End of season limbo

Sunday, October 28, 2007

This is my first entry, so bear with me!

I sliced up apples to dehydrate today, getting close to the bottom of the half bushel box M’s mother and I picked at Linvilla Orchards a few weeks back.  It always pleases me how long good apples last, stretching the season of fresh things.  We’ve started in on the freezer, though, getting out a quart of blueberries and one of strawberries to put on our breakfasts of oatmeal or granola.  I made some semi-successful blueberry muffins with lemon and lime juice, but M’s amazing apple muffins with a crunchy sweet crumble on top were softer and tastier.  It seems like my food cravings are very weather related.  On those warm indian summer/global warming days, I want the fresh stuff—the last greens of the CSA season, crisp apples, potato salad.  But when the snap comes, the cool snap that reminds me we will soon be in my favorite season of winter, I want soups, soups, and more soups.  That’s when I start baking again, too, making chocolate chip and chocolate crinkle cookies for my honey.  The cats are back, sleeping on our bed again, as if they hadn’t disappeared from this activity since May.  I look forward to talking with you all about your winter foods and loves!

October Tomato Sauce

The recent weather has kept our garden overflowing with summer crops as well as the colder weather stuff. So this morning I got out in the garden at sunrise (literally…the Sprout woke up at 4:30 and I couldn’t go back to sleep) and picked as many tomatoes as I could, as well as loads of parsley and some green beans.  I feel like I’m tempting fate by leaving this stuff in the ground so close to November, so I feel better having harvested a lot of these hot weather foods.  With at least 30 pounds of tomatoes to work with, I set out to make a big batch of sauce to divide up for the freezer. 

My method is based on Barbara Kingsolver’s recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which I highly recommend as a great read on local eating, by the way).

First, I blanch all of the tomatoes in boiling water for about three minutes to loosen the skin. As one batch is in the pot, another is draining over the sink and I’m working on coring and peeling the drained tomatoes. Then, I just throw the skinless, cored tomatoes into the food processor and puree them for a few minutes.  This whole process can take quite some time if you have a lot of tomatoes and you’re working by yourself (or with a toddler “helping”).  It’s also pretty messy, especially if, like me, you’re not the neatest cook in the world. Once all of the tomatoes are pureed, I saute some onions and garlic in olive oil, and add the tomatoes along with whatever fresh and dried herbs I feel like using.  Today I harvested bunches of parsley to freeze in cubes for the winter, so I added a lot of that as well as basil leaves whose days were numbered. Of course, lots of salt and pepper go into the pot too.

Depending on the types of tomatoes, it may take a few hours before the water cooks off a bit and the sauce is a good consistency. The smell is divine and the taste of fresh tomato sauce in January is definitely worth it.

Preserving the harvest is such an important part of eating local. I’ve seen deals on tomatoes from local sources recently, so it’s a great time to stock up even if you don’t have a garden before these gems are gone for another year.

Clark Park Market report, 10/25-10/27

This has been an excellent week for me at the Clark Park farmers’ market.

On Thursday, I picked up chicken legs and ground lamb (not pictured) from Quaff Valley Farm and Royalty and Stellar apples, Hosui and Yoinashi Asian pears, and red sweet peppers (not pictured) from North Star Orchard.  On Saturday, I bought Northern Spy apples, brussels sprouts, an onion, and carrots of various colors from Keystone Farm (Rome), banana sourdough from Slow Rise Bakery (no, I’m sure the bananas aren’t local), and butternut squash and broccoli from Shenk’s Berry Farm.  I was sorely tempted by their cauliflower and romanesco, as well, but they were huge as well as beautiful—much more than I can eat by myself this week. 

Review: Restaurant Alba

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary.  We used the occasion to try one of several restaurants out our way [the Delco burbs] that focus on locally grown ingredients.  Restaurant Alba won out, and we had our anniversary dinner there last night.

Being slightly snobby about suburban restaurants, we didn’t count on how hard it would be to get a reservation!  It’s in Malvern, for pete’s sake!  Who flocks to Malvern on a Saturday night?  Well…people do, apparently.  We couldn’t get a reservation until 9pm.  So let this be a lesson: call early.  I think I made the reservation last Tuesday and that was still late to get in at an earlier hour.

Restaurant Alba is a BYOB, so we arrived with a bottle of Chenin Blanc (not local, alas) in hand at the appointed hour and were graciously shown to our table.  The place was absolutely packed solid.  I won’t bore you with details about the decor or whatever, because we both know what’s important: the food.  But I will say that the waitstaff was absolutely lovely, and attentive without being annoying.

My husband, Craig, and I decided to order the antipasto (which changes daily) and the wood grilled octopus to start with.  The wood grilled octopus was a plate of large chunks of slightly blackened meat in a very light lemon vinaigrette, along with a few bits of potato that were supposed to be ‘pesto dressed’.  The octopus was delicious.  It really was - perfectly cooked.  It reminded Craig and I of octopus we had last year on Mykonos.  It was so good that I could overlook the very plain potato with it. 

There wasn’t a single bad thing about the antipasto.  The star of the plate was large marinated shrimp in lemon-infused chickpea sauce.  Also on the plate: seared tuna with a pine nut salsa, bruschetta with Shellbark Hollow goat cheese and fig, crostini with baccala, and a slice of sopprasetta.  Everything was fabulous.  We practically inhaled it.

A word here about the bread.  The staff keeps the bread basket filled, and bring a little dish of olive oil for dipping.  The bread was…OK.  It was bread.  It wasn’t bad and it wasn’t excellent.  The overall quality of their food makes me wish the bread was better.

Anyway, moving on.  Dinner for me was North Carolina fresh water trout, spinach crema, crab risotto cake, tomato jam, and spinach salad.  Craig ordered prosciutto wrapped Chatham cod, pistachio butter, spaghetti squash, and braised endive.  Both the trout and cod were perfectly done and absolutely delicious!  The tomato jam topped the risotto cake, and the spinach salad topped the jam.  The spinach crema was beneath the trout.  A bite of trout with the spinach crema was a great combination.  The spinach salad was very nice - little bits of goat cheese accompanied it.  The tomato jam was good and so was the risotto cake - but I couldn’t taste any crab in it.  Craig’s cod was good and salty because of the prosciutto wrap.  I was thrilled to see spaghetti squash on the menu, and it was very tasty with the pistachio butter.  Craig liked the endive (I didn’t have the chance to try it). 

By this time I was absolutely stuffed.  For a restaurant that is supposed to focus on locally grown food, I felt like I hadn’t really had very many in my meal.  Just about the only thing I knew for sure was local was the goat cheese on the antipasto plate.  Would the menu have indicated if the spinach or the squash or tomatoes for the tomato jam were locally grown?  I don’t know.  I mean, the menu clearly stated if the cheese was local, and on the dessert menu there were desserts with local apples and local honey.  My point is that aside from a few things clarified on the menu, you really don’t know if the restaurant is sourcing a lot of their produce locally.  Do we trust them, or don’t we?  I don’t know.

Anyway, because I felt like I should go out of my way to order the locally grown thing, Craig and I decided to split the apple betty made from locally grown apples.  It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  It was absolutely delicious!  The apples were tangy and warm and lovely.

The food at Restaurant Alba was very, very good.  I just wish we were able to discern a little easier how much of the produce is locally sourced.  Still, being able to get locally made cheese and a dessert made with locally grown apples is more than most restaurants around these parts will do!

As a snarky aside, there was a table next to us full of people talking about how awful foie gras production was.  Restaurant Alba normally has foie gras on the menu (last night they had sweetbreads instead), so I’m shocked that people so concerned about it would eat there.  They were talking about it pretty loudly, and I was so tempted to lean over and direct them toward an article on foie gras production that appeared in City Paper this year written by Farm to Philly’s own David Snyder.  I understand why people might be concerned with how foie gras is made, but it pays to be well informed about the subject - not just content to accept one side of the story.

Restaurant Alba
7 West King Street
Malvern, PA 19355
610-644-4009

New to the Neighborhood

Saturday, October 27, 2007

I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area for just over a year.  Starting to write for Farm to Philly seemed like a good time to take an inventory of the local food discoveries I’ve made in the past year.  I live in the northwest suburbs and work in Center City, so I’m able to take advantage of the local food offerings in both places.  In other words, I really have no excuse not to make more local foods part of my regular diet…

My favorite local food finds of the past year:

Dairy:

Milk from Penn View Dairy (Perkasie) – Gotta love the reusable glass bottles.  There’s something so wholesome and charming about them!  I’m good about getting two bottles a week from The Old Dutch Cupboard on Rte. 113 in Harleysville.  With a milk-guzzling toddler, this is a reliable local foods purchase for our family.  If I don’t make it to Dutch Cupboard, I sometimes stop at two other local dairy farms on my way home from work:  Merrymead Farm (Lansdale) or Freddy Hill Farm (Lansdale).

Seven Stars Farm Yogurt (Phoenixville) – I usually buy the scrumptious maple yogurt at the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal to keep at work for snacking during the day.  I also buy the plain yogurt for my older daughter (the Bean), but I’ve also gotten it at Whole Foods and Willow Creek Orchards.  Steven Stars is a 350-acre bio-dynamic farm, and they also buy milk from a few other local dairy farms.

Eggs from Deep Springs Farm (Harleysville) – This farm is within walking distance from my house.  It’s even more convenient because the eggs are kept in a fridge outside so you can pull up (or, heaven forbid in the suburbs, walk up) anytime, grab a dozen eggs and stick your $2.50 in a box inside the refrigerator.

Meat:

I’m a vegetarian, but my husband and the Bean eat meat occasionally if it’s from a responsible source.  Our two favorite spots to get local meats:

Bolton’s Farm (Silverdale) – Fresh turkey (order now for Thanksgiving!) and frozen turkey burgers are favorites.  They also usually have chicken.

Blooming Glen Pork (Blooming Glen)– My husband is in love with all of the pork products at Blooming Glen, from the tenderloin to the sausage.

Produce:

We have a big garden, so we try to get as many fruits and veggies out of it as possible. (Our hope is to sell some of what we grow this year…we just need to figure out some logistics.)  I also frequent The Fair Food Farmstand and Willow Creek Orchards. 

Now that I have some of the basic of local foods shopping in Philly down, it’s time for me to expand. I’ve been sampling some cheese, wine and branching out in search of other local foods and restaurants supporting small farms in the area.  I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you.

Valley Shepherd Creamery, Long Valley, NJ

Yesterday my husband, Ben, took a personal day from the office so that we could go on a little autumn excursion. After lunch in historic Lambertville, NJ, we headed for the Valley Shepherd Creamery, where we had heard that very good cheese was to be had.

Some of Valley Shepherd’s cheeses are in fact available through Williams-Sonoma, and they’re all available at the farm, which also hosts educational farm tours tailored for ages K-4 and all the way up to college level, featuring specific tours in food sciences, entrepreneurship, animal management and biology. Valley Shepherd’s cheeses are East Friesian sheep and Jersey cow milk cheeses, some mixed milk, some pure. The farm will continue to make cheeses over the next few weeks into November, when the cheesemaking stops for the winter, but cheeses aging now in the farm’s hillside cave will still be sold through the farm’s shop. (Fresh lamb meat begins to become available in the shop right around the time of year when cheese production ceases.)

We purchased a mixed-milk blue, a very sharp Provolone-like cheese called Fairmount, a ball of ricotta, and a wedge of a soft, orange-rinded wheel that I pulled indiscriminately out of the back of a refrigerator. We were sorry that no cream cheese was available that day, and Ben drew the line at the cheese with the stinging nettles in it—both of these, I will perhaps get another shot at on a future visit. In addition to cheese, sheep’s yogurt, and aracauna eggs (naturally light blue in color and naturally lower in cholesterol than white or brown eggs), the shop features many sheep-themed gifts (I actually got some sheep chopsticks) and fiber items. I also purchased yarn from the farm’s alpacas, and for those who are not knitters, blankets woven from the farm’s fibers are also for sale.

In the time we were shopping, someone came in and asked if any raw milk was for sale; they were, of course, told that it was not, but Valley Shepherd supports Garden State Raw Milk, a grassroots campaign to legalize the sale of raw milk in New Jersey. Tours of the cheese caves are only available on weekends, so we did not get to see the caves this time around… but we will be back, for sure, and not only for the cave tour—for the day-long artisan cheesemaking class that is offered, where participants can make their own wheel of artisan sheep’s milk cheese and leave it to age in the hillside cave, then return for it when it is at its best. What an amazing gift! (The classes, or a wheel of handmade cheese!)

Regular weekend tours include, in addition to the visit to the cave, the Ewe Barn (where, depending on the calendar, baby lambs may be seen), and North America’s only rotary milking platform, which can milk over 300 sheep an hour.

Ben and I left the farm armed for the long drive home with a lot of very earthy-smelling cheeses. Our ride was blindingly bucolic—the Garden State is awash in color right now, and it was a windy, blustery day. We tried all of our cheeses except the ricotta on the ride home, at least one of which—that orange-rinded devil—was not meant to be opened in a damp, closed car under any circumstances. All things being equal, however, it was one of the most enjoyable “stinky cheeses” I have ever had, and the Fairmount—the sharp Provolone-like hard cheese—was the clear winner of the day.

(guest posting by Amber Dorko Stopper)

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

Friday, October 26, 2007

The CSA is winding down for the season. There are only two weeks left after today. It’s the end of October but you wouldn’t know it from the variety of peppers still available on the order form. The order for next week is the first order in months that doesn’t have some sort of tomato on it. Here’s what was in this week’s box.

1 lb of green snap beans
2 large sweet potatoes
1 bunch Lacinato (dinosaur) kale
5 mixed sweet peppers
2 heads of broccoli
1 bunch Fuyo Shumi (baby Pac Choi)
1 bunch Swiss chard
2 8 oz bags salad greens mix

This week was a fruit share week and the bag had 8 or 9 each of apples and pears and a quart of apple cider.

Next week we get butternut squash. Finally.

An apple a day

Last weekend my husband and I made the mistake of trying to visit Linvilla Orchards. We sort of forgot that it was the Pumpkinland Harvest Festival.  It was wall-to-wall people.  All we wanted were a couple of apples!  And we did walk away with a bag of Stayman-winesap apples after much negotiating of traffic and people.

I finally got to use those apples in a very yummy apple cake.  My family is not big on passing down the family secrets or having special family recipes, but apple cake is an exception.  My mother routinely made stellar apple cake every Fall, and finally gave me the recipe when I moved into my first apartment many years ago.  Everyone loves the apple cake.  I have no idea where she got the recipe from, and it’s not like she protects it with her life or anything.  So today I’m sharing it with you:

2 c. sugar
1 c. butter
2 eggs
1 c. milk
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
8 medium apples, cut into small chunks [not quite diced]

topping:
4 Tbsp flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. brown sugar
4 tsp melted butter
1 c. chopped walnuts

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Cream the sugar and butter; add the eggs.  Mix in the milk.  Sift together the flour, soda, salt, and baking powder; add to mixing bowl and beat to combine.  Stir in apples by hand - if it looks like you have more apples than batter, the ratio is right.
-Combine topping ingredients; stir to combine and spread over top fo the cake.
-Bake for one hour and ten minutes.

A good portion of the ingredients are locally sourced.  The apples, of course, were from Linvilla.  The eggs were from Hendricks Farm.  The butter and milk were local.  I used Daisy Flour.  And the walnuts were local.

The walnuts!  Let me just say a few words about these things.  Last week I bought a half pound of black walnuts from the Fair Food Farmstand.  I had no idea what I was in for.  I ended up out on my backporch with a hammer to open them.  Pieces of walnut blasted across the porch.  It took forever to collect all the pieces and then pry the meat out of the shells.  Black walnut shells have to be harder than diamonds, people!  Surely there must be an easier way to open them?  Granted, it was worth all the effort - my apple cake is extra good with the black walnuts in the topping!

Upcoming events!

Crossing Vineyards in Washington Crossing, PA has a fun event coming up if you’re interested in locally-made wines.  Head out to Bucks County on November 10 and 11 for their Nouveau Festival, which celebrates this season’s wine harvest and the release of Crossing Vineyards’ 2007 “Le Nouveau”.  The festival is from noon to six.

If you’ll be in the York, Pennsylvania area on November 17 and 18, consider hitting the York Expo Center’s Toyota Arena for the Pennsylvania Food and Beverage Show.  A few PA wineries will be showcased.  Admission starts at $11.

Hurry up if you’re interested in the White Dog Cafe American Artisan Cheese Dinner - it’s Monday, October 29 at 6pm.  Executive Chef Andy Brown will prepare a four course dinner revolving around local cheeses and some other local foods, while Jeffrey Roberts, author of Atlas of American Artisan Cheese, leads a discussion.  The cost is $45 plus tax & gratuity.  Reservation are required. Please call 215-386-9224.

If free is more your style, mosey over to the United Tabernacle Church at 3700 Chestnut St. in Philly on October 30 for the “Faces of Fair Trade” Farmers Tour.  There will be a food tasting and discussion led by Ann Karlen, founding director of the Fair Food Project.

And here’s something for you to consider for next year: The Brewer’s Plate.  The fundraiser for the Fair Food Project will be held on March 9, 2008 at the Independence Visitor’s Center.  As part of Philly Beer Week 2008, chefs from Philly’s top restaurants will put together food and wine pairings.  It promises to be a good time for a good cause!

Cranberries in the crannies

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Cranberries are in season right now, and plentiful at local farmer’s markets.  If you look hard enough, you can even find the white variety (shown here).

If you’re like me, the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘cranberry’ is cranberry sauce.  I cook a full Thanksgiving dinner every year, and cranberry sauce is always on the menu.  Rather than settling for that crappy canned stuff, I always opt to make my own.  It’s easy and way, way better.  Last year I made a fantastic bourbon cranberry sauce.  This year I’m making cranberry sauce with blueberries.

That said, there are about a billion other things to do with cranberries.  In that spirit, below is a list of five things to do with cranberries that doesn’t involve cranberry sauce:

1. Cranberry Milk Chocolate Truffles (recipe).  There is nothing I like better than the combination of cranberries and chocolate. Yum!
2. Cranberry Pancakes (recipe).  The addition of tart cranberries in your pancakes is sure to wake you right up!
3. Cranberry liquer (recipe).  Old grandpappy would be proud if I made my own bootleg liquor!  Well, maybe it’s not quite like that, but you’ll be able to offer guests something unique.
4. Cranberry Orange Bread (recipe).  I just love quick breads, and this one is lovely and flavorful!
5. Cranberry Granita recipe).  Think of this as high class water ice, yo.

Hen-pecked

Two Dark Days challenge meals in one week?  I guess I’m off to a good start and feeling motivated.  Of course, now that my dragonboat season is over, I find myself with a bit of extra time!  What better way to spend it than cooking?

Last night’s dinner was local Cornish hen stuffed with the dregs of the garlic from my garden, along with mashed potatoes (local potatoes, milk, and butter) and carrots glazed in balsamic vinegar and butter (local carrots, butter, and chives from my garden).  The only things not local: pepper and grey sea salt with lavender (used to season the chicken), sugar and balsamic vinegar.in the carrots.

The carrots, coincidentally, were the star of the meal.  I’ve been sort of hoarding the last batch of multi-color carrots I received from my final CSA share, and used them last night.  My husband was a little weirded out by the purple and white carrots…until he tried them.  Corporate farmed, grocery store carrots taste like carrots….until you try carrots that have been grown organically by a small farmer.  They just taste…I don’t know, carrot-ier.

(Peruvian) farm to Philly

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

This entry employes an international interpretation of ‘Farm to Philly’, but I hope the topic is still interesting and relevant!  (After all, even in meals made almost completely with locally-produced ingredients, there are usually still spices or oils from other regions or countries.  I’ve heard it called the ‘Marco Polo exception’...)

The Independents Coffee Cooperative is a ‘group of independently owned coffeehouses [in Philadelphia] focused on increasing the sale of fair-trade and organic coffee, while making a positive impact in our communities, on the environment, and in the lives of the people who produce the products we sell’.  You can view a map of the members’ locations here.  (E.g., the Mugshot, Green Line, and Infusion cafés, as well as the West Philly Metropolitan café and joe coffee bar.)

This week—appropriately during October, which is Co-op Month AND Fair Trade Month—a coffee farmer and a farmers’ co-op representative, both from Peru, are visiting Philadelphia!  The farmer lives in the Andes mountains, apparently about 10 hours’ drive from Cusco, and he is one of the grower-owners of the Cooperativa San Fernando, for which the other Peruvian visitor is a representative. 

This afternoon, the farmer and the co-op rep, as well as a representative from Equal Exchange (the cooperatively-owned fair-trade buyer that has facilitated the purchase of San Fernando Cooperative coffee by the ICC), translators, and some ICC store owners, held an informal discussion/Q&A session at my local coffee shop, the (original) Green Line Café @ 43rd & Baltimore.  I stopped by for about half an hour, browsed the display of pictures, and admired the distinctive Mayan clothes worn by the Peruvians.  I couldn’t think of any particular questions about coffee production, although I was happy to observe that the fair-trade model seemed to be effective in providing a fair, beneficial revenue for the coffee farmers.

Instead, I actually spent my time talking with the person from Equal Exchange, then one of the owners of Mugshots, concerning various issues of co-ops, fair trade, middle men, and buying choices—all things that I feel I’m currently studying in a practical, urban-focused way by observing why and how individuals make choices to buy local food.  At any rate, if any of the remaining events happen to be convenient for anybody tomorrow, I’d recommend stopping by.  There’s breakfast (08.30-10.30 am) at the Manayunk joe coffee bar, an afternoon session (03.00-05.00 pm) at the Fairmount Mugshots, then an evening event (07.00-09.00 pm) at…hm…one of the InFusion locations.  I know this entry doesn’t provide much advance warning, and I apologize, but I only found out about this whole visit yesterday!

Other links:
Here is a brief press release, and here is a Daily Pennsylvanian article on the breakfast hosted at the 40th St. Metropolitan Bakery & Café on Tuesday.

Exploring the perimeter

Having participated in One Local Summer and other challenges, where the perimeter definition of ‘local’ is 100 miles, and being a frequent visitor of the 100 Mile Diet site, I naturally consider my own local eating perimeter at 100 miles.  I’m not sure what other contributors to FTP consider local [feel free to jump in here, guys].  But the 100 mile perimeter surrounding Philadelphia is what makes eating locally grown food so easy here.

Directly to the West, we have Lancaster County and all of the awesome farms out that way, not to mention the various Amish products.  Directly to the East is New Jersey.  Make all the jokes you want about Jersey, but the Summer produce is killer and it’s practically the cranberry capital of the States.  And let’s not forget the seafood.  We have access to scallops, monkfish, tuna, ocean quahogs and surf clams, fluke, crabs, squid, lobster, mackerel, and a host of other things.  Then there’s Kennett Square out in the PA burbs, which supplies 51% of the nation’s mushrooms.

I often forget, though, that just about all of Delaware and part of Maryland fall within the perimeter.  It’s exciting to think of all the Delaware and Maryland products that I just haven’t discovered yet.  I’m excited to say that Rachel, a Baltimore resident, has offered to clue us all in on all good, local things in the Baltimore area every now and then.  Hooray!

By no means do I insist on eating locally grown food every day at every meal.  I don’t berate people for eating pineapples or lemons.  But for myself, it feels like a challenge to eat locally grown foods as often as possible.  And it makes me happy knowing that I’m supporting local farmers.  And there’s that whole issue of trusting your food sources.  It’s great to live in a place with such a wide variety of choices.

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

We’re winding down for this season. The last two weeks of shares have brought fall items, despite the unseasonably warmer weather. I’ve gotten turnips, potatoes, cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower.

I’ve also decided to try some Asian greens that are new to me. Hon tsai tai was a mild green, similar to spinach, that I used for a stir-fry. Fuyo shumi is a variety of bok choy, and I will make a simple saute from this. The tot soi I have will most likely be incorporated in a stir-fry as well (yeah, my wok is getting a lot of use lately!). I have some komatsuna (pictured above, from Evergreen Seeds) that I have yet to try.

Two weeks of shares to go.

Luck of the pot

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Philadelphia is a food town, and the number of food bloggers bears that out.  And never let it be said that food bloggers don’t know how to party!

Invite to all Philly food bloggers to the first ever Philly food blogger meet-up and potluck dinner to be held Friday, November 2.  If you consider yourself a Philly food blogger and want to join this group for this event and future events, please send your name, blog url, and email contact to taylorhigh24 (at) hotmail (dot) com.  An invite will follow with event details.

It’s not an event dedicated to eating locally grown food, but considering FTP’s own Marisa is hosting this first event at her place I’m sure there will be a dash of locally grown flavor in the house! 

If you can’t attend this inaugural event (like me), don’t fret - more potlucks will follow!