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Bloggers Get Together – 5B: Believers in Better Beer, Bites and Blogging

February 17, 2012

There are few things I find more professionally and socially rewarding than food blogging. If I ever tire of cooking, food photography, or food culture, I will still post just to afford myself the opportunity to attend blogger conferences.

I have met people from around the world that I would never have encountered otherwise. These people are creative, smart, and inspiring. We are also one positive group of folks! But what can you expect from food. Good, quality food has a way of lifting one’s spirits.

Hoperatives, a Cincinnati beer blogging group, took a chance on an opportunity to bring a few of us happy bloggers together for the 5B: Believers in Better Beer, Bites and Blogging Conference.And if there is anything happier than food bloggers, well, it’s likely beer bloggers.

Last Saturday about 40 of us spent the day learning, engaging and sharing. Mindy, Jonathan and I each traveled up on our own schedules from the Bluegrass, and we were outsiders to this group. As a result, I learned a significant amount about the Cincinnati brewery scene, along with some tips in social media and blog design that I can apply to my own work.

I might also mention that when you are obtaining such good information, it doesn’t hurt to sit down and pop open a Schlafly beer at 10:30 am. Beer blogging conferences just might be a little better than food blogging conferences.

I’ll admit that I may have been as excited about lunch as the conference itself. Our coordinators arranged for Cafe de Wheels to park outside the convention center for us. I currently live in a food truck desert, so I couldn’t stop thinking about this all day. I even braved the cold temperatures to place and pick up my order which turned out to be one of the best burgers I have had in a long time. Food trucks have sit-down restaurant burgers beat every time.

This conference provided plenty of perks including admission to the Cincy Winter Beerfest on Friday and Saturday with a connoisseur ticket on Saturday. In this case connoisseur means delicious appetizers paired with craft beers.

Here are a few of my favorites. You’ll have to forgive my failure to state the direct source for some of the foods. I was banking on finding some sort of list of food vendors online and haven’t been able to do so. I took only limited notes at the event so if you were there, please feel free to fill me in!

My favorite savory food were these tasty Slow Sliders – a combination of all things local. Not only that, but you could tell how fresh the ingredients were with each bit – a really outstanding sandwich if you like bratwurst, and I do.

Next was the house-made braunschweiger (a liverwurst) from Virgil’s Café paired with Crispin Maple flavored cider. I got the impression that few people were willing to try this. They were missing out! While I can’t eat a ton of braunschweiger, I grew up with it and thoroughly enjoy it on occasion. And that cider? The maple really cut that standard cider flavor making this one even better than others I’ve tasted.

I promise every beer I drank was not of the fruity variety, but this Framboesa (raspberry) was one of my favorites. I like it when my fruity beers really do taste like the fruit they are named for, and this one did without a doubt.

And then came the grand finale. Actually, for me it was the appetizer because to ensure I got one, I went there first. Bacon S’mores! Homemade marshmallows studded with pieces of bacon, torched to perfection, sandwiched between two Snickerdoodles with chocolate. I decided to only eat one cookie to pace myself, but whoa – they were as amazing as they sound.

Next some of us headed down to the actual beerfest. Over 300 craft beers were available. Absolutely impressive, but I have to admit, I’m not sure how gung-ho I would be to drive up and attend the beerfest itself. I was in good company so I had a great time, but it was absolutely packed. Your ticket provided a tasting glass and 25 tasting tickets which is A LOT of beer.

The lines for the well known breweries, Rogue, Bell’s, and Blue Moon along with the well known local breweries such as Kentucky Ale, wrapped all the way around the building. It would have been at least a 30-45 minute wait for a 5-8oz beer. We started finding the smaller breweries with shorter lines to try out so we’d actually get a drink. This turned out to be a better plan for trying something new anyway.

Let me try to prove my point regarding how packed it was. When have you ever seen a Men’s bathroom line this long?!

The one beer I set out to try was Kentucky Ale’s Kentucky Coffee Stout made with Alltech’s Café Citadelle from the Sustainable Haitiproject, and I succeeded. I like coffee. I like beer. It only gets better when you put them together. I especially liked how smooth this one was and the coffee flavor was strong which equals good in my book.

It was great to see all the craft beers, but lines wear me out. As a perk for attending the conference, though, it was well worth it and a nice finish to a fun day.

2nd Annual International Holiday Cookie Exchange

November 3, 2011

The International Blogger Holiday Cookie Exchange is back for 2011!

Last year Adrienne of Gastroanthropology and I created this event as a way to have a cookie exchange across international borders. Since it’s not always feasible to ship cookies, we trade recipes instead.

Adrienne has a lot going on this year that has taken her away from food blogging for a bit (including a new baby – congratulations!), so one of my favorite blogging buddies has stepped up to partner with us this year, Andrea of Food Embrace!

Without further delay, here’s how it works:

As a part of this recipe exchange you’ll be doing three things – sending a recipe to another blogger, making the recipe another blogger has sent to you, then posting about the recipe you made.
The recipe should be something you’d find on a holiday cookie plate, so anything from rugelach to alfajores to fudge squares to gingerbread men qualifies!

To participate email me at Lori (at) fakefoodfree (dot) com or Andrea (at) foodembrace (dot) com (or leave a comment with your email address below).

So here are the important dates:

Let us know you want to participate by next Thursday, November 10^th.

(We will email you soon after with whom you should send your recipe to and who you will be receiving one from.)

Send your recipe to the blogger randomly selected for you by Sunday, November 20^th.

Make, photograph and post about the recipe you received from a fellow blogger by Sunday, December 11^th.

The round up will be featured here at Fake Food Free and Food Embrace the week of December 12^th.

We hope you will join us!

Kentucky Food Blogger Weekend Part Two: Incredible Food Show

October 16, 2011

As a general rule, I don’t get star-struck. Honestly the only person who might make me so excited I’d be nervous should I meet her face to face is Dolores O’Riordan of the greatest band ever, the Cranberries. Otherwise, I have favorite actors, singers and chefs, but I couldn’t care less about what they do on a day to day basis. No, I’m not a celebrity magazine readin’ kind of girl.

So when I found out that the Kentucky Food Bloggers were invited to attend the Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show last weekend with special guests Michael and Bryan Voltaggio, I was thrilled with the offer, but not to the point where I was telling everyone I knew.

Then we got invited to a private meet & greet. Okay, the excitement grew a little. Not because I was star-struck, mind you, but that I thought it would be really great to talk with some chefs with such exciting restaurant concepts like Volt and ink.

Just to fill you in a bit on the Incredible Food Show, this is an event in Lexington, KY that has been growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. It is the place for Kentucky food producers to shine. Not to mention lots of our cookbook authors, established local chefs and those soon-to be chefs coming out of Sullivan University.

For a food blogger like myself it’s an ideal place to network and learn about more ways to promote dreams that have come to life in the form of Kentucky food products.

So this year’s show included a presentation by the Voltaggio Brothers. I headed to the arena with a few other food bloggers not quite sure what to expect. I thought a simple dish would be prepared with a few tips thrown out here and there.

Yeah, not even close.

Michael and Bryan were given a huge array of Kentucky products to work with – sorghum, soy sauce, produce. They claimed they had no real plan until they arrived at the show. What they decided on as we watched was an edible, vegetable landscape which reflected their expertise in molecular gastronomy.

I can’t keep all the great tips they had to myself, so here are a few things I learned from the show:

Roast parsnips and puree them with dates for a vegetable based spread for toast.
Use the greens of leeks by burning them. (Apparently burnt is the new caramelize.) Bake them in an oven like you would kale chips, just take them a step further to bring out more complex flavors.
Use a food vacuum sealer to tenderize raw foods. Toss thinly sliced kale with olive oil and seal. The olive oil breaks down the chemical structure of the cell resulting in a flavored vegetable that is tender, but still raw.
Soak fresh, thinly sliced jalapenos in ice water for about 2 hrs. The water will extract the heat and you can eat them like pickles.

Little by little, the vegetable landscape came together and things got crazy when it was time for the dressing. They went with a homemade ranch, but a typical dressing poured over the masterpiece just wouldn’t be good enough.

The goal was ranch snow. So out came the liquid nitrogen!

It was incorporated into the dressing and then put in the blender. Finally the ranch sprinkles finished off the dish. This picture is one of the dish via the big screen, so not super clear, but you get the idea.

The show was so much more than I was expecting. Awesome.

For the meet & greet after the show we were welcomed by the IFS staff into a room with an array of truly Kentucky foods – country ham biscuits, bourbon balls and Kentucky wines. When we finally got the chance to speak with the brothers we introduced ourselves as KY Food Bloggers and I was delighted when their face lit up a bit which showed recognition of what we do.

Funny, our first conversation went to their tattoos – Michael’s ink (his restaurant) and Bryan’s pig and rabbit which represented his son and daughter, one born in the year of the pig and the other in the year of the rabbit. After that we talked a bit about their restaurants.

Bryan shared about how Volt source’s food from several local CSAs in Maryland and often get the overflow which challenges them to use products and always be creative.

Michael told us a bit about ink.sack, the lunch extension of ink restaurant. They make everything in-house such as the corned beef tongue in their Reuben. They focus on small sandwiches so you can order two or three varieties. I have to say I was incredibly intrigued by the sandwich with curried chicken skin!

After the show I had a long time to browse vendors. My husband ran the Bourbon Chase over the weekend, a 200 mile overnight relay through bourbon country. They finish in downtown Lexington so it was a big weekend all around. I got to chat with vendors and authors while I waited to go to the finish line.

I ended the day with a few favorites so I’ll tell you about those. The first is Good Shepherd Sheep’s Milk Cheese from eastern Kentucky. Our first sheep’s milk creamery in Kentucky. I talked with them about a possible tour in the future and I’m hoping to make that happen in the spring when all the baby lambs are around! The cheese was a hard cheese with a smooth flavor. I’m due for a gourmet cheese purchase and this is on the list.

Next was Rooibee Red Tea out of Louisville. I had a nice talk with Jeff who you’ll see in the video if you check out the site. I still have quite a bit to research on Rooibos Tea and its extract, but this stuff is delicious. I tried an unsweetened version – no artificial sweeteners, certified organic. It is so nice to have bottled drink options that aren’t soda!

Finally, on my way out, I ran into Marlowe Granola. To think, I almost missed this booth! Now, I’m all for making my own granola, but when I find a product that uses the same ingredients I would, I have no problem buying it.

Marlowe Granola is also a perfect example of a great story and a dream that came to life. I talked with the owners a bit and the granola is “Mom’s recipe” that’s been made for over 30 yrs. They use local Kentucky sorghum as well. We even chatted a bit about food photography as the owner’s daughter took the photos for the site and they are gorgeous. I guess I should also mention that the product is darn tasty too! We’ve been enjoying it with milk and yogurt all week.

I can’t believe it’s been a week since our fun food blogger weekend, but now we are looking forward for all that is to come with such a great group of people who share the desire to support Kentucky foods!

Disclosure: The experiences and foods mentioned in the post were given to me free of charge. I was not required to post about them and received no compensation for doing so.

Kentucky Food Blogger Weekend Part One: The Dinner

October 10, 2011

It all started with a bit of jealously.

I attended a couple food blogging conferences in other states and I saw networks of food bloggers that had formed in various cities. You know, groups of super cool people with a passion for food, cooking it and photographing it.

Kind of like a bunch of me sitting around a table together.

So not unlike Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I had phrases playing in my head that sort of went like, “I want a local blogger group to hang out with NOW.”

After that it all began to snow ball and take on a life of its own. Mindy of The World in My Kitchen and I knew each other and Melissa of My McDonald Meal and I knew each other as well. All Kentucky food bloggers. Three can be classified as a group, right?

Alltech knew of my food blog and approached us about sponsoring a networking dinner. Several of the upscale restaurants in Lexington and surrounding cities feature their food products – Alltech Angus, Café Citadelle Haitian Coffee, Kentucky Ale beers, Pearse Lyons Reserve Whiskey, and Bluegrass Sundown – so they wanted to network with us and learn more about food bloggers while sharing their products. (You’ll see these pop up on the menu later.)

Once the idea of the dinner was born, Mindy started a Facebook group and fan page and recruited what is now over 60 Kentucky Food Bloggers. I started a Twitter account and continued working with contacts on the dinner. This led us to connect with the Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show and our evening became a full-fledged weekend of food blogger happiness.

Yes, spoiled Veruca got her wish.

The past few weeks have been filled with sending invites, gathering RSVPs, contacting food companies, gathering swag and networking in the name of food bloggers in the Bluegrass state.

The weekend began with the networking dinner sponsored by Alltech. Given our diverse blogging locations, and the dinner being in Lexington, we had an intimate, but no less exciting, 14 bloggers join us.

The dinner took place at Jonathan’s at Gratz Park Inn and was prepared by Jonathan and his excellent staff. You may remember my review of his cookbook and tasty cornmeal waffles last year. Every blogger just happened to get a signed copy of his book as part of the dinner. I could sense the excitement, and rightly so. It is such a great one to have on the shelf.

True to Kentucky, the meal began with beer cheese. But not just any beer cheese. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale Beer Cheese on Fried Cornbread to be exact.

I might add here that each course led to some great food-focused discussion in our group. For this one the topic was – what makes a good beer cheese? We discussed.

Next up was the Pearse Lyons Reserve – Molasses Marinated Alltech Angus Flank Steak with Arugula and Crispy Sweet Potatoes. Such a unique dish with the sweet molasses balancing out bitter arugula (which also happens to be one of my favorite greens). We marveled over the creativity of the sweet potatoes with this course.

Ever had a gourmet corn dog? Course three would qualify. Shrimp Corn Dogs – Kentucky Ale Beer Battered Fried Shrimp with Hot Mustard. The hot mustard was outstanding with the batter and the shrimp.

If meat can be beautiful then the award goes to the third course, Grilled Alltech Angus Ribeye with Horseradish Creamed Collard Greens. The ribeye was delicious, one of the most tender ribeye cuts I’ve had, but I will admit that this was one huge piece of meat. The greens were simply incredible and I’m not being dramatic. I could have eaten a plate of the collards with that spicy horseradish cream.

I might mention that for this course we discussed how difficult it is to photograph meat well. Oddly enough, none of my photos are post worthy, but I know there were some other good ones and I’ll direct you there once I get the link.

Dessert, oh, glorious dessert. Lately it seems my desserts have been all hearty whole grains with fruits and nuts. Which is great, but it has been a while since I’ve had a truly rich dessert.

The Bluegrass Sundown Chocolate Pot Pie with Jonathan’s Vanilla Bean Ice Cream was like an explosion of chocolate in your mouth. The Bluegrass Sundown is Alltech’s version of the Irish Coffee. When added to this dish it was everything chocolate lovers dream about. Although, the ice cream cannot go unnoticed. It was a nice balance to the richness of the dark chocolate.

Pleasantly stuffed, we exchanged greetings with Jonathan who was nice enough to come out and welcome us. Then it was time for a little swag.

I am a huge fan of promoting Kentucky producers mainly because there are so many great products that have interesting histories and heart warming stories. I decided instead of highlighting those that supported the event through swag here in the post, I’d put a list below with links in case you’d like to visit their site to find out more. We have some very gift worthy foodie items produced here. We were also very thankful for the bags Whole Foods Lexington gave us to hold the swag as well as a gorgeous gift basket to give away.

One of the things that was new to me were the Modjeskas, or Caramel Biscuits, from Bauer’s Candy. They are homemade marshmallow centers covered with a smooth, creamy caramel. Yes, this is Fake Food Free, but even I am open to an indulgence especially if it has some history attached to it.

We also had several gifts to give away as door prizes. I won fudge from the Lexington Chocolate Company. Oh, did I just say fudge? Well I meant the creamiest, richest fudge I can remember having. Really. These little tins are on the gift list.

It’s not over yet.

This fabulous dinner certainly can’t be beat, but we continued our weekend on Saturday at the Kentucky Proud Incredible Food Show, a presentation with the Michael and Bryan Voltaggio and a private meet and greet session where they shared with us a bit more about their restaurants. More to come!

A few more Kentucky products:

Americandy
Kentucky Cutting Boards
Marksbury Farm Market
Bleugrass Chevre
Elmwood Fine Tea
Herb n’ Renewal
Holly Hill Inn Restaurant
Weisenberger Mills
Howard’s Creek Authentic Beer Cheese
Bourbon Barrel Foods

Disclosure: The foods and products reviewed in this post were given to me free of charge. I was under no obligation to post about them and received no compensation for doing so.

Holiday Cookies – A Recap of the International Blogger Recipe Exchange!

December 17, 2010

Cookies, cookies from around the world!

When Adrienne of Gastroanthropology and I set out to do an international holiday cookie recipe exchange via the food blogging world, I had no idea what to expect. It started when Adrienne asked if I would like to do a cookie exchange with her. Um, partner with a fab food blogger and pastry chef, I think yes. I have enjoyed Adrienne’s blog since I discovered it when I was still an expat myself.

We brainstormed a bit, first thinking we could ship cookies. Then we decided we wanted to keep it international and customs might pose a problem. But what’s the next best thing to getting actual cookies? Cookie recipes! Well, at least if you are a food blogger.

What followed was an exchange of delicious recipes and memorable stories. Once the cookies were baked and recipes posted it got even better. Beautiful photographs, blogger introductions and baking creativity were just a few of the things inspired by the recipe exchange.

We ended up with 19 participants from across the world. That is 19 cookie recipes just in time for your final holiday baking! When you browse the blogs below this is a sampling of what you will find.

Chocolate Peppermint Patties photo by Kathy of A Good Appetite

Mango-Coconut Biscotti photo by Jen of Domestic Divas

Russian Tea Cakes right here on Fake Food Free

Thanks to all those who participated! I hope we can make this exchange an annual event!

Cayenne Chocolate Dipped Pfeffernusee made by A Day in the Life

Penny’s PB&J Cookies made by Mindy’s Mouthful

Lemon Whippersnappers made by A Nutritionist Eats

Brazilian Jubilee Cookie made by French Fries to Flaxseed

Chocolate Peppermint Patties made by A Good Appetite

Coconut Mango Lime Biscotti made by Domestic Divas

Triple Ginger Cookies made by My McDonald Meal

Snowball Cookies made by Eats Well with Others

Maple Brown Sugar Cookies made by Ancient Fire and Wine Blog

Russian Tea Cakes made by Fake Food Free (yours truly)

That’s not all! Head over to Gastroanthropology to check out the other half of the holiday recipe exchange participants. It just keeps getting better from here!

Food Blog Forum Atlanta

September 12, 2010

Among all the busyness that seems to be going on in my life at the current moment, I was able to sneak off this weekend to the Food Blog Forum Seminar in Atlanta. I have to say that I was thrilled when the event was announced because foodie events don’t make it to the southeast often. I was especially excited that this was the specific event coming because I have great respect for both Jaden (and now Scott) of Steamy Kitchen, and Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple.

Atlanta is about a 6 hour drive from Lexington and I was able to drive down with my fellow Kentucky-based food blogging friend Melissa, and meet up with Andrea, my favorite food blogging conference roommate and now friend.

We arrived at the welcome event a little late, but made it in time to see a great cooking demo at the Viking Store featuring bacon and watermelon skewers and pork belly tacos. One of my favorite foods of the weekend was the tacos. The pork belly was combined with a sauce that included homemade hoisin sauce, Sriracha and honey.

We also got there just in time for dessert which for me included lady fingers topped with bananas foster, and pound cake topped with macerated strawberries and basil whipped cream. Yes, basil whipped cream! It was as delicious and interesting as it sounds.

Saturday was the day of the seminar which took place at The Shed. Jaden, Scott, Diane and Todd are some of the most knowledgeable, down to earth people I have had the pleasure to learn from and briefly meet. If you are interested in attending one of these seminars in the future let me give you a list of things you can expect to learn and experience during the sessions.

Motivation for determining your personal goals and working with and towards what you are passionate about in life.
How to manage product sponsorship, and the options out there for structuring your relationship. For example, working with companies individually or through PR agencies.
How skilled all of the hosts are at what they do. They all began their journey from scratch with little knowledge. They taught themselves along the way and made smart decisions to excel in food blogging and related work.
Motivation and a fresh approach to food photography and how to develop your skill while keeping budget in mind.
Food styling and eye-opening strategies for creating beautiful pictures regardless of the equipment you have.
Key components for the design or structure of your blog, developing content, and driving traffic.

If I had to pick a favorite, for me it was the photography information. This is because right now my passion with food blogging is weighing heavily on the side of developing myself as a photographer. White on Rice Couple showed easy ways to improve photos and layout without investing in $1,000 lens’ or other equipment.

I also have to admit that I almost shouted, “YES!” when Diane admitted that she rarely uses Photoshop. I really have no desire to learn too much about that, but I thought it was something I was going to have to do to excel. And if you have seen her photos and now know that she rarely uses it, that’s enough to prove that it is not a necessity.

So, if Food Blog Forum comes to your area, should you go? Yes! Not only did I learn a good amount, but from a business and work stand point the weekend was full of inspiration leading to motivation.

About the only complaint you heard around the group was the set up. A long time in wooden restaurant chairs in very tight quarters with lots of people, lots of bags and nowhere to set our drinks or notebooks. We had plenty of breaks and the conditions didn’t negate the benefit of the event, but we were all pretty exhausted and ready to break out of that room after a long day.

There was also a significant distance between the hotel, site and parties so a car was a necessity and if you were the DD you really didn’t get to enjoy the wines and cocktails provided. Not too much of a sacrifice for a great event, but also a bit of a bummer. (Can you tell I was the DD? Ha, ha!)

However, I guess my winning a door prize made up for it. I won a Kitchenaid Countertop Oven! A new model, soon to be released. I’ll let you know when it arrives in the mail!

Thanks to Steamy Kitchen and White on Rice Couple for giving back to the food blogging community and sharing their knowledge.

Now I leave you with swag and food!

Fried Tomato with Goat Cheese Slider & Sirloin Slider from The Shed

Passion Fruit Whiskey (my correction – bourbon) Fizz from The Spice Market made with passion fruit juice, Maker’s Mark and ginger ale. Taken by candlelight which didn’t turn out too well so I didn’t picture the food. We did enjoy mutiple spring rolls, shrimp and pineapple skewers, beef satay and chocolate.

Taste of Chicago

July 7, 2010

Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities. When I was in high school our art and chemistry teachers used to organize a trip each year. We’d head up from southern Indiana for a weekend that always included Chicago-style pizza, a show, shopping Michigan Avenue and a stop at some other attraction such as Shedd Aquarium.

Chicago was really my favorite city until I discovered the public transportation system in DC and the rustic outdoor feel of Seattle. It may have dropped a few slots, but it still remains in my top 10 in the US. These days my brother-in-law lives there along with his wife who is native to the area. So visiting now also includes an insider’s view and local tips. Not a bad situation to be in.

It has been a long time since our last visit so we decided to make the trip up over the holiday weekend. My husband had wanted to see a Cub’s game and it didn’t hurt that our trip fell the same weekend as the Taste of Chicago! So this week, Chicago is the part of the world we’ll be covering here on the blog. I’ve got a few posts for you that cover some incredible eats from our weekend.

We arrived on Friday, mid-afternoon and headed downtown to the Taste of. I had been warned it would be crowded and hot and tiring so I was prepared. To be honest with you, all three of those things seem to have much less of an effect on us since living in Brazil. It is like our crowd and heat tolerance has increased quite a bit.

Fortunately we got there fairly early in the day so there was still plenty of room to move around. By the time we left, however, it looked like this. Yeah, I was glad we went early.

We wanted to focus on more of the ethnic foods for this event. A lot of them we can’t get around central Kentucky, or if they are available, they aren’t quite as authentic as they tend to be in city like Chicago.

This was my first time going to this type of Taste Of. There was no entry fee; guests could buy tickets for 50 cents each before the event. Then tickets could be used to purchase food. All the booths had full meals that were about 6 to 11 tickets each and two options on their tasting menu that were 2 to 4 tickets each. We stuck with the tastings so we could try more things.

Okay now you know how it worked. Enough talk. Let’s go on a tour of the Taste of Chicago.

The first stop was for the Bobak’s All Natural Chicken Apple Gouda Sausage served with honey mustard. I should have tried it without the honey mustard first to get the full flavor of the sausage. Even so, this was really good. Not as much apple sweetness or gouda flavor as I would expect, but a great chicken sausage.

I never thought I would say this, but I really miss mandioca (cassava, yuca) from Brazil. They version I miss the most – fried. Fortunately Las Tablas was serving yuca fries with a delicious salsa verde on the side. It hit the spot.

If you know Chicago, then you know Garrett Popcorn. It is such good stuff. The biggest kernels you have seen with the best caramel flavor. And as fake as it may be, I have to admit I love the doesn’t-occur-in-nature neon orange cheddar thrown in with my caramel.

At the taste they served Caramel Popcornsicles, a popcorn ball freeze dried on a stick. It was as tasty as their original caramel and actually kind of refreshing with the cold which you typically don’t expect from popcorn.

Next came the one thing I had been anxiously awaiting. Mango Sticky Rice! Oh, how I have missed this from Thailand. It was so good even though the mango was canned. I got over that quickly because the rice was so close to what I remember from our trip. Even better, I was taken to an Asian market in town and finally came back with a bag of sticky rice! I’ll be making my own version soon!

The Varenyky from the Shokolad Café caught my attention because the eggplant and potato variety came with an Indian spiced sauce. I have since learned that varenyky is a Ukrainian dumpling similar to perogies. I typically love this type of dumpling, but this one was just okay. The sauce needed a lot more spice to it. I’m not sorry I tried it though because I actually think it may have been my first Ukrainian dish.

There were lots of sodas and energy drinks being sampled, and while we aren’t fans of soda anymore, this Manzanita Sol from Pepsi did catch our attention. We were hooked on apple spritzer while in Austria which is kind of like an apple soda, but a lot lighter. More like a sparkling apple flavored water. The Manzanita is nothing like that by the way. A sugary apple soda. Guess I’ll have to go back to Vienna.

Another new cuisine for me – Puerto Rican. We tried the mini Jibarito Sandwich from Sabor Latino Restaurant. The name comes from Jibaro which is a term used for those in agriculture working in the sugarcane and coffee fields, basically farmer’s from what I understand. It is traditionally a plantain and steak sandwich. This was so good! I absolutely loved the fried plantain version of a bun! I found a recipe if you’d like to try it yourself.

Now for the unique award – a Mashed Potato Stuffed Chocolate Cupcake. Yes, you read that correctly. Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all. Not something I’d have to go back for, but a nice sweet and salty combo and the smooth potatoes with black pepper blended nicely with the chocolate. The cupcake itself was excellent. These were served by Polo Café and Catering. I was joking with my husband that I’d love a wedding reception do-over and sneak these onto guest’s dinner plates to see the reaction!

These Pot Stickers from Star of Siam were by far the best deal. Just look at all of them! They were comparable to the full portion at most places. They were also one of my favorites with a delicious Thai chili glaze on top.

My husband was hungry for the Red Beans and Rice with Jerk Chicken. Vee Vee’s African Restaurant also had goat, but although I don’t like eating it for sentimental reasons, I have had goat and I really don’t prefer it. The jerk chicken was great, and although my bite wasn’t all that spicy my husband assured me that the more you ate it, the hotter it got.

The Sweet Potato Hashbrowns from a restaurant by the name of Hashbrowns had been on our list before arrival. These were good, but not what we were expecting. I had the fried, crispy version in mind. These were soft with what tasted like a lot of extra butter and spices. I’d get them again, but I think a Waffle House version might be better.

With a few tickets leftover we stopped at The Grill on the Alley for Mango Rice Pudding with Dried Cranberries. This was completely unexpected as well. (Apparently we had a lot of expectations). It was spiced almost like a traditional pumpkin dessert. There wasn’t the tropical, coconut/mango flavor I thought there would be. Good, but autumn flavors to me, despite the mangos.

Finally we finished off this eating marathon with a food that is as cultural as the sticky rice and yuca – a Chicago-style hot dog (or half of one) from Gold Coast Dogs. There is nothing else like these for me. The more stuff on top the better, especially that nice, spicy pepper you can see there in the photo.

That concluded our Taste of Chicago. After that, we did some major walking and went down to Navy Pier to see this:

This happens to be where we got engaged way back in 2002. Right up there on the observation deck in the middle of February during a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan. We’ve vowed to make it back for a repeat cruise at some point. Maybe anniversary #10.

We settled in at Navy Pier for some beers and to split a bag of Garrett Popcorn. I told you we couldn’t get enough of this stuff, right? We felt we needed to take full advantage while there, so while a bit unbalanced, this was our dinner. Not a bad way to end a wonderful day, overlooking the water.

Foodbuzz 24×24: Around the World with Grilled Pizza — A World Cup Celebration!

June 27, 2010

What is one event that brings the world together?

The World Cup!

What is one food that you can find in some form in almost every country of the world?

Pizza!

How do you give pizza summer twist?

Well that is where this comes in.

Yesterday my husband and I hosted our first party in our new house since moving back to the US. Given our adventures the past few years, what better way to celebrate than with an international theme intended to bring friends together through food.

I guess Foodbuzz thought it was a pretty good idea too as we were chosen for the Foodbuzz 24 x 24 event this month!

Around the World with Grilled Pizza: A World Cup Celebration was a hands-on event for our guests. My husband and I brainstormed six different pizza combinations each representing a country in the World Cup. We prepped the dough for the attendees and then let them create their pizzas based on our menu suggestions and their own preferences.

The preparations began on Thursday with many batches of whole wheat pizza dough (a modification of the Spelt Pizza Dough from fellow food blogger, Off Her Cork). These then became 104 mini-pizza crusts. We wanted them large enough to hold a few toppings, but small enough to fit multiple on the grill at once and for our guests to make several different varieties.

Work continued into Friday and Saturday with roasting tomatoes and garlic for the red sauce, and soaking and cooking dried garbanzo beans for the hummus. There were also herbs to be picked and garden fresh vegetables to be pre-grilled.

We managed to represent the US and Kentucky with many of the ingredients. These were then used to create more international flavors to build on the World Cup theme of the party.

We had three main sauces for the pizzas. A Roasted Tomato Sauce that quickly came together after roasting tomatoes, onion and garlic for about an hour and then pureeing it with a little salt, pepper, mascavo sugar and basil. The Mediterranean Hummus sauce was your basic combination of beans, garlic, tahini and fresh lemon juice.

I decided not to tackle making my own barbeque sauce. There is a local producer in the neighboring town that makes a fantastic corn syrup-free sauce by the name of Kentucky’s Smokin’ Grill. We picked up a couple jars of that, transferred it to the squeeze bottle and it was a huge hit.

The smoked pastured chicken which my husband prepared on the grill before the big event, as well as the pastured heritage breed pork sausage, came from Pike Valley Farm. If you’ve read my blog often you know is my favorite farm around.

Most of the vegetables and herbs came from a variety of local sources including jalapenos, yellow squash, green bell pepper and basil from our garden; onions, tomatoes and zucchini from a nearby farmer’s market; and zucchini from my Dad’s garden (not exactly local, but in the family). We threw in a few extra toppings to invite creativity such as button mushrooms, pickled jalapenos, black olives and even some bananas for the dessert pizza.

You simply can’t have a Kentucky party without bourbon. It paired nicely with iced tea and the fresh lemonade sweetened with Demerara sugar. There was also plenty of Kentucky Light to go around, a Kölsch style beer brewed locally.

Now that I’ve told you how it was all prepared. Here’s how it all came together. After topping their partially grilled crusts guests headed out to the grill where my husband finished the cooking process and melted the flavors.

Our friends took some advice for pizza combinations and then added some creativity. To our surprise, the biggest hit seemed to be the goiabada for Romeu e Julieta dessert pizza like the kind we used to enjoy in Brazil. Many people were new to the guava paste and became fans of the guava and cheese combination.

Below was our World Cup pizza menu!

Greece

Grilled summer squash and onions, feta cheese and Mediterranean hummus

Mexico

(based of off Mexican themed pizzas we’ve had in Brazil and in the Caribbean)

Pastured pork sausage, fresh or pickled jalapenos, cheddar cheese and roasted tomato sauce

USA

Grilled pastured chicken, chopped onions, chopped dill pickles, cheddar cheese and Kentucky Smokin’ Grill barbeque sauce

Italy

Fresh basil, mozzarella cheese and roasted tomato sauce

Brazil

Goiabada, cinnamon sugar and mozzarella cheese

Switzerland

Chocolate fondue and chopped bananas

We were extremely pleased with the overwhelming response and everyone’s creativity, as well as a willingness to try some new flavor combinations. I think we have forgotten what hard work it is to entertain a large crowd, but fortunately as the sun went down the party continued with entertaining lawn games as well as rest and relaxation on our back patio. We were reminded that there is nothing like good food, great friends and summer nights no matter where you are in the world.

Our Greek pizza has also been submitted to the Regional Recipe Greece Round-up hosted by Eats Well with Others!

Happy Birthday Fake Food Free!

May 31, 2010

Happy 2nd Birthday to Fake Food Free! I completely missed the blogs’s one year birthday, but I couldn’t let two pass by. While I don’t have anything special planned I do have to send a note of thanks to all my readers. I appreciate each and every one of you so much! Thank you for all your reading, commenting, tweeting and facebook posting. You make all this food blogging fun!

I want do a recipe contest to celebrate, but I think I’ll hold off until later in the summer. There seem to be so many going on right now and I’m even cohosting one for another site that I’ll be announcing on Friday. So for now I say Happy Birthday to the blog and a big Thank You!

Once again, it’s the end of the month and that means looking back at May in Food for my Project 365 of food in 2010.

Mini bag of brown rice my husband got in his marathon swag

Tuna sub from Jimmy Johns

Strawberry Cupcake from Gigi’s to celebrate my husbands marathon finish!

Shrimp Dorado Tacos

Beer brats from a local farm, mashed potatoes and kraut

Peanut butter cookie dough brownies

Strawberries from my Dad’s garden

Egg and veggie sandwich

Butternut, Flax and Walnut bread

Broccoli and Mushroom Whole Wheat Calzones

Carob Spirulina Chunk of Energy

Chicken Shiitake Manicotti in Garlic Mushroom Sauce

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Beer

BLT Pizza with Chipotle Mayo

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Ho Fan in a peanut curry sauce with veggies

Blackberry Rhubarb Crisp

Key Lime Cheesecake Martinis from the Taste of the Bluegrass

Tomato Basil pizza

Key Lime Margarita

Black Trumpet Mushrooms over Ho Fan

Iced Coffee

Chicken Salad from pastured, local chickens over fresh tomatoes

Arugula from our garden

The Summer Cookie

Almond Croissant from Magee’s Bakery

Fresh cilantro and garlic herb pasta

Homemade biscuits with pastured Heritage breed pork sausage gravy

The Taste of the Bluegrass

May 26, 2010

I debated all day on Friday whether or not I should go. Finally about 3:00 pm I made the decision. I would spend my evening at the Taste of the Bluegrass, a local food event to benefit God’s Pantry.

Side note: Does anyone else find it odd that we tend to support food banks by offering huge food events where we stuff ourselves? It always makes me think, but as you can see, doesn’t keep me away from the food.

My husband was worn out from a long week of conferences so I knew he wouldn’t have any interest in going, but then I found out that fellow food blogger, Melissa, wanted to go. We scheduled our date and spent the evening tasting food and drink from area restaurants.

I met Melissa a while back because she works in wellness with many of my former coworkers. When I returned from Brazil I found out she also has a great food blog so needless to say, we have a lot in common. A self-proclaimed granola girl, she cooks up great real food recipes over at My McDonald Meal.

This was my first time at the Taste of the Bluegrass and I quickly learned that it is much more of a social draw than a food event. People are there to eat, and drink, and drink, and drink, but I’m pretty sure we were the only ones with cameras. You should have seen some of the stares and perplexed looks we were getting. Fortunately, after 2.5 years in South America with very blonde hair and an accent that screamed US American, staring has very little effect on me. We elbowed up to all the tables and snapped away.

We were there for the local, seasonal flavors which we are fortunate to have an overabundance of here in central Kentucky. Not to mention plenty of great bourbon.

To say it was packed is a huge understatement. We moved along in lines to try food and found ourselves downing cups of wine and swallowing big bites to free up our hands for the next selection. This also resulted in little time to adjust my camera to changing lights so I apologize for some of the less than beautiful pictures.

So here you go. A taste of what we had to eat at this delicious event. I have to warn you though. I will likely say “best _____ I’ve had before” and “absolutely delicious” several times in this post. The food was outstanding!

We were greeted at the door with bourbon. Maker’s Mark to be exact. Many of the companies were offering their single barrel selection and most offered them only on the rocks, with water or with a local soda called Ale-8-One, a ginger ale. We passed on the Maker’s for the opportunity to try some other smaller distilleries and special selections.

Next, strangely, we hit the desserts. It all felt a bit backwards, but we took advantage of starting with some sweet stuff.

First, cupcakes from BabyCakes Cupcakes. I have yet to visit this place, but I am making it a priority now. The Kentucky Pride cupcake with mocha bourbon cake and mocha bourbon buttercream was fantastic. Not to mention that the owner is sweet as can be.

The Sugar Forest had some gorgeous wedding cakes and the Champagne Cake with Hazelnut Filling was darn near perfect as far as wedding cake goes. I consider myself a qualified judge since I grew up with a mother who owned a cake business.

Later we came to Tinker’s Cake Shop. Just look at that beautiful green fondant flower. They were giving away strawberry cake pops. You can see them there behind the cake. I usually shy away from these because so many recipes call for boxed cake mix and canned frosting, but these were incredible. I didn’t ask, but I suspect they were made from scratch. The fresh strawberry flavor was unmistakable.

Kentucky wineries were plentiful. We really have so many great wines from this area. I didn’t go overboard because for this event I was more interested in trying the bourbons, but I did have a very nice Riesling from Elk Creek Vineyards.

Speaking of drinks I got to introduce Melissa to Bluegrass Sundown, the closest thing to a true Irish coffee that I’ve had in the States. It is a concentrate made with coffee, bourbon and sugar. After it is mixed with water and heated, it is topped with cream. This is an example of one of those bad photos I mentioned above, but you get the idea.

Turf Catering served up one of my favorites from the evening – the Maryland Crabcake with Lemon Aioli. Words can’t describe how tender and flavorful this was. Likely one of the best crabcakes I’ve had, but I say that having yet to visit Maryland. The creativity award goes to their Seared Ahi Tuna on Edible Spoon with Wasabi Cream. Just look at it. So beautiful and delicious too! For dessert, the Key Lime Cheesecake Martini. Don’t you just want all of this for your next party?

We both practically cheered when we saw that Giuseppe’s Ristorante Italiano was offering gnocchi. Not just any gnocchi, but Lobster Gnocchi Gratin. Oh so creamy and rich!

The local co-op in town, Good Foods Marke & Café served up Israeli Couscous with Lamb Kofta and Tzatziki Sauce. I saw it from a distance and had to fight my way up to the table. Many of the ingredients such as the lamb and mint were local and this was another favorite of the night for me.

Oh, you’d like to hear about more drinks? Well here you go. We made our way to the Four Roses table to be greeted by a cute server in a costume of which the collar was a massive rose. She handed out these drinks, the ingredients of which I’m still not sure. Bourbon, grenadine and considering how easily they went down, very dangerous.

I have wanted to try Wild Turkey American Honey Bourbon for a long time now so I was thrilled that I had the opportunity. Oh wow, was it great. Slightly sweet, on the rocks, I have to get a bottle for the summer.

We have a culinary school in Lexington that is a branch from a school in Louisville, Sullivan University. The students were at this event offering what was likely the freshest tasting of the night. Yes, the chefs were making the pasta fresh right before our eyes! There were several different varieties made with local ingredients. I had the spinach pesto which was delicious. Melissa said the tomato was even better. I finished it off with Zabaglione (an Italian custard) with fresh fruit.

More dessert you say? How about Derby Fudge from Lexington Fudge Company? Just so you know, anything “derby” is Kentucky code for bourbon, chocolate and pecans. I didn’t even know this company existed. Fantastic fudge and I can see those little tins being the gift of choice in the future.

Last year I reviewed a delicious cheese from Sapori D’Italia, a local company that makes fresh and aged goat cheese. Oh, this cheese is unreal, especially the Caciotta al Peperocino with a red pepper infusion. I also got to try their fresh Agri alle Erbe. It just melted in your mouth. I can’t wait to pick some up at the Farmer’s Market.

Finally, if you happen to find yourself in central Kentucky there is one restaurant that tops the list for many in the area – Holly Hill Inn. The owners have a very interesting story and have expanded to open other restaurants in the area. With its location in a historic home and fresh, local ingredients Holly Hill Inn is the place to go. (Bonus that the girl working the booth asked us if we were on Tastespotting! Yes! A fellow foodie).

The Woodford County (local) Mediterranean Meatballs with Walnut Raita were incredible. Same goes for the Asparagus with Toasted Hazelnut & Citrus Glaze. I’m not sure if this is regularly on the menu, but I know what I’m ordering on my next visit if it is.

Looking back at the event guide there were so many things I didn’t get to try. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of food quality and flavors at the event. However, the location was so disappointing. It was at the Keeneland barn which is on the grounds of the local race track. A beautiful location, but it was so congested. You could barely move or see many of the vendors.

It seems as though events like this always tend to be in these types of close quarters. I really hope they decide to expand and move it to a new location next year. I doubt I will attend again until they do. As I said, the food was amazing, but it wasn’t worth the trade off of not being able to fully enjoy it without being bumped from side to side by the crowd.

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And after all that?

On Saturday morning I ran a 10K. Yes, I know. Not exactly the best race prep and believe me, I felt it, but I didn’t want to pass up either event. This was actually the first time I have run a full 10K race. I ran my half before I successfully ran a 10K event (as in running the whole thing). I ended up with an 11:40 pace which I was very happy with considering my half marathon time. My goal is to run a 10:30 5K by the end of the summer.

As for the event, I think I have officially said good-bye to small community races. It’s strange because it used to be that those were the only type I wanted to support. Now, although I don’t consider myself a hardcore runner or a gadget fan, I find that larger, more organized races appeal to me and motivate me.

This race had about 100 people and we ran through neighborhoods. It wasn’t all that safe as the finish line was located right in front of the parking lot entrance for the wellness center hosting it. That meant cars were coming in and out and we were passed a lot on the course. We also had to run past the finish line at mile 4.5 and come back to it which messes with you a bit mentally.

I completely understand the hard work that goes into planning races, but I won’t be running this one again. Although, I’m still thankful that it was a 10K because those seem to be few and far between around here.

Disclaimer: While I would have gladly accepted a free ticket, I paid for my entrance to the event with my own money. I was not asked to review any products or companies and received no compensation for doing so. For what it is worth, I paid my own entry for the 10K too.