foodie events

Wrapping Up the Great American Bake Sale

April 30, 2012

I had a month to plan. I signed up as a team captain, without first asking if anyone else was interested in helping. I reached out to the farmer’s market near my home to hold it there (and after a week of “pestering” got a firm yes). I asked my foodie friends if anyone would be willing to bake for the sale. And, on Saturday, WE raised $216 for Share our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. Of the 4 folks who offered to bake, 3 came through. Several friends came out on Sunday to help man the table/keep us company. We had 110 “units” when we started and only brought 19 home. My fears of what to do with the leftovers were greatly unneeded. (Especially since most of the leftovers were my double chocolate muffins–they’re great with vanilla ice cream!) What shocked me, though, was how much use the Donations jar got! We put out a mason jar with a simple sitcker-dot label on it and Todd “primed” it with $1. Before long it was half full, and not just with singles. I don’t know that we ever really mentioned it by name, it just sat in the middle of [...]

27th Annual Chef’s Sampler–Stuffed in Tallahassee

February 27, 2012

Two years ago we attended and left with, pun intended, a bad taste in our mouth. Did things improve in the interim? I think they did. I attended my first Chef’s Sampler in 1997–pre-Culinary School–and looking back over that year’s program I see the highlights were the lavash at a now-defunct local Italian place, the char-grilled octopus from Angelo’s, and the bacon-wrapped shrimp from local steak-house favorite, Marie Livingston’s. Back then, more than half of the attending restaurants were strictly local affairs. That last visit, in 2010, seemed to be weighted much more in favor of chains, and was also a more casual affair with scads of kids running around. I’m happy to report that after skipping a year, the Chef’s Sampler is back on our list of fun, foodie events once more. With just about half of the 40 vendors present representing the strictly-local market (down from 1997′s total of 58), I’m happy to see the chains haven’t totally outnumbered the locals-only establishments, and this year was a return to the event I remember from my earlier, easier to impress days. They still had the live band I bemoaned from last time (live music in that space means you [...]

Pumpkinfest, Unexpected Muffuletta, and the Splits

October 17, 2011

There was a metric ton of fun things going on this past weekend in the Tallahassee area–wine events, local festivals and farm tours abound. After weighing our options we finally settled on nearby Havana’s Pumpkinfest. This little barn made a cute photo op for families on the hunt for pumpkins and the perfect fall picture of little ones. A great thing about small towns is that they go all-out for their festivals. The Pumpkinfest may have been small but Main Street is also lined with all manner of antique stores providing ample browsing opportunities along with the craft booths, festival food booths and people watching these sorts of events provide. Instead of availing ourselves of the food vendors on the streets we opted to stop into Joanie’s Gourmet Market and Fabulous Cafe. Now, normally I’d snark about setting yourself up pretty high for putting Fabulous in your name but in this case I just can’t do it: they are pretty Fabulous. Not only do they have a charming selection of gourmet food items and wines, they have a short and sweet menu that was so tasty, I wish I lived a little closer. Todd ordered the Chicken Quesadilla and I [...]

A Day at the Faire

March 21, 2011

A couple weeks ago Todd and I, along with our new friend Andrea, traveled over to Pensacola to check out the Gulf Coast Renaissance Faire for the day. Thanks to a convenient time-zone crossing we made it to the Faire-grounds (a 3-hour journey) in just over 2. Talk about time travel! First we happened on a talkative blacksmith demonstrating her process of making a simple bar of steel into something useful and lovely. There were several vendors throughout the central area of the Faire and we spent most of the first hour or more perusing their wares. It reminded me of a cross between a craft fair and Merchant’s row at an SCA (Society of Creative Anachronism) event. In addition to various retailers, there were five stages set up for entertainment. There were continuous belly-dance performances in Arabia, variety acts on several stages and a field with fencing demonstrations and, yes, actually jousting by riders on horseback. Reminiscent of a trip to Medieval Times, the spectators were divided into cheering sections for each of the combatants as the riders jousted and then competed in a series of skill exercises for points. It was quite breathtaking to watch–the charving hooves, the [...]

Our First Festa

February 21, 2011

This past weekend Tallahassee saw it’s first (annual? only the future will tell) Italian Family Festa out at the John Paul II Catholic High School. I found out about the Festa through Groupon, which turns out to be a fabulous resource for learning about local businesses and events, not just saving money at them. With the Greek Food Festival an annual event that we dearly love, we hoped the Italian Family Festa would come close to that ideal. As a first-year festival there were some expected hiccups. The website, for instance, was a little sparse on details (it would have been nice to know what sorts of foods would be there, not just a list of Italian foods that might be there, and a price-list is always helpful for folks who don’t carry cash as a habit) and, once we arrived it took being sent to 3 different tables/locations just to find out where to sign up for the wine tasting. Those bumps aside, we had a good time. The wine tasting (at $10 a person) was more a class than just a taste-for-all, featuring 6 Italian wines and a very good presenter–he had personality to spare and plenty of [...]

Grazing Through the Greek Food Festival

October 25, 2010

As the weather turns cooler (at least in theory) it seems like Tallahassee cranks up the social calendar to full force. On the docket this weekend was the Greek Food Festival at the Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church. This is an event we look forward to each year for the delicious food and little else. It’s generally crowded and noisy, and we’ve often gone long enough to pick up one of the plated dinners ($15 a piece) and a tray of desserts and fled to the car (which has been parked a block away, at least). I know, that doesn’t sound incredibly festive, does it? Well, this year we tried things a little differently. We slowed down, enjoyed the evening and admired the church by the light of the full moon. Because of Todd’s current job and it’s habit of having him work a bit late, we didn’t make it to the Festival until after dark, around 7:30. It was no less crowded or noisy (thanks to the band, but to call it noise probably isn’t acurate–the music was great but there was an added din from the crowd) but we decided to take our time. First up, [...]

Chef’s Sampler 2010

March 1, 2010

As I write this I am literally and figuratively digesting a few dozen restaurants that we just sampled at the Children’s Home Society’s 25th Annual Chef Sampler. We’ve attended these a few times in the past (my company used to do the printing so I was able to go to one or two many years ago and then Todd and I went last year for the first time together) and it’s always been a foodie highlight. This year… First a few disappointments. After searching for a parking space at the AMC end of Tallahassee Mall we finally get in and up to the counter to find that you cannot purchase tickets at this entrance. No, you have to drive to the opposite end of the Mall and enter near Guitar Center. Ugh! The door is being held open by a politician stumping for votes in the upcoming City Commissioners race. Finally, there are lines out the wazoo, going every which way, it seems,Â and no real order to be found. On the up side, it’s the most crowded I’ve *ever* seen one of these events which is great for the Society but there was also a much more casual air [...]