In an effort to help you navigate the farmer's markets and learn simple dishes to create with your finds, I am planning a series of summer dinners. Here are my thoughts so far - I look forward to hearing your imput if you have any ideas, including a space for these events.
- The dinners will (probably) take place on Sunday evenings.
- Unfortunately, because I do not have unlimited resources, I can't offer these dinners for free; however, I will make every attempt to keep them as low-cost as possible by begging some of my favorite restaurant workers to lend their services for free, or at least for food & wine.
- These will not be cooking classes per se, however the recipes for the dinners will be provided at the event.
- I will provide resources for finding the ingredients used.
- It is my plan at this point, to focus on a particular market for each dinner, although because you know me, you can expect them to include items from the North Market, and the Worthington & Clintonville Farmer's Markets.
- These dinners will focus very heavily on seasonal, local ingredients. At this point, I have translated some traditional recipes to use local ingredients.
- Husband will provide a brief education on each beer or wine selected for each course.
- Dinners are limited to around 16 people. 20 if demand is high and you are willing to wait a few minutes between courses!
- Ideally I would like to limit the dinners to people who I don't hang out with on a regular basis; because you have to listen to me ramble on ad nauseum.
- I would also like to limit these dinners to non-food bloggers, for the same reason as above, and because most of you are already pretty well educated on local foods.
- The basic layout of the evening will be:
arrive, meet & greet with a cocktail and light canapes
brief introduction on the season we are in & ingredients used
each course will have a brief introduction on ingredients, farms, inspiration for dish, and discussion of wine pairing from Husband - There will be around 4-5 courses.
- I promise you will get your money's worth.
- The first dinner is planned for Sunday, June 8th. I really wanted to start in May, but with Memorial Day being the last weekend, and being unsure what will be availale earlier than that (with the late start our farmers are getting), June 8th it is. Expect lots of strawberries and asparagus.
- There will be no free passes for press members, not surprisingly. I can't afford to bring anyone for free.
- If you have an idea for a location, say an empty loft apartment with a fabulous kitchen and view, for example, please let me know. Galleries would also work, although room for a kitchen would be good. Obviously, the cheaper (or free-er!) the rental the better.
- Please let me know any and all of your suggestions/critiques/criticisms/ideas/cost limitations/etc.
- If you have any interest in being the high end of a sliding-scale payment, so that those with more financial restrictions can attend, please let me know; this will be on the honor system, so I'd ask people to not take advantage of the kindness of others.
- If you are a farmer who would like to be featured, please let me know!
- If you would like to attend a dinner, please send me an email.
There will also be a limited number of spots to join me for shopping on Saturday morning; this will include a tour of the farmer's market chosen, which will be very helpful if you are new to farmer's marketing. Must be willing to get up very early and walk fast! You will also get a behind-the-scenes look at the process I go through when shopping - how to get inspired by the market, the finished dishes I see when looking at raw product, etc.
Okay! let's see how it goes!
