Exciting Event! Slow Food Austin – Quiz Bowl At The Highball August 9, 2011

There is a really fun event this weekend, put on by Slow Food Austin – Quiz Bowl at The Highball.  I’m a lazy girl, so I copied the event information directly from the Slow Food Austin website.  I think they might not mind.  All of the team slots are now filled.

“annual event quiz bowl, 8/14/2011

by lisa on July 11, 2011

Date: Sunday August 14, 12 pm – 4 pm
Location: The Highball, 1142 South Lamar Blvd, Austin, Texas
Tickets: $15 purchase here

On Sunday August 14th from 12-4pm, Slow Food Austin will host a Quiz Bowl at The Highball. This trivia style contest (think game show) is not for the faint of heart. Teams comprised of local food celebrities and food hot shots, will compete for the honor of being the official “Food Geeks” of Austin. Each 4-person team pays $150 to play and the winning team will donate their cash prize to a local food charity of their choice.

The fast-paced, ruthless, all-in-good-fun, competition will feature questions developed by Addie Broyles of The Austin American  Statesman focused on food history, cheese, food pop culture, alcohol, food artisanry, and foodie trends so you’re bound to learn something interesting whether you are playing or watching.

While you’re enjoying the atmosphere of the Highball and the excitement of the Quiz Bowl, you can taste delicious delights from local “slow” restaurants and artisans along with happy-hour-priced “slow” drinks from the bar. It gets better! We will also host a Texas style half-time show when Bryan Butler of Salt & Time will dress a pig and we’ll have a not-to-be-missed live auction for the cuts of meat. Yes, we said a live auction for meat!

$15 entry gets you in the door including the restaurant nibbles, happy hour priced drinks, and the most fun you’ll have all summer. We will also have a grand door prize and a variety of Slow Food Approved raffle items. Buy your admission tickets early and you get five free raffle tickets at the door. Tickets are on sale now!

What could be better on a hot August afternoon in Texas than to be at the trendy Highball enjoying a little healthy competition with friends and food? Come meet some of the most amazing people in your food community- chefs, experts, visionaries, trend-setters, and treasures. We want to honor the people who make our food community great by hosting an event that can make you laugh while you are doing the serious work of eating, learning, and showing your support for the local food system.

* For information on team entry please contact Karla Loeb directly. $150 registration for a team of 4 people. Space is limited so register your team asap!

*A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit Slow Food Austin Programming and one very lucky local food charity!

Volunteers will receive free admission. Sign up here!”

Fun Food and Garden Events this Spring February 15, 2011

Once the lovely Spring weather returns, fun events start piling up, so I’m trying to get a handle on the things I’ll be attending.  All of these events are open to the public.  Here are some of my favorite events:

February 17, 2011 – Slow Food Austin Happy Hour at Malverde at La Condesa.  Come see what Slow Food is all about! www.slowfoodaustin.org

February 23, 2011 – 5:00 – 7:00 – Happy Hour at Rain Lily Farm, with live music and Bola Pizza.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=193034137391580

March 5, 2011 – Sunshine Community Gardens Spring Plant Sale – This is the biggest fundraiser for the Sunshine Community Gardens, and is perfectly timed for Spring gardeners to get all the transplants they need to get their gardens started.  This sale hosts a huge variety of heirlooom tomatoes, heirloom peppers, herbs and everything else.  And it’s fun.  But, get there early, there will be a line and it gets a little frenzied.

http://www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org/plantsale.html

March 13, 2011 - Brooklyn Brewery is bringing the Food Experiments, a series of amateur cook-offs launched in Brooklyn, on a multi-city tour that starts in Austin “The Pork Experiment.” Over twenty home chefs will create delectable pork dishes for the chance to win cash, prizes and a round-trip ticket to New York City to compete in the Food Experiments All Stars Competition. The Pork Experiment will take place on March 13, 2011 at Club Deville 900 Red River Street from 12:00 – 4:30 pm. (from their press release) www.foodexperiments.com

Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival – Ongoing Events

http://texaswineandfood.org/schedule-events/

April 17, 2011

2nd Annual East Austin Urban Farm Tour – a self guided tour of 4 urban farms located just off of Springdale Road, Boggy Creek Farm, Hausbar Farm, Springdale Farm and Rain Lily Farm.  Local chefs will be preparing locally sourced tasty bites at each location

April 23, 2011 10:00 – 4:00

Funky Chicken Coop Tour – This Self Guided Tour of some of Austin’s most interesting Home Chicken Coops, starts at Buck Moore Feed.  Free Event

http://fccooptour.blogspot.com/

No Grocery Store, Day 360-Beer and Cheese Pairing December 17, 2010

Thursday started off with car trouble and no breakfast.  For lunch, I had Kocurek Family Charcuterie duck bacon and some Full Quiver Colby with a slice of tomato.  At dinnertime, I attended the Slow Food Austin Member Appreciation Happy Hour, which was a beer and cheese pairing at 512 Brewing Company, featuring Antonelli’s Cheese Shop.  Karla Loeb, social chair of Slow Food, really had the table set beautifully.

Lovely table setting

I’ve been to several cheese tastings with the Antonelli’s, so I knew the drill – the cheese is tasted clockwise starting from the top.

Cheese plate

They had printed up a menu of sorts, showing which beers were to be paired with the cheeses.  This is always a nice touch, and I save them for future reference.

Pairing Menu

The first pairing, was Mt. St. Francis, Washed Goat Cheese with the 512 Wit.   I really enjoyed the pairing of this strong flavored cheese with the wheat beer.  The second pairing was Ascutney Mountain Cow Cheese with the IPA.  This Indian Pale Ale has become one of the largest sellers for 512.  Kevin did an amazing job (as always) of detailing how the beer is brewed, and I learned that 512 uses all organic fruit in their brewing and is dedicated to using local and sustainable produce where available.  This cheese was amazing, and I can’t wait to have it again.  I really liked the pairing as well.  Next up, was Hoch Ybrig Cow Cheese and 512 Bruin, a Fall Seasonal dark beer.  John encouraged us to eat the rind of the cheeses, which were all natural.  The rind of this cheese tasted like chocolate, so we saved some to go with the next beer the Pecan Porter, which was paired with the Stichelton, a Blue Cow’s cheese.  I loved the story of how the Pecan Porter came to be.  Kevin explained that when the brewery was being built, the construction workers were often seen in front of the building eating.  He didn’t know what they were eating, or that there was a large productive pecan tree on the property.  They were eating pecans!  So, the inspiration for the pecan porter was from the tree in front of the building, and 512 has worked with Austinuts for the pecans for this beer, since.

It was a really fun night, and I love hearing about cheese from someone with as much passion  and knowledge as John Antonelli has.  His energy is contagious, which is why I visit Antonelli’s Cheese Shop as often as possible.  Kevin has always been so welcoming at 512 and I’ve been fortunate to have attended several events there.  He likewise is passionate about the beers they brew, and I love going out there.

The saying at the bottom of our pairing, summed up the evening.

“Culture. Knowledge. Community.”  Perfect.

No Grocery Store, Day 322 – Slow Food, Big Reds, Fast Bubbles November 19, 2010

Day 322 was a big day, which began with some fresh squeezed tangerine juice.  The tangerines from the farmer’s market are wonderful, and I need to remind myself to freeze some juice for when they are out of season.

For lunch, I had a fried chicken breast sandwich, and sweet potato fries at Monument Cafe in Georgetown.  More details on that adventure in my previous post.

Late afternoon I attended the Slow Food Austin Happy Hour at Peche.  I don’t get down to the warehouse district very often any more, because I get annoyed by the parking situation.  I had never been to Peche, and only thought of it as an Absinthe Bar.  Come to learn, it is also an upscale restaurant that sources ingredients locally, and the menu looked delicious. The passed appetizer that I had was a Braised pork and cabbage crostini, and it was great.

 

Peche

Menu Board

 

 

Local!

Not every restaurant that touts locally sourced status, really walks the walk.  (There are quite a few that don’t).  I didn’t do any homework on Peche, but I have faith that Slow Food did before they brought us here.

 

 

Apps

From Peche, I headed over to the Wine and Food Foundation’s event Big Reds and Bubbles at the Driskill.   I pondered taking the camera in, but was glad I didn’t, because it was very crowded and juggling drinks, food, overloaded purse and the camera would have been a nightmare.  The event filled all of the ballrooms on the second floor of the Driskill.  The first room I wandered into was the Champagne room, wherein most of the food was dessert.  My first bite of the night was a chocolate begniet from Fete Accompli.  These tasty bites made their debut at the SFC Farmer’s Market downtown last week, and will continue.  Next to Fete were the Antonellis, pairing a couple of their popular cheeses with Confituras lovely preserves.  Delish.  Of the dishes I tried, the standouts were a very tasty scallop from Truluck’s, Jack Allen’s Ravioli in cream sauce, Garrido’s beef taco bite, and Moonshine’s mini lamb pot pie.  There were lots more restaurants represented that I didn’t try, lots of sweets, and red wine and champagne all around.  It was a good day.

 

No Grocery Store, Day 294 – Slow Food Happy Hour October 22, 2010

I skipped breakfast again.  Boring lunch was  reheated frozen Thunderheart Bison patty leftover from dinner sometime in the past.  I was in a hurry, and I’m trying to eat everything in my freezer.  It was not very good.  After spending a long 2 hours at the vet with my golden retreiver,  (and$341 later), I was rushing to the Slow Food Happy Hour at Jeffrey’s.  They really treated us well, with amazing wine and food that was stunningly delicious.  Their newish chef Deegan is a genius with food.  There was a squash dip that I didn’t try, but the passed appetizers were gorgeous and so good.  Two of my favorites were Beef Tartare on a puff pastry that wasn’t really a pastry but was thin hollow and really crispy.  It had a lemoney bite and a creamy element.  There was a Dewberry Hills Farm chicken breast bite that was delicious.  The star of the evening for me was Quail Leg Confit with pomegranite over a thick greek yogurt with radishes.  Crazy good, I wish I’d taken a menu to get these descriptions right.   They did a wonderful and thoughtful  job of sourcing nearly every element of each dish locally.   It was a really fun event.  I wasn’t too hungry when I got home, but determined to have breakfast pre-made for the next few (really busy) days, so I cooked the Kocurek Czech Bacon I got from the Triangle Farmer’s Market, and had to sample a slice.

Today 10/22 is the last day to take advantage of the reduced membership to Slow Food.  To join, you join slow Food USA, then designate your City.  We have some great events, farm tours, happy hours, classes and its a good group of people.  $25 for the discounted membership is a bargain.

Slow Food Austin Happy Hour Tonight August 19, 2010

Slow Food Austin has started its monthly happy hours again, after a brief hiatus.  There is a happy hour this evening from 5:00 to 7:00 at Texas French Bread on 29th Street.  There will be wine and locally sourced treats prepared by Texas French Bread.

If you are unfamiliar with Slow Food, it is an organization whose goal is to get folks to slow down, be aware of what they are eating and more importantly where it comes from.  In these times of massive food recalls (380 million eggs recalled yesterday due to massive salmonella breakout), I think reconnecting with your food source is a good idea.  I never have to check my food to see if it came from a “batch” that was recalled, since I get it directly from the farmer.

The event is free, but there is a suggested $10 donation.  These happy hours are always fun and its a great organization!

No Grocery Store, Days 175 and 176, and Slow Food June 27, 2010

Friday was family dinner day.  I had a Vital Farms egg for breakfast, and dinner at Eddie V’s, the snapper meuniere.

Saturday’s plans changed once we arrived at the Farmer’s Market, and discovered the brutal heat and humidity.  For breakfast, I had the Dai Due BLT.    I’m not sure what the current status of hot food at the farmer’s markets is, but if this is the last month, that’s really too bad.  I did discover a new find, corn tortillas from the folks that make the tamales.  I bought two dozen and stuck them in the freezer.  I also think I learned that I’m not very wheat tolerant.  I’ll be cutting wheat out of my diet for a while to see if changes occur.

So, no Luling Watermelon Thump.  There were too many things going on, including the US World Cup soccer match, so we didn’t make the drive.  We headed over to Vino Vino instead, for some Vino and soccer and French fries.  Next on the agenda was the Slow Food Artisan Showcase, where we knoshed on local goodies from the Kocurek’s, Dai Due, Bona Dea Bread, Pure Luck Cheese, and many more.  I just tried the Cheek to Cheek terrine from the Kocurek’s and tasso ham from Dai Due.

Slow Food Artisan Showcase

Kocurek Cheek to Cheek, and Pate de Maison

Dai Due tasso ham

Bona Dea Bread

Homestead Farms Pure Sorghum Syrup

512 Brewing

How I like to eat

The rest of the evening included a rather bizarre evening at the Four Seasons which will be set out in hilarious detail at Austin Food Journal dot com in the near future.  After that, we headed to Moonshine for a redeeming experience and perhaps the best wedge salad in town.

Exciting Slow Food Event, Texas Artisan Showcase June 21, 2010

There is an exciting event this Saturday, June 26, 2010, from 4:00 to 8:00, presented by Slow Food Austin.  It is the Texas Artisan Showcase to be held at Space 12, 3121 E. 12th Street.    The event will feature samples of artisan foods that are all “good, clean and fair” from local artisans/producers including:

Beer: 512 Brewing Company

Spirits: Tipsy Texan and Bill Norris from Fino

Tea: Zhi Tea

Coffee: Summermoon Woodfired Coffee and Owl Tree Roasting

Olive Oil: Mary Beth Murphy of Piche will host a 10 minute demo on olive oil, using Bona Dea bread

Cheese: Pure Luck.  John Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese shop wil MC a demo, while a producer performs a cheese making demonstration

Honey and Syrup: Guajillo honey from Thunderheart Bison and Gause Yaupon honey from Boggy Creek Farm.  Barrie Cullinan will provide her butter croissants

Produce: Green Gate Farms

Preserved Foods: Straight from the Vine, Thunderheart Bison jerky Charcuterie: Dai Due Butcher Shop and Kocurek Family Charcuterie

Jessie from Dai Due will break down a half hog donated by Richardson Farms and a life auctioneer will auction off each cut.

For $60 ($55 for Slow Food Members) you will get 12 tasting stations plus 6 more chances to revisit your favorites.  Each station will serve a small flight of samples.  For the budget conscious, a 12 punch ticket is available for $40 ($35 for Slow Food Members)

This family friendly event, is a great way to get to see what Slow Food Austin is about, if you are interested.  Tickets are available at BrownPaperTickets.com.

Slow Food Happy Hour at Boggy Creek Farm June 19, 2010

Thursday was the monthly Slow Food Austin Happy Hour, this month at Boggy Creek Farm.  The food was provided by Ecstatic Cuisine, Drinks by the Tipsy Texans and Bill Norris of Fino.  As I mentioned earlier, the farm was in glorious form.  Head on out to the Saturday Farmstand and see it for yourself.  You’ll be happy you did.  It is such a charming setting for an amazing working farm just off East 7th Street.

Ecstatic Cuisine

Local farm grown food

Garden Gloves Hanging on the back porch

Ripe Cherry tomatoes

Tomatoes as far as the eye could see

So much basil

Rows of Zinnias

Cooler offerings available at the Farmstand

Aside from the farmstand vegetables available for sale on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9-1:00, there are eggs, Miles of Chocolate, goat milk, cheeses, Thunderheart Bison, this local Sauerkraut, and usually locally made bread and pastries.  It is a fabulous place to get amazing organic food, in a glorious setting.  Then you can visit Springdale Farm around the corner and load up on even more!  There are 4 great farms, in a two block area just East of Downtown.  We are so lucky.

No Grocery Store, Day 167 June 18, 2010

I have been fending off a hamburger craving for weeks now.    Yesterday, I succumbed and took my mom to Jack Allen’s.  We had burgers and they were good.  Green Chile Cheeseburgers and sweet potato fries to be exact.   And I was happy.  Jack Allen’s is great, and where feasible, sources 70-80% of their food locally.  I see Jack Gilmore frequently at the farmer’s markets.  Cudos, Jack Allens.

Later in the afternoon, I headed out to Niederwald with my friend Christian, to do a garden consultation for Ben of Salt and Time, at their salumi making shop.  Look for some amazing photos and an interview of Ben at Austin Food Journal dot com soon.  Ben was a gracious host and spent a good deal of time explaining the process, then he gave us tastes of  lots of his cured meats, the chorizo being my favorite, his pickled radishes, pickled beats, and even some lemon cake made by the chef.  It was all outstanding.  Look for Salt and Time at Antonellis Cheese Shop and at the HOPE Farmer’s Market as well.  He’ll be doing hot dogs for the 4th of July at HOPE.

After that, we headed to Boggy Creek Farm for the Slow Food Happy Hour, with food provided by Ecstatic Cuisine and drinks from Tipsy Texan and Bill Norris.  We were late and I was stuffed from salumi sampling, so I didn’t eat.  Boggy Creek is in fine form these days, and there were what seemed like miles of tomatoes, and an amount of basil growing that we decided could only be described as a shitload.  Pardon my German.  It was a lot of basil.  Enough basil to make pesto for life.  I’ll get some photos up later.  The arugula was in great shape, which makes me want to plant some.  I had figured it was too hot, and it may be soon.

No dinner.  I got home too late and wasn’t hungry.