Messy and Picky

I headed to the (much anticipated!) food blogger potluck over at Marisa's place (half of Fork You!) on Friday night. I brought along a pasta salad I made earlier in the day; photos and a recipe of that will follow. It was a wonderful night with about 20 of Philly's finest palates in the house. Messy was out of town and couldn't partake in the fun, but hopefully she'll be in town whenever the next one goes down.

Above is a shot of the table with all the goods on it. I think everyone brought something homemade except for Scott, but he did bring along [at front middle] some delicious cheeses and cured meats which I gladly cut into and Roz who brought along some yummy spreads to go along with the sliced baguettes and cheeses. Now, let's try to recap what everyone else brought along…

The gang from Philly Food Guys brought [at left] some lovely nan, saffron rice and a dish with chickpeas in brown sauce. I overheard Tushar giving out his recipe, but I was too busy eating to listen for too long. At front right, there was an apple dessert brought along by Angie and Thad who are some of the behind the scenes folks of Fork You! It was a modification of a French dish with cherries, I didn't catch the name. Behind the apple dessert were some buttery almond cookies that e baked up and here's a shot of them pre-baking.

Behind the pumpernickel bread in the middle of the table is the pasta salad with mozzarella and sundried cherry tomatoes from Claudio's, some fresh basil, al dente farfalle and rotini with a spritz of half a lemon's juice. To the left of that are pumpkin pie blintzes and onion and pepper toasts with blue cheese from the duo behind Two Fat Als. I think the toasts were my favorite item from the night – I didn't expect the explosion of taste in such a little package. The splash of orange at center in the back is Marisa's potato, squash and cheese concoction which was nice and creamy. To the right of that is what I think is Teagan's cinnamon apple cake. She came a little late and I didn't see it until later on, but I had a healthy helping of it. Quite moist and delicious. Behind the cake is what I think is the only thing I didn't eat – a salad, didn't catch what was inside.

All the way back was Taylor's bucket o' boiled peanuts. If that doesn't sound appealing, you've obviously never had them. I didn't know what to expect when I bit into the nut and I was pleasantly surprised. It was juicy and I had at least 3 handfuls. I took home a nice sized bag and have been munching on them since Friday. One of the things which was completely eaten up was Jennie's dish which was a roll of veggies. Early arrivals enjoyed them – sorry late comers!

David brought along some [duh!] wine. A delicious selection of (at least) half a dozen wines. I can't remember the name of the one at far left, but that was my favorite and the one he thought would be the biggest hit at the party – I think we went through 2 bottles of that one. Mark and Audrey also brought along some wine and brews to wash down all the great food. Madame Foodzings brought along the goodies to make bibimbap! I was thrilled. I made myself a bowl with rice and a bunch of sliced veggies with a dollop of kojuchang hot pepper paste. Mmmmm.

I think the only thing I can't place with it's owner is the plate of pickles which were nice and sour.

It was so wonderful to meet everyone and for those I've already met, to see again in such a fun situation. People exchanged recipes, we talked about some of our favorite meals and the ones which we'd rather forget. I can't wait until we do this again, hopefully sooner than later.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 1:41 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.