Monday, August 15, 2005

"Girly Red Purse Salad" & Other Stories...

...from the first annual(?) 2005 Bay Area Food Bloggers Picnic

Click here to be Rachael Ray for a Day Dine & Dish Reminder: Be Rachael Ray, One Week From Today!

Sam's Girly Red Purse salad invented for the Bay Area and San Francisco Food Bloggers' Picnic 2005Sam's Girly Red Purse salad invented for the Bay Area and San Francisco Food Bloggers Picnic 2005
A few pounds of Early Girl tomatoes from both Heirloom Organics and Dirty Girl were quartered and their juice and seeds removed. They were then placed on two jelly pans in the oven and slow roasted at a heat of 150F for five hours. Once cooled to room temperature, the tomatoes were scattered on a bed of Purslane and Sorrel Leaves from Four Sisters Farm. Next, Redwood Hill Farm chevre was crumbled on top. Finally, this locally sourced salad was dressed with a 3:1 ratio of Sciabica Sevillano Variety Fall Harvest Olive Oil and Hare Hollow Apple Pomegranate Balsalmic Vinegar (seasoned with non-local salt and pepper).


Just Who Was I trying to Impress with this Salad?
Oh, just a bustling throng of Bay Area Food Bloggers, that's all. Yesterday, we all met up at Dr Biggle's Smoke House for an afternoon of drinking, eating and gossiping about food and blogging. So much delicious nosh, so many faces behind the names, so many good people all in one place. Let me share a few photographic memories with you all (click on any of the pictures for a larger than life, food in your face, version)...

Grilled Anaconda and Bacon
Knife Edge Haddock's house made Andouille sausage. Picnic 2005Meathenge bacon all day testing. Picnic 2005
These amazing Andouille sausages were made by Haddock from Knife's Edge. I didn't think I liked Andouille until I tried one of these. Wow! Dr Biggle's was conducting an all day bacon tasting. Although I liked all of the varieties he tested on us, my favourite was from The Fatted Calf.

See why he calls it Meathenge
Meathenge pork roast. Picnic 2005Meathenge pork roast. Picnic 2005
Pork, pork and more pork. Dr Biggles was grilling up a storm.

Food Bloggers are Sweeeeeet!
SPicetart Molly's cute little cupcakes. Picnic 2005Bun Rabs' fabulous macarons
Spicetart Molly was spotted with cupcakes, although they weren't beetroot pink this time. Only a BunRab would be crazy and brave enough to make macarons for such a discerning food-obsessed audience. Hmmm, I think I ate four. Maybe even five.

Pastry from the Professional!
Eggbeater Shuna Lydon's superb fruit pie. Picnic 2005
Our favourite Eggbeater, Shuna, made this delicious fruit pie which was quickly gobbled up. It contained a special secret ingredient which I almost guessed correctly. I would tell you, but I think I'd have to kill you.

I wish I'd had time to talk to everyone for longer and photograph everyone's delicious food. However, I was too busy nattering and having fun. I'd like to send out another huge thanks to Dr Biggles and his lovely wife for letting us use their yard. A hi-five is also winging its way to my other, fellow organisers, the Minty Potato Salad Queen, Cooking with Amy, Princess of the Persian Eggplant dish, Gastronmie-SF, Fatemeh and our very own Eat Local Expert, Jen, from Life Begins at 30.

And a big hello to all the other bloggers I either met for the first time, or reconnected with... Jeanne from World on a Plate (great watermelon fresca), Haddock from Knife's Edge (we missed the GM, but we liked the sausage), Pim from Chez Pim (scrumptious peanut sauce), Joy the Restaurant Whore (love her to bits), Catherine and Mr Food Musings (delicious dessert), Alder (and a summery pasta salad) from Vinography, Charlotte from Love and Cooking (with a tasty tomato and bread salad), Tom from Butter Pig (I'm going to have to beg him for his glorious CousCous recipe), ahhh, at last, Cookiecrumb from I'm Mad and I Eat , Nosheteria's Adrienne (and her super-dooper succotash), Derrick, Melissa, an Obsession with Food (and tomatilla salsa), the lovely Elise from Simply Recipes (thank you so much for the jar of apple butter!), Dr Five Pints (who I never quite caught up with properly, sorry Dr), Spicetart, Molly, (with cupcakes, good news and husband-to-be in tow), Shuna from Eggbeater (with the aforementioned tart), Heidi, from 101 Cookbooks, with a crunchy Caesar salad, Kim from Bay Area Bites with the most beautiful blue eyes (and a penchant for rhubarb), both bunrabs and their chocolate macarons and finally Steve from Blue Bottle (a huge thanks for the coffee!)

I am sure I have forgotten someone, please let me know if I missed you out. Last, but not least, we have to thank all the patient husbands, wives, partners and significant others who used this occasion to form an impromptu Food Blogger Spouse Support Group. You're a long-suffering bunch and we bloggers appreciate your patience. But heh! Just think about all the free food you got out of it!

Locavores August Eat Local Challenge 2005


posted in and and and and
"Girly Red Purse Salad" & Other Stories...

23 Comments:

  • At 15/8/05 07:32, Blogger Joy said…

    Love you, too, baby!

     
  • At 15/8/05 08:36, Blogger Alice said…

    Soooo very bummed I was out of town this weekend... Sounds like a super good time!!!!

     
  • At 15/8/05 09:09, Blogger Kim Laidlaw said…

    Sam - it was so lovely to meet you and everyone else. I'm impressed you have such a great memory of who made each of the delectable dishes - thanks for the delicious reminders. Can't wait til the next gathering...

     
  • At 15/8/05 10:09, Blogger cookiecrumb said…

    Wait! I made beans! Local, local beans with strictly local ingredients. The ones in the shabby yellow Crockpot from the 1970s...
    Anyway, thanks, Sam, for the superb writeup of a glorious day. So great to meet all of you (and a shout-out to the ones I missed).

     
  • At 15/8/05 11:49, Blogger shuna fish lydon said…

    Sam, thank for being the seer of all the things, the taster of all yummies, the photographer of all we saw. You are a true gem in this community. Tireless, generous, silly. Hopefully somene has a great picture of your glasses and head-gear!

     
  • At 15/8/05 12:00, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    How jealous am I...wallowing here on the East Coast while you all are off nibbling and imbibing such delicousness?

    Sounds like a good time was had by all!

     
  • At 15/8/05 12:46, Blogger Guy said…

    Hey Sam & Fred,

    Thank you for all your hard work and attending. I have to say that was absolutely wonderful. From the deserts, bacon appetizers, roasts and Manboy serving up fresh drip Blue Bottle coffee there isn't anything more we could have done. And to think this was the first one, you'd think we'd been doing this all along, eh?

    Hugs

     
  • At 15/8/05 13:58, Blogger Jennifer said…

    *laugh* Sounds like you had such a great time. I'm a bit jealous! You'll have to extend invites to all the west coast bloggers next round!

     
  • At 15/8/05 14:32, Blogger Nic said…

    Wow! It sounds like you guys had such a wonderful event. If it becomes a tradition, I'm going to have to drive up next year.

     
  • At 15/8/05 18:30, Blogger Charlotte said…

    Sam, didn't you make the gougeres too? They were fab!

    (Now I know who made the macarons. And the cupcakes. *drool*)

    Thank you ever so much for organizing this. It was lovely to meet you, and great to have a chance to meet-and-greet.

     
  • At 15/8/05 21:37, Blogger Tana Butler said…

    I hate you all.

    :P

    Heh.

     
  • At 15/8/05 22:35, Blogger Rebecca said…

    Sam, I want to send you an e-mail. I have a UK food question, but I can't figure out how to use yours without going through 9,000 boxes of info! Can you e-mail me so I can just reply???

     
  • At 16/8/05 00:18, Blogger Elise said…

    Hi Sam,
    It was great to finally meet you in person! Thank you so much for helping to organize this event. Wonderful write-up too; have you ever seen such an amazing array of meat?

     
  • At 16/8/05 07:45, Blogger Sam said…

    to everyone i met - it was great to meet you too, to everyone who couldn't come - don't worry - I am sure we will organise something else in the future.

    A while back I had an idea for a World Food Bloggers Convention.

    Maybe one day it will come to that!

    Sam

     
  • At 16/8/05 08:31, Blogger Banlieue Blog said…

    The next best thing to being there was reading about it on all of the blogs.
    As I've said before, you guys are having too much fun over there in California!
    Thanks for a super post/and great photos!
    Melissa

     
  • At 16/8/05 09:54, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    A repeat it already in discussion!! My thought is for a holidayish party -- something post holiday, after the fray, but still in the general time zone...

    Not sure if people will be able to make it, though. Any thoughts?

     
  • At 16/8/05 10:15, Blogger Sam said…

    which holiday?

    sorry - my cultural self-education to the ways of the American definition of the meaning of "Holiday" is not yet complete, obviously.

     
  • At 16/8/05 18:35, Blogger Charlotte said…

    It was truly wonderful.

    I'm already thinking, "hey, I have a big back yard ..." ;)

     
  • At 16/8/05 20:38, Blogger Owen said…

    I was truly sad to have missed it. If it's any consolation (it isn't), my daughter placed 5th overall in breaststroke at the Contra Costa County Swim Meet and 4th overall in the IM. That's actually really, really good since it is out of 59 teams and literally thousands of swimmers. Mostly we are just happy that the girls both qualify.

    Anyway, on the subject of swimming (see it wasn't a non-sequiteur), WE have a large pool, deck, lots of space, grill, outside fireplace, shady trees and a creek. Plus fresh Meyer lemons year round....

     
  • At 17/8/05 17:13, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Wow. A foodblogger convention. The Sydney community seems miniscule by comparison!

    Sounds like you guys had a ball!

     
  • At 17/8/05 21:36, Blogger Jennifer Maiser said…

    Sam, I am sure that Fatemeh means Christmas. So maybe she is talking about sometime early January ...


    :-)

     
  • At 18/8/05 14:32, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thanks, Jen... yah, I was thinking a mid-January party. It would be a good excuse to drink bubbly, at any rate!

    Owen, CONGRATS to your daughter -- what an awesome accomplishment.

     
  • At 7/8/06 07:41, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sounds like this was great fun LOL

    amed
    _________________
    Free diabetic recipes

     

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