Monday, March 8, 2010

a food-filled adventurous weekend & canning demo at the Hollywood Farmers' market

(we got a pumpkin for $4!)

(our demo table at the Hollywood Farmers' Market)

this weekend again was packed with a number of adventures, new people and friends...unfortunately i am now several days behind work...but i have to admit it will be worth the 20 hour days i will have to pull this week.

(spicy crickets anyone??)

On Saturday, our store hosted the inaugural signing for Eddie Lin's book Extreme Foods. for those unfamiliar with food writer (and Good Food contributor), Lin, we his the author of the popular blog Deep End Dining-a blog dedicated to eating the bizarre, strange and unusual in cuisine. on-hand were crickets, jellyfish sandwiches and nopales (cactus) for fans to try out while listening to Lin and his hilarious stories...Eddie is a great guy and we have a combined interested in wild foods...

(Eddie's daughters LOVED the cardboard house!)

(the crowd for his book signing)

during the event, i had the pleasure of meeting several other food writers including Todd and Diane of White and Rice Couple (BTW an AWESOME, yummy food/photography blog-i already made the beet green/goat cheese dish...)-we have couldnt stop talking to each other about food & gardening-i am sure we will be seeing each other soon!

Later that evening, we stopped by Lisa's house and had a great dinner with her and our friends August and Jack. August made this amazing flourless chocolate cake, that for someone who is not too crazy about chocolate, i had 2 servings of (hint-hint August, i need the recipe).

unfortunately though, we had to leave early as i had to prepare for Hollywood the next day, and this time it was going to be a a little different- a live canning demo in the middle of the market!

This would be the first time that Ernest and i would do a canning demo together-the people at the market were great in setting us up with chairs, a tent and a KILLER stove that could do basically everything that we needed. There was a great crowd of enthusiastic future food preserves ready to watch Ernest make pickled asparagus and my curried carrots.

(Ernest and i working together making pickled carrots)


(for the curried carrot recipe-check PreserveNation blog)

While at the market, we also met up with one of the Ladies from Chicks with Knives Sustainable Supper Club-i have been wanting to go to one of their dinners for a while-i think this is a sign that we should!
We also saw Adriana from Anarchy in the Garden and her husband, they came to check out the demo, but we were already finished :( they also wanted to check out the Vegan Soul Food stand too.
I also saw Natalie Portman at the Farmers Kitchen-she can in for 2 seconds..very quite and tiny!

Then, right when we were about to finish packing, we saw my old-friends Ayshea and Robin, just back from their wedding festivities in Mexico! Ayshea and Robin were the friends that we had the tomato canning extravaganza with during the summer (PS planning more!), we shopped together and then had lunch at the Farmers' Kitchen. Then we headed back home to feverishly catch up on all the work that needed to be done during the weekend while watching the Oscars with Jack and August...boy and am i tired!

(my take on White and Rice's beets with goat cheese-GOOD)

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