Category Archives: Events

Eat. Run. Hope

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Laugh all you want, but I generally sign up for races based on these 3 important factors:

  1. Will there be food or alcohol waiting for me at the end? I thoroughly enjoyed the free donut at the finish line of the Top Pot 5K last year.
  2. Are crazy costumes encouraged? I look forward to sportin’ my giant Guinness hat and a homemade green tutu at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Dash.
  3. And most importantly, does the race benefit a worthy cause? The Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon I ran last summer benefited the American Cancer Society and I personally chose to raise funds for the Pike Place Market Foundation, one of the event’s charity partners.

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Market to ART: It’s like Top Chef meets Chopped

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On Monday, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural “Market to ART” at ART Restaurant, a fun food event that is like a hybrid of Top Chef and Chopped, if you will. A small group of us were invited to be the guinea pigs before the Four Seasons/ART Restaurant opens it up to the public in the future.

Photo Source: Four Seasons Hotel Seattle

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Fun food events at Pike Place Market

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Well whaddaya know: there’s not one, but TWO exciting food events happening at the Pike Place Market on the week of my birthday. Even better, you can eat to your heart’s (or rather belly’s) content and know it’s all for a good cause — proceeds from both events benefit local nonprofit organizations.
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“Trunk corn is delicious…”

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The title of this post was one of the many hilarious quotes from Kevin Gillespie at the 2nd Annual Gig Harbor Wine & Food Festival on August 6.

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CAGJ’s 5th Annual SLEE Dinner – June 11th

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Nothing brings me more joy than an event that celebrates great, locally-sourced food and supports a worthy cause at the same time. The Community Alliance for Global Justice is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this year, and on June 11th, you, too, can celebrate with them at their 5th annual “Strengthening Local Economies, Everywhere” (SLEE) dinner.

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Piggin’ out on lots o’ pig

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For $125 a pop for general admission tix alone, I didn’t think I’d ever end up at COCHON 555. But then my dear friend and fellow food blogger Kristin (author of KristinPotPie) won free VIP tickets to the event and invited me to accompany her this weekend. I know I get all giddy for every food-related event I go to, but this one in particular had me bouncing off the walls. An event dedicated to pig – and more importantly, the sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs – is definitely a winner in my book!

COCHON_logo

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Recap: SIFF Dinner & a Movie

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You know the scene from Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts has a love affair with her bowl of mouth-watering spaghetti? Or what about in Julie & Julia where Meryl Streep meets the bubbly and uber-buttery sole meuniere? I don’t know about you, but I was practically licking the TV screen.

Now imagine having an award-winning chef prepare you the meal featured in a movie…while you’re watching the movie at his restaurant! Yes, friends, such a thing exists. “Dinner & a Movie” is a dynamic partnership between the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) and Volterra Restaurant in Ballard. The series is a year-long quarterly program that features delicious Italian fare prepared by chef Don Curtiss and films exclusively selected by SIFF artistic director Carl Spence.

So anyway, earlier this month, a friend invited me to join her for a special “Dinner & a Movie,” featuring Big Night. For those of you who’ve seen this movie, yes…yes, we were treated to the same bajillion-course Italian feast that Primo and Secondo created in the movie for the no-show Louie Prima. Jealous? :P Check out the menu:

  • Assorted Antipasti
  • Chicken Brodo with Tortellini
  • Trio of Risotto
  • Timpano
  • Roasted Suckling Pig
  • Roasted Chicken
  • Herb Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
  • Seasonal Vegetables
  • Chocolate Citrus Cannoli
  • Lots n’ lots of vino :)

Here are some highlights from the meal — I took these with my inadequate Blackberry camera so please excuse the poor image quality.

Trio of risotto resembling the colors of the Italian flag. Clockwise from top: cheese, pesto, seafood

Timpano, a giant baked pasta dish that resembles the timpani drum

The remains of what was a whole suckling pig...a very flavorful and tender piggy stuffed with an Italian sausage mixture

Chocolate citrus cannoli to end the fabulous meal!

The 2010 “Dinner & a Movie” series has already come and gone, but check back at the SIFF website for what’s in store in 2011.

And that’s a wrap folks! Ciao!

Jenn vs Baking…all for a worthy cause

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Ahh, baking…my Achilles heel in the kitchen. As OCD as I am about everything else in my life, you would think the precision and exactness required in baking would bode well with me. Yeah…not so much.

This is why you’ll only ever find me baking once a year and that’s on Thanksgiving. My pumpkin mousse + cheesecake pie has been a huge hit at my Thanksgiving gatherings, and I have been mandated to make it every year.

This year, I’m adding another notch to my baking belt: I’ll be participating in Will Bake For Food (#bake4food, for my fellow Twitter-addicted :) ), a bake sale benefiting Northwest Harvest. There will be 60 local food bloggers baking for this event, including Jenny Richards of Purple House Dirt and Jenny Miller of Rainy Day Gal, the two fabulous ladies who put this all together.

Here’s how it all works — For each item you donate at the event, you will receive a ticket to spend on the yummy homemade baked goods and warm beverages. Extra tickets will be given in exchange for items that Northwest Harvest needs most: Gluten-free foods, diapers and infant formula.

In case you’re wondering, I will be making mini versions of these Fall-inspired whoopie pies. May the baking gods be on my side and let these turn out looking and tasting yummy :) .

This event is timely with the holidays just around the corner and November 14-20 being  National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. I hope you’ll join us on the 20th to help those in need!

“It’s not Top Cilantro”…

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For those of you who watched Top Chef season 5, you’ll recall Fabio Viviani‘s famous line: “this is Top Chef, not Top Scallop” (referring to Jamie’s lack of variety after making her umpteenth scallop dish). I had the chance to meet Fabio this weekend at the inaugural Gig Harbor Wine and Food Festival.

And during our first encounter at one of the tasting booths, Fabio mentioned that he hates cilantro and I smartly replied, “same here, it’s not Top Cilantro after all.” Yeah…not quite as funny when I say it…

Anyway, I accompanied @foodiecritic to the event as her unofficial photographer. I’ll let her give you an in-depth recap in her Belles of the Sound blog post on Friday — be sure to check it out. In the mean time, I would like to give a shout out to the brilliant folks at Anthony‘s for these insanely delicious Ahi tuna crisps — definitely my favorite nibble of the day.

And now I leave you with my Flickr slideshow of the press event and cooking competition between Fabio and chef Craig Haslebacher, who recently beat Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America.

Ciao!