with a corporate job, using cooking and blogging as a fun escape... the difference is she actually went to school and became a chef!! Whereas I just fly by the seat of my home-cook pants ;)


One last pic from brunch Sunday morning, french toast using Natures Pride new Oaty bread... and thick cut bacon.... can we say heaven??



Driscoll's Blackberry Walnut Quick Bread to come tomorrow... I made it last night... AMAZING!!! and so far the coworkers are LOVING it!

National Quick Bread Day!

Did you guys know that it's national bread day? I didn't... but the people at Driscoll's fruit let me know and asked if I wanted to make a bread recipe from them with their fruit. Sure thing I do!! The problem is I didn't get a chance to run to the store yet for the berries... so I'm totally going to make the recipe tonight! The Blackberry Walnut Streusel Quick Bread will be coming to your screens shortly! (of course you know I wont be able to leave it alone and plan on healthing it up... Hope you don't mind Driscoll's!?!?

So to keep you happy and full today I'm going to be bringing you a steph chows quick bread original!! And it's even quicker than quick bread since it's a quick bread in muffin form. HOORAY MUFFINS ARE BACK!! I know you've been missing the muffin mania right??

The other fun thing about this recipe is I tried out Wholesome sweeteners Organic zero... it's a zero calorie sweetener that is totally organic, no chemicals here! I think these muffins came out great texturally with the perfect amount of sweet. Love it!



Banana Bran Muffins (with chocolate chips if you are John)
by steph chows
makes 12 muffins

Whisk together:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
dash salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup crushed bran flakes

In separate bowl, beat together
1/4 cup organic zero (or 1/4 cup white sugar)
1 egg or to make it vegan (1Tbs ground flax seeds + 1 Tbs water)
3 super over ripe medium sized bananas

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Don't overmix. If you like add in:
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Fill muffin tins two-thirds full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean.

3 hour eating marathon

The tasting pavilion was a serious highlight of my trip. Imagine a gigantic room with food as far as the eye can see! All of the companies were over the top gracious, handing out beer glasses, books, free samples to try right then and there, and samples to take home and save for later. I was lucky to have my old friend Travis meeting me there when it was over... he became my pack mule to help me carry everything back to the hotel, thanks Travis! (check out the great view we found at the end of the post)

There were so many wine and beer producers there along with the food vendors. If anyone managed to try all of them... I'm sure they were sloshed by the end LOL. Martini anyone? I tried an IPA from 21st amendment it kicked my socks off :D in a good way that is. They said it's the hoppiest beer you can find in a can. They also had a Hell Or High Watermelon Beer... lol love the name!

From Kerrygold cheese to fine artisan chocolates and everything in between, this was an eating marathon, and I have to say I think I did a darn good job eating my way through all of these vendors!

Highlight time:


Nitrate free hotdogs that taste like heaven? Thank you Range Brothers. There was also talk of a bacon hotdog from them... how did I miss that sample???

Amir and Chrystal and their amazing demo!!

So many types of Kerrygold cheese... all for me....

Next I need to tell you about foodzie... it's like esty... but for FOOD!!! It's a way for small companies (1 person in some cases) to get their name out there and sell their product. Here are all the great people who were there> link. And here's a few shout outs!

I didn't get a good picture but Annie the Bakers cookies... they are so thick and she described them as having a thick cookie dough texture... delicious!

Marshmallows made with real ingredients that taste like pumpkin, vanilla, and cranberry... OMG... they are from Gateau et Ganache tasty!

If you like honey check out Big Sky Honey Farm.
Hot sauce that kicks some serious rear? All spice cafe.
Awesome jam? Sunchowder jams.

There were just so many good things there! Go check the full list and buy from cool small companies!

Next up... Pop candy!

The people working the booth at Pop Candy were amazing!! And their all natural ingredients no preservative candy... *drool* Order some... no order a lot NOW!

Rock on Natures Pride!!

Natures Pride in the photo booth!

For a list of some of the vendors at the tasting go here. I seriously only mentioned maybe 1/10th of the companies there! I can't find a page with a full list though...

As I mentioned above my pack mule friend Travis knew about a bar across the street that had a great view of the city... little did he know if you take the stairs you can get to the roof!!! Should we have been up there.. prob not... but we had a 270 degree view that included both bridges AMAZING! The pictures really don't do it justice.


Next up.... Outstanding in the Field Dinner and a brunch wrapup!

Sports bras and Cows oh my

I know the title probably made you go... wawah??? Don't worry it will make sense... and no I'm not calling myself a cow. The day started with a nice run down to fisherman's warf and back. I stopped at the hotel front desk and asked for a running map. The guys must have thought I looked more hardcore than I really am since he immediately started telling me about this great 14 mile run down to the golden gate bridge and back... excuse me?? 14 miles... HA ummm yeah... got any around the 4 mile mark?? I had called down to ask the outside temp... I think they were a bit off... since a half mile into my run my long sleeve shirt was tied around my waste and I was only wearing shorts and a sports bra... yeah if you were one of the people wearing a winter coat as this "cold weather proof" Rochestarian jogged by half naked... yeah sorry about that! I got more than a few "what's wrong with that girl looks..."

Having coffee with Chrystal and Amir from the Duo Dishes

A quick shower and a power bar later I was off for coffee and "snacks" I think I ate a pound of grapes... most of the breakfast treats were already demolished... good thing I ate that power bar! After the caffeine fix they let us loose on the farmers market. So many cool things to look at, and of course I had to pick up a pair of cute earrings from a local vendor!

I got to meet Lisa from the Snack Snoop too!

Next is the cow part... my veggies and vegan, you are excused now... because I'm guessing you aren't going to want to hear about the sustainability farm to table talk I went to... it's ok, you can come back to see more tasty chow from the tasting pavillion, my demo!! and the outstanding in the field dinner! :D

OK for those of you who are left :) I went to a really interesting talk about raising cattle in an outdoor grass fed way. It was really eye opening I have to say. The talk was by the head chef of Americano (Paul Arenstam) and Brian from Hearst Ranch.

Paul looking chef chic & Brian looking very cowboy chic

Some interesting facts I learned

• It costs 3 times as much to raise a grass fed cow than a grain fed cow
• Grass fed cows have a smaller carbon footprint... grass grows on its own, whereas fossil fuel is needed to process the grain and then ship it.
• It takes a grain fed cow 13 months to get to be 1300 lbs. WOW. (was anyone else feeling like they were growing this fast this weekend with all the chow?)
  
• It takes a grass fed cow 18-24 months to reach a max around 1100.

Hearst treats their cows so they aren't in a constant state of fear... They wean the baby cows by moving them to another field, so they can still come up to the fence and see mom, but are slowly separated. This is not the case in most grain based ranches. Brain also explained that less stress = more tender meat... seriously I had a meatball made with their meat... tenderest thing I've ever had. AMAZING It makes sense when you think about it, when i'm stressed all my muscles are crazy tense and hard... yeah... so don't try to eat me... i'm stressed :D


He also explained things in a way that the cows are familiar with humans being around and part of their life, so when it's time to meet their maker... they aren't scared out of their minds (true or not... up to you).

Hearst is also starting a new CSA style take on meat. It's a really interesting concept. You basically buy a cow... or 1/2 a cow... or an 1/8 of a cow (40 lbs) and you pay one price per pound and they send you all different cuts of meat. No paying one price for tenderloin and another for ground meat. It's all vacuum sealed so you can easily freeze it. This sounds like a great idea if you have a few friends or family who like red meat. It helps the ranches and it gives you a better price overall for everything. Interested in ordering some delicious beef? Good news...

Brain wanted to thank foodbuzz and said to spread the word... so order now and put "Foodbuzz" in the coupon code box to get 30% off and free shipping!!

Learn more about the cattle shares here. Or buy your 1/8th of a cow here. I really wish John ate red meat... since 40 lbs for one person is going to be a bit much... LOL I need to ask around to see if anyone wants to go in on an 1/8 of a cow with me... anyone in Rochester interested??

OK up next is the tasting pavilion and my natures pride baking debut!! Then it's on to Outstanding in the Field dinner!!! YUMMMM Stay tuned!

Cocktails and Street Meat

OK back for the next installment! Jeanne made sure to get me to my hotel in time for the cocktail party Friday night. It was on the outdoor terraces on the 7th and 8th floors of Hotel Vital (ok I seriously love this hotel... such a fun modern feel to it... more on that later). Anyway drinks were flowing thanks to Skyy Spirits and there were all types of munchies to get our appetite revving. The best part, hearing someone call out my name since they recognized me from the pics on my blog! So cool!

I met a ton of new people and some "old friends" too. Isn't it great to have faces to go along with the blogs you read every day!? love it!

Hal from This Man's kitchen, Total brain fail... she's from Philly.. .and I can't remember her name but she came with Vik from Vik eats, Chrystal from the Duo Dishes, and gah another brain fail!


Natalie from Natalies Killer Cuisine, Allie of Fat kid who loves food, and yours truly. Don't you love long arm self portraits :D


The terraces got seriously packed so it was great to hear the tasting was starting across the street. Onto the chow!! It was like food overload, beer, wine, sandwiches, dessert... everywhere!! Here are some highlights.

First off my favorite thing of the night... a vegan RAW "cheesecake" this was my number 1 favorite thing all night... it was the best cheesecake I've ever eaten.... and yet there was no cheese LOL. If you live in the area PLEASE go get some at ALIVE. The chef who made it was there and he was amazing to chat with. It was a serious pleasure to meet him and the girl who was working the table. Too cool. This "cheesecake" is 100% vegan and raw... amazing... the crust... carrots... I didn't even realize until I heard someone else say it... no freakin way.


Now to the total opposite end of the spectrum... Second favorite thing... the "i love pork skin sandwich" I know it sounds gross... and the potatoes are cooked in the fat drippings... so not healthy in ANY way... but oh how good it was!


Another favorite... coffee ice cream from Straus Organic. Yeah... I went back for seconds... and yes I admitted it to the lady scooping it out :D


Oh a cupcake? Don't mind if I do!


And there were a good 10-15 other places there that night too... Can anyone say food coma?? and full disclosure... I didn't take a ton of pics at this event... I was too busy shoveling food into my mouth LOL see "Exhibit A" below... Natalie took it :D