Potlucky

When I started submitting recipes to food52.com, I couldn't have possibly foreseen a day, two years later, when I would travel to Seattle to meet some of my fellow home cooks on a bright and glorious fall day.  But that's what happened recently when a few Pacfic Northwesterners and I gathered to meet one another outside of the Internet.  Naturally, some tasty edibles made their way to the table, where we ate and chatted and got to know the cooks behind the online aliases.

Sharon and her daughter, Krista, welcomed us into their home, and we converged on it with armfuls of delicious, homemade food.

Adrienne's roasted beet and hazelnut tarts hit the table (and my stomach) first, their tender crusts melting in my mouth.

 

Soon after, Krista served up Bette's juicy sausages stewed with peppers and onions onto fresh rolls,

while I gobbled up more than my share of Linda's tasty bean, spinach, and feta wraps.

 

If you think you don't like prunes, try Sara's pickled ones.  They were the most delightful prunes I've ever had.  

 

(They're hard to see, but they're in that jar, which is really kind of amazing considering I had to sit on my hands to keep from eating all of them.)

Ever had a savory cobbler?  Hannah's baked roasted root vegetables were full of tender, earthy beets and baked with a cheddary biscuit topping.

Yeah, I said, "cheddary biscuit."

My sister Veronica's prolific garden provided the sweet cherry tomatoes that filled the bite-sized polenta cups.

They made you want to stuff a bunch in your mouth, all squirrel-like.

And I brought one of my favorite dishes to make and eat, Melanzane sott'olio all'eoliana, otherwise known as marinated eggplant.  

I've been obsessed with it since I first tried it on a trip to Italy.

Between courses, we cooed at Tom the Cat,

but we didn't wait long before we hit the desserts.

Sara's food52-winning Pear Rosemary Danish was a perfect mix of fall flavors, and it was just sweet enough.

I fell hard for Hannah's chocolate chip cookies, which now rank very high on my cookie list.

 

(There are some pumpkin oatmeal cookies there, too.)

Adrienne's coconut macaroons were little balls of delight,

and leave it to Linda to tempt us with chunks of marshmallowy rocky road.

Sharon, who lives not far from the Ballard Locks, wisely suggested that we take a stroll after our meal.  The sun was out, the sky was bright blue, and I don't live in Seattle, but I imagine that one must strike while the proverbial iron is hot, so off we ventured to take in the day.

We all thought about rolling ourselves down the hill like all the little kids were doing, which wouldn't have been hard after our meal.

Here we are all along the waterway!  Bette, me, Adrienne, Sara, Veronica, Hannah, Sharon, and Linda, with Krista behind the camera. 

Home Cooks' Tour 2011!


Hannah blissfully basked in the sun,

and Veronica grew the mother of all hipster moustaches.

It was the perfect day for strolling and making new friends.

On our walk, we talked about ourselves and our interests-- all the stuff that's hard to glean from our online presences.  I learned that Sharon once lived in Ethiopia (she gave me her personal stash of berbere that came straight from her peeps in Ethiopia!) and that Adrienne has big plans for a gluten-free café (which I will happily roadtrip back to Seattle to try). 

What amazing company I keep on food52!

Eventually we arrived back to the home of our generous hosts, where we hydrated with Sara's shrubs. 

Walking, talking, laughing, and sharing cooking and food stories can really take a lot of a gal.

I was partial to the plum and star anise one, but I definitely made sure I had some of the blackberry one as well.

When it was time to go, Bette and I were on the same wavelength.  She brought delicious little fruitcakes for us to take home (which, apparently, she thought was hilarious).

And I made containers of granola. 

We could really only eat so much at the actual potluck, you know.

Gigantic thanks to the lovely Sharon and Krista for sharing their home with us.

And thanks to my new friends for feeding me well and sharing their time with me.

Thanks also to food52.com for giving us a place to meet virtually.  Without it, we never would have met for real.  It's one thing to find a great recipe and make it at home, but it's quite another to have the person behind the recipe cook it for you.

We're already scheming when we can make it happen again.