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Share Our Strength’s Food Blogger Bake Sale

March 30, 2011 by

Did you know that over 50 million Americans—including more than 17 million children—lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis … and they struggle with real hunger everyday.
 

While I’ve never known true hunger, I do know that no one should ever have to experience it. That’s why I’m excited to announce that Stefani of Cupcake Project, Andrew of Andrew Mark Veety, and I have signed up to be Missouri’s hosts for this year’s Food Blogger Bake Sale for Share Our Strength.

Share Our Strength is the leading national organization working to make sure no child in America grows up hungry. They weave together a net of community groups, activists, and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and ensure they have nutritious food where they live, learn, and play.

Organized by Gaby Dalkin of What’s Gaby Cooking, The National Food Bloggers Bake Sale features food bloggers from across the country, who will unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states on the same day. Our food blog readers will have the opportunity to taste the baked goods from their favorite food blogs at each state’s bake sale location.

100% of the funds raised through The National Food Bloggers Bake Sale support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America by helping fund afterschool and summer feeding programs.

Today, more families in America are facing hunger due to the economy and rising unemployment,” said Bill Shore, Share Our Strength Founder and Executive Director. “Summer is an especially difficult time because nearly 17 million children facing hunger in America no longer have access to the school meals they rely on,” added Shore.

If you live near St. Louis, we are looking for your help!

Here’s how you can participate:

  • Are you a home baker who can bake something from scratch (cakes, cookies, brownies, pies, fudge, cupcakes, anything)? We are looking for baked goods to sell. You don’t need to be a food blogger, and your baked goods don’t have to be gourmet. If you can help by donating (even if it’s just a small amount), we’d really appreciate it! If you are interested in baking for the sale, please drop me an email at rhubarbandhoney@yahoo.com.
  • Are you a local bakery that would like to donate a gift card to be given away at our bake sale raffle? We’d love your help and will be happy to pimp your business in future posts, tweets, and at the bake sale itself. If you are able to donate to the sale, please drop me an email at rhubarbandhoney@yahoo.com.
  • Are you someone who likes to eat baked goods? Come on, who isn’t! Mark May 14th on your calendars now. Stefani, Andrew, and I will be posting more details about the location and time of the bake sale once we have everything in place.

If you don’t live near St. Louis, remember that this is a nationwide effort. Check out the list of Food Blogger Bake Sales by state to get involved in a bake sale near you … and if there isn’t one in your area, I encourage you to step up and host one yourself!

I believe it was Mother Teresa who said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” I know that through this event, and your support, we’ll be helping to feed more than a few people … and I’m quite proud of that.

As I mentioned above, 100% of the funds raised through The National Food Bloggers Bake Sale will go to the cause. Can we count on your support?

[Update: I am excited to announce that the St. Louis Food Blogger Bake Sale now has a location! Sappington Farmers' Market has graciously offered their store to us to host the bake sale, and they are also going to donate a portion of their day's proceeds to Share Our Strength as well! Thank you, Sappington Farmers' Market!

So, please join us from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday, May 14th, at Sappington Farmers' Market to support this wonderful organization ... and enjoy some tasty treats from local St. Louis bakers!]

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Proper Dinner Party Etiquette for Women

March 28, 2011 by

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
~ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Well-behaved women may seldom make history, but we do make amazing food, throw phenomenal dinner parties, and can hold our own in any dinner conversation.
 

The above video is obviously a parody, but it’s still nice to remember that us “well-behaved” women have come a long way … so, here’s to all of my favorite well-behaved women!

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Drinking Local Wine

March 19, 2011 by

It’s no secret that food blogging sometimes has its perks. One such perk that I’m especially looking forward to? Attending the upcoming DrinkLocalWine.com (DLW) conference here in St. Louis as part of their media line-up!

DLW 2011 will feature some of the top names in Missouri and regional wine, as well a live Internet radio broadcast and an expanded version of their trademark “Twitter Taste-off” on Saturday, April 2nd, 2011, at the Doubletree Westport in St. Louis.

The conference schedule for the third annual event includes Doug Frost, MS, MW, the “godfather” of American regional wine; Eric V. Orange, the founder and CEO of LocalWineEvents.com; Missouri winemakers Andrew Meggitt of St. James Winery and Cory Bomgaars of Les Bourgeois Vineyards; Todd Kliman, author of The Wild Vine, the best-seller about Missouri’s norton grape; St. Louis sommelier extraordinare Glenn Bardgett of Annie Gunn’s; and DLW co-founder Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post.

Which panel am I most looking forward to? Moderated by Dave McIntyre, the “Does ‘Locavore’ = ‘Locapour’?” panel will attempt to answer the question, “Why can’t we approach local wine the same way we approach local food?” As one of the co-leaders of Slow Food St. Louis, and admittedly, a rare drinker of Missouri wine, I’m extremely intrigued by this topic and I welcome the opportunity to be exposed to more wines from our great state.

As mentioned above, Olivia Wilder, host of the top-rated Olivia Wilder Times, will do her radio show live from the Missouri Twitter Taste-off on the blogtalkradio.com network, interviewing the winemakers and wine personalities in attendance.

In what is sure to be an eye-opening event, some two dozen Missouri wineries will pour two wines each for the Twitter Taste-off, where participants will blog or Twitter about what they’ve tasted. Awards will be given to the best wines, as voted by the taste-off participants (who, obviously, must be 21 or older).

“Every year, we put together a great program, and I wonder how we’ll ever do better than that,” says DLW co-founder Jeff Siegel, the proprietor of the Wine Curmudgeon blog. “And the next year we always do. I think that has a lot to say about the quality and depth in regional wine.”

Want to taste wine from some two dozen Missouri wineries? Want to meet the winemakers who make the wine? Want to meet some of the top regional wine writers in the country? You too can attend this sure to be fun event. Ticket packages start at $35, which is the price for the Twitter taste-off and a buffet reception with the winemakers and wine personalities at the conference. There is also a winery tour schedule for Sunday, April 3rd (wineries to be determined). If you want to join in on the fun, go to DrinkLocalWine.com for the complete schedule and to order tickets.

DLW 2011 follows the success of the group’s first two conferences—in Dallas featuring Texas wine in 2009 and in Loudoun County featuring Virginia wine in 2010. DLW also holds an annual Regional Wine Week in October, in which more than 40 wine bloggers, writers and columnists from the US and Canada write about their favorite regional wines, ranging from Ontario to New York to Florida to Texas to Colorado.

The brainchild of the aforementioned Washington Post wine columnist Dave McIntyre and Wine Curmudgeon wine blogger Jeff Siegel, DrinkLocalWine.com’s goal is to spotlight wine made in the 47 states and Canada that aren’t California, Washington, and Oregon.

Conference sponsors include the Missouri Wine and Grape Board, LocalWineEvents.com, Annie Gunn’s, the Doubletree Westport, and the St. Charles County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Will I see you there?

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Aye Lads and Lassies, It’s Time For Corned Beef and Cabbage

March 17, 2011 by

Today is St. Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing something green?

Every year on March 17th, Irish and Irish Americans commemorate the death, as legend has it, of Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, who died on March 17th, around 492. But mainly, people today honor Irish heritage and its rich culture and traditions. Cities all over the US celebrate with parades and festivities.

The most famous of these annual festival traditions includes the Boston parade, with its first parade in 1737; the New York City parade, which began in 1762; and the Savannah, Georgia, parade which started in 1812.

Irish Americans, especially those who arrived in the US in the 1840s, have had to overcome much suffering. The Great Potato Famine of 1845-1849 claimed the lives of 1 million Irish back on the Isle of Erin. To escape starvation, those that could immigrated to America. Most of the Irish who settled in the US during this period arrived with little education and few material possessions. As a result, they encountered poverty and discrimination. Most were Catholics and also suffered because of longstanding prejudices against their religion. But Irish Americans showed their strength and courage.

In 1862, during the Civil War, the Irish Brigade was formed. These Irish American soldiers fought for the Union in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. One historian, Phillip Thomas Tucker, said, “These Celtic soldiers were fighting most of all for their own future and an America which did not segregate, persecute, and discriminate against the Irish people and their Catholicism, Irish culture, and distinctive Celtic heritage.” Irish American heritage has become an important part of American culture. In song, festivity, appearance and company, Americans of all ethnicities are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today!

What do you do to honor Irish tradition? Wear green? Look for four-leaf clovers? Sing Irish songs?

The Chef and I are celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a hearty (and healthy) dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Before he left for work this morning, The Chef filled our crockpot with corned beef, baby red potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, chicken broth, and a bottle of Founders Brewing Breakfast Stout. Can I just say, I can’t wait for dinner!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

  • 1 1-pound corned beef brisket (with seasoning packet)
  • 8 small red potatoes, scrubbed and halved
  • 2 cups baby carrots
  • 2 onions, quartered
  • 1 head of cabbage, cut into 6 wedges (core removed)
  • 32 ounces chicken stock
  • 1 12-ounce bottle beer of your choice

Directions:

1. Place quartered onions in the bottom of a slow cooker.
2. Remove corned beef from packaging and reserve spice packet. Trim excess fat from the meat, leaving a small amount.
3. Place corned beef on top of the onions in the slow cooker. Sprinkle the contents of the spice packet on and around the meat. 4. Add potatoes, carrots, and cabbage on top of the corned beef.
4. Add chicken stock and beer to the slow cooker.
5. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or on high for 6 to 7 hours.
6. Remove corned beef from slow cooker, discarding onions. Slice and serve with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.

Notes:Spice packet missing from your corned beef? Just pick up a bottle of pickling spice. 1 to 2 tablespoons will do it. Want to make your own? See the recipe below!

Pickling Spice

Ingredients:

  • 5 bay leaves, crushed in your hand
  • 1 tablespoons coriander seed
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon whole allspice
  • 1 teaspoon whole mustard seed
  • 2 to 4 whole cloves

Directions:

1. Mix spices together.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Yep, St. Louis Is Definitely A Beer Drinking Town

March 13, 2011 by

Here’s a little known fact about me: I’m a beer geek. Yes, I do love a good glass of wine and I’ll never turn down a glass of bubbly, but for the most part, I’m a beer drinker. And a craft beer drinker at that. So, it’s exciting to see the boon in new microbreweries popping up in St. Louis, all of which are enhancing our already vibrant craft beer scene.

CNN’s Stephanie Elam recently took a look at what’s behind the new wave of St. Louis microbreweries. The video features interviews with the founders of the newly-opened Urban Chestnut Brewing Co and the soon to be open Perennial Artisan Ales. The video includes interviews with St. Louis Brewery co-founder Tom Schlafly and St. Louis Post Dispatch “Hip Hops” beer columnist Evan Benn.

It’s truly great to see the St. Louis beer scene getting national attention. I’m getting thirsty. Aren’t you?

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