It’s baaaaaack! By popular demand and because we had such an incredible time last year, Ken and I are hosting the “Year of the Dragon” Chinese New Year Potluck on February 4th, 2012.
I hosted my first Chinese New Year feast party around 20 years ago, with over 30 dishes and I cooked E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G myself. When the guests arrived, my hands were bleeding and I was nearly comatose! I remember my mother saying to me, “WHAT DID YOU DO?” It was a killer party and I did it because I wanted to throw a party that I thought I’d never be invited to.
Last year, when Ken and I threw the first Chinese New Year Potluck I realized how crazy I’d been!!! This is how to do it! The tri-state food blogger and friends community came together, each bringing a dish and together we wound up with a stupendous feast of amazing foods from all over Asia… and we ate it! We ate every bit of it—seriously… there were no leftovers. So save-the-date and plan to spend the afternoon feasting on Asian food with your favorite food loving friends!
Here’s Ken’s beautiful recap of our event from last year with delicious pictures.
Here’s mine with the list of all the dishes that were served.
CHINESE NEW YEAR POTLUCK MENU
Bahn Xeo Crispy Vietnamese Rice Pancakes with Pork (savory) and Toasted Sesame Chocolate Dipped Kumquats (sweet) Jackie Gordon @divathatateny… this is my blog….
When you go to a party that’s hosted by a person who LOVES and makes GREAT food, you know it’s going to be a FABULOUS party because GREAT food makes a party.
But there’s a step up from this, and that’s when you go to a party filled with hundreds of people who LOVE and make GREAT food and there’s GREAT food and drink, to boot. That, my friends, is a FOOD LOVE FEST!
That was the scene at Santos Party House last Monday for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Launch Party for “The Fashion of Food” Program. In March 2012, the IACP annual conference is coming to New York City for the first time in thirty years. The theme of the upcoming conference is the The Fashion of Food: an exploration of where food, fashion and media connect.
I’m working with the IACP host committee to help make the New York conference a smashing success and we decided that we needed to celebrate with a BIG OL’ PARTAY!!!!
And what a party it was with cookbook authors, celebrity chefs, entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, chefs, writers, bloggers, food PR professionals, food app developers, butchers, bakers, salumi makers, brand representatives, recipe testers, nutritionists, journalists, hobbyists, photographers, radio hosts, culinary historians, and so many more culinary professionals from all over the tri-state and beyond in attendance.
What I loved was the range in ages and lifestyles. At one point someone said, “If a non-food person walked into this event, he would not be able to understand what brought this diverse group of people together in the same room.” But everyone who was there knew. All the IACP members know. It’s the LOVE of FOOD.
Have you stood face-to-face with over a thousand cookies that you could eat and take home to feast on? If you haven’t, you totally should!
I had the absolute DELIGHT! of hosting NYC COOKIE Swap yesterday with Maggy Keets, Gail Dosik and Ken Leung. What a fun event! The local and not so local food community came out in droves with their A-GAME cookies and it was STUPENDOUS!
I made: Cranberry Pepita Rugelach with Apple Honey Jelly | Stained Glass Ginger Cookies | Peppermint Chocolate Bark Stars
On Twitter the other day, Mdvani (@LadiesWhoLunch), who I believe is vegan, asked me how to make sweet potatoes on behalf of a friend. I tweeted three ways:
Peeled and roasted rounds with slivers of garlic on each slice in olive oil and S&P
Peeled and casseroled chunks with fresh apples, dried cranberries, maple syrup, butter and S&P
Whipped with milk or cream, butter, brown sugar and sweet spices.
Then I said, “Use coconut milk if you want them to be vegan.” That, was a moment of GENIUS! And that’s how I made them for Thanksgiving and they were FANTABULOUS!
I found this recipe, many years ago, for the Chinese Laundry Cafe’s “Feta And Garlic Pate” online and it had this explanation: “This funky little cafe is a regular hangout for Queen’s university students. Lucky students. This recipe comes from the owner, Ann Marie Rousseau.”
I lightened the original recipe which had six tablespoons of butter in it, by leaving that out and added a lot more feta and a little more sour cream. I decided to roast the garlic so I added a lot more of it since the flavor of roasted garlic is softer. Oh, and I increased the scallions, too. You can substitute chives. Maybe with all that butter you could mold it and serve it like a terrine. I thought it was unnecessary. Now it’s got balls—Just the way I like it!
I used this as one of the layers in the Roasted Garlic & Feta, Butternut Squash, Beet & Cranberry Parfait on my Thanksgiving 2011 Menu
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday bar NONE! Cooking and eating delicious food with my wonderful family and friends, laughing, reminiscing and making new memories is the BEST DAY of the year.
If I could have Thanksgiving every day my world would be a better place. I really think it should be a mandatory once-a-month occurrence for every family and families of friends. Cooking food with people you love and sharing it is a visceral bonding experience. It’s like a testimony to LOVE. Plan to get in the kitchen, cook meals together and share them more often. If more people did this our worlds would be a better places and the world would surely improve. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
The IACP conference is coming to town in 2012. Come down this Saturday (11/19) to Smorgasburg to Win-Win-Win!
Eat fantastic artisan made foods, sample delish soup from Jimmy’s No. 43 at our booth, enjoy a beautiful fall day on the Williamsburg, Brooklyn waterfront and support an dynamic food charity by purchasing chances to win holiday gifts for you and/or your loved ones! AND find out about International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conference, one the best culinary gatherings on the planet, that’s coming to NYC for the first time ever, in March 2012.
On November 19th, the IACP New York conference host committee team and I will be at the last Smorgasburg of 2011, raising money for the IACP’s charitable arm: The Culinary Trust. We’re raffling some the hottest cookbooks of the season and other prizes from 10-5. Come down say Hi to Ken, Judith, Laura, Brian and I and buy some tickets!
I’m a potato freak! I often ask people this hypothetical question: “If you had to give up two out of the four major carbs for life: Pasta, Rice, Potatoes or Bread? Which two would it be?”
Unless they already don’t eat gluten, they usually get really antsy and whiny and say, “Please don’t make me choose!.”
Me, I’d kick pasta and bread to the curb* and live on rice and potatoes! Although my least favorite way of eating potatoes is mashed—people find this CRAZY—but I love them every other way: baked; steamed; scalloped; fried; roesti; boiled; roasted; pancakes; stewed; curried, etc… And of course, home fries! If I was told I could not make this recipe any more, I would get antsy and whiny and my world would shrink measurably.
