STL food bloggers potluck!

This pretty pretty picture of my mini meatloaf cupcakes was taken by Jonathan Pollack at a potluck he and his wife, Stef from Cupcake Project, generously hosted at their home on Sunday. Jonathan is a wonderful photographer with a camera set-up that gives me major lens-envy. Check out his site! Hire him!

So yes, I made the famous meatloaf cupcakes. Pretty much the same as here. I did make some colorful mashed potatoes for little extra pizazz...one batch was orange, made by adding lots of paprika, and one batch was bright yellow, made using turmeric and saffron. As always, they were delightful.

The potluck was fun! I got to meet a whole bunch of fellow food bloggers from the area. A great group of peeps, though I admit I didn't get to talk to everybody. I did get the buffet line going, though...


That dish I am lunging eagerly for has some potato flatbreads that Nupur from One Hot Stove made. She had a curry sauce and several fixin's to go with them. Man those were good. (EDITED TO ADD: Nupur sent me the link to her blog entry on how to make these glorious nibbles. In her e-mail, she adds: "But I posted this recipe such a long time ago, and the way I make it now is a little different :) The patties that I made had a little turmeric, ginger and garlic in addition to the ingredients mentioned. The curry- I skipped the tamarind and jaggery (unrefined sugar) because I served the chutney on the side.") I could have eaten them all night. Except there was so much other awesome food to eat, too...including some amazing desserts. I guess you'd expect as much from a gathering of food bloggers, huh? Still...I needed another stomach. For real. For instance, check out Kelly's Tyler's Ultimate mac & cheese. Barbaric Gulp indeed! Also, you can see more of Jonathan's photos from the evening (they'll make you drool) by going to his website and entering the code FOODBLOG in the box below.

Here's a list of all the blogs representin' at the potluck (Oh geez I hope I got everybody...please yell at me if you were there and I failed to give a shout out):

smith family recipes -Margaret recaps the potluck, and here's the recipe for her dish, the fabulous "Unnamed Italian Dish."

sounding my barbaric gulp -Kelly's recap and recipe for her dish, Tyler's Ultimate mac & cheese.

the kitchen at serafina studios -Kristen & Gabriel put some photos and such of the potluck up here.

resourceful living

miss food snob -Amy posts her lemon tart recipe here.

ZiNur -Natalia's coconut rum cake was a huge hit...like marriage-worthy. Here's her recipe for this "Bienmesabe."

show me vegan -Lisa brought Orzo with Roasted vegetables!

i digress...

becky and the beanstock

one hot stove -Nupur, as mentioned above, made divine ragda patties. She writes a bit more about the potluck in this post, after some awesome-looking "dosas" which I need to try. now. Also, notice one of my favorite photos from the night...the date-tamarind chutney being poured (by moi!) onto a ragda patty. Money shot!

everybody loves cheese

veggie venture

cupcake project -Stef made yummy-shmummy lavender cupcakes.

stl today's recipe exchange

It was fantastic to meet everyone. I hope we do stuff like this more often. Please check out these blogs. they rule the Lou!

Squeeeee Take 2...An evening with Trevor Corson

Last night I got yet another chance to meet an author of a favorite food book. Yet another chance to act like a spaz, not unlike my experience meeting Micheal Ruhlman. But, hey is it my fault that the writers of these very interesting and informative and fun-to-read books also happen to be handsome men with adorable hair? Can you blame me?

Last night Trevor Corson was in town, doing a sort of sit-down/reading/talk at the Kitchen Conservatory. Trevor (yeah, we're totally on a first name basis now) is the author of The Zen of Fish, a fantastic book all about sushi, which I wrote about as part of my Summer Reading series here. He also wrote a book called The Secret Life of Lobsters, which I will be reading soon...because who can resist lobster erotica, really?


Pardon my haircut...I knew it was bad, but good lord! Oh, and as another aside, I have to admit something. All the way up until Sunday mroning, when I decided to watch some of the videos on his website (you must check out the lobster porn stand-up), I thought Trevor was Australian. I have no idea where I go that notion. Perhaps because one of the main stars of his book is an intense aussi named Zoran? Or was it because he just looks Australian (whatever that means)? And his name...Trevor Corson...seems that it should be pronounced with an Australian accent? No? So anyway, he's from D.C. I R SMRT.

It was a neat little gathering...a small group of about 15 people gathered around a table with Trevor, eating some yummy seafood dishes and talking sushi! He told us all about the very fascinating history of sushi. It was all stuff he covered in the book, for the most part, but I still found myself learning a lot. The book is almost a reference book, it is so packed with info, but somehow, it reads like a fun novel. That describes the evening well, too. There is so much to know about sushi...the history, the techniques, the fish, the rice, the etiquette...and Trevor was funny and engaging and relaxed talking about all of it. I wish I would have taken notes or something, so I could better list some of the fun things we talked about...vomit rice, the Japanese word for orgasm, how a ban of fire helped the rise of sushi, the very unfortunate sex life of the eel, drunk monks, non-Japanese sushi chefs, omakase, gaining your sushi chef's respect....and much much more.

I guess you'll just have to read the book.

SRSLY. you should read it. How can you say no to those smiling faces?

More info on my new buddy Trevor:
On NPR
Interview on Serious Eats
Essay on how he came to write a book on Sushi
The Scrawling Claw, Trevor's blog
Lisa Hall, a friend of Trevor's from his lobster days who designs and makes jsewelry from seaglass. She made the bling you always see him wearing in photos. Pretty!

EDITED TO ADD: Trevor blogged about his trip to the STL and the honor of meeting me here!

Awesome apple pie, Awesome St. Louis bloggers

Today is National Pie Day. Not to be confused with Pi Day, which is March 14th (3/14...git it?). Though both Pie and Pi are things that tend to make my brain hurt a smidge. Baking?!?! Math?!?! Yikes!

Sunday I got over one of those brain challenges, at least. Alanna from A Veggie Venture arranged a gathering of St. Louis area food bloggers at the Kitchen Conservatory in Clayton. Anne, who writes the blog for Kitchen Conservatory, was sweet enough to teach us all how to make an awesome apple pie from scratch. Also, Christi from Response Builders was there to offer advice on search engine optimization. Thanks so much Ladies!!

Roll Call! The STL bloggers in attendance were; Stefani from Cupcake Project (who was very disappointed to find out that the "f" in iron stef is a farce...I actually spell my name with a "ph" but chose "f" because it was more like "chef" visually....), Karen from Family Style Food, Bruno from Bruno's Dream (who also has blogged this event here), Natalia from ZiNur, Joe and Ann from St. Louis Eats and Drinks, and, of course, Alanna from Veggie Venture.

We didn't hesitate to get our hands dirty...well we washed them first, actually, but you know what I mean. We got to the pie crust making! Anne was a great teacher...very high energy. She was on us, making sure we remembered the main rule..."Cold Dough, Hot Oven!" and other pie crust details. Here are some things I learned that were eye-opening:

-When you cut the butter in the final result should be about dime-size lumps. This seems big, but don't worry...It's RIGHT!

-When you add the ICE water, using a gravy separator is perfect for pouring the water in without the ice chunks.

-The water should barely make the "dough" stick together. You shouldn't knead the dough, nor should you handle it much at all. The idea is to press the water and the other ingredients together gently. There will be crumbs left at the bottom of the bowl...that's okay.

-To figure out how many apples you'll need for your pie...see how many whole apples fit in the pie dish you are using. Voila!

-Don't be shy with dusting the flour on your work surface and the crust you are rolling out. You can brush it off with a pastry brush.

-Butter!!! butter in the crust, of course, but also, dabs of butter on top of the apple filling. Yup.


This Pie was good, people. REALLY good. The filling could have been less sweet, I think. I don't know who the heck put all that brown sugar in there *innocent puppy dog eyes* ...Anyway, the crust is crumbly and melt-in-your mouth. So good. Not too difficult to make, either. I will be requiring some new kitchen tools, though...Namely a pastry blender, a scraper thingy and a big Silpat. And perhaps a fairy duster...mainly for the name...

You can see the recipe and process for this wonderful pie-crust here on Alanna's other blog, Kitchen Parade. Also, Here is the whole apple pie recipe.

And with that, here are some photos of St. Louis bloggers hard at work:


Bruno and Anne Rollin'


Karen sprinkles Fairy Dust!


Stef, Karen, Alanna, Christi and Ann. Making a mess!


It's a plethora of pie pros!


Bruno flips!

It was great to meet all these other bloggers, finally. STL food bloogers rule! It was also great to learn such a wonderful skill, and to talk about the internets and the blogosphere with similar-minded people. I learned a lot, and got some new friends in the process.

lo bob! you have pie?

christmas in the Lou...some gift ideas

A bunch of us STL food bloggers are putting together local gift lists. Here's mine. Check out links to the others' lists at the end.

Actual Factual Food-Most of these will be available at your local grocery store. Christmas shopping while grocery shopping? SWEET!

-An assortment of Volpi meats would be nice. You'll find the best selection at Volpi or a grocery store on the Hill, such as Viviano's, but I know that Schnucks carries a bunch, too.

-Candy from Crown Candy Kitchen. May I recommend the Heavenly Hash, the chocolate covered espresso beans and....okay anything chocolate. Their chocolate is scrumptious. As far as I know you can only get the candy at Crown Candy Kitchen, so make sure to enjoy a yummy lunch while you're there!

-The Hill is known for it's Italian fare, and some of that can be recreated with jarred sauces that are available at your local grocery store. Sauces such as A Taste of the Hill line, and Rigazzi's restaurant's sauce.

-Fitz's Root Beer is made here, and you could make a fun little gift by getting an assortment of flavors...they have cream soda, orange, cola...or just the classic root beer!

-St. Louis Beers! No, not AB (sorry loyalists...I just don't like any of it). Schlafly beers are some of my favorites, and are available all over, in many varieties which depend on the season. There are variety 12 packs, which are great. All you need to do is slap a bow onnit! O'Fallon Brewery, a little further out of St. Louis, but still quite local, makes some good stuff too.


St. Louis crafters!

-My good pal mamaphunk sells these adorable tiny pies at her etsy store.

-Destroyed by design has chocolate chip cookie necklaces and some other food pendants.

-STL style makes some hilarious only-a-local-will-get-it tees. This "the Hill" shirt with a toasted ravioli and one of the famous red white and green fire hydrants holding hands is hilarious! They also make gooey butter underwear, which I find hysterical, although most people I've mentioned it too think it's disgusting. Well, whatever tickles your gift-giving pickle.

-This St. Louis crafter makes really cute potholders and sells them on etsy.


St. Louis Food Books

-St. Louis food writers and fellow bloggers Joe and Anne Pollack have written several books on St. Louis food, including Beyond Toasted Ravioli and Beyond Gooey Butter Cake.

-St. Louis Flavors: the Loop will tell you about the history of the loop and has recipes from a bunch of the restaurants located there.

-the Midwest Corn fusion book would be fun for any corn lovers in your life.

-For the Food History buffs on your list, there are several neat options; The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark: Recipes for an Expedition, a book about what those famous adventurers ate while traveling westward. Pull Carts & Stalls: The Soulard Market History Cookbook, a good idea for those who love farmers markets, and Sweetness Preserved: The Story of the Crown Candy Kitchen, to go along with those candies!


Events

-Treat someone to classes at places such as the Wine and Cheese Place or The Wine Merchant. You can find a good list of upcoming wine classes/events here.

-Tickets to the St. Louis Food & Wine show at the Chase. It benefits the St. Louis Repertory Theatre and is a blast! I've been for the past few years. It gets bigger and bigger every year, with tons of vendors sampling wines and food. There are also demos and speakers.


Here are links to the other St. Louis food bloggers who are participating in this list-making blogging event. Check them out for other great STL gift ideas:
Bill Burge - stlbites.com
Anne Cori - Kitchen Conservatory
Ann Lemons - St. Louis Food & Drink
Alanna Kellogg - A Veggie Venture
Stefani - Cupcake Project
Also, STLHops has a list of gifts for St. Louis Beer lovers.

Only in the Lou

This morning there was a blurb on the local news about the anniversary of Hostess Sno-Balls. It seems my good ol' St. Louis eats the most sno-balls per capita of any city. Go STL! Oh, and to add to that victory, there was also a news story that we lead the nation in cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea!! awwww yeah. I don't know if the sno-balls and STDs are related in any way....

I am now inspired to write a post about the foods of St. Louis. This sounded like a good idea this morning...but the more I think about it and read about it and gather links about it....holy crap we have a lot to talk about! Here goes...

Toasted Ravioli. A staple in most restaurants in the area. Bars, too. "Toasted" ravioli is pretty much deep-fried meat-filled ravioli. There seems to be several people who claim responsibility for inventing it. Was it an accident? Was it pure genius? I don't know. I do know that there are some miserable examples out there. In most places, actually, what you get is tough, boring, made-from-frozen fried junk. It's bar food, for the most part. I'm not a big eater of these guys...I don't order them usually, but I have had some wonderful toasted ravioli. They were wonderful because they were made from scratch and you could tell. The pasta was tender and slightly chewy, the filling was moist and flavorful...these do have the potential to be outstanding. Here's the Recipe from Charlie Gittos, one of the restaurants that claims to be the originator. Actually, the yummy ones I was talking about above were from a place in St. Chuck..Fratelli's on Zuhmbel...Yes, Fratelli's, just like the Goonies bad guys :)

Frozen Custard. I'm pretty sure this is not a St. Louis invention, per se, but we certainly are passionate about it. Specifically, St. Louisans are loyal to Ted Drewes Frozen custard, and his famous "concretes." I have to admit I don't venture there all that often. Of course it's delicious. Sadly, Serious Eats doesn't totally agree (let's blame the travel time, shall we?).

Gooey Butter Cake. So St. Louis. All the bakeries here make it. And yes, it is fantastic. Gooey? Good. Butter? Good. Cake? Good. This article has a bit of history, Paula Deen's recipe (not a St. Louisan, but she's so liberal with the butter that you gotta love it.) It's seems pretty simple, using cake mix...)and some variations.

Gus's Pretzels. I know pretzels are not a STL thing. But Gus's is known by everyone here. Do other cities have guys in busy intersections selling pretzel sticks? And if they do, are they popular? Doubt it. But here, they are a tradition for many families. My Uncle and his brothers get a bunch before every trivia night (another St. Louis activity). They even have Salsiccia and Bratwurst INSIDE a pretzel! Brilliant!

Pork Steaks. Pork Butts are more often used for pulled pork sandwiches in this country's BBQing communities. In St. Louis, it is sliced into pork steaks. And simmered in Maul's sauce. Even if you don't agree with the method of smothering and simmering your frilled pork in sauce, you have to agree that the pork steak is a versatile, flavorful cut of pork. Lots of fat=lots of flavor. And it's effing cheap!

The Slinger. Oh, should I be ashamed i have never tried a slinger of any sort? A slinger is a late-night meal usually consisting of eggs, hash browns and hamburger all covered with chili, cheese and onions. So, basically, all the worst things you can do to your heart on one plate! Kinda the perfect food after a few too many, I'd guess. I always crave crap like this the morning after...I'm just usually too lazy to go out and get it. There was an article about the slinger recently, it's history and how several up-scale restaurants here are making their own versions.

Provel ™ cheese. Love it or hate it, Provel is strictly STL. Not many people outside of here have heard of it. Apparently it was created specifically for St. Louis style pizza (discussed next!), to melt quickly and cut cleanly (no stretchy-cheese chin burns!). I used to HATE the stuff (I have never been able to stomach Velveeta or Kraft singles...which are the same kind of consistency), but I have grown to like the pizza it's on...so I won't curse it to heck or anything. Just keep it off my salads and antipasto trays, please.

St. Louis Style Pizza. Thin, unleavened crust, Provel cheese and square slices is what sets out pizza apart from others. Some say it's an aquired taste, but there are so many awesome versions of it around town that you are bound to find one you like. I grew up with Faraci's pizza in Ferguson. And actually, I wasn't too fond of it as a kid, much preferring (blech!) Little Ceasars (Pizza!PIzza!). As a grown up I look forward to getting the opportunity to have Faraci's. Besides bringing back wonderful memories, it is really delicious pizza. Of course, most of the time I just settle for Imo's, the most wide-spread and popular St. Louis pizza chain, because they are always nearby and they deliver. My favorite toppings for Imo's are Bacon, or Anchovies and Red Onions. These entries in Urban Dictionary dot com are pretty hilarious, though I feel the urge to defend my hometown's pie.

St. Paul Sandwich. Around the age of 18-19 I worked at a Chinese restaurant for a couple summers. I could not understand why people would order the St. Paul Sandwich. It's an egg-foo young (egg, bean sprouts and onion, with your choice of meat...often pork..) with pickles, mayo, lettuce and tomato on white bread. They were quite popular. Like the Slinger, I see this as an "I had too much" food. Greasy, quick and satisfying. There must be something right about it, since it appeared in PBS's show "Sandwiches You Will Love." Maybe I'll try it again someday. After a late night out or something.

Brain Sandwich. Does anybody know the best place to get one of these? i know it's a South City thing, right? I really want to try one.

When Alton Brown came to town for his show Feasting on Asphalt, he went to a bunch of family-owned donut places. Until seeing the episode, I was not aware that we were known for our donuts. The show prompted these guys to do a donut bike tour of the city. Awesome! Another reason I need to get a bike.

That's all I got for now. I'd love for my fellow St. Louis food bloggers to chime it. What's your favorite pizza? Where should I get my first brain sandwich? Do you eat Slingers and St. Pauls? Toasted Ravioli...boring? Did I miss anything?

And for your lucky visitors, please keep these food treasures in mind. It's our history and culture, and it's pretty interesting. If you want to start a conversation here, any of these items is sure to spark something (although natives usually start conversations with the question "where did you go to highschool"...that won't work for out-of-towners...)

For more on this lovely Gateway to the West, check out my "local links" section over there in the Right column, and my posts tagged "local."

Go CardsBluesRams!