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| A lucky participant was picked to be a food judge |
Last night was the debut of an event called Zest N Zing, put on the Indiana Farm Bureau (@infarmbureau). It was billed as "a foodie event for the at-home chef." I received an email that prompted me to pay $20 for a night benefiting Gleanor's Food Bank and the Ronald McDonald House while enjoying hors d'oeuvres and local beer and wine. It was held at the Indiana History Center, which has undergone a beautiful facelift and faces the canal. Twist my arm.
I brought my mom, and we were off! The event was run by volunteer farmers who were anxious to share more about their farms, local availability, and great tips for cooking and preparing healthy, delicious meals. The entrance fee included enough food tickets to try one of everything plus two alcoholic beverages. They featured Turtle Run and Oliver Wineries (I like the Turtle Run Red Zinfindel and the Oliver Gewurztraminer best), as well as Upland and Sun King breweries. Everyone also got a swag bag filled with surprisingly useful take-aways (meat thermometers, cutting boards, aprons, cheese slicers, oven mitts, etc). We also received recipes for everything we ate and much more. I'm fairly certain this event, while it was extremely well executed and well-attended this year, will explode next year. I was so impressed that I offered to volunteer with next year's event.
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| The Maple Leaf Farms Duck (lower right) |
My favorite bite was the spiced Maple Leaf Farms Duck on a crispy sweet potato round with a tangy citrus salsa. It was the perfect bite: salty, earthy and sweet with the perfect balance of acidity and a fabulous texture. I went back for seconds. Though I'm pretty sure that wasn't allowed, they were too nice to refuse me! I'll include the recipe to this in a later post, so stay tuned.
Then the night went from very enjoyable to extremely interesting! Heather Tallman (@BasilMomma who writes the terrific BasilMomma blog), who I had met previously at a Season 52 tasting event, flagged me down. As we were chatting and comparing notes about the event, the event's "Official Tweeter," (a very respectable position at any event more formal than a weeknight family meal) Chelsea Nord (@Chelsea_pa) came up to us and offered one of us a coveted Golden Ticket. While I had no idea what this ticket may had been for, I have watched Willy Wonka and know that a Golden Ticket is never to be refused (and Heather, who always knows the scoop, was very excited about the ticket in question). So we went all "mature" and played PaperRockScissors (best of 3) for whatever this golden ticket would mean for one of us. I won! Lovely Chelsea still wouldn't tell me what I had won, so I had no idea that I was in for a true thrill....
As I walked upstairs to the auditorium, I see Dave Smiley (@smilyradioshow) and local weather personality Paul Poteet (@paulpoteet) cooking on a stage with Chef Chip Huckaby and Chef Jason Anderson in an IronChef-esque cook-off. I am escorted to the front row, where I am seated between Jacob Tamme (the starting Colts Tight End) and Jennie Runevitch (a WTHR anchor). I am the third judge! No way! Apparently this was on the event's flyer and it was the big deal of the night (I somehow missed the memo).
This was just too much to process. The only minor problem was that not knowing I would have to taste a lot more food, I sort of filled up at the event downstairs (I had been too busy to eat lunch so I was famished by the time I made it to the first table). Well, when duty calls you just have to suck it up. I'll explain everything I tasted (and all of the fun people and swag that went with it) in the next post.
In the meantime, I want to give a shout-out to Heather. While you are one of the true blogging queens of the food scene (and I barely know what I'm doing), I have a clearly superior skill-level in PaperRockScissors! What else do you need in life? Let's just say my face hurts from the grin I had for the next 90 minutes. Stay tuned for more....
