I'm exhausted and full, and my throat hurts. And yet, somehow, Simple, Good, and Tasty's February local food event at Grand Cafe last night was just perfect.
Maybe it was the beautiful restaurant that made the night so special - wooden and warm, with strings of lights and lovely paintings on the walls. Maybe it was the food - an exceptional cassoulet prepared with locally raised duck from Au Bon Canard and house made sausage by Grand Cafe's chef Jon Radle; a delicious salad with beets, walnuts, and chevre; and an astoundingly good ginger bread pudding with orange compote and caramel cream. Maybe it was the fact that Simple, Good, and Tasty was celebrating a full year's worth of blog posts, directory listings, and events connecting Minnesotans to our food sources. But my guess is that it wasn't any of these things.
What made last night's event one of my favorite nights out this year was the community of wonderful people who gathered to help celebrate. Thanks to the amazing team at the Birchwood Cafe, Liz Heinecke from Kitchen Pantry Scientist, Molly Herrmann from Tastebud Catering, Jennifer Patterson from Unplanned Cooking, Trish Van Pilsum from Off Camera With Trish, Jenna Ross from the Star Tribune, Rick and Jessica Edwards from Caerwyn Farm, Annalisa Hultberg from Heartland Food Network, Tracy Morgan from Segnavia Creative, Jeanne Lakso from Linden Hills Co-op, Megan Collins from Sprout, Kate Sommers from Forkknifeandspoon.com, Diet and Lifestyle consultant Mary Langfield, and so many other amazing, terrific people. You chose to spend your time and money on a terrific meal, expertly prepared using the best ingredients available. You sat with people you didn't know and shared stories and jokes and bottles of wine. You think about food in meaningful ways that really, truly matter to the people who produce and prepare it.
Whether you have a blog, website, day job, restaurant, night job, no job, or whatever - you, friends, make a huge difference to me, to each other, and to our community. Thank you for being part of this journey.
This 6-minute video shows me introducing last night's meal, discussing what it means to turn one, and introducing the concept of Food Powered Health to last night's crowd. Enjoy.
Thanks to Kate NG Sommers for the above photo.
